Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/374

366 of the Virgin in the same manner, taking for the head of Mary Magdalen the portrait of a daughter of Ludovico, who was a very beautiful maiden.

Near the monastery of Boldrone, which is on the road leading from that place to Castello, and stands at the angle of another road which ascends the hill and conducts to Cercina, at the distance of about two miles from Florence that is to say, there is a tabernacle wherein Puntormo painted a Crucifix in fresco, with Our Lady weeping beside it; San Giovanni Evangelista, Sant’ Agostino, and San Giuliano, are also present. All these figures—his caprice for the German manner, which still pleased him greatly, not having been satisfied—are but slightly different from those of the Certosa. And the same may be affirmed of a picture painted by Jacopo for the nuns of Sant’ Anna, whose convent is situate at the gate of San Friano. The subject of that work is Our Lady with the Dead Christ in her arms; Sant’ Anna is behind her, with San Piero, San Benedetto, and other saints. In the predella is a story, the figures of which are small; this represents the Signoria of Florence advancing in procession, with trumpets and other musical instruments; they are attended by mace-bearers, ushers, doorkeepers, and other servants of the palace, that subject having been chosen by Jacopo because he had received his commission for the picture from the Captain of the palace, and the other persons employed as attendants there.

While Jacopo was occupied with this work, Pope Clement VII. had sent Alessandro and Ippolito de’ Medici, both then very young, to Florence, there to remain under the care of the Legate, Silvio Passerini, Cardinal of Cortona: when the magnificent Ottaviano de’ Medici, to whom they had been recommended by the Pontiff, caused the portraits of both to be taken by Puntormo, who acquitted himself exceedingly well, and made these pictures excellent resemblances, al-