Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/354

346 more can be said of this artist? Let it suffice to record that he was ever as ready and willing to prate and make merry as he was backward and unwilling to work and to paint.

Michelagnolo, as I have before said, did sometimes take pleasure in the babble of this man, and in the jests which he very often made. He, therefore, had him almost constantly at his table; but, finding him one day become troublesome, as such people very frequently do become to their friends and patrons, with their perpetual gabbling (for one cannot call it conversation), v/hich is frequently ill-timed and divested of all discretion, seeing that there is rarely either judgment or measure in men of this class,—being weary of him, as I said, Michelagnolo sent him forth to buy some figs, by way of getting rid of him, at a time, perhaps, when he had more important thoughts to occupy him. The moment Jacopo had got out of the house, Michelagnolo fastened the door behind him with the determination not to open it when he should return. Accordingly, when L’ Indaco came back from the market, he perceived, after having knocked for a time, that Michelagnolo would not open the door to him, whereupon, becoming very angry, he took the leaves and figs, which he scattered all over the threshold of the door, and, having done that, he went his way. From that time he would not speak to Michelagnolo for many months, but at length, being appeased, he became more his friend than ever. Having attained the age of sixty-eight, Jacopo l’Indaco died at Rome.

Not unlike to him was a younger brother, whose proper name was Francesco, but who was also called L’ Indaco, and was, in like manner, a more than tolerable painter and man of good ability. He was not dissimilar, I say, for he also worked very reluctantly, though he was ever ready to talk; but in one thing he went far beyond Jacopo, seeing that he spoke ill of every one, and constantly censured the performances of all other artists. After having executed certain works, both in painting and terra, at Montepulciano, he painted a small picture in Arezzo for the Brotherhood of the “Nunziata.” The work was intended for their Hall of