Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/114

106 is entered from the Loggia, but by the door to the right, Perino executed ornaments in stucco, in a manner nearly similar to those of the first Hall, with paintings in fresco, the subject of which is Jupiter hurling his thunderbolts at the Giants, and wherein the master has depicted a great number of figures, nude and larger than life, which are exceedingly beautiful. All the gods of the Olympian Heaven are seen in attitudes of infinite animation, and with expressions entirely appropriate to the circumstances and to the terrors awakened by those tremendous thunders, each deity comporting himself according to his nature. The stucco work also is executed with the utmost care, and the colouring of the fresco could not possibly be more beautiful than it is, seeing that Perino was a perfect master of that branch of art, and possessed extraordinary ability therein.

Four apartments were furthermore decorated by his hand, the ceilings being adorned with stucco-work and fresco paintings, and here we have the most beautiful and remarkable scenes from the fables of Ovid, depicted in such a manner that they seem to be real, nor would it be easy to imagine the beauty, extent, and variety which Perino has imparted to the large number of figures, animals, foliage, and grottesche, scattered with inexhaustible power of invention throughout this work. On the opposite side of the second Hall there wrere four other apartments, and these were likewise adorned by the disciples of Perino, under his guidance and direction, the master giving them all the designs for the ornaments in stucco, as well as for the stories, figures, and grottesche, having a large number of them at work, some being much employed, and some but little: Luzio Romano for example, performed numerous works in stucco, with many grottesche, as did several Lombard artists. But of this it shall now suffice me to say that there is not a room in the palace wherein Perino did not execute or direct some ornament, and which is not amply adorned, even to the ceiling, with compositions of various kinds. Figures of little children, fanciful masks, animals, and every other appropriate decoration, abound in a manner which causes the utmost astonishment as well as admiration; the writing-rooms, the antechambers, nay, even the very offices are all painted and made beautiful.