Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 3.djvu/124

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Timoteo died in the year of our salvation 1524, when he had reached the fifty-fourth year of his age, leaving his country as much enriched by his fame and excellencies, as it was grieved by his loss. He left certain unfinished works in Urbino, and these, having been afterwards completed by others, serve to show, by the comparison, how great the power and ability of Timoteo must have been.

I have several very fine drawings by the hand of this master in my book, and these I have received from his son, the very excellent and amiable Messer Giovanni Maria. They are all of great beauty and merit; among them is a sketch for the portrait of the illustrious Giuliano de' Medici, done with the pen; which was executed by Timoteo at the time when the above-mentioned Giuliano had repaired to the court of Urbino, and to its most renowned University. I have besides a Noli me tangere, and a figure of San Giovanni Evangelista, who is represented asleep, while the Saviour is praying in the Garden. All these works are exceedingly beautiful.

Although Andrea di Domenico Contucci of Monte Sansovino, was born of extremely poor parents, his father being a