The two Montagna flourished about the period 1500, in Vicenza, and were employed together, however unequal in genius, being equally followers of the Bellini, at least if we are to give credit to Ridolfi, who must have seen many of their productions, now no longer in existence. In those which I have seen, there appeared strong traces of the style of Mantegna. Benedetto is not mentioned by Vasari, who is apt to omit the names of all artists whom he accounted of inferior worth. He mentions Bartolommeo, as a pupil of Mantegna,[36] and he would certainly have done him more justice had he seen the works he produced in his native place, which, so far from having done, he asserts that the artist constantly resided in Venice. Vicenza boasts many of his pieces, which display the gradual progress of his style. If we wish to estimate the extent of his powers, we ought to consult his altarpiece at S. Michele, and another at S. Rocco, to which may be added a third, in that of the Seminary at Padua. In none of these are we able to discover any composition beyond what was in most general use at that period, already so frequently mentioned by us; and they retain more of the practice of gilding, which, in other places, was then becoming obsolete. In fine, this artist will be found to rank equal with the chief part of his contemporaries; exact in design, skilful in the naked parts, while his colours are fresh and warm. His cherubs are peculiarly graceful and pleasing, and in his altarpiece, at S. Michele, he has introduced an architecture which recedes from, and deceives the eye with a power of illusion, sufficient of itself to have rendered him conspicuous. Of Giovanni Speranza, there remain a few pieces which are much esteemed, though not remarkable for strength of colouring. But we can meet with no public specimens of Veruzio, and most probably his name is a mere equivoque of Vasari.[37] Giovanni Bonconsigli, called Marescalco, or the steward, was esteemed beyond any other of the artists of Vicenza, who flourished at this period, and he certainly approaches nearest to the modern style, and that of the Bellini. The practice, however, of ornamenting friezes with tritons and similar figures, taken from the antique, he most likely derived from the adjacent cities of Padua or Verona, one of which then professed the study of antiquity, the other that of monuments. Neither Vasari nor Ridolfi gives any account of his productions, except such as he painted in Venice, at this time either wholly perished or defaced. Those which he executed in Vicenza are still in good condition, nor ought a stranger of good taste to leave the place without visiting the chapel de' Turchini, to admire his Madonna in the style of Raffaello, seated upon a throne, between four saints, among which the figure of S. Sebastian is a masterpiece of ideal beauty. Indeed an able professor of the city considered it one of the finest