shing to have a panel painted, which was to be placed
in the Pugliese Chapel, near the entrance into the church, on the
left hand, he gave the commission for it to Piero, who brought it to
completion at his leisure; but first he reduced his patron to
despair, for on no account would he let him see it until it was
finished. How strange this seemed to the patron, both because of
their friendship, and because of his supplying Piero continually
with money, without seeing what was being done, he himself showed,
when, on the occasion of the final payment, he refused to give it to
him without seeing the work. But, on Piero threatening that he would
destroy all that he had painted, he was forced to give him the rest,
and to wait patiently, in a greater rage than ever, for it to be set
in place. This picture contains much that is truly beautiful.

He undertook to paint a panel for a chapel in the Church of S. Piero
Gattolini, and in this he represented Our Lady seated, with four
figures round her, and two angels in the sky, who are crowning her;
which work, executed with such diligence that it brought him praise
and honour, is now to be seen in S. Friano, the other church having
been ruined. For the tramezzo[13] of the Church of S. Francesco, at
Fiesole, he painted a little panel-picture of the Conception, which
is a passing good little work, the figures being of no great size.
For Giovanni Vespucci, who lived in a house now belonging to Piero
Salviati, opposite to S. Michele, in the Via de' Servi, he executed
some bacchanalian scenes, which are round an apartment; wherein he
made such strange fauns, satyrs, sylvan gods, little boys, and
bacchanals, that it is a marvel to see the diversity of the bay
horses and garments, and the variety of the goatlike features, and
all with great grace and most vivid truth to nature. In one scene is
Silenus riding on an ass, with many children, some supporting him,
and some giving him drink; and throughout the whole is a feeling of
the joy of life, produced by the great genius of Piero. And in
truth, in all that there is to be seen by his hand, one recognizes a
spirit very different and far distant from that of other painters,
and a certain subtlety in the investigation of some of the deepest
and most subtle secrets of Nature, without grudging time or labour,
but only for his own delight and for his pleasure in the art. And it
could not well be otherwise; since, having grown enamoured of her,