I have a
special account, and he must not come here." He also adds the detail
that Fra Damiano had no money with him, and had to go about begging for
wherewithal to pay the duke's dues till he blushed.

From 1530 to 1534 he worked at a great piece of panelling to be placed
in the chapel of the "arca," the tomb of S. Dominic, which is now in the
sacristy, and thought by some to be his masterpiece. There are eight
cupboards in this, and on each are eight subjects. In 1534 the Order was
so poor that such expenses were stopped. Seven years later the work was
recommenced and finished in 1550 by Fra Bernardino and Fra Antonio da
Lunigiano a few months after Fra Damiano's death, which occurred on
August 30, 1549. The choir consists of a double row of 28 stalls on each
side, making 112 in all, showing on the right subjects from the New, and
on the left from the Old Testament. Those on the right are the best, and
are probably Fra Damiano's own work. He had as assistants at one time
Zanetto da Bergamo, Francesco di Lorenzo Zambelli, and a lay brother,
Fra Bernardino, who afterwards did the sacristy door. At another time
his brother Stefano helped him, together with Zampiero da Padova, Fra
Antonio Asinelis, the brothers Capo di Ferro of Lovere, Pietro di
Maffeis, Giovanni and Alessandro Belli. The choir of S. Domenico cost
2809 scudi. Henry II. of France commissioned a little chapel from him
with an altar-piece, for his reputation had crossed the Alps, and
Cardinal Salviati and Paul III., the Farnese Pope, also wished for his
work, as did the Benedictine monks of S. Pietro in Casinense, at
Perugia. He did for them a two-leaved door, which cost 120 scudi, now
placed at the back of the choir, and opening on to a balcony, from which
one sees, in fine weather, as far as the Castle of Spoleto. There are
four subjects, two on each leaf; the Annunciation illustrated is one of
them. Sabba Castiglione uses the most enthusiastic language about him
and his work. "But, above all, those who can obtain them decorate their
mansions with the works, rather divine than human, of Fra Damiano, who
excelled not only in perspectives, like those other worthy masters, but
in landscapes, in backgrounds, and what is yet more, in figures; and who
effected in wood as much as the great Apelles did with his pencil. I
even think that the colours of these woods are more vivid, brilliant,
and beautiful than those used by painters, so that these most excellent
wo