K.ABBATIS.ET
R.P.ALOISII.DE.SALER.NO.PRIOR.

The work is exceedingly delicate, pieces of wood no thicker than a thick
pencil line being often used. In one panel is a well-executed lily, in
another a hare is a foreground figure, in another are an owl and a
bullfinch, while a hoopoe appears in another, with mountains behind
him. The objects on the shelves of the cupboards are turned at queer
angles to show his skill in perspective, but, since they lack tone, do
not appear quite accurate. Among the architectural subjects are the
choir of a church, a harbour, and a castle on a hill, seen from a
balustraded terrace, and a circular building a little like that in the
background of Raffaelle's "Sposalizio." They were well restored in 1860
by C. G. Minchiotti. In the monks' choir in the church are other
intarsie said to be by Angelo da Verona, Giovanni's brother. They are
principally arabesques, somewhat resembling the panels in the Cathedral
at Genoa, but include four figure panels of little angels and an
Annunciation in two panels, which are not without charm, though rather
overstiff.

[Illustration: Plate 32.--_Frieze from Monte Oliveto Maggiore._

_To face page 62._]

In his last years he returned to Verona, where he had made the monks'
choir in S. Maria in Organo, and the cupboards of the sacristy. These
have the reputation of being not only the finest of the period but also
the best which came from his hand. The Adige was in this church for two
months during one of the inundations, but the tarsie did not suffer so
much as might have been expected. He accepted a commission in 1523 for
some stalls for the Olivetan church at Lodi, S. Cristopher, eleven of
which are now in the suburban church of S. Bernardino in that city,
but died before they were completed. Vincenzo Sabbia writes of
these:--"In the year 1523 the reverend father Fra Filippo Villani of
Lodi, prior of the convent of S. Cristoforo in that city, agreed with
Fra Giovanni Veronese, an excellent master of perspective, to make him
35 pictures of perspective at the rate of 30 or 40 broad ducats of gold
for each--which are worth 5 lire 4 soldi each--which were to be finished
in two or three years, and 300 broad ducats of gold were counted out to
him. The said brother was not able to finish more than 23, because he
died on February 10, 1525. They were sent from Verona and taken to Lodi,
and in 1586 the new church of S. Cristoforo being finished, Don
Agosti