Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/480

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But to return to the small Cartoon designed by Bastiano. This was held by the artist himself in such account, that when the original work had come to an evil end, he was not to he induced to part with his copy, neither for gold nor for any other price; nor would he permit it to be copied; nay, he would never even suffer it to be seen except by his dearest friends, to whom he showed it as one does something very precious and as a great favour. At a subsequent period, in the year 1542 that is to say, this design was copied in oil by Aristotile in pursuance of the counsels of Giorgio Vasari, who was his intimate friend; it was copied, I say, in chiaroscuro, and sent by means of Monsignore Giovio to Francis King of France, by whom it was greatly prized, and who largely rewarded San Gallo. This was done by Vasari, to the end that the work of Michelagnolo might be preserved, seeing that designs on paper are very liable to be lost.

In his youth, Aristotile took great pleasure in architecture, as all those of his family had done, and occupied himself with measuring the plans of buildings; he studied the details of perspective also with much care, and in this he was greatly assisted by his brother Giovan Francesco, who was employed as an architect in the fabric of San Pietro under the Proveditor Giuliano Leni.

By this Giovan Francesco therefore, Aristotile was induced to visit Rome, where his brother set him to keep the accounts of a large establishment, consisting of Tufa and Puzzolana works, from the numerous furnaces of which Giovan Francesco derived large gains. Bastiano remained therefore, for some time at that occupation, doing nothing, as respected art, but draw in the chapel of Michelagnolo, except that he sometimes resorted, by the intervention of Messer Giannozzo Pandolfini, Bishop of Troja, to the house of Raffaello da Urbino.

Now about this time Raphael had prepared for the abovenamed Bishop, a design for a palace, which the latter proposed to erect in the Yia di San Gallo at Florence, when the before-mentioned Giovan Francesco was despatched to put the design of Raphael into execution, which he did accordingly, using all the promptitude with which such a work can be carried forward. But in the year 1530, Giovan Francesco being dead, and the siege having caused many