Gianfrancesco Penni of Florence, called Il Fattore, who when a boy was a servant in the studio of Raffaello, became one of his principal scholars, and assisted him more than any other in the cartoons of the tapestries: he painted in the gallery of the Vatican the Histories of Abraham and Isaac, noticed by Taja. Among other works left incomplete by his master, and which he finished, is the Assumption of Monte Luci in Perugia, the lower part of which, with the apostles, is painted by Giulio, and the upper part, which abounds with Raffaellesque grace, is ascribed to Il Fattore, although Vasari assigns it to Perino. Of the works which he performed alone, his frescos in Rome have perished, and so few of his oil pictures remain, that they are rarely to be found in any collection. He is characterised by fertility of conception, grace of execution, and a singular talent for landscape. He was joint heir of Raffaello with Giulio, and wished to unite himself with him in his profession; but being coldly received by Giulio in Mantua, he proceeded to Naples, where he, as we shall see, contributed greatly to the improvement of art, although cut off by an early death. Orlandi notices two Penni in the school of Raffaello, comprehending Luca, a brother of Gianfrancesco, a circumstance not improbable, and not, as far as I know, contradicted by history. We are also told by Vasari, that Luca united himself to Perino del Vaga, and worked with him at Lucca, and in other places of Italy; that he followed Rosso into France, as we have before observed; and that he ultimately passed into England, where he painted for the king and private persons, and made designs for prints. Perino del Vaga, whose true name was Pierino Buonaccorsi, was a relation and fellow citizen of Penni. He had a share in the works of the Vatican, where he at one time worked stuccos and arabesques with Giovanni da Udine, at another time painted chiaroscuri with Polidoro, or finished subjects from the sketches and after the style of Raffaello. Vasari considered him the best designer of the Florentine School, after Michelangiolo, and at the head of all those who assisted Raffaello. It is certain, at least, that no one could, like him, compete with Giulio, in that universality of talent so conspicuous in Raffaello; and the subjects from the New Testament, which he painted in the papal gallery, were praised by Taja above all others. In his style there is a great mixture of the Florentine, as may be seen at Rome, in the Birth of Eve, in the church of S. Marcello, where there are some children painted to the life, a most finished performance. A convent at Tivoli possesses a S. John in the desart, by him, with a landscape in the best style. There are many works by him in Lucca, and Pisa, but more particularly in Genoa, where we shall have occasion again to consider him as the origin of a celebrated school.