AT Siena I waited for the mail to Rome, which I afterwards joined; and
when we passed the Paglia, we met a courier carrying news of the new
Pope, Clement VII. Upon my arrival in Rome, I went to work in the shop
of the master-goldsmith Santi. He was dead; but a son of his carried on
the business. He did not work himself, but entrusted all his commissions
to a young man named Lucagnolo from Iesi, a country fellow, who while
yet a child had come into Santi’s service. This man was short but well
proportioned, and was a more skilful craftsman than any one whom I had
met with up to that time; remarkable for facility and excellent in
design. He executed large plate only: that is to say, vases of the
utmost beauty, basons, and such pieces. [1] Having put myself to work
there, I began to make some candelabra for the Bishop of Salamanca, a
Spaniard. [2] They were richly chased, so far as that sort of work
admits. A pupil of Raffaello da Urbino called Gian Francesco, and
commonly known as Il Fattore, was a painter of great ability; and being
on terms of friendship with the Bishop, he introduced me to his favour,
so that I obtained many commissions from that prelate, and earned
considerable sums of money. [3]
During that time I went to draw, sometimes in Michel Agnolo’s chapel,
and sometimes in the house of Agostino Chigi of Siena, which contained
many incomparable paintings by the hand of that great master Raffaello.
[4] This I did on feast-days, because the house was then inhabited by
Messer Gismondo, Agostino’s brother. They plumed themselves exceedingly
when they saw young men of my sort coming to study in their palaces.
Gismondo’s wife, noticing my frequent presence in that house-she was a
lady as courteous as could be, and of surpassing beauty-came up to me
one day, looked at my drawings, and asked me if I was a sculptor or a
painter; to whom I said I was a goldsmith. She remarked that I drew too
well for a goldsmith; and having made one of her waiting-maids bring a
lily of the finest diamonds set in gold, she showed it to me, and bade
me value it. I valued it at 800 crowns. Then she said that I had very
nearly hit the mark, and asked me whether I felt capable of setting the
stones really well. I said that I should much like to do so, and began
before her eyes to make a little sketch for it, working all the better
because of the pleasure I took in conversing with so lovely and
agreeable a gentlewoman. When the sketch was finished, another Roman
lady of great beauty joined us; she had been above, and now descending
to the ground-floor, asked Madonna Porzia what she was doing there. She
answered with a smile: “I am amusing myself by watching this worthy
young man at his drawing; he is as good as he is handsome.” I had by
this time acquired a trifle of assurance, mixed, however, with some
honest bashfulness; so I blushed and said: “Such as I am, lady, I shall
ever be most ready to serve you.” The gentlewoman, also slightly
blushing, said: “You know well that I want you to serve me;” and
reaching me the lily, told me to take it away; and gave me besides
twenty golden crowns which she had in her bag, and added: “Set me the
jewel after the fashion you have sketched, and keep for me the old gold
in which it is now set.” On this the Roman lady observed: “If I were in
that young man’s body, I should go off without asking leave.” Madonna
Porzia replied that virtues rarely are at home with vices, and that if I
did such a thing, I should strongly belie my good looks of an honest
man. Then turning round, she took the Roman lady’s hand, and with a
pleasant smile said: “Farewell, Benvenuto.” I stayed on a short while at
the drawing I was making, which was a copy of a Jove by Raffaello. When
I had finished it and left the house, I set myself to making a little
model of wax, in order to show how the jewel would look when it was
completed. This I took to Madonna Porzia, whom I found with the same
Roman lady. Both of them were highly satisfied with my work, and treated
me so kindly that, being somewhat emboldened, I promised the jewel
should be twice as good as the model. Accordingly I set hand to it, and
in twelve days I finished it in the form of a fleur-de-lys, as I have
said above, ornamenting it with little masks, children, and animals,
exquisitely enamelled, whereby the diamonds which formed the lily were
more than doubled in effect.