is very fine. But, seeing that he is a
young man of thirty-five, and is constantly making more and more
progress and advancing towards perfection, this much about him must
suffice for the present. In like manner, I shall be brief in speaking
of Orazio Fumaccini,[7] a painter likewise from Bologna, who has
executed in Rome, as has been related, above one of the doors of the
Hall of Kings, a scene that is very fine, and in Bologna many
much-extolled pictures; for he also is young, and he is acquitting
himself in such a manner, that he will not be inferior to his elders,
of whom we have made mention in these our Lives.

[Footnote 7: Sammacchini.]

The men of Romagna, also, spurred by the example of the Bolognese,
their neighbours, have executed many noble works in our arts; for,
besides Jacopone da Faenza, who, as has been related, painted the
tribune of S. Vitale in Ravenna, there have been and still are many
others after him who are excellent. Maestro Luca de' Longhi of
Ravenna, a man of good, quiet, and studious nature, has painted in his
native city of Ravenna and in the surrounding country many very
beautiful panel-pictures in oils and portraits from nature; and of
much charm, among others, are two little altar-pieces that he was
commissioned not long since to paint for the Church of the Monks of
Classi by the Reverend Don Antonio da Pisa, then Abbot of that
Monastery; to say nothing of an infinite number of other works that
this painter has executed. And, to tell the truth, if Maestro Luca had
gone forth from Ravenna, where he has always lived and still lives
with his family, being assiduous and very diligent, and of fine
judgment, he would have become a very rare painter, because he has
executed his works, as he still does, with patience and study; and to
this I can bear witness, who know how much proficience he made during
my sojourn of two months in Ravenna, both practising and discussing
the matters of art; nor must I omit to say that a daughter of his,
still but a little girl, called Barbara, draws very well, and has
begun to do some work in colour with no little grace and excellence of
manner.

A rival of Luca, for a time, was Livio Agresti of Forli, who, after he
had executed for Abbot de' Grassi in the Church of the Spirito Santo
some scenes in fresco and certain other works, departed from Ravenna
and made his way to Rome. There, attending with much study to design,
he became a well-practised ma