Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 3.djvu/444

436 were also executed by his hand in considerable numbers, and finally he died at Roveredo, to which place he had repaired for the purpose of making his abode there. GiovanAntonio was particularly happy in the representation of animals and fruits, of which many beautiful examples in miniature were taken to France by the Veronese Mondella, and many others were presented by his brother Agnolo to Messer Girolamo Lioni of Venice, a gentleman of great endowments.

But to come at last to Giovan-Maria, the brother of Giovan-Antonio: the first lessons in painting were taught to him by his father, on whose manner he enlarged and improved greatly, although he never himself became a painter of any great reputation. That he did not possess remarkable powers is indeed evident from his works in the chapels of the Matfei and Emilj, families in the Cathedral of Verona; in the upper part of the cupolo of San Nazzaro; and in other places. Perceiving, therefore, that his works in painting were not likely to attain to any great degree of perfection, and delighting beyond measure in architecture, Giovan-Maria set himself to examine and to design with infinite diligence all the antiquities in his native city of Verona. He subsequently determined to visit Rome, and there to acquire the knowledge of architecture from the study of those wonderful remains which are indeed the true masters of that art, and repaired thither accordingly, remaining there fully twelve years. This period GiovanMaria employed for the most part in the examination and copying of all those admirable antiquities, exploring every place wherein there were such to be found, until he had seen and taken the ground-plans, relative proportions, and dimensions of all; nor did he leave anything of this kind in Rome, whether columns, cornices, or capitals, of whatsoever order they might be, which he did not design with his hand, giving to all their due admeasurements.