The Medici, always patrons of art, did not neglect to enrich their palaces with the works of Andrea del Sarto. Ottaviano de' Medici, a cousin of the reigning branch, was an especial friend of his, from the time that Andrea began the fresco of _Caesar receiving tribute of animals_ in the Hall of Poggio a Cajano. The commission came really from Pope Leo X., who deputed Cardinal Giulio, his cousin, to have the hall of the favourite family villa adorned with frescoes. He in turn handed over the direction to Ottaviano, who was a great amateur of art. It was designed that Andrea del Sarto should cover a third of the Hall, the other two-thirds being given to Pontormo and Francia Bigio. The payment of thirty scudi a month was arranged. In this Andrea has shown his genius in a style entirely new, the composition being crowded, the perspective intricate, the background a building adorned with statues. The subject being allegorical, he has given the reins to his fancy and produced a wonderful assemblage of strange beasts and stranger human beings, Moors, Indians, and dwarfs. There are giraffes, lions, and all kinds of animals, which he had an opportunity of studying in the Serraglio of Florence. The drawing is true and free, the figures and animals full of life, the colouring as usual well harmonised and bright. The Pope died about this time in 1522, and the picture was left to be finished by Allori in 1580. Ottaviano de' Medici, being a great lover of art, was often a patron on his own account; for him Andrea painted the _Holy Family_ now in the Pitti Palace. It is a most charmingly natural group: the Virgin seated on the ground dances the divine child astride on her knee, he is turning his head to the infant S. John who struggles to escape from his mother's arms to get to him. The fresh youth of the Virgin and the saintly age of S. Elizabeth are well contrasted. By the time this picture was finished the siege of Florence had begun, and when the painter took it to Ottaviano, he, having other claims on his means, excused himself from buying it, and recommended Andrea to offer it elsewhere. But the artist replied, "I have laboured for you, and the work shall be always yours." "Sell it and get what you can for it," again replied Ottaviano. Andrea carried the painting home again and would never sell it to any one. A few years after, the siege being over, and the Medici re-instated, he again took the _Holy Family_ to Ottaviano, who was so delighted that he paid him double the price for it.