Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/59

Rh so well disposed towards Giulio, for the sake of his abilities, that he was unwilling to lose sight of him; and the master, on his part, returned that favour with so much reverence towards the Duke, that words could not sufficiently describe it. Wherefore Giulio never requested a favour either for himself or others, that he did not obtain it, and it was found at his death that the amount he had received from that Prince had made an income of not less than a thousand ducats.

Giulio Romano built a house for himself in Mantua, and opposite to the church of San Barnaba, the front of this he adorned with a fantastic decoration of coloured stuccoes, causing it at the same time to be painted and adorned with stucco-work within; here he arranged the numerous antiquities which he had brought from Rome, with others which he had received from the Duke, to whom he gave many of his own instead.

This artist produced so many designs both in Mantua and for other places, that their amount appears incredible, but, as we have said, there could be no palace or other building of importance erected, more especially within the city of Mantua, unless it were constructed after a design from him. He rebuilt the church of San Benedetto in Mantua, a very large and rich edifice belonging to the Black Friars, situate on the old walls, and near the river Po: after his designs also was the whole church embellished and adorned with beautiful pictures and fine paintings in fresco.

The works of Giulio Romano were in very high repute throughout Lombardy likewise, insomuch that the bishop of Yerona, Giovanni Matteo Giberti, desired to have the tribune of the cathedral of that city decorated entirely after designs prepared by that master, and painted by the Veronese artist II Moro, as we have related elsewhere. For the Duke of Ferrara, Giulio likewise made designs for tapestry and cloth of arras, these were afterwards executed in silk and gold by the Flemings, Maestro Niccolo and Giovan Battista Rosso: copper-plate engravings from them being also published by Giovanni Battista of Mantua, by whom a large number of the works produced by Giulio were engraved. Among others were three battle-pieces which were likewise engraved by other artists, with a picture of a physician, who is applying