d me graciously, and I presented him with a cup
and basin which I had executed for his majesty, who declared that
neither the ancients nor the greatest masters of Italy had ever worked
in so exquisite a taste. His majesty ordered me to make him twelve
silver statues. They were to be figures of six gods and six goddesses,
made exactly to his own height, which was very little less than three
cubits. I began zealously to make a model of Jupiter. Next day I showed
him in his palace the model of my great salt-cellar, which he called a
noble production, and commissioned me to make it in gold, commanding
that I should be given directly a thousand old gold crowns, good weight.

As a mark of distinction, the king granted me letters of naturalisation
and a patent of lordship of the Castle of Nesle. Later, I submitted to
the king models of the new palace gates and the great fountain for
Fontainebleau, which appeared to him to be exceedingly beautiful.
Unluckily for me, his favourite, Madame d'Estampes, conceived a deep
resentment at my neglect for not taking notice of her in any of my
designs. When the silver statue of Jupiter was finished and set up in
the corridor of Fontainebleau alongside reproductions in bronze of all
the first-rate antiques recently discovered in Rome, the king cried out:
"This is one of the finest productions of art that was ever beheld; I
could never have conceived a piece of work the hundredth part so
beautiful. From a comparison with these admirable antique figures, it is
evident that this statue of Jupiter is vastly superior to them."

Madame d'Estampes was more highly incensed than ever, but the king said
I was one of the ablest men the world had ever produced. The king
ordered me a thousand crowns, partly as a recompense for my labours, and
partly in payment of some disbursed by myself. I afterwards set about
finishing my colossal statue of Mars, which was to occupy the centre of
the fountain at Fontainebleau, and represented the king. Madame
d'Estampes continuing her spiteful artifices, I requested the Cardinal
of Ferrara to procure leave for me to make a tour to Italy, promising to
return whenever the king should think proper to signify his pleasure. I
departed in an unlucky hour, leaving under the care of my journeymen my
castle and all my effects; but all the way I could not refrain from
sighing and weeping.

At this time Cosmo, Duke of Florence, resided at Poggio Cajano, a place
ten miles from