beautiful
figures.

All these works together had won him such veneration in that city,
that he was held in the light of a god; and what made this
infinitely greater was that the Duke of Urbino caused him to paint a
set of horse's caparisons, in which he made a vast forest of trees
that had caught fire, from which there were issuing great numbers of
all sorts of animals, both of the air and of the earth, and certain
figures--a terrible, awful, and truly beautiful thing, which was
held in no little esteem by reason of the time spent in painting the
plumage of the birds, and the various sorts of terrestrial animals,
to say nothing of the diversity of foliage and the variety of
branches that were seen in the different trees. For this work
Francia was rewarded with gifts of great value as a recompense for
his labours, not to mention that the Duke ever held himself indebted
to him for the praises that he received for it. Duke Guido Baldo,
also, has in his guardaroba a picture of the Roman Lucretia, which
he esteems very highly, by the same man's hand, together with many
other pictures, of which mention will be made when the time comes.

After these things he painted a panel for the altar of the Madonna
in SS. Vitale e Agricola; in which panel are two very beautiful
angels, who are playing on the lute. I will not enumerate the
pictures that are scattered throughout Bologna in the houses of
gentlemen of that city, and still less the infinite number of
portraits that he made from life, for it would be too wearisome. Let
it be enough to say that while he was living in such glory and
enjoying the fruits of his labours in peace, Raffaello da Urbino was
in Rome, and all day long there flocked round him many strangers,
among them many gentlemen of Bologna, eager to see his works. And
since it generally comes to pass that every man extols most
willingly the intellects of his native place, these Bolognese began
to praise the works, the life, and the talents of Francia in the
presence of Raffaello, and they established such a friendship
between them with these words, that Francia and Raffaello sent
letters of greeting to each other. And Francia, hearing such great
praise spoken of the divine pictures of Raffaello, desired to see
his works; but he was now old, and too fond of his comfortable life
in Bologna. Now after this it came about that Raffaello painted in
Rome for Cardinal Santi Quattro, of the Pucci family, a
panel-picture of