upon it, that whenever I went to take his portrait, I should be admitted. Perceiving that I had a lengthy piece of business on my hands, I sent for a certain Pietro Pagolo from Monte Ritondo, in the Roman district, who had been with me from his boyhood in Rome.[1] I found him with one Bernardonaccio,[2] a goldsmith, who did not treat him well; so I brought him away from there, and taught him minutely how to strike coins from those dies. Meanwhile, I went on making the Duke's portrait; and oftentimes I found him napping after dinner with that Lorenzino of his, who afterwards murdered him, and no other company; and much I marvelled that a Duke of that sort showed such confidence about his safety.[3]
LXXXI
It happened at this time that Ottaviano de' Medici,[4] who to all appearances had got the government of everything in his own hands, favoured the old Master of the Mint against the Duke's will. This man was called Bastiano Cennini, an artist of the antiquated school, and of little skill in his craft.[5] Ottaviano mixed his stupid dies with mine in the coinage of crown-pieces. I complained of this to the Duke,
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- ↑ Pietro Pagolo Galleotti, much praised by Vasari for his artistic skill.
- ↑ Perhaps Bernardo Sabatini.
- ↑ This is the famous Tuscan Brutus who murdered Alessandro. He was descended from Lorenzo de' Medici, the brother of Cosimo, Pater Patriæ, and the uncle of Lorenzo the Magnificent.
- ↑ This Ottamiano was not descended from either Cosimo or Lorenzo de' Medici, but from an elder, though less illustrious, branch of the great family. He married Francesca Salviati, the aunt of Duke Cosimo. Though a great patron of the arts and an intimate friend of M. A. Buonarroti, he was not popular, owing to his pride of place.
- ↑ Cellini praises this man, however, in the preface to the Oreficeria.
