less beautiful than are twelve stories of the
Prodigal Son executed with much diligence by the hand of M.... And,
finally, Franz Floris, a painter famous in those parts, has produced a
great number of works and drawings which have since been engraved, for
the most part by Hieronymus Cock, such as ten plates of the Labours of
Hercules, a large plate with all the activities of the life of man,
another with the Horatii and Curiatii engaged in combat in the lists,
the Judgment of Solomon, and the Battle between Hercules and the
Pygmies. The same master, also, has engraved a Cain who has killed Abel,
over whose body Adam and Eve are weeping; an Abraham who is about to
sacrifice Isaac on the altar, and a vast number of other plates, so full
of variety and invention, that it is indeed marvellous to think of all
that has been done in engravings on copper and wood. Lastly, it is
enough to draw attention to the engravings of the portraits of the
Painters, Sculptors, and Architects in this our book, which were drawn
by Giorgio Vasari and his pupils, and engraved by Maestro Cristofano
...,[23] who has executed in Venice, as he still continues to do, a vast
number of works worthy of record.

In conclusion, for all the assistance that the ultramontanes have
received from seeing the various Italian manners by means of engravings,
and that the Italians have received from having seen those of the
ultramontanes and foreigners, thanks should be rendered, for the most
part, to Marc' Antonio Bolognese, in that, besides the circumstance that
he played a great part in the beginning of this profession, as has been
related, there has not as yet been one who has much surpassed him,
although some few have equalled him in certain points. This Marc'
Antonio died at Bologna, not long after his departure from Rome. In our
book are some drawings of Angels by his hand, done with the pen, and
some other very beautiful sheets drawn from the apartments that
Raffaello da Urbino painted. In one of these apartments Marc' Antonio,
as a young man, was portrayed by Raffaello in one of those grooms who
are carrying Pope Julius II, in that part where the High-Priest Onias is
praying.

And let this be the end of the Lives of Marc' Antonio Bolognese and of
all the other engravers of prints mentioned above, of whom I have
thought it right to give this long but necessary account, in order to
satisfy not only the students of our arts, but also all those who
delight