nnunciation by his hand, wherein he made the Angel still flying
through the sky, and the Madonna receiving the Salutation on her knees,
in a most graceful attitude; and he drew there a building in
perspective, which was a masterly thing, and was much extolled. And, in
truth, although Francia had a somewhat dainty manner, because he was
very laborious and constrained in his work, nevertheless he showed great
care and diligence in giving the true proportions of art to his figures.

[Illustration: THE MARRIAGE OF THE VIRGIN

(_After the fresco by =Franciabigio [Francia]=. Florence: SS.
Annunziata_)

_Anderson_]

He was commissioned to execute a scene in the cloister in front of the
Church of the Servites, in competition with Andrea del Sarto; and there
he painted the Marriage of Our Lady, wherein may be clearly recognized
the supreme faith of Joseph, who shows in his face as much awe as joy
at his marriage with her. Besides this, Francia painted there one who is
giving him some blows, as is the custom in our own day, in memory of the
wedding; and in a nude figure he expressed very happily the rage and
disappointment that drive him to break his rod, which had not blossomed,
the drawing of which, with many others, is in our book. In the company
of Our Lady, also, he painted some women with most beautiful expressions
and head-dresses, things in which he always delighted. And in all this
scene he did not paint a single thing that was not very well considered;
as is, for example, a woman with a child in her arms, who, turning to go
home, has cuffed another child, who has sat down in tears and refuses to
go, pressing one hand against his face in a very graceful manner.
Certain it is that he executed every detail in this scene, whether large
or small, with much diligence and love, on account of the burning desire
that he had to show therein to craftsmen and to all other good judges
how great was his respect for the difficulties of art, and how
successfully he could solve them by faithful imitation.

Not long after this, on the occasion of a festival, the friars wished
that the scenes of Andrea, and likewise that of Francia, should be
uncovered; and the night after Francia had finished his with the
exception of the base, they were so rash and presumptuous as to uncover
them, not thinking, in their ignorance of art, that Francia would want
to retouch or otherwise change his figures. In the morning, both the
painting of Francia