, from the place where was the picture described above,
towards the principal doors of the church, almost at the corner and
just before arriving at the organ, in a picture six braccia long and
four high that was in the space of a chapel, there was depicted the
extraordinary and unexampled favour that was paid to the rare genius
of Michelagnolo by Pope Julius III, who, wishing to avail himself in
certain buildings of the judgment of that great man, had him summoned
to his presence at his villa, where, having invited him to sit by his
side, they talked a good time together, while Cardinals, Bishops, and
other personages of the Court, whom they had about them, remained
constantly standing. This event, I say, was seen to have been depicted
with such fine composition and so much relief, and with such
liveliness and spirit in the figures, that perchance it might not have
turned out better from the hands of an eminent, aged, and
well-practised master; wherefore Jacopo Zucchi, a young man, the pupil
of Giorgio Vasari, who executed the work in a beautiful manner, proved
that a most honourable result could be expected from him. Not far from
this, on the same side (namely, a little below the organ), Giovanni
Strada, an able Flemish painter, had depicted in a picture six
braccia long and four high the story of Michelagnolo's going to Venice
at the time of the siege of Florence; where, living in that quarter of
that most noble city which is called the Giudecca, the Doge Andrea
Gritti and the Signoria sent some gentlemen and others to visit him
and make him very great offers. In representing that event the
above-named painter showed great judgment and much knowledge, which
did him great honour, both in the whole composition and in every part
of it, for in the attitudes, the lively expressions of the faces, and
the movements of every figure, were seen invention, design, and
excellent grace.

Now, returning to the high-altar, and facing towards the new sacristy:
in the first picture found there, which came in the space of the first
chapel, there was depicted by the hand of Santi Titi, a young man of
most beautiful judgment and much practised in painting both in
Florence and in Rome, another signal favour paid to the genius of
Michelagnolo, as I believe I mentioned above, by the most illustrious
Lord, Don Francesco de' Medici, Prince of Florence, who, happening to
be in Rome about three years before Michelagnolo died, and receiving a
v