Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 5.djvu/26

14 placed in the chapel which belongs to the Signor Alessandro, in the Church of San Fiordo.

The paintings of various kinds which proceeded from the workshops of Ridolfo Ghirlandajo were indeed innumerable; and of the many portraits from the life which he sent forth, I will but say that the Signor Cosimo de’ Medici, while still but a youth, was portrayed by this artist; that likeness was a very beautiful work, as well as an accurate resemblance: the picture is still preserved in the Guardaroba of His Excellency. Ridolfo was an exceedingly prompt and rapid painter in many kinds of work, more particularly in the preparations for festivals: when the Emperor Charles V. arrived in Florence, he constructed a triumphal arch at the corner of the Cuculia in ten days; and another arch at the gate of Prato was erected by this artist in a very short space of time, this work being constructed for the marriage of the most Illustrious Lady the Duchess Leonora, and on the occasion of her arrival in Florence, as will be related in the Life of Battista Franco.

In a small cloister at the Madonna di Vertigli, a place which belongs to the Monks of Camaldoli, and is just without the district of the Monte San Savino, Ridolfo, having with him the above-named Battista Franco and Michele, painted all the events of the Life of Joseph in chiaro-scuro; and in the Church he executed the picture for the High Altar, with a fresco representing the Visitation of Our Lady; this last is perhaps as beautiful a work as any fresco ever executed by Ridolfo. But more than all is the figure of San Romualdo, on the above-mentioned Altar-piece, to be extolled, the venerable aspect of the countenance being indeed most beautiful: our artists painted other pictures in the same place, but it shall suffice us to have mentioned these.

In the palace of the Duke Cosimo, and in the Green Chamber, this artist painted grottesche for the decoration of the ceiling, with landscapes on the walls, which greatly pleased the Duke. Finally, having become old, Ridolfo lived a cheerful and quiet life; he had seen his daughters married and his sons were tolerably prosperous, making their