Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 3.djvu/463

Rh an inscription, moreover, in very large characters on the summit: this was as follows:—

But to come at length to such works by Granacci as are still in existence, I have to relate, that having studied the Cartoon of Michelagnolo, while the latter was preparing it in the great Hall of the Palace, he acquired so much knowledge thereby, and that work was so advantageous to him, that when Michelagnolo was summoned to Rome by Pope Julius II. for the purpose of painting the papal chapel, Granacci was one of the first whose assistance was sought for by Buonarroti, and who aided the latter to paint that ceiling, executing in fresco the cartoons which Michelagnolo had prepared for the work. It is true that Michelagnolo was not pleased with what any one of the artists whom he thus employed had done, and that he found means to rid himself of them all without dismissing them, by closing the door of the chapel on the whole of them, and refusing to be seen by any of their number, by which means he forced them all to return to Florence.

There Granacci painted a picture in oil for Pier Francesco Borgherini, which was placed in an apartment of his house in the Borgo Sant’ Apostolo, in Florence, wherein Jacopo da Pontormo, Andrea del Sarto, and Francesco Ubertini had depicted various stories from the life of Joseph. The work here in question was also a story from the life of the same person; it forms the head-board of a couch, the figures, which are small, are painted with the nicest eare, the colouring is pleasing and graceful, and there is a perspective view of a building with Joseph engaged in attendance on the King Pharaoh, which is so good in all its parts that it could not be better. For the same person Granacci painted a circular picture, likewise in oil, representing the Trinity, God the Father that is to say, supporting the Crucifix in his arms: and in the church of San Piero Maggiore is an Assumption by his hand with numerous angels, and with St. Thomas, to whom the Madonna presents her girdle; the figure of St. Thomas is one of so much force and movement that it might be supposed to be by Michelagnolo; the same may be said of that of Our Lady.