This grand work is exposed to the sea, the spray of which has affected, but not destroyed it. In many other churches and palaces also are to be found the works of Tavarone; histories, fables, and imaginary compositions, often so well preserved that the scaffolding and the steps by which the artists ascended and descended, appear as if just removed. Fortunate, had his works been fewer in number, and finished with equal care. Some pictures in oil are mentioned by him, but more rare and of less merit than his frescos. Cesare Corte was of Pavian extraction. Valerio, his father, who was born in Venice, was the son of a gentleman of Pavia, and became, under the instruction of Titian, an excellent portrait painter; and his talents insuring him a favourable reception in Genoa, he settled there. He remained in that city for the rest of his life, and died in poverty, his means being all consumed in fruitless experiments in alchemy. He was the intimate friend of Cambiaso, whose life he wrote; and to him he committed the instruction of his son Cesare. This son did not indeed equal his father, but he surpassed the greater number of his fellow scholars. In the church of S. Piero he painted the tutelar saint at the foot of the Madonna, surrounded by angels; a picture of chaste design and of a true and harmonious colouring. His historical pictures and his portraits are found in many collections: one of the former, in the Casa Pallavicino, on a subject from the Inferno of Dante, was celebrated by Chiabrera in an elegant sonnet. The fame of this artist was tarnished by his heretical opinions, imbibed by the perusal of some pernicious work, as often happens to the half informed, who read every thing, understand little, and finally believe nothing. He however abjured his errors, though never released from his prison, where he died. David, his son, restricted himself to the limits of a copyist; and in this so highly distinguished himself, that his pictures are placed in some collections at the side of the originals as wonders of art.