Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/469

Rh then young, but who aiterwards became Arclibishop of Capua, and was finally created a Cardinal. In San Gallo he commenced a picture, which was afterwards finished by Giuliano Bugiardini, and is now at the altar of San Jacopo-fra-Fossi, at the corner of the Alberti. Another work, begun by the same master, representing the Abduction of Dina, was subsequently coloured by the same Giuliano; there are in this picture certain buildings, with many other peculiarities therein, which have been very highly extolled; it is now in the possession of Messer Cristofano Rinieri. From Piero Soderini, Fra Bartolommeo received a commission to paint a picture for the Hall of Council; and this he commenced so beautifully in chiaro-scuro, that it would without doubt have done him infinite honour had it been completed; unfinished as it is, this work ha § been placed with great honour in the chapel of the illustrious Ottaviano de’ Medici, in San Lorenzo. In the picture now in question, are the figures of all the Patron Saints of Florence, as well as those of all the other Saints on whose days the city has gained victories in war. The portrait of Fra Bartolommeo himself will also be found in this work, painted by his own hand, with the aid of a mirror.

The master had entirely completed the design of the above described picture, when, in consequence of having laboured perpetually beneath a window, the rays from which poured constantly on his back, one side of his body became paralyzed,