oon they will
be seen finished and set in their places. The cost, over and above the
marbles received from the Duke, has been borne by the same Leonardo
Buonarroti. But his Excellency, in order not to fail in any respect in
doing honour to that great man, will cause to be placed in the Duomo,
as he has previously thought to do, a memorial with his name, besides
the head, even as there are to be seen there the names and images of
the other eminent Florentines.

FRANCESCO PRIMATICCIO

DESCRIPTION OF THE WORKS OF FRANCESCO PRIMATICCIO

PAINTER AND ARCHITECT OF BOLOGNA, AND ABBOT OF S. MARTIN

Having treated hitherto of such of our craftsmen as are no longer
alive among us--of those, namely, who have lived from 1200 until this
year of 1567--and having set Michelagnolo Buonarroti in the last place
for many reasons, although two or three have died later than he, I
have thought that it cannot be otherwise than a praiseworthy labour to
make mention likewise in this our work of many noble craftsmen who are
alive, and, for their merits, most worthy to be highly extolled and to
be numbered among these last masters. This I do all the more willingly
because they are all very much my friends and brothers, and the three
most eminent are already so far advanced in years, that, having come
to the furthest limit of old age, little more can be expected from
them, although they still continue by a sort of habit to occupy
themselves with some work. After these I will also make brief mention
of those who under their discipline have become such, that they hold
the first places among the craftsmen of our own day; and of others who
in like manner are advancing towards perfection in our arts.

Beginning, then, with Francesco Primaticcio, to go on afterwards to
Tiziano Vecelli and Jacopo Sansovino: I have to record that the said
Francesco, born in Bologna of the noble family of the Primaticci, much
celebrated by Fra Leandro Alberti and by Pontano, was apprenticed in
his early boyhood to commerce. But, that calling pleasing him little,
not long afterwards, being exalted in mind and spirit, he set himself
to practise design, to which he felt himself inclined by nature; and
so, giving his attention to drawing, and at times to painting, no
long time passed before he gave proof that he was likely to achieve an
excellent result. Going afterwards to Mantua, where at that time
Giulio Romano was working at the Palace of the Te for Duke