Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/304

296 departure, and during the whole of that Pontiff’s after life: of these may be instanced the money coined by the Pope on his entrance into the city, and which bears the head of his Holiness, taken from the life on one side, with the inscription, Bononia per Julium a Tyranno liberata, on the other. And so excellent was Francesco considered to be in this matter, that he continued to make the dies for the coinage, even down to the time of Pope Leo; the impress of his dies is, indeed, in such esteem, and so highly are they valued by those who possess them, that they are not now to be obtained for money.

But Francia still became desirous of greater glory; wherefore, having been acquainted with Andrea Mantegna and many other painters, who had attained to riches and lionours by means of their art, he resolved to try whether he could not succeed in that part of painting which belongs to colour, seeing that he had reached to such a point in design, that he might safely assume a place beside any one of them. By way of making an attempt, therefore, he executed a few portraits and other small things, entertaining masters of the art many months in his house, to the end that they might teach him the method and processes of colouring. In this manner Francesco, who had remarkable intelligence and excellent judgment, very rapidly acquired the requisite practice. The first work which he executed was a picture of no great size, for Messer Bartolommeo Felicini, who placed it in the Misericordia, a church just without the gate of Bologna. The subject of this painting is a Madonna seated, with many figures around her; among whom is Messer Bartolommeo, portrayed from the life. The work was executed in oil