Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/316

308

Perceiving this state of things, Vasari sent at once for Cristofano, for Raffaello dal Colle, and for Stefano Veltroni, of Monte Sansovino, his kinsman, by whose aid and that of certain painters from Arezzo and other places, he succeeded in completing the above-named works. And on this occasion Cristofano acquitted himself in a manner which caused amazement in every one, doing honour to himself as well as to Vasari, who was very largely commended for the decorations in question. These being finished, Cristofano still remained several days in Florence, assisting Giorgio Vasari in the preparations which were made for the marriage of the Duke Alessandro, the festivals in honour of which were solemnized in the palace of Messer Ottaviano de’ Medici; and here, among other things, Cristofano executed the Coat of Arms of the Duchess Margherita of Austria, adding the balls for the Medici, the whole upheld by a most beautiful Eagle, and by figures of boys, which were also very well done.

No long time after this, and when Duke Alessandro had ^>een assassinated, there was a compact made at the Borgo with Piero Strozzi, to the effect that one of the gates of the city should be thrown open to him on his way from Sestino, and letters touching this conspiracy were therefore written to Cristofano by certain soldiers of the Borgo, who had been exiled from their country, the purport of the same being to entreat that he would be helpful to them in that enterprise. Now when he had received these letters, Cristofano, though he did not consent to the wishes of those men, yet resolved to destroy the papers, that he might not cause injury to the writers, instead of making them known to and laying them before Gherardo Glierardi, who was then commissioner for the Duke Cosimo in the Borgo, as by the laws and by published orders, he was bound and commanded to do.

When the troubles had been brought to an end therefore, and this affair became known, Cristofano, with many other natives of the Borgo, received sentence of banishment; and although the Signor Alessandro Yitelli, knowing perfectly the whole truth of the matter, might have assisted Doceno therein, he did not do so, and the motive for this was his