Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/374

322 may still be seen in the great hall. This bright and animated, but curiously modern composition, was left unfinished, owing to the Pope's death, and only completed sixty years later by the painter Allori. Andrea then returned to his work in the Scalzo cloisters, and continued the series at intervals, until it was completed in 1526.

In 1523, Andrea was one of the masters employed by Piero Francesco Borgherini to decorate the furniture of a chamber in his palace in the Borgo Apostoli, for the marriage of his son Francesco with Margherita Acciaiuoli. The two panels of the story of Joseph which formed Andrea's share in the work, are painted with his usual care and skill, and their rich colour and fine atmosphere produce a highly decorative effect. Granacci, Bacchiacca, and Andrea's own pupil Pontormo were associated with him in this task, and by their care the richly-carved bedstead, chests, and arm-chairs of walnut were all adorned with paintings of the same story. During the siege of Florence in 1529, Francis the First's agent, Giovanni Battista della Palla, obtained leave from the Signoria to strip the beautiful chamber of its treasures, and send them to his master. But when he entered the Borgherini Palace, Margherita herself met him on the threshold and bade him begone, telling him that the furniture he wished to carry off had been ordered by her husband's father for her wedding, and that rather than part from a single stick, she would shed the last drop of her blood. The terrified agent retired in dismay, and was soon afterwards thrown into prison and put to death as a traitor. "Thus," writes Vasari, "did this brave woman, by her heroic courage and firmness, keep these treasures of