de of the palace where there is
the statue of Maestro Pasquino, a great escutcheon of Pope Leo in
fresco, between that of the Roman People and that of the Cardinal. In
that work Niccolo did not acquit himself very well, for in painting some
nude figures and others clothed that he placed there as ornaments for
those escutcheons, he recognized that the study of models is bad for him
who wishes to acquire a good manner. Thereupon, after the uncovering of
that work, which did not prove to be of that excellence which many
expected, Niccolo set himself to execute a picture in oils, in which he
painted the Martyr S. Prassedia squeezing a sponge full of blood into a
vessel; and he finished it with such diligence that he recovered in part
the honour that he considered himself to have lost in painting the
escutcheons described above. This picture, which was executed for the
above-mentioned Cardinal dal Monte, who was titular of S. Prassedia, was
placed in the centre of that church, over an altar beneath which is a
well of the blood of Holy Martyrs--a beautiful idea, the picture
alluding to the place where there was the blood of those Martyrs. After
this Niccolo painted for his patron the Cardinal another picture in
oils, three-quarters of a braccio in height, of Our Lady with the Child
in her arms, S. John as a little boy, and some landscapes, all executed
so well and with such diligence, that the whole work appears to be done
in miniature, and not painted; which picture, one of the best works that
Niccolo ever produced, was for many years in the apartment of that
prelate. Afterwards, when the Cardinal arrived in Arezzo and lodged in
the Abbey of S. Fiore, a seat of the Black Friars of S. Benedict, in
return for the many courtesies that were shown to him, he presented that
picture to the sacristy of that place, in which it has been treasured
ever since, both as a good painting and in memory of the Cardinal.

Niccolo himself went with the Cardinal to Arezzo, where he lived almost
ever afterwards. At the time he formed a friendship with the painter
Domenico Pecori, who was then painting an altar-piece with the
Circumcision of Christ for the Company of the Trinita; and such was the
intimacy between them that Niccolo painted for Domenico in that
altar-piece a building in perspective with columns and arches supporting
a ceiling full of rosettes, according to the custom of those days, which
was held at that time to be very beautiful. Ni