He had formed himself on all models, had
studied separately the effects sought after by each engraver, had
schooled himself under Albrecht Duerer and Parmigianino, Marc' Antonio
and Holbein, Hannibal Carracci, MacArdell, Guido, Toschi and Audran; but
once his copper plate before him, his one aim was to light up, by
Rembrandtesque effects, the elegance in design of the fifteenth-century
Florentines of the second generation, such as Botticelli, Ghirlandajo
and Filippino Lippi.
One of Andrea's most precious possessions was a bed-cover of finest silk
in faded blue, round the border of which circled the twelve signs of the
Zodiac, each with its appropriate legend: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer,
Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius,
Pisces--in gothic characters. A flaming golden sun occupied the centre;
the animal figures, drawn in somewhat archaic style, as one sees in
mosaics, were extraordinarily brilliant. The whole thing was worthy to
grace an Emperor's bed, and had, in fact, formed part of the trousseau
of Bianca Maria Sforza, niece of Ludovico the Moor, when she espoused
the Emperor Maximilian.
One of the engravings represented Elena asleep under this celestial
counterpane. The rounded limbs appeared outlined under the silken folds,
the head thrown carelessly back towards the edge of the couch, the hair
rippling in a torrent to the floor, one arm hanging down, the other
stretched along her side.
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