We find him also employed as architect to direct the construction
of a cupola of the church of Calcinaio. This carpenter was, then, an
architect also; and Professor Rossi remarks that it is by no means the
only case of the kind.
Maestro Mattia, the other expert called to appraise the work done by
Maestro Torzuolo for the canons of the cathedral of Perugia, was already
well and favorably known in that city, for he had been employed in 1495
to appraise some work which had been done for the choir of the monks of
St. Lorenzo; in that same year we find him executing some very elaborate
work for the convent of St. Augustine; and on the 20th of December there
was read at a meeting of the municipal council a petition from Maestro
Mattia to be admitted to the freedom of the city of Perugia; which
request the masters of the guilds, "taking into consideration the
industry, the mode of life and the moral character" of the petitioner,
were pleased to grant, on the condition that he, together with two other
persons admitted to citizenship at the same time, should make a present
to the corporation of a silver dish and forty pounds' weight of copper
money, and, further, that he should give the masters and treasurers of
his own guild a dinner.
The notices which Professor Rossi has collected from the various
collections of archives explored by him show in a remarkable manner how
much the best patron of art and artists in those days was the Church.
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