Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/79

Rh is true that when they were finished, these paintings, both on account of their own weight and that of their decorations, were incapable of being moved, but with the utmost pains and difficulty. Yet, many persons, attracted by the novelty of the work and the beauty of the art, gave earnest-money to the painter, to the end that he might execute such for them; but Sebastiano, who found more pleasure in talking of these pictures than in making them, put off and delayed all these things from day to day. He did, nevertheless, complete a Dead Christ, with the Madonna in stone, for Don Ferrante Gonzaga, by whom it was sent into Spain. This work had a frame or ornament, also in stone; it was considered to be an exceedingly beautiful one, and Sebastiano was paid five hundred scudi for the same by Messer Hiccolo da Cortona, agent in Rome for the Cardinal of Mantua.

There was one thing wherein Sebastiano merited considerable praise, for whereas Domenico, his compatriot, who •was the first to attempt painting in oil on stone, could never find the means of preventing the works which he executed in that manner from becoming black and looking prematurely faded, nor could Andrea dal Castagno, Antonio, and Piero del Pollaiuolo, or any other of the masters who followed him succeed better in that quest, yet Sebastiano discovered the desired method effectually, and the figure of Christ scourged at the Column, which he executed for the Church of San Pietro-in-Montorio, has never changed as yet, but retains its freshness and animation unimpaired as on the first day. Sebastiano used very great and many precautions in his preparations for these works, forming his intonaco with mastic and pitch from the pine, all mixed carefully over the fire, and laid on the wall, where it was laid smoothly with a trowel, and covered with a surface or plaster, brought glowing from the fire. By this process his works have been enabled to resist the effects of damp and escape all evil consequences from humidity, insomuch that they preserve their colours admirably well and without