perfect obedience, that he was thereby permitted to live without cares as regarded his domestics. He had a room constructed almost in the manner of a fishpond, and in this he kept numerous snakes and serpents of various kinds, which could not get out; and here he found the greatest amusement, more particularly in the summer, from standing to look at these creatures; observing their fierce gambols, and the strange contortions they made, with indescribable pleasure and interest.
In his rooms at the Sapienza, Giovan-Francesco E-ustici was accustomed to assemble a company of gentlemen, who called themselves the Brotherhood or Society of the Paiuolo,[1] their numbers were limited to twelve, and these were Eustici himself, Andrea del Sarto,[2] the painter Spillo, Domenico Puligo, the goldsmith Robetta,[3] Aristotile da Sangallo, Prancesco di Pellegrino, Niccolb Buoni, Domenico Baccelli, who played and sang most admirably, and the sculptor Solosmeo;[4] Lorenzo’ called Guazzetto,[5] the painter, was also of the number, as was Roberto di Filippo Lippi, who was their steward. Each of these members was permitted to bring four of his friends to their suppers and amusements of different kinds, but not more.
Now the order observed in these suppers was this (and I describe it the more willingly, because the custom of forming such companies is now almost wholly abandoned and laid down): every member was enjoined to contribute one dish to the repast, and in this dish it was always expected that he should display some new or ingenious invention; having brought his contribution, each member presented the same to the lord of the feast, who was always one of the members,
- ↑ A cauldron or pot for boiling meat, &c.
- ↑ The Italian annotators affirm it to have been before this company that Andrea del Sarto read the translation or imitation of the Batrachomyomachia, attributed to his pen, and this would appear probable from the fact that at the close of each canto the author addresses his thanks to the “Signore and Companions of the Pajuolo," for the patient hearing accorded to his verses.
- ↑ Best known for his engravings. Mr. Young Ottley mentions his works with approbation, and Bartsch has enumerated certain of his plates. See also Zani, Enciclopedia Metodica delle Belle Arti.
- ↑ Solosmeo has been more than once mentioned in these Lives, but more particularly in that of Baccio Bandinelli. See vol. iii. p. 263, et seq.
- ↑ A disciple of Rustici, of whom there is further mention hereafter.
