ANIMAL LIFE IN ITALIAN PAINTING 



Master John Sodoma, in respect to my possessions as 

 under : First, then, I have a garden by the new fountain, 

 where I sow and others reap. Then in Vallerozzi, 

 a house as my residence, not to mention a lawsuit 

 with one Niccolo di Libri. In my stalls eight horses 

 . . . further I have a monkey ; moreover a raven, 

 which I keep by me in order that he may teach 

 from his cage a theological jackass also to speak. 

 Item, an owl to frighten the witches, 2 peacocks, 

 2 dogs, 2 cats, a sparrow-hawk, and other birds of 

 prey, 6 fowls, 18 chicks, 2 moorfowl [guinea-fowl .f*], and 

 many other birds, to name all of which would only 

 cause confusion." ^ Amongst the property left at his 

 death was a parrot in a cage.^ 



In the Leda (Rome, Borghese), in addition to the 

 powerful swan, is a snail, a thrush, a goldfinch, and a 

 dove.'^ In the Berlin Charity a pelican is painted in 

 a nest in a tree. 



The value of Vasari's condemnation of the keeping 

 of pets as representing the opinion of the time was con- 

 sidered in the first chapter. Mr. Berenson has acutely 

 summed up his credibility by saying that he said the 



1 Lives, vol. iii. p. 357, note. The genuineness of this document is, how- 

 ever, open to doubt. 



* R. H. Hobart Cust, Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, 1906, p. 64, note. 



^ I follow Morelli in giving this picture to Sodoma, either as original 

 or an early copy. 



no 



