more intimate of his friends were Domizio Calderino, Matteo Bosso,[1] and Paolo Emilio, who wrote the History of France, all three compatriots of Fra Giocondo. Sannazzaro was also one of his most attached friends, as was the learned Budoeus. He was likewise on terms of intimacy with Aldus Minutius, and with all the Academy of Rome. Giulio Cesare Scaliger, one of the most learned men of our times, considered himself the disciple of this monk. The death of Fra Giocondo did not take place until he was very old, but the exact time of its occurrence is not known,[2] nor can I ascertain in what place he died, for which reason I do not know where he was interred.
As it is true that the city of Verona is very similar to that of Florence in position, manners, and other characteristics, so is it also true that in the one, as well as in the other, there have ever flourished men of the finest genius, and of the highest distinction in every vocation. To say nothing of the learned, since these are not very rare, and to confine myself still to the discussion of those connected with our own arts, and who have always found a most honourable abode in that right noble city, I proceed to speak of the Veronese Liberate. This artist was the disciple of Vincenzio di Stefano,[3] also of Verona, of whom mention has been made in another place, and who painted a Madonna, in the year 1463, for the monks of San Benedetto, in the church of Ogni-Santi, at Mantua, which was a work very highly extolled at the time. Liberate imitated the manner of Jacopo Bellini, seeing that when he was very young, the above-named Jacopo was painting the chapel of San Niccolo in Verona, and Liberate then devoted himself with so much zeal to the study of his art, beneath the guidance of Bellini,[4] that, forgetting all which
- ↑ Matteo Bosso was Canon and Abbot of the Abbey of Fiesole; he was a pious and learned man, his works were published by Ambrosini, at Bologna, in the year 1627.— Förster.
- ↑ According to the Dizionari Storico degli Uomini Illustri, the death of Fra Giocondo took place in 1530, which is a very probable date. —Masselli.
- ↑ Little is known of this master beyond the fact of his having been (he first instructor of Liberale.
- ↑ Del Pozzo, finding the date 1436 on the pictures of Jacopo Bellini above-mentioned, concludes that Liberale, who was not born till the year 1451, could scarcely have been the disciple of that master, but he may very probably have studied the works of Jacopo.
