executed the large-scale decorations at the occasion of the entry into Florence of Joanna of Austria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany on the occasion of her wedding with Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. The overall direction of the project was in the hands of Giorgio Vasari. Stradanus was one of the artists involved in the decoration of the Studiolo of Francesco I, the small, windowless barrel-vaulted room in the Palazzo Vecchio commissioned by Francesco I de' Medici and completed between 1570 and 1575 after designs by Vasari. The room was a Wunderkammer (Hall of Wonders), containing a vast collection of rare and precious items such as gems, medals, precious metals, carvings, pharmaceuticals and animal exhibits. Representations of the four elements (earth, air, fire and water) covered each wall. Stradanus contributed two paintings to the decoration of the Studiolo: The Alchemist's Studio and Circe transforms the companions of Ulysses. In the early 1570s Stradanus seems to have become independent of the court and Vasari. By this time the relationship between Stradanus and Vasari had soured and Vasari even tried to prevent Stradanus from gaining certain commissions. During this period he created a number of easel paintings. He had started to gain on his own commissions for large altarpieces for the most important churches of Florence, starting with Santa Croce in 1569, which was followed by Santissima Annunziata, Santo Spirito, Santa Maria Novella and other churches. He was also gradually working more outside Florence in places such as Pisa, Prato, Arezzo and Forli. In 1576 he moved to Naples, where he was employed by the newly appointed vice`roy of Naples John of Austria. He visited around 1578 Antwerp possibly traveling from Naples in the company of John of Austria who had been appointed governor of the Spanish Netherlands. At that time Antwerp was the most important centre of printing and publishing in Europe. Following this visit, he began to design engravings for the Antwerp printers, eventually producing a large number of drawings destined to be translated into prints. Stradanus collaborated with printmakers Hieronymus Cock and the Galle family in Antwerp to produce hundreds of prints on a variety of subjects, most of which were repeatedly reproduced and often bound into volumes. By 1583 Stradanus had returned to Florence. He worked that year for the Pazzi family for whom he painted an extensive series of frescoes for the chapel in Villa