ABSTRACT
In the fourth of his Roman dialogues of 1548, Francisco de Hollanda de scribed a day spent discussing inappropriate criticism of the arts, and the lack of correlation between the praise and the prices received by artists, with the illuminator Giulio Clovio, the medallist Valerio da Vicenza, and two Roman gentlemen. At one point, stung by the remark that the Spanish did not value painting highly enough, de Hollanda ostentatiously emptied his purse, paying 25 crusados for an illuminated drawing he had commissioned from Clovio. This act inspired a lengthy discussion of prices paid for works of art in antiquity, accompanied by a reading from Pliny's Natural History by one of the gentlemen.
