had been in any other place than the Camaldoli; but when he considered that the officers of health had appointed that very monastery as the receptacle of those afflicted with the plague, he thought it better to save his life than to risk it to such a degree for the sake of acquiring fame in Florence: wherefore he resolved to let the proofs of his ability, which he had given in the design of that work, suffice him. The cartoon, with other things of Perino’s, was left to his friend the goldsmith Giovanni di Goro, but he dying in that pestilence, the work then fell into the hands of Piloto. By the latter it was set up and displayed in his house for many years, the goldsmith willingly showing it to every ingenious person desiring to examine the same, as the most admirable of works, which it truly merited to be esteemed; but what became of it after the death of Piloto, I am not able to say.
Flying from place to place in the hope of escaping from the pestilence, Perino passed several months in different abodes, but not on that account did he spend his time in vain; on the contrary, he was perpetually engaged in drawing, and in the study of all that appertained to his art. On the disappearance of the plague he repaired to Pome, where he gave his attention for some time to the execution of small pictures, respecting which I do not propose to say anything more.
But in the year 1523, Pope Clement was elected to fill the pontifical chair, a circumstance which proved to be a great and much needed restoration and refreshment to the arts of painting and sculpture, which had been brought to a very low condition during the lifetime of Pope Adrian VI.; for not only were the professors thereof refused all opportunity of doing anything for himself, but also, he taking no pleasure in those matters, nay, rather having them in hatred, caused others also to refrain from seeking any enjoyment from works of art, and prevented every one from spending money therein, so that none would give commissions to any artist, as I have before said in more places than one; but on the election of the new pontiff, Perino, as well as others, received commissions for many works.
Now it had been resolved that Giulio Romano and Giovan Francesco, called il Fattore, should be chosen to serve as Capo dell'arte in the place of Raphael, who was then dead, to the end that they might make distribution of the works to the artists,
