This chapter examines the early evolution of Peruzzi’s own wall-painting and architectural decoration, including the St Helena Chapel in S. Croce in Gerusalemme, Rome, the Castello in Ostia, and the first of his frescoes for the Farnesina itself, in the Sala or Stanza del Fregio (‘the room of the frieze’). It will also review the influences studied in Chapter 1, from Peruzzi’s earliest work in Siena cathedral, comparing his innovations with those of Pinturicchio and the young Raphael. I see the Farnesina frieze as a pivotal work for Peruzzi, synthesising earlier study of antiquities (some close at hand) and looking forward to the more public astrological vault. Most observers stress the difference between these two projects, one intimate, animated and softly lit, the other bright, ‘cold and pale’, formal and stylised as befits its official function of proclaiming the patron’s destiny (n. 59 in this chapter). Here, in contrast, I will suggest affinities between them.