scenes finished, therefore, His Holiness
went to see them; and each of the painters had done his utmost to merit
the said prize and honour. Cosimo, feeling himself weak in invention and
draughtsmanship, had sought to conceal his shortcomings by covering his
work with the finest ultramarine blues and other lively colours, and had
illuminated his scenes with a plentiful amount of gold, so that there
was no tree, or plant, or drapery, or cloud, that was not thus
illuminated; for he was convinced that the Pope, like a man who knew
little of that art, must therefore give him the prize of victory. When
the day arrived on which the works of all were to be unveiled, that of
Cosimo was seen with the rest, and was scorned and ridiculed with much
laughter and jeering by all the other craftsmen, who all mocked him
instead of having compassion on him. But the scorners turned out to be
the scorned, for, as Cosimo had foreseen, those colours at the first
glance so dazzled the eyes of the Pope, who had little knowledge of such
things, although he took no little delight in them, that he judged the
work of Cosimo to be much better than that of the others. And so,
causing the prize to be given to him, he bade all the others cover their
pictures with the best blues that could be found, and to pick them out
with gold, to the end that they might be similar to those of Cosimo in
colouring and in richness. Whereupon the poor painters, in despair at
having to satisfy the small intelligence of the Holy Father, set
themselves to spoil all the good work that they had done; and Cosimo
laughed at the men who had just been laughing at his methods.

Afterwards, returning to Florence with some money, he set himself to
work as usual, living much at his ease, and having as his companion that
Piero, his disciple, who was ever called Piero di Cosimo, and who
assisted him in his labours in the Sistine Chapel at Rome, and painted
there, besides other things, a landscape in the picture of the Preaching
of Christ, which landscape is held to be the best thing there. Andrea di
Cosimo also worked with him, occupying himself much with grotesques.
Finally, having reached the age of sixty-eight, Cosimo died in the year
1484, wasted away by a long infirmity; and he was buried in S. Croce by
the Company of Bernardino.

Cosimo took so much delight in alchemy that he wasted therein all that
he possessed, as all do who meddle with it, insomuch that it swallowed
up all h