Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/483

Rh Alessandro and Ippolito de’ Medici, who were then in Florence under the care of Silvio Passerini, Cardinal of Cortona.

By these works Aristotile acquired so great a name, that he resolved to abide by them as his vocation, and matters of that kind were ever afterwards his principal occupation; there are indeed some who affirm that his name of Aristotile was given to him because he was considered to be in perspective what Aristotle was in philosophy.

But as it often happens that from the summit of peace and tranquillity there is a change to wars and discords, so, with the year 1527, all joy and gladness in Florence was transmuted into sorrows and troubles, for the Medici being then driven out and the pestilence and the siege coming after, many years passed over, during which people lived in perpetual turmoils. Wherefore, as no good could be done by artists at that time, Bastiano then remained always in his house occupied with his studies and whimsies.

Matters afterwards beginning to clear up a little, on the Duke Alessandro assuming the government of Florence, the young people belonging to the company of the “Children of the Purification,” which has its seat opposite to San Marco, determined to perform a Tragi-comedy composed by Giovan Maria Primerani, the subject was taken from the Book of Kings, and the plot turned on the troubles which followed the violence suffered by Tamar. The care of the scenic decorations was given to Aristotile, who, the capabilities of the place considered, produced a more beautiful performance than had ever before been executed for a similar purpose. But besides the merit of the decorations, the drama, a very fine one in itself, was extremely well performed and greatty pleased the Duke Alessandro and his sister, who heard it; wherefore their Excellencies caused the author of it, who was then in prison, to be liberated, but on condition that he should write another drama, the choice of subject being left to himself.

Primerani having written his work accordingly, Bastiano constructed a most beautiful proscenium in the Loggia of the garden of the Medici on the Piazza di San Mlarco, which he richly embellished with columns, recesses holding statues, and many other fanciful ornaments which had never before