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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lives of the most Eminent Painters
+Sculptors and Architects, by Giorgio Vasari
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Lives of the most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects
+       Vol 07 (of 10) Tribolo to Il Sodoma
+
+Author: Giorgio Vasari
+
+Translator: Gaston du C. De Vere
+
+Release Date: March 31, 2010 [EBook #31845]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAINTERS SCULPTORS ARCHITECTS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Mark C. Orton, Christine P. Travers and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected.
+Hyphenation and accentuation have been standardised, all other
+inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling has been
+maintained.
+
+Bold text is marked with =.]
+
+
+
+
+LIVES OF THE MOST EMINENT PAINTERS SCULPTORS & ARCHITECTS BY GIORGIO
+VASARI:
+
+VOLUME VII. TRIBOLO TO IL SODOMA 1914
+
+NEWLY TRANSLATED BY GASTON Du C. DE VERE. WITH FIVE HUNDRED
+ILLUSTRATIONS: IN TEN VOLUMES
+
+[Illustration: 1511-1574]
+
+PHILIP LEE WARNER, PUBLISHER TO THE MEDICI SOCIETY, LIMITED 7 GRAFTON
+ST. LONDON, W. 1912-14
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF VOLUME VII
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+    NICCOL�, CALLED TRIBOLO                                            1
+
+    PIERINO [PIERO] DA VINCI                                          39
+
+    BACCIO BANDINELLI                                                 53
+
+    GIULIANO BUGIARDINI                                              105
+
+    CRISTOFANO GHERARDI, CALLED DOCENO                               115
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO                                               145
+
+    SIMONE MOSCA                                                     183
+
+    GIROLAMO AND BARTOLOMMEO GENGA, AND GIOVAN BATTISTA SAN
+      MARINO                                                         197
+
+    MICHELE SAN MICHELE                                              215
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI, CALLED IL SODOMA                         243
+
+    INDEX OF NAMES                                                   259
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME VII
+
+PLATES IN COLOUR
+
+                                                             FACING PAGE
+
+    GIULIANO BUGIARDINI
+        Portrait of a Lady
+            Florence: Pitti, 140                                     106
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+        Portrait of an Engraver
+            Paris: Louvre, 1241                                      174
+
+    PAOLO VERONESE (PAOLINO _or_ CALIARI)
+        Industry
+            Venice: Doges' Palace, Sala Anticollegio                 216
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI (IL SODOMA)
+        The Vision of S. Catharine
+            Siena: S. Domenico                                       244
+
+
+PLATES IN MONOCHROME
+
+    NICCOL� (TRIBOLO)
+        The Hercules Fountain
+            Florence: Villa Reale di Castello                         24
+
+    NICCOL� (TRIBOLO)
+        The Assumption of the Virgin
+            Bologna: S. Petronio                                     [1]
+
+         [Footnote 1: Illustrated with _Two Angels_, by Madonna
+         Properzia de' Rossi, vol. v., p. 126.]
+
+    PIERINO (PIERO) DA VINCI
+        Ugolino della Gherardesca and his Sons in the Tower of Famine
+            Oxford: Ashmolean Museum                                  48
+
+    BACCIO BANDINELLI
+        The Martyrdom of S. Lorenzo
+            Hereford: W. J. Davies' Collection                        64
+
+    BACCIO BANDINELLI
+        Statue of Hercules and Cacus
+            Florence: Piazza della Signoria                           72
+
+    BACCIO BANDINELLI
+        Statue of Giovanni delle Bande Nere
+            Florence: Piazza di S. Lorenzo                            80
+
+    BACCIO BANDINELLI
+        Reliefs from the Choir Screen
+            Florence: Duomo                                           88
+
+    GIULIANO BUGIARDINI
+        The Martyrdom of S. Catharine
+            Florence: S. Maria Novella, Rucellai Chapel              110
+
+    GIORGIO VASARI and CRISTOFANO GHERARDI (DOCENO)
+        Detail: The Supper of S. Gregory the Great
+            Bologna: Accademia, 198                                  122
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+        The Adoration of the Magi
+            Siena: S. Agostino                                       146
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+        Duke Cosimo I. de' Medici
+            Florence: Uffizi, 1270                                   152
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+        The Visitation
+            Florence: SS. Annunziata, Cloister                       154
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+        Joseph and his Kindred in Egypt
+            London: N. G., 1131                                      158
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+        Detail: Vertumnus Fresco
+            Poggio a Caiano: Villa Reale                             160
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+        Detail: Vertumnus Fresco
+            Poggio a Caiano: Villa Reale                             162
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+        The Descent From the Cross
+            Florence: S. Felicita                                    168
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+        The Martyrdom of the Forty Saints
+            Florence: Pitti, 182                                     170
+
+    SIMONE MOSCA and MICHELE SAN MICHELE
+        The Altar of the Three Kings
+            Orvieto: Duomo                                           190
+
+    SIMONE MOSCA
+        The Salutation
+            Orvieto: Duomo                                           192
+
+    GIROLAMO GENGA
+        Madonna and Child with Saints
+            Milan: Brera, 202                                        200
+
+    MICHELE SAN MICHELE
+        Porta del Palio
+            Verona                                                   222
+
+    MICHELE SAN MICHELE
+        Cappella de' Pellegrini
+            Verona: S. Bernardino                                    224
+
+    MICHELE SAN MICHELE
+     _See also at p. 190 above_
+        Palazzo Grimani
+            Venice                                                   230
+
+    PAOLO VERONESE (PAOLINO _or_ CALIARI)
+        The Feast in the House of Levi
+            Venice: Accademia, 203                                   238
+
+    PAOLO VERONESE (PAOLINO _or_ CALIARI)
+        Venice Enthroned, with Justice and Peace
+            Venice: Ducal Palace                                     240
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI (IL SODOMA)
+        Scene from the Life of S. Benedict
+            Monte Oliveto Maggiore                                   246
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI (IL SODOMA)
+        Scene from the Life of S. Benedict
+            Monte Oliveto Maggiore                                   246
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI (IL SODOMA)
+        Detail: the Marriage of Alexander and Roxana
+            Rome: Villa Farnesina                                    248
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI (IL SODOMA)
+        S. Sebastian
+            Florence: Uffizi, 1279                                   250
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI (IL SODOMA)
+        S. Ansano
+            Siena: Palazzo Pubblico                                  252
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI (IL SODOMA)
+        S. Francis
+            Siena: S. Bernardino, Oratory                            252
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI (IL SODOMA)
+        The Adoration of the Magi
+            Siena: S. Agostino                                       254
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI (IL SODOMA)
+        The Sacrifice of Isaac
+            Pisa: Duomo                                              256
+
+
+
+
+NICCOL�, CALLED TRIBOLO
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF NICCOL�, CALLED TRIBOLO
+
+SCULPTOR AND ARCHITECT
+
+
+Raffaello the carpenter, surnamed Il Riccio de' Pericoli, who lived
+near the Canto a Monteloro in Florence, had born to him in the year
+1500, as he used to tell me himself, a male child, whom he was pleased
+to call at baptism, like his own father, Niccol�; and having perceived
+that the boy had a quick and ready intelligence and a lofty spirit, he
+determined, although he was but a poor artisan, that he should begin
+straightway by learning to read and write well and cast accounts.
+Sending him to school, therefore, it came about, since the child was
+very vivacious and so high-spirited in his every action, that he was
+always cramped for room and was a very devil both among the other boys
+at school and everywhere else, always teasing and tormenting both
+himself and others, that he lost his own name of Niccol� and acquired
+that of Tribolo[2] to such purpose, that he was called that ever
+afterwards by everyone.
+
+         [Footnote 2: Teasel.]
+
+Now, Tribolo growing, his father, in order both to make use of him and
+to curb the boy's exuberance, took him into his workshop and taught
+him his own trade; but having seen in a few months that he was ill
+suited for such a calling, being somewhat delicate, thin, and feeble
+in health, he came to the conclusion that if he wished to keep him
+alive, he must release him from the heavier labours of his craft and
+set him to wood-carving. Having heard that without design, the father
+of all the arts, the boy could not become an excellent master therein,
+Raffaello resolved that he should begin by devoting all his time to
+design, and therefore made him draw now cornices, foliage, and
+grotesques, and now other things necessary to such a profession. And
+having seen that in doing this the boy was well served both by his
+head and by his hand, and reflecting, like a man of judgment, that
+with him Niccol� could at best learn nothing else but to work by the
+square, Raffaello first spoke of this with the carpenter Ciappino, who
+was the very familiar friend of Nanni Unghero; and with his advice and
+assistance, he placed Niccol� for three years with the said Nanni, in
+whose workshop, where both joiner's work and carving were done, there
+were constantly to be found the sculptor Jacopo Sansovino, the painter
+Andrea del Sarto, and others, who afterwards became such able masters.
+Now Nanni, who had in those days a passing good reputation for
+excellence, was executing many works both in joinery and in carving
+for the villa of Zanobi Bartolini at Rovezzano, without the Porta alla
+Croce, for the palace of the Bartolini, which Giovanni, the brother of
+that Zanobi, was having built at that time on the Piazza di S.
+Trinita, and for the house and garden of the same man in Gualfonda;
+and Tribolo, who was made to work by Nanni without discretion, always
+having to handle saws, planes, and other common tools, and not being
+capable, by reason of the feebleness of his body, of such exertions,
+began to feel dissatisfied and to say to Riccio, when he asked for the
+cause of his discontent, that he did not think that he could remain
+with Nanni in that craft, and that therefore Raffaello should see to
+placing him with Andrea del Sarto or Jacopo Sansovino, whom he had
+come to know in Unghero's workshop, for the reason that with one or
+the other of them he hoped to do better and to be sounder in health.
+Moved by these reasons, then, and again with the advice and assistance
+of Ciappino, Riccio placed Tribolo with Jacopo Sansovino, who took him
+willingly, because he had known him in the workshop of Nanni Unghero,
+and had seen that he worked well in design and even better in relief.
+
+Jacopo Sansovino, when Tribolo, now restored to health, went to work
+under him, was executing in the Office of Works of S. Maria del Fiore,
+in competition with Benedetto da Rovezzano, Andrea da Fiesole, and
+Baccio Bandinelli, the marble statue of S. James the Apostle which is
+still to be seen at the present day at that place together with the
+others. And thus Tribolo, with these opportunities of learning, by
+working in clay and drawing with great diligence, contrived to make
+such proficience in that art, for which he felt a natural inclination,
+that Jacopo, growing to love him more and more every day, began to
+encourage him and to bring him forward by making him execute now one
+thing and now another. Whereupon, although Sansovino had in his
+workshop at that time Solosmeo da Settignano and Pippo del Fabro,
+young men of great promise, seeing that Tribolo, having added skill in
+the use of chisels to his good knowledge of working in clay and in
+wax, not only equalled them but surpassed them by a great measure, he
+began to make much use of him in his works. And after finishing the
+Apostle and a Bacchus that he made for the house of Giovanni Bartolini
+in Gualfonda, and undertaking to make for M. Giovanni Gaddi, his
+intimate friend, a chimney-piece and a water-basin of hard sandstone
+for his house on the Piazza di Madonna, he caused some large figures
+of boys in clay, which were to go above the great cornice, to be made
+by Tribolo, who executed them so extraordinarily well, that M.
+Giovanni, having seen the beautiful manner and the genius of the young
+man, commissioned him to execute two medallions of marble, which,
+finished with great excellence, were afterwards placed over certain
+doors in the same house.
+
+Meanwhile there was a commission to be given for a tomb, a work of great
+magnitude, for the King of Portugal; and since Jacopo had been the
+disciple of Andrea Contucci of Monte Sansovino, and had the reputation
+not only of having equalled his master, a man of great renown, but of
+having a manner even more beautiful, that work, through the good offices
+of the Bartolini, was allotted to him. Whereupon Jacopo made a most
+superb model of wood, all covered with scenes and figures of wax, which
+were executed for the most part by Tribolo; and these proving to be very
+beautiful, the young man's fame so increased that Matteo di Lorenzo
+Strozzi--Tribolo having now left Sansovino, thinking that he was by that
+time able to work by himself--commissioned him to make some children of
+stone, and shortly afterwards, being much pleased with them, two of
+marble that are holding a dolphin which pours water into a fish-pond, a
+work that is now to be seen at San Casciano, a place eight miles distant
+from Florence, in the villa of that M. Matteo.
+
+While these works were being executed by Tribolo in Florence, M.
+Bartolommeo Barbazzi, a Bolognese gentleman who had gone there on some
+business, remembered that a search was being made in Bologna for a
+young man who could work well, to the end that he might be set to
+making figures and scenes of marble for the fa�ade of S. Petronio, the
+principal church of that city. Wherefore he spoke to Tribolo, and
+having seen some of his works, which pleased him, as also did the
+young man's ways and other qualities, he took him to Bologna, where
+Tribolo, with great diligence and with much credit to himself, in a
+short time made the two Sibyls of marble that were afterwards placed
+in the ornament of that door of S. Petronio which leads to the Della
+Morte Hospital. These works finished, arrangements were being made to
+give him greater things to do, and he was receiving many proofs of
+love and affection from M. Bartolommeo, when the plague of the year
+1525 began in Bologna and throughout all Lombardy; whereupon Tribolo,
+in order to avoid that plague, made his way to Florence. After living
+there during all the time that this contagious and pestilential
+sickness lasted, he departed as soon as it had ceased, and returned,
+in obedience to a summons, to Bologna, where M. Bartolommeo, not
+allowing him to set his hand to any work for the fa�ade, resolved,
+seeing that many of his friends and relatives had died, to have a tomb
+made for himself and for them. And so Tribolo, after finishing the
+model, which M. Bartolommeo insisted on seeing completed before he did
+anything else, went in person to Carrara to have the marbles
+excavated, intending to rough-hew them on the spot and to lighten them
+in such a manner, that they might not only be easier to transport, as
+indeed they were, but also that the figures might come out larger. In
+that place, in order not to waste his time, he blocked out two large
+children of marble, which were taken to Bologna with beasts of burden,
+unfinished as they were, together with the rest of the work; and after
+the death of M. Bartolommeo, which caused such grief to Tribolo that
+he returned to Tuscany, they were placed, with the other marbles, in
+a chapel in S. Petronio, where they still are.
+
+Having thus departed from Carrara, Tribolo, on his way back to
+Florence, stayed in Pisa to visit the sculptor Maestro Stagio da
+Pietrasanta, his very dear friend, who was executing in the Office of
+Works of the Duomo in that city two columns with capitals of marble
+all in open work, which were to stand one on either side of the
+high-altar and the Tabernacle of the Sacrament; and each of these was
+to have upon the capital an Angel of marble one braccio and three
+quarters in height, with a candelabrum in the hand. At the invitation
+of the said Stagio, having nothing else to do at that time, he
+undertook to make one of those Angels: which being finished with all
+the perfection that could be given to a delicate work of that size in
+marble, proved to be such that nothing more could have been desired,
+for the reason that the Angel, with the movement of his person, has
+the appearance of having stayed his flight in order to uphold that
+light, and the nude form has about it some delicate draperies which
+are so graceful in their effect, and look so well on every side and
+from every point of view, that words could not express their beauty.
+But, having consumed much time in executing this work, since he cared
+for nothing but his delight in art, and not having received for it
+from the Warden the payment that he expected, he resolved that he
+would not make the other Angel, and returned to Florence. There he met
+with Giovan Battista della Palla, who at that time was not only
+causing all the sculptures and pictures that he could to be executed
+for sending to King Francis I in France, but was also buying antiques
+of all sorts and pictures of every kind, provided only that they were
+by the hands of good masters; and every day he was packing them up and
+sending them off. Now, at the very moment when Tribolo returned,
+Giovan Battista had an ancient vase of granite, of a very beautiful
+shape, which he wished to arrange in such a manner that it might serve
+for a fountain for that King. He therefore declared his mind to
+Tribolo, and what he proposed to have done; and he, setting to work,
+made him a Goddess of Nature, who, raising one arm, holds that vase,
+the foot of which she has upon her head, with the hands, the first row
+of breasts being adorned with some boys standing out entirely detached
+from the marble, who are in various most beautiful attitudes, holding
+certain festoons in their hands, while the next range of breasts is
+covered with quadrupeds, and at her feet are many different kinds of
+fishes. That figure was finished with such diligence and such
+perfection, that it well deserved, after being sent to France together
+with other works, to be held very dear by the King, and to be placed,
+as a rare thing, in Fontainebleau.
+
+Afterwards, in the year 1529, when preparations were being made for
+the war against Florence and the siege, Pope Clement VII, wishing to
+study the exact site of the city and to consider in what manner and in
+what places his forces could be distributed to the best advantage,
+ordained that a plan of the city should be made secretly, with all the
+country for a mile around it--the hills, mountains, rivers, rocks,
+houses, churches, and other things, and also the squares and streets
+within, together with the walls and bastions surrounding it, and the
+other defences. The charge of all this was given to Benvenuto di
+Lorenzo della Volpaia, an able maker of clocks and quadrants and a
+very fine astrologer, but above all a most excellent master in taking
+ground-plans. This Benvenuto chose Tribolo as his companion, and that
+with great judgment, for the reason that it was Tribolo who suggested
+that this plan, for the better consideration of the height of the
+mountains, the depth of the low-lying parts, and all other
+particulars, should be made in relief; the doing of which was not
+without much labour and danger, in that, staying out all night to
+measure the roads and to mark the number of braccia between one place
+and another, and also to measure the height of the summits of the
+belfries and towers, drawing intersecting lines in every direction by
+means of the compass, and going beyond the walls to compare the height
+of the hills with that of the cupola, which they had marked as their
+centre, they did not execute such a work save after many months; but
+they used great diligence, for they made it of cork, for the sake of
+lightness, and limited the whole plan to the space of four braccia,
+and measured everything to scale. Having then been finished in this
+manner, and being made in pieces, that plan was packed up secretly and
+smuggled out of Florence in some bales of wool that were going to
+Perugia, being consigned to one who had orders to send it to the
+Pope, who made use of it continually during the siege of Florence,
+keeping it in his chamber, and seeing from one day to another, from
+letters and despatches, where and how the army was quartered, where
+skirmishes took place, and, in short, all the incidents, arguments,
+and discussions that occurred during that siege; all greatly to his
+satisfaction, for it was in truth a rare and marvellous work.
+
+The war finished--during the progress of which Tribolo executed some
+works in clay for his friends, and for Andrea del Sarto, his dearest
+friend, three figures of wax in the round, of which Andrea availed
+himself in painting in fresco, on the Piazza, near the Condotta,
+portraits from nature of three captains who had fled with the
+pay-chests, depicted as hanging by one foot--Benvenuto, summoned by
+the Pope, went to Rome to kiss the feet of his Holiness, and was
+placed by him in charge of the Belvedere, with an honourable salary.
+In that office, having often conversations with the Pope, Benvenuto,
+when the occasion arose, did not fail to extol Tribolo as an excellent
+sculptor and to recommend him warmly; insomuch that, the siege
+finished, Clement made use of him. For, designing to give completion
+to the Chapel of Our Lady at Loreto, which had been begun by Leo and
+then abandoned on account of the death of Andrea Contucci of Monte
+Sansovino, he ordained that Antonio da San Gallo, who had the charge
+of executing that fabric, should summon Tribolo and set him to
+complete some of those scenes that Maestro Andrea had left unfinished.
+Tribolo, then, thus summoned by San Gallo by order of Clement, went
+with all his family to Loreto, whither there likewise went Simone,
+called Mosca, a very rare carver of marble, Raffaello da Montelupo,
+Francesco da San Gallo the younger, Girolamo Ferrarese the sculptor, a
+disciple of Maestro Andrea, Simone Cioli, Ranieri da Pietrasanta, and
+Francesco del Tadda, all invited in order to finish that work. And to
+Tribolo, in the distribution of the labours, there fell, as the work
+of the greatest importance, a scene in which Maestro Andrea had
+represented the Marriage of Our Lady.
+
+Thereupon Tribolo made an addition to that scene, and had the notion
+of placing among the many figures that are standing watching the
+Marriage of the Virgin, one who in great fury is breaking his rod,
+because it had not blossomed; and in this he succeeded so well, that
+the suitor could not display with greater animation the rage that he
+feels at not having had the good fortune that he desired. Which work
+finished, and also that of the others, with great perfection, Tribolo
+had already made many models of wax with a view to executing some of
+those Prophets that were to go in the niches of that chapel, which was
+now built and completely finished, when Pope Clement, after seeing
+those works and praising them much, and particularly that of Tribolo,
+determined that they should all return without loss of time to
+Florence, in order to finish under the discipline of Michelagnolo
+Buonarroti all those figures that were wanting in the sacristy and
+library of S. Lorenzo, and the rest of the work, after the models of
+Michelagnolo and with his assistance, with the greatest possible
+speed, to the end that, having finished the sacristy, they might all
+together be able, thanks to the proficience made under the discipline
+of so great a man, also to finish the fa�ade of S. Lorenzo. And in
+order that there might be no manner of delay in doing this, the Pope
+sent Michelagnolo back to Florence, and with him Fra Giovanni Angelo
+de' Servi, who had executed some works in the Belvedere, to the end
+that he might assist him in carving the marbles and might make some
+statues, according as he should receive orders from Michelagnolo, who
+caused him to make a S. Cosimo, which was to stand on one side of the
+Madonna, with a S. Damiano, allotted to Montelupo, on the other.
+
+These commissions given, Michelagnolo desired that Tribolo should make
+two nude statues, which were to be one on either side of that of Duke
+Giuliano, which he himself had already made; one was to be a figure of
+Earth crowned with cypress, weeping with bowed head and with the arms
+outstretched, and lamenting the death of Duke Giuliano, and the other
+a figure of Heaven with the arms uplifted, all smiling and joyful, and
+showing her gladness at the adornment and splendour that the soul and
+spirit of that lord conferred upon her. But Tribolo's evil fortune
+crossed him at the very moment when he was about to begin to work on
+the statue of Earth; for, whether it was the change of air, or his
+feeble constitution, or because he had been irregular in his way of
+living, he fell ill of a grievous sickness, which, ending in a
+quartan fever, hung about him many months, to his infinite vexation,
+since he was tormented no less by his grief at having had to abandon
+the work, and at seeing that the friar and Raffaello had taken
+possession of the field, than by the illness itself. However, wishing
+to conquer that illness, in order not to be left behind by his rivals,
+whose name he heard celebrated more and more every day, feeble as he
+was, he made a large model of clay for the statue of Earth, and, when
+he had finished it, began to execute the work in marble, with such
+diligence and assiduity, that the statue could be seen already all cut
+out in front, when Fortune, who is always ready to oppose herself to
+any fair beginning, by the death of Clement at a moment when nothing
+seemed less likely, cut short the aspirations of all those excellent
+masters who were hoping to acquire under Michelagnolo, besides
+boundless profits, immortal renown and everlasting fame.
+
+Stupefied by this misfortune and robbed of all his spirit, and being
+also ill, Tribolo was living in utter despair, seeming not to be able
+either in Florence or abroad to hit upon anything that might be to his
+advantage; but Giorgio Vasari, who was always his friend and loved him
+from his heart, and helped him all that he could, consoled him, saying
+that he should not lose heart, because he would so contrive that Duke
+Alessandro would give him something to do, by means of the favour of
+the Magnificent Ottaviano de' Medici, into whose service Giorgio had
+introduced him on terms of no little intimacy. Wherefore Tribolo,
+having regained a little courage, occupied himself, while measures
+were being taken to assist him, with copying in clay all the figures
+of marble in the Sacristy of S. Lorenzo which Michelagnolo had
+executed--namely, Dawn, Twilight, Day, and Night. And he succeeded in
+doing them so well, that M. Giovan Battista Figiovanni, the Prior of
+S. Lorenzo, to whom he presented the Night in return for having the
+sacristy opened for him, judging it to be a rare work, presented it to
+Duke Alessandro, who afterwards gave it to Giorgio Vasari, who was
+living with his Excellency, knowing that Giorgio gave his attention to
+such studies; which figure is now in his house at Arezzo, with other
+works of art. Having afterwards copied, likewise in clay, the Madonna
+made by Michelagnolo for the same sacristy, Tribolo presented it to
+the above-named M. Ottaviano de' Medici, who had a most beautiful
+ornament in squared work made for it by Battista del Cinque, with
+columns, cornices, brackets, and other carvings very well executed.
+
+Meanwhile, by the favour of him who was Treasurer to his Excellency,
+and at the commission of Bertoldo Corsini, the proveditor for the
+fortress which was being built at that time, out of three escutcheons
+that were to be made by order of the Duke for placing on the bastions,
+one on each, one four braccia in height was given to Tribolo to
+execute, with two nude figures representing Victories; which
+escutcheon, finished by him with great diligence and promptitude, with
+the addition of three great masks that support the escutcheon and the
+figures, so pleased the Duke, that he conceived a very great love for
+Tribolo. Now shortly afterwards the Duke went to Naples to defend
+himself before the Emperor Charles V, who had just returned from
+Tunis, against many calumnies that had been laid upon him by some of
+his citizens; and, having not only defended himself, but also obtained
+from his Majesty his daughter Signora Margherita of Austria for wife,
+he wrote to Florence that four men should be appointed who might cause
+vast and splendid decorations to be prepared throughout the city, in
+order to receive the Emperor, who was coming to Florence, with proper
+magnificence. And I, having to distribute the various works at the
+commission of his Excellency--who ordained that I should act in
+company with the said four men, who were Giovanni Corsi, Luigi
+Guicciardini, Palla Rucellai, and Alessandro Corsini--gave the
+greatest and most difficult labours for that festival to Tribolo to
+execute, which were four large statues. The first was a Hercules that
+has just killed the Hydra, six braccia in height, in the round and
+overlaid with silver, which was placed at that corner of the Piazza di
+S. Felice that is at the end of the Via Maggio, with the following
+inscription in letters of silver on the base: UT HERCULES LABORE ET
+�RUMNIS MONSTRA EDOMUIT, ITA C�SAR VIRTUTE ET CLEMENTIA, HOSTIBUS
+VICTIS SEU PLACATIS, PACEM ORBI TERRARUM ET QUIETEM RESTITUIT. Two
+others were colossal figures eight braccia high, one representing the
+River Bagrada, which was resting upon the skin of the serpent that was
+brought to Rome, and the other representing the Ebro, with the horn of
+Amaltheia in one hand and in the other the helm of a ship; both
+coloured in imitation of bronze, with inscriptions on the bases; below
+the Ebro, HIBERUS EX HISPANIA, and below the other, BAGRADAS EX
+AFRICA. The fourth was a statue five braccia in height, on the Canto
+de' Medici, representing Peace, who had in one hand an olive branch
+and in the other a lighted torch, with which she was setting fire to a
+pile of arms heaped up on the base on which she was placed; with the
+following words: FIAT PAX IN VIRTUTE TUA. He did not finish, as he had
+hoped to do, the horse seven braccia in length that was set up on the
+Piazza di S. Trinita, upon which was to be placed the statue of the
+Emperor in armour, because Tasso the wood-carver, who was much his
+friend, did not show any promptitude in executing the base and the
+other things in the way of wood-carving that were to be included in
+the work, being a man who let time slip through his fingers in arguing
+and jesting; and there was only just time to cover the horse alone
+with tin-foil laid upon the still fresh clay. On the base were to be
+read the following words:
+
+     IMPERATORI CAROLO AUGUSTO VICTORIOSISSIMO, POST DEVICTOS HOSTES,
+     ITALI� PACE RESTITUTA ET SALUTATO FERDIN. FRATRE, EXPULSIS ITERUM
+     TURCIS AFRICAQUE PERDOMITA, ALEXANDER MED. DUX FLORENTI�, D.D.
+
+His Majesty having departed from Florence, a beginning was made with
+the preparations for the nuptials, in expectation of his daughter, and
+to the end that she and the Vice-Queen of Naples, who was in her
+company, might be commodiously lodged according to the orders of his
+Excellency in the house of M. Ottaviano de' Medici, an addition was
+made to his old house in four weeks, to the astonishment of everyone;
+and Tribolo, the painter Andrea di Cosimo, and I, in ten days, with
+the help of about ninety sculptors and painters of the city, what with
+masters and assistants, completed the preparations for the wedding in
+so far as appertained to the house and its decorations, painting the
+loggie, courtyards, and other spaces in a manner suitable for nuptials
+of such importance. Among these decorations, Tribolo made, besides
+other things, two Victories in half-relief that were one on either
+side of the principal door, supported by two large terminal figures,
+which also upheld the escutcheon of the Emperor, pendent from the
+neck of a very beautiful eagle in the round. The same master also made
+certain boys, likewise in the round, and large in size, which were
+placed on either side of some heads over the pediments of various
+doors; and these were much extolled.
+
+Meanwhile, as the nuptials were in progress, Tribolo received letters
+from Bologna, in which Messer Pietro del Magno, his devoted friend,
+besought him that he should consent to go to Bologna, in order to make
+for the Madonna di Galliera, where a most beautiful ornament of marble
+was already prepared, a scene likewise of marble three braccia and a
+half in extent. Whereupon Tribolo, happening to have nothing else to
+do at that time, went thither, and after making a model of a Madonna
+ascending into Heaven, with the Apostles below in various attitudes,
+which, being very beautiful, gave great satisfaction, he set his hand
+to executing it; but with little pleasure for himself, since the
+marble that he was carving was that Milanese marble, saline, full of
+emery, and bad in quality; and it seemed to him that he was wasting
+his time, without feeling a particle of that delight that men find in
+working those marbles which are a pleasure to carve, and which in the
+end, when brought to completion, show a surface that has the
+appearance of the living flesh itself. However, he did so much that it
+was already almost finished, when I, having persuaded Duke Alessandro
+to recall Michelagnolo from Rome, and also the other masters, in order
+to finish the work of the sacristy begun by Clement, was arranging to
+give him something to do in Florence; and I would have succeeded, but
+in the meantime, by reason of the death of Alessandro, who was
+murdered by Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de' Medici, not only was this
+design frustrated, but the greatness and prosperity of art were thrown
+into utter ruin.
+
+Having heard of the Duke's death, Tribolo condoled with me in his
+letters, beseeching me, after he had exhorted me to bear with
+resignation the death of that great Prince, my gracious master, that
+if I went to Rome, as he had heard that I, being wholly determined to
+abandon Courts and to pursue my studies, was intending to do, I should
+obtain some commission for him, for the reason that, if assisted by my
+friends, he would do whatever I told him. But it so chanced that it
+became in no way necessary for him to seek commissions in Rome. For
+Signor Cosimo de' Medici, having been created Duke of Florence, as
+soon as he had freed himself from the troubles that he had in the
+first year of his rule by routing his enemies at Monte Murlo, began to
+take some diversion, and in particular to frequent not a little the
+villa of Castello, which is little more than two miles distant from
+Florence. There he began to do some building, in order that he might
+be able to live there comfortably with his Court, and little by
+little--being encouraged in this by Maestro Pietro da San Casciano,
+who was held to be a passing good master in those days, and was much
+in the service of Signora Maria, the mother of the Duke, and had also
+always been the master-builder and the former servant of Signor
+Giovanni--he resolved to conduct to that place certain waters that he
+had desired long before to bring thither. Whereupon a beginning was
+made with building an aqueduct that was to receive all the waters from
+the hill of Castellina, which was at a distance of a quarter of a mile
+or more from Castello; and the work was pursued vigorously with a good
+number of men. But the Duke recognizing that Maestro Pietro had
+neither invention nor power of design enough to make in that place a
+beginning that might afterwards in time receive that ornamentation
+which the site and the waters required, one day that his Excellency
+was on the spot, speaking of this with such men as Messer Ottaviano
+de' Medici and Cristofano Rinieri, the friend of Tribolo and the old
+servant of Signora Maria and of the Duke, they extolled Tribolo in
+such a manner, as a man endowed with all those parts that were
+requisite in the head of such a fabric, that the Duke gave Cristofano
+a commission to make him come from Bologna. Which having been
+straightway done by Rinieri, Tribolo, who could not have received any
+better news than that he was to serve Duke Cosimo, set out immediately
+for Florence, and, arriving there, was taken to Castello, where his
+most illustrious Excellency, having heard from him what he thought
+should be done in the way of decorative fountains, gave him a
+commission to make the models. Whereupon he set his hand to these, and
+was engaged upon them, while Maestro Pietro da San Casciano was
+executing the aqueduct and bringing the waters to the place, when the
+Duke, who meanwhile had begun, for the security of the city, to
+surround with a very strong wall the bastions erected on the hill of
+San Miniato at the time of the siege after the designs of
+Michelagnolo, ordained that Tribolo should make an escutcheon of hard
+stone, with two Victories, for an angle of the summit of a bastion
+that faces Florence. But Tribolo had scarcely finished the escutcheon,
+which was very large, and one of those Victories, a figure four
+braccia high, which was held to be a very beautiful thing, when he was
+obliged to leave that work incomplete, for the reason that, Maestro
+Pietro having carried well on the making of the aqueduct and the
+bringing of the waters, to the full satisfaction of the Duke, his
+Excellency wished that Tribolo should begin to put into execution, for
+the adornment of that place, the designs and models that he had
+already shown to him, ordaining him for the time being a salary of
+eight crowns a month, the same that was paid to San Casciano.
+
+Now, in order that I may not become confused in describing the
+intricacies of the aqueducts and of the ornaments of the fountains, it
+may be well to say briefly some few words about the site and position
+of Castello. The villa of Castello stands at the roots of Monte
+Morello, below the Villa della Topaia, which is halfway up the slope;
+it has before it a plain that descends little by little, for the space
+of a mile and a half, down to the River Arno, and exactly where the
+ascent of the mountain begins stands the palace, which was built in
+past times by Pier Francesco de' Medici, after a very good design. The
+principal front faces straight towards the south, overlooking a vast
+lawn with two very large fish-ponds full of running water, which comes
+from an ancient aqueduct made by the Romans in order to conduct water
+from Valdimarina to Florence, and provided with a vaulted cistern
+under the ground; and so it has a very beautiful and very pleasing
+view. The fish-ponds in front are divided in the middle by a bridge
+twelve braccia wide, which leads to an avenue of the same width,
+bounded at the sides and covered above by an unbroken vault of
+mulberry-trees, ten braccia in height, thus making a covered avenue
+three hundred braccia in length, delightful for its shade, which opens
+on to the high road to Prato by a gate placed between two fountains
+that serve to give water to travellers and animals. On the eastern
+side the same palace has a very beautiful pile of stable-buildings,
+and on the western side a private garden into which one goes from the
+courtyard of the stables, passing straight through the ground-floor of
+the palace by way of the loggie, halls, and chambers on the level of
+the ground; from which private garden one can enter by a door on the
+west side into another garden, very large and all filled with
+fruit-trees, and bounded by a forest of fir-trees that conceals the
+houses of the labourers and others who live there, engaged in the
+service of the palace and of the gardens. Next, that part of the
+palace which faces north, towards the mountain, has in front of it a
+lawn as long as the palace, the stables, and the private garden
+altogether, and from this lawn one climbs by steps to the principal
+garden, a place enclosed by ordinary walls, which, rising in a gentle
+slope, stretches so well clear of the palace as it rises, that the
+mid-day sun searches it out and bathes it all with its rays, as if
+there were no palace in front; and at the upper end it stands so high
+that it commands a view not only of the whole palace, but also of the
+plain that is in front and around it, and likewise about the city. In
+the middle of this garden is a forest of very tall and thickly-planted
+cypresses, laurels, and myrtles, which, laid out in a circular shape,
+have the form of a labyrinth, all surrounded by box-hedges two braccia
+and a half in height, so even and grown with such beautiful order that
+they have the appearance of a painting done with the brush; in the
+centre of which labyrinth, at the desire of the Duke, Tribolo, as will
+be described below, made a very beautiful fountain of marble. At the
+principal entrance, where there is the first-mentioned lawn with the
+two fish-ponds and the avenue covered with mulberry-trees, Tribolo
+wished that the avenue should be so extended that it might stretch for
+a distance of more than a mile, covered and shaped in like manner, and
+might reach as far as the River Arno, and that the waters which ran
+away from all the fountains, flowing gently in pleasant channels at
+the sides of the avenue, and filled with various kinds of fishes and
+crayfish, might accompany it down to that river.
+
+As for the palace--to describe what has still to be done as well as
+that which has been finished--he wished to make a loggia in front of
+it, which, passing by an open courtyard, was to have on the side
+where the stables are another palace as large as the old one, with the
+same proportion of apartments, loggie, private garden, and the rest;
+which addition would have made it a vast palace, with a most beautiful
+fa�ade. After passing the court from which one enters into the large
+garden of the labyrinth, at the main entrance, where there is a vast
+lawn, after climbing the steps that lead to that labyrinth, there came
+a level space thirty braccia square, on which there was to be--and has
+since been made--a very large fountain of white marble, which was to
+spout upwards above ornaments fourteen braccia in height, while from
+the mouth of a statue at the highest point was to issue a jet of water
+rising to the height of six braccia. At either end of the lawn was to
+be a loggia, one opposite to the other, each thirty braccia in length
+and fifteen in breadth; and in the middle of each loggia was to be
+placed a marble table twelve braccia in length, and on the outside a
+basin of eight braccia, which was to receive the water from a vase
+held by two figures. In the middle of the above-mentioned labyrinth
+Tribolo had thought to achieve the most decorative effect with water
+by means of jets and a very beautiful seat round the fountain, the
+marble basin of which was to be, even as it was afterwards made, much
+smaller than that of the large principal fountain; and at the summit
+it was to have a figure of bronze spouting water. At the end of this
+garden, in the centre, there was to be a gate with some children of
+marble on both sides spouting water, with a fountain on either side,
+and in the corners double niches in which statues were to be placed,
+as in the others that are in the walls at the sides, at the opposite
+ends of the avenues that cross the garden, which are all covered with
+greenery distributed in various ways.
+
+Through the above-mentioned gate, which is at the upper end of this
+garden, above some steps, one enters into another garden, as wide as
+the first, but of no great depth in the direct line, in comparison
+with the mountain beyond. In this garden were to be two other loggie,
+one on either side, and in the wall opposite to the gate, which
+supports the soil of the mountain, there was to be in the centre a
+grotto with three basins, with water playing into them in imitation of
+rain. The grotto was to be between two fountains placed in the same
+wall, and opposite to these, in the lower wall of the garden, were to
+be two others, one on either side of the gate; so that the fountains
+of this garden would have been equal in number to those of the other,
+which is below it, and receives its water from the first, which is
+higher. And this garden was to be all full of orange-trees, which
+would have had--and will have, whenever that may be--a most favourable
+situation, being defended by the walls and by the mountain from the
+north wind and other harmful winds.
+
+From this garden one climbs by two staircases of flint, one on either
+side, to a forest of cypresses, fir-trees, holm-oaks, laurels, and
+other evergreen trees, distributed with beautiful order, in the middle
+of which, according to Tribolo's design, there was to be a most lovely
+fish-pond, which has since been made. And because this part, gradually
+narrowing, forms an angle, that angle, to the end that it might be
+made flat, was to be blunted by the breadth of a loggia, from which,
+after climbing some steps, might be seen in front the palace, the
+gardens, the fountains, and all the plain below and about them, as far
+as the Ducal Villa of Poggio a Caiano, Florence, Prato, Siena, and all
+that is around for many miles.
+
+Now the above-named Maestro Pietro da San Casciano, having carried his
+work of the aqueduct as far as Castello, and having turned into it all
+the waters of Castellina, was overtaken by a violent fever, and died
+in a few days. Whereupon Tribolo, undertaking the charge of directing
+all the building by himself, perceived that, although the waters
+brought to Castello were in great abundance, nevertheless they were
+not sufficient for all that he had made up his mind to do; not to
+mention that, coming from Castellina, they did not rise to the height
+that he required for his purposes. Having therefore obtained from the
+Lord Duke a commission to conduct thither the waters of Petraia, a
+place more than one hundred and fifty braccia above Castello, which
+are good and very abundant, he caused a conduit to be made, similar to
+the other, and so high that one can enter into it, to the end that
+thus those waters of Petraia might come to the fish-pond through
+another aqueduct with enough fall for the fish-pond and the great
+fountain.
+
+This done, Tribolo began to build the above-mentioned grotto,
+proposing to make it with three niches, in a beautiful architectural
+design, and likewise the two fountains that were one on either side of
+it. In one of these there was to be a large statue of stone,
+representing Monte Asinaio, which, pressing its beard, was to pour
+water from its mouth into a basin that was to be in front of it; from
+which basin the water, issuing by a hidden channel, and passing under
+the wall, was to flow to the fountain that there is at the present day
+behind the wall, at the end of the slope of the garden of the
+labyrinth, pouring into the vase on the shoulder of the figure of the
+River Mugnone, which is in a large niche of grey-stone decorated with
+most beautiful ornaments, and all covered with sponge-stone. This
+work, if it had been finished in all its perfection, even as it is in
+part, would have had great similarity to the reality, since the
+Mugnone rises from Monte Asinaio.
+
+For the Mugnone, then, to describe that which has been done, Tribolo
+made a figure of grey-stone, four braccia in length, and reclining in
+a very beautiful attitude, which has upon one shoulder a vase that
+pours water into a basin, and rests the other on the ground, leaning
+upon it, with the left leg crossed over the right. And behind this
+river is a woman representing Fiesole, wholly naked, issuing from
+among the sponge-stones and rocks in the middle of the niche, and
+holding in the hand a moon which is the ancient emblem of the people
+of Fiesole. Below this niche is a very large basin supported by two
+great Capricorns, which are one of the devices of the Duke; from which
+Capricorns hang some festoons and masks of great beauty, and from
+their lips issues the water from that basin, which is convex in the
+middle, and has outlets at the sides; and all the water that overflows
+pours away from the sides through the mouths of the Capricorns, and
+then, after falling into the hollow base of the vase, flows through
+the herb-beds that are round the walls of the garden of the labyrinth,
+where there are fountains between the niches, and between the
+fountains espaliers of oranges and pomegranates.
+
+In the second garden described above, where Tribolo had intended that
+there should be made the Monte Asinaio that was to supply water to the
+Mugnone, there was to be on the other side, beyond the gate, a similar
+figure of the Monte della Falterona; and even as this mountain is the
+source of the River Arno, so the statue representing that river in the
+garden of the labyrinth, opposite to the Mugnone, was to receive the
+water from the Falterona. But since neither the figure of that
+mountain nor its fountain has ever been finished, let us speak of the
+fountain and figure of the River Arno, which were completed by Tribolo
+to perfection. This river, then, holds its vase upon one thigh, lying
+down and leaning with one arm on a lion, which holds a lily in its
+paw, and the vase receives its water through the perforated wall,
+behind which there was to be the Falterona, exactly in the manner in
+which, as has been described, the statue of the River Mugnone also
+receives its water; and since the long basin is in every way similar
+to that of the Mugnone, I shall say no more about it, save this, that
+it is a pity that the art and excellence of these works, which are
+truly most beautiful, are not embodied in marble.
+
+Then, continuing the work of the conduit, Tribolo caused the water
+from the grotto to pass under the orange-garden and then under the
+next garden, and thus brought it into the labyrinth, where, forming a
+circle round all the middle of the labyrinth, in a good circumference
+round the centre, he laid down the central pipe, through which the
+fountain was to spout water. After which, taking the waters from the
+Arno and the Mugnone, and bringing them together under the level of
+the labyrinth by means of certain bronze pipes that were distributed
+in beautiful order throughout that space, he filled that whole
+pavement with very fine jets, in such a manner that it was possible by
+turning a key to drench all those who came near to see the fountain.
+Nor is one able to escape either quickly or with ease, because Tribolo
+made round the fountain and the pavement, in which are the jets, a
+seat of grey-stone supported by lion's paws, between which are sea
+monsters in low-relief; which was a difficult thing to do, because he
+chose, since the place was sloping and the square lay on the slant, to
+make it level, and the same with the seat.
+
+Having then set his hand to the fountain of the labyrinth, he made on
+the shaft, in marble, an interwoven design of sea monsters cut out in
+full relief, with tails intertwined so well, that nothing better of
+that kind could be done. And this finished, he executed the tazza
+with a piece of marble brought long before to Castello, together with
+a large table, also of marble, from the Villa dell'Antella, which M.
+Ottaviano de' Medici formerly bought from Giuliano Salviati. By reason
+of this opportunity, then, Tribolo made that tazza sooner than he
+might otherwise have done, fashioning round it a dance of little
+children attached to the moulding which is beside the lip of the
+tazza; which children are holding festoons of products of the sea, cut
+out of the marble with beautiful art. And so also the shaft which he
+made over the tazza, he executed with much grace, with some very
+beautiful children and masks to spout water. Upon that shaft it was
+the intention of Tribolo to place a bronze statue three braccia high,
+representing Florence, in order to signify that from the above-named
+Mounts Asinaio and Falterona the waters of the Arno and Mugnone come
+to Florence; of which figure he had made a most beautiful model which,
+pressing the hair with the hands, caused water to pour forth. Then,
+having brought the water as far as the space thirty braccia square,
+below the labyrinth, he made a beginning with the great fountain,
+which, made with eight sides, was to receive all the above-mentioned
+waters into its lowest basin--namely, those from the waterworks of the
+labyrinth, and likewise those of the great conduit. Each of these
+eight sides, then, rises above a step one-fifth of a braccio in
+height, and each angle of the eight sides has a projection, as have
+also the steps, which, thus projecting, rise at each angle in a great
+step of two-fifths of a braccio, in such a way that the central face
+of the steps withdraws into the projections, and their straight line
+is thus broken, which produces a bizarre effect, and makes the ascent
+very easy. The edges of the fountain have the shape of a vase, and the
+body of the fountain--that is, the inner part where the water
+is--curves in the form of a circle. The shaft begins with eight sides,
+and continues with eight seats almost up to the base of the tazza,
+upon which are seated eight children of the size of life, all in the
+round and in various attitudes, who, linked together with the legs and
+arms, make a rich adornment and a most beautiful effect. And since the
+tazza, which is round, projects to the extent of six braccia, the
+water of the whole fountain, pouring equally over the edge on every
+side, sends a very beautiful rain, like the drippings from a roof,
+into the octagonal basin mentioned above, and those children that are
+on the shaft of the tazza are not wetted, and they appear to be there
+in order not to be wetted by the rain, almost like real children, full
+of delight and playing as they shelter under the lip of the tazza,
+which could not be equalled in its simplicity and beauty. Opposite to
+the four paths that intersect the garden are four children of bronze
+lying at play in various attitudes, which are after the designs of
+Tribolo, although they were executed afterwards by others. Above this
+tazza begins another shaft, which has at the foot, on some
+projections, four children of marble in the round, who are pressing
+the necks of some geese that spout water from their mouths; and this
+water is that of the principal conduit coming from the labyrinth, and
+rises exactly to this height. Above these children is the rest of the
+shaft of this pedestal, which is made with certain cartouches which
+spurt forth water in a most bizarre manner; and then, regaining a
+quadrangular form, it rises over some masks that are very well made.
+Above this, then, is a smaller tazza, on the lip of which, on all four
+sides, are fixed by the horns four heads of Capricorns, making a
+square, which spout water through their mouths into the large tazza,
+together with the children, in order to make the rain which falls, as
+has been told, into the first basin, which has eight sides. Still
+higher there follows another shaft, adorned with other ornaments and
+with some children in half-relief, who, projecting outwards, form at
+the top a round space that serves as base to the figure of a Hercules
+who is crushing Ant�us, which was designed by Tribolo and executed
+afterwards by others, as will be related in the proper place. From the
+mouth of this Ant�us he intended that, instead of his spirit, there
+should gush out through a pipe water in great abundance, as indeed it
+does; which water is that of the great conduit of Petraia, which comes
+with much force, and rises sixteen braccia above the level where the
+steps are, and makes a marvellous effect in falling back into the
+greater tazza. In that same aqueduct, then, come not only those waters
+from Petraia, but also those that go to the fish-pond and the grotto,
+and these, uniting with those from Castellina, go to the fountains of
+the Falterona and Monte Asinaio, and thence to the fountains of the
+Arno and Mugnone, as has been related; after which, being reunited at
+the fountain of the labyrinth, they go to the centre of the great
+fountain, where are the children with the geese. From there, according
+to the design of Tribolo, they were to flow through two distinct and
+separate conduits into the basins of the loggie, where the tables are,
+and then each into a separate private garden. The first of these
+gardens--that towards the west--is all filled with rare and medicinal
+plants; wherefore at the highest level of that water, in that garden
+of simples, in the niche of the fountain, and behind a basin of
+marble, there was to be a statue of �sculapius.
+
+The principal fountain described above, then, was completely finished
+in marble by Tribolo, and carried to the finest and greatest
+perfection that could be desired in a work of this kind. Wherefore I
+believe that it may be said with truth that it is the most beautiful
+fountain, the richest, the best proportioned, and the most pleasing
+that has ever been made, for the reason that in the figures, in the
+vases, in the tazze, and, in short, throughout the whole work, are
+proofs of extraordinary diligence and industry. After this, having
+made the model of the above-mentioned statue of �sculapius, Tribolo
+began to execute it in marble, but, being hindered by other things, he
+did not finish that figure, which was completed afterwards by the
+sculptor Antonio di Gino, his disciple.
+
+[Illustration: THE HERCULES FOUNTAIN
+
+(_After =Niccol� [Tribolo]=. Florence: Villa Reale di Castello_)]
+
+On the side towards the east, in a little lawn without the garden,
+Tribolo arranged an oak in a most ingenious manner, for, besides the
+circumstance that it is so thickly covered both above and all around
+with ivy intertwined among the branches, that it has the appearance of
+a very dense grove, one can climb up it by a convenient staircase of
+wood similarly covered with ivy, at the top of which, in the middle of
+the oak, there is a square chamber surrounded by seats, the backs of
+which are all of living verdure, and in the centre is a little table
+of marble with a vase of variegated marble in the middle, from which,
+through a pipe, there flows and spurts into the air a strong jet of
+water, which, after falling, runs away through another pipe. These
+pipes mount upwards from the foot of the oak so well hidden by the
+ivy, that nothing is seen of them, and the water can be turned on or
+off at pleasure by means of certain keys; nor is it possible to
+describe in full in how many ways that water of the oak can be turned
+on, in order to drench anyone at pleasure with various instruments of
+copper, not to mention that with the same instruments one can cause
+the water to produce various sounds and whistlings.
+
+Finally, all these waters, after having served so many different
+purposes, and supplied so many fountains, are collected together, and
+flow into the two fish-ponds that are without the palace, at the
+beginning of the avenue, and thence to other uses of the villa.
+
+Nor will I omit to tell what was the intention of Tribolo with regard
+to the statues that were to be as ornaments in the great garden of the
+labyrinth, in the niches that may be seen regularly distributed there
+in various spaces. He proposed, then--acting in this on the judicious
+advice of M. Benedetto Varchi, who has been in our times most
+excellent as poet, orator, and philosopher--that at the upper and
+lower ends there should be placed the four Seasons of the
+year--Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter--and that each should be set
+up in that part where its particular season is most felt. At the
+entrance, on the right hand, beside the Winter, and in that part of
+the wall which stretches upwards, were to go six figures that were to
+demonstrate the greatness and goodness of the house of Medici, and to
+denote that all the virtues are to be found in Duke Cosimo; and these
+were Justice, Compassion, Valour, Nobility, Wisdom, and Liberality,
+which have always dwelt in the house of Medici, and are all united
+together at the present day in the most excellent Lord Duke, in that
+he is just, compassionate, valorous, noble, wise, and liberal. And
+because these qualities have made the city of Florence, as they still
+do, strong in laws, peace, arms, science, wisdom, tongues, and arts,
+and also because the said Lord Duke is just in the laws, compassionate
+in peace, valorous in arms, noble through the sciences, wise in his
+encouragement of tongues and other culture, and liberal to the arts,
+Tribolo wished that on the other side from the Justice, Compassion,
+Valour, Nobility, Wisdom, and Liberality, on the left hand, as will be
+seen below, there should be these other figures: Laws, Peace, Arms,
+Sciences, Tongues, and Arts. And it was most appropriately arranged
+that in this manner these statues and images should be placed, as
+they would have been, above the Arno and Mugnone, in order to signify
+that they do honour to Florence. It was also proposed that in the
+pediments there should be placed portrait-busts of men of the house of
+Medici, one in each--over Justice, for example, the portrait of his
+Excellency, that being his particular virtue, over Compassion that of
+the Magnificent Giuliano, over Valour Signor Giovanni, over Nobility
+the elder Lorenzo, over Wisdom the elder Cosimo or Clement VII, and
+over Liberality Pope Leo. And in the pediments on the other side it
+was suggested that there might be placed other heads from the house of
+Medici, or of persons of the city connected with that house. But since
+these names make the matter somewhat confused, they have been placed
+here in the following order:
+
+  SUMMER.      THE MUGNONE.  GATE.  THE ARNO.    SPRING.
+
+  ARTS.      L                                L  LIBERALITY.
+  TONGUES.   O                                O  WISDOM.
+  SCIENCES.  G                                G  NOBILITY.
+  ARMS.      G                                G  VALOUR.
+  PEACE.     I                                I  COMPASSION.
+  LAWS.      A                                A  JUSTICE.
+
+      AUTUMN.    GATE.     LOGGIA.  GATE.  WINTER.
+
+All these ornaments would have made this in truth the richest, the
+most magnificent, and the most ornate garden in Europe; but these
+works were not carried to completion, for the reason that Tribolo was
+not able to take measures to have them finished while the Duke was in
+the mind to continue them, as he might have done in a short time,
+having men in abundance and the Duke ready to spend money, and not
+suffering from those hindrances that afterwards stopped him. The Duke,
+indeed, not being contented at that time with the great quantity of
+water that is to be seen there, was thinking of trying to obtain the
+water of Valcenni, which is very abundant, in order to join it with
+the rest, and then to conduct it from Castello by an aqueduct similar
+to the one which he had made to the Piazza in front of his Palace in
+Florence. And of a truth, if this work had been pressed forward by a
+man with greater energy and more desire of glory, it would have been
+carried at least well on; but since Tribolo, besides that he was much
+occupied with various affairs of the Duke's, had not much energy,
+nothing more was done. And in all the time that he worked at Castello,
+he did not execute with his own hand anything save the two fountains,
+with the two rivers, the Arno and the Mugnone, and the statue of
+Fiesole; this arising from no other cause, so far as one can see, but
+his being too much occupied, as has been related, with the many
+affairs of the Duke.
+
+Among other things, the Duke caused him to make a bridge over the
+River Mugnone on the high road that goes to Bologna, without the Porta
+a S. Gallo. This bridge, since the river crosses the road obliquely,
+Tribolo caused to be built with an arch likewise oblique, in
+accordance with its oblique line across the river, which was a new
+thing, and much extolled, above all because he had the arch put
+together of stones cut on the slant on every side in such a manner
+that it proved to be very strong and very graceful; in short, this
+bridge was a very beautiful work.
+
+Not long before, the Duke had been seized with a desire to make a tomb
+for Signor Giovanni de' Medici, his father, and Tribolo, being eager
+to have the commission, made a very beautiful model for it, in
+competition with one that had been executed by Raffaello da Montelupo,
+who had the favour of Francesco di Sandro, the master of arms to his
+Excellency. And then, the Duke having resolved that the one to be put
+into execution should be Tribolo's, he went off to have the marble
+quarried at Carrara, where he also caused to be quarried the two
+basins for the loggie at Castello, a table, and many other blocks of
+marble. Meanwhile, Messer Giovan Battista da Ricasoli, now Bishop of
+Pistoia, being in Rome on business of the Lord Duke's, he was sought
+out by Baccio Bandinelli, who had just finished the tombs of Pope Leo
+X and Clement VII in the Minerva; and he was asked by Baccio to
+recommend him to his Excellency. Whereupon Messer Giovan Battista
+wrote to the Duke that Bandinelli desired to serve him, and his
+Excellency wrote in reply that on his return he should bring him in
+his company. And Bandinelli, having therefore arrived in Florence, so
+haunted the Duke in his audacity, making promises and showing him
+designs and models, that the tomb of the above-named Signor Giovanni,
+which was to have been made by Tribolo, was allotted to him; and so,
+taking some pieces of marble of Michelagnolo's, which were in the Via
+Mozza in Florence, he hacked them about without scruple and began the
+work. Wherefore Tribolo, on returning from Carrara, found that in
+consequence of his being too leisurely and good-natured, the
+commission had been taken away from him.
+
+In the year when bonds of kinship were formed between the Lord Duke
+Cosimo and the Lord Don Pedro di Toledo, Marquis of Villafranca, at
+that time Viceroy of Naples, the Lord Duke taking Don Pedro's
+daughter, Signora Leonora, to wife, preparations were made in Florence
+for the nuptials, and Tribolo was given the charge of constructing a
+triumphal arch at the Porta al Prato, through which the bride, coming
+from Poggio, was to enter; which arch he made a thing of beauty, very
+ornate with columns, pilasters, architraves, great cornices, and
+pediments. That arch was to be all covered with figures and scenes, in
+addition to the statues by the hand of Tribolo; and all those
+paintings were executed by Battista Franco of Venice, Ridolfo
+Ghirlandajo, and Michele, his disciple. Now the principal figure that
+Tribolo made for this work, which was placed at the highest point in
+the centre of the pediment, on a dado wrought in relief, was a woman
+five braccia high, representing Fecundity, with five little boys,
+three clinging to her legs, one on her lap, and another in her arms;
+and beside her, where the pediment sloped away, were two figures of
+the same size, one on either side. Of these figures, which were lying
+down, one was Security, leaning on a column with a light wand in her
+hand, and the other was Eternity, with a globe in her arms, and below
+her feet a white-haired old man representing Time, and holding in his
+arms the Sun and Moon. I shall say nothing as to the works of painting
+that were on that arch, because everyone may read about them for
+himself in the description of the festive preparations for those
+nuptials. And since Tribolo had particular charge of all decorations
+for the Palace of the Medici, he caused many devices to be executed in
+the lunettes of the vaulting of the court, with mottoes appropriate to
+the nuptials, and all those of the most illustrious members of the
+house of Medici. Besides this, he had a most sumptuous decoration made
+in the great open court, all full of stories; on one side of the
+Greeks and Romans, and on the other sides of deeds done by illustrious
+men of that house of Medici, which were all executed under the
+direction of Tribolo by the most excellent young painters that there
+were in Florence at that time--Bronzino, Pier Francesco di Sandro,
+Francesco Il Bacchiacca, Domenico Conti, Antonio di Domenico, and
+Battista Franco of Venice.
+
+On the Piazza di S. Marco, also, upon a vast pedestal ten braccia in
+height (in which Bronzino had painted two very beautiful scenes of the
+colour of bronze on the socle that was above the cornices), Tribolo
+erected a horse of twelve braccia, with the fore-legs in the air, and
+upon it an armed figure, large in proportion; and this figure, which
+had below it men dead and wounded, represented the most valorous
+Signor Giovanni de' Medici, the father of his Excellency. This work
+was executed by Tribolo with so much art and judgment, that it was
+admired by all who saw it, and what caused even greater marvel was the
+speed with which he finished it; among his assistants being the
+sculptor Santi Buglioni, who was crippled for ever in one leg by a
+fall, and came very near dying.
+
+Under the direction of Tribolo, likewise, for the comedy that was
+performed, Aristotile da San Gallo executed marvellous scenery, being
+truly most excellent in such things, as will be told in his Life; and
+for the costumes in the interludes, which were the work of Giovan
+Battista Strozzi, who had charge of the whole comedy, Tribolo himself
+made the most pleasing and beautiful inventions that it is possible to
+imagine in the way of vestments, buskins, head-dresses, and other
+wearing apparel. These things were the reason that the Duke afterwards
+availed himself of Tribolo's ingenuity in many fantastic masquerades,
+as in that of the bears, in a race of buffaloes, in the masquerade of
+the ravens, and in others.
+
+In like manner, in the year when there was born to the said Lord Duke
+his eldest son, the Lord Don Francesco, there was to be made in the
+Temple of S. Giovanni in Florence a very magnificent decoration which
+was to be marvellous in its grandeur, and capable of accommodating one
+hundred most noble young maidens, who were to accompany the Prince
+from the Palace as far as the said temple, where he was to receive
+baptism. The charge of this was given to Tribolo, who, in company with
+Tasso, adapting himself to the place, brought it about that the
+temple, which in itself is ancient and very beautiful, had the
+appearance of a new temple designed very well in the modern manner,
+with seats all round it richly adorned with pictures and gilding. In
+the centre, beneath the lantern, he made a great vase of carved
+woodwork with eight sides, the base of which rested on four steps, and
+at the corners of the eight sides were some large caulicoles, which,
+springing from the ground, where there were some lions' paws, had at
+the top of them certain children of large size in various attitudes,
+who were holding with their hands the lip of the vase, and supporting
+with their shoulders some festoons which hung like a garland right
+round the space in the middle. Besides this, Tribolo had made in the
+middle of the vase a pedestal of wood with beautiful things of fancy
+round it, upon which, to crown the work, he placed the S. John the
+Baptist of marble, three braccia high, by the hand of Donatello, which
+was left by him in the house of Gismondo Martelli, as has been related
+in the Life of Donatello himself. In short, this temple was adorned
+both within and without as well as could possibly be imagined, and the
+only part neglected was the principal chapel, where there is an old
+tabernacle with those figures in relief that Andrea Pisano made long
+ago; by reason of which it appeared that, every other part being made
+new, that old chapel spoilt all the grace that the other things
+together displayed. Wherefore the Duke, going one day to see those
+decorations, after praising everything like a man of judgment, and
+recognizing how well Tribolo had adapted himself to the situation and
+to every other feature of the place, censured one thing only, but that
+severely--that no thought had been given to the principal chapel. And
+then he ordained on the spot, like a person of resolute character and
+beautiful judgment, that all that part should be covered with a vast
+canvas painted in chiaroscuro, with S. John the Baptist baptizing
+Christ, and the people standing all around to see them or to be
+baptized, some taking off their clothes, and others putting them on
+again, in various attitudes; and above this was to be a God the Father
+sending down the Holy Spirit, with two fountains in the guise of
+river-gods, representing the Jor and the Dan, which, pouring forth
+water, were to form the Jordan. Jacopo da Pontormo was requested to
+execute this work by Messer Pier Francesco Riccio, at that time
+major-domo to the Duke, and by Tribolo, but he would not do it, on the
+ground that he did not think that the time given, which was only six
+days, would be enough for him; and the same refusal was made by
+Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, Bronzino, and many others. Now at this time
+Giorgio Vasari, having returned from Bologna, was executing for Messer
+Bindo Altoviti the altar-piece of his chapel in S. Apostolo at
+Florence, but he was not held in much consideration, although he had
+friendship with Tribolo and Tasso, because certain persons had formed
+a faction under the protection of the above-named Messer Pier
+Francesco Riccio, and whoever was not of that faction had no share in
+the favours of the Court, although he might be able and deserving.
+This was the reason that many who, with the aid of so great a Prince,
+would have become excellent, found themselves neglected, none being
+employed save those chosen by Tasso, who, being a gay person, got
+Riccio so well under his thumb with his jokes, that in certain affairs
+he neither proposed nor did anything save what was suggested by Tasso,
+who was architect to the Palace and did all the work. These men, then,
+having a sort of suspicion of Giorgio, who laughed at their vanities
+and follies, and sought to make a position for himself rather by means
+of the studies of art than by favour, gave no thought to his claims;
+but he was commissioned by the Lord Duke to execute that canvas, with
+the subject described above. This work he executed in chiaroscuro, in
+six days, and delivered it finished in the manner known to those who
+saw what grace and adornment it conferred on the whole decoration, and
+how much it enlivened that part of the temple that stood most in need
+of it, amid the magnificence of that festival. Tribolo, then (to
+return to the point whence, I know not how, I digressed), acquitted
+himself so well, that he rightly won the highest praise; and the Duke
+commanded that a great part of the ornaments that he placed between
+the columns should be left there, where they still are, and
+deservedly.
+
+For the Villa of Cristofano Rinieri at Castello, while he was occupied
+with the fountains of the Duke, Tribolo made for a niche over a
+fish-pond which is at the head of a fowling-place, a river-god of
+grey-stone, of the size of life, which pours water into a very large
+basin of the same stone; which figure is made of pieces, and put
+together with such diligence and art, that it appears to be all of one
+block. Tribolo then set his hand, at the command of his Excellency, to
+attempting to finish the staircase of the library of S. Lorenzo--that,
+namely, which is in the vestibule before the door; but after he had
+placed four steps in position, not finding either the plan or the
+measurements of Michelagnolo, by order of the Duke he went to Rome,
+not only to hear the opinion of Michelagnolo with regard to that
+staircase, but also to make an effort to bring him to Florence. But he
+did not succeed either in the one object or in the other, for
+Michelagnolo, not wishing to leave Rome, excused himself in a handsome
+manner, and as for the staircase he declared that he remembered
+neither the measurements nor anything else. Tribolo, therefore, having
+returned to Florence, and not being able to continue the work of that
+staircase, set himself to make the pavement of the said library with
+white and red bricks, after the manner of some pavements that he had
+seen in Rome; but he added a filling of red clay to the white clay
+mixed with bole, in order to produce various effects of carving in
+those bricks; and thus he made in that pavement a copy of the ceiling
+and coffered work above--a notion that was highly extolled. He then
+began, but did not finish, a work that was to be placed on the main
+tower of the defences of the Porta a Faenza, for Don Giovanni di Luna,
+the castellan at that time--namely, an escutcheon of grey-stone, and a
+large eagle in full relief with two heads, which he made in wax to the
+end that it might be cast in bronze, but nothing more was done with
+it, and of the escutcheon only the shield was finished.
+
+Now it was the custom in the city of Florence to have almost every
+year on the principal piazza, on the evening of the festival of S.
+John the Baptist, towards nightfall, a girandola--that is, a
+contrivance full of fire-trumpets, rockets, and other fireworks; which
+girandola had the form now of a temple, now of a ship, sometimes of
+rocks, and at times of a city or of an inferno, according as it
+pleased the designer; and one year the charge of making one was given
+to Tribolo, who, as will be described below, made it very
+beautifully. Of the various manners of these fireworks, and
+particularly of set pieces, Vannoccio of Siena and others give an
+account, and on this subject I shall enlarge no further; but I must
+say something as to the nature of these girandole. The whole
+structure, then, is of wood, with broad compartments radiating
+outwards from the foot, to the end that the rockets, when they have
+been lighted, may not set fire to the other fireworks, but may rise in
+due order from their separate places, one after another, filling the
+heavens in proper succession with the fire that blazes in the
+girandola both above and below. They are distributed, I say, at wide
+intervals, to the end that they may not burn all at once, and may
+produce a beautiful effect; and the same do the mortars, which are
+bound to the firm parts of the girandola, and make the most beautiful
+and joyous noises. The fire-trumpets, likewise, are fitted in among
+the ornaments, and are generally contrived so as to discharge through
+the mouths of masks and other suchlike things. But the most important
+point is to arrange the girandola in such a manner that the lights
+that burn in certain vases may last the whole night, and illuminate
+the piazza; wherefore the whole work is connected together by a simple
+match of tow steeped in a mixture of powder full of sulphur and
+aquavit�, which creeps little by little with its fire to every part
+which it has to set alight, one after another, until it has kindled
+the whole. Now, as I have said, the things represented are various,
+but all must have something to do with fire, and must be subject to
+its action; and long before this there had been counterfeited the city
+of Sodom, with Lot and his daughters flying from it, at another time
+Geryon, with Virgil and Dante on his back, according as Dante himself
+relates in the _Inferno_, and even earlier Orpheus bringing Eurydice
+with him from those infernal regions, with many other inventions. And
+his Excellency ordained that the work should not be given to any of
+the puppet-painters, who for many years past had made a thousand
+absurdities in the girandole, but that an excellent master should
+produce a work that might have in it something of the good; wherefore
+the charge of this was given to Tribolo, who, with the ingenuity and
+art wherewith he had executed all his other works, made one in the
+form of a very beautiful octagonal temple, rising with its ornaments
+to the total height of twenty braccia. This temple he represented as
+the Temple of Peace, placing on the summit an image of Peace, who was
+setting fire to a great pile of arms which she had at her feet; and
+these arms, the statue of Peace, and all the other figures that made
+this structure one of great beauty, were made of pasteboard, clay, and
+cloth steeped in glue, put together with extraordinary art. They were,
+I say, of these materials, to the end that the whole work might be the
+lighter, since it was to be suspended at a great height from the
+ground by a double rope that crossed the Piazza high in the air. It is
+true, indeed, that the fireworks having been placed in it too thickly,
+and the fuses of tow being too near one to another, when they were set
+alight, such was the fury of the conflagration, and so great and so
+violent the blaze, that everything caught fire all at once, and was
+burned in a flash, whereas it should have continued to burn for an
+hour at least; and what was worse, the fire seizing on the woodwork
+and on all that should have been preserved, the ropes and every other
+thing were consumed in a moment, which was no small loss, and gave
+little pleasure to the people. But with regard to workmanship, it was
+more beautiful than any other girandola that had ever been made up to
+that time.
+
+The Duke, then, resolving to erect the Loggia of the Mercato Nuovo for
+the convenience of his citizens and merchants, did not wish to lay a
+greater burden than he could bear on Tribolo, who, as chief engineer
+to the Capitani di Parte and the commissioners of the rivers and the
+sewers of the city, was always riding through the Florentine
+dominions, engaged in bringing back to their proper beds many rivers
+that did damage by breaking away from them, in repairing bridges, and
+in other suchlike works; and he gave the charge of this enterprise to
+Tasso, at the advice of the above-mentioned Messer Pier Francesco, his
+major-domo, in order to change that Tasso from a carpenter into an
+architect. This was certainly against the wishes of Tribolo, although
+he did not show it, and even acted as the close friend of Tasso; and a
+proof that this is true is that Tribolo perceived many errors in
+Tasso's model, but, so it is believed, would by no means tell him of
+them. Such an error, for example, was that of the capitals of the
+columns that are beside the pilasters, whereby, the columns not
+leaving enough space, when everything had been drawn up, and the
+capitals had to be set into position, the corona above those capitals
+would not go in, so that it was found necessary to cut away so much
+that the order of the architecture was ruined; besides many other
+errors, of which there is no need to speak. For the above-named Messer
+Pier Francesco the same Tasso executed the door of the Church of S.
+Romolo, and a window with knee-shaped brackets on the Piazza del Duca,
+in an order of his own, substituting capitals for bases, and doing so
+many other things without measure or order, that it might have been
+said that the German Order had begun to return to life in Tuscany by
+means of this man; to say nothing of the works that he did in the
+Palace in the way of staircases and apartments, which the Duke has
+been obliged to have destroyed, because they had no sort of order,
+measure, or proportion, and were, on the contrary, all shapeless, out
+of square, and without the least convenience or grace. All these
+things were not done without some responsibility falling on Tribolo,
+who, having considerable knowledge in such matters, should not, so it
+seemed, have allowed his Prince to throw away his money and to do him
+such an affront to his face; and, what was even more serious, he
+should not have permitted such things to Tasso, who was his friend.
+Well did men of judgment recognize the presumption and madness of the
+one in seeking to exercise an art of which he knew nothing, and the
+dissimulation of the other, who declared that he was pleased with that
+which he certainly knew to be bad; and of this a proof may be found in
+the works that Giorgio Vasari has had to pull down in the Palace, to
+the loss of the Duke and the great shame of those men.
+
+But the same thing happened to Tribolo as to Tasso, in that, even as
+Tasso abandoned wood-carving, a craft in which he had no equal, but
+never became a good architect, and thus won little honour by deserting
+an art in which he was very able, and applying himself to another of
+which he knew not one scrap, so Tribolo, abandoning sculpture, in
+which it may be said with truth that he was most excellent and caused
+everyone to marvel, and setting himself to attempt to straighten out
+rivers, ceased to win honour by pursuing the one, while the other
+brought him blame and loss rather than honour and profit. For he did
+not succeed in his tinkering with rivers, and he made many enemies,
+particularly in the district of Prato, on account of the Bisenzio, and
+in many places in the Val di Nievole.
+
+Duke Cosimo having then bought the Palace of the Pitti, of which there
+has been an account in another place, and his Excellency desiring to
+adorn it with gardens, groves, fountains, fish-ponds, and other
+suchlike things, Tribolo executed all the distribution of the hill in
+the manner in which it still remains, accommodating everything in its
+proper place with beautiful judgment, although various things in many
+parts of the garden have since been changed. Of this Pitti Palace,
+which is the most beautiful in Europe, mention will be made in another
+place with a more suitable occasion.
+
+After these things, Tribolo was sent by his Excellency to the island
+of Elba, not only that he might see the city and port that the Duke
+had caused to be built there, but also that he might make arrangements
+for the transport of a round piece of granite, twelve braccia in
+diameter, from which was to be made a tazza for the great lawn of the
+Pitti Palace, which might receive the water of the principal fountain.
+Tribolo, therefore, went thither and caused a boat to be made on
+purpose for transporting the tazza, and then, after giving the
+stone-cutters directions for the transportation, he returned to
+Florence; where he had no sooner arrived, than he found the whole
+country full of murmurings and maledictions against him, since about
+that time floods and inundations had done infinite havoc in the
+neighbourhood of those rivers that he had patched up, although it was,
+perhaps, not altogether through his fault that this had happened.
+However that may have been, whether it was the malignity of some of
+his assistants, or perchance envy, or that the accusation was indeed
+true, the blame for all that damage was laid on Tribolo, who, being a
+man of no great spirit, and rather wanting in resolution than
+otherwise, and doubting that the malice of some enemy might make him
+lose the favour of the Duke, was in a state of great despondency,
+when, being of a feeble habit of body, on the 20th of August in the
+year 1550, there came upon him a most violent fever. At that time
+Giorgio Vasari was in Florence, for the purpose of having sent to Rome
+the marbles for the tombs that Pope Julius III caused to be erected in
+S. Pietro a Montorio; and he, as one who sincerely esteemed the
+talents of Tribolo, visited and comforted him, beseeching him that he
+should think of nothing save his health, and that, when cured, he
+should return to finish the work of Castello, letting the rivers go
+their own way, for they were more likely to drown his fame than to
+bring him any profit or honour. This, which he promised to attempt to
+do, he would, I believe, have done at all costs, if he had not been
+prevented by death, which closed his eyes on the 7th of September in
+the same year. And so the works of Castello, begun and carried well
+forward by him, remained unfinished; for although some work has been
+done there since his day, now in one part and now in another,
+nevertheless they have never been pursued with the diligence and
+resolution that were shown when Tribolo was alive and when the Lord
+Duke was hot in the undertaking. Of a truth, he who does not press
+great works forward while those who are having them done are spending
+money willingly and devoting their best attention to them, brings it
+about that those works are put on one side and left unfinished, which
+zeal and solicitude could have carried to perfection. And thus, by the
+negligence of the workers, the world is left without its adornment,
+and they without their honour and fame, for the reason that it rarely
+happens, as it did to this work of Castello, that on the death of the
+first master he who succeeds to his place is willing to finish it
+according to his design and model with that modesty with which Giorgio
+Vasari, at the commission of the Duke, has caused the great fish-pond
+of Castello to be finished after the directions of Tribolo, even as he
+will do with the other things according as his Excellency may desire
+from time to time to have them done.
+
+Tribolo lived sixty-five years, and was interred by the Company of the
+Scalzo in their place of burial. He left behind him a son called
+Raffaello, who has not taken up art, and two daughters, one of whom is
+the wife of David, Tribolo's assistant in building all the works at
+Castello, who, being a man of judgment and capable in such matters, is
+now employed on the aqueducts of Florence, Pisa, and all the other
+places in the dominion, according as it may please his Excellency.
+
+
+
+
+PIERINO (PIERO) DA VINCI
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF PIERINO (PIERO) DA VINCI
+
+SCULPTOR
+
+
+Although those men are generally the most celebrated who have executed
+some work excellently well, nevertheless, if the works already
+accomplished by any man foreshadow those that he did not achieve as
+likely to have been numerous and much more rare, if some accident,
+unforeseen and out of the common use, had not happened to interrupt
+him, it is certain that such a man, wherever there may be one willing
+to be just in his appreciation of the talent of another, will be
+rightly extolled and celebrated both on the one count and on the
+other, and as much for what he would have done as for what he did. The
+sculptor Vinci, therefore, should not suffer on account of the short
+duration of his life, or be robbed thereby of the praise due to him
+from the judgment of those who shall come after us, considering that
+he was only in the first bloom both of his life and of his studies at
+the time when he produced and gave to the world that which everyone
+admires, and was like to bring forth fruits in greater abundance, if a
+hostile tempest had not destroyed both the fruits and the tree.
+
+I remember having said in another place that in the township of Vinci,
+in the lower Valdarno, there lived Ser Piero, the father of Leonardo
+da Vinci, most famous of painters. To this Ser Piero, after Leonardo,
+there was born, as his youngest son, Bartolommeo, who, living at Vinci
+and attaining to manhood, took for his wife one of the first maidens
+of that township. Bartolommeo was desirous of having a male child, and
+spoke very often to his wife of the greatness of the genius with which
+his brother Leonardo had been endowed, praying God that He should make
+her worthy that from her there might be born in his house another
+Leonardo, the first being now dead. In a short time, therefore,
+according to his desire, there was born to him a gracious boy, to whom
+he wished to give the name of Leonardo; but, being advised by his
+relatives to revive the memory of his father, he gave him the name of
+Piero. Having come to the age of three years, the boy had a most
+beautiful countenance, with curly locks, and showed great grace in
+every movement, with a quickness of intelligence that was marvellous;
+insomuch that Maestro Giuliano del Carmine, an excellent astrologer,
+and with him a priest devoted to chiromancy, who were both close
+friends of Bartolommeo, having arrived in Vinci and lodged in
+Bartolommeo's house, looking at the forehead and hand of the boy,
+revealed to the father, both the astrologer and the chiromancer
+together, the greatness of his genius, and predicted that in a short
+time he would make extraordinary proficience in the mercurial arts,
+but that his life would also be very short. And only too true was
+their prophecy, for both in the one part and in the other (when one
+would have sufficed), in his life as well as in his art, it needs must
+be fulfilled.
+
+Then, continuing to grow, Piero had his father as his master in
+letters, but of himself, without any master, giving his attention to
+drawing and to making various little puppets in clay, he showed that
+the divine inclination of his nature recognized by the astrologer and
+the chiromancer was already awakening and beginning to work in him. By
+reason of which Bartolommeo judged that his prayer had been heard by
+God; and, believing that his brother had been restored to him in his
+son, he began to think of removing Piero from Vinci and taking him to
+Florence. Having then done this without delay, he placed Piero, who
+was now twelve years of age, with Bandinelli in Florence, flattering
+himself that Baccio, having been once the friend of Leonardo, would
+take notice of the boy and teach him with diligence; besides which, it
+seemed to him that Piero delighted more in sculpture than in painting.
+But afterwards, coming very often to Florence, he recognized that
+Bandinelli was not answering with deeds to his expectations, and was
+not taking pains with the boy or showing interest in him, although he
+saw him to be willing to learn. For which reason Bartolommeo took him
+away from Bandinelli, and entrusted him to Tribolo, who appeared to
+him to make more effort to help those who were seeking to learn,
+besides giving more attention to the studies of art and bearing even
+greater affection to the memory of Leonardo.
+
+Tribolo was executing some fountains at Castello, the villa of his
+Excellency; and thereupon Piero, beginning once more his customary
+drawing, through having there the competition of the other young men
+whom Tribolo kept about him, set himself with great ardour of spirit
+to study day and night, being spurred by his nature, which was
+desirous of excellence and honour, and being even more kindled by the
+example of the others like himself whom he saw constantly around him.
+Wherefore in a few months he made such progress, that it was a marvel
+to everyone; and, having begun to gain some experience with the
+chisels, he sought to see whether his hand and his tools would obey in
+practice the thoughts within him and the designs formed in his brain.
+Tribolo, perceiving his readiness, and having had a water-basin of
+stone made at that very time for Cristofano Rinieri, gave to Piero a
+small piece of marble, from which he was to make for that water-basin
+a boy that should spurt forth water from the private part. Piero,
+taking the marble with great gladness, first made a little model of
+clay, and then executed the work with so much grace, that Tribolo and
+the others ventured the opinion that he would become one of those who
+are counted as rare in that art. Tribolo then gave him a Ducal
+Mazzocchio[3] to make in stone, to be placed over an escutcheon with
+the Medici balls, for Messer Pier Francesco Riccio, the major-domo of
+the Duke; and he made it with two children with their legs intertwined
+together, who are holding the Mazzocchio in their hands and placing it
+upon the escutcheon, which is fixed over the door of a house that the
+major-domo then occupied, opposite to S. Giuliano, near the Priests of
+S. Antonio. When this work was seen, all the craftsmen of Florence
+formed the same judgment that Tribolo had pronounced before.
+
+         [Footnote 3: See note on p. 132, Vol. II.]
+
+After this, he carved a boy squeezing a fish that is pouring water
+from its mouth, for the fountains of Castello. And then, Tribolo
+having given him a larger piece of marble, Piero made from it two
+children who are embracing each other and squeezing fishes, causing
+water to spout from their mouths. These children were so graceful in
+the heads and in their whole persons, and executed with so beautiful a
+manner in the legs, arms, and hair, that already it could be seen that
+he would have been able to execute the most difficult work to
+perfection. Taking heart, therefore, and buying a piece of grey-stone,
+two braccia and a half in length, which he took to his house on the
+Canto alla Briga, Piero began to work at it in the evenings, after
+returning from his labours, at night, and on feast-days, insomuch that
+little by little he brought it to completion. This was a figure of
+Bacchus, who had a Satyr at his feet, and with one hand was holding a
+cup, while in the other he had a bunch of grapes, and his head was
+girt with a crown of grapes; all after a model made by himself in
+clay. In this and in his other early works Piero showed a marvellous
+facility, which never offends the eye, nor is it in any respect
+disturbing to him who beholds it. This Bacchus, when finished, was
+bought by Bongianni Capponi, and his nephew Lodovico Capponi now has
+it in a courtyard in his house.
+
+The while that Piero was executing these works, few persons as yet
+knew that he was the nephew of Leonardo da Vinci; but his labours
+making him well known and renowned, by this means his parentage and
+his birth were likewise revealed. Wherefore ever afterwards, both from
+his connection with his uncle and from his own happy genius, wherein
+he resembled that great man, he was called by everyone not Piero, but
+Vinci.
+
+Now Vinci, while occupied in this manner, had often heard various
+persons speaking of the things connected with the arts to be seen in
+Rome, and extolling them, as is always done by everyone; wherefore a
+great desire had been kindled in him to see them, hoping to be able to
+derive profit by beholding not only the works of the ancients, but
+also those of Michelagnolo, and even the master himself, who was then
+alive and residing in Rome. He went thither, therefore, in company
+with some friends; but after seeing Rome and all that he wished, he
+returned to Florence, having reflected judiciously that the things of
+Rome were as yet too profound for him, and should be studied and
+imitated not so early in his career, but after a greater acquaintance
+with art.
+
+At that time Tribolo had finished a model for the shaft of the
+fountain in the labyrinth, in which are some Satyrs in low-relief,
+four masks in half-relief, and four little boys in the round, who are
+seated upon certain caulicoles. Vinci having then returned, Tribolo
+gave him this shaft to do, and he executed and finished it, making in
+it some delicate designs not employed by any other but himself, which
+greatly pleased all who saw them. Then, having had the whole marble
+tazza of that fountain finished, Tribolo thought of placing on the
+edge of it four children in the round, lying down and playing with
+their arms and legs in the water, in various attitudes; and these he
+intended to cast in bronze. Vinci, at the commission of Tribolo, made
+them of clay, and they were afterwards cast in bronze by Zanobi
+Lastricati, a sculptor and a man very experienced in matters of
+casting; and they were placed not long since around the fountain,
+where they make a most beautiful effect.
+
+There was in daily intercourse with Tribolo one Luca Martini, the
+proveditor at that time for the building of the Mercato Nuovo, who,
+praising highly the excellence in art and the fine character of Vinci,
+and desiring to help him, provided him with a piece of marble
+two-thirds of a braccio in height and one and a quarter in length.
+Vinci, taking the marble, made with it a Christ being scourged at the
+Column, in which the rules of low-relief and of design may be seen to
+have been well observed; and in truth it made everyone marvel,
+considering that he had not yet reached the age of seventeen, and had
+made in five years of study that proficience in art which others do
+not achieve save after length of life and great experience of many
+things.
+
+At this time Tribolo, having undertaken the office of superintendent
+of the drains in the city of Florence, ordained in that capacity that
+the drain in the old Piazza di S. Maria Novella should be raised from
+the ground, in such a way that, becoming more capacious, it might be
+better able to receive all the waters that ran into it from various
+quarters. For this work, then, he commissioned Vinci to make the model
+of a great mask of three braccia, which with its open mouth might
+swallow all the rain-water. Afterwards, by order of the Ufficiali
+della Torre, the work was allotted to Vinci, who, in order to execute
+it more quickly, summoned to his aid the sculptor Lorenzo Marignolli.
+In company with this master he finished it, making it from a block of
+hard-stone; and the work is such that it adorns the whole Piazza, with
+no small advantage to the city.
+
+It now appeared to Vinci that he had made such proficience in art,
+that it would be a great benefit to him to see the principal works in
+Rome, and to associate with the most excellent craftsmen living there;
+wherefore, an occasion to go there presenting itself, he seized it
+readily. There had arrived from Rome an intimate friend of
+Michelagnolo Buonarroti, Francesco Bandini, who, having come to know
+Vinci by means of Luca Martini, and having praised him highly, caused
+him to make a model of wax for a tomb of marble that he wished to
+erect in his chapel in S. Croce; and shortly afterwards, on returning
+to Rome, Vinci having spoken his mind to Luca Martini, Bandini took
+him in his company. There Vinci remained a year, studying all the
+time, and executed some works worthy of remembrance. The first was a
+Christ on the Cross in low-relief, rendering up His spirit to His
+Father, which was copied from a design done by Michelagnolo. For
+Cardinal Ridolfi he added to an antique head a breast in bronze, and
+made a Venus of marble in low-relief, which was much extolled. For
+Francesco Bandini he restored an ancient horse, of which many pieces
+were wanting, and made it complete. And in order to give some proof of
+gratitude, where he could, to Luca Martini, who was writing to him by
+every courier, and continually recommending him to Bandini, it seemed
+good to Vinci to make a copy in wax, in the round and two-thirds (of a
+braccio) in height, of the Moses of Michelagnolo that is on the tomb
+of Pope Julius II in S. Pietro in Vincula, than which there is no more
+beautiful work to be seen; and so, having made the Moses of wax, he
+sent it as a present to Luca Martini.
+
+At the time when Vinci was living in Rome and executing the works
+mentioned above, Luca Martini was made by the Duke of Florence
+proveditor of Pisa, and in his office he did not forget his friend,
+and therefore wrote to him that he was preparing a room for him and
+was providing a block of marble of three braccia, so that he might
+return from Rome at his pleasure, seeing that while with him he should
+want for nothing. Vinci, attracted by this prospect and by the love
+that he bore to Luca, resolved to depart from Rome and to take up his
+abode for some time in Pisa, where he looked to find opportunities of
+practising his hand and making trial of his ability. Having therefore
+gone to Pisa, he found that the marble was already in his room,
+prepared according to the orders of Luca; but, on proceeding to begin
+to carve from it an upright figure, he perceived that the marble had
+in it a crack that diminished it by a braccio. Wherefore, having
+resolved to change it into a recumbent figure, he made a young River
+God holding a vase that is pouring out water, the vase being upheld by
+three children, who are assisting the River God to pour the water
+forth; and beneath his feet runs a copious stream of water, in which
+may be seen fishes darting about and water-fowl flying in various
+parts. This River God finished, Vinci made a present of it to Luca,
+who presented it to the Duchess, to whom it was very dear; and then,
+her brother Don Garzia di Toledo being at that time in Pisa, whither
+he had gone by galley, she gave it to that brother, who accepted it
+with much pleasure for the fountains of his garden in the Chiaia at
+Naples.
+
+In those days Luca Martini was writing some observations on the
+Commedia of Dante, and he pointed out to Vinci the cruelty described
+by Dante, which the Pisans and Archbishop Ruggieri showed towards
+Count Ugolino della Gherardesca, causing him to die of hunger with his
+four sons in the tower that is therefore called the Tower of Hunger;
+whereby he offered to Vinci the occasion for a new work and the idea
+of a new design. Wherefore, while he was still working at the River
+God described above, he set his hand to making a scene in wax more
+than a braccio in height and three-quarters in breadth, to be cast in
+bronze, in which he represented two of the Count's sons already dead,
+one in the act of expiring, and the fourth overcome by hunger and near
+his end, but not yet reduced to the last breath; with the father in a
+pitiful and miserable attitude, blind and heavy with grief, and
+groping over the wretched bodies of his sons stretched upon the
+ground. In this work Vinci displayed the excellence of design no less
+than did Dante the perfection of poetry in his verses, for no less
+compassion is stirred by the attitudes shaped in wax by the sculptor
+in him who beholds them, than is roused in him who listens to the
+words and accents imprinted on the living page by the poet. And in
+order to mark the place where the event happened, he made at the foot
+of the scene the River Arno, which occupies its whole width, for the
+above-named tower is not far distant from the river in Pisa; while
+upon that tower he placed an old woman, naked, withered, and fearsome,
+representing Hunger, much after the manner wherein Ovid describes her.
+The wax model finished, he cast the scene in bronze, and it gave
+consummate satisfaction, being held by the Court and by everyone to be
+no ordinary work.
+
+Duke Cosimo was then intent on enriching and beautifying the city of
+Pisa, and he had already caused the Piazza del Mercato to be built
+anew, with a great number of shops around it, and had placed in the
+centre a column ten braccia high, upon which, according to the design
+of Luca, was to stand a statue representing Abundance. Martini,
+therefore, having spoken to the Duke and presented Vinci to his
+notice, easily obtained for him from his Excellency the commission for
+that statue, the Duke being always eager to assist men of talent and
+to bring fine intellects forward. Vinci executed a statue of
+travertine, three braccia and a half in height, which was much
+extolled by everyone; for at the feet of the figure he placed a little
+child, who assists her to support the Cornucopia, carved with much
+softness and facility, although the stone is rough and difficult to
+work.
+
+[Illustration: UGOLINO DELLA GHERARDESCA AND HIS SONS IN THE TOWER OF
+FAMINE
+
+(_After the wax relief by =Pierino [Piero] da Vinci=. Oxford: Ashmolean
+Museum_)
+
+_Reproduced by permission of the Visitors of the Ashmolean Museum._]
+
+Luca afterwards sent to Carrara to have a block of marble quarried
+five braccia in height and three in breadth, from which Vinci, who had
+once seen some sketches by Michelagnolo of Samson slaying a Philistine
+with the jawbone of an ass, proposed to make two figures of five
+braccia from his own fancy, after that subject. Whereupon, while the
+marble was on its way, he set himself to make several models, all
+varying one from another, and then fixed on one of them; and after the
+block had arrived he began to carve it, and carried it well on,
+imitating Michelagnolo in cutting his conception and design little
+by little out of the stone, without spoiling it or making any sort of
+error. He executed all the perforation in this work, whether undercut
+or at an easy angle, with great facility, laborious as it was, and the
+manner of the whole work was very delicate. But since the labour was
+very fatiguing, he sought to distract himself with other studies and
+works of less importance; and thus he executed during the same time a
+little tablet of marble in low-relief, in which he represented Our
+Lady with Christ, S. John, and S. Elizabeth, which was held, as it
+still is, to be a rare work. This came into the hands of the most
+illustrious Duchess, and it is now among the choice things in the
+study of the Duke.
+
+He then set his hand to a scene of marble, one braccio high and one
+and a half wide, partly in half-relief and partly in low-relief, in
+which he represented the restoration of Pisa by the Duke, who is in
+the work present in person at the restoration of that city, which is
+being pressed forward by his presence. Round the Duke are figures of
+his virtues; in particular a Minerva representing his wisdom and also
+the arts revived by him in that city of Pisa, who is surrounded by
+many evils and natural defects of the site, which besiege her on every
+side, and afflict her in the manner of enemies; but from all these
+that city has since been delivered by the above-mentioned virtues of
+the Duke. All these virtues round the Duke, with all the evils round
+Pisa, were portrayed by Vinci in his scene with most beautiful
+gestures and attitudes; but he left it unfinished, to the great regret
+of those who saw it, on account of the perfection of the things in it
+that were completed.
+
+The fame of Vinci having grown and spread abroad by reason of these
+works, the heirs of Messer Baldassarre Turini da Pescia besought him
+that he should make a model of a marble tomb for Messer Baldassarre;
+which finished, it pleased them, whereupon they made an agreement that
+the tomb should be executed, and Vinci sent Francesco del Tadda, an
+able master of marble-carving, to have the marble quarried at Carrara.
+And when that master had sent him a block of marble, Vinci began a
+statue, and carved out of the stone a figure blocked out in such a
+manner that one who knew not the circumstances would have said that
+it was certainly blocked out by Michelagnolo.
+
+The name of Vinci was now very great, and his genius was admired by
+all, being much more perfect than could have been expected in one so
+young, and it was likely to grow even more and to become greater, and
+to equal that of any other man in his art, as his own works bear
+witness, without any other testimony; when the term prescribed for him
+by Heaven, being now close at hand, interrupted all his plans, and
+caused his rapid progress to cease at one blow, not suffering that he
+should climb any higher, and depriving the world of many excellent
+works of art with which, had Vinci lived, it would have been adorned.
+It happened at this time, while Vinci was intent on the tomb of
+another, not knowing that his own was preparing, that the Duke had to
+send Luca Martini to Genoa on affairs of importance; and Luca, both
+because he loved Vinci and wished to have him in his company, and also
+in order to give him some diversion and recreation, and to enable him
+to see Genoa, took him with him on his journey. There, while Martini
+was transacting his business, at his suggestion Messer Adamo
+Centurioni commissioned Vinci to execute a figure of S. John the
+Baptist, of which he made the model. But soon he was attacked by
+fever, and, to increase his distress, at the same time his friend was
+also taken away from him; perchance to provide a way in which fate
+might be fulfilled in the life of Vinci. For it became necessary that
+Luca, in the interests of the business entrusted to him, should go to
+Florence to find the Duke; wherefore he parted from his sick friend,
+to the great grief of both the one and the other, leaving him in the
+house of the Abate Nero, to whom he straitly recommended him, although
+Piero was very unwilling to remain in Genoa. But Vinci, feeling
+himself growing worse every day, resolved to have himself removed from
+Genoa; and, having caused an assistant of his own, called Tiberio
+Cavalieri, to come from Pisa, with his help he had himself carried to
+Livorno by water, and from Livorno to Pisa in a litter. Arriving in
+Pisa at the twenty-second hour in the evening, all exhausted and
+broken by the journey, the sea-voyage, and the fever, during the night
+he had no repose, and the next morning, at the break of day, he passed
+to the other life, not having yet reached the age of twenty-three.
+
+The death of Vinci was a great grief to all his friends, and to Luca
+Martini beyond measure; and it grieved all those who had hoped to see
+from his hands such works as are not often seen. And Messer Benedetto
+Varchi, who was much the friend of his abilities and of those of every
+master, afterwards wrote the following sonnet in memory of his fame:
+
+  Come potr� da me, se tu non presti
+    O forza, o tregua al mio gran duolo interno,
+    Soffrirlo in pace mai, Signor superno,
+    Che fin qu� nuova ognor pena mi desti?
+  Dunque de' miei pi� cari or quegli, or questi,
+    Verde sen voli all'alto Asilo eterno,
+    Ed io canuto in questo basso inferno
+    A pianger sempre e lamentarmi resti?
+  Sciolgami almen tua gran bontade quinci,
+    Or che reo fato nostro, o sua ventura,
+    Ch' era ben degno d' altra vita, e gente,
+  Per far pi� ricco il cielo, e la scultura
+    Men bella, e me col buon Martin dolente,
+    N' ha privi, o piet�, del secondo Vinci.
+
+
+
+
+BACCIO BANDINELLI
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF BACCIO BANDINELLI
+
+SCULPTOR OF FLORENCE
+
+
+In the days when the arts of design flourished in Florence by the
+favour and assistance of the elder Lorenzo de' Medici the Magnificent,
+there lived in the city a goldsmith called Michelagnolo di Viviano of
+Gaiuole, who worked excellently well at chasing and incavo for enamels
+and niello, and was very skilful in every sort of work in gold and
+silver plate. This Michelagnolo had a great knowledge of jewels, and
+set them very well; and on account of his talents and his versatility
+all the foreign masters of his art used to have recourse to him, and
+he gave them hospitality, as well as to the young men of the city,
+insomuch that his workshop was held to be, as it was, the first in
+Florence. Of him the Magnificent Lorenzo and all the house of Medici
+availed themselves; and for the tourney that Giuliano, the brother of
+that Magnificent Lorenzo, held on the Piazza di S. Croce, he executed
+with subtle craftsmanship all the ornaments of helmets, crests, and
+devices. Wherefore he acquired a great name and much intimacy with the
+sons of the Magnificent Lorenzo, to whom his work was ever afterwards
+very dear, and no less useful to him their acquaintance and
+friendship, by reason of which, and also by the many works that he
+executed throughout the whole city and dominion, he became a man of
+substance as well as one of much repute in his art. To this
+Michelagnolo the Medici, on their departure from Florence in the year
+1494, entrusted much plate in silver and gold, which was all kept in
+safe hiding by him and faithfully preserved until their return, when
+he was much extolled by them for his fidelity, and afterwards
+recompensed with rewards.
+
+In the year 1487 there was born to Michelagnolo a son, whom he called
+Bartolommeo, but afterwards, according to the Florentine custom, he
+was called by everyone Baccio. Michelagnolo, desiring to leave his son
+heir to his art and connection, took him into his own workshop in
+company with other young men who were learning to draw; for that was
+the custom in those times, and no one was held to be a good goldsmith
+who was not a good draughtsman and able to work well in relief.
+Baccio, then, in his first years, gave his attention to design
+according to the teaching of his father, being assisted no less to
+make proficience by the competition of the other lads, among whom he
+chose as his particular companion one called Piloto, who afterwards
+became an able goldsmith; and with him he often went about the
+churches drawing the works of the good painters, but also mingling
+work in relief with his drawing, and counterfeiting in wax certain
+sculptures of Donato and Verrocchio, besides executing some works in
+clay, in the round.
+
+While still a boy in age, Baccio frequented at times the workshop of
+Girolamo del Buda, a commonplace painter, on the Piazza di S.
+Pulinari. There, at one time during the winter, a great quantity of
+snow had fallen, which had been thrown afterwards by the people into a
+heap in that piazza; and Girolamo, turning to Baccio, said to him
+jestingly: "Baccio, if this snow were marble, could we not carve a
+fine giant out of it, such as a Marforio lying down?" "We could so,"
+answered Baccio, "and I suggest that we should act as if it were
+marble." And immediately, throwing off his cloak, he set his hands to
+the snow, and, assisted by other boys, taking away the snow where
+there was too much, and adding some in other places, he made a rough
+figure of Marforio lying down, eight braccia in length. Whereupon the
+painter and all the others stood marvelling, not so much at what he
+had done as at the spirit with which he had set his hand to a work so
+vast, and he so young and so small.
+
+Baccio, indeed, having more love for sculpture than for goldsmith's
+work, gave many proofs of this; and when he went to Pinzirimonte, a
+villa bought by his father, he would often plant himself before the
+naked labourers and draw them with great eagerness, and he did the
+same with the cattle on the farm. At this time he continued for many
+days to go in the morning to Prato, which was near the villa, where he
+stayed the whole day drawing in the Chapel of the Pieve from the work
+of Fra Filippo Lippi, and he did not cease until he had drawn it all,
+imitating the draperies of that master, who did them very well. And
+already he handled with great skill the style and the pen, and also
+chalk both red and black, which last is a soft stone that comes from
+the mountains of France, and with it, when cut to a point, drawings
+can be executed with great delicacy.
+
+These things making clear to Michelagnolo the mind and inclination of
+his son, he also changed his intention, like the boy himself, and,
+being likewise advised by his friends, placed him under the care of
+Giovan Francesco Rustici, one of the best sculptors in the city, whose
+workshop was still constantly frequented by Leonardo da Vinci.
+Leonardo, seeing the drawings of Baccio and being pleased with them,
+exhorted him to persevere and to take to working in relief; and he
+recommended strongly to him the works of Donato, saying also that he
+should execute something in marble, such as a head or a low-relief.
+Baccio, encouraged by the comforting advice of Leonardo, set himself
+to copy in marble an antique head of a woman, of which he had shaped a
+model from one that is in the house of the Medici. This, for his first
+work, he executed passing well, and it was held very dear by Andrea
+Carnesecchi, who received it as a present from Baccio's father and
+placed it in his house in the Via Larga, over that door in the centre
+of the court which leads into the garden. Now, Baccio continuing to
+make other models of figures in clay in the round, his father, wishing
+not to fail in his duty towards the praiseworthy zeal of his son, sent
+for some blocks of marble from Carrara, and caused to be built for
+him, at the end of his house at Pinti, a room with lights arranged for
+working, which looked out upon the Via Fiesolana. Whereupon he set
+himself to block out various figures in those marbles, and one, among
+others, he carried well on from a piece of marble of two braccia and a
+half, which was a Hercules that is holding the dead Cacus beneath him,
+between his legs. These sketches were left in the same place in memory
+of him.
+
+At this time was thrown open to view the cartoon of Michelagnolo
+Buonarroti, full of nude figures, which Michelagnolo had executed at
+the commission of Piero Soderini for the Great Council Chamber, and,
+as has been related in another place, all the craftsmen flocked
+together to draw it on account of its excellence. Among these came
+Baccio, and no long time passed before he outstripped them all, for
+the reason that he understood nudes, and outlined, shaded, and
+finished them, better than any of the other draughtsmen, among whom
+were Jacopo Sansovino, Andrea del Sarto, Il Rosso, who was then very
+young, and Alfonso Berughetta the Spaniard, together with many other
+famous craftsmen. Baccio frequented the place more than any of the
+others, and had a counterfeit key; and it happened that, Piero
+Soderini having been deposed from the government about this time, in
+the year 1512, and the house of Medici having been restored to power,
+during the confusion caused in the Palace by the change of government,
+Baccio entered in secret, all by himself, and tore the cartoon into
+many pieces. Of which not knowing the reason, some said that Baccio
+had torn it up in order to have some pieces of the cartoon in his
+possession for his own convenience, some declared that he wished to
+deprive the other young men of that advantage, so that they might not
+be able to profit by it and make themselves a name in art, others said
+that he was moved to do this by his affection for Leonardo da Vinci,
+from whom Michelagnolo's cartoon had taken much of his reputation, and
+others, again, perhaps interpreting his action better, attributed it
+to the hatred which he felt against Michelagnolo and afterwards
+demonstrated as long as he lived. The loss of the cartoon was no light
+one for the city, and very heavy the blame that was rightly laid upon
+Baccio by everyone, as an envious and malicious person.
+
+Baccio then executed some pieces of cartoon with lead-white and
+charcoal, among which was a very beautiful one of a nude Cleopatra,
+which he presented to the goldsmith Piloto. Having already acquired a
+name as a great draughtsman, he was desirous of learning to paint in
+colours, having a firm belief that he would not only equal Buonarroti,
+but even greatly surpass him in both fields of art. Now he had
+executed a cartoon of a Leda, in which Castor and Pollux were issuing
+from the egg of the swan embraced by her, and he wished to colour it
+in oils, in such a way as to make it appear that the methods of
+handling the colours and mixing them together in order to make the
+various tints, with the lights and shades, had not been taught to him
+by others, but that he had found them by himself, and, after pondering
+how he could do this, he thought of the following expedient. He
+besought Andrea del Sarto, who was much his friend, that he should
+paint a portrait of him in oils, flattering himself that he would
+thereby gain two advantages in accordance with his purpose; one was
+that he would see the method of mixing the colours, and the other was
+that the painted picture would remain in his hands, which, having seen
+it executed and understanding it, would assist him and serve him as a
+pattern. But Andrea perceived Baccio's intention as he made his
+request, and was angry at his want of confidence and astuteness, for
+he would have been willing to show him what he desired, if Baccio had
+asked him as a friend; wherefore, without making any sign that he had
+found him out, and refraining from mixing the colours into tints, he
+placed every sort of colour on his palette and mingled them together
+with the brush, and, taking some now from one and now from another
+with great dexterity of hand, counterfeited in this way the vivid
+colouring of Baccio's face. The latter, both through the artfulness of
+Andrea and because he had to sit still where he was if he wished to be
+painted, was never able to see or learn anything that he wished: and
+it was a fine notion of Andrea's, thus at the same time to punish the
+deceitfulness of his friend and to display with this method of
+painting, like a well-practised master, even greater ability and
+experience in art.
+
+For all this, however, Baccio did not abandon his determination, in
+which he was assisted by the painter Rosso, whom he afterwards asked
+more openly for the help that he desired. Having thus learned the
+methods of colouring, he painted a picture in oils of the Holy Fathers
+delivered from the Limbo of Hell by the Saviour, and also a larger
+picture of Noah drunk with wine and revealing his nakedness in the
+presence of his sons. He tried his hand at painting on the wall, on
+fresh plaster, and executed on the walls of his house heads, arms,
+legs, and torsi, coloured in various ways; but, perceiving that this
+involved him in greater difficulties than he had expected, through
+the drying of the plaster, he returned to his former study of working
+in relief. He made a figure of marble, three braccia in height, of a
+young Mercury with a flute in his hand, with which he took great
+pains, and it was extolled and held to be a rare work; and afterwards,
+in the year 1530, it was bought by Giovan Battista della Palla and
+sent to France to King Francis, who held it in great estimation.
+
+Baccio devoted himself with great study and solicitude to examining
+and reproducing the most minute details of anatomy, persevering in
+this for many months and even years. And certainly one can praise
+highly in this man his desire for honour and excellence in art, and
+for working well therein; spurred by which desire, and by the most
+fiery ardour, with which, rather than with aptitude or dexterity in
+art, he had been endowed by nature from his earliest years, Baccio
+spared himself no fatigue, never relaxed his efforts for a moment, was
+always intent either on preparing for work or on working, always
+occupied, and never to be found idle, thinking that by continual work
+he would surpass all others who had ever practised his art, and
+promising this result to himself as the reward of his incessant study
+and endless labour. Continuing, therefore, his zealous study, he not
+only produced a great number of sheets drawn in various ways with his
+own hand, but also contrived to get Agostino Viniziano, the engraver
+of prints, to engrave for him a nude Cleopatra and a larger plate
+filled with various anatomical studies, in order to see whether this
+would be successful; and the latter plate brought him great praise.
+
+He then set himself to make in wax, in full-relief, a figure one braccio
+and a half in height of S. Jerome in Penitence, lean beyond belief,
+which showed on the bones the muscles all withered, a great part of the
+nerves, and the skin dry and wrinkled; and with such diligence was this
+work executed by him, that all the craftsmen, and particularly Leonardo
+da Vinci, pronounced the opinion that there had never been seen a better
+thing of its kind, nor one wrought with greater art. This figure Baccio
+carried to Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici and to his brother the
+Magnificent Giuliano, and by its means he made himself known to them as
+the son of the goldsmith Michelagnolo; and they, besides praising the
+work, showed him many other favours. This was in the year 1512, when
+they had returned to their house and their government. At this same time
+there were being executed in the Office of Works of S. Maria del Fiore
+certain Apostles of marble, which were to be set up within the marble
+tabernacles in those very places in that church where there are the
+Apostles painted by the painter Lorenzo di Bicci. At the instance of the
+Magnificent Giuliano there was allotted to Baccio a S. Peter, four
+braccia and a half in height, which after a long time he brought to
+completion; and, although it has not the highest perfection of
+sculpture, nevertheless good design may be seen in it. This Apostle
+remained in the Office of Works from the year 1513 down to 1565, in
+which year Duke Cosimo, in honour of the marriage of Queen Joanna of
+Austria, his daughter-in-law, was pleased to have the interior of S.
+Maria del Fiore whitewashed, which church had never been touched from
+the time of its erection down to that day, and to have four Apostles set
+up in their places, among which was the S. Peter mentioned above.
+
+Now in the year 1515, Pope Leo X passing through Florence on his way
+to Bologna, the city, in order to do him honour, ordained, among many
+other ornaments and festive preparations, that there should be made a
+colossal figure of nine braccia and a half, which was to be placed
+under an arch of the Loggia in the Piazza near the Palace; and this
+was given to Baccio. This colossal figure was a Hercules, and from the
+premature words of Baccio men expected that it would surpass the David
+of Buonarroti, which stood there near it; but the act did not
+correspond to the word, nor the work to the boast, and it robbed
+Baccio of much of the estimation in which he had previously been held
+by the craftsmen and by the whole city.
+
+Pope Leo had allotted the work of the ornamentation in marble that
+surrounds the Chamber of Our Lady at Loreto, with the statues and
+scenes, to Maestro Andrea Contucci of Monte Sansovino, who had already
+executed some of these with great credit to himself, and was then
+engaged on others. Now at this time Baccio took to Rome, for the Pope,
+a very beautiful model of a nude David who was holding Goliath under
+him and was cutting off his head; which model he intended to execute
+in bronze or in marble for that very spot in the court of the house of
+the Medici in Florence where there once stood the David of Donato,
+which, at the spoiling of the Medici Palace, was taken to the Palace
+that then belonged to the Signori. The Pope, having praised Baccio,
+but not thinking that the time had come to execute the David, sent him
+to Loreto to Maestro Andrea, to the end that Andrea might give him one
+of those scenes to do. Having arrived in Loreto, he was received
+lovingly by Maestro Andrea and shown much kindness, both on account of
+his fame and because the Pope had recommended him, and a piece of
+marble was assigned to him from which he should carve the Nativity of
+Our Lady. Baccio, after making the model, began the work; but, being a
+person who was not able to endure a colleague or an equal, and had
+little praise for the works of others, he also began to speak hardly
+before the other sculptors who were there of the works of Maestro
+Andrea, saying that he had no design, and he said the same of the
+others, insomuch that in a short time he made himself disliked by them
+all. Whereupon, all that Baccio had said of Maestro Andrea having come
+to his ears, he, like a wise man, answered him lovingly, saying that
+works are done with the hands and not with the tongue, that good
+design is to be looked for not in drawings but in the perfection of
+the work finished in stone, and, finally, that in future Baccio should
+speak of him in a different tone. But Baccio answering him arrogantly
+with many abusive words, Maestro Andrea could endure no more, and
+rushed upon him in order to kill him; but Bandinelli was torn away
+from him by some who intervened between them. Being therefore forced
+to depart from Loreto, Baccio had his scene carried to Ancona; but he
+grew weary of it, although it was near completion, and he went away
+leaving it unfinished. This work was finished afterwards by Raffaello
+da Montelupo, and placed together with the others of Maestro Andrea;
+but it is by no means equal to them in excellence, although even so it
+is worthy of praise.
+
+Baccio, having returned to Rome, obtained a promise from the Pope,
+through the favour of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, always ready to
+assist the arts and their followers, that he should be commissioned to
+execute some statue for the court of the Medici Palace in Florence.
+Having therefore come to Florence, he made an Orpheus of marble, who
+with his playing and his singing is charming Cerberus, and moving Hell
+itself to compassion. He imitated in this work the Apollo of the
+Belvedere at Rome, and it was very highly praised, and rightly,
+because, although the Orpheus of Baccio is not in the attitude of the
+Apollo Belvedere, nevertheless it reproduces very successfully the
+manner of the torso and of all the members. The statue, when finished,
+was carried by order of Cardinal Giulio, while he was governing
+Florence, into the above-mentioned court, and placed on a carved base
+executed by the sculptor Benedetto da Rovezzano. But since Baccio
+never paid any attention to the art of architecture, he took no heed
+of the genius of Donatello, who had made for the David that was there
+before a simple column on which rested a cleft base in open-work, to
+the end that one entering from without might see from the street-door
+the inner door, that of the other court, opposite to him; and, not
+having such foresight, he caused his statue to be placed on a broad
+and wholly solid base, of such a kind that it blocks the view of him
+who enters and covers the opening of the inner door, so that in
+passing through the first door one does not see whether the palace
+extends farther inwards or finishes in the first court.
+
+Cardinal Giulio had caused a most beautiful villa to be erected below
+Monte Mario at Rome, and wished to set up two giants in this villa;
+and he had them executed in stucco by Baccio, who was always delighted
+to make giants. These figures, eight braccia in height, stand one on
+either side of the gate that leads into the wood, and they were held
+to be reasonably beautiful. While Baccio was engaged on these works,
+never abandoning his practice of drawing, he caused Marco da Ravenna
+and Agostino Viniziano, the engravers of prints, to engrave a scene
+drawn by him on a very large sheet, in which was the Slaughter of the
+Innocents, so cruelly done to death by Herod. This scene, which was
+filled by him with a quantity of nudes, both male and female, children
+living and dead, and women and soldiers in various attitudes, made
+known the fine draughtsmanship that he showed in figures and his
+knowledge of muscles and of all the members, and it won him great
+fame over all Europe. He also made a most beautiful model of wood,
+with the figures in wax, of a tomb for the King of England, which in
+the end was not carried out by Baccio, but was given to the sculptor
+Benedetto da Rovezzano, who executed it in metal.
+
+[Illustration: THE MARTYRDOM OF S. LORENZO
+
+(_After the painting by =Baccio Bandinelli=. Hereford: W. J. Davies'
+Collection_)
+
+_M.S._]
+
+There had recently returned from France Cardinal Bernardo Divizio of
+Bibbiena, who, perceiving that King Francis possessed not a single
+work in marble, whether ancient or modern, although he much delighted
+in such things, had promised his Majesty that he would prevail on the
+Pope to send him some beautiful work. After this Cardinal there came
+to the Pope two Ambassadors from King Francis, and they, having seen
+the statues of the Belvedere, lavished all the praise at their command
+on the Laocoon. Cardinals de' Medici and Bibbiena, who were with them,
+asked them whether the King would be glad to have a work of that kind;
+and they answered that it would be too great a gift. Then the Cardinal
+said to them: "There shall be sent to his Majesty either this one or
+one so like it that there shall be no difference." And, having
+resolved to have another made in imitation of it, he remembered
+Baccio, whom he sent for and asked whether he had the courage to make
+a Laocoon equal to the original. Baccio answered that he was confident
+that he could make one not merely equal to it, but even surpassing it
+in perfection. The Cardinal then resolved that the work should be
+begun, and Baccio, while waiting for the marble to come, made one in
+wax, which was much extolled, and also executed a cartoon in
+lead-white and charcoal of the same size as the one in marble. After
+the marble had come and Baccio had caused an enclosure with a roof for
+working in to be erected for himself in the Belvedere, he made a
+beginning with one of the boys of the Laocoon, the larger one, and
+executed this in such a manner that the Pope and all those who were
+good judges were satisfied, because between his work and the ancient
+there was scarcely any difference to be seen. But after setting his
+hand to the other boy and to the statue of the father, which is in the
+middle, he had not gone far when the Pope died. Adrian VI being then
+elected, he returned with the Cardinal to Florence, where he occupied
+himself with his studies in design. After the death of Adrian and
+the election of Clement VII, Baccio went post-haste to Rome in order
+to be in time for his coronation, for which he made statues and scenes
+in half-relief by order of his Holiness. Then, having been provided by
+the Pope with rooms and an allowance, he returned to his Laocoon, a
+work which was executed by him in the space of two years with the
+greatest excellence that he ever achieved. He also restored the right
+arm of the ancient Laocoon, which had been broken off and never found,
+and Baccio made one of the full size in wax, which so resembled the
+ancient work in the muscles, in force, and in manner, and harmonized
+with it so well, that it showed how Baccio understood his art; and
+this model served him as a pattern for making the whole arm of his own
+Laocoon. This work seemed to his Holiness to be so good, that he
+changed his mind and resolved to send other ancient statues to the
+King, and this one to Florence; and to Cardinal Silvio Passerino of
+Cortona, his Legate in Florence, who was then governing the city, he
+sent orders that he should place the Laocoon at the head of the second
+court in the Palace of the Medici. This was in the year 1525.
+
+This work brought great fame to Baccio, who, after finishing the
+Laocoon, set himself to draw a scene on a sheet of royal folio laid
+open, in order to carry out a design of the Pope, who wished to have
+the Martyrdom of S. Cosimo and S. Damiano painted on one wall of the
+principal chapel of S. Lorenzo in Florence, and on the other that of
+S. Laurence, when he was put to death by Decius on the gridiron.
+Baccio then drew with great subtlety the story of S. Laurence, in
+which he counterfeited with much judgment and art figures both clothed
+and nude, different attitudes and gestures in the bodies and limbs,
+and various movements in those who are standing about S. Laurence,
+engaged in their dreadful office, and in particular the cruel Decius,
+who with threatening brow is urging on the fiery death of the innocent
+Martyr, who, raising one arm to Heaven, recommends his spirit to God.
+With this scene Baccio so satisfied the Pope, that he took steps to
+have it engraved on copper by Marc'Antonio Bolognese, which was done
+by Marc'Antonio with great diligence; and his Holiness created Baccio,
+in order to do honour to his talents, a Chevalier of S. Pietro.
+
+After these things Baccio returned to Florence, where he found that
+Giovan Francesco Rustici, his first master, was painting a scene of
+the Conversion of S. Paul; for which reason he undertook to make in a
+cartoon, in competition with his master, a nude figure of a young S.
+John in the desert, who is holding a lamb with the left arm and
+raising the right to Heaven. Then, having caused a panel to be
+prepared, he set himself to colour it, and when it was finished he
+exposed it to view in the workshop of his father Michelagnolo,
+opposite to the descent that leads from Orsanmichele to the Mercato
+Nuovo. The design was praised by the craftsmen, but not so much the
+colouring, because it was somewhat crude and painted in no beautiful
+manner. But Baccio sent it as a present to Pope Clement, who had it
+placed in his guardaroba, where it may still be found.
+
+As far back as the time of Leo X there had been quarried at Carrara,
+together with the marbles for the fa�ade of S. Lorenzo in Florence,
+another block of marble nine braccia and a half high and five braccia
+wide at the foot. With this block of marble Michelagnolo Buonarroti
+had thought of making a giant in the person of Hercules slaying Cacus,
+intending to place it in the Piazza beside the colossal figure of
+David formerly made by him, since both the one and the other, David
+and Hercules, were emblems of the Palace. He had made several designs
+and various models for it, and had sought to gain the favour of Pope
+Leo and of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, saying that the David had many
+defects caused by the sculptor Maestro Andrea, who had first blocked
+it out and spoiled it. But by reason of the death of Leo the fa�ade of
+S. Lorenzo was for a time abandoned, and also this block of marble.
+Now afterwards, Pope Clement having conceived a desire to avail
+himself of Michelagnolo for the tombs of the heroes of the house of
+Medici, which he wished to have constructed in the Sacristy of S.
+Lorenzo, it became once more necessary to quarry marbles; and the head
+of these works, keeping the accounts of the expenses, was Domenico
+Buoninsegni. This man tried to tempt Michelagnolo to make a secret
+partnership with him in the matter of the stone-work for the fa�ade of
+S. Lorenzo; but Michelagnolo refused, not consenting that his genius
+should be employed in defrauding the Pope, and Domenico conceived such
+hatred against him that he went about ever afterwards opposing his
+undertakings, in order to annoy and humiliate him, but this he did
+covertly. He thus contrived to have the fa�ade discontinued and the
+sacristy pushed forward, which two works, he said, were enough to keep
+Michelagnolo occupied for many years. And as for the marble for the
+making of the giant, he urged the Pope that it should be given to
+Baccio, who at that time had nothing to do; saying that through the
+emulation of two men so eminent his Holiness would be served better
+and with more diligence and promptitude, rivalry stimulating both the
+one and the other in his work. The counsel of Domenico pleased the
+Pope, and he acted in accordance with it. Baccio, having obtained the
+marble, made a great model in wax, which was a Hercules who, having
+fixed the head of Cacus between two stones with one knee, was
+constraining him with great force with the left arm, holding him
+crouching under his legs in a distorted attitude, wherein Cacus
+revealed his suffering and the strain of the weight of Hercules upon
+him, which was rending asunder every least muscle in his whole body.
+Hercules, likewise, with his head bent down close against his enemy,
+grinding and gnashing his teeth, was raising the right arm and with
+great vehemence giving him another blow with his club, in order to
+dash his head to pieces.
+
+Michelagnolo, as soon as he had heard that the marble had been given
+to Baccio, was very much displeased; but, for all the efforts that he
+made in this matter, he was never able to turn the Pope from his
+purpose, so completely had he been satisfied by Baccio's model; to
+which reason were added his promises and boasts, for he boasted that
+he would surpass the David of Michelagnolo, and he was also assisted
+by Buoninsegni, who said that Michelagnolo desired everything for
+himself. Thus was the city deprived of a rare ornament, such as that
+marble would undoubtedly have been when shaped by the hand of
+Buonarroti. The above-mentioned model of Baccio is now to be found in
+the guardaroba of Duke Cosimo, by whom it is held very dear, and by
+the craftsmen as a rare work.
+
+Baccio was sent to Carrara to see this marble, and the Overseers of
+the Works of S. Maria del Fiore were commissioned to transport it by
+water, along the River Arno, as far as Signa. The marble having been
+conveyed there, within a distance of eight miles from Florence, when
+they set about removing it from the river in order to transport it by
+land, the river being too low from Signa to Florence, it fell into the
+water, and on account of its great size sank so deep into the sand,
+that the Overseers, with all the contrivances that they used, were not
+able to drag it out. For which reason, the Pope wishing that the
+marble should be recovered at all costs, by order of the Wardens of
+Works Pietro Rosselli, an old builder of great ingenuity, went to work
+in such a manner that, having diverted the course of the water into
+another channel and cut away the bank of the river, with levers and
+windlasses he moved it, dragged it out of the Arno, and brought it to
+solid ground, for which he was greatly extolled. Tempted by this
+accident to the marble, certain persons wrote verses, both Tuscan and
+Latin, ingeniously ridiculing Baccio, who was detested for his
+loquacity and his evil-speaking against Michelagnolo and all the other
+craftsmen. One among them took for his verses the following subject,
+saying that the marble, after having been approved by the genius of
+Michelagnolo, learning that it was to be mangled by the hands of
+Baccio, had thrown itself into the river out of despair at such an
+evil fate.
+
+While the marble was being drawn out of the water, a difficult process
+which took time, Baccio found, on measuring it, that it was neither
+high enough nor wide enough to enable him to carve the figures of his
+first model. Whereupon he went to Rome, taking the measurements with
+him, and made known to the Pope how he was constrained by necessity to
+abandon his first design and make another. He then made several
+models, and out of their number the Pope was most pleased with one in
+which Hercules had Cacus between his legs, and, grasping his hair, was
+holding him down after the manner of a prisoner; and this one they
+resolved to adopt and to carry into execution. On returning to
+Florence, Baccio found that the marble had been conveyed into the
+Office of Works of S. Maria del Fiore by Pietro Rosselli, who had
+first placed on the ground some planks of walnut-wood planed square,
+and laid lengthways, which he kept changing according as the marble
+moved forward, under which and upon those planks he placed some round
+rollers well shod with iron, so that by pulling the marble with three
+windlasses, to which he had attached it, little by little he brought
+it with ease into the Office of Works. The block having been set up
+there, Baccio began a model in clay as large as the marble and shaped
+according to the last one which he had made previously in Rome; and he
+finished it, working with great diligence, in a few months. But with
+all this it appeared to many craftsmen that there was not in this
+model that spirited vivacity that the action required, nor that which
+he had given to his first model. Afterwards, beginning to work at the
+marble, Baccio cut it away all round as far as the navel, laying bare
+the limbs in front, and taking care all the time to carve the figures
+in such a way that they might be exactly like those of the large model
+in clay.
+
+At this same time Baccio had undertaken to execute in painting an
+altar-piece of considerable size for the Church of Cestello, and for
+this he had made a very beautiful cartoon containing a Dead Christ
+surrounded by the Maries, with Nicodemus and other figures; but, for a
+reason that we shall give below, he did not paint the altar-piece. He
+also made at this time, in order to paint a picture, a cartoon in
+which was Christ taken down from the Cross and held in the arms of
+Nicodemus, with His Mother, who was standing, weeping for Him, and an
+Angel who was holding in his hands the Nails and the Crown of Thorns.
+Setting himself straightway to colour it, he finished it quickly and
+placed it on exhibition in the workshop of his friend Giovanni di
+Goro, the goldsmith, in the Mercato Nuovo, in order to hear the
+opinions of men and particularly what Michelagnolo said of it.
+Michelagnolo was taken by the goldsmith Piloto to see it, and, after
+he had examined every part, he said that he marvelled that so good a
+draughtsman as Baccio should allow a picture so crude and wanting in
+grace to leave his hands, that he had seen the most feeble painters
+executing their works in a better manner, and that this was no art for
+Baccio. Piloto reported Michelagnolo's judgment to Baccio, who, for
+all the hatred that he felt against him, recognized that he spoke the
+truth. Certainly Baccio's drawings were very beautiful, but in colours
+he executed them badly and without grace, and he therefore resolved to
+paint no more with his own hand; but he took into his service one who
+handled colours passing well, a young man called Agnolo, the brother
+of the excellent painter Franciabigio, who had died a few years
+before. To this Agnolo he desired to entrust the execution of the
+altar-piece for Cestello, but it remained unfinished, the reason of
+which was the change of government in Florence, which took place in
+the year 1527, when the Medici left Florence after the sack of Rome.
+For Baccio did not think himself safe, having a private feud with a
+neighbour at his villa of Pinzirimonte, who was of the popular party;
+and after he had buried at that villa some cameos and little antique
+figures of bronze, which belonged to the Medici, he went off to live
+in Lucca. There he remained until the time when the Emperor Charles V
+came to receive his crown at Bologna; whereupon he presented himself
+before the Pope and then went with him to Rome, where he was given
+rooms in the Belvedere, as before.
+
+While Baccio was living there, his Holiness resolved to fulfil a vow
+that he had made when he was shut up in the Castello di S. Angelo;
+which vow was that he would place on the summit of the great round
+tower of marble, which is in front of the Ponte di Castello, seven
+large figures of bronze, each six braccia in length, and all lying
+down in different attitudes, as it were vanquished by an Angel that he
+wished to have set up on the centre of the tower, upon a column of
+variegated marble, the Angel being of bronze with a sword in the hand.
+By this figure of the Angel he wished to represent the Angel Michael,
+the guardian and protector of the Castle, whose favour and assistance
+had delivered him and brought him out of that prison; and the seven
+recumbent figures were to personify the seven Mortal Sins,
+demonstrating that with the help of the victorious Angel he had
+conquered and thrown to the ground his enemies, evil and impious men,
+who were represented by those seven figures of the seven Mortal Sins.
+For this work his Holiness caused a model to be made; which having
+pleased him, he ordained that Baccio should begin to make the figures
+in clay of the size that they were to be, in order to have them cast
+afterwards in bronze. Baccio began the work, and finished in one of
+the apartments in the Belvedere one of those figures in clay, which
+was much extolled. At the same time, also, in order to divert himself,
+and wishing to see how he would succeed in casting, he made many
+little figures in the round, two-thirds of a braccio in height, as of
+Hercules, Venus, Apollo, Leda, and other fantasies of his own, which
+he caused to be cast in bronze by Maestro Jacopo della Barba of
+Florence; and they succeeded excellently well. He presented them
+afterwards to his Holiness and to many lords; and some of them are now
+in the study of Duke Cosimo, among a collection of more than a hundred
+antique figures, all very choice, and others that are modern.
+
+At this same time Baccio had made a scene of the Deposition from the
+Cross with little figures in low-relief and half-relief, which was a
+rare work; and he had it cast with great diligence in bronze. When
+finished, he presented it in Genoa to Charles V, who held it very
+dear; and a sign of this was that his Majesty gave Baccio a Commandery
+of S. Jago, and made him a Chevalier. From Prince Doria, also, he
+received many courtesies; and from the Republic of Genoa he had the
+commission for a statue of marble six braccia high, which was to be a
+Neptune in the likeness of Prince Doria, to be set up on the Piazza in
+memory of the virtues of that Prince and of the extraordinary benefits
+that his native country of Genoa had received from him. This statue
+was allotted to Baccio at the price of a thousand florins, of which he
+received five hundred at that time; and he went straightway to Carrara
+to block it out at the quarry of Polvaccio.
+
+While the popular government was ruling Florence, after the departure
+of the Medici, Michelagnolo Buonarroti was employed on the
+fortifications of the city; and there was shown to him the marble that
+Baccio had blocked out, together with the model of the Hercules and
+Cacus, the intention being that if the marble had not been cut away
+too much Michelagnolo should take it and carve from it two figures
+after his own design. Michelagnolo, having examined the block, thought
+of a different subject; and, abandoning the Hercules and Cacus, he
+chose the subject of Samson holding beneath him two Philistines whom
+he had cast down, one being already dead, and the other still alive,
+against whom he was aiming a blow with the jawbone of an ass, seeking
+to kill him. But even as it often happens that the minds of men
+promise themselves at times certain things the opposite of which is
+determined by the wisdom of God, so it came to pass then, for, war
+having arisen against the city of Florence, Michelagnolo had other
+things to think about than polishing marble, and was obliged from fear
+of the citizens to withdraw from the city. Afterwards, the war being
+finished and peace made, Pope Clement caused Michelagnolo to return to
+Florence in order to finish the Sacristy of S. Lorenzo, and sent
+Baccio to see to the completion of the giant. Baccio, while engaged in
+this, took up his abode in the Palace of the Medici; and, writing
+almost every week to his Holiness in order to make a show of devotion,
+he entered, besides dealing with matters of art, into particulars
+relating to the citizens and those who were administering the
+government, with an odious officiousness likely to bring upon him even
+more ill-will than he had awakened before. Whereupon, when Duke
+Alessandro returned from the Court of his Majesty to Florence, the
+citizens made known to him the sinister policy that Baccio was
+pursuing against them; from which it followed that his work of the
+giant was hindered and retarded by the citizens by every means in
+their power.
+
+[Illustration: HERCULES AND CACUS
+
+(_After the marble by =Baccio Bandinelli=. Florence: Piazza della
+Signoria_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+At this time, after the war of Hungary, Pope Clement and the Emperor
+Charles held a conference at Bologna, whither there went Cardinal
+Ippolito de' Medici and Duke Alessandro; and it occurred to Baccio to
+go and kiss the feet of his Holiness. He took with him a panel, one
+braccio high and one and a half wide, of Christ being scourged at the
+Column by two nude figures, which was in half-relief and very well
+executed; and he gave this panel to the Pope, together with a
+portrait-medal of his Holiness, which he had caused to be made by
+Francesco dal Prato, his familiar friend, the reverse of the medal
+being the Flagellation of Christ. This gift was very acceptable to his
+Holiness, to whom Baccio described the annoyances and impediments that
+he had experienced in the execution of his Hercules, praying him that
+he should prevail upon the Duke to give him the means to carry it to
+completion. He added that he was envied and hated in that city; and,
+being a very devil with his wit and his tongue, he persuaded the Pope
+to induce the Duke to see that his work should be brought to
+completion and set up in its place in the Piazza.
+
+Death had now snatched away the goldsmith Michelagnolo, the father of
+Baccio, who during his lifetime had undertaken to make for the Wardens
+of Works of S. Maria del Fiore, by order of the Pope, a very large
+cross of silver, all covered with scenes in low-relief of the Passion
+of Christ. This cross, for which Baccio had made the figures and
+scenes in wax, to be afterwards cast in silver, Michelagnolo had left
+unfinished at his death; and Baccio, having the work in his hands,
+together with many libbre of silver, sought to persuade his Holiness
+to have it finished by Francesco dal Prato, who had gone with him to
+Bologna. But the Pope, perceiving that Baccio wished not only to
+withdraw from his father's engagements, but also to make something out
+of the labours of Francesco, gave Baccio orders that the silver and
+the scenes, those merely begun as well as those finished, should be
+given to the Wardens of Works, that the account should be settled, and
+that the Wardens should melt all the silver of that cross, in order to
+make use of it for the necessities of the church, which had been
+stripped of its ornaments at the time of the siege; and to Baccio he
+caused one hundred florins of gold and letters of recommendation to be
+given, to the end that he might return to Florence and finish the work
+of the giant.
+
+While Baccio was at Bologna, Cardinal Doria, having heard that he was
+about to depart, went to the pains of seeking him out, and threatened
+him with many reproaches and abusive words, for the reason that he had
+broken his pledge and failed in his duty by neglecting to finish the
+statue of Prince Doria and leaving it only blocked out at Carrara,
+after taking five hundred crowns in payment; on which account, said
+the Cardinal, if Andrea could get Baccio into his hands, he would make
+him pay for it at the galleys. Baccio defended himself humbly and with
+soft words, saying that he had been delayed by a sufficient hindrance,
+but that he had in Florence a block of marble of the same height, from
+which he had intended to carve that figure, and that when he had
+carved and finished it he would send it to Genoa. And so well did he
+contrive to speak and to excuse himself that he succeeded in escaping
+from the presence of the Cardinal. After this he returned to Florence,
+and caused the base for the giant to be taken in hand; and, himself
+working continuously at the figure, in the year 1534 he finished it
+completely. But Duke Alessandro, on account of the hostile reports of
+the citizens, did not take steps to have it set up in the Piazza.
+
+The Pope had returned to Rome many months before this, and desired to
+erect two tombs of marble in the Minerva, one for Pope Leo and one for
+himself; and Baccio, seizing this occasion, went to Rome. Thereupon
+the Pope resolved that Baccio should make those tombs after he had
+succeeded in setting up the giant on the Piazza; and his Holiness
+wrote to the Duke that he should give Baccio every convenience for
+placing his Hercules in position there. Whereupon, after an enclosure
+of planks had been made all round, the base was built of marble, and
+at the foot of it they placed a stone with letters in memory of Pope
+Clement VII, and a good number of medals with the heads of his
+Holiness and of Duke Alessandro. The giant was then taken from the
+Office of Works, where it had been executed; and in order to convey it
+with greater ease, without damaging it, they made round it a
+scaffolding of wood, with ropes passing under the legs and cords
+supporting it under the arms and at every other part; and thus,
+suspended in the air between the beams in such a way that it did not
+touch the wood, little by little, by means of compound pulleys and
+windlasses and ten pairs of oxen, it was drawn as far as the Piazza.
+Great assistance was rendered by two thick, semi-cylindrical beams,
+which were fixed lengthways along the foot of the scaffolding, in the
+manner of a base, and rested on other similar beams smeared with soap,
+which were withdrawn and replaced by workmen in succession, according
+as the structure moved forward; and with these ingenious contrivances
+the giant was conveyed safely and without much labour to the Piazza.
+The charge of all this was given to Baccio d'Agnolo and the elder
+Antonio da San Gallo, the architects to the Office of Works, who
+afterwards with other beams and a double system of compound pulleys
+set the statue securely on its base.
+
+It would not be easy to describe the concourse and multitude that for
+two days occupied the whole Piazza, flocking to see the giant as soon
+as it was uncovered; and various judgments and opinions were heard
+from all kinds of men, every one censuring the work and the master.
+There were also attached round the base many verses, both Latin and
+Tuscan, in which it was pleasing to see the wit, the ingenious
+conceits, and the sharp sayings of the writers; but they overstepped
+all decent limits with their evil-speaking and their biting and
+satirical compositions, and Duke Alessandro, considering that, the
+work being a public one, the indignity was his, was forced to put in
+prison some who went so far as to attach sonnets openly and without
+scruple to the statue; which proceeding soon stopped the mouths of the
+critics.
+
+When Baccio examined his work in position, it seemed to him that the
+open air was little favourable to it, making the muscles appear too
+delicate. Having therefore caused a new enclosure of planks to be made
+around it, he attacked it again with his chisels, and, strengthening
+the muscles in many places, gave the figures stronger relief than they
+had before. Finally, the work was uncovered for good; and by everyone
+able to judge it has always been held to be not only a triumph over
+difficulties, but also very well studied, with every part carefully
+considered, and the figure of Cacus excellently adapted to its
+position. It is true that the David of Michelagnolo, which is beside
+Baccio's Hercules, takes away not a little of its glory, being the
+most beautiful colossal figure that has ever been made; for in it is
+all grace and excellence, whereas the manner of Baccio is entirely
+different. But in truth, considering Baccio's Hercules by itself, one
+cannot but praise it highly, and all the more because it is known that
+many sculptors have since tried to make colossal statues, and not one
+has attained to the standard of Baccio, who, if he had received as
+much grace and facility from nature as he took pains and trouble by
+himself, would have been absolutely perfect in the art of sculpture.
+
+Desiring to know what was being said of his work, he sent to the
+Piazza a pedagogue whom he kept in his house, telling him that he
+should not fail to report to him the truth of what he might hear said.
+The pedagogue, hearing nothing but censure, returned sadly to the
+house, and, when questioned by Baccio, answered that all with one
+voice were abusing the giants, and that they pleased no one. "And
+you," asked Baccio, "what do you say of them?" "I speak well of them,"
+he replied, "and say, may it please you, that they please me." "I will
+not have them please you," said Baccio, "and you, also, must speak ill
+of them, for, as you may remember, I never speak well of anyone; and
+so we are quits." Thus Baccio concealed his vexation, and it was
+always his custom to act thus, pretending not to care for the censure
+that any man laid on his works. Nevertheless, it is likely enough that
+his resentment was considerable, because when a man labours for
+honour, and then obtains nothing but censure, one cannot but believe,
+although that censure may be unjust and undeserved, that it afflicts
+him secretly in his heart and torments him continually. He was
+consoled in his displeasure by an estate, which was given to him in
+addition to his payment, by order of Pope Clement. This gift was
+doubly dear to him, first because it was useful for its revenue and
+was near his villa of Pinzirimonte, and then because it had previously
+belonged to Rignadori, his mortal enemy, who had just been declared an
+outlaw, and with whom he had always been at strife on account of the
+boundary of this property.
+
+At this time a letter was written to Duke Alessandro by Prince Doria,
+asking that he should prevail upon Baccio to finish his statue, now
+that the giant was completely finished, and saying that he was ready
+to revenge himself on Baccio if he did not do his duty; at which
+Baccio was so frightened that he would not trust himself to go to
+Carrara. However, having been reassured by Cardinal Cibo and Duke
+Alessandro, he went there, and, working with some assistants,
+proceeded to carry the statue forward. The Prince had himself informed
+every day as to how much Baccio was doing; wherefore, receiving a
+report that the statue was not of that excellence which had been
+promised, he gave Baccio to understand that, if he did not serve him
+well, he would make him smart for it. Baccio, hearing this, spoke very
+ill of the Prince; which having come to the Prince's ears, he
+determined to get him into his hands at all costs, and to take
+vengeance upon him by putting him in wholesome fear of the galleys.
+Whereupon Baccio, seeing certain persons spying and keeping a watch
+upon him, became suspicious, and, being a shrewd and resolute man,
+left the work as it was and returned to Florence.
+
+About this time a son was born to Baccio from a woman whom he kept in
+his house, and to this son, Pope Clement having died in those days, he
+gave the name of Clemente, in memory of that Pontiff, who had always
+loved and favoured him. After the death of Pope Clement, he heard that
+Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici, Cardinal Innocenzio Cibo, Cardinal
+Giovanni Salviati, and Cardinal Niccol� Ridolfi, together with Messer
+Baldassarre Turini da Pescia, being the executors of the Pope's will,
+had commissions to give for the two marble tombs of Leo and Clement,
+which were to be placed in the Minerva. For these tombs Baccio in the
+past had already made the models; but the work had been promised
+recently to the Ferrarese sculptor Alfonso Lombardi through the favour
+of Cardinal de' Medici, whose servant he was. This Alfonso, by the
+advice of Michelagnolo, had changed the design of the tombs, and he
+had already made the models for them, but without any contract for the
+commission, relying wholly on promises, and expecting every day to
+have to go to Carrara to quarry the marble. While the time was
+slipping away in this manner, it happened that Cardinal Ippolito died
+of poison on his way to meet Charles V. Baccio, hearing this, went
+without wasting any time to Rome, where he was first received by the
+sister of Pope Leo, Madonna Lucrezia Salviati de' Medici, to whom he
+strove to prove that no one could do greater honour to the remains of
+those great Pontiffs than himself, with his ability in art, adding
+that Alfonso was a sculptor without power of design and without skill
+and judgment in the handling of marble, and that he was not able to
+execute so honourable an undertaking save only with the help of
+others. He also used many other devices, and so went to work in
+various ways and by various means that he succeeded in changing the
+purpose of those lords, who finally entrusted to Cardinal Salviati the
+charge of making an agreement with Baccio.
+
+At this time the Emperor Charles V had arrived in Naples, and in Rome
+Filippo Strozzi, Anton Francesco degli Albizzi, and the other exiles
+were seeking to arrange with Cardinal Salviati to go and set his
+Majesty against Duke Alessandro; and they were with the Cardinal at
+all hours. Baccio was also all day long in Salviati's halls and
+apartments, waiting to have the contract made for the tombs, but not
+able to bring matters to a head, because of the Cardinal's
+preoccupation with the affairs of the exiles; and they, seeing Baccio
+in those rooms morning and evening, grew suspicious of this, and,
+fearing lest he might be there to spy upon their movements and give
+information to the Duke, some of the young men among them agreed to
+follow him secretly one evening and put him out of the way. But
+Fortune, coming to his aid in time, brought it about that the two
+other Cardinals, with Messer Baldassarre da Pescia, undertook to
+finish Baccio's business. Knowing that Baccio was worth little as an
+architect, they had caused a design to be made by Antonio da San
+Gallo, which pleased them, and had ordained that all the mason's work
+to be done in marble should be executed under the direction of the
+sculptor Lorenzetto, and that the marble statues and scenes should be
+allotted to Baccio. Having arranged the matter in this way, they
+finally made the contract with Baccio, who therefore appeared no more
+about the house of Cardinal Salviati, withdrawing himself just in
+time; and the exiles, the occasion having passed by, thought nothing
+more about him.
+
+After these things Baccio made two models of wood, with the statues
+and scenes in wax. These models had the bases solid, without
+projections, and on each base were four fluted Ionic columns, which
+divided the space into three compartments, a large one in the middle,
+where in each there was a Pope in full pontificals seated upon a
+pedestal, who was giving the benediction, and smaller spaces, each
+with a niche containing a figure in the round and standing upright,
+four braccia high; which figures, representing Saints, stood on either
+side of those Popes. The order of the composition had the form of a
+triumphal arch, and above the columns that supported the cornice was a
+marble tablet three braccia in height and four braccia and a half in
+width, in which was a scene in half-relief. In the scene above the
+statue of Pope Leo, which statue had on either side of it in the
+niches S. Peter and S. Paul, was his Conference with King Francis at
+Bologna, and this story of Leo in the middle, above the columns, was
+accompanied by two smaller scenes, in one of which, that above S.
+Peter, was the Saint restoring a dead man to life, and in the other,
+that above S. Paul, that Saint preaching to the people. In the scene
+above Pope Clement, which corresponded to that mentioned above, was
+that Pontiff crowning the Emperor Charles at Bologna, and on either
+side of it are two smaller scenes, in one of which is S. John the
+Baptist preaching to the people, and in the other S. John the
+Evangelist raising Drusiana from the dead; and these have below them
+in the niches the same Saints, four braccia high, standing on either
+side of the statue of Pope Clement, as with that of Leo.
+
+In this structure Baccio showed either too little religion or too much
+adulation, or both together, in that he thought fit that the first
+founders--after Christ--of our religion, men deified and most dear to
+God, should give way to our Popes, and placed them in positions
+unworthy of them and inferior to those of Leo and Clement. Certain it
+is that this design of his, even as it was displeasing to God and to
+the Saints, so likewise gave no pleasure to the Popes or to any other
+man, for the reason, it appears to me, that religion--and I mean our
+own, the true religion--should be placed by mankind before all other
+interests and considerations. And, on the other hand, he who wishes to
+exalt and honour any other person, should, I think, be temperate and
+restrained, and confine himself within certain limits, so that his
+praise and honour may not become another thing--I mean senseless
+adulation, which first disgraces the praiser, and also gives no
+pleasure to the person praised, if he has any proper feeling, but does
+quite the contrary. Baccio, in doing what I have described, made known
+to everyone that he had much goodwill and affection indeed towards the
+Popes, but little judgment in exalting and honouring them in their
+sepulchres.
+
+The models described above were taken by Baccio to the garden of
+Cardinal Ridolfi at S. Agata on Monte Cavallo, where his lordship was
+entertaining Cibo, Salviati, and Messer Baldassarre da Pescia to
+dinner, they having assembled together there in order to settle all
+that was necessary in the matter of the tombs. While they were at
+table, then, there arrived the sculptor Solosmeo, an amusing and
+outspoken person, who was always ready to speak ill of anyone, and
+little the friend of Baccio. When the message was brought to those
+lords that Solosmeo was seeking admittance, Ridolfi ordered that he
+should be ushered in, and then, turning to Baccio, said to him: "I
+wish that we should hear what Solosmeo says of our bestowal of these
+tombs. Raise that door-curtain, Baccio, and stand behind it." Baccio
+immediately obeyed, and, when Solosmeo had entered and had been
+invited to drink, they then turned to the subject of the tombs
+allotted to Baccio; whereupon Solosmeo reproached the Cardinals for
+having made a bad choice, and went on to speak all manner of evil
+against Baccio, taxing him with ignorance of art, avarice, and
+arrogance, and going into many particulars in his criticisms. Baccio,
+who stood hidden behind the door-curtain, was not able to contain
+himself until Solosmeo should have finished, and, bursting out
+scowling and full of rage, said to Solosmeo: "What have I done to you,
+that you should speak of me with such scant respect?" Dumbfounded at
+the appearance of Baccio, Solosmeo turned to Ridolfi and said: "What
+tricks are these, my lord? I want nothing more to do with priests!"
+and took himself off. The Cardinals had a hearty laugh both at the one
+and at the other; and Salviati said to Baccio: "You hear the opinion
+of your brothers in art. Go and give them the lie with your work."
+
+[Illustration: STATUE OF GIOVANNI DELLE BANDE NERE
+
+(_After the marble by =Baccio Bandinelli=. Florence: Piazza di S.
+Lorenzo_)
+
+_Brogi_]
+
+Baccio then began the work of the statues and scenes, but his
+performances by no means corresponded to his promises and his duty
+towards those Pontiffs, for he used little diligence in the figures
+and scenes, and left them badly finished and full of defects, being
+more solicitous about drawing his money than about working at the
+marble. Now his patrons became aware of Baccio's procedure, and
+repented of what they had done; but the two largest pieces of marble
+remained, those for the two statues that were still to be executed,
+one of Leo seated and the other of Clement, and these they ordered him
+to finish, beseeching him that he should do better in them. But
+Baccio, having already drawn all the money, entered into negotiations
+with Messer Giovan Battista da Ricasoli, Bishop of Cortona, who was in
+Rome on business of Duke Cosimo's, to depart from Rome and go to
+Florence in order to serve Cosimo in the matter of the fountains of
+his villa of Castello and the tomb of his father, Signor Giovanni.
+The Duke having answered that Baccio should come, he set off for
+Florence without a word, leaving the work of the tombs unfinished and
+the statues in the hands of two assistants. The Cardinals, hearing of
+this, allotted those two statues of the Popes, which still remained to
+be finished, to two sculptors, one of whom was Raffaello da Montelupo,
+who received the statue of Pope Leo, and the other Giovanni di Baccio,
+to whom was given the statue of Clement. They then gave orders that
+the masonry and all that was prepared should be put together, and the
+work was erected; but the statues and scenes were in many parts
+neither pumiced nor polished, so that they brought Baccio more
+discredit than fame.
+
+Arriving in Florence, Baccio found that the Duke had sent the sculptor
+Tribolo to Carrara to quarry the marble for the fountains of Castello
+and the tomb of Signor Giovanni; and he so wrought upon the Duke that
+he wrested the tomb of Signor Giovanni from the hands of Tribolo,
+demonstrating to his Excellency that the marbles for such a work were
+already in great measure in Florence. Thus, little by little, he
+penetrated into the confidence of the Duke, insomuch that both for
+this reason and for his arrogance everyone was afraid of him. He then
+proposed to the Duke that the tomb of Signor Giovanni should be
+erected in the Chapel of the Neroni, a narrow, confined, and mean
+place, in S. Lorenzo, being too ignorant or not wishing to suggest
+that for so great a Prince it was proper that a new chapel should be
+built on purpose. He also prevailed on the Duke to demand from
+Michelagnolo, on Baccio's behalf, many pieces of marble that he had in
+Florence; and when the Duke had obtained them from Michelagnolo, and
+Baccio from the Duke, among those marbles being some blocked out
+figures and a statue carried well on towards completion by
+Michelagnolo, Bandinelli, taking them all over, hacked and broke to
+pieces everything that he could find, thinking that by so doing he was
+avenging himself on Michelagnolo and causing him displeasure. He
+found, moreover, in the same room in S. Lorenzo wherein Michelagnolo
+worked, two statues in one block of marble, representing Hercules
+crushing Ant�us, which the Duke was having executed by the sculptor
+Fra Giovanni Agnolo. These were well advanced; but Baccio, saying to
+the Duke that the friar had spoilt that marble, broke it into many
+pieces.
+
+In the end, he constructed all the base of the tomb, which is an
+isolated pedestal about four braccia on every side, and has at the
+foot a socle with a moulding in the manner of a base, which goes right
+round, and with a fillet at the top, such as is generally made for
+pedestals; and above this a cyma three-quarters of a braccio in
+height, which goes inwards in a concave curve, inverted, after the
+manner of a frieze, on which are carved some horse's skulls bound one
+to another with draperies; and above the whole was to be a smaller
+pedestal, with a seated statue of four braccia and a half, armed in
+the ancient fashion, and holding in the hand the baton of a
+condottiere captain of armies, which was to represent the person of
+the invincible Signor Giovanni de' Medici. This statue was begun by
+him from a block of marble, and carried well on, but never finished or
+placed on the base built for it. It is true that on the front of that
+base he finished entirely a scene of marble in half-relief, with
+figures about two braccia high, in which he represented Signor
+Giovanni seated, to whom are being brought many prisoners, soldiers,
+women with dishevelled hair, and nude figures, but all without
+invention and without revealing any feeling. At the end of the scene,
+indeed, there is a figure with a pig on the shoulder, which is said to
+have been made by Baccio to represent Messer Baldassarre da Pescia, in
+derision; for Baccio looked upon him as his enemy, since about this
+time Messer Baldassarre, as has been related above, had allotted the
+two statues of Leo and Clement to other sculptors, and, moreover, had
+so gone to work in Rome that Baccio had perforce to restore at great
+inconvenience the money that he had received beyond his due for those
+statues and figures.
+
+During this time Baccio had given his attention to nothing else but
+demonstrating to Duke Cosimo how much the glory of the ancients had
+lived through their statues and buildings, saying that his Excellency
+should seek to obtain in the same way immortality for himself and his
+actions in the ages to come. Then, after he had brought the tomb of
+Signor Giovanni near completion, he set about planning to make the
+Duke begin some great and costly work, which might take a very long
+time. Duke Cosimo had ceased to inhabit the Palace of the Medici, and
+had returned with his Court to live in the Palace in the Piazza, which
+was formerly occupied by the Signoria; and this he was daily
+rearranging and adorning. Now he had said to Baccio that he had a
+desire to make a public audience-chamber, both for the foreign
+Ambassadors and for his citizens and the subjects of the State; and
+Baccio, with Giuliano di Baccio d'Agnolo, went about thinking how to
+suggest to him that he should erect an ornamental work of Fossato
+stone and marble, thirty-eight braccia in width and eighteen in
+height. This ornamental work, they proposed, should serve as the
+audience-chamber, and should be in the Great Hall of the Palace, at
+that end which looks towards the north. The audience-chamber was to
+have a space of fourteen braccia in depth, the ascent to which was to
+be by seven great steps; and it was to be closed in front by a
+balustrade, excepting the entrance in the middle. At the end of the
+hall were to be three great arches, two of which were to serve for
+windows, being divided up by columns, four to each, two of Fossato
+stone and two of marble; and above this was to curve a round arch with
+a frieze of brackets, which were to form on the outer side the
+ornament of the fa�ade of the Palace, and on the inner side to adorn
+in the same manner the fa�ade of the hall. The arch in the middle,
+forming not a window, but a niche, was to be accompanied by two other
+similar niches, which were to be at the ends of the audience-chamber,
+one on the east and the other on the west, and adorned with four round
+Corinthian columns, which were to be ten braccia high and to form a
+projection at the ends. In the central fa�ade were to be four
+pilasters, which were to serve as supports between one arch and
+another to the architrave, frieze, and cornice running right round
+both above the arches and above the columns. These pilasters were to
+have between one and another a space of about three braccia, and in
+each of these spaces was to be a niche four braccia and a half in
+height, to contain statues, by way of accompaniment to the great niche
+in the middle of the fa�ade and the two at the sides; in each of which
+niches Baccio wished to place three statues.
+
+Baccio and Giuliano had in mind, in addition to the ornament of the
+inner fa�ade, another larger ornament of extraordinary cost and
+grandeur for the outer fa�ade. The hall being awry and out of square,
+this ornament was to reduce that outer side to a square form; and
+there was to be a projection of six braccia right round the walls of
+the Palazzo Vecchio, with a range of columns fourteen braccia high
+supporting other columns, between which were to be arches, forming a
+loggia below, right round the Palace, where there are the Ringhiera
+and the Giants. Above this, again, was to be another range of
+pilasters, with arches between them in the same manner, running all
+the way round the windows of the Palazzo Vecchio, so as to make a
+fa�ade right round the Palace; and above these pilasters was to be yet
+another range of arches and pilasters, after the manner of a theatre,
+with the battlements of that Palace, finally, forming a cornice to the
+whole structure.
+
+Knowing that this was a work of vast expense, Baccio and Giuliano
+consulted together that they should not reveal their conception to the
+Duke, save only with regard to the ornament of the audience-chamber
+within the hall, and that of the fa�ade of Fossato stone on the side
+towards the Piazza, stretching to the length of twenty-four braccia,
+which is the breadth of the hall. Designs and plans of this work were
+made by Giuliano, and with these in his hand Baccio spoke to the Duke,
+to whom he pointed out that in the large niches at the sides he wished
+to place statues of marble four braccia high, seated on
+pedestals--namely, Leo X in the act of restoring peace to Italy, and
+Clement VII crowning Charles V, with two statues in smaller niches
+within the large ones, on either side of the Popes, which should
+represent the virtues practised and put into action by them. For the
+niches four braccia high between the pilasters, in the central fa�ade,
+he wished to make upright statues of Signor Giovanni, Duke Alessandro,
+and Duke Cosimo, together with many decorations of various fantasies
+in carving, and a pavement all of variegated marbles of different
+colours.
+
+This ornament much pleased the Duke, thinking that with this
+opportunity it should be possible in time to bring to completion, as
+has since been done, the body of that hall, with the rest of the
+decorations and the ceiling, in order to make it the most beautiful
+hall in Italy. And so great was his Excellency's desire that this work
+should be done, that he assigned for its execution such a sum of money
+as Baccio wished and demanded every week. A beginning was made with
+the quarrying and cutting of the Fossato stone, in order to make the
+ornamentation in the form of the base, columns, and cornices; and
+Baccio required that all should be done and carried to completion by
+the stone-cutters of the Office of Works of S. Maria del Fiore. This
+work was certainly executed by those masters with great diligence; and
+if Baccio and Giuliano had urged it on, they would have finished and
+built in all the ornaments of stone very quickly. But Baccio gave his
+attention to nothing save to having the statues blocked out, finishing
+few of them entirely, and to drawing his salary, which the Duke gave
+him every month, besides paying for his assistants and meeting every
+sort of expense that he incurred in the work, and giving him five
+hundred crowns for one of the statues finished by him in marble;
+wherefore the end of this work was never in sight.
+
+Even so, if Baccio and Giuliano, being engaged on a work of such
+importance, had brought the head of that hall into square, as they
+could have done, instead of putting right only half of the eight
+braccia by which it was awry, and leaving several parts badly
+proportioned, such as the central niche and the two large ones at the
+sides, which are squat, and the members of the cornices, which are too
+slight for so great a body; if, as they might have done, they had gone
+higher with the columns, thus giving greater grandeur, a better
+manner, and more invention to that work; and if, also, they had
+brought the uppermost cornice into touch with the level of the
+original old ceiling above, they would have shown more art and
+judgment, nor would all that labour have been spent in vain and wasted
+so thoughtlessly, as has since been evident to those to whom, as will
+be related, it has fallen to put it right and finish it. For, in spite
+of all the pains and thought afterwards devoted to it, there are many
+defects and errors in the door of entrance and in the relation of the
+niches in the side-walls, in which it has since been seen to be
+necessary to change the form of many parts, although it has never yet
+been found possible, without demolishing the whole, to correct the
+divergence from the square or to prevent this from being revealed in
+the pavement and the ceiling. It is true that in the manner in which
+they arranged it, even as it now stands, there is proof of great
+craftsmanship and pains, and it deserves no little praise for the many
+stones worked with the bevel-square, which slant away obliquely by
+reason of the hall being awry; and as for diligence and excellence in
+the working, laying, and joining together of the stones, nothing
+better could be seen or done. But the whole work would have succeeded
+much better if Baccio, who never held architecture in any account, had
+availed himself of some judgment more able than that of Giuliano, who,
+although he was a good master in wood and had some knowledge of
+architecture, was yet not the sort of man to be suitable for such a
+work as that was, as experience has proved. For this reason the work
+was pursued over a period of many years, without much more than half
+being built. Baccio finished and placed in the smaller niches the
+statue of Signor Giovanni and that of Duke Alessandro, both in the
+principal fa�ade, and on a pedestal of bricks in the great niche the
+statue of Pope Clement; and he also brought to completion the statue
+of Duke Cosimo. In the last he took no little pains with the head, but
+for all this the Duke and the gentlemen of the Court said that it did
+not resemble him in the least. Wherefore Baccio, having already made
+one of marble, which is now in one of the upper apartments in the same
+Palace, and which looked very well and was the best head that he ever
+made, defended himself and sought to cover up the defects and
+worthlessness of the new head with the excellence of the old. However,
+hearing that head censured by everyone, one day in a rage he knocked
+it off, with the intention of making another and fixing it in its
+place; but in the end he never made it at all. It was a custom of
+Baccio's to add pieces of marble both small and large to the statues
+that he executed, feeling no annoyance in doing this, and making light
+of it. He did this with one of the heads of Cerberus in the group of
+Orpheus; in the S. Peter that is in S. Maria del Fiore he let in a
+piece of drapery; in the case of the Giant of the Piazza, as may be
+seen, he joined two pieces--a shoulder and a leg--to the Cacus, and
+in many other works he did the same, holding to such ways as generally
+damn a sculptor completely.
+
+Having finished these statues, he set his hand to the statue of Pope
+Leo for this work, and carried it well forward. Then, perceiving that
+the work was proving very long, that he was now never likely to attain
+to the completion of his original design for the fa�ades right round
+the Palace, that a great sum of money had been spent and much time
+consumed, and that for all this the work was not half finished and
+gained little approval from the people, he set about thinking of some
+new fantasy, and began to attempt to remove from the Duke's mind the
+thought of the Palace, believing that his Excellency also was weary of
+that work. Thus, then, having made enemies of the proveditors and of
+all the stone-cutters in the Office of Works of S. Maria del Fiore,
+which was under his authority, while the statues that were destined
+for the audience-chamber were, after his fashion, some only blocked
+out and others finished and placed in position, and the ornamentation
+in great part built up, wishing to conceal the many defects that were
+in the work and little by little to abandon it, he suggested to the
+Duke that the Wardens of Works of S. Maria del Fiore were throwing
+away his money and no longer doing anything of any importance. He said
+that he had therefore thought that his Excellency would do well to
+divert all that useless expenditure of the Office of Works into making
+the octagonal choir of the church and the ornaments of the altar, the
+steps, the da�ses of the Duke and the magistrates, and the stalls in
+the choir for the canons, chaplains, and clerks, according as was
+proper for so honourable a church. Of this choir Filippo di Ser
+Brunellesco had left the model in that simple framework of wood which
+previously served as the choir in the church, intending in time to
+have it executed in marble, in the same form, but more ornate. Baccio
+reflected, besides the considerations mentioned above, that in this
+choir he would have occasion to make many statues and scenes in marble
+and in bronze for the high-altar and all around the choir, and also
+for two pulpits of marble that were to be in the choir, and that the
+base of the outer side of the eight faces might be adorned with many
+scenes in bronze let into the marble ornamentation. Above this he
+thought to place a range of columns and pilasters to support the
+cornice right round, and four arches distributed according to the
+cross of the church; of which arches one was to form the principal
+entrance, opposite to another rising above the high-altar, and the two
+others were to be at the sides, one on the right hand and another on
+the left, and below these last two were to be placed the pulpits. Over
+the cornice was to be a range of balusters, curving right round above
+the eight sides, and over the balusters a garland of candelabra, in
+order, as it were, to crown the choir with lights according to the
+seasons, as had always been the custom while the wooden model of
+Brunelleschi was there.
+
+[Illustration: RELIEFS FROM THE CHOIR SCREEN
+
+(_After =Baccio Bandinelli=. Florence: Duomo_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+Pointing out all this to the Duke, Baccio said that his Excellency,
+with the revenues of the Office of Works--namely, of S. Maria del
+Fiore and of its Wardens--and with that which his liberality might
+add, in a short time could adorn that temple and give great grandeur
+and magnificence to the same, and consequently to the whole city, of
+which it was the principal temple, and would leave an everlasting and
+honourable memorial of himself in such a structure; and besides all
+this, he said, his Excellency would be giving him an opportunity of
+exerting his powers and of making many good and beautiful works, and
+also, by displaying his ability, of acquiring for himself name and
+fame with posterity, which should be pleasing to his Excellency, since
+he was his servant and had been brought up by the house of the Medici.
+With these designs and these words Baccio so moved the Duke, that,
+consenting that such a structure should be erected, his Excellency
+commissioned him to make a model of the whole choir. Departing from
+the Duke, then, Baccio went to his architect, Giuliano di Baccio
+d'Agnolo, and discussed the whole matter with him; and, after they had
+gone to the place and examined everything with diligence, they
+resolved not to depart from the form of Filippo's model, but to follow
+it, adding only other ornaments in the shape of columns and
+projections, and enriching it as much as they could while preserving
+the original design and form. But it is not the number of parts and
+ornaments that renders a fabric rich and beautiful, but their
+excellence, however few they may be, provided also that they are set
+in their proper places and arranged together with due proportion; it
+is these that give pleasure and are admired, and, having been executed
+with judgment by the craftsman, afterwards receive praise from all
+others. This Giuliano and Baccio do not seem to have considered or
+observed, for they chose a subject involving much labour and endless
+pains, but wanting in grace, as experience has proved.
+
+The design of Giuliano, as may be seen, was to place at the corners of
+all the eight sides pilasters bent round the angles, the whole work
+being composed in the Ionic Order; and these pilasters, since in the
+ground-plan they were made, with all the rest of the work, to diminish
+towards the centre of the choir and were not even, necessarily had to
+be broad on the outer side and narrow on the inner, which is a breach
+of proportionate measurement. And since each pilaster was bent
+according to the inner angles of the eight sides, the extension-lines
+towards the centre so diminished it that the two columns that were one
+on either side of the pilaster at the corner caused it to appear too
+slender, and produced an ungraceful effect both in it and in the whole
+work, both on the outer side and likewise on the inner, although the
+measurements there are correct. Giuliano also made the model of the
+whole altar, which stood at a distance of one braccio and a half from
+the ornament of the choir. For the upper part of this Baccio
+afterwards made in wax a Christ lying dead, with two Angels, one of
+whom was holding His right arm and supporting His head on one knee,
+and the other was holding the Mysteries of the Passion; which statue
+of Christ occupied almost the whole altar, so that there would
+scarcely have been room to celebrate Mass, and Baccio proposed to make
+this statue about four braccia and a half in length. He made, also, a
+projection in the form of a pedestal behind the altar, attached to it
+in the centre, with a seat upon which he afterwards placed a seated
+figure of God the Father, six braccia high and giving the benediction,
+and accompanied by two other Angels, each four braccia high, kneeling
+at the extreme corners of the predella of the altar, on the level on
+which rested the feet of God the Father. This predella was more than a
+braccio in height, and on it were many stories of the Passion of Jesus
+Christ, which were all to be in bronze, and on the corners of the
+predella were the Angels mentioned above, both kneeling and each
+holding in the hands a candelabrum; which candelabra of the Angels
+served to accompany eight large candelabra placed between the Angels,
+and three braccia and a half in height, which adorned that altar; and
+God the Father was in the midst of them all. Behind God the Father was
+left a space of half a braccio, in order that there might be room to
+ascend to kindle the lights.
+
+Under the arch that stood opposite to the principal entrance of the
+choir, on the base that ran right round, on the outer side, Baccio had
+placed, directly under the centre of that arch, the Tree of the Fall,
+round the trunk of which was wound the Ancient Serpent with a human
+face, and two nude figures were about the Tree, one being Adam and the
+other Eve. On the outer side of the choir, to which those figures had
+their faces turned, there ran lengthways along the base a space about
+three braccia long, which was to contain the story of their Creation,
+either in marble or in bronze; and this was to be pursued along the
+faces of the base of the whole work, to the number of twenty-one
+stories, all from the Old Testament. And for the further enrichment of
+this base he had made for each of the socles upon which stood the
+columns and pilasters, a figure of some Prophet, either draped or
+nude, to be afterwards executed in marble--a great work, truly, and a
+marvellous opportunity, likely to reveal all the art and genius of a
+perfect master, whose memory should never be extinguished by any lapse
+of time. This model was shown to the Duke, and also a double series of
+designs made by Baccio, which, both from their variety and their
+number, and likewise from their beauty--for the reason that Baccio
+worked boldly in wax and drew very well--pleased his Excellency, and
+he ordained that the masonry-work should be straightway taken in hand,
+devoting to it all the expenditure administered by the Office of
+Works, and giving orders that a great quantity of marble should be
+brought from Carrara.
+
+Baccio, on his part, also set to work to make a beginning with the
+statues; and among the first was an Adam who was raising one arm, and
+was about four braccia in height. This figure was finished by Baccio,
+but, since it proved to be narrow in the flanks and somewhat defective
+in other parts, he changed it into a Bacchus, and afterwards gave it
+to the Duke, who kept it in his Palace many years, in his chamber; and
+not long ago it was placed in a niche in the ground-floor apartments
+which his Excellency occupies in summer. He had also made a seated
+figure of Eve of the same size, which he had half finished: but it was
+abandoned on account of the Adam, which it was to have accompanied.
+For, having made a beginning with another Adam, in a different form
+and attitude, it became necessary for him to change also the Eve, and
+the original seated figure was converted by him into a Ceres, which he
+gave to the most illustrious Duchess Leonora, together with an Apollo,
+which was another nude that he had executed; and her Excellency had
+them placed in the ornament in front of the fish-pond, the design and
+architecture of which are by Giorgio Vasari, in the gardens of the
+Pitti Palace. Baccio worked at these two figures with very great zeal,
+thinking to satisfy the craftsmen and all the world as well as he had
+satisfied himself; and he finished and polished them with all the
+diligence and lovingness that were in him. He then set up these
+figures of Adam and Eve in their place, but, when uncovered, they
+experienced the same fate as his other works, and were torn to pieces
+with savage bitterness in sonnets and Latin verses, one going to the
+length of suggesting that even as Adam and Eve, having defiled
+Paradise by their disobedience, deserved to be driven out, so these
+figures, defiling the earth, deserved to be expelled from the church.
+Nevertheless the statues are well-proportioned, and beautiful in many
+parts; and although there is not in them that grace which has been
+spoken of in other places, and which he was not able to give to his
+works, yet they display so much art and design, that they deserve no
+little praise. A lady who had set herself to examine these statues,
+being asked by some gentlemen what she thought of these naked bodies,
+answered, "About the man I can give no judgment;" and, being pressed
+to give her opinion of the woman, she replied that in the Eve there
+were two good points, worthy of considerable praise, in that she was
+white and firm; whereby she contrived ingeniously, while seeming to
+praise, covertly to deal a shrewd blow to the craftsman and his art,
+giving to the statue the praise proper to the female body, which it is
+also necessary to apply to the marble, the material, and which is
+true of it, but not of the work or of the craftsmanship, for by such
+praise the craftsmanship is not praised. Thus, then, that shrewd lady
+hinted that in her opinion nothing could be praised in that statue
+save the marble.
+
+Baccio afterwards set his hand to the statue of the Dead Christ, which
+likewise not succeeding as he had expected, he abandoned it when it
+was already well advanced, and, taking another block of marble, began
+another Christ in an attitude different from the first, and together
+with that the Angel who supports the head of Christ on one leg and
+with one hand His arm; and he did not rest until he had finished
+entirely both the one figure and the other. When arrangements were
+made to set it up on the altar, it proved to be so large that it
+occupied too much space, and there was no room left for the
+ministrations of the priest; and although this statue was passing
+good, and even one of Baccio's best, nevertheless the people--the
+ordinary citizens no less than the priests--could never have their
+fill of speaking ill of it and picking it to pieces. Recognizing that
+to uncover unfinished works injures the reputation of a craftsman in
+the eyes of all those who are not of the profession, or have no
+knowledge of art, or have not seen the models, Baccio resolved, in
+order to accompany the statue of Christ and to complete the altar, to
+make the statue of God the Father, for which a very beautiful block of
+marble had come from Carrara. And he had already carried it well
+forward, making it half nude after the manner of a Jove, when, since
+it did not please the Duke and appeared to Baccio himself to have
+certain defects, he left it as it was, and even so it is still to be
+found in the Office of Works.
+
+Baccio cared nothing for the words of others, but gave his attention
+to making himself rich and buying property. He bought a most beautiful
+farm, called Lo Spinello, on the heights of Fiesole, and another with
+a very beautiful house called Il Cantone, in the plain above San
+Salvi, on the River Affrico, and a great house in the Via de' Ginori,
+which he was enabled to acquire by the moneys and favours of the Duke.
+Having thus secured his own position, Baccio thenceforward cared
+little to work or to exert himself; and although the tomb of Signor
+Giovanni was unfinished, the audience-chamber of the Great Hall only
+begun, and the choir and altar behindhand, he paid little attention
+to the words of others or to the censure that was laid upon him on
+that account. However, having erected the altar and set into position
+the marble base upon which was to stand the statue of God the Father,
+he made a model for this and finally began it, and, employing
+stone-cutters, proceeded to carry it slowly forward.
+
+There came from France in those days Benvenuto Cellini, who had served
+King Francis in the matter of goldsmith's work, of which he was the
+most famous master of his day; and he had also executed some castings
+in bronze for that King. Benvenuto was introduced to Duke Cosimo, who,
+desiring to adorn the city, showed also to him much favour and
+affection, and commissioned him to make a statue of bronze about five
+braccia high, of a nude Perseus standing over a nude woman
+representing Medusa, whose head he had cut off; which work was to be
+placed under one of the arches of the Loggia in the Piazza. While he
+was executing the Perseus, Benvenuto also did other things for the
+Duke. Now, even as it happens that the potter is always the jealous
+enemy of the potter, and the sculptor of the sculptor, Baccio was not
+able to endure the various favours shown to Benvenuto. It appeared to
+him a strange thing, also, that Benvenuto should have thus changed in
+a moment from a goldsmith into a sculptor, nor was he able to grasp in
+his mind how a man who was used to making medals and little things,
+could now execute colossal figures and giants. Baccio could not
+conceal his thoughts, but expressed them freely, and he found a man
+able to answer him; for, Baccio saying many of his biting words to
+Benvenuto in the presence of the Duke, Benvenuto, who was no less
+proud than himself, took pains to be even with him. And thus, arguing
+often on the matters of art and their own works, and pointing out each
+other's defects, they would utter the most slanderous words of one
+another in the presence of the Duke, who, because he took pleasure in
+this and recognized true genius and acuteness in their biting phrases,
+had given them full liberty and licence to say whatever they pleased
+about one another before him, provided that they did not remember
+their quarrel elsewhere.
+
+This rivalry, or rather, enmity, was the reason that Baccio pressed
+forward his statue of God the Father; but he was no longer receiving
+from the Duke those favours to which he had been accustomed, and he
+consoled himself for this by paying court and doing service to the
+Duchess. One day, among others, that they were railing at one another
+as usual and laying bare many of each others' actions, Benvenuto,
+glaring at Baccio and threatening him, said: "Prepare yourself for
+another world, Baccio, for I mean to send you out of this one." And
+Baccio answered: "Let me know a day beforehand, so that I may confess
+and make my will, and may not die like the sort of beast that you
+are." By reason of which the Duke, who for many months had found
+amusement in their quarrels, bade them be silent, fearing some evil
+ending, and caused them to make a portrait-bust of himself from the
+girdle upwards, both to be cast in bronze, to the end that he who
+should succeed best should carry off the honours.
+
+Amid this rivalry and contention Baccio finished his figure of God the
+Father, which he arranged to have placed in the church on the base
+beside the altar. This figure was clothed and six braccia high, and he
+erected and completely finished it. But, in order not to leave it
+unaccompanied, he summoned from Rome the sculptor Vincenzio de' Rossi,
+his pupil, wishing to execute in clay for the altar all that remained
+to be done in marble; and he caused Vincenzio to assist him in
+finishing the two Angels who are holding the candelabra at the
+corners, and the greater part of the scenes on the predella and the
+base. Having then set everything upon the altar, in order to see how
+his work, when finished, was to stand, he strove to prevail on the
+Duke to come and see it, before he should uncover it. But the Duke
+would never go, and, although entreated by the Duchess, who favoured
+Baccio in this matter, he would never let himself be shaken, and did
+not go to see it, being angered because among so many works Baccio had
+never finished one, even after his Excellency had made him rich and
+had won odium among the citizens by honouring him highly and doing him
+many favours. For all this his Excellency was disposed to assist
+Clemente, the natural son of Baccio--a young man of ability, who had
+made considerable proficience in design--because it was likely to fall
+to him in time to finish his father's works.
+
+At this same time, which was in the year 1554, there came from Rome,
+where he had been working for Pope Julius III, Giorgio Vasari of
+Arezzo, in order to serve his Excellency in many works that he was
+intending to execute, and in particular to decorate the Palace on the
+Piazza, and to renovate it with new constructions, and to finish the
+Great Hall, as he was afterwards seen to do. In the following year
+Giorgio Vasari summoned from Rome and engaged in the Duke's service
+the sculptor Bartolommeo Ammanati, to the end that he might execute
+the other fa�ade in the above-named Hall, opposite to the
+audience-chamber begun by Baccio, and a fountain in the centre of that
+fa�ade; and a beginning was straightway made with executing a part of
+the statues that were to go into that work. Baccio, perceiving that
+the Duke was employing others, recognized that he did not wish to use
+his services any longer; at which, feeling great displeasure and
+vexation, he had become so strange and so irritable that no one could
+have any dealings with him either in his house or out of it, and to
+his son Clemente he behaved very strangely, keeping him in want of
+everything. For this reason Clemente, who had made a large head of his
+Excellency in clay, in order to execute it in marble for the statue of
+the audience-chamber, sought leave of the Duke to depart and go to
+Rome, on account of his father's strangeness; and the Duke said that
+he would not fail him. Baccio, at the departure of Clemente, who had
+asked leave of him, would not give him anything, although the young
+man had been a great help to him in Florence, and, indeed, Baccio's
+right hand in every matter; nevertheless, he thought nothing of
+getting rid of him. The young man, having arrived in Rome at an
+unfavourable season, died in the same year both from over-study and
+from wild living, leaving in Florence an example of his handiwork in
+an almost finished head of Duke Cosimo in marble, which is very
+beautiful, and was afterwards placed by Baccio over the principal door
+of his house in the Via de' Ginori. Clemente also left well advanced a
+Dead Christ who is supported by Nicodemus, which Nicodemus is a
+portrait from life of Baccio; and these statues, which are passing
+good, Baccio set up in the Church of the Servites, as we shall relate
+in the proper place. The death of Clemente was a very great loss to
+Baccio and to art, and Bandinelli recognized this after he was dead.
+
+Baccio uncovered the altar of S. Maria del Fiore, and the statue of
+God the Father was criticized. The altar has remained as was described
+above, nor has anything more been done to it since; but the work of
+the choir has been continued.
+
+Many years before, there had been quarried at Carrara a great block of
+marble ten braccia and a half in height and five braccia in width, of
+which having received notice, Baccio rode to Carrara and made a
+contract for it with him to whom it belonged, giving him fifty crowns
+as earnest-money. He then returned to Florence and so pestered the
+Duke, that, by the favour of the Duchess, he obtained the commission
+to make from it a giant, which was to be placed in the Piazza, at the
+corner where the Lion was; on which spot was to be made a great
+fountain to spout water, in the middle of which was to be a Neptune in
+his chariot, drawn by sea-horses, and this figure was to be carved out
+of the above-mentioned block of marble. For this figure Baccio made
+more than one model, and showed them to his Excellency; but the matter
+stood thus, without anything more being done, until the year 1559, at
+which time the owner of the marble, having come from Carrara, asked to
+be paid the rest of the money, saying that otherwise he would give
+back the fifty crowns and break it into several pieces, in order to
+sell it, since he had received many offers. Orders were given by the
+Duke to Giorgio Vasari that he should have the marble paid for; which
+having been heard throughout the world of art, and also that the Duke
+had not yet made a free gift of the marble to Baccio, Benvenuto, and
+likewise Ammanati, bestirring themselves, each besought the Duke that
+he should be allowed to make a model in competition with Baccio, and
+that his Excellency should deign to give the marble to him who had
+shown the greatest ability in his model. The Duke did not deny to
+either of them the right to make a model, or deprive them of the hope
+that he who should acquit himself the best might be chosen to execute
+the statue. His Excellency knew that in ability, judgment, and design
+Baccio was still better than any of the sculptors who were in his
+service, if only he would consent to take pains, and he welcomed this
+competition, in order to incite Baccio to acquit himself better and
+to do the most that he could. Bandinelli, having seen this competition
+on his shoulders, was greatly troubled by it, fearing the loss of the
+Duke's favour more than any other thing, and once more he set himself
+to making models. He was most assiduous in waiting on the Duchess, and
+so wrought upon her, that he obtained leave to go to Carrara in order
+to make arrangements for having the marble brought to Florence. Having
+arrived in Carrara, he had the marble so reduced in size--as he had
+planned to do--that he made it a sorry thing, and robbed both himself
+and the others of a noble opportunity and of the hope of ever making
+from it a beautiful and magnificent work. On returning to Florence,
+there was a long contention between Benvenuto and him, Benvenuto
+saying to the Duke that Baccio had spoilt the marble before it had
+been assigned to him. Finally the Duchess so went to work that the
+marble became Baccio's; and orders were given that it should be taken
+from Carrara to the sea-shore, and a boat was made ready with the
+proper appliances, which was to convey it up the Arno as far as Signa.
+Baccio also caused a room to be built up in the Loggia of the Piazza,
+wherein to work at the marble.
+
+In the meantime he had set his hand to executing cartoons, in order to
+have some pictures painted which were to adorn the apartments of the
+Pitti Palace. These pictures were painted by a young man called Andrea
+del Minga, who handled colour passing well. The stories painted in the
+pictures were the Creation of Adam and Eve, and their Expulsion from
+Paradise by the Angel, a Noah, and a Moses with the Tables; which
+finished, he then presented them to the Duchess, seeking to obtain her
+favour in his difficulties and contentions. And, in truth, if it had
+not been for that lady, who loved him for his abilities and held him
+on his feet, Baccio would have fallen headlong down and would have
+lost completely the favour of the Duke. The Duchess also made much use
+of Baccio in the Pitti garden, where she had caused to be constructed
+a grotto full of tufa and sponge-stone formed by the action of water,
+and containing a fountain; and for this Baccio had caused his pupil,
+Giovanni Fancelli, to execute in marble a large basin and some goats
+of the size of life, which spout forth water, and likewise, for a
+fish-pond, after a model made by himself, a countryman who is
+emptying a barrel full of water. For these reasons the Duchess was
+constantly helping and favouring Baccio with the Duke, who finally
+gave him leave to begin the great model of the Neptune; on which
+account he once more sent to Rome for Vincenzio de' Rossi, who had
+previously departed from Florence, with the intention of making him
+help to execute it.
+
+While these preparations were in progress, Baccio was seized with a
+desire to finish the statue of the Dead Christ supported by Nicodemus,
+which his son Clemente had carried well forward; for he had heard that
+Buonarroti was finishing one in Rome that he had begun to carve from a
+large block of marble, containing five figures, which was to be placed
+on his tomb in S. Maria Maggiore. Out of emulation with him Baccio set
+to work on his group with the greatest assiduity, with assistants,
+until he had finished it. And meanwhile he was going about among the
+principal churches of Florence, seeking for a place where he might set
+up that work and also make a tomb for himself; but for long he found
+no place for the tomb that could content him, until he resolved on a
+chapel in the Church of the Servites which belongs to the family of
+the Pazzi. The owners of this chapel, at the request of the Duchess,
+granted the place to Baccio, without divesting themselves of the
+rights of ownership and of the devices of their house that were there;
+and they granted him only this, that he should erect an altar of
+marble and place upon it the statues mentioned above, and make his
+tomb at the foot of it. Afterwards, also, he came to an agreement with
+the friars of that convent with regard to the other matters
+appertaining to the celebration of Mass. During this time, then,
+Baccio was causing the altar and the marble base to be built, in order
+to place upon it the above-named statues; and, when he had finished
+it, he proposed to lay in that tomb, in which he wished to be laid
+himself together with his wife, the bones of his father Michelagnolo,
+which, at his death, he had caused to be placed in a vault in the same
+church. These bones of his father he chose to lay piously in that tomb
+with his own hands; whereupon it happened that either because he felt
+sorrow and a shock to his mind in handling his father's bones, or
+because he exerted himself too much in transferring those bones with
+his own hands and in rearranging the marbles, or from both reasons
+together, he was so overcome that he felt ill and had to go home, and,
+his malady growing daily worse, in eight days he died, at the age of
+seventy-two, having been up to that time robust and vigorous, and
+without having ever suffered much illness during the whole of his
+life. He was buried with honourable obsequies, and laid beside his
+father's bones in the above-mentioned tomb constructed by himself, on
+which is this epitaph:--
+
+             D. O. M.
+  BACCIUS BANDINELL. DIVI JACOBI EQUES
+    SUB HAC SERVATORIS IMAGINE,
+  A SE EXPRESSA, CUM JACOBA DONIA
+    UXORE QUIESCIT, AN. S. MDLIX.
+
+He left behind him both sons and daughters, who were the heirs to his
+many possessions in lands, houses, and money, which he bequeathed to
+them; and to the world he left the works in sculpture described by us,
+and designs in great numbers, which are in the possession of his
+family, and in our book there are some executed with the pen and with
+chalk, than which it is certain that nothing better could be done.
+
+The marble for the giant was left more in dispute than ever, because
+Benvenuto was always about the Duke, and wished, in virtue of a little
+model that he had made, that the Duke should give it to him. On the
+other hand, Ammanati, being a sculptor of marbles and more experienced
+in such works than Benvenuto, considered for many reasons that this
+work belonged to him. Now it happened that Giorgio Vasari had to go to
+Rome with the Cardinal, the son of the Duke, when he went to receive
+his hat, and Ammanati gave to Vasari a little model of wax showing the
+shape in which he desired to carve that figure from the marble, and a
+piece of wood reproducing the exact proportions--the length, breadth,
+thickness, and inclination from the straight--of the marble, to the
+end that Giorgio might show them in Rome to Michelagnolo Buonarroti
+and persuade him to declare his opinion in the matter, and so move the
+Duke to give him the marble. All this Giorgio did most willingly, and
+it was the reason that the Duke gave orders that an arch should be
+partitioned off in the Loggia of the Piazza, and that Ammanati should
+make a great model as large as the giant was to be. Having heard this.
+Benvenuto rode in a great fury to Pisa, where the Duke was, and said
+to him that he could not suffer that his genius should be trampled
+underfoot by one who was inferior to himself, and that he desired to
+make a great model in competition with Ammanati, in the same place;
+and the Duke, wishing to pacify him, granted him leave to have another
+arch of the Loggia partitioned off, and caused to be given to him
+materials for making, as he desired, a large model in competition with
+Ammanati.
+
+While these masters were engaged in making their models, after having
+made fast their enclosures in such a manner that neither the one nor
+the other could see what his rival was doing, although these
+enclosures were attached to each other, there rose up the Flemish
+sculptor Maestro Giovan Bologna, a young man not inferior in ability
+or in spirit to either of the others. This master, being in the
+service of the Lord Don Francesco, Prince of Florence, asked his
+Excellency to enable him to make a giant which might serve as a model,
+of the same size as the marble; and the Prince granted him this
+favour. Maestro Giovan Bologna had as yet no thought of having the
+giant to execute in marble, but he wished at least to display his
+ability and to make himself known for what he was worth; and, having
+received permission from the Prince, he, also, began a model in the
+Convent of S. Croce. Nor was Vincenzio Danti, the sculptor of Perugia,
+a younger man than any of the others, willing to fail to compete with
+these three masters, not in the hope of obtaining the marble, but in
+order to demonstrate his spirit and genius. And so, having set to work
+on his own account in the house of Messer Alessandro, the son of M.
+Ottaviano de' Medici, he executed a model good in many parts and as
+large as the others.
+
+The models finished, the Duke went to see those of Ammanati and of
+Benvenuto; and, being more pleased with that of Ammanati than with
+that of Benvenuto, he resolved that Ammanati should have the marble
+and make the giant, because he was younger than Benvenuto and more
+practised in marble. The disposition of the Duke was strengthened by
+Giorgio Vasari, who did many good offices with his Excellency for
+Ammanati, having perceived that, in addition to his knowledge, he was
+ready to endure any labour, and hoping that from his hands there would
+issue an excellent work finished in a short time. The Duke would not
+at that time see the model of Maestro Giovan Bologna, because, not
+having seen any work by him in marble, it did not seem to him that he
+could entrust to that master, as his first work, so great an
+undertaking, although he heard from many craftsmen and other men of
+judgment that Giovan Bologna's model was in many parts better than the
+others. But if Baccio had been alive, there would not have been all
+that contention among those masters, because without a doubt it would
+have fallen to him to make the model of clay and the giant of marble.
+This work, then, was snatched from Baccio by death, but the same
+circumstance brought him no little glory, in that it revealed by means
+of those four models--the reason of the making of which was that
+Baccio was not alive--how much better were the design, judgment and
+ability of him who placed on the Piazza the Hercules and Cacus, as it
+were living in the marble; the excellence of which work has been made
+evident and brought to light even more by the works that have been
+executed since Baccio's death by those others, who, although they have
+acquitted themselves in a manner worthy of praise, have yet not been
+able to attain to the beauty and excellence that he placed in his
+work.
+
+Afterwards Duke Cosimo, for the marriage of Queen Joanna of Austria,
+his daughter-in-law, seven years after the death of Baccio, caused the
+audience-chamber in the Great Hall, begun by Baccio, of which we have
+spoken above, to be finished; and he chose that the head of this work
+of completion should be Giorgio Vasari, who has sought with all
+diligence to put right the many defects that would have been in it if
+it had been continued and finished after the original design followed
+in the beginning by Baccio. Thus that imperfect work has now been
+carried with the help of God to completion, and is enriched on its
+side faces by the addition of niches and pilasters, and statues set in
+their places. Moreover, since it was laid out awry and out of square,
+we have taken pains to make it even in so far as has been possible,
+and have raised it considerably with a corridor of Tuscan columns at
+the top; and as for the statue of Leo begun by Baccio, his pupil
+Vincenzio de' Rossi has finished it. Besides this, that work has been
+adorned with friezes full of stucco-work, with many figures large and
+small, and with devices and other ornaments of various kinds, and
+under the niches and in the partitions of the vaulting have been made
+many and various designs in stucco and many beautiful inventions in
+carving; all which things have enriched the work in such a manner,
+that it has changed its form and has gained not a little in beauty and
+grace. For whereas, according to the first design, the ceiling of the
+Hall being twenty-one braccia above the floor, the audience-chamber
+did not rise higher than eighteen braccia, so that between it and the
+old ceiling there was a space of only three braccia; now, after our
+design, the ceiling of the Hall has been raised so much that it has
+risen twelve braccia above the old ceiling and fifteen above the
+audience-chamber of Baccio and Giuliano, so that the ceiling is now
+thirty-three braccia above the floor of the Hall. And it certainly
+showed great spirit in his Excellency, that he should resolve to cause
+to be finished in the space of five months for the above-named
+nuptials the whole of a work of which more than a third still remained
+to do, although it had taken more than fifteen years to arrive at the
+condition in which it was at that time; so eager was he to carry it to
+completion. But it was not only Baccio's work that his Excellency
+caused to be completely finished, but also all the rest of what
+Giorgio Vasari had designed; beginning again from the base that runs
+over the whole of that work, with a border of balusters in the open
+spaces, which forms a corridor that passes above the work in the Hall,
+and commands a view on the outer side of the Piazza and on the inner
+side of the whole Hall. Thus the Princes and other lords will be able
+to see, without being seen, all the festivals that may be held there,
+with much pleasure and convenience for themselves, and then to retire
+to their apartments, passing by the private and public staircases
+through all the rooms in the Palace. Nevertheless, to many it has
+caused dissatisfaction that in a work of such beauty and grandeur that
+structure was not made square, and many would have liked to have it
+pulled down and then rebuilt true to square. But it has been judged to
+be better to continue the work in that way, in order not to appear
+presumptuous and malign towards Baccio, and also because otherwise we
+would have seemed not to have the power to correct the errors and
+defects found by us but committed by others.
+
+But, returning to Baccio, we must say that his abilities were always
+recognized during his lifetime, yet will be recognized and regretted
+much more now that he is dead. And even more would he have been
+acknowledged for what he was, when alive, and beloved, if he had been
+so favoured by nature as to be more amiable and more courteous,
+because his being the contrary, and very rough with his tongue, robbed
+him of the goodwill of other persons, obscured his talents, and
+brought it about that his works were regarded with ill will and a
+prejudiced eye, and therefore could never please anyone. And although
+he served one nobleman after another, and was enabled by his talent to
+serve them well, nevertheless he rendered his services with such bad
+grace, that there was no one who felt grateful to him for them.
+Moreover, his always decrying and maligning the works of others
+brought it about that no one could endure him, and, whenever another
+was able to pay him back in his own coin, it was returned to him with
+interest; and before the magistrates he spoke all manner of evil
+without scruple about the other citizens, and received from them as
+good as he gave. He brought suits and went to law about everything
+with the greatest readiness, living in one long succession of
+law-suits, and appearing to triumph in them. But since his drawing, to
+which it is evident that he gave his attention more than to any other
+thing, was of such a kind and of such excellence that it atones for
+his every natural defect and makes him known as a rare master of our
+art, we therefore not only count him among the greatest craftsmen, but
+also have always paid respect to his works, and have sought not to
+destroy but to finish them and do them honour, for the reason that it
+appears to us that Baccio was in truth one of those who deserve
+honourable praise and everlasting fame.
+
+We have deferred to the end the mention of his family name, because it
+was not always the same, but varied, Baccio having himself called now
+De' Brandini, and now De' Bandinelli. In his early prints the name De'
+Brandini may be seen engraved after that of Baccio; but afterwards he
+preferred the name De' Bandinelli, which he retained to the end and
+still retains, and he used to say that his ancestors were of the
+Bandinelli of Siena, who once removed to Gaiuole, and from Gaiuole to
+Florence.
+
+
+
+
+GIULIANO BUGIARDINI
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: GIULIANO BUGIARDINI: PORTRAIT OF A LADY
+
+(_Florence: Pitti, 140. Panel_)]
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF GIULIANO BUGIARDINI
+
+PAINTER OF FLORENCE
+
+
+Before the siege of Florence the population had multiplied in such
+great numbers that the widespread suburbs which lay without every
+gate, together with the churches, monasteries, and hospitals, formed
+as it were another city, inhabited by many honourable persons and by
+good craftsmen of every kind, although for the most part they were
+less wealthy than those of the city, and lived there with less expense
+in the way of customs-dues and the like. In one of these suburbs,
+then, without the Porta a Faenza, was born Giuliano Bugiardini, who
+lived there, even as his ancestors had done, until the year 1529, when
+all the suburbs were pulled down. But before that, when still a mere
+lad, he began his studies in the garden of the Medici on the Piazza di
+S. Marco, in which, attending to the study of art under the sculptor
+Bertoldo, he formed such strait friendship and intimacy with
+Michelagnolo Buonarroti, that he was much beloved by Buonarroti ever
+afterwards; which Michelagnolo did not so much because of any depth
+that he saw in Giuliano's manner of drawing, as on account of the
+extraordinary diligence and love that he showed towards art. There was
+in Giuliano, besides this, a certain natural goodness and a sort of
+simplicity in his mode of living, free from all envy and malice, which
+vastly pleased Buonarroti; nor was there any notable defect in him
+save this, that he loved too well the works of his own hand. For,
+although all men are wont to err in this respect, Giuliano in truth
+passed all due bounds, whatever may have been the reason--either the
+great pains and diligence that he put into executing them, or some
+other cause. Wherefore Michelagnolo used to call him blessed, since
+he appeared to be content with what he knew, and himself unhappy, in
+that no work of his ever fully satisfied him.
+
+After Giuliano had studied design for some time in the above-named
+garden, he worked, together with Buonarroti and Granacci, under
+Domenico Ghirlandajo, at the time when he was painting the chapel in
+S. Maria Novella. Then, having made his growth and become a passing
+good master, he betook himself to work in company with Mariotto
+Albertinelli in Gualfonda; in which place he finished a panel-picture
+that is now at the door of entrance of S. Maria Maggiore in Florence,
+containing S. Alberto, a Carmelite friar, who has under his feet the
+Devil in the form of a woman, a work that was much extolled.
+
+It was the custom in Florence before the siege of 1530, at the burial
+of dead persons of good family and noble blood, to carry in front of
+the bier a string of pennons fixed round a panel that a porter bore on
+his head; which pennons were afterwards left in the church in memory
+of the deceased and of his family. Now, when the elder Cosimo Rucellai
+died, Bernardo and Palla, his sons, in order to have something new,
+thought of having not pennons, but in place of them a quadrangular
+banner four braccia wide and five braccia high, with some pennons at
+the foot containing the arms of the Rucellai. These men therefore
+giving this work to Giuliano to execute, he painted on the body of the
+said banner four great figures, executed very well--namely, S. Cosimo,
+S. Damiano, S. Peter, and S. Paul, which were truly most beautiful
+paintings, and done with more diligence than had ever been shown in
+any other work on cloth.
+
+These and other works of Giuliano's having been seen by Mariotto
+Albertinelli, he recognized how careful Giuliano was in following the
+designs that were put before him, without departing from them by a
+hair's breadth, and, since he was preparing in those days to abandon
+art, he gave him to finish a panel-picture that Fra Bartolommeo di San
+Marco, his friend and companion, had formerly left only designed and
+shaded with water-colours on the gesso of the panel, as was his
+custom. Giuliano, then, setting his hand to this work, executed it
+with supreme diligence and labour, and it was placed at that time in
+the Church of S. Gallo, without the gate of that name. The church and
+convent were afterwards pulled down on account of the siege, and the
+picture was carried into the city and placed in the Priests' Hospital
+in the Via di S. Gallo, and then from there into the Convent of S.
+Marco, and finally into S. Jacopo tra Fossi on the Canto degli
+Alberti, where it stands at the present day on the high-altar. In this
+picture is the Dead Christ, with the Magdalene, who is embracing His
+feet, and S. John the Evangelist, who is holding His head and
+supporting it on one knee. There, likewise, are S. Peter, who is
+weeping, and S. Paul, who, stretching out his arms, is contemplating
+his Dead Master; and, to tell the truth, Giuliano executed this
+picture with so much lovingness and so much consideration and
+judgment, that he will be always very highly extolled for it, even as
+he was at that time, and that rightly. And after this he finished for
+Cristofano Rinieri a picture with the Rape of Dina that had been
+likewise left incomplete by the same Fra Bartolommeo; and he painted
+another picture like it, which was sent to France.
+
+Not long afterwards, having been drawn to Bologna by certain friends,
+he executed some portraits from life, and, for a chapel in the new
+choir of S. Francesco, an altar-piece in oils containing Our Lady and
+two Saints, which was held at that time in Bologna, from there not
+being many masters there, to be a good work and worthy of praise.
+Then, having returned to Florence, he painted for I know not what
+person five pictures of the life of Our Lady, which are now in the
+house of Maestro Andrea Pasquali, physician to his Excellency and a
+man of great distinction.
+
+Messer Palla Rucellai having commissioned him to execute an
+altar-piece that was to be placed on his altar in S. Maria Novella,
+Giuliano began to paint in it the Martyrdom of S. Catharine the
+Virgin. Mountains in labour! He had it in hand for twelve years, but
+never carried it to completion after all that time, because he had no
+invention and knew not how to paint the many various things that had a
+part in that martyrdom; and, although he was always racking his brain
+as to how those wheels should be made, and how he should paint the
+lightning and the fire that consumed them, constantly changing one
+day what he had done the day before, in all that time he was never
+able to finish it. It is true that in the meantime he executed many
+works, and among others, for Messer Francesco Guicciardini--who had
+returned from Bologna and was then living in his villa at Montici,
+writing his history--a portrait of him, which was a passing good
+likeness and pleased him much. He took the portrait, likewise, of
+Signora Angela de' Rossi, the sister of the Count of Sansecondo, for
+Signor Alessandro Vitelli, her husband, who was then on garrison-duty
+in Florence. For Messer Ottaviano de' Medici he painted in a large
+picture, copied from one by Fra Sebastiano del Piombo, two full-length
+portraits, Pope Clement seated and Fra Niccol� della Magna standing;
+and in another picture, likewise, with incredible pains and patience,
+he portrayed Pope Clement seated, and before him Bartolommeo Valori,
+who is kneeling and speaking to him.
+
+[Illustration: THE MARTYRDOM OF S. CATHARINE
+
+(_After the painting by =Giuliano Bugiardini=. Florence: S. Maria
+Novella, Rucellai Chapel_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+Next, the above-named Messer Ottaviano de' Medici having besought
+Giuliano privately that he should take for him the portrait of
+Michelagnolo Buonarroti, he set his hand to it; and, after he had kept
+Michelagnolo, who used to take pleasure in his conversation, sitting
+for two hours, Giuliano said to him: "Michelagnolo, if you wish to see
+yourself, get up and look, for I have now fixed the expression of the
+face." Michelagnolo, having risen and looked at the portrait, said to
+Giuliano, laughing: "What the devil have you been doing? You have
+painted me with one of my eyes up in the temple. Give a little thought
+to what you are doing." Hearing this, Giuliano, after standing pensive
+for a while and looking many times from the portrait to the living
+model, answered in serious earnest: "To me it does not seem so, but
+sit you down again, and I shall see a little better from the life
+whether it be true." Buonarroti, who knew whence the defect arose and
+how small was the judgment of Bugiardini, straightway resumed his
+seat, grinning. And Giuliano looked many times now at Michelagnolo and
+now at the picture, and then finally, rising to his feet, declared:
+"To me it seems that the thing is just as I have drawn it, and that
+the life is in no way different." "Well, then," answered Buonarroti,
+"it is a natural deformity. Go on, and spare neither brush nor art."
+And so Giuliano finished the picture and gave it to Messer
+Ottaviano, together with the portrait of Pope Clement by the hand of
+Fra Sebastiano, as Buonarroti desired, who had sent to Rome for it.
+
+Giuliano afterwards made for Cardinal Innocenzio Cibo a copy of the
+picture in which Raffaello da Urbino had formerly painted portraits of
+Pope Leo, Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, and Cardinal de' Rossi; but in
+place of Cardinal de' Rossi he painted the head of Cardinal Cibo, in
+which he acquitted himself very well, and he executed the whole
+picture with great diligence and labour. At that time, likewise, he
+took the portrait of Cencio Guasconi, who was then a very beautiful
+youth. And after this he painted at the villa of Baccio Valori, at
+Olmo a Castello, a tabernacle in fresco, which, although it had not
+much design, was well and very carefully executed.
+
+Meanwhile Palla Rucellai was pressing him to finish his altar-piece,
+of which mention has been made above, and Giuliano resolved to take
+Michelagnolo one day to see it. And so, after he had brought him to
+the place where he kept it, and had described to him with what pains
+he had executed the lightning-flash, which, coming down from Heaven,
+shivers the wheels and kills those who are turning them, and also a
+sun, which, bursting from a cloud, delivers S. Catharine from death,
+he frankly besought Michelagnolo, who could not keep from laughing as
+he heard poor Bugiardini's lamentations, that he should tell him how
+to make eight or ten principal figures of soldiers in the foreground
+of this altar-piece, drawn up in line after the manner of a guard, and
+in the act of flight, some being prostrate, some wounded, and others
+dead; for, said Giuliano, he did not know for himself how to
+foreshorten them in such a manner that there might be room for them
+all in so narrow a space, in the fashion that he had imagined, in
+line. Buonarroti, then, having compassion on the poor man and wishing
+to oblige him, went up to the picture with a piece of charcoal and
+outlined with a few strokes, lightly sketched in, a line of marvellous
+nude figures, which, foreshortened in different attitudes, were
+falling in various ways, some backward and others forward, with some
+wounded or dead, and all executed with that judgment and excellence
+that were peculiar to Michelagnolo. This done, he went away with the
+thanks of Giuliano, who not long afterwards took Tribolo, his dearest
+friend, to see what Buonarroti had done, telling him the whole story.
+But since, as has been related, Buonarroti had drawn his figures only
+in outline, Bugiardini was not able to put them into execution,
+because there were neither shadows in them nor any other help;
+whereupon Tribolo resolved to assist him, and thus made some
+sketch-models in clay, which he executed excellently well, giving them
+that boldness of manner that Michelagnolo had put into the drawing,
+and working them over with the gradine, which is a toothed instrument
+of iron, to the end that they might be somewhat rough and might have
+greater force; and, thus finished, he gave them to Giuliano. However,
+since that manner did not please the smooth fancy of Bugiardini, no
+sooner had Tribolo departed than he took a brush and, dipping it from
+time to time in water, so smoothed them that he took away the
+gradine-marks and polished them all over, insomuch that, whereas the
+lights should have served as contrasts to make the shadows stronger,
+he contrived to destroy all the excellence that made the work perfect.
+Which having afterwards heard from Giuliano himself, Tribolo laughed
+at the foolish simplicity of the man; and Giuliano finally delivered
+the work finished in such a manner that there is nothing in it to show
+that Michelagnolo ever looked at it.
+
+In the end, being old and poor, and having very few works to do,
+Giuliano applied himself with extraordinary and even incredible pains
+to make a Piet� in a tabernacle that was to go to Spain, with figures
+of no great size, and executed it with such diligence, that it seems a
+strange thing to think of an old man of his age having the patience to
+do such a work for the love that he bore to art. On the doors of that
+tabernacle, in order to depict the darkness that fell at the death of
+the Saviour, he painted a Night on a black ground, copied from the one
+by the hand of Michelagnolo which is in the Sacristy of S. Lorenzo.
+But since that statue has no other sign than an owl, Giuliano, amusing
+himself over his picture of Night by giving rein to his fancy, painted
+there a net for catching thrushes by night, with the lantern, and one
+of those little vessels holding a candle, or rather, a candle-end,
+that are carried about at night, with other suchlike things that have
+something to do with darkness and gloom, such as night-caps, coifs,
+pillows, and bats; wherefore Buonarroti was like to dislocate his jaw
+with laughing when he saw this work and considered with what strange
+caprices Bugiardini had enriched his Night.
+
+Finally, after having always been that kind of man, Giuliano died at
+the age of seventy-five, and was buried in the Church of S. Marco at
+Florence, in the year 1556.
+
+Giuliano once relating to Bronzino how he had seen a very beautiful
+woman, after he had praised her to the skies, Bronzino said, "Do you
+know her?" "No," answered Giuliano, "but she is a miracle of beauty.
+Just imagine that she is a picture by my hand, and there you have
+her."
+
+
+
+
+CRISTOFANO GHERARDI, CALLED DOCENO
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF CRISTOFANO GHERARDI [CALLED DOCENO] OF BORGO SAN SEPOLCRO
+
+PAINTER
+
+
+While Raffaello dal Colle of Borgo San Sepolcro, who was a disciple of
+Giulio Romano and helped him to paint in fresco the Hall of
+Constantine in the Papal Palace at Rome, and the apartments of the Te
+in Mantua, was painting, after his return to the Borgo, the
+altar-piece of the Chapel of SS. Gilio e Arcanio (in which, imitating
+Giulio and Raffaello da Urbino, he depicted the Resurrection of
+Christ, a work that was much extolled), with another altar-piece of
+the Assumption for the Frati de' Zoccoli without the Borgo, and some
+other works for the Servite Friars at Citt� di Castello; while, I say,
+Raffaello was executing these and other works in the Borgo, his native
+place, acquiring riches and fame, a young man sixteen years of age,
+called Cristofano, and by way of by-name, Doceno, the son of Guido
+Gherardi, a man of honourable family in that city, was attending from
+a natural inclination and with much profit to painting, drawing and
+colouring so well and with such grace, that it was a marvel. Wherefore
+the above-named Raffaello, having seen some animals by the hand of
+this Cristofano, such as dogs, wolves, hares, and various kinds of
+birds and fishes, executed very well, and perceiving that he was most
+agreeable in his conversation and very witty and amusing, although he
+lived a life apart, almost like a philosopher, was well pleased to
+form a friendship with him and to have him frequent his workshop in
+order to learn.
+
+Now, after Cristofano had spent some time drawing under the discipline
+of Raffaello, there arrived in the Borgo the painter Rosso, with whom
+he contracted a friendship, and received some of his drawings; and
+these Doceno studied with great diligence, considering, as one who had
+seen no others but those by the hand of Raffaello, that they were very
+beautiful, as indeed they were. But these studies were broken off by
+him, for, when Giovanni de' Turrini of the Borgo, at that time Captain
+of the Florentines, went with a band of soldiers from the Borgo and
+from Citt� di Castello to the defence of Florence, which was besieged
+by the armies of the Emperor and of Pope Clement, Cristofano went
+thither among the other soldiers, having been led away by his many
+friends. It is true that he did this no less in the hope of having
+some occasion to study the works in Florence than with the intention
+of fighting; but in this he failed, for his captain, Giovanni, had to
+guard not a place within the city, but the bastions on the hill
+without. That war finished, and the guard of Florence being commanded
+not long afterwards by Signor Alessandro Vitelli of Citt� di Castello,
+Cristofano, drawn by his friends and by his desire to see the pictures
+and sculptures of the city, enlisted as a soldier in that guard. And
+while he was in that service, Signor Alessandro, having heard from
+Battista della Bilia, a painter and soldier from Citt� di Castello,
+that Cristofano gave his attention to painting, and having obtained a
+beautiful picture by his hand, determined to send him with that same
+Battista della Bilia and with another Battista, likewise of Citt� di
+Castello, to decorate with sgraffiti and paintings a garden and loggia
+that he had begun at Citt� di Castello. But the one Battista having
+died while that garden was being built up, and the other Battista
+having taken his place, for the time being, whatever may have been the
+reason, nothing more was done.
+
+Meanwhile Giorgio Vasari had returned from Rome, and was passing his
+time with Duke Alessandro in Florence, until his patron Cardinal
+Ippolito should return from Hungary; and he had received rooms in the
+Convent of the Servites, that he might make a beginning with the
+execution of certain scenes in fresco from the life of C�sar in the
+chamber at the corner of the Medici Palace, where Giovanni da Udine
+had decorated the ceiling with stucco-work and pictures. Now
+Cristofano, having made Giorgio's acquaintance at the Borgo in the
+year 1528, when he went to see Rosso in that place, where he had
+shown him much kindness, resolved that he would attach himself to
+Vasari and thus find much more opportunity for giving attention to art
+than he had done in the past. Giorgio, then, after a year's
+intercourse with him as his companion, finding that he was likely to
+make an able master, and that he was pleasant and gentle in manners
+and a man after his own heart, conceived an extraordinary affection
+for him. Wherefore, having to go not long afterwards, at the
+commission of Duke Alessandro, to Citt� di Castello, in company with
+Antonio da San Gallo and Pier Francesco da Viterbo (who had been in
+Florence to build the castle, or rather, citadel, and on their return
+were taking the road by Citt� di Castello), in order to repair the
+walls of the above-mentioned garden of Vitelli, which were threatening
+to fall, he took Cristofano with him, to the end that after Vasari
+himself had designed and distributed in their due order the friezes
+that were to be executed in certain apartments, and likewise the
+scenes and compartments of a bath-room, and other sketches for the
+walls of the loggia, Gherardi and the above-named Battista might carry
+the whole to completion. All this they did so well and with such
+grace, and particularly Cristofano, that a past master in art, well
+practised in his work, could not have done so much; and, what is more,
+experimenting in that work, he became facile and able to a marvel in
+drawing and colouring.
+
+Then, in the year 1536, the Emperor Charles V coming to Italy and to
+Florence, as has been related in other places, the most magnificent
+festive preparations were ordained, among which Vasari, by order of
+Duke Alessandro, received the charge of the decorations of the Porta a
+S. Piero Gattolini, of the fa�ade at S. Felice in Piazza, at the head
+of the Via Maggio, and of the pediment that was erected over the door
+of S. Maria del Fiore; and, in addition, of a standard of cloth for
+the castle, fifteen braccia in depth and forty in length, into the
+gilding of which there went fifty thousand leaves of gold. Now the
+Florentine painters and others who were employed in these
+preparations, thinking that Vasari was too much in favour with Duke
+Alessandro, and wishing to leave him disgraced in that part of the
+decorations--a part truly great and laborious--which had fallen to
+him, so went to work that he was not able to enlist the services of
+any master of architectural painting, whether young or old, among all
+those that were in the city, to assist him in any single thing. Of
+which having become aware, Vasari sent for Cristofano, Raffaello dal
+Colle, and Stefano Veltroni of Monte Sansovino, his kinsman; and with
+their assistance and that of other painters from Arezzo and other
+places, he executed the works mentioned above, in which Cristofano
+acquitted himself in such a manner, that he caused everyone to marvel,
+doing honour to himself and also to Vasari, who was much extolled for
+those works. After they were finished, Cristofano remained many days
+in Florence, assisting the same Vasari in the preparations that were
+made in the Palace of Messer Ottaviano de' Medici for the nuptials of
+Duke Alessandro; wherein, among other things, Cristofano executed the
+coat of arms of the Duchess Margherita of Austria, with the balls,
+upheld by a most beautiful eagle, with some boys, very well done.
+
+Not long afterwards, when Duke Alessandro had been assassinated, a
+compact was made in the Borgo to hand over one of the gates of the
+city to Piero Strozzi, when he came to Sestino, and letters were
+therefore written to Cristofano by some soldiers exiled from the
+Borgo, entreating him that he should consent to help them in this:
+which letters received, although Cristofano did not grant their
+request, yet, in order not to do a mischief to the soldiers, he chose
+rather to tear them up, as he did, than to lay them, as according to
+the laws and edicts he should have done, before Gherardo Gherardi, who
+was then Commissioner for the Lord Duke Cosimo in the Borgo. When the
+troubles were over and the matter became known, many citizens of the
+Borgo were exiled as rebels, and among them Doceno; and Signor
+Alessandro Vitelli, who knew the truth of this affair and could have
+helped him, did not do so, to the end that Cristofano might be as it
+were forced to serve him in the work of his garden at Citt� di
+Castello, of which we have spoken above.
+
+After having consumed much time in this service, without any profit or
+advantage, Cristofano finally took refuge, almost in despair, with
+other exiles, in the village of S. Giustino in the States of the
+Church, a mile and a half distant from the Borgo and very near the
+Florentine frontier. In that place, although he stayed there at his
+peril, he painted for Abbot Bufolini of Citt� di Castello, who has
+most beautiful and commodious apartments there, a chamber in a tower,
+with a pattern of little boys and figures very well foreshortened to
+be seen from below, and with grotesques, festoons, and masks, the most
+lovely and the most bizarre that could be imagined. This chamber, when
+finished, so pleased the Abbot that he caused him to do another, in
+which, desiring to make some ornaments of stucco, and not having
+marble to grind into powder for mixing it, for this purpose he found a
+very good substitute in some stones from a river-bed, veined with
+white, the powder from which took a good and very firm hold. And
+within these ornaments of stucco Cristofano then painted some scenes
+from Roman history, executing them so well in fresco that it was a
+marvel.
+
+At that time Giorgio Vasari was painting in fresco the upper part of
+the tramezzo[4] of the Abbey of Camaldoli, and two panel-pictures for
+the lower part; and, wishing to make about these last an ornament in
+fresco full of scenes, he would have liked to have Cristofano with
+him, no less to restore him to the favour of the Duke than to make use
+of him. But, although Messer Ottaviano de' Medici pleaded strongly
+with the Duke, it proved impossible to bend him, so ugly was the
+information that had been given to him about the behaviour of
+Cristofano. Not having succeeded in this, therefore, Vasari, as one
+who loved Cristofano, set himself to contrive to remove him at least
+from S. Giustino, where he, with other exiles, was living in the
+greatest peril. In the year 1539, then, having to execute for the
+Monks of Monte Oliveto, for the head of a great refectory in the
+Monastery of S. Michele in Bosco without Bologna, three panel-pictures
+in oils with three scenes each four braccia in length, and a frieze in
+fresco three braccia high all round with twenty stories of the
+Apocalypse in little figures, and all the monasteries of that Order
+copied from the reality, with partitions of grotesques, and round each
+window fourteen braccia of festoons with fruits copied from nature,
+Giorgio wrote straightway to Cristofano that he should go from S.
+Giustino to Bologna, together with Battista Cungi of the Borgo, his
+compatriot, who had also served Vasari for seven years. These men,
+therefore, having gone to Bologna, where Giorgio had not yet
+arrived--for he was still at Camaldoli, where, having finished the
+tramezzo, he was drawing the cartoon for a Deposition from the Cross,
+which was afterwards executed by him and set up on the high-altar in
+that same place--set themselves to prime the said three panels with
+gesso and to lay on the ground, until such time as Giorgio should
+arrive.
+
+         [Footnote 4: See note on p. 57, Vol. I.]
+
+Now Vasari had given a commission to Dattero, a Jew, the friend of
+Messer Ottaviano de' Medici, who was then a banker in Bologna, that he
+should provide Cristofano and Battista with everything that they
+required. And since this Dattero was very obliging and most courteous,
+he did them a thousand favours and courtesies; wherefore those two at
+times went about Bologna in his company in very familiar fashion, and,
+Battista having prominent eyes and Cristofano a great speck in one of
+his, they were thus taken for Jews, as Dattero was in fact. One
+morning, therefore, a shoemaker, who had to bring a pair of new shoes
+at the commission of the above-named Jew to Cristofano, arriving at
+the monastery, said to Cristofano himself, who was standing at the
+gate looking on at the distribution of alms, "Sir, could you show me
+the rooms of those two Jew painters who are working in there?" "Jews
+or no Jews," said Cristofano, "what have you to do with them?" "I have
+to give these shoes," he answered, "to one of them called Cristofano."
+"I am he," replied Cristofano, "an honest man and a better Christian
+than you are." "You may be what you please," answered the shoemaker.
+"I called you Jews, because, besides that you are held and known as
+Jews by everyone, that look of yours, which is not of our country,
+convinced me of it." "Enough," said Cristofano, "you shall see that we
+do the work of Christians."
+
+[Illustration: THE SUPPER OF S. GREGORY THE GREAT
+
+(_After the panel by =Giorgio Vasari=, with details by =Cristofano
+Gherardi [Doceno]=. Bologna: Accademia, 198_)
+
+_Poppi_]
+
+But to return to the work: Vasari having arrived in Bologna, not a
+month had passed before, Giorgio designing, and Cristofano and
+Battista laying in the panels in colour, all three were completely
+laid in, with great credit to Cristofano, who acquitted himself in
+this excellently well. The laying in of the panels being finished,
+work was begun on the frieze, in which Cristofano had a companion,
+although he was to have executed it all by himself; for there came
+from Camaldoli to Bologna the cousin of Vasari, Stefano Veltroni of
+Monte Sansovino, who had laid in the panel-picture of the Deposition,
+and the two executed that work together, and that so well, that it
+proved a marvel. Cristofano painted grotesques so well, that there was
+nothing better to be seen, but he did not give them that particular
+finish that would have made them perfect; and Stefano, on the
+contrary, was wanting in resolution and grace, for the reason that his
+brush-strokes did not fix his subjects in their places at one sweep,
+but, since he was very patient, in the end, although he endured
+greater labour, he used to execute his grotesques with more neatness
+and delicacy. Labouring in competition, then, at the work of this
+frieze, these two took such pains, both the one and the other, that
+Cristofano learned to finish from Stefano, and Stefano learned from
+Cristofano to be more resolute and to work like a master.
+
+Work being then begun on the broad festoons that were to run in
+clusters round the windows, Vasari made one with his own hand, keeping
+real fruits in front of him, that he might copy them from nature. This
+done, he ordained that Cristofano and Stefano should go on with the
+rest, holding to the same design, one on one side of the window, and
+the other on the other side, and should thus, one by one, proceed to
+finish them all; promising to him who might prove at the end of the
+work to have acquitted himself best a pair of scarlet hose. And so,
+competing lovingly for both honour and profit, they set themselves to
+copy everything, from the large things down to the most minute, such
+as millet-seed, hemp-seed, bunches of fennel, and the like, in such a
+manner that those festoons proved to be very beautiful; and both of
+them received from Vasari the prize of the scarlet hose.
+
+Giorgio took great pains to persuade Cristofano to execute by himself
+part of the designs for the scenes that were to go into the frieze,
+but he would never do it. Wherefore, the while that Giorgio was
+drawing them himself, Gherardi executed the buildings in two of the
+panel-pictures, with much grace and beauty of manner, and such
+perfection, that a master of great judgment, even if he had had the
+cartoons before him, could not have done what Cristofano did. And, in
+truth, there never was a painter who could do by himself, and without
+study, the things that he contrived to do. After having finished the
+execution of the buildings in the two panel-pictures, the while that
+Vasari was carrying to completion the twenty stories from the
+Apocalypse for the above-mentioned frieze, Cristofano, taking in hand
+the panel-picture in which S. Gregory (whose head is a portrait of
+Pope Clement VII) is eating with his twelve poor men, executed the
+whole service of the table, all very lifelike and most natural. Then,
+a beginning having been made with the third panel-picture, while
+Stefano was occupied with the gilding of the ornamental frames of the
+other two, a staging was erected upon two trestles of wood, from
+which, while Vasari was painting on one side, in a glory of sunlight,
+the three Angels that appeared to Abraham in the Valley of Mamre,
+Cristofano painted some buildings on the other side. But he was always
+making some contraption with stools and tables, and at times with
+basins and pans upside down, on which he would climb, like the casual
+creature that he was; and once it happened that, seeking to draw back
+in order to look at what he had done, one of his feet gave way under
+him, the whole contraption turned topsy-turvy, and he fell from a
+height of five braccia, bruising himself so grievously that he had to
+be bled and properly nursed, or he would have died. And, what was
+worse, being the sort of careless fellow that he was, one night there
+slipped off the bandages that were on the arm from which the blood had
+been drawn, to the great danger of his life, so that, if Stefano, who
+was sleeping with him, had not noticed this, it would have been all up
+with him; and even so Stefano had something to do to revive him, for
+the bed was a lake of blood, and he himself was reduced almost to his
+last gasp. Vasari, therefore, taking him under his own particular
+charge, as if he had been his brother, had him tended with the
+greatest possible care, than which, indeed, nothing less would have
+sufficed; and with all this he was not restored until that work was
+completely finished. After that, returning to S. Giustino, Cristofano
+completed some of the apartments of the Abbot there, which had been
+left unfinished, and then executed at Citt� di Castello, all with his
+own hand, an altar-piece that had been allotted to Battista, his
+dearest friend, and a lunette that is over the side-door of S.
+Fiorido, containing three figures in fresco.
+
+Giorgio being afterwards summoned to Venice at the instance of Messer
+Pietro Aretino, in order to arrange and execute for the nobles and
+gentlemen of the Company of the Calza the setting for a most sumptuous
+and magnificent festival, and the scenery of a comedy written by that
+same Messer Pietro Aretino for those gentlemen, Giorgio, I say,
+knowing that he was not able to carry out so great a work by himself
+alone, sent for Cristofano and the above-mentioned Battista Cungi. And
+they, having finally arrived in Venice after being carried by the
+chances of the sea to Sclavonia, found that Vasari not only had
+arrived there before them, but had already designed everything, so
+that there was nothing for them to do but to set hand to painting. Now
+the said gentlemen of the Calza had taken at the end of the Canareio a
+large house which was not finished--it had nothing, indeed, save the
+main walls and the roof--and in a space forming an apartment seventy
+braccia long and sixteen braccia wide, Giorgio caused to be made two
+ranges of wooden steps, four braccia in height from the floor, on
+which the ladies were to be seated. The walls at the sides he divided
+each into four square spaces of ten braccia, separated by niches each
+four braccia in breadth, within which were figures, and these niches
+had each on either side a terminal figure in relief, nine braccia
+high; insomuch that the niches on either side were five and the
+terminal figures ten, and in the whole apartment there were altogether
+ten niches, twenty terminal figures, and eight square pictures with
+scenes. In the first of these pictures (which were all in
+chiaroscuro), that on the right hand, next the stage, there was,
+representing Venice, a most beautiful figure of Adria depicted as
+seated upon a rock in the midst of the sea, with a branch of coral in
+the hand. Around her stood Neptune, Thetis, Proteus, Nereus, Glaucus,
+Pal�mon, and other sea gods and nymphs, who were presenting to her
+jewels, pearls, gold, and other riches of the sea; and besides this
+there were some Loves that were shooting arrows, and others that were
+flying through the air and scattering flowers, and the rest of the
+field of the picture was all most beautiful palms. In the second
+picture were the Rivers Drava and Sava naked, with their vases. In the
+third was the Po, conceived as large and corpulent, with seven sons,
+representing the seven branches which, issuing from the Po, pour into
+the sea as if each of them were a kingly river. In the fourth was the
+Brenta, with other rivers of Friuli. On the other wall, opposite to
+the Adria, was the Island of Candia, wherein was to be seen Jove being
+suckled by the Goat, with many Nymphs around. Beside this, and
+opposite to the Drava, were the River Tagliamento and the Mountains of
+Cadore. Beyond this, opposite to the Po, were Lake Benacus and the
+Mincio, which were pouring their waters into the Po; and beside them,
+opposite to the Brenta, were the Adige and the Tesino, falling into
+the sea. The pictures on the right-hand side were divided by these
+Virtues, placed in the niches--Liberality, Concord, Compassion, Peace,
+and Religion; and opposite to these, on the other wall, were
+Fortitude, Civic Wisdom, Justice, a Victory with War beneath her, and,
+lastly, a Charity. Above all, then, were a large cornice and
+architrave, and a frieze full of lights and of glass globes filled
+with distilled waters, to the end that these, having lights behind
+them, might illuminate the whole apartment. Next, the ceiling was
+divided into four quadrangular compartments, each ten braccia wide in
+one direction and eight braccia in the other; and, with a width equal
+to that of the niches of four braccia, there was a frieze which ran
+right round the cornice, while in a line with the niches there came in
+the middle of all the spaces a compartment three braccia square. These
+compartments were in all twenty-three, without counting one of double
+size that was above the stage, which brought the number up to
+twenty-four; and in them were the Hours, twelve of the night, namely,
+and twelve of the day. In the first of the compartments ten braccia in
+length, which was above the stage, was Time, who was arranging the
+Hours in their places, accompanied by �olus, God of the Winds, by
+Juno, and by Iris. In another compartment, at the door of entrance,
+was the Car of Aurora, who, rising from the arms of Tithonus, was
+scattering roses, while the Car itself was being drawn by some Cocks.
+In the third was the Chariot of the Sun; and in the fourth was the
+Chariot of Night, drawn by Owls, and Night had the Moon upon her head,
+some Bats in front of her, and all around her darkness.
+
+Of these pictures Cristofano executed the greater part, and he
+acquitted himself so well, that everyone stood marvelling at them:
+particularly in the Chariot of Night, wherein he did in the way of
+oil-sketches that which was, in a manner of speaking, not possible.
+And in the picture of Adria, likewise, he painted those monsters of
+the sea with such beauty and variety, that whoever looked at them was
+struck with astonishment that a craftsman of his rank should have
+shown such knowledge. In short, in all this work he bore himself
+beyond all expectation like an able and well-practised painter, and
+particularly in the foliage and grotesques.
+
+After finishing the preparations for that festival, Vasari and
+Cristofano stayed some months in Venice, painting for the Magnificent
+Messer Giovanni Cornaro the ceiling, or rather, soffit, of an
+apartment, into which there went nine large pictures in oils. Vasari
+being then entreated by the Veronese architect, Michele San Michele,
+to stay in Venice, he might perhaps have consented to remain there for
+a year or two; but Cristofano always dissuaded him from it, saying
+that it was not a good thing to stay in Venice, where no account was
+taken of design, nor did the painters in that city make any use of it,
+not to mention that those painters themselves were the reason that no
+attention was paid there to the labours of the arts; and he declared
+that it would be better to return to Rome, the true school of noble
+arts, where ability was recognized much more than in Venice. The
+dissuasions of Cristofano being thus added to the little desire that
+Vasari had to stay there, they went off together. But, since
+Cristofano, being an exile from the State of Florence, was not able to
+follow Giorgio, he returned to S. Giustino, where he did not remain
+long, doing some work all the time for the above-mentioned Abbot,
+before he went to Perugia on the first occasion when Pope Paul III
+went there after the war waged with the people of that city. There, in
+the festive preparations that were made to receive his Holiness, he
+acquitted himself very well in several works, and particularly in the
+portal called after Frate Rinieri, where, at the wish of Monsignore
+della Barba, who was then governor there, Cristofano executed a large
+Jove in Anger and another Pacified, which are two most beautiful
+figures, and on the other side he painted an Atlas with the world on
+his back, between two women, one of whom had a sword and the other a
+pair of scales. These works, with many others that Cristofano executed
+for those festivities, were the reason that afterwards, when the
+citadel had been built in Perugia by order of the same Pontiff, Messer
+Tiberio Crispo, who was governor and castellan at that time, when
+causing many of the rooms to be painted, desired that Cristofano, in
+addition to that which Lattanzio, a painter of the March, had executed
+in them up to that time, should also work there. Whereupon Cristofano
+not only assisted the above-named Lattanzio, but afterwards executed
+with his own hand the greater part of the best works that are painted
+in the apartments of that fortress, in which there also worked
+Raffaello dal Colle and Adone Doni of Assisi, an able and
+well-practised painter, who has executed many things in his native
+city and in other places. Tommaso Papacello also worked there; but the
+best that there was among them, and the one who gained most praise
+there, was Cristofano, on which account he was recommended by
+Lattanzio to the favour of the said Crispo, and was ever afterwards
+much employed by him.
+
+Meanwhile, that same Crispo having built in Perugia a new little
+church known as S. Maria del Popolo, but first called Del Mercato,
+Lattanzio had begun for it an altar-piece in oils, and in this
+Cristofano painted with his own hand all the upper part, which is
+indeed most beautiful and worthy of great praise. Then, Lattanzio
+having been changed from a painter into the Constable of Perugia,
+Cristofano returned to S. Giustino, where he stayed many months, again
+working for the above-named Lord Abbot Bufolini.
+
+After this, in the year 1543, Giorgio Vasari, having to execute a
+panel-picture in oils for the Great Cancelleria by order of the most
+illustrious Cardinal Farnese, and another for the Church of S.
+Agostino at the commission of Galeotto da Girone, sent for Cristofano,
+who went very willingly, as one who had a desire to see Rome. There he
+stayed many months, doing little else but go about seeing everything;
+but nevertheless he thus gained so much, that, after returning once
+more to S. Giustino, he painted in a hall some figures after his own
+fancy which were so beautiful, that it appeared that he must have
+studied at them twenty years. Then, in the year 1545, Vasari had to go
+to Naples to paint for the Monks of Monte Oliveto a refectory
+involving much more work than that of S. Michele in Bosco at Bologna,
+and he sent for Cristofano, Raffaello dal Colle, and Stefano, already
+mentioned as his friends and pupils; and they all came together at the
+appointed time in Naples, excepting Cristofano, who remained behind
+because he was ill. However, being pressed by Vasari, he made his way
+to Rome on his journey to Naples; but he was detained by his brother
+Borgognone, who was likewise an exile, and who wished to take him to
+France to enter the service of the Colonel Giovanni da Turrino, and so
+that occasion was lost. But when Vasari returned from Naples to Rome
+in the year 1546, in order to execute twenty-four pictures that were
+afterwards sent to Naples and placed in the Sacristy of S. Giovanni
+Carbonaro, in which he painted stories from the Old Testament, and
+also from the life of S. John the Baptist, with figures of one braccio
+or little more, and also in order to paint the doors of the organ of
+the Piscopio, which were six braccia in height, he availed himself of
+Cristofano, who was of great assistance to him and executed figures
+and landscapes in those works excellently well. Giorgio had also
+proposed to make use of him in the Hall of the Cancelleria, which was
+painted after cartoons by his hand, and entirely finished in a hundred
+days, for Cardinal Farnese, but in this he did not succeed, for
+Cristofano fell ill and returned to S. Giustino as soon as he had
+begun to mend. And Vasari finished the Hall without him, assisted by
+Raffaello dal Colle, the Bolognese Giovan Battista Bagnacavallo, the
+Spaniards Roviale and Bizzerra, and many others of his friends and
+pupils.
+
+After returning from Rome to Florence and setting out from that city
+to go to Rimini, to paint a chapel in fresco and an altar-piece in the
+Church of the Monks of Monte Oliveto for Abbot Gian Matteo Faettani,
+Giorgio passed through S. Giustino, in order to take Cristofano with
+him: but Abbot Bufolini, for whom he was painting a hall, would not
+let him go for the time being, although he promised Giorgio that he
+should send Cristofano to him soon all the way to Romagna. But,
+notwithstanding such a promise, the Abbot delayed so long to send
+him, that Cristofano, when he did go, found that Vasari had not only
+finished all the work for the other Abbot, but had also executed an
+altar-piece for the high-altar of S. Francesco at Rimini, for Messer
+Niccol� Marcheselli, and another altar-piece in the Church of Classi,
+belonging to the Monks of Camaldoli, at Ravenna, for Don Romualdo da
+Verona, the Abbot of that abbey.
+
+In the year 1550, not long before this, Giorgio had just executed the
+story of the Marriage of Esther in the Black Friars' Abbey of S.
+Fiore, that is, in the refectory, at Arezzo, and also, at Florence,
+for the Chapel of the Martelli in the Church of S. Lorenzo, the
+altar-piece of S. Gismondo, when, Julius III having been elected Pope,
+he was summoned to Rome to enter the service of his Holiness.
+Thereupon he thought for certain that by means of Cardinal Farnese,
+who went at that time to stay in Florence, he would be able to
+reinstate Cristofano in his country and restore him to the favour of
+Duke Cosimo. But this proved to be impossible, so that poor Cristofano
+had to stay as he was until 1554, at which time, Vasari having been
+invited into the service of Duke Cosimo, there came to him an
+opportunity of delivering Cristofano. Bishop da' Ricasoli, who knew
+that he would be doing a thing pleasing to his Excellency, had set to
+work to have the three fa�ades of his palace, which stands on the
+abutment of the Ponte alla Carraja, painted in chiaroscuro, when
+Messer Sforza Almeni, Cup-bearer as well as first and favourite
+Chamberlain to the Duke, resolved that he also would have his house in
+the Via de' Servi painted in chiaroscuro, in emulation of the Bishop.
+But, not having found in Florence any painters according to his fancy,
+he wrote to Giorgio Vasari, who had not then arrived in Florence, that
+he should think out the inventions and send him designs of all that it
+might seem to him best to paint on that fa�ade of his. Whereupon
+Giorgio, who was much his friend, for they had known each other from
+the time when they were both in the service of Duke Alessandro, having
+thought out the whole according to the measurements of the fa�ade,
+sent him a design of most beautiful invention, which embellished the
+windows and joined them together with a well-varied decoration in a
+straight line from top to bottom, and filled all the spaces in the
+fa�ade with rich scenes. This design, I say, which contained, to put
+it briefly, the whole life of man from birth to death, was sent by
+Vasari to Messer Sforza; and it so pleased him, and likewise the Duke,
+that, in order that it might have all its perfection, they resolved
+that they would not have it taken in hand until such time as Vasari
+himself should have arrived in Florence. Which Vasari having at last
+come and having been received by his most illustrious Excellency and
+by the above-named Messer Sforza with great friendliness, they began
+to discuss who might be the right man to execute that fa�ade.
+Whereupon Giorgio, not allowing the occasion to slip by, said to
+Messer Sforza that no one was better able to carry out that work than
+Cristofano, and that neither in that nor in the works that were to be
+executed in the Palace, could he do without Cristofano's aid. And so,
+Messer Sforza having spoken of this to the Duke, after many inquiries
+it was found that Cristofano's crime was not so black as it had been
+painted, and the poor fellow was at last pardoned by his Excellency.
+Which news having been received by Vasari, who was at Arezzo,
+revisiting his native place and his friends, he sent a messenger
+expressly to Cristofano, who knew nothing of the matter, to give him
+that good news; and when he heard it, he was like to faint with joy.
+All rejoicing, therefore, and confessing that no one had ever been a
+better friend to him than Vasari, he went off next morning from Citt�
+di Castello to the Borgo, where, after presenting his letters of
+deliverance to the Commissioner, he made his way to his father's
+house, where his mother and also his brother, who had been recalled
+from exile long before, were struck with astonishment. Then, after
+passing two days there, he went off to Arezzo, where he was received
+by Giorgio with more rejoicing than if he had been his own brother,
+and recognized that he was so beloved by Vasari that he resolved that
+he would spend the rest of his life with him.
+
+They then went from Arezzo to Florence together, and Cristofano went
+to kiss the hands of the Duke, who received him readily and was struck
+with amazement, for the reason that, whereas he had thought to see
+some great bravo, he saw the best little man in the world. Cristofano
+was likewise made much of by Messer Sforza, who conceived a very great
+affection for him; and he then set his hand to the above-mentioned
+fa�ade. In that work, Giorgio, because it was not yet possible to
+work in the Palace, assisted him, at his own request, to execute some
+designs for the scenes in the fa�ade, also designing at times during
+the progress of the work, on the plaster, some of the figures that are
+there. But, although there are in it many things retouched by Vasari,
+nevertheless the whole fa�ade, with the greater part of the figures
+and all the ornaments, festoons, and large ovals, is by the hand of
+Cristofano, who in truth, as may be seen, was so able in handling
+colours in fresco, that it may be said--and Vasari confesses it--that
+he knew more about it than Giorgio himself. And if Cristofano, when he
+was a lad, had exercised himself continuously in the studies of
+art--for he never did a drawing save when he had afterwards to carry
+it into execution--and had pursued the practice of art with spirit, he
+would have had no equal, seeing that his facility, judgment and memory
+enabled him to execute his works in such a way, without any further
+study, that he used to surpass many who in fact knew more than he. Nor
+could anyone believe with what facility and resolution he executed his
+labours, for, when he set himself to work, no matter how long a time
+it might take, he so delighted in it that he would never lift his eyes
+off his painting; wherefore his friends might well expect the greatest
+things from him. Besides this, he was so gracious in his conversation
+and his jesting as he worked, that Vasari would at times stay working
+in his company from morning till night, without ever growing weary.
+
+Cristofano executed this fa�ade in a few months, not to mention that
+he sometimes stayed away some weeks without working there, going to
+the Borgo to see and enjoy his home. Now I do not wish to grudge the
+labour of describing the distribution and the figures of this work,
+which, from its being in the open air and much exposed to the vagaries
+of the weather, may not have a very long life; scarcely, indeed, was
+it finished, when it was much injured by a terrible rain and a very
+heavy hail-storm, and in some places the wall was stripped of plaster.
+In this fa�ade, then, there are three compartments. The first, to
+begin at the foot, is where the principal door and the two windows
+are; the second is from the sill of those windows to that of the
+second range of windows; and the third is from those last windows to
+the cornice of the roof. There are, besides this, six windows in each
+range, which give seven spaces; and the whole work was divided
+according to this plan in straight lines from the cornice of the roof
+down to the ground. Next to the cornice of the roof, then, there is in
+perspective a great cornice, with brackets that project over a frieze
+of little boys, six of whom stand upright along the breadth of the
+fa�ade--namely, one above the centre of the arch of each window; and
+these support with their shoulders most beautiful festoons of fruits,
+leaves, and flowers, which run from one to another. Those fruits and
+flowers are arranged in due succession according to the seasons,
+symbolizing the periods of our life, which is there depicted; and on
+the middle of the festoons, likewise, where they hang down, are other
+little boys in various attitudes. This frieze finished, between the
+upper windows, in the spaces that are there, there were painted the
+seven Planets, with the seven celestial Signs above them as a crown
+and an ornament. Beneath the sill of these windows, on the parapet, is
+a frieze of Virtues, who, two by two, are holding seven great ovals;
+in which ovals are seven distinct stories representing the Seven Ages
+of Man, and each Age is accompanied by two Virtues appropriate to her,
+and beneath the ovals in the spaces between the lower windows there
+are the three Theological and the four Moral Virtues. Below this, in
+the frieze that is above the door and the windows supported by
+knee-shaped brackets, are the seven Liberal Arts, each of which is in
+a line with the oval in which is the particular story of the Life of
+Man appropriate to it; and in the same straight lines, continued
+upwards, are the Moral Virtues, Planets, Signs, and other
+corresponding symbols. Next, between the windows with knee-shaped
+brackets, there is Life, both the active and the contemplative, with
+scenes and statues, continued down to Death, Hell, and our final
+Resurrection.
+
+In brief, Cristofano executed almost all by himself the whole cornice,
+the festoons, the little boys, and the seven Signs of the Planets.
+Then, beginning on one side, he painted first the Moon, and
+represented her by a Diana who has her lap full of flowers, after the
+manner of Proserpine, with a moon upon her head and the Sign of Cancer
+above her. Below, in the oval wherein is the story of Infancy, there
+are present at the Birth of Man some nurses who are suckling infants,
+and newly-delivered women in bed, executed by Cristofano with much
+grace; and this oval is supported by Will alone, who is a half-nude
+young woman, fair and beautiful, and she is sustained by Charity, who
+is also suckling infants. And beneath the oval, on the parapet, is
+Grammar, who is teaching some little boys to read.
+
+Beginning over again, there follows Mercury with the Caduceus and with
+his Sign, who has below him in the oval some little boys, some of whom
+are going to school and some playing. This oval is supported by Truth,
+who is a nude little girl all pure and simple, who has on one side a
+male figure representing Falsehood, with a variety of girt-up garments
+and a most beautiful countenance, but with the eyes much sunken.
+Beneath the oval of the windows is Faith, who with the right hand is
+baptizing a child in a conch full of water, and with the left hand is
+holding a cross; and below her, on the parapet, is Logic covered by a
+veil, with a serpent.
+
+Next follows the Sun, represented by an Apollo who has the lyre in his
+hand, with his Sign in the ornament above. In the oval is Adolescence,
+represented by two boys of equal age, one of whom, holding a branch of
+olive, is ascending a mountain illumined by the sun, and the other,
+halting halfway up to admire the beauties that Fraud displays from the
+middle upwards, without perceiving that her hideous countenance is
+concealed behind a smooth and beautiful mask, is caused by her and her
+wiles to fall over a precipice. This oval is supported by Sloth, a
+gross and corpulent man, who stands all sleepy and nude in the guise
+of a Silenus; and also by Toil, in the person of a robust and
+hard-working peasant, who has around him the implements for tilling
+the earth. These are supported by that part of the ornament that is
+between the windows, where Hope is, who has the anchors at her feet;
+and on the parapet below is Music, with various musical instruments
+about her.
+
+There follows in due order Venus, who has clasped Love to her bosom,
+and is kissing him; and she, also, has her Sign above her. In the oval
+that she has beneath her is the story of Youth; that is, in the centre
+a young man seated, with books, instruments for measuring, and other
+things appertaining to design, and in addition maps of the world and
+cosmographical globes and spheres; and behind him is a loggia, in
+which are young men who are merrily passing the time away with
+singing, dancing, and playing, and also a banquet of young people all
+given over to enjoyment. On one side this oval is supported by
+Self-knowledge, who has about her compasses, armillary spheres,
+quadrants, and books, and is gazing at herself in a mirror; and, on
+the other side, by Fraud, a hideous old hag, lean and toothless, who
+is mocking at Self-knowledge, and in the act of covering her face with
+a smooth and beautiful mask. Below the oval is Temperance, with a
+horse's bridle in her hand, and beneath her, on the parapet, is
+Rhetoric, who is in a line with the other similar figures.
+
+Next to these comes Mars in armour, with many trophies about him, and
+with the Sign of the Lion above him. In his oval, which is below him,
+is Virility, represented by a full-grown man, standing between Memory
+and Will, who are holding before him a basin of gold containing a pair
+of wings, and are pointing out to him the path of deliverance in the
+direction of a mountain; and this oval is supported by Innocence, who
+is a maiden with a lamb at her side, and by Hilarity, who, all smiling
+and merry, reveals herself as what she really is. Beneath the oval,
+between the windows, is Prudence, who is making herself beautiful
+before a mirror; and she has below her, on the parapet, a figure of
+Philosophy.
+
+Next there follows Jove, with his thunderbolt and his bird, the Eagle,
+and with his Sign above him. In the oval is Old Age, who is
+represented by an old man clothed as a priest and kneeling before an
+altar, upon which he is placing the basin of gold with the two wings;
+and this oval is supported by Compassion, who is covering some naked
+little boys, and by Religion, enveloped in sacerdotal vestments. Below
+these is a Fortitude in armour, who, planting one of her legs in a
+spirited attitude on a fragment of a column, is placing some balls in
+the mouth of a lion; and beneath her, on the parapet, she has a figure
+of Astrology.
+
+The last of the seven Planets is Saturn, depicted as an old man heavy
+with melancholy, who is devouring his own children, with a great
+serpent that is seizing its own tail with its teeth; which Saturn has
+above him the Sign of Capricorn. In the oval is Decrepitude, and here
+is depicted Jove in Heaven receiving a naked and decrepit old man,
+kneeling, who is watched over by Felicity and Immortality, who are
+casting his garments into the world. This oval is supported by
+Beatitude, who is upheld by a figure of Justice in the ornament below,
+who is seated and has in her hand the sceptre and upon her shoulders
+the stork, with arms and laws around her; and on the parapet below is
+Geometry.
+
+In the lowest part at the foot, which is about the windows with
+knee-shaped brackets and the door, is Leah in a niche, representing
+the Active Life, and on the other side of the same place is Industry,
+who has a Cornucopia and two goads in her hands. Near the door is a
+scene in which many masters in wood and stone, architects, and
+stone-cutters have before them the gate of Cosmopolis, a city built by
+the Lord Duke Cosimo in the island of Elba, with a representation of
+Porto-Ferrajo. Between this scene and the frieze in which are the
+Liberal Arts, is Lake Trasimene, round which are Nymphs who are
+issuing from the water with tench, pike, eels, and roach, and beside
+the lake is Perugia, a nude figure holding with her hands a dog, which
+she is showing to a figure of Florence corresponding to her, who
+stands on the other side, with a figure of Arno beside her who is
+embracing and fondling her. And below this is the Contemplative Life
+in another scene, in which many philosophers and astrologers are
+measuring the heavens, appearing to be casting the horoscope of the
+Duke; and beside this, in the niche corresponding to that of Leah, is
+her sister Rachel, the daughter of Laban, representing the
+Contemplative Life. The last scene, which is likewise between two
+niches and forms the conclusion of the whole invention, is Death, who,
+mounted on a lean horse and holding the scythe, and accompanied by
+War, Pestilence, and Famine, is riding over persons of every kind. In
+one niche is the God Pluto, and beneath him Cerberus, the Hound of
+Hell; and in the other is a large figure rising again from a sepulchre
+on the last day. After all these things Cristofano executed on the
+pediments of the windows with knee-shaped brackets some nude figures
+that are holding the devices of his Excellency, and over the door a
+Ducal coat of arms, the six balls of which are upheld by some naked
+little boys, who twine in and out between each other as they fly
+through the air. And last of all, in the bases at the foot, beneath
+all the scenes, the same Cristofano painted the device of M. Sforza;
+that is, some obelisks, or rather triangular pyramids, which rest upon
+three balls, with a motto around that reads--Immobilis.
+
+This work, when finished, was vastly extolled by his Excellency and by
+Messer Sforza himself, who, like the courteous gentleman that he was,
+wished to reward with a considerable present the art and industry of
+Cristofano; but he would have none of it, being contented and fully
+repaid by the goodwill of that lord, who loved him ever afterwards
+more than I could say. While the work was being executed, Vasari had
+Cristofano with him, as he had always done in the past, in the house
+of Signor Bernardetto de' Medici, who much delighted in painting;
+which having perceived, Cristofano painted two scenes in chiaroscuro
+in a corner of his garden. One was the Rape of Proserpine, and in the
+other were Vertumnus and Pomona, the deities of agriculture; and
+besides this Cristofano painted in this work some ornaments of
+terminal figures and children of such variety and beauty, that there
+is nothing better to be seen.
+
+Meanwhile arrangements had been made for beginning to paint in the
+Palace, and the first thing that was taken in hand was a hall in the
+new apartments, which, being twenty braccia wide, and having a height,
+according as Tasso had constructed it, of not more than nine braccia,
+was raised three braccia with beautiful ingenuity by Vasari, that is,
+to a total height of twelve braccia, without moving the roof, which
+was half a pavilion roof.
+
+But because in doing this, before it could become possible to paint,
+much time had to be devoted to reconstructing the ceilings and to
+other works in that apartment and in others, Vasari himself obtained
+leave to go to Arezzo to spend two months there together with
+Cristofano. However, he did not succeed in being able to rest during
+that time, for the reason that he could not refuse to go in those days
+to Cortona, where he painted in fresco the vaulting and the walls of
+the Company of Jesus with the assistance of Cristofano, who acquitted
+himself very well, and particularly in the twelve different sacrifices
+from the Old Testament which they executed in the lunettes between the
+spandrels of the vaulting. Indeed, to speak more exactly, almost the
+whole of this work was by the hand of Cristofano, Vasari having done
+nothing therein beyond making certain sketches, designing some parts
+on the plaster, and then retouching it at times in various places,
+according as it was necessary.
+
+This work finished, which is not otherwise than grand, worthy of
+praise, and very well executed, by reason of the great variety of
+things that are in it, they both returned to Florence in the month of
+January of the year 1555. There, having taken in hand the Hall of the
+Elements, while Vasari was painting the pictures of the ceiling,
+Cristofano executed some devices that bind together the friezes of the
+beams in perpendicular lines, in which are heads of capricorns and
+tortoises with the sail, devices of his Excellency. But the works in
+which he showed himself most marvellous were some festoons of fruits
+that are in the friezes of the beams on the under side, which are so
+beautiful that there is nothing better coloured or more natural to be
+seen, particularly because they are separated one from another by
+certain masks, that hold in their mouths the ligatures of the
+festoons, than which one would not be able to find any more varied or
+more bizarre; in which manner of work it may be said that Cristofano
+was superior to any other who has ever made it his principal and
+particular profession. This done, he painted some large figures on
+that part of the walls where there is the Birth of Venus, but after
+the cartoons of Vasari, and many little figures in a landscape, which
+were executed very well. In like manner, on the wall where there are
+the Loves as tiny little children, fashioning the arrows of Cupid, he
+painted the three Cyclopes forging thunderbolts for Jove. Over six
+doors he executed in fresco six large ovals with ornaments in
+chiaroscuro and containing scenes in the colour of bronze, which were
+very beautiful; and in the same hall, between the windows, he painted
+in colours a Mercury and a Pluto, which are likewise very beautiful.
+
+Work being then begun in the Chamber of the Goddess Ops, which is
+next to that described above, he painted the four Seasons in fresco on
+the ceiling, and, in addition to the figures, some festoons that were
+marvellous in their variety and beauty, for the reason that, even as
+those of Spring were filled with a thousand kinds of flowers, so those
+of Summer were painted with an infinite number of fruits and cereals,
+those of Autumn were of leaves and bunches of the grape, and those of
+Winter were of onions, turnips, radishes, carrots, parsnips, and dried
+leaves, not to mention that in the central picture, in which is the
+Car of Ops, he coloured so beautifully in oils four lions that are
+drawing the Car, that nothing better could be done; and, in truth, in
+painting animals he had no equal.
+
+Then in the Chamber of Ceres, which is beside the last-named, he
+executed in certain angles some little boys and festoons that are
+beautiful to a marvel. And in the central picture, where Vasari had
+painted Ceres seeking for Proserpine with a lighted pine torch, upon a
+car drawn by two serpents, Cristofano carried many things to
+completion with his own hand, because Vasari was ill at that time and
+had left that picture, among other things, unfinished.
+
+Finally, when it came to decorating a terrace that is beyond the
+Chamber of Jove and beside that of Ops, it was decided that all the
+history of Juno should be painted there; and so, after all the
+ornamentation in stucco had been finished, with very rich carvings and
+various compositions of figures, wrought after the cartoons of Vasari,
+the same Vasari ordained that Cristofano should execute that work by
+himself in fresco, desiring, since it was a work to be seen from near,
+and of figures not higher than one braccio, that Gherardi should do
+something beautiful in this, which was his peculiar profession.
+Cristofano, then, executed in an oval on the vaulting a Marriage with
+Juno in the sky, and in a picture on one side Hebe, Goddess of Youth,
+and on the other Iris, who is pointing to the rainbow in the heavens.
+On the same vaulting he painted three other quadrangular pictures, two
+to match the others, and a larger one in a line with the oval in which
+is the Marriage, and in the last-named picture is Juno seated in a car
+drawn by peacocks. In one of the other two, which are on either side
+of that one, is the Goddess of Power, and in the other Abundance with
+the Cornucopia at her feet. And in two other pictures on the walls
+below, over the openings of two doors, are two other stories of
+Juno--the Transformation of Io, the daughter of the River Inachus,
+into a Cow, and of Callisto into a Bear.
+
+During the execution of that work his Excellency conceived a very
+great affection for Cristofano, seeing him zealous and diligent in no
+ordinary manner at his work; for the morning had scarcely broken into
+day when Cristofano would appear at his labour, of which he had such a
+love, and it so delighted him, that very often he would not finish
+dressing before setting out. And at times, nay, frequently, it
+happened that in his haste he put on a pair of shoes--all such things
+he kept under his bed--that were not fellows, but of two kinds; and
+more often than not he had his cloak wrong side out, with the hood on
+the inside. One morning, therefore, appearing at an early hour at his
+work, where the Lord Duke and the Lady Duchess were standing looking
+at it, while preparations were being made to set out for the chase,
+and the ladies and others of the Court were making themselves ready,
+they noticed that Cristofano had as usual his cloak wrong side out and
+the hood inside. At which both laughing, the Duke said: "What is your
+idea in always wearing your cloak inside out?" "I know not, my Lord,"
+answered Cristofano, "but I mean to find some day a kind of cloak that
+shall have neither right side nor wrong side, and shall be the same on
+both sides, for I have not the patience to think of wearing it in any
+other way, since in the morning I generally dress and go out of the
+house in the dark, besides that I have one eye so feeble that I can
+see nothing with it. But let your Excellency look at what I paint, and
+not at my manner of dressing." The Duke said nothing in answer, but
+within a few days he caused to be made for him a cloak of the finest
+cloth, with the pieces sewn and drawn together in such a manner that
+there was no difference to be seen between outside and inside, and the
+collar worked with braid in the same manner both inside and out, and
+so also the trimming that it had round the edges. This being finished,
+he sent it to Cristofano by a lackey, commanding the man that he
+should give it to him on the part of the Duke. Having therefore
+received the cloak very early one morning, Cristofano, without making
+any further ceremony, tried it on and then said to the lackey: "The
+Duke is a man of sense. Tell him that it suits me well."
+
+Now, since Cristofano was thus careless of his person and hated
+nothing more than to have to put on new clothes or to go about too
+tightly constrained and confined in them, Vasari, who knew this humour
+of his, whenever he observed that he was in need of any new clothes,
+used to have them made for him in secret, and then, early one morning,
+used to place these in his chamber and take away the old ones; and so
+Cristofano was forced to put on those that he found. But it was
+marvellous sport to stand and hear him raging with fury as he dressed
+himself in the new clothes. "Look here," he would say, "what
+devilments are these? Devil take it, can a man not live in his own way
+in this world, without the enemies of comfort giving themselves all
+this trouble?" One morning among others, Cristofano having put on a
+pair of white hose, the painter Domenico Benci, who was also working
+in the Palace with Vasari, contrived to persuade him to go with
+himself, in company with other young men, to the Madonna
+dell'Impruneta. There they walked, danced, and enjoyed themselves all
+day, and in the evening, after supper, they returned home. Then
+Cristofano, who was tired, went off straightway to his room to sleep;
+but, when he set himself to take off his hose, what with their being
+new and his having sweated, he was not able to pull off more than one
+of them. Now Vasari, having gone in the evening to see how he was,
+found that he had fallen asleep with one leg covered and the other
+bare; whereupon, one servant holding his leg and the other pulling at
+the stocking, they contrived to draw it off, while he lay cursing
+clothes, Giorgio, and him who invented such fashions as--so he
+said--kept men bound in chains like slaves. Nay, he grumbled that he
+would take leave of them all and by hook or by crook return to S.
+Giustino, where he was allowed to live in his own way and had not all
+these restraints; and it was the devil's own business to pacify him.
+
+It pleased him to talk seldom, and he loved that others also should
+be brief in speaking, insomuch that he would have gone so far as to
+have men's proper names very short, like that of a slave belonging to
+M. Sforza, who was called "M." "These," said Cristofano, "are fine
+names, and not your Giovan Francesco and Giovanni Antonio, which take
+an hour's work to pronounce;" and since he was a good fellow at heart,
+and said these things in his own jargon of the Borgo, it would have
+made the Doleful Knight himself laugh. He delighted to go on
+feast-days to the places where legends and printed pictures were sold,
+and he would stay there the whole day; and if he bought some, more
+often than not, while he went about looking at the others, he would
+leave them at some place where he had been leaning. And never, unless
+he was forced, would he go on horseback, although he was born from a
+noble family in his native place and was rich enough.
+
+Finally, his brother Borgognone having died, he had to go to the
+Borgo; and Vasari, who had drawn much of the money of his salary and
+had kept it for him, said to him: "See, I have all this money of
+yours, it is right that you should take it with you and make use of it
+in your requirements." "I want no money," answered Cristofano, "take
+it for yourself. For me it is enough to have the luck to stay with you
+and to live and die in your company." "It is not my custom," replied
+Vasari, "to profit by the labour of others. If you will not have it, I
+shall send it to your father Guido." "That you must not do," said
+Cristofano, "for he would only waste it, as he always does." In the
+end, he took the money and went off to the Borgo, but in poor health
+and with little contentment of mind; and after arriving there, what
+with his sorrow at the death of his brother, whom he had loved very
+dearly, and a cruel flux of the reins, he died in a few days, after
+receiving the full sacraments of the Church and distributing to his
+family and to many poor persons the money that he had brought. He
+declared a little before his death that it grieved him for no other
+reason save that he was leaving Vasari too much embarrassed by the
+great labours to which he had set his hand in the Palace of the Duke.
+Not long afterwards, his Excellency having heard of the death of
+Cristofano, and that with true regret, he caused a head of him to be
+made in marble and sent it with the underwritten epitaph from Florence
+to the Borgo, where it was placed in S. Francesco:
+
+                D. O. M.
+     CHRISTOPHORO GHERARDO BURGENSI
+        PINGENDI ARTE PR�STANTISS.
+  QUOD GEORGIUS VASARIUS ARETINUS HUJUS
+          ARTIS FACILE PRINCEPS
+              IN EXORNANDO
+      COSMI FLORENTIN. DUCIS PALATIO
+        ILLIUS OPERAM QUAM MAXIME
+                PROBAVERIT,
+        PICTORES HETRUSCI POSUERE.
+             OBIIT A.D. MDLVI.
+       VIXIT AN. LVI, M. III, D. VI.
+
+
+
+
+JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI
+
+(_After the painting by =Jacopo da Pontormo=. Siena: S. Agostino_)
+
+_Anderson_]
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+
+PAINTER OF FLORENCE
+
+
+The ancestors--or rather, the elders of Bartolommeo di Jacopo di
+Martino, the father of Jacopo da Pontormo, whose Life we are now about
+to write--had their origin, so some declare, in Ancisa, a township in
+the Upper Valdarno, famous enough because from it the ancestors of
+Messer Francesco Petrarca likewise derived their origin. But, whether
+it was from there or from some other place that his elders came, the
+above-named Bartolommeo, who was a Florentine, and, so I have been
+told, of the family of the Carrucci, is said to have been a disciple
+of Domenico Ghirlandajo, and, after executing many works in the
+Valdarno, as a painter passing able for those times, to have finally
+made his way to Empoli to carry out certain labours, living there and
+in the neighbouring places, and taking to wife at Pontormo a most
+virtuous girl of good condition, called Alessandra, the daughter of
+Pasquale di Zanobi and of his wife Monna Brigida. To this Bartolommeo,
+then, there was born in the year 1493 our Jacopo. But the father
+having died in the year 1499, the mother in the year 1504, and the
+grandfather in the year 1506, Jacopo was left to the care of his
+grandmother, Monna Brigida, who kept him for several years at
+Pontormo, and had him taught reading, writing, and the first rudiments
+of Latin grammar; and finally, at the age of thirteen, he was taken by
+the same guardian to Florence, and placed with the Pupilli, to the end
+that his small property might be safeguarded and preserved by that
+board, as is the custom. And after settling the boy himself in the
+house of one Battista, a shoemaker distantly related to him, Monna
+Brigida returned to Pontormo, taking with her a sister of Jacopo's.
+But not long after that, Monna Brigida herself having died, Jacopo
+was forced to bring that sister to Florence, and to place her in the
+house of a kinsman called Niccolaio, who lived in the Via de' Servi;
+and the girl, also, following the rest of her family, died in the year
+1512, before ever she was married.
+
+But to return to Jacopo; he had not been many months in Florence when
+he was placed by Bernardo Vettori with Leonardo da Vinci, and shortly
+afterwards with Mariotto Albertinelli, then with Piero di Cosimo, and
+finally, in the year 1512, with Andrea del Sarto, with whom, likewise,
+he did not stay long, for the reason that, after Jacopo had executed
+the cartoons of the little arch for the Servites, of which there will
+be an account below, it appears that Andrea never again looked
+favourably upon him, whatever may have been the reason. The first
+work, then, that Jacopo executed at that time was a little
+Annunciation for one his friend, a tailor; but the tailor having died
+before the work was finished, it remained in the hands of Jacopo, who
+was at that time with Mariotto, and Mariotto took pride in it, and
+showed it as a rare work to all who entered his workshop. Now
+Raffaello da Urbino, coming in those days to Florence, saw with
+infinite marvel the work and the lad who had done it, and prophesied
+of Jacopo that which was afterwards seen to come true. Not long
+afterwards, Mariotto having departed from Florence and gone to Viterbo
+to execute the panel-picture that Fra Bartolommeo had begun there,
+Jacopo, who was young, solitary, and melancholy, being thus left
+without a master, went by himself to work under Andrea del Sarto, at
+the very moment when Andrea had finished the stories of S. Filippo in
+the court of the Servites, which pleased Jacopo vastly, as did all his
+other works and his whole manner and design. Jacopo having then set
+himself to make every effort to imitate him, no long time passed
+before it was seen that he had made marvellous progress in drawing and
+colouring, insomuch that from his facility it seemed as if he had been
+many years in art.
+
+Now Andrea had finished in those days a panel-picture of the
+Annunciation for the Church of the Friars of S. Gallo, which is now
+destroyed, as has been related in his Life; and he gave the predella
+of that panel-picture to Jacopo to execute in oils. Jacopo painted in
+it a Dead Christ, with two little Angels who are weeping over Him and
+illuminating Him with two torches, and, in two round pictures at the
+sides, two Prophets, which were executed by him so ably, that they
+have the appearance of having been painted not by a mere lad but by a
+practised master; but it may also be, as Bronzino says, that he
+remembers having heard from Jacopo da Pontormo himself that Rosso
+likewise worked on this predella. And even as Andrea was assisted by
+Jacopo in executing the predella, so also was he aided by him in
+finishing the many pictures and works that Andrea continually had in
+hand.
+
+In the meantime, Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici having been elected
+Supreme Pontiff under the title of Leo X, there were being made all
+over Florence by the friends and adherents of that house many
+escutcheons of the Pontiff, in stone, in marble, on canvas, and in
+fresco. Wherefore the Servite Friars, wishing to give some sign of
+their service and devotion to that house and Pontiff, caused the arms
+of Leo to be made in stone, and placed in the centre of the arch in
+the first portico of the Nunziata, which is on the piazza; and shortly
+afterwards they arranged that it should be overlaid with gold by the
+painter Andrea di Cosimo, and adorned with grotesques, of which he was
+an excellent master, and with the devices of the house of Medici, and
+that, in addition, on either side of it there should be painted a
+Faith and a Charity. But Andrea di Cosimo, knowing that he was not
+able to execute all these things by himself, thought of giving the two
+figures to some other to do; and so, having sent for Jacopo, who was
+then not more than nineteen years of age, he gave him those two
+figures to execute, although he had no little trouble to persuade him
+to undertake to do it, seeing that, being a mere lad, he did not wish
+to expose himself at the outset to such a risk, or to work in a place
+of so much importance. However, having taken heart, although he was
+not as well practised in fresco as in oil-painting, Jacopo undertook
+to paint those two figures. And, withdrawing--for he was still working
+with Andrea del Sarto--to draw the cartoons at S. Antonio by the Porta
+a Faenza, where he lived, in a short time he carried them to
+completion; which done, one day he took his master Andrea to see
+them. Andrea, after seeing them with infinite marvel and amazement,
+praised them vastly; but afterwards, as has been related, whether it
+was from envy or from some other reason, he never again looked with a
+kindly eye on Jacopo; nay, Jacopo going several times to his workshop,
+either the door was not opened to him or he was mocked at by the
+assistants, insomuch that he retired altogether by himself, beginning
+to live on the least that he could, for he was very poor, and to study
+with the greatest assiduity.
+
+[Illustration: DUKE COSIMO I. DE' MEDICI
+
+(_After the painting by =Jacopo da Pontormo=. Florence: Uffizi, 1270_)
+
+_Anderson_]
+
+When Andrea di Cosimo, then, had finished gilding the escutcheon and
+all the eaves, Jacopo set to work all by himself to finish the rest;
+and being carried away by the desire to make a name, by his joy in
+working, and by nature, which had endowed him with extraordinary grace
+and fertility of genius, he executed that work with incredible
+rapidity and with such perfection as could not have been surpassed by
+an old, well-practised, and excellent master. Wherefore, growing in
+courage through this experience, and thinking that he could do a much
+better work, he took it into his head that he would throw to the
+ground all that he had done, without saying a word to anyone, and
+paint it all over again after another design that he had in his brain.
+But in the meantime the friars, having seen that the work was finished
+and that Jacopo came no more to his labour, sought out Andrea, and so
+pestered him that he resolved to uncover it. Having therefore looked
+for Jacopo, in order to ask him whether he wished to do any more to
+the work, and not finding him, for the reason that he stayed shut up
+over his new design and would not answer to anyone, Andrea had the
+screen and scaffolding removed and the work uncovered. The same
+evening Jacopo, having issued from his house in order to go to the
+Servite convent, and, when it should be night, to throw to the ground
+the work that he had done, and to put into execution the new design,
+found the scaffolding taken away and everything uncovered, and a
+multitude of people all around gazing at the work. Whereupon, full of
+fury, he sought out Andrea, and complained of his having uncovered it
+without his consent, going on to describe what he had in mind to do.
+To which Andrea answered, laughing: "You are wrong to complain,
+because the work that you have done is so good that, if you had it
+to do again, you may take my word for it that you would not be able
+to do it better. You will not want for work, so keep these designs for
+another occasion." That work, as may be seen, was of such a kind and
+so beautiful, what with the novelty of the manner, the sweetness in
+the heads of those two women, and the loveliness of the graceful and
+lifelike children, that it was the most beautiful work in fresco that
+had ever been seen up to that time; and, besides the children with the
+Charity, there are two others in the air holding a piece of drapery
+over the escutcheon of the Pope, who are so beautiful that nothing
+better could be done, not to mention that all the figures have very
+strong relief and are so executed in colouring and in every other
+respect that one is not able to praise them enough. And Michelagnolo
+Buonarroti, seeing the work one day, and reflecting that a youth of
+nineteen had done it, said: "This young man, judging from what may be
+seen here, will become such that, if he lives and perseveres, he will
+exalt this art to the heavens." This renown and fame being heard by
+the men of Pontormo, they sent for Jacopo, and commissioned him to
+execute in their stronghold, over a gate placed on the main road, an
+escutcheon of Pope Leo with two little boys, which was very beautiful;
+but already it has been little less than ruined by rain.
+
+[Illustration: THE VISITATION
+
+(_After the fresco by =Jacopo da Pontormo=. Florence: SS. Annunziata,
+Cloister_)
+
+_Anderson_]
+
+At the Carnival in the same year, all Florence being gay and full of
+rejoicing at the election of the above-named Leo X, many festive
+spectacles were ordained, and among them two of great beauty and
+extraordinary cost, which were given by two companies of noblemen and
+gentlemen of the city. One of these, which was called the Diamante,[5]
+had for its head the brother of the Pope, Signor Giuliano de' Medici,
+who had given it that name because the diamond had been a device of
+his father, the elder Lorenzo; and the head of the other, which had as
+name and device the Broncone,[6] was Signor Lorenzo, the son of Piero
+de' Medici, who had for his device a Broncone--that is, a dried trunk
+of laurel growing green again with leaves, as it were to signify that
+he was reviving and restoring the name of his grandfather.
+
+         [Footnote 5: Diamond.]
+
+         [Footnote 6: Trunk or branch.]
+
+By the Company of the Diamante, then, a commission was given to M.
+Andrea Dazzi, who was then lecturing on Greek and Latin Letters at the
+Studio in Florence, to look to the invention of a triumphal
+procession; whereupon he arranged one similar to those that the Romans
+used to have for their triumphs, with three very beautiful cars
+wrought in wood, and painted with rich and beautiful art. In the first
+was Boyhood, with a most beautiful array of boys. In the second was
+Manhood, with many persons who had done great things in their manly
+prime. And in the third was Old Age, with many famous men who had
+performed great achievements in their last years. All these persons
+were very richly apparelled, insomuch that it was thought that nothing
+better could be done. The architects of these cars were Raffaello
+delle Vivole, Il Carota the wood-carver, the painter Andrea di Cosimo,
+and Andrea del Sarto; those who arranged and prepared the dresses of
+the figures were Ser Piero da Vinci, the father of Leonardo, and
+Bernardino di Giordano, both men of beautiful ingenuity; and to Jacopo
+da Pontormo alone it fell to paint all the three cars, wherein he
+executed various scenes in chiaroscuro of the Transformations of the
+Gods into different forms, which are now in the possession of Pietro
+Paolo Galeotto, an excellent goldsmith. The first car bore, written in
+very clear characters, the word "Erimus," the second "Sumus," and the
+third "Fuimus"--that is, "We shall be," "We are," and "We have been."
+The song began, "The years fly on...."
+
+Having seen these triumphal cars, Signor Lorenzo, the head of the
+Company of the Broncone, desiring that they should be surpassed, gave
+the charge of the whole work to Jacopo Nardi, a noble and most learned
+gentleman, to whom, for what he afterwards became, his native city of
+Florence is much indebted. This Jacopo prepared six triumphal cars, in
+order to double the number of those executed by the Diamante. The
+first, drawn by a pair of oxen decked with herbage, represented the
+Age of Saturn and Janus, called the Age of Gold; and on the summit of
+the car were Saturn with the Scythe, and Janus with the two heads and
+with the key of the Temple of Peace in the hand, and at his feet a
+figure of Fury bound, with a vast number of things around appertaining
+to Saturn, all executed most beautifully in different colours by the
+genius of Pontormo. Accompanying this car were six couples of
+Shepherds, naked but for certain parts covered by skins of marten and
+sable, with footwear of various kinds after the ancient manner, and
+with their wallets, and on their heads garlands of many kinds of
+leaves. The horses on which these Shepherds sat were without saddles,
+but covered with skins of lions, tigers, and lynxes, the paws of
+which, overlaid with gold, hung at their sides with much grace and
+beauty. The ornaments of their croups and of the grooms were of gold
+cord, the stirrups were heads of rams, dogs, and other suchlike
+animals, and the bridles and reins made with silver cord and various
+kinds of verdure. Each Shepherd had four grooms in the garb of
+shepherd-boys, dressed more simply in other skins, with torches
+fashioned in the form of dry trunks and branches of pine, which made a
+most beautiful sight.
+
+Upon the second car, drawn by two pairs of oxen draped in the richest
+cloth, with garlands on their heads and great paternosters hanging
+from their gilded horns, was Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome,
+with the books of religion and all the sacerdotal instruments and the
+things appertaining to sacrifices, for the reason that he was the
+originator and first founder of religion and sacrifices among the
+Romans. This car was accompanied by six priests on most beautiful
+she-mules, their heads covered with hoods of linen embroidered with
+silver and gold in a masterly pattern of ivy-leaves; and on their
+bodies they had sacerdotal vestments in the ancient fashion, with
+borders and fringes of gold all round, and in the hands one had a
+thurible, another a vase of gold, and the rest other similar things.
+At their stirrups they had attendants in the guise of Levites, and the
+torches that these had in their hands were after the manner of ancient
+candelabra, and wrought with beautiful artistry.
+
+The third car represented the Consulate of Titus Manlius Torquatus,
+who was Consul after the end of the first Carthaginian war, and
+governed in such a manner, that in his time there flourished in Rome
+every virtue and every blessing. That car, upon which was Titus
+himself, with many ornaments executed by Pontormo, was drawn by eight
+most beautiful horses, and before it went six couples of Senators clad
+in the toga, on horses covered with cloth of gold, accompanied by a
+great number of grooms representing Lictors, with the fasces, axes,
+and other things appertaining to the administration of justice.
+
+The fourth car, drawn by four buffaloes disguised as elephants,
+represented Julius C�sar in Triumph for the victory gained over
+Cleopatra, the car being all painted by Pontormo with his most famous
+deeds. That car was accompanied by six couples of men-at-arms clad in
+rich and brightly shining armour all bordered with gold, with their
+lances on their hips; and the torches that the half-armed grooms
+carried had the form of trophies, designed in various ways.
+
+The fifth car, drawn by winged horses that had the form of gryphons,
+bore upon it C�sar Augustus, the Lord of the Universe, accompanied by
+six couples of Poets on horseback, all crowned, as was also C�sar,
+with laurel, and dressed in costumes varying according to their
+provinces; and these were there because poets were always much
+favoured by C�sar Augustus, whom they exalted with their works to the
+heavens. And to the end that they might be recognized, each of them
+had across his forehead a scroll after the manner of a fillet, on
+which was his name.
+
+On the sixth car, drawn by four pairs of heifers richly draped, was
+Trajan, that just Emperor, before whom, as he sat on the car, which
+was painted very well by Pontormo, there rode upon beautiful and
+finely caparisoned horses six couples of Doctors of Law, with togas
+reaching to their feet and with capes of miniver, such as it was the
+ancient custom for Doctors to wear. The grooms who carried their
+torches, a great number, were scriveners, copyists, and notaries, with
+books and writings in their hands.
+
+After these six came the car, or rather, triumphal chariot, of the Age
+or Era of Gold, wrought with the richest and most beautiful artistry,
+with many figures in relief executed by Baccio Bandinelli, and very
+beautiful paintings by the hand of Pontormo; among those in relief the
+four Cardinal Virtues being highly extolled. From the centre of the
+car rose a great sphere in the form of a globe of the world, upon
+which there lay prostrate on his face, as if dead, a man clad in
+armour all eaten with rust, who had the back open and cleft, and from
+the fissure there issued a child all naked and gilded, who
+represented the new birth of the age of gold and the end of the age of
+iron, from which he was coming forth into that new birth by reason of
+the election of that Pontiff; and this same significance had the dry
+trunk putting forth new leaves, although some said that the matter of
+that dry trunk was an allusion to the Lorenzo de' Medici who became
+Duke of Urbino. I should mention that the gilded boy, who was the son
+of a baker, died shortly afterwards through the sufferings that he
+endured in order to gain ten crowns.
+
+The chant that was sung in that masquerade, as is the custom, was
+composed by the above-named Jacopo Nardi, and the first stanza ran
+thus:
+
+  Colui che da le leggi alla Natura
+  E i varii stati e secoli dispone,
+  D'ogni bene � cagione;
+  E il mal, quanto permette, al Mondo dura;
+  Onde questa figura
+  Contemplando si vede,
+  Come con certo piede
+  L'un secol dopo l'altro al Mondo viene
+  E muta il bene in male, e 'l male in bene.
+
+From the works that he executed for this festival Pontormo gained,
+besides the profit, so much praise, that probably few young men of his
+age ever gained as much in that city; wherefore, Pope Leo himself
+afterwards coming to Florence, he was much employed in the festive
+preparations that were made, for he had attached himself to Baccio da
+Montelupo, a sculptor advanced in years, who made an arch of wood at
+the head of the Via del Palagio, at the steps of the Badia, and
+Pontormo painted it all with very beautiful scenes, which afterwards
+came to an evil end through the scant diligence of those who had
+charge of them. Only one remained, that in which Pallas is tuning an
+instrument into accord with the lyre of Apollo, with great grace and
+beauty; from which scene one is able to judge what excellence and
+perfection were in the other works and figures. For the same
+festivities Ridolfo Ghirlandajo had received the task of fitting up
+and embellishing the Sala del Papa, which is attached to the Convent
+of S. Maria Novella, and was formerly the residence of the Pontiffs in
+the city of Florence; but being pressed for time, he was forced to
+avail himself in some things of the work of others, and thus, after
+having adorned all the other rooms, he laid on Jacopo da Pontormo the
+charge of executing some pictures in fresco in the chapel where his
+Holiness was to hear Mass every morning. Whereupon, setting his hand
+to the work, Jacopo painted there a God the Father with many little
+Angels, and a Veronica who had the Sudarium with the image of Jesus
+Christ; which work, thus executed by Jacopo in so short a time, was
+much extolled.
+
+He then painted in fresco, in a chapel of the Church of S. Ruffillo,
+behind the Archbishop's Palace in Florence, Our Lady with her Son in
+her arms between S. Michelagnolo and S. Lucia, and two other Saints
+kneeling; and, in the lunette of the chapel, a God the Father with
+some Seraphim about Him. Next, having been commissioned by Maestro
+Jacopo, a Servite friar, as he had greatly desired, to paint a part of
+the court of the Servites, because Andrea del Sarto had gone off to
+France and left the work of that court unfinished, he set himself with
+much study to make the cartoons. But since he was poorly provided with
+the things of this world, and was obliged, while studying in order to
+win honour, to have something to live upon, he executed over the door
+of the Hospital for Women--behind the Church of the Priest's Hospital,
+between the Piazza di S. Marco and the Via di S. Gallo, and exactly
+opposite to the wall of the Sisters of S. Catharine of Siena--two most
+beautiful figures in chiaroscuro, with Christ in the guise of a
+pilgrim awaiting certain women in order to give them hospitality and
+lodging; which work was deservedly much extolled in those days, as it
+still is, by all good judges. At this same time he painted some
+pictures and little scenes in oils for the Masters of the Mint, on the
+Carro della Moneta, which goes every year in the procession of S.
+John; the workmanship of which car was by the hand of Marco del Tasso.
+And over the door of the Company of Cecilia, on the heights of
+Fiesole, he painted a S. Cecilia with some roses in her hand, coloured
+in fresco, and so beautiful and so well suited to that place, that,
+for a work of that kind, it is one of the best paintings in fresco
+that there are to be seen.
+
+These works having been seen by the above-named Servite friar, Maestro
+Jacopo, he became even more ardent in his desire, and he determined at
+all costs to cause Jacopo to finish the work in that court of the
+Servites, thinking that in emulation of the other masters who had
+worked there he would execute something of extraordinary beauty in the
+part that remained to be painted. Having therefore set his hand to it,
+from a desire no less of glory and honour than of gain, Jacopo painted
+the scene of the Visitation of the Madonna, in a manner a little freer
+and more lively than had been his wont up to that time; which
+circumstance gave an infinite excellence to the work, in addition to
+its other extraordinary beauties, in that the women, little boys,
+youths, and old men are executed in fresco with such softness and such
+harmony of colouring, that it is a thing to marvel at, and the
+flesh-colours of a little boy who is seated on some steps, and,
+indeed, those likewise of all the other figures, are such that they
+could not be done better or with more softness in fresco. This work,
+then, after the others that Jacopo had executed, gave a sure earnest
+of his future perfection to the craftsmen, comparing them with those
+of Andrea del Sarto and Franciabigio. Jacopo delivered the work
+finished in the year 1516, and received in payment sixteen crowns and
+no more.
+
+Having then been allotted by Francesco Pucci, if I remember rightly,
+the altar-piece of a chapel that he had caused to be built in S.
+Michele Bisdomini in the Via de' Servi, Jacopo executed the work in so
+beautiful a manner, and with a colouring so vivid, that it seems
+almost impossible to credit it. In this altar-piece Our Lady, who is
+seated, is handing the Infant Jesus to S. Joseph, in whose countenance
+there is a smile so animated and so lifelike that it is a marvel; and
+very beautiful, likewise, is a little boy painted to represent S. John
+the Baptist, and also two other little children, naked, who are
+upholding a canopy. There may be seen also a S. John the Evangelist, a
+most beautiful old man, and a S. Francis kneeling, who is absolutely
+alive, for, with the fingers of one hand interlocked with those of the
+other, and wholly intent in contemplating fixedly with his eyes and
+his mind the Virgin and her Son, he appears really to be breathing.
+And no less beautiful is the S. James who may be seen beside the
+others. Wherefore it is no marvel that this is the most beautiful
+altar-piece that was ever executed by this truly rare painter.
+
+I used to believe that it was after this work, and not before, that
+the same Jacopo had painted in fresco the two most lovely and graceful
+little boys who are supporting a coat of arms over a door within a
+passage on the Lungarno, between the Ponte S. Trinita and the Ponte
+alla Carraja, for Bartolommeo Lanfredini; but since Bronzino, who may
+be supposed to know the truth about these matters, declares that they
+were among the first works that Jacopo executed, we must believe that
+this is so without a doubt, and praise Pontormo for them all the more,
+seeing that they are so beautiful that they cannot be matched, and yet
+were among the earliest works that he did.
+
+But to resume the order of our story: after these works, Jacopo
+executed for the men of Pontormo an altar-piece wherein are S.
+Michelagnolo and S. John the Evangelist, which was placed in the
+Chapel of the Madonna in S. Agnolo, their principal church. At this
+time one of two young men who were working under Jacopo--that is,
+Giovan Maria Pichi of Borgo a S. Sepolcro, who was acquitting himself
+passing well, and who afterwards became a Servite friar, and executed
+some works in the Borgo and in the Pieve a S. Stefano--while still
+working, I say, under Jacopo, painted in a large picture a nude S.
+Quentin in martyrdom, in order to send it to the Borgo. But since
+Jacopo, like a loving master to his disciple, desired that Giovan
+Maria should win honour and praise, he set himself to retouch it, and
+so, not being able to take his hands off it, and retouching one day
+the head, the next day the arms, and the day after the body, the
+retouching became such that it may almost be said that the work is
+entirely by his hand. Wherefore it is no marvel that this picture,
+which is now in the Church of the Observantine Friars of S. Francis in
+the Borgo, is most beautiful.
+
+[Illustration: JOSEPH AND HIS KINDRED IN EGYPT
+
+(_After the painting by =Jacopo da Pontormo=. London: National Gallery,
+1131_)
+
+_Hanfstaengl_]
+
+The second of the two young men, who was Giovanni Antonio Lappoli of
+Arezzo, of whom there has been an account in another place, like a
+vain fellow had taken a portrait of himself with a mirror, also while
+he was working under Jacopo. But his master, thinking that the
+portrait was a poor likeness, took it in hand himself, and executed
+a portrait that is so good that it has the appearance of life; which
+portrait is now at Arezzo, in the house of the heirs of that Giovanni
+Antonio.
+
+Pontormo also portrayed in one and the same picture two of his dearest
+friends--one the son-in-law of Beccuccio Bicchieraio, and another,
+whose name likewise I do not know; it is enough that the portraits are
+by the hand of Pontormo. He then executed for Bartolommeo Ginori, in
+anticipation of his death, a string of pennons, according to the
+custom of the Florentines; and in the upper part of all these, on the
+white taffeta, he painted a Madonna with the Child, and on the
+coloured fringe below he painted the arms of that family, as is the
+custom. For the centre of the string, which was of twenty-four
+pennons, he made two all of white taffeta without any fringe, on which
+he painted two figures of S. Bartholomew, each two braccia high. The
+size of all these pennons and their almost novel manner caused all the
+others that had been made up to that time to appear poor and mean; and
+this was the reason that they began to be made of the size that they
+are at the present day, with great grace and much less expense for
+gold.
+
+At the head of the garden and vineyard of the Friars of S. Gallo,
+without the gate that is called after that Saint, in a chapel that is
+in a line with the central entrance, he painted a Dead Christ, a
+Madonna weeping, and two little Angels in the air, one of whom was
+holding the Chalice of the Passion in his hands, and the other was
+supporting the fallen head of Christ. On one side was S. John the
+Evangelist, all tearful, with the arms stretched out, and on the other
+S. Augustine in episcopal robes, who, leaning with the left hand on
+the pastoral staff, stood in an attitude truly full of sorrow,
+contemplating the Dead Saviour. And for Messer Spina, the familiar
+friend of Giovanni Salviati, he executed in a courtyard, opposite to
+the principal door of his house, the coat of arms of that Giovanni
+(who had been made a Cardinal in those days by Pope Leo), with the red
+hat above and two little boys standing--works in fresco which are very
+beautiful, and much esteemed by Messer Filippo Spina, as being by the
+hand of Pontormo.
+
+Jacopo also worked, in competition with other masters, on the
+ornamentation in wood that was formerly executed in a magnificent
+manner, as has been related elsewhere, in some apartments of Pier
+Francesco Borgherini; and, in particular, he painted there with his
+own hand on two coffers some stories from the life of Joseph in little
+figures, which were truly most beautiful. And whoever wishes to see
+the best work that he ever did in all his life, in order to consider
+how able and masterly was Jacopo in giving liveliness to heads, in
+grouping figures, in varying attitudes, and in beauty of invention,
+let him look at a scene of some size, likewise in little figures, in
+the corner on the left hand as one enters through the door, in the
+chamber of Borgherini, who was a nobleman of Florence; in which scene
+is Joseph in Egypt, as it were a Prince or a King, in the act of
+receiving his father Jacob with all his brethren, the sons of that
+Jacob, with extraordinary affection. Among these figures he portrayed
+at the foot of the scene, seated upon some steps, Il Bronzino, who was
+then a boy and his disciple--a figure with a basket, which is lifelike
+and beautiful to a marvel. And if this scene were on a greater scale,
+on a large panel or a wall, instead of being small, I would venture to
+say that it would not be possible to find another picture executed
+with the grace, excellence, and even perfection wherewith this one was
+painted by Jacopo; wherefore it was rightly regarded by all craftsmen
+as the most beautiful picture that Pontormo ever executed. Nor is it
+to be wondered at that Borgherini should have prized it as he did, and
+should have been besought to sell it by great persons as a present for
+mighty lords and princes.
+
+[Illustration: VERTUMNUS FRESCO (DETAIL)
+
+(_After =Jacopo da Pontormo=. Poggio a Caiano: Villa Reale_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+On account of the siege of Florence Pier Francesco retired to Lucca,
+and Giovan Battista della Palla, who desired to obtain, together with
+other things that he was transporting into France, the decorations of
+this chamber, so that they might be presented to King Francis in the
+name of the Signoria, received such favours, and went to work so
+effectively with both words and deeds, that the Gonfalonier granted a
+commission that they should be taken away after payment to the wife of
+Pier Francesco. Whereupon some others went with Giovan Battista to
+execute the will of the Signori; but, when they arrived at the house
+of Pier Francesco, his wife, who was in the house, poured on Giovan
+Battista the greatest abuse that was ever spoken to any man. "So you
+make bold, Giovan Battista," said she, "you vile slop-dealer, you
+little twopenny pedlar, to strip the ornaments from the chambers of
+noblemen and despoil our city of her richest and most honoured
+treasures, as you have done and are always doing, in order to
+embellish with them the countries of foreigners, our enemies! At you I
+do not marvel, you, a base plebeian and the enemy of your country, but
+at the magistrates of this city, who aid and abet you in these
+shameful rascalities. This bed, which you would seize for your own
+private interest and for greed of gain, although you keep your evil
+purpose cloaked with a veil of righteousness, this is the bed of my
+nuptials, in honour of which my husband's father, Salvi, made all
+these magnificent and regal decorations, which I revere in memory of
+him and from love for my husband, and mean to defend with my very
+blood and with life itself. Out of this house with these your
+cut-throats, Giovan Battista, and go to those who sent you with orders
+that these things should be removed from their places, for I am not
+the woman to suffer a single thing to be moved from here. If they who
+believe in you, a vile creature of no account, wish to make presents
+to King Francis of France, let them go and strip their own houses, and
+take the ornaments and beds from their own chambers, and send them to
+him. And you, if you are ever again so bold as to come to this house
+on such an errand, I will make you smart sorely for it, and teach you
+what respect should be paid by such as you to the houses of noblemen."
+Thus spoke Madonna Margherita, the wife of Pier Francesco Borgherini,
+and the daughter of Ruberto Acciaiuoli, a most noble and wise citizen;
+and she, a truly courageous woman and a worthy daughter of such a
+father, with her noble ardour and spirit, was the reason that those
+gems are still preserved in that house.
+
+Giovan Maria Benintendi, about this same time, had adorned an
+antechamber in his house with many pictures by the hands of various
+able men; and after the work executed for Borgherini, incited by
+hearing Jacopo da Pontormo very highly praised, he caused a picture to
+be painted by him with the Adoration of the Magi, who went to
+Bethlehem to see Christ; which work, since Jacopo devoted to it much
+study and diligence, proved to be well varied and beautiful in the
+heads and in every other part, and to be truly worthy of all praise.
+Afterwards he executed for Messer Goro da Pistoia, then Secretary to
+the Medici, a picture with the portrait of the Magnificent Cosimo de'
+Medici, the elder, from the knees upwards, which is indeed worthy to
+be extolled; and this portrait is now in the house of Messer Ottaviano
+de' Medici, in the possession of his son, Messer Alessandro, a young
+man--besides the distinction and nobility of his blood--of most
+upright character, well lettered, and the worthy son of the
+Magnificent Ottaviano and of Madonna Francesca, the daughter of Jacopo
+Salviati and the maternal aunt of the Lord Duke Cosimo.
+
+By means of this work, and particularly this head of Cosimo, Pontormo
+became the friend of Messer Ottaviano; and the Great Hall at Poggio a
+Caiano having then to be painted, there were given to him to paint the
+two ends where the round openings are that give light--that is, the
+windows--from the vaulting down to the floor. Whereupon, desiring to
+do himself honour even beyond his wont, both from regard for the place
+and from emulation of the other painters who were working there, he
+set himself to study with such diligence, that he overshot the mark,
+for the reason that, destroying and doing over again every day what he
+had done the day before, he racked his brains in such a manner that it
+was a tragedy; but all the time he was always making new discoveries,
+which brought credit to himself and beauty to the work. Thus, having
+to execute a Vertumnus with his husbandmen, he painted a peasant
+seated with a vine-pruner in his hand, which is so beautiful and so
+well done that it is a very rare thing, even as certain children that
+are there are lifelike and natural beyond all belief. On the other
+side he painted Pomona and Diana, with other Goddesses, enveloping
+them perhaps too abundantly with draperies. However, the work as a
+whole is beautiful and much extolled; but while it was being executed
+Leo was overtaken by death, and so it remained unfinished, like many
+other similar works at Rome, Florence, Loreto, and other places; nay,
+the whole world was left poor, being robbed of the true M�cenas of men
+of talent.
+
+[Illustration: VERTUMNUS FRESCO (DETAIL)
+
+(_After =Jacopo da Pontormo=. Poggio a Caiano: Villa Reale_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+Having returned to Florence, Jacopo painted in a picture a seated
+figure of S. Augustine as a Bishop, who is giving the benediction,
+with two little nude Angels flying through the air, who are very
+beautiful; which picture is over an altar in the little Church of the
+Sisters of S. Clemente in the Via di S. Gallo. He carried to
+completion, likewise, a picture of a Piet� with certain nude Angels,
+which was a very beautiful work, and held very dear by certain
+merchants of Ragusa, for whom he painted it; but most beautiful of all
+in this picture was a landscape taken for the most part from an
+engraving by Albrecht D�rer. He also painted a picture of Our Lady
+with the Child in her arms, and some little Angels about her, which is
+now in the house of Alessandro Neroni; and for certain Spaniards he
+executed another like it--that is, of the Madonna--but different from
+the one described above and in another manner, which picture, being
+for sale in a second-hand dealer's shop many years after, was bought
+by Bartolommeo Panciatichi at the suggestion of Bronzino.
+
+Then, in the year 1522, there being a slight outbreak of plague in
+Florence, and many persons therefore departing in order to avoid that
+most infectious sickness and to save themselves, an occasion presented
+itself to Jacopo of flying the city and removing himself to some
+distance, for a certain Prior of the Certosa, a place built by the
+Acciaiuoli three miles away from Florence, had to have some pictures
+painted in fresco at the corners of a very large and beautiful
+cloister that surrounds a lawn, and Jacopo was brought to his notice;
+whereupon the Prior had him sought out, and he, having accepted the
+work very willingly at such a time, went off to Certosa, taking with
+him only Bronzino. There, after a trial of that mode of life, that
+quiet, that silence, and that solitude--all things after the taste and
+nature of Jacopo--he thought with such an occasion to make a special
+effort in the matters of art, and to show to the world that he had
+acquired greater perfection and a different manner since those works
+that he had executed before. Now not long before there had come from
+Germany to Florence many sheets printed from engravings done with
+great subtlety with the burin by Albrecht D�rer, a most excellent
+German painter and a rare engraver of plates on copper and on wood;
+and, among others, many scenes, both large and small, of the Passion
+of Jesus Christ, in which was all the perfection and excellence of
+engraving with the burin that could ever be achieved, what with the
+beauty and variety of the vestments and the invention. Jacopo, having
+to paint at the corners of those cloisters scenes from the Passion of
+the Saviour, thought to avail himself of the above-named inventions of
+Albrecht D�rer, in the firm belief that he would satisfy not only
+himself but also the greater part of the craftsmen of Florence, who
+were all proclaiming with one voice and with common consent and
+agreement the beauty of those engravings and the excellence of
+Albrecht. Setting himself therefore to imitate that manner, and
+seeking to give to the expressions of the heads of his figures that
+liveliness and variety which Albrecht had given to his, he caught it
+so thoroughly, that the charm of his own early manner, which had been
+given to him by nature, all full of sweetness and grace, suffered a
+great change from that new study and labour, and was so impaired
+through his stumbling on that German manner, that in all these works,
+although they are all beautiful, there is but a sorry remnant to be
+seen of that excellence and grace that he had given up to that time to
+all his figures.
+
+At the entrance to the cloister, then, in one corner, he painted
+Christ in the Garden, counterfeiting so well the darkness of night
+illumined by the light of the moon, that it appears almost like
+daylight; and while Christ is praying, not far distant are Peter,
+James, and John sleeping, executed in a manner so similar to that of
+D�rer, that it is a marvel. Not far away is Judas leading the Jews,
+likewise with a countenance so strange, even as the features of all
+those soldiers are depicted in the German manner with bizarre
+expressions, that it moves him who beholds it to pity for the
+simplicity of the man, who sought with such patience to learn that
+which others avoid and seek to lose, and all to lose the manner that
+surpassed all others in excellence and gave infinite pleasure to
+everyone. Did not Pontormo know, then, that the Germans and Flemings
+came to these parts to learn the Italian manner, which he with such
+effort sought to abandon as if it were bad?
+
+Beside this scene is one in which is Christ led by the Jews before
+Pilate, and in the Saviour he painted all the humility that could
+possibly be imagined in the Person of Innocence betrayed by the sins
+of men, and in the wife of Pilate that pity and dread for themselves
+which those have who fear the divine judgment; which woman, while she
+pleads the cause of Christ before her husband, gazes into His
+countenance with pitying wonder. Round Pilate are some soldiers so
+characteristic in the expressions of the faces and in the German
+garments, that one who knew not by whose hand was that work would
+believe it to have been executed in reality by ultramontanes. It is
+true, indeed, that in the distance in this scene there is a cup-bearer
+of Pilate's that is descending some steps with a basin and a ewer in
+his hands, carrying to his master the means to wash the hands, who is
+lifelike and very beautiful, having in him something of the old manner
+of Jacopo.
+
+Having next to paint the Resurrection of Christ in one of the other
+corners, the fancy came to Jacopo, as to one who had no steadfastness
+in his brain and was always cogitating new things, to change his
+colouring; and so he executed that work with a colouring in fresco so
+soft and so good, that, if he had done the work in another manner than
+that same German, it would certainly have been very beautiful, for in
+the heads of those soldiers, who are in various attitudes, heavy with
+sleep, and as it were dead, there may be seen such excellence, that
+one cannot believe that it is possible to do better.
+
+Then, continuing the stories of the Passion in another of the corners,
+he painted Christ going with the Cross upon His shoulder to Mount
+Calvary, and behind Him the people of Jerusalem, accompanying Him; and
+in front are the two Thieves, naked, between the ministers of justice,
+who are partly on foot and partly on horseback, with the ladders, the
+inscription for the Cross, hammers, nails, cords, and other suchlike
+instruments. And in the highest part, behind a little hill, is the
+Madonna with the Maries, who, weeping, are awaiting Christ, who has
+fallen to the ground in the middle of the scene, and has about Him
+many Jews that are smiting Him, while Veronica is offering to Him the
+Sudarium, accompanied by some women both young and old, all weeping at
+the outrage that they see being done to the Saviour. This scene,
+either because he was warned by his friends, or perhaps because Jacopo
+himself at last became aware, although tardily, of the harm that had
+been done to his own sweet manner by the study of the German, proved
+to be much better than the others executed in the same place, for the
+reason that certain naked Jews and some heads of old men are so well
+painted in fresco, that it would not be possible to do more, although
+the same German manner may be seen constantly maintained in the work
+as a whole.
+
+After these he was to have gone on with the Crucifixion and the
+Deposition from the Cross in the other corners; but, putting them
+aside for a time, with the intention of executing them last, he
+painted in their stead Christ taken down from the Cross, keeping to
+the same manner, but with great harmony of colouring. In this scene,
+besides that the Magdalene, who is kissing the feet of Christ, is most
+beautiful, there are two old men, representing Joseph of Arimath�a and
+Nicodemus, who, although they are in the German manner, have the most
+beautiful expressions and heads of old men, with beards feathery and
+coloured with marvellous softness, that there are to be seen.
+
+Now Jacopo, besides being generally slow over his works, was pleased
+with the solitude of the Certosa, and he therefore spent several years
+on these labours; and, after the plague had finished and he had
+returned to Florence, he did not for that reason cease to frequent
+that place constantly, and was always going and coming between the
+Certosa and the city. Proceeding thus, he satisfied those fathers in
+many things, and, among others, he painted in their church, over one
+of the doors that lead into the chapels, in a figure from the waist
+upwards, the portrait of a lay-brother of that monastery, who was
+alive at that time and one hundred and twenty years old, executing it
+so well and with such finish, such vivacity, and such animation, that
+through it alone Pontormo deserves to be excused for the strange and
+fantastic new manner with which he was saddled by that solitude and by
+living far from the commerce of men.
+
+Besides this, he painted for the Prior of that place a picture of the
+Nativity of Christ, representing Joseph as giving light to Jesus
+Christ in the darkness of the night with a lantern, and this in
+pursuit of the same notions and caprices which the German engravings
+put into his head. Now let no one believe that Jacopo is to blame
+because he imitated Albrecht D�rer in his inventions, for the reason
+that this is no error, and many painters have done it and are
+continually doing it; but only because he adopted the unmixed German
+manner in everything, in the draperies, in the expressions of the
+heads, and in the attitudes, which he should have avoided, availing
+himself only of the inventions, since he had the modern manner in all
+the fullness of its beauty and grace. For the Stranger's Apartment of
+the same monks he painted a large picture on canvas and in
+oil-colours, without straining himself at all or forcing his natural
+powers, of Christ at table with Cleophas and Luke, figures of the size
+of life; and since in this work he followed the bent of his own
+genius, it proved to be truly marvellous, particularly because he
+portrayed among those who are serving at that table some lay-brothers
+of the convent, whom I myself have known, in such a manner that they
+could not be either more lifelike or more animated than they are.
+
+Bronzino, meanwhile (that is, while his master was executing the works
+described above in the Certosa), pursuing with great spirit the
+studies of painting, and encouraged all the time by Pontormo, who was
+very loving with his disciples, executed on the inner side over an
+arch above the door of the cloister that leads into the church,
+without having ever seen the process of painting in oil-colours on the
+wall, a nude S. Laurence on the gridiron, which was so beautiful that
+there began to be seen some indication of that excellence to which he
+has since attained, as will be related in the proper place; which
+circumstance gave infinite satisfaction to Jacopo, who already saw
+whither that genius would arrive.
+
+Not long afterwards there returned from Rome Lodovico di Gino Capponi,
+who had bought that chapel in S. Felicita, on the right hand of the
+entrance into the church, which the Barbadori had formerly caused to
+be built by Filippo di Ser Brunellesco; and he resolved to have all
+the vaulting painted, and then to have an altar-piece executed for it,
+with a rich ornament. Having therefore consulted in the matter with M.
+Niccol� Vespucci, knight of Rhodes, who was much his friend, the
+knight, who was also much the friend of Jacopo, and knew, into the
+bargain, the talent and worth of that able man, did and said so much
+that Lodovico allotted that work to Pontormo. And so, having erected
+an enclosure, which kept that chapel closed for three years, he set
+his hand to the work. On the vaulted ceiling he painted a God the
+Father, who has about Him four very beautiful Patriarchs; and in the
+four medallions at the angles he depicted the four Evangelists, or
+rather, he executed three of them with his own hand, and Bronzino one
+all by himself. And with this occasion I must mention that Pontormo
+used scarcely ever to allow himself to be helped by his assistants, or
+to suffer them to lay a hand on that which he intended to execute with
+his own hand; and when he did wish to avail himself of one of them,
+chiefly in order that they might learn, he allowed them to do the
+whole work by themselves, as he allowed Bronzino to do here.
+
+In the works that Jacopo executed in the said chapel up to this point,
+it seemed almost as if he had returned to his first manner; but he did
+not follow the same method in painting the altar-piece, for, thinking
+always of new things, he executed it without shadows, and with a
+colouring so bright and so uniform, that one can scarcely distinguish
+the lights from the middle tints, and the middle tints from the darks.
+In this altar-piece is a Dead Christ taken down from the Cross and
+being carried to the Sepulchre. There is the Madonna who is swooning,
+and the Maries, all executed in a fashion so different from his first
+work, that it is clearly evident that his brain was always busy
+investigating new conceptions and fantastic methods of painting, not
+being content with, and not fixing on, any single method. In a word,
+the composition of this altar-piece is altogether different from the
+figures on the vaulting, and likewise the colouring; and the four
+Evangelists, which are in the medallions on the spandrels of the
+vaulting, are much better and in a different manner.
+
+[Illustration: THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS
+
+(_After the painting by =Jacopo da Pontormo=. Florence: S. Felicita_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+On the wall where the window is are two figures in fresco, on one side
+the Virgin, and on the other the Angel, who is bringing her the
+Annunciation, but so distorted, both the one and the other, that it is
+evident that, as I have said, that bizarre and fantastic brain was
+never content with anything. And in order to be able to do as he
+pleased in this, and to avoid having his attention distracted by
+anyone, all the time that he was executing this work he would never
+allow even the owner of the chapel himself to see it, insomuch that,
+having painted it after his own fancy, without any of his friends
+having been able to give him a single hint, when it was finally
+uncovered and seen, it amazed all Florence. For the same Lodovico he
+executed a picture of Our Lady in that same manner for his chamber,
+and in the head of a S. Mary Magdalene he made the portrait of a
+daughter of Lodovico, who was a very beautiful young woman.
+
+Near the Monastery of Boldrone, on the road that goes from there to
+Castello, and at the corner of another that climbs the hill and goes
+to Cercina (that is, at a distance of two miles from Florence), he
+painted in fresco in a shrine Christ Crucified, Our Lady weeping, S.
+John the Evangelist, S. Augustine, and S. Giuliano; all which figures,
+his caprice not being yet satisfied, and the German manner still
+pleasing him, are not very different from those that he executed at
+the Certosa. He did the same, also, in an altar-piece that he painted
+for the Nuns of S. Anna, at the Porta a S. Friano, in which
+altar-piece is Our Lady with the Child in her arms, and S. Anne behind
+her, with S. Peter, S. Benedict, and other Saints, and in the predella
+is a small scene with little figures, which represent the Signoria of
+Florence as it used to go in procession with trumpeters, pipers,
+mace-bearers, messengers, and ushers, with the rest of the household;
+and this he did because the commission for that altar-piece was given
+to him by the Captain and the household of the Palace.
+
+The while that Jacopo was executing this work, Alessandro and Ippolito
+de' Medici, who were both very young, having been sent to Florence by
+Pope Clement VII under the care of the Legate, Silvio Passerini,
+Bishop of Cortona, the Magnificent Ottaviano, to whom the Pope had
+straitly recommended them, had the portraits of both of them taken by
+Pontormo, who served him very well, and made them very good
+likenesses, although he did not much depart from the manner that he
+had learned from the Germans. In the portrait of Ippolito he also
+painted a favourite dog of that lord, called Rodon, and made it so
+characteristic and so natural, that it might be alive. He took the
+portrait, likewise, of Bishop Ardinghelli, who afterwards became a
+Cardinal; and for Filippo del Migliore, who was much his friend, he
+painted in fresco in his house on the Via Larga, in a niche opposite
+to the principal door, a woman representing Pomona, from which it
+appeared that he was beginning to seek to abandon in part his German
+manner.
+
+Now Giovan Battista della Palla perceived that by reason of many works
+the name of Jacopo was becoming every day more celebrated; and, since
+he had not succeeded in sending to King Francis the pictures executed
+by that same master and by others for Borgherini, he resolved, knowing
+that the King had a desire for them, at all costs to send him
+something by the hand of Pontormo. Whereupon he so went to work that
+he persuaded Jacopo to execute a most beautiful picture of the Raising
+of Lazarus, which proved to be one of the best works that he ever
+painted and that was ever sent by Giovan Battista, among the vast
+number that he sent, to King Francis of France. For, besides that the
+heads were most beautiful, the figure of Lazarus, whose spirit as he
+returned to life was re-entering his dead flesh, could not have been
+more marvellous, for about the eyes he still had the hue of
+corruption, and the flesh cold and dead at the extremities of the
+hands and feet, where the spirit had not yet come.
+
+[Illustration: THE MARTYRDOM OF THE FORTY SAINTS
+
+(_After the panel by =Jacopo da Pontormo=. Florence: Pitti, 182_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+In a picture of one braccio and a half he painted for the Sisters of
+the Hospital of the Innocenti, with an infinite number of little
+figures, the story of the eleven thousand Martyrs who were condemned
+to death by Diocletian and all crucified in a wood. In this Jacopo
+represented a battle of horsemen and nude figures, very beautiful, and
+some most lovely little Angels flying through the air, who are
+shooting arrows at the ministers of the crucifixion; and in like
+manner, about the Emperor, who is pronouncing the condemnation, are
+some most beautiful nude figures who are going to their death. This
+picture, which in every part is worthy to be praised, is now held in
+great price by Don Vincenzio Borghini, the Director of that Hospital,
+who once was much the friend of Jacopo. Another picture similar to
+that described above he painted for Carlo Neroni, but only with the
+Battle of the Martyrs and the Angel baptizing them; and then the
+portrait of Carlo himself. He also executed a portrait, at the time
+of the siege of Florence, of Francesco Guardi in the habit of a
+soldier, which was a very beautiful work; and on the cover of this
+picture Bronzino afterwards painted Pygmalion praying to Venus that
+his statue, receiving breath, might spring to life and become--as,
+according to the fables of the poets, it did--flesh and blood. At this
+time, after much labour, there came to Jacopo the fulfilment of a
+desire that he had long had, in that, having always felt a wish to
+have a house that might be his own, so that he should no longer live
+in the house of another, but might occupy his own and live as pleased
+himself, finally he bought one in the Via della Colonna, opposite to
+the Nuns of S. Maria degli Angeli.
+
+The siege finished, Pope Clement commanded Messer Ottaviano de' Medici
+that he should cause the hall of Poggio a Caiano to be finished.
+Whereupon, Franciabigio and Andrea del Sarto being dead, the whole
+charge of this was given to Pontormo, who, after having the staging
+and the screens made, began to execute the cartoons; but, for the
+reason that he went off into fantasies and cogitations, beyond that he
+never set a hand to the work. This, perchance, would not have happened
+if Bronzino had been in those parts, who was then working at the
+Imperiale, a place belonging to the Duke of Urbino, near Pesaro; which
+Bronzino, although he was sent for every day by Jacopo, nevertheless
+was not able to depart at his own pleasure, for the reason that, after
+he had executed a very beautiful naked Cupid on the spandrel of a
+vault in the Imperiale, and the cartoons for the others, Prince
+Guidobaldo, having recognized the young man's genius, ordained that
+his own portrait should be taken by him, and, seeing that he wished to
+be portrayed in some armour that he was expecting from Lombardy,
+Bronzino was forced to stay with that Prince longer than he could have
+wished. During that time he painted the case of a harpsichord, which
+much pleased the Prince, and finally Bronzino executed his portrait,
+which was very beautiful, and the Prince was well satisfied with it.
+
+Jacopo, then, wrote so many times, and employed so many means, that in
+the end he brought Bronzino back; but for all that the man could never
+be induced to do any other part of this work than the cartoons,
+although he was urged to it by the Magnificent Ottaviano and by Duke
+Alessandro. In one of these cartoons, which are now for the most part
+in the house of Lodovico Capponi, is a Hercules who is crushing
+Ant�us, in another a Venus and Adonis, and in yet another drawing a
+scene of nude figures playing football.
+
+In the meantime Signor Alfonso Davalos, Marchese del Vasto, having
+obtained from Michelagnolo Buonarroti by means of Fra Niccol� della
+Magna a cartoon of Christ appearing to the Magdalene in the garden,
+moved heaven and earth to have it executed for him in painting by
+Pontormo, Buonarroti having told him that no one could serve him
+better than that master. Jacopo then executed that work to perfection,
+and it was accounted a rare painting by reason both of the grandeur of
+Michelagnolo's design and of Jacopo's colouring. Wherefore Signor
+Alessandro Vitelli, who was at that time Captain of the garrison of
+soldiers in Florence, having seen it, had a picture painted for
+himself from the same cartoon by Jacopo, which he sent to Citt� di
+Castello and caused to be placed in his house. It thus became evident
+in what estimation Michelagnolo held Pontormo, and with what diligence
+Pontormo carried to completion and executed excellently well the
+designs and cartoons of Michelagnolo, and Bartolommeo Bettini so went
+to work that Buonarroti, who was much his friend, made for him a
+cartoon of a nude Venus with a Cupid who is kissing her, in order that
+he might have it executed in painting by Pontormo and place it in the
+centre of a chamber of his own, in the lunettes of which he had begun
+to have painted by Bronzino figures of Dante, Petrarca, and Boccaccio,
+with the intention of having there all the other poets who have sung
+of love in Tuscan prose and verse. Jacopo, then, having received this
+cartoon, executed it to perfection at his leisure, as will be related,
+in the manner that all the world knows without my saying another word
+in praise of it. These designs of Michelagnolo's were the reason that
+Pontormo, considering the manner of that most noble craftsman, took
+heart of grace, and resolved that by hook or by crook he would imitate
+and follow it to the best of his ability. And then it was that Jacopo
+recognized how ill he had done to allow the work of Poggio a Caiano to
+slip through his hands, although he put the blame in great measure on
+a long and very troublesome illness that he had suffered, and finally
+on the death of Pope Clement, which brought that undertaking
+completely to an end.
+
+Jacopo having executed after the works described above a picture with
+the portrait from life of Amerigo Antinori, a young man much beloved
+in Florence at that time, and that portrait being much extolled by
+everyone, Duke Alessandro had him informed that he wished to have his
+portrait taken by him in a large picture. And Jacopo, for the sake of
+convenience, executed his portrait for the time being in a little
+picture of the size of a sheet of half-folio, and with such diligence
+and care, that the works of the miniaturists do not in any way come up
+to it; for the reason that, besides its being a very good likeness,
+there is in that head all that could be desired in the rarest of
+paintings. From that little picture, which is now in the guardaroba of
+Duke Cosimo, Jacopo afterwards made a portrait of the same Duke in a
+large picture, with a style in the hand, drawing the head of a woman;
+which larger portrait Duke Alessandro afterwards presented to Signora
+Taddea Malespina, the sister of the Marchesa di Massa. Desiring at all
+costs to reward liberally the genius of Jacopo for these works, the
+Duke sent him a message by Niccol� da Montaguto, his servant, that he
+should ask whatever he wished, and it would be granted to him. But
+such was the poor spirit or the excessive respect and modesty of the
+man, I know not which to call it, that he asked for nothing save as
+much money as would suffice him to redeem a cloak that he had pledged;
+which having heard, the Duke, not without laughing at the character of
+the man, commanded that fifty gold crowns should be given and a salary
+offered to him; and even then Niccol� had much ado to make him accept
+it.
+
+Meanwhile Jacopo had finished painting the Venus from the cartoon
+belonging to Bettini, which proved to be a marvellous thing, but it
+was not given to Bettini at the price for which Jacopo had promised it
+to him, for certain tuft-hunters, in order to do Bettini an injury,
+took it almost by force from the hands of Jacopo and gave it to Duke
+Alessandro, restoring the cartoon to Bettini. Which having heard,
+Michelagnolo felt much displeasure for love of the friend for whom he
+had drawn the cartoon, and he bore a grudge against Jacopo, who,
+although he received fifty crowns for it from the Duke, nevertheless
+cannot be said to have defrauded Bettini, seeing that he gave up the
+Venus at the command of him who was his lord. But of all this some say
+that Bettini himself was in great measure the cause, from his asking
+too much.
+
+[Illustration: JACOPO DA PONTORMO: PORTRAIT OF AN ENGRAVER
+
+(_Paris: Louvre, 1241. Panel_)]
+
+The occasion having thus presented itself to Pontormo, by means of
+these moneys, to set his hand to the fitting up of his house, he made
+a beginning with his building, but did nothing of much importance.
+Indeed, although some persons declare that he had it in mind to spend
+largely, according to his position, and to make a commodious dwelling
+and one that might have some design, it is nevertheless evident that
+what he did, whether this came from his not having the means to spend
+or from some other reason, has rather the appearance of a building
+erected by an eccentric and solitary creature than of a well-ordered
+habitation, for the reason that to the room where he used to sleep and
+at times to work, he had to climb by a wooden ladder, which, after he
+had gone in, he would draw up with a pulley, to the end that no one
+might go up to him without his wish or knowledge. But that which most
+displeased other men in him was that he would not work save when and
+for whom he pleased, and after his own fancy; wherefore on many
+occasions, being sought out by noblemen who desired to have some of
+his work, and once in particular by the Magnificent Ottaviano de'
+Medici, he would not serve them; and then he would set himself to do
+anything in the world for some low and common fellow, at a miserable
+price. Thus the mason Rossino, a person of no small ingenuity
+considering his calling, by playing the simpleton, received from him
+in payment for having paved certain rooms with bricks, and for having
+done other mason's work, a most beautiful picture of Our Lady, in
+executing which Jacopo toiled and laboured as much as the mason did in
+his building. And so well did the good Rossino contrive to manage his
+business, that, in addition to the above-named picture, he got from
+the hands of Jacopo a most beautiful portrait of Cardinal Giulio de'
+Medici, copied from one by the hand of Raffaello, and, into the
+bargain, a very beautiful little picture of a Christ Crucified, which,
+although the above-mentioned Magnificent Ottaviano bought it from
+the mason Rossino as a work by the hand of Jacopo, nevertheless is
+known for certain to be by the hand of Bronzino, who executed it all
+by himself while he was working with Jacopo at the Certosa, although
+it afterwards remained, I know not why, in the possession of Pontormo.
+All these three pictures, won by the industry of the mason from the
+hands of Jacopo, are now in the house of M. Alessandro de' Medici, the
+son of the above-named Ottaviano.
+
+Now, although this procedure of Jacopo's and his living solitary and
+after his own fashion were not much commended, that does not mean that
+if anyone wished to excuse him he would not be able, for the reason
+that for those works that he did we should acknowledge our obligation
+to him, and for those that he did not choose to do we should not blame
+or censure him. No craftsman is obliged to work save when and for whom
+he pleases; and, if he suffered thereby, the loss was his. As for
+solitude, I have always heard say that it is the greatest friend of
+study; and, even if it were not so, I do not believe that much blame
+is due to him who lives in his own fashion without offence to God or
+to his neighbour, dwelling and employing his time as best suits his
+nature.
+
+But to return, leaving these matters on one side, to the works of
+Jacopo: Duke Alessandro had caused to be restored in some parts the
+Villa of Careggi, formerly built by the elder Cosimo de' Medici, at a
+distance of two miles from Florence, and had carried out the
+ornamentation of the fountain and the labyrinth, which wound through
+the centre of an open court, into which there opened two loggie, and
+his Excellency ordained that those loggie should be painted by Jacopo,
+but that company should be given him, to the end that he might finish
+them the quicker, and that conversation with others, keeping him
+cheerful, might be a means of making him work without straying so much
+into vagaries and distilling away his brains. Nay, the Duke himself
+sent for Jacopo and besought him that he should strive to deliver that
+work completely finished as soon as possible. Jacopo, therefore,
+having summoned Bronzino, caused him to paint a figure on each of five
+spandrels of the vaulting, these being Fortune, Justice, Victory,
+Peace, and Fame; and on the other spandrel, for they are in all six,
+Jacopo with his own hand painted a Love. Then, having made the design
+for some little boys that were going in the oval space of the
+vaulting, with various animals in their hands, and all foreshortened
+to be seen from below, he caused them all, with the exception of one,
+to be executed in colour by Bronzino, who acquitted himself very well.
+And since, while Jacopo and Bronzino were painting these figures, the
+ornaments all around were executed by Jacone, Pier Francesco di
+Jacopo, and others, the whole of that work was finished in a short
+time, to the great satisfaction of the Lord Duke. His Excellency
+wished to have the other loggia painted, but he was not in time, for
+the reason that the above-named work having been finished on the 13th
+of December in the year 1536, on the 6th of the January following that
+most illustrious lord was assassinated by his kinsman Lorenzino; and
+so this work and others remained without their completion.
+
+The Lord Duke Cosimo having then been elected, and the affair of
+Montemurlo having passed off happily, a beginning was made with the
+works of Castello, according as has been related in the Life of
+Tribolo, and his most illustrious Excellency, in order to gratify
+Signora Donna Maria, his mother, ordained that Jacopo should paint the
+first loggia, which one finds on the left hand in entering the Palace
+of Castello. Whereupon, setting to work, Jacopo first designed all the
+ornaments that were to be painted there, and had them executed for the
+most part by Bronzino and the masters who had executed those of
+Careggi. Then, shutting himself up alone, he proceeded with that work
+after his own fancy and wholly at his leisure, studying with all
+diligence, to the end that it might be much better than that of
+Careggi, which he had not executed entirely with his own hand. This he
+was able to do very conveniently, having eight crowns a month for it
+from his Excellency, whom he portrayed, young as he was, in the
+beginning of that work, and likewise Signora Donna Maria, his mother.
+Finally, after that loggia had been closed for five years, no one
+being able to have even a glance at what Jacopo had done, one day the
+above-named lady became enraged against him, and commanded that the
+staging and the screen should be thrown to the ground. But Jacopo,
+having begged for grace and having obtained leave to keep it covered
+for a few days more, first retouched it where it seemed to him to be
+necessary, and then caused a cloth of his own contriving to be made,
+which should keep that loggia covered when those lords were not there,
+to the end that the weather might not, as it had done at Careggi, eat
+away those pictures, which were executed in oils on the dry plaster;
+and at last he uncovered it, amid the lively expectation of everyone,
+all thinking that in that work Jacopo must have surpassed himself and
+done something altogether stupendous. But the effect did not
+correspond completely to the expectations, for the reason that,
+although many parts of the work are good, the general proportion of
+the figures appears very poor in form, and certain distorted attitudes
+that are there seem to be wanting in measure and very strange. But
+Jacopo excused himself by saying that he had never worked very
+willingly in that place, for the reason that, being without the city,
+it seemed much exposed to the fury of the soldiery and to other
+suchlike dangers; but there was no need for him to be afraid of that,
+seeing that time and the weather, from the work having been executed
+in the manner already described, are eating it away little by little.
+
+In the centre of the vaulting, then, he painted a Saturn with the Sign
+of Capricorn, and a Hermaphrodite Mars in the Sign of the Lion and of
+the Virgin, and some little Angels who are flying through the air,
+like those of Careggi. He then painted in certain gigantic women,
+almost entirely nude, Philosophy, Astrology, Geometry, Music,
+Arithmetic, and a Ceres; with some little scenes in medallions,
+executed with various tints of colour and appropriate to the figures.
+Although this work, so fatiguing and so laboured, did not give much
+satisfaction, or, if a certain measure of satisfaction, much less than
+was expected, yet his Excellency declared that it pleased him, and
+availed himself of Jacopo on every occasion, chiefly because that
+painter was held in great veneration by the people on account of the
+very good and beautiful works that he had executed in the past.
+
+The Lord Duke then brought to Florence the Flemings, Maestro Giovanni
+Rosso and Maestro Niccol�, excellent masters in arras-tapestries, to
+the end that the art might be learned and practised by the
+Florentines, and he ordained that tapestries in silk and gold should
+be executed for the Council Hall of the Two Hundred at a cost of
+60,000 crowns, and that Jacopo and Bronzino should make the cartoons
+with the stories of Joseph. But, when Jacopo had made two of them, in
+one of which is the scene when the death of Joseph is announced to
+Jacob and the bloody garments are shown to him, and in the other the
+Flight of Joseph from the wife of Potiphar, leaving his garment
+behind, they did not please either the Duke or those masters who had
+to put them into execution, for they appeared to them to be strange
+things and not likely to be successful when executed in woven
+tapestries. And so Jacopo did not go on to make any more cartoons, but
+returned to his usual labours and painted a picture of Our Lady, which
+was presented by the Duke to Signor Don ..., who took it to Spain.
+
+Now his Excellency, following in the footsteps of his ancestors, has
+always sought to embellish and adorn his city; and he resolved, the
+necessity having come to his notice, to cause to be painted all the
+principal chapel of the magnificent Temple of S. Lorenzo, formerly
+built by the great Cosimo de' Medici, the elder. Whereupon he gave the
+charge of this to Jacopo da Pontormo, either of his own accord, or, as
+was said, at the instance of Messer Pier Francesco Ricci, his
+major-domo; and Jacopo was very glad of that favour, for the reason
+that, although the greatness of the work, he being well advanced in
+years, gave him food for thought and perhaps dismayed him, on the
+other hand he reflected how, in a work of such magnitude, he had a
+fair field to show his ability and worth. Some say that Jacopo,
+finding that the work had been allotted to him notwithstanding that
+Francesco Salviati, a painter of great fame, was in Florence and had
+brought to a happy conclusion the painting of that hall in the Palace
+which was once the audience-chamber of the Signoria, must needs
+declare that he would show the world how to draw and paint, and how to
+work in fresco, and, besides this, that the other painters were but
+ordinary hacks, with other words equally insolent and overbearing. But
+I myself always knew Jacopo as a modest person, who spoke of everyone
+honourably and in a manner proper to an orderly and virtuous
+craftsman, such as he was, and I believe that these words were
+imputed to him falsely, and that he never let slip from his mouth any
+such boastings, which are for the most part the marks of vain men who
+presume too much upon their merits, in which manner of men there is no
+place for virtue or good breeding. And, although I might have kept
+silent about these matters, I have not chosen to do so, because to
+proceed as I have done appears to me the office of a faithful and
+veracious historian; it is enough that, although these rumours went
+around, and particularly among our craftsmen, nevertheless I have a
+firm belief that they were the words of malicious persons, Jacopo
+having always been in the experience of everyone modest and
+well-behaved in his every action.
+
+Having then closed up that chapel with walls, screens of planks, and
+curtains, and having given himself over to complete solitude, he kept
+it for a period of eleven years so well sealed up, that excepting
+himself not a living soul entered it, neither friend nor any other. It
+is true, indeed, that certain lads who were drawing in the sacristy of
+Michelagnolo, as young men will do, climbed by its spiral staircase on
+to the roof of the church, and, removing some tiles and the plank of
+one of the gilded rosettes that are there, saw everything. Of which
+having heard, Jacopo took it very ill, but took no further notice
+beyond closing up everything with greater care; although some say that
+he persecuted those young men sorely, and sought to make them regret
+it.
+
+Imagining, then, that in this work he would surpass all other
+painters, and perchance, so it was said, even Michelagnolo, he painted
+in the upper part, in a number of scenes, the Creation of Adam and
+Eve, the Eating of the Forbidden Fruit, their Expulsion from Paradise,
+the Tilling of the Earth, the Sacrifice of Abel, the Death of Cain,
+the Blessing of the Seed of Noah, and the same Noah designing the plan
+and the measurements of the Ark. Next, on one of the lower walls, each
+of which is fifteen braccia in each direction, he painted the
+inundation of the Deluge, in which is a mass of dead and drowned
+bodies, and Noah speaking with God. On the other wall is painted the
+Universal Resurrection of the Dead, which has to take place on the
+last and final day; with such variety and confusion, that the real
+resurrection will perhaps not be more confused, or more full of
+movement, in a manner of speaking, than Pontormo painted it. Opposite
+to the altar and between the windows--that is, on the central
+wall--there is on either side a row of nude figures, who, clinging to
+each other's bodies with hands and legs, form a ladder wherewith to
+ascend to Paradise, rising from the earth, where there are many dead
+in company with them, and at the end, on either side, are two dead
+bodies clothed with the exception of the legs and also the arms, with
+which they are holding two lighted torches. At the top, in the centre
+of the wall, above the windows, he painted in the middle Christ on
+high in His Majesty, who, surrounded by many Angels all nude, is
+raising those dead in order to judge them.
+
+But I have never been able to understand the significance of this
+scene, although I know that Jacopo had wit enough for himself, and
+also associated with learned and lettered persons; I mean, what he
+could have intended to signify in that part where there is Christ on
+high, raising the dead, and below His feet is God the Father, who is
+creating Adam and Eve. Besides this, in one of the corners, where are
+the four Evangelists, nude, with books in their hands, it does not
+seem to me that in a single place did he give a thought to any order
+of composition, or measurement, or time, or variety in the heads, or
+diversity in the flesh-colours, or, in a word, to any rule,
+proportion, or law of perspective; for the whole work is full of nude
+figures with an order, design, invention, composition, colouring, and
+painting contrived after his own fashion, and with such melancholy and
+so little satisfaction for him who beholds the work, that I am
+determined, since I myself do not understand it, although I am a
+painter, to leave all who may see it to form their own judgment, for
+the reason that I believe that I would drive myself mad with it and
+would bury myself alive, even as it appears to me that Jacopo in the
+period of eleven years that he spent upon it sought to bury himself
+and all who might see the painting, among all those extraordinary
+figures. And although there may be seen in this work some bit of a
+torso with the back turned or facing to the front and some attachments
+of flanks, executed with marvellous care and great labour by Jacopo,
+who made finished models of clay in the round for almost all the
+figures, nevertheless the work as a whole is foreign to his manner,
+and, as it appears to almost every man, without proportion, the torsi
+for the most part being large and the legs and arms small, to say
+nothing of the heads, in which there is not a trace to be seen of that
+singular excellence and grace that he used to give to them, so greatly
+to the satisfaction of those who examine his other pictures. Wherefore
+it appears that in this work he paid no attention to anything save
+certain parts, and of the other more important parts he took no
+account whatever. In a word, whereas he had thought in this work to
+surpass all the paintings in the world of art, he failed by a great
+measure to equal his own works that he had executed in the past;
+whence it is evident that he who seeks to strive beyond his strength
+and, as it were, to force nature, ruins the good qualities with which
+he may have been liberally endowed by her. But what can we or ought we
+to do save have compassion upon him, seeing that the men of our arts
+are as much liable to error as others? And the good Homer, so it is
+said, even he sometimes nods; nor shall it ever be said that there is
+a single work of Jacopo's, however he may have striven to force his
+nature, in which there is not something good and worthy of praise.
+
+He died shortly before finishing the work, and some therefore declare
+that he died of grief, ending his life very much dissatisfied with
+himself; but the truth is that, being old and much exhausted by making
+portraits and models in clay and labouring so much in fresco, he sank
+into a dropsy, which finally killed him at the age of sixty-five.
+After his death there were found in his house many designs, cartoons,
+and models in clay, all very beautiful, and a picture of Our Lady
+executed by him excellently well and in a lovely manner, to all
+appearance many years before, which was sold by his heirs to Piero
+Salviati. Jacopo was buried in the first cloister of the Church of the
+Servite Friars, beneath the scene of the Visitation that he had
+formerly painted there; and he was followed to the grave by an
+honourable company of the painters, sculptors, and architects.
+
+Jacopo was a frugal and sober man, and in his dress and manner of life
+he was rather miserly than moderate; and he lived almost always by
+himself, without desiring that anyone should serve him or cook for
+him. In his last years, indeed, he kept in his house, as it were to
+bring him up, Battista Naldini, a young man of fine spirit, who took
+such care of Jacopo's life as Jacopo would allow him to take; and
+under his master's discipline he made no little proficiency in design,
+and became such, indeed, that a very happy result is looked for from
+him. Among Pontormo's friends, particularly in this last period of his
+life, were Pier Francesco Vernacci and Don Vincenzio Borghini, with
+whom he took his recreation, sometimes eating with them, but rarely.
+But above all others, and always supremely beloved by him, was
+Bronzino, who loved him as dearly, being grateful and thankful for the
+benefits that he had received from him.
+
+Pontormo had very beautiful manners, and he was so afraid of death,
+that he would not even hear it spoken of, and avoided having to meet
+dead bodies. He never went to festivals or to any other places where
+people gathered together, so as not to be caught in the press; and he
+was solitary beyond all belief. At times, going out to work, he set
+himself to think so profoundly on what he was to do, that he went away
+without having done any other thing all day but stand thinking. And
+that this happened to him times without number in the work of S.
+Lorenzo may readily be believed, for the reason that when he was
+determined, like an able and well-practised craftsman, he had no
+difficulty in doing what he desired and had resolved to put into
+execution.
+
+
+
+
+SIMONE MOSCA
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF SIMONE MOSCA
+
+SCULPTOR AND ARCHITECT
+
+
+From the times of the ancient Greek and Roman sculptors to our own, no
+modern carver has equalled the beautiful and difficult works that they
+executed in their bases, capitals, friezes, cornices, festoons,
+trophies, masks, candelabra, birds, grotesques, or other carved
+cornice-work, save only Simone Mosca of Settignano, who in our own
+days has worked in such a manner in those kinds of labour, that he has
+made it evident by his genius and art that all the diligence and study
+of the modern carvers who had come before him had not enabled them up
+to that time to imitate the best work of those ancients or to adopt
+the good method in their carvings, for the reason that their works
+incline to dryness, and the turn of their foliage to spikiness and
+crudeness. He, on the other hand, has executed foliage with great
+boldness, rich and abundant in new curves, the leaves being carved in
+various manners with beautiful indentations and with the most lovely
+flowers, seeds and creepers that there are to be seen, not to speak of
+the birds that he has contrived to carve so gracefully in various
+forms among his foliage and festoons, insomuch that it may be affirmed
+that Simone alone--be it said without offence to the others--has been
+able to remove from the marble that hardness which craftsmen are wont
+very often to leave in their sculptures, and has brought his works by
+his handling of the chisel to such a point that they have the
+appearance of things real to the touch, and the same may be said of
+the cornices and other suchlike labours, executed by him with most
+beautiful grace and judgment.
+
+This Simone, having given his attention to design in his childhood
+with much profit, and having then become well-practised in carving,
+was taken by Maestro Antonio da San Gallo, who recognized his genius
+and noble spirit, to Rome, where he caused him to execute, as his
+first works, some capitals and bases and several friezes of foliage
+for the Church of S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini, and some works for the
+Palace of Alessandro, the first Cardinal Farnese. Simone meanwhile
+devoting himself, particularly on feast-days, and whenever he could
+snatch the time, to drawing the antiquities of that city, no long time
+passed before he was drawing and tracing ground-plans with more grace
+and neatness than did Antonio himself, insomuch that, having applied
+himself heart and soul to the study of designing foliage in the
+ancient manner, of giving a bold turn to the leaves, and of
+perforating his works in such a way as to make them perfect, taking
+the best from the best examples, one thing from one and one from
+another, in a few years he formed a manner of composition so beautiful
+and so catholic, that afterwards he did everything well, whether in
+company or by himself. This may be seen in some coats of arms that
+were to be placed in the above-named Church of S. Giovanni in the
+Strada Giulia; in one of which coats of arms, making a great lily, the
+ancient emblem of the Commune of Florence, he carved upon it some
+curves of foliage with creepers and seeds executed so well that they
+made everyone gasp with wonder. Nor had any long time passed when
+Antonio da San Gallo--who was directing for Messer Agnolo Cesis the
+execution of the marble ornaments of a chapel and tomb for himself and
+his family, which were afterwards erected in the year 1550 in the
+Church of S. Maria della Pace--caused part of certain pilasters and
+socles covered with friezes, which were going into that work, to be
+wrought by Simone, who executed them so well and with such beauty,
+that they make themselves known among the others, without my saying
+which they are, by their grace and perfection; nor is it possible to
+see any altars for the offering of sacrifices after the ancient use
+more beautiful and fanciful than those that he made on the base of
+that work. Afterwards the same San Gallo, who was superintending the
+execution of the mouth of the well in the cloister of S. Pietro in
+Vincula, caused Mosca to make the borders with some large masks of
+great beauty.
+
+Not long afterwards he returned one summer to Florence, having a good
+name among craftsmen, and Baccio Bandinelli, who was making the
+Orpheus of marble that was placed in the court of the Medici Palace,
+after having the base for that work carried out by Benedetto da
+Rovezzano, caused Simone to execute the festoons and other carvings
+therein, which are very beautiful, although one festoon is unfinished
+and only worked over with the gradine. Having then done many works in
+grey sandstone, of which there is no need to make record, he was
+planning to return to Rome, when in the meantime the sack took place,
+and he did not go after all. But, having taken a wife, he was living
+in Florence with little to do: wherefore, being obliged to support his
+family, and having no income, he was occupying himself with any work
+that he could obtain. Now in those days there arrived in Florence one
+Pietro di Subisso, a master-mason of Arezzo, who always had under him
+a good number of workmen, for the reason that all the building in
+Arezzo passed through his hands; and he took Simone, with many others,
+to Arezzo. There he set Simone to making a chimney-piece of grey
+sandstone and a water-basin of no great cost, for a hall in the house
+of the heirs of Pellegrino da Fossombrone, a citizen of Arezzo; which
+house had been formerly erected by M. Piero Geri, an excellent
+astrologer, after the design of Andrea Sansovino, and had been sold by
+his nephews. Setting to work, therefore, and beginning with the
+chimney-piece, Simone placed it upon two pilasters, making two niches
+in the thickness of the wall, in the direction of the fire, and laying
+upon those pilasters architrave, frieze, and great cornice, and over
+all a pediment with festoons and with the arms of that family. And
+thus, proceeding with it, he executed it with carvings of such a kind
+and so well varied, and with such subtle craftsmanship, that, although
+that work was of grey sandstone, under his hands it became more
+beautiful than if it had been of marble, and more astounding; which,
+indeed, came to pass the more readily because that stone is not as
+hard as marble and, if anything, rather sandy. Putting extraordinary
+diligence, therefore, into the work, he executed on the pilasters
+trophies in half-relief and low-relief, than which nothing more
+bizarre or more beautiful could be done, with helmets, buskins,
+shields, quivers, and various other arms; and he likewise made there
+masks, sea monsters, and other graceful fantasies, all so well figured
+and cut out that they have the appearance of silver. The frieze that
+is between the architrave and the great cornice, he made with a most
+beautiful turn of foliage, all pierced through and full of birds that
+are executed so well, that they seem to be flying through the air; and
+it is a marvellous thing to see their little legs, no larger than
+life, and yet completely in the round and detached from the stone in
+such a way as one cannot believe to be possible; and, in truth, the
+work seems rather a miracle than a product of human art. Besides all
+this, he made there in a festoon some leaves and fruits so well cut
+out, and wrought with such delicacy and care, that in a certain sense
+they surpass the reality. Lastly, the work is finished off by some
+great masks and candelabra, which are truly most beautiful. Although
+Simone need not have given such care to a work of that kind, for which
+he was to be but poorly paid by those patrons, who could not afford
+much, yet, drawn by the love that he bore to art and by the pleasure
+that a man feels in working well, he chose to do so; but he did not do
+the same with the water-basin for the same patrons, for he made it
+beautiful enough, but simple.
+
+At the same time he assisted Pietro di Subisso, who did not know much,
+to make many designs of buildings and plans of houses, doors, windows,
+and other things appertaining to that profession. On the Canto degli
+Albergotti, below the school and university of the Commune, there is a
+window of considerable beauty constructed after his design; and there
+are two of them in the house of Ser Bernardino Serragli in the
+Pelliceria. On the corner of the Palazzo de' Priori there is a large
+escutcheon of Pope Clement VII in grey sandstone, by the hand of the
+same master; and under his direction, and partly by his hand, was
+executed for Bernardino di Cristofano da Giuovi a chapel of grey
+sandstone in the Corinthian Order, which was erected in the Abbey of
+S. Fiore, a passing handsome monastery of Black Friars in Arezzo. For
+this chapel the patron wished to have the altar-piece painted by
+Andrea del Sarto, and then by Rosso, but in this he never succeeded,
+seeing that, being hindered now by one thing and now by another, they
+were not able to serve him. Finally Bernardino turned to Giorgio
+Vasari, but with him also he had difficulties, and there was much
+trouble in finding a way of arranging the matter, for the reason that,
+the chapel being dedicated to S. James and S. Christopher, he wished
+to have in the picture Our Lady with the Child in her arms, and also
+the giant S. Christopher with another little Christ on his shoulder;
+which composition, besides that it appeared monstrous, could not be
+accommodated, nor was it possible to paint a giant of six braccia in
+an altar-piece of four braccia. Giorgio, then, being desirous to serve
+Bernardino, made him a design in this manner: he placed Our Lady upon
+some clouds, with a sun behind her back, and on the ground he painted
+S. Christopher kneeling on one side of the picture, with one leg in
+the water, and with the other in the act of moving in order to rise,
+while Our Lady is placing upon his shoulders the Infant Christ with
+the globe of the world in His hands. In the rest of the altar-piece,
+also, were to be S. James and the other Saints, accommodated in such a
+manner that they would not have been in the way; and this design,
+pleasing Bernardino, would have been put into execution, but
+Bernardino in the meantime died, and the chapel was left in that
+condition to his heirs, who have not done anything more.
+
+Now, while Simone was labouring at that chapel, there passed through
+Arezzo Antonio da San Gallo, who was returning from the work of
+fortifying Parma and was going to Loreto to finish the work of the
+Chapel of the Madonna, to which he had sent Tribolo, Raffaello da
+Montelupo, the young Francesco da San Gallo, Girolamo da Ferrara,
+Simone Cioli, and other carvers, masons, and stone-cutters, in order
+to finish that which Andrea Sansovino at his death had left
+incomplete; and he contrived to take Simone to work there. He ordained
+that Simone should have charge not only of the carvings, but also of
+the architecture and of the other ornaments of that work; in which
+commissions Mosca acquitted himself very well, and, what is more,
+executed many things perfectly with his own hands, particularly some
+little boys of marble in the round, which are on the pediments of the
+doors; and although there are also some by the hand of Simone Cioli,
+the best--and rare indeed they are--are all by Mosca. He made,
+likewise, all the festoons of marble that are around all that work,
+with most beautiful artistry and carvings full of grace and worthy of
+all praise; wherefore it is no marvel that these works are so esteemed
+and admired, that many craftsmen from distant parts have set off in
+order to go to see them.
+
+Antonio da San Gallo, then, recognizing how much Mosca was worth, made
+use of him in any undertaking of importance, with the intention of
+remunerating him some day when the occasion might present itself, and
+of giving him to know how much he loved him for his abilities. When,
+therefore, after the death of Pope Clement, a new Supreme Pontiff had
+been elected in Paul III of the Farnese family, who ordained that, the
+mouth of the well at Orvieto having remained unfinished, Antonio
+should have charge of it, Antonio took Mosca thither, to the end that
+he might carry that work to completion, which presented some
+difficulties, and particularly in the ornamentation of the doors, for
+the reason that, the curve of the mouth being round, convex without
+and concave within, those two circles conflicted with each other and
+caused a difficulty in accommodating the squared doors with the
+ornaments of stone. But the virtue of that singular genius of Simone's
+solved every difficulty, and executed the whole work with such grace
+and perfection, that no one could see that there had ever been any
+difficulty. He finished off the mouth and border of the well in grey
+sandstone, filled in with bricks, together with some very beautiful
+inscriptions on white stone and other ornaments, making the doors
+correspond with one another. He also made there in marble the arms of
+the above-named Pope Paul Farnese, or rather, where they had
+previously been made of balls for Pope Clement, who had carried out
+that work, Mosca was forced--and he succeeded excellently well--to
+make lilies out of the balls in relief, and thus to change the arms of
+the Medici into those of the house of Farnese; notwithstanding, as I
+have said (for so do things go in this world), that the author of that
+vast, regal, and magnificent work was Pope Clement VII, of whom in
+this last and most imposing part no mention whatever was made.
+
+[Illustration: THE ALTAR OF THE THREE KINGS
+
+(_After =Simone Mosca= and =Michele San Michele=. Orvieto: Duomo_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+While Simone was engaged in finishing this well, the Wardens of Works
+of S. Maria, the Duomo of Orvieto, desiring to give completion to
+the chapel of marble that had been carried as far as the socle under
+the direction of Michele San Michele of Verona, with some carvings,
+besought Simone, whom they had come to know as a master of true
+excellence, that he should attend to it. Whereupon they came to terms,
+and Simone, liking the society of the people of Orvieto, brought his
+family thither, in order to live in greater comfort; and then he set
+himself to work with a quiet and composed mind, being greatly honoured
+by everyone in that place. When, therefore, as it were by way of
+sample, he had made a beginning with some pilasters and friezes, the
+excellence and ability of Simone were recognized by those men, and
+there was assigned to him a salary of two hundred crowns of gold a
+year, and with this, continuing to labour, he carried that work well
+forward. Now in the centre, to fill up the ornaments, there was to go
+a scene of marble in half-relief, representing the Adoration of the
+Magi; and there was summoned at the suggestion of Simone his very dear
+friend Raffaello da Montelupo, the Florentine sculptor, who, as has
+been related, executed half of that scene in a very beautiful manner.
+In the ornamentation of this chapel, then, are certain socles, each
+two and a half braccia in breadth, which are on either side of the
+altar, and upon these are pilasters five braccia high, two on either
+side, between which is the story of the Magi; and on the pilasters
+next to the story, of which two of the faces are seen, are carved some
+candelabra, with friezes of grotesques, masks, little figures, and
+foliage, which are things divine. In the predella at the foot, which
+runs right over the altar from pilaster to pilaster, is a little
+half-length Angel who is holding an inscription with his hands, with
+festoons over all, between the capitals of the pilasters, where the
+architrave, frieze and great cornice project to the extent of the
+depth of the pilasters. Above those in the centre, in a space equal to
+their breadth, curves an arch that serves as an ornament to the
+above-named story of the Magi, and in this, namely, in the lunette,
+are many Angels; and above the arch is a cornice, which runs from one
+pilaster to another, that is, from those on the outside, which form a
+frontispiece to the whole work. In this part is a God the Father in
+half-relief; and at the sides, where the arch rises over the
+pilasters, are two Victories in half-relief. All this work, then, is
+so well composed, and executed with such a wealth of carvings, that
+one cannot have enough of examining the minute details of the
+perforations and the excellence of all the things that are in the
+capitals, cornices, masks, festoons, and candelabra in the round,
+which form the completion of a work truly worthy to be admired as
+something rare.
+
+Simone Mosca thus dwelling in Orvieto, a son of his called Francesco,
+and as a bye-name Il Moschino, a boy fifteen years of age, who had
+been produced by nature with chisels in his hand, as it were, and with
+so beautiful a genius, that he did with supreme grace whatsoever thing
+he desired to do, executed in this work under the discipline of his
+father, miraculously, so to speak, the Angels that are holding the
+inscriptions between the pilasters, then the God the Father in the
+pediment, as well as the Angels that are in the lunette of that work,
+above the Adoration of the Magi executed by Raffaello da Montelupo,
+and finally the Victories at the sides of the lunette; by which works
+he caused everyone to wonder and marvel. All this was the reason that,
+when the chapel was finished, Simone was commissioned by the Wardens
+of Works of the Duomo to make another similar to it, on the other
+side, to the end that the space of the Chapel of the High-Altar might
+be suitably set off, on the understanding that the figures should be
+varied without varying the architecture, and that in the centre there
+should be the Visitation of Our Lady, which was allotted to the
+above-named Moschino. Then, having made an agreement about every
+matter, the father and son set their hands to the work; and, while
+they were engaged upon it, Mosca was very helpful and useful to that
+city, making for many citizens architectural designs of houses and
+many other edifices. Among other things, he executed in that city the
+ground-plan and fa�ade of the house of Messer Raffaello Gualtieri,
+father of the Bishop of Viterbo, and of Messer Felice, both noblemen
+and lords of great excellence and reputation; and likewise the
+ground-plans of some houses for the honourable Counts della Cervara.
+He did the same in many places near Orvieto, and made, in particular,
+the models of many structures and buildings for Signor Pirro Colonna
+da Stripicciano.
+
+[Illustration: THE SALUTATION
+
+(_After =Simone Mosca=. Orvieto: Duomo_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+The Pope then causing the fortress to be built in Perugia where
+there had stood the houses of the Baglioni, Antonio da San Gallo,
+having sent for Mosca, gave him the charge of making the ornaments;
+where there were executed after his designs all the doors, windows,
+chimney-pieces, and other suchlike things, and in particular two large
+and very beautiful escutcheons of his Holiness. In that work Simone
+formed a connection with M. Tiberio Crispo, who was Castellan there;
+and he was sent by M. Tiberio to Bolsena, where, on the highest point
+of that stronghold, overlooking the lake, he arranged a large and
+beautiful habitation, partly on the old structure and partly founding
+anew, with a very handsome flight of steps and many ornaments of
+stone. Nor did any long time pass before Messer Tiberio, having been
+made Castellan of the Castello di S. Angelo, caused Mosca to go to
+Rome, where he made use of him in many matters in renovating the
+apartments of that castle; and, among other things, he caused him to
+make over the arches that rise over the new loggia, which faces
+towards the meadows, two escutcheons of the above-named Pope in
+marble, which are so well wrought and perforated in the mitre, or
+rather, triple crown, in the keys, and in certain festoons and little
+masks, that they are marvellous.
+
+Having then returned to Orvieto in order to finish the work of the
+chapel, he laboured there continuously all the time that Pope Paul was
+alive, executing it in such a manner that it proved to be, as may be
+seen, no less excellent than the first, and perhaps even better. For
+Mosca, as has been said, bore such love to art, and took such pleasure
+in working, that he could never have enough of it, almost striving
+after the impossible, and that rather from a desire for glory than
+from any wish to accumulate gold, for he was more pleased to work well
+at his profession than to acquire property.
+
+Finally, Julius III having been elected Pope in the year 1550, and all
+men thinking that work would be begun in earnest on the building of S.
+Pietro, Mosca went off to Rome and sought to obtain at a fixed price
+from the superintendents of that building the commission for some
+capitals of marble, but more to accommodate Gian Domenico, his
+son-in-law, than for any other reason. Now Giorgio Vasari, who always
+bore love to Mosca, found him in Rome, whither he also had been
+summoned to the service of the Pope, and he thought that without fail
+he would have some work to offer him, for the reason that the old
+Cardinal dal Monte, when he died, had left directions with his heirs
+that a tomb of marble should be built for him in S. Pietro a Montorio,
+and the above-named Pope Julius, his nephew and heir, had ordained
+that this should be done, and had given the charge of the matter to
+Vasari; and Giorgio wished that in that tomb Mosca should execute some
+extraordinary work in carving. But, after Giorgio had made some models
+for that tomb, the Pope discussed the whole matter with Michelagnolo
+Buonarroti before he would make up his mind; whereupon Michelagnolo
+told his Holiness that he should not involve himself with carvings,
+saying that, although they enrich a work, they confuse the figures,
+whereas squared work, when it is well done, is much more beautiful
+than carving and is a better accompaniment for the figures, for the
+reason that figures do not brook other carvings about them: and even
+so did his Holiness order the work to be done. Wherefore Vasari was
+not able to give Mosca anything to do in that work, and he was
+dismissed; and the tomb was finished without any carvings, which made
+it much better than it would have been with them.
+
+Simone having then returned to Orvieto, arrangements were made to
+erect after his designs, in the cross at the head of the church, two
+great tabernacles of marble, works truly graceful, beautiful, and
+well-proportioned, for one of which Raffaello da Montelupo made in
+marble a nude Christ with the Cross on His shoulder in a niche, and
+for the other Moschino made a S. Sebastian, likewise nude. Work being
+then continued on the execution of the Apostles for the church,
+Moschino made a S. Peter and a S. Paul of the same size, which were
+held to be creditable statues. Meanwhile the work of the
+above-mentioned Chapel of the Visitation was not abandoned, and it was
+carried so far forward during the lifetime of Mosca, that there was
+nothing left to do save two birds, and even these would not have been
+wanting, had not M. Bastiano Gualtieri, Bishop of Viterbo, as has been
+related, kept Simone occupied with an ornament of marble in four
+pieces, which, when finished, he sent to France to the Cardinal of
+Lorraine, who held it very dear, for it was beautiful to a marvel, all
+full of foliage and wrought with such diligence, that it is believed
+to have been one of the best that Simone ever executed.
+
+Not long after he had finished that work, in the year 1554, Simone
+died, at the age of fifty-eight, to the no small loss of that church
+of Orvieto, in which he was buried with honour.
+
+Francesco Moschino was then elected to his father's place by the
+Wardens of Works of that same Duomo, but, thinking nothing of it, he
+left it to Raffaello da Montelupo, and went to Rome, where he finished
+for M. Ruberto Strozzi two very graceful figures in marble, the Mars
+and Venus, namely, which are in the court of his house in the Banchi.
+Afterwards he executed a scene with little figures, almost in
+full-relief, in which is Diana bathing with her Nymphs, who changes
+Act�on into a stag, and he is devoured by his own hounds; and then
+Francesco came to Florence, and gave the work to the Lord Duke Cosimo,
+whom he much desired to serve. Whereupon his Excellency, having
+accepted and much commended it, did not disappoint the desire of
+Moschino, even as he has never disappointed anyone who has sought to
+work valiantly in any calling. For he was attached to the Works of the
+Duomo at Pisa, and has laboured up to the present day with great
+credit to himself in the Chapel of the Nunziata, formerly built by
+Stagio da Pietrasanta, executing the Angel and the Madonna in figures
+of four braccia, together with the carvings and every other thing; in
+the centre, Adam and Eve, who have the apple-tree between them; and a
+large God the Father with certain little boys on the vaulting of that
+chapel, which is all of marble, as are also the two statues, which
+have gained for Moschino no little fame and honour. And since that
+chapel is little less than finished, his Excellency has given orders
+that the chapel opposite to it should be taken in hand, which is
+called the Chapel of the Incoronata and stands immediately at the
+entrance of the church, on the left hand. The same Moschino, in
+connection with the nuptial festivities of her most serene Majesty
+Queen Joanna and the most illustrious Prince of Florence, has
+acquitted himself very well in those works that were given him to do.
+
+
+
+
+GIROLAMO AND BARTOLOMMEO GENGA, AND GIOVAN BATTISTA SAN MARINO,
+SON-IN-LAW OF GIROLAMO
+
+
+
+
+LIVES OF GIROLAMO AND BARTOLOMMEO GENGA, AND OF GIOVAN BATTISTA SAN
+MARINO, SON-IN-LAW OF GIROLAMO
+
+
+Girolamo Genga, who was of Urbino, was apprenticed by his father at
+the age of ten to the wool trade, but he followed it with the greatest
+ill-will, and, according as he could find time and place, he was for
+ever drawing in secret with charcoal or an ordinary pen. Which
+circumstance being observed by some friends of his father, they
+exhorted him to remove the boy from that trade and to set him to
+painting; wherefore he placed Girolamo with certain masters of little
+reputation in Urbino. But, having seen his beautiful manner, and that
+he was like to make proficience, when the boy was fifteen years of age
+the father apprenticed him to Maestro Luca Signorelli of Cortona, an
+excellent master in painting of that time; with whom he stayed many
+years, following him to the March of Ancona, to Cortona, and to many
+other places where he executed works, and in particular to Orvieto, in
+the Duomo of which city, as has been related, Luca painted a chapel of
+Our Lady with an infinite number of figures. At this our Girolamo
+worked continually, and he was always one of the best disciples that
+Luca had.
+
+Then, having parted from Signorelli, he placed himself with Pietro
+Perugino, a much esteemed painter, with whom he stayed about three
+years, giving considerable attention to perspective, which was so well
+grasped and understood by him, that it may be said that he became very
+excellent therein, even as is evident from his works in painting and
+architecture. This was at the same time that there was with Pietro the
+divine Raffaello da Urbino, who was much the friend of Girolamo.
+
+After leaving Pietro, he went off to live in Florence, where he
+studied for some considerable time. Then, having gone to Siena, he
+stayed there for months and even years with Pandolfo Petrucci, in
+whose house he painted many rooms, which, from their being very well
+designed and coloured in a pleasing manner, were rightly admired and
+praised by all the people of Siena, and particularly by the
+above-named Pandolfo, by whom he was always looked upon with great
+favour and cherished most dearly. Pandolfo having died, he then
+returned to Urbino, where Guidobaldo, the second Duke, retained him
+for a considerable time, causing him to paint horse's caparisons, such
+as were used in those times, in company with Timoteo da Urbino, a
+painter of passing good name and much experience, together with whom
+he painted a chapel of S. Martino in the Vescovado for Messer Giovan
+Piero Arrivabene of Mantua, then Bishop of Urbino. In this, both the
+one and the other of them gave proof of very beautiful genius, as the
+work itself demonstrates, in which is a portrait of the above-named
+Bishop, which has all the appearance of life. Genga was also
+particularly employed by the same Duke to execute scenery and settings
+for comedies, which, since he had a very good understanding of
+perspective and was well-grounded in architecture, he made
+marvellously beautiful.
+
+He then departed from Urbino and went to Rome, where he executed in
+painting, in S. Caterina da Siena on the Strada Giulia, a Resurrection
+of Christ, wherein he made himself known as a rare and excellent
+master, having done it with good design and with figures foreshortened
+in beautiful attitudes and well coloured, to which those who are of
+the profession and have seen it are able to bear ample testimony.
+While living in Rome, he gave much attention to measuring the
+antiquities there, as is proved by writings in the possession of his
+heirs.
+
+[Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINTS
+
+(_After the painting by =Girolamo Genga=. Milan: Brera, 202_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+At this time, Duke Guido having died, and having been succeeded by
+Francesco Maria, third Duke of Urbino, Girolamo was recalled from Rome
+by Francesco Maria, and constrained to return to Urbino at the time when
+the above-named Duke took to wife and brought into his dominions Leonora
+Gonzaga, the daughter of the Marquis of Mantua; and he was employed by
+his Excellency in making triumphal arches, festive preparations, and
+scenery for comedies, which were all so well arranged and carried into
+execution by him, that Urbino could be likened to a Rome in triumph;
+from which he gained very great fame and honour. Afterwards, in due
+course, the Duke was expelled from his state for the last time, when he
+went to Mantua, and Girolamo followed him, even as he had already done
+in his other periods of exile, always sharing one and the same fortune
+with him; and he retired with his family to Cesena. There he painted for
+the high-altar of S. Agostino an altar-piece in oils, at the top of
+which is an Annunciation, and below that a God the Father, and still
+lower down a Madonna with the Child in her arms, between the four
+Doctors of the Church--a work truly beautiful and worthy to be esteemed.
+He then painted in fresco a chapel on the right hand in S. Francesco at
+Forl�, containing the Assumption of the Madonna, with many Angels and
+other figures--Prophets, namely, and Apostles--around; in this, also, it
+is evident how admirable was his genius, and the work was judged to be
+very beautiful. He also painted there the story of the Holy Spirit,
+which he finished in the year 1512, for Messer Francesco Lombardi, a
+physician; and other works throughout Romagna, for all which he gained
+honour and rewards.
+
+The Duke having then returned to his state, Girolamo also returned,
+and was retained by him and employed as architect in restoring an old
+palace on the Monte dell'Imperiale, above Pesaro, and adding to it
+another tower. That palace was adorned with scenes in painting from
+the actions of the Duke, after the directions and designs of Girolamo,
+by Francesco da Forl� and Raffaello dal Borgo, painters of good
+repute, and by Camillo Mantovano, a very rare master in painting
+landscapes and verdure; and the young Florentine Bronzino also worked
+there, among others, as has been related in the Life of Pontormo.
+Thither, likewise, were summoned the Dossi of Ferrara, and a room was
+assigned to them to paint; but since, when they had finished that
+room, it did not please the Duke, he had it thrown down and repainted
+by the masters mentioned above. Girolamo then erected the tower there,
+one hundred and twenty feet in height, with thirteen flights of wooden
+steps whereby to ascend to the top, so well fitted and concealed in
+the walls, that they can be withdrawn with ease from story to story,
+which renders that tower very strong and marvellous. A desire
+afterwards came to the Duke to fortify Pesaro, and he caused Pier
+Francesco da Viterbo, a most excellent architect, to be sent for; and
+Girolamo always taking part in the discussions that arose about the
+fortifications, his discourse and his opinions were held to be good
+and full of judgment. Wherefore, if I may be allowed to say it, the
+design of that fortress came rather from Girolamo than from any other,
+although that sort of architecture was always little esteemed by him,
+appearing to him to be of small value and dignity.
+
+The Duke, then, perceiving how rare a genius he had at his command,
+determined to build on the above-named Monte dell'Imperiale, near the
+old palace, a new palace; and so he built that to be seen there at the
+present day, which being a very beautiful and well-planned fabric, and
+full of apartments, colonnades, courts, loggie, fountains, and most
+delightful gardens, there is no Prince passes that way that does not
+go to see it. Wherefore it was right fitting that Pope Paul III, on
+his way to Bologna with all his Court, should go to see it and find it
+entirely to his satisfaction. From the design of this same master, the
+Duke caused the Palace at Pesaro to be restored, and also the little
+park, making within it a house representing a ruin, which is a very
+beautiful thing to see. Among other things, there is a staircase
+similar to that of the Belvedere in Rome, which is very handsome. By
+means of him the Duke had the fortress of Gradara restored, and
+likewise the Palace at Castel Durante, insomuch that all that is good
+in those works came from that admirable genius. Girolamo also built
+the corridor of the Palace at Urbino, above the garden, and he
+enclosed a courtyard on one side with perforated stone-work executed
+with great diligence.
+
+From the design of the same master, likewise, were begun the Convent
+of the Frati Zoccolanti at Monte Baroccio and S. Maria delle Grazie at
+Sinigaglia, which in the end remained unfinished by reason of the
+death of the Duke. And about the same time was begun after his
+directions and design the Vescovado of Sinigaglia, of which the model,
+made by him, is still to be seen. He also executed some works in
+sculpture and figures of clay and wax in the round, beautiful enough,
+which are in the house of his family at Urbino. For the Imperiale he
+made some Angels in clay, which he afterwards caused to be cast in
+bronze and placed over the doors of the rooms decorated with
+stucco-work in the new palace; and these are very beautiful. For the
+Bishop of Sinigaglia he executed some fantasies in wax in the form of
+drinking-cups, which were afterwards to be made in silver; and with
+greater diligence he made some others, most beautiful, for the Duke's
+credence. He showed fine invention in masquerades and costumes, as was
+seen in the time of the above-named Duke, by whom he was passing well
+rewarded, as he deserved, for his rare parts and good qualities.
+
+His son, Guidobaldo, who reigns at the present day, having then
+succeeded him as Duke, caused a beginning to be made by the
+above-named Genga with the Church of S. Giovan Battista at Pesaro,
+which, having been carried out according to the model of Girolamo by
+his son Bartolommeo, is of very beautiful architecture in every part,
+for he imitated the antique considerably, and made it in such a manner
+that it is the most beautiful temple that there is in those parts, as
+the work itself clearly demonstrates, being able to challenge
+comparison with the most famous buildings in Rome. After his designs
+and directions, likewise, there was executed in S. Chiara at Urbino by
+the Florentine sculptor Bartolommeo Ammanati, who was then very young,
+the tomb of Duke Francesco Maria, which, for a simple work of little
+cost, proved to be very beautiful. In like manner, the Venetian
+painter Battista Franco was summoned by him to paint the great chapel
+of the Duomo at Urbino, at the time when there was being made after
+his design the ornament of the organ of that Duomo, which is not yet
+finished.
+
+Shortly afterwards, the Cardinal of Mantua having written to the Duke
+that he should send him Girolamo, because he wished to restore the
+Vescovado of that city, Girolamo went thither and fitted it up very
+well with lights and with all that the above-named lord desired.
+Besides this, the Cardinal, wishing to make a beautiful fa�ade for the
+Duomo, caused him to prepare a model for it, which was executed by him
+in such a manner, that it may be said that it surpassed all the
+architectural works of his time, for the reason that in it may be seen
+grandeur, proportion, grace, and great beauty of composition.
+
+Having then returned from Mantua, now an old man, he went to live at a
+villa of his own, called Le Valle, in the territory of Urbino, in
+order to rest and enjoy the fruits of his labours; in which place, not
+wishing to remain idle, he executed in chalk a Conversion of S. Paul
+with figures and horses of considerable size and in very beautiful
+attitudes, which was finished by him with such patience and diligence,
+that no greater could be either described or seen, as is evident from
+the work itself, now in the possession of his heirs, by whom it is
+treasured as a very dear and precious thing. There, while living with
+a tranquil mind, he was attacked by a terrible fever, and, after he
+had received all the Sacraments of the Church, finished the course of
+his life, to the infinite grief of his wife and children, on the 11th
+of July in the year 1551, at the age of about seventy-five. Having
+been carried from that place to Urbino, he was buried with honour in
+the Vescovado, in front of the Chapel of S. Martino formerly painted
+by him; and his death caused extraordinary sorrow to his relatives and
+to all the citizens.
+
+Girolamo was always an excellent man, insomuch that nothing was ever
+heard of any bad action committed by him. He was not only a painter,
+sculptor, and architect, but also a good musician and a fine talker,
+and his society was very agreeable. He was full of courtesy and
+lovingness towards his relatives and friends; and, what entitles him
+to no little praise, he laid the foundation of the house of Genga at
+Urbino with his good name and property. He left two sons, one of whom
+followed in his footsteps and gave his attention to architecture, in
+which, if he had not been hindered by death, he was like to become
+most excellent, as his beginnings demonstrate; and the other, who
+devoted himself to the cares of the family, is still alive at the
+present day.
+
+A disciple of Girolamo, as has been related, was Francesco Menzochi of
+Forl�, who first began to draw by himself when still a child,
+imitating and copying an altar-piece in the Duomo of Forl�, by the
+hand of Marco Parmigiano[7] of Forl�, containing a Madonna, S. Jerome,
+and other Saints, and held at that time to be the best of the modern
+pictures; and he occupied himself likewise with imitating the works
+of Rondinino[8] da Ravenna, a painter more excellent than Marco, who a
+little time before had placed on the high-altar of the above-named
+Duomo a most beautiful altar-piece, in which was painted Christ giving
+the Communion to the Apostles, and in a lunette above it a Dead
+Christ, and in the predella of that altar-piece very graceful scenes
+with little figures from the life of S. Helen. These works brought him
+forward in such a manner, that, when Girolamo Genga went, as we have
+said, to paint the chapel in S. Francesco at Forl� for M. Bartolommeo
+Lombardino, Francesco at that time went to live with Genga, seizing
+that opportunity of learning, and did not cease to serve him as long
+as he lived. There, and also at Urbino and in the work of the
+Imperiale at Pesaro, he laboured continually, as has been related,
+esteemed and beloved by Genga, because he acquitted himself very well,
+as many altar-pieces by his hand bear witness that are dispersed
+throughout the city of Forl�, and particularly three of them which are
+in S. Francesco, besides that there are some scenes of his in fresco
+in the hall of the Palace.
+
+         [Footnote 7: Palmezzani.]
+
+         [Footnote 8: Rondinello.]
+
+He painted many works throughout Romagna; and at Venice, also, for the
+very reverend Patriarch Grimani, he executed four large pictures in
+oils that were placed in the ceiling of a little hall in his house,
+round an octagon that Francesco Salviati painted; in which pictures
+are the stories of Psyche, held to be very beautiful. But the place
+where he strove to do his utmost and to put forth all his powers, was
+the Chapel of the most holy Sacrament in the Church of Loreto, in
+which he painted some Angels round a tabernacle of marble wherein
+rests the Body of Christ, and two scenes on the walls of that chapel,
+one of Melchizedek and the other of the Manna raining down, both
+executed in fresco; and over the vaulting he distributed fifteen
+little scenes of the Passion of Jesus Christ, nine of which he
+executed in painting, and six in half-relief. This was a rich work and
+well conceived, and he won for it such honour, that he was not
+suffered to depart until he had decorated another chapel of equal size
+in the same place, opposite to the first, and called the Chapel of the
+Conception, with the vaulting all wrought with rich and very beautiful
+stucco-work; in which he taught the art of stucco-work to his son
+Pietro Paolo, who has since done him honour and has become a
+well-practised master in that field. Francesco, then, painted in
+fresco on the walls the Nativity and the Presentation of Our Lady, and
+over the altar he painted S. Anne and the Virgin with the Child in her
+arms, and two Angels that are crowning her. And, in truth, his works
+are much extolled by the craftsmen, and likewise his ways and his
+life, which was that of a true Christian; and he lived in peace,
+enjoying that which he had gained with his labours.
+
+A pupil of Genga, also, was Baldassarre Lancia of Urbino, who, having
+given his attention to many ingenious matters, has since practised his
+hand in fortifications, at which he worked on a salary for the
+Signoria of Lucca, in which place he stayed for some time. He then
+attached himself to the most illustrious Duke Cosimo de' Medici, whom
+he came to serve in the fortifications of the states of Florence and
+Siena; and the Duke has employed and still employs him in many
+ingenious works, in which Baldassarre has laboured valiantly and with
+honour, winning remunerations from that grateful lord.
+
+Many others also served Girolamo Genga, of whom, from their not having
+attained to any great excellence, there is no need to speak.
+
+To the above-named Girolamo, at Cesena, in the year 1518, the while
+that he was accompanying the Duke his master in exile, there was born
+a son called Bartolommeo, who was brought up by him very decently, and
+then, when he was well grown, placed to learn grammar, in which he
+made more than ordinary proficience. Afterwards, when he was eighteen
+years of age, the father, perceiving that he was inclined more to
+design than to letters, caused him to study design under his own
+discipline for about two years: which finished, he sent him to study
+design and painting in Florence, where he knew that the true study of
+that art was to be found, on account of the innumerable works by
+excellent masters that are there, both ancient and modern. Living in
+that place, and attending to design and to architecture, Bartolommeo
+formed a friendship with Giorgio Vasari, the painter and architect of
+Arezzo, and with the sculptor Bartolommeo Ammanati, from whom he
+learned many things appertaining to art. Finally, after having been
+three years in Florence, he returned to his father, who was then
+attending to the building of S. Giovanni Battista at Pesaro.
+Whereupon, the father having seen the designs of Bartolommeo, it
+appeared to him that he acquitted himself much better in architecture,
+for which he had a very good inclination, than in painting; wherefore,
+keeping him under his own care some months, he taught him the methods
+of perspective. And afterwards he sent him to Rome, to the end that he
+might see the marvellous buildings, both ancient and modern, that are
+there, of which, in the four years that he stayed there, he took the
+measurements, and made therein very great proficience. Then, on his
+way back to Urbino, passing through Florence in order to see
+Francesco[9] San Marino, his brother-in-law, who was living there as
+engineer to the Lord Duke Cosimo, Signor Stefano Colonna da
+Palestrina, at that time general to that lord, having heard of his
+ability, sought to engage him with himself, with a good salary. But
+he, being much indebted to the Duke of Urbino, would not attach
+himself to others, and returned to Urbino, where he was received by
+that Duke into his service, and ever afterwards held very dear.
+
+         [Footnote 9: Giovan Battista.]
+
+Not long afterwards, the Duke taking to wife Signora Vittoria Farnese,
+Bartolommeo received from the Duke the charge of executing the festive
+preparations for those nuptials, which he did in a truly honourable
+and magnificent manner. Among other things, he made a triumphal arch
+in the Borgo di Valbuona, so beautiful and so well wrought, that there
+is none larger or more beautiful to be seen; whence it became evident
+how much knowledge of architecture he had acquired at Rome. Then the
+Duke, having to go into Lombardy, as General to the Signoria of
+Venice, to inspect the fortresses of that dominion, took with him
+Bartolommeo, of whom he availed himself much in preparing designs and
+sites of fortresses, and in particular at the Porta S. Felice in
+Verona. Now, while Bartolommeo was in Lombardy, the King of Bohemia,
+who was returning from Spain to his kingdom, passed through that
+province and was received with honour by the Duke at Verona; and he
+saw those fortresses. And, since they pleased him, after he had become
+acquainted with Bartolommeo, he wished to take him to his kingdom, in
+order to make use of him in fortifying his territories, with a good
+salary; but the Duke would not give him leave, and the matter went no
+further.
+
+When they had returned to Urbino, no long time passed before Girolamo,
+the father, came to his death; whereupon Bartolommeo was set by the
+Duke in the place of his father over all the buildings of the state,
+and sent to Pesaro, where he continued the building of S. Giovanni
+Battista, after the model of Girolamo. During that time he built in
+the Palace of Pesaro, over the Strada de' Mercanti, a suite of rooms
+which the Duke now occupies; a fine work, with most beautiful
+ornaments in the form of doors, staircases, and chimney-pieces, of
+which things he was an excellent architect. Which having seen, the
+Duke desired that in the Palace of Urbino as well he should make
+another suite of apartments, almost entirely on the fa�ade that faces
+towards S. Domenico; and this, when finished, proved to be the most
+beautiful suite in that court, or rather, palace, and the most ornate
+that is there. Not long afterwards, the Signori of Bologna having
+asked for him for some days from the Duke, his Excellency granted him
+to them very readily; and he, having gone, served them in what they
+desired in such a manner, that they remained very well satisfied and
+showed him innumerable courtesies.
+
+He then made for the Duke, who desired to construct a sea-port at
+Pesaro, a very beautiful model; and this was taken to Venice, to the
+house of Count Giovan Giacomo Leonardi, at that time the Duke's
+Ambassador in that place, to the end that it might be seen by many of
+the profession who often assembled, with other choice spirits, to hold
+discussions and disputations on various matters in the house of the
+above-named Count, who was a truly remarkable man. There, then, after
+that model had been seen and the fine discourse of Genga had been
+heard, the model was held by all without exception to be masterly and
+beautiful, and the master who had made it a man of the rarest genius.
+But, when he had returned to Pesaro, the model after all was not
+carried into execution, because new circumstances of great importance
+drove that project out of the Duke's mind.
+
+About that time Genga made the design of the Church of Monte
+L'Abbate, and also that of the Church of S. Piero in Mondavio, which
+was carried into execution by Don Pier Antonio Genga in such a manner,
+that, for a small work, I do not believe that there is anything better
+to be seen.
+
+These works finished, no long time passed before, Pope Julius III
+having been elected, and the Duke of Urbino having been created by him
+Captain General of Holy Church, his Excellency went to Rome, and Genga
+with him. There, his Holiness wishing to fortify the Borgo, at the
+request of the Duke Genga made some very beautiful designs, which,
+with a number of others, are in the collection of his Excellency at
+Urbino. For these reasons the fame of Bartolommeo spread abroad, and
+the Genoese, while he was living with the Duke in Rome, asked for him
+from his Excellency, in order to make use of him in some
+fortifications of their own; but the Duke would not grant him to them,
+either at that time or on another occasion when they again asked for
+him, after his return to Urbino.
+
+In the end, when he was near the close of his life, there were sent to
+Pesaro by the Grand Master of Rhodes two knights of that Order of
+Jerusalem, to beseech his Excellency that he should deign to lend them
+Bartolommeo, to the end that they might take him to the Island of
+Malta, in which they wished to construct not only very large
+fortifications wherewith to defend themselves against the Turks, but
+also two cities, so as to unite many villages that were there into one
+or two places. Whereupon the Duke, whom the above-named knights in two
+months had not been able to induce to grant them Bartolommeo, although
+they had availed themselves of the good services of the Duchess and
+others, finally complied with their request for a fixed period, at the
+entreaty of a good Capuchin father, to whom his Excellency bore a very
+great affection, and refused nothing that he asked; and the artifice
+that was used by that holy man, who made it a matter of conscience
+with the Duke, saying that it was in the interest of the Christian
+Republic, was not otherwise than highly commendable and worthy of
+praise. And thus Bartolommeo, who had never received any favour
+greater than this, departed with the above-named knights from Pesaro
+on the 20th of January, 1558; but they lingered in Sicily, being
+delayed by the fortune of the sea, and they did not reach Malta, where
+they were received with rejoicing by the Grand Master, until the 11th
+of March. Having then been shown what he was to do, he acquitted
+himself so well in those fortifications, that it could not be
+expressed in words; insomuch that to the Grand Master and all those
+noble knights it appeared that they had found another Archimedes, and
+this they proved by making him most honourable presents and holding
+him, as a rare master, in supreme veneration. Then, after having made
+the models of a city, of some churches, and of the palace and
+residence of the same Grand Master, with most beautiful invention and
+design, he fell sick of his last illness, for, having set himself one
+day in the month of July, the heat in that island being very great,
+between two doors to refresh himself, he had not been there long when
+he was assailed by insufferable pains of the body and by a cruel flux,
+which killed him in seventeen days, to the infinite sorrow of the
+Grand Master and all those most honourable and valiant knights, to
+whom it appeared that they had found a man after their own hearts,
+when he was snatched from them by death. The Lord Duke of Urbino,
+having been advised of this sad news, felt indescribable sorrow, and
+bewailed the death of poor Genga; and then, having resolved to
+demonstrate to the five children whom he had left behind him the love
+that he bore to him, he took them under his particular and loving
+protection.
+
+Bartolommeo showed beautiful invention in masquerades, and was a rare
+master in making scenic settings for comedies. He delighted to write
+sonnets and other compositions in verse and prose, and in none was he
+better than in the ottava rima, in which manner of writing he was an
+author of passing good renown. He died at the age of forty, in the
+year 1558.
+
+Giovan Battista Bellucci of San Marino having been the son-in-law of
+Girolamo Genga, I have judged that it would not be well to withhold
+what I have to say of him, after the Lives of Girolamo and Bartolommeo
+Genga, and particularly in order to show that men of fine intellect,
+if only they be willing, succeed in everything, even if they set
+themselves late in life to difficult and honourable enterprises; for
+study, when added to natural inclination, has often been seen to
+accomplish marvellous things. Giovan Battista, then, was born in San
+Marino on the 27th of September, 1506, to Bartolommeo Bellucci, a
+person of passing good family in that place; and after he had learned
+the first rudiments of the humanities, when eighteen years of age, he
+was sent by that same Bartolommeo, his father, to Bologna, to attend
+to the pursuit of commerce under Bastiano di Ronco, a merchant of the
+Guild of Wool. Having been there about two years, he returned to San
+Marino sick of a quartan fever, which hung upon him two years; of
+which being finally cured, he set up a wool business of his own, with
+which he continued up to the year 1535, at which time his father,
+perceiving that Giovan Battista was in good circumstances, gave him
+for a wife in Cagli a daughter of Guido Peruzzi, a person of
+considerable standing in that city. But she died not long afterwards,
+and Giovan Battista went to Rome to seek out Domenico Peruzzi, his
+brother-in-law, who was equerry to Signor Ascanio Colonna; and by
+means of him Giovan Battista lived for two years with that lord as a
+gentleman. He then returned home; and it came about that, as he
+frequented Pesaro, Girolamo Genga, having come to know him as an
+excellent and well-behaved young man, gave him a daughter of his own
+for wife and took him into his house. Whereupon Giovan Battista, being
+much inclined to architecture, and giving his attention with much
+diligence to the architectural works that his wife's father was
+executing, began to gain a very good grasp of the various manners of
+building, and to study Vitruvius; and thus, what with that which he
+acquired by himself and that which Genga taught him, he became a good
+architect, and particularly in the matter of fortifications and other
+things relating to war.
+
+Then, in the year 1541, his wife died, leaving him two boys; and he
+remained until 1543 without coming to any further resolution about his
+life. At that time, in the month of September, there appeared in San
+Marino one Signor Gustamante, a Spaniard, sent by his Imperial Majesty
+to that Republic on some affairs. Giovan Battista was recognized by
+him as an excellent architect, and at his instance he entered not
+long afterwards into the service of the most illustrious Lord Duke
+Cosimo, as engineer. And thus, having arrived in Florence, his
+Excellency made use of him for all the fortifications of his dominion,
+according to the necessities that arose every day; and, among other
+things, the fortress of the city of Pistoia having been begun many
+years before, San Marino, by the desire of the Duke, completely
+finished it, with great credit to himself, although it is no great
+work. Then, under the direction of the same architect, a very strong
+bastion was built at Pisa. Wherefore, his method of work pleasing the
+Duke, his Excellency caused him to construct--where, as has been
+related, there had been built on the hill of S. Miniato, without
+Florence, the wall that curves from the Porta S. Niccol� to the Porta
+S. Miniato--the fortification that encloses a gate by means of two
+bastions, and guards the Church and Monastery of S. Miniato; making on
+the summit of that hill a fortress that dominates the whole city and
+looks on the outer side towards the east and the south, a work that
+was vastly extolled. The same Giovan Battista made many designs and
+ground-plans of various fortifications for places in the states of his
+Excellency, and also various rough models in clay, which are in the
+possession of the Lord Duke. And since San Marino was a man of fine
+genius and very studious, he wrote a little book on the methods of
+fortifications; which work, a beautiful and useful one, is now in the
+possession of Messer Bernardo Puccini, a gentleman of Florence, who
+learned many things with regard to the matters of architecture and
+fortification from San Marino, who was much his friend.
+
+Giovan Battista, after having designed in the year 1554 many bastions
+that were to be built round the walls of the city of Florence, some of
+which were begun in earth, went with the most illustrious lord, Don
+Garzia di Toledo, to Monte Alcino, where, having made some trenches,
+he mined under a bastion and so shattered it, that he threw down the
+breastwork; but as it was falling to the ground a harquebus-ball
+struck San Marino in the thigh. Not long afterwards, his wound being
+healed, he went secretly to Siena and took the ground-plan of that
+city, and of the earthworks that the people of Siena had made at the
+Porta Camollia; which plan of fortifications he then showed to the
+Lord Duke and to the Marchese di Marignano, making it clear to them
+that the work was not difficult to capture or to secure afterwards on
+the side towards Siena. That this was true was proved by the fact, the
+night that it was taken by the above-named Marquis, with whom Giovan
+Battista had gone by order and commission of the Duke. On that
+account, then, the Marquis, having conceived an affection for him and
+knowing that he had need of his judgment and ability in the field
+(that is, in the war against Siena), so went to work with the Duke,
+that his Excellency sent Giovan Battista off as captain of a strong
+company of foot-soldiers; whereupon he served from that day onward in
+the field, as a valiant soldier and an ingenious architect. Finally,
+having been sent by the Marquis to Aiuola, a fortress in the Chianti,
+while disposing the artillery he was wounded in the head by a
+harquebus-ball; wherefore he was taken by his soldiers to the Pieve di
+S. Paolo, which belongs to Bishop da Ricasoli, and died in a few days,
+and was carried to San Marino, where he received honourable burial
+from his children.
+
+Giovan Battista deserves to be highly extolled, for the reason that,
+besides having been excellent in his profession, it is a marvellous
+thing that, having set himself to give attention to it late in life,
+at the age of thirty-five, he should have made in it the proficience
+that he did make; and it may be believed that if he had begun younger,
+he would have become a very rare master. Giovan Battista was something
+obstinate, so that it was a serious undertaking to move him from any
+opinion. He took extraordinary pleasure in reading stories, and turned
+them to very great advantage, writing down with great pains the most
+notable things in them. His death much grieved the Duke and his
+innumerable friends; wherefore his son Gian Andrea, coming to kiss his
+Excellency's hands, was received kindly by him and welcomed most
+warmly with very generous offers, on account of the ability and
+fidelity of the father, who died at the age of forty-eight.
+
+
+
+
+MICHELE SAN MICHELE
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: PAOLO VERONESE: INDUSTRY
+
+(_Venice: Doges' Palace, Sala Anticollegio. Ceiling Painting_)]
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF MICHELE SAN MICHELE
+
+ARCHITECT OF VERONA
+
+
+Michele San Michele, who was born at Verona in the year 1484, and
+learned the first principles of architecture from his father Giovanni
+and his uncle Bartolommeo, both excellent architects, went off at
+sixteen years of age to Rome, leaving his father and two brothers of
+fine parts, one of whom, called Jacopo, devoted himself to letters,
+and the other, named Don Camillo, was a Canon Regular and General of
+that Order. Having arrived there, he studied the ancient remains of
+architecture in such a manner, and with such diligence, observing and
+measuring everything minutely, that in a short time he became renowned
+and famous not only in Rome, but throughout all the places that are
+around that city. Moved by his fame, the people of Orvieto summoned
+him as architect to their celebrated temple, with an honourable
+salary; and while he was employed in their service, he was summoned
+for the same reason to Monte Fiascone, as architect for the building
+of their principal temple; and thus, serving both the one and the
+other of these places, he executed all that there is to be seen in
+these two cities in the way of good architecture. Among other works, a
+most beautiful tomb was built after his design in S. Domenico at Monte
+Fiascone--I believe, for one of the Petrucci, a nobleman of
+Siena--which cost a great sum of money, and proved to be marvellous.
+Besides all this, he made an infinite number of designs for private
+houses in those places, and made himself known as a man of great
+judgment and excellence.
+
+Thereupon Pope Clement VII, proposing to make use of him in the most
+important operations of the wars that were stirring at that time
+throughout all Italy, gave him as a companion to Antonio da San
+Gallo, with a very good salary, to the end that they might go together
+to inspect all the places of greatest importance in the States of the
+Church, and, wherever necessary, might see to the construction of
+fortifications; above all, at Parma and Piacenza, because those two
+cities were most distant from Rome, and nearest and most exposed to
+the perils of war. Which duty having been executed by Michele and
+Antonio to the full satisfaction of the Pontiff, there came to Michele
+a desire, after all those years, to revisit his native city and his
+relatives and friends, and even more to see the fortresses of the
+Venetians. Wherefore, after he had been a few days in Verona, he went
+to Treviso to see the fortress there, and then to Padua for the same
+purpose; but the Signori of Venice, having been warned of this, became
+suspicious that San Michele might be going about inspecting those
+fortresses with a hostile intent. Having therefore been arrested at
+Padua at their command and thrown into prison, he was examined at
+great length; but, when it was found that he was an honest man, he was
+not only liberated by them, but also entreated that he should consent
+to enter the service of those same Signori of Venice, with honourable
+rank and salary. He excused himself by saying that he was not able to
+do that for the present, being engaged to his Holiness; but he gave
+them fair promises, and then took his leave of them. Now he had not
+been away long, when he was forced to depart from Rome--to such
+purpose did those Signori go to work in order to secure him--and to
+go, with the gracious leave of the Pope, whom he first satisfied in
+full, to serve those most illustrious noblemen, his natural lords.
+Abiding with them, he gave soon enough a proof of his judgment and
+knowledge by making at Verona (after many difficulties which the work
+appeared to present) a very strong and beautiful bastion, which gave
+infinite satisfaction to those Signori and to the Lord Duke of Urbino,
+their Captain General. After these things, the same Signori, having
+determined to fortify Legnago and Porto, places most important to
+their dominion, and situated upon the River Adige, one on one side and
+the other on the opposite side, but joined by a bridge, commissioned
+San Michele to show them by means of a model how it appeared to him
+that those places could and should be fortified. Which having been
+done by him, his design gave infinite satisfaction to the Signori and
+to the Duke of Urbino. Whereupon, arrangements having been made for
+all that had to be done, San Michele executed the fortifications of
+those two places in such a manner, that among works of that kind there
+is nothing better to be seen, or more beautiful, or more carefully
+considered, or stronger, as whoever has seen them well knows.
+
+This done, he fortified in the Bresciano, almost from the foundations,
+Orzinuovo, a fortress and port similar to Legnago. San Michele being
+then sought for with great insistence by Signor Francesco Sforza, last
+Duke of Milan, the Signori consented to grant him leave, but for three
+months only. Having therefore gone to Milan, he inspected all the
+fortresses of that State, and gave directions in every place for all
+that it seemed to him necessary to do, and that with such credit and
+so much to the satisfaction of the Duke, that his Excellency, besides
+thanking the Signori of Venice, presented five hundred crowns to San
+Michele. And with this occasion, before returning to Venice, Michele
+went to Casale di Monferrato, in order to see that very strong and
+beautiful fortress and city, the architecture of which was the work of
+Matteo San Michele, an excellent architect, his cousin; and also an
+honoured and very beautiful tomb of marble erected in S. Francesco in
+the same city, likewise under the direction of Matteo.
+
+Having then returned home, he had no sooner arrived than he was sent
+with the above-named Duke of Urbino to inspect La Chiusa, a fortress
+and pass of much importance, above Verona, and then all the places in
+Friuli, Bergamo, Vicenza, Peschiera, and others, of all which, and of
+what seemed to him to be required, he gave minute information in
+writing to the Signori. Having next been sent by the same Signori to
+Dalmatia, to fortify the cities and other places of that province, he
+inspected everything, and carried out restorations with great
+diligence wherever he saw the necessity to be greatest; and, since he
+could not himself despatch all the work, he left there Gian Girolamo,
+his kinsman, who, after fortifying Zara excellently well, erected from
+the foundations the marvellous fortress of S. Niccol�, over the mouth
+of the harbour of Sebenico.
+
+Meanwhile Michele was sent in great haste to Corfu, and restored the
+fortress there in many parts; and he did the same in all the places in
+Cyprus and Candia. Even so, not long afterwards--on account of a fear
+that the island might be lost, by reason of the war with the Turks,
+which was imminent--he was forced to return there, after having
+inspected the fortresses of the Venetian dominion in Italy, to
+fortify, with incredible rapidity, Canea, Candia, Retimo, and Settia,
+but particularly Canea and Candia, which he rebuilt from the
+foundations and made impregnable. Napoli di Romania being then
+besieged by the Turks, what with the diligence of S. Michele in
+fortifying it and furnishing it with bastions, and the valour of
+Agostino Chisoni of Verona, a very valiant captain, in defending it
+with arms, it was not after all taken by the enemy or forced to
+surrender.
+
+These wars finished, San Michele went with the Magnificent M. Tommaso
+Mozzenigo, Captain General of the Fleet, to fortify Corfu once again;
+and they then returned to Sebenico, where the diligence of Gian
+Girolamo, shown by him in constructing the above-mentioned fortress of
+S. Niccol�, was much commended. San Michele having then returned to
+Venice, where he was much extolled for the works executed in the
+Levant in the service of that Republic, the Signori resolved to build
+a fortress on the Lido, at the mouth of the port of Venice. Wherefore,
+giving the charge of this to San Michele, they said to him that, if he
+had done such great things far away from Venice, he should think how
+much it was his duty to do in a work of such importance, which was to
+lie for ever under the eyes of the Senate and of so many great lords;
+and that in addition, besides beauty and strength in the work, there
+was expected of him particular industry in founding truly and well in
+a marshy spot, which was surrounded on all sides by the sea and
+exposed to the ebb and flow of the tide, a pile of such importance.
+San Michele having therefore not only made a very beautiful and solid
+model, but also considered the method of laying the foundations and
+carrying it into effect, orders were given to him that he should set
+his hand to the work without delay. Whereupon, after receiving from
+those Signori all that was required, he prepared the materials for
+filling in the foundations, and, besides this, caused great numbers of
+piles to be sunk in double rows, and then, with a vast number of
+persons well acquainted with those waters, he set himself to make the
+excavations, and to contrive by means of pumps and other instruments
+to keep the water pumped out, which was seen continually rising from
+below, because the site was in the sea. One morning, finally,
+resolving to make a supreme effort to begin the foundations, and
+assembling as many men fit for the purpose as could be obtained, with
+all the porters of Venice, and many of the Signori being present, in a
+moment, with incredible assiduity and promptitude, the waters were
+mastered for a little to such purpose, that the first stones of the
+foundations were thrown instantly upon the piles already driven in;
+which stones, being very large, took up much space and made an
+excellent foundation. And so, continuing to keep the water pumped out
+without losing any time, almost in a flash those foundations were
+laid, contrary to the expectation of many who had looked upon that
+work as absolutely impossible. The foundations, when finished, were
+allowed sufficient time to settle, and then Michele erected upon them
+a mighty and marvellous fortress, building it on the outer side all in
+rustic work, with very large stones from Istria, which are of an
+extreme hardness and able to withstand wind, frost, and the worst of
+weather. Wherefore that fortress, besides being marvellous with regard
+to the site on which it is built, is also, from the beauty of the
+masonry and from its incredible cost, one of the most stupendous that
+there are in Europe at the present day, rivalling the grandeur and
+majesty of the most famous edifices erected by the greatness of the
+Romans; for, besides other things, it appears as if made all from one
+block, and as though a mountain of living rock had been carved and
+given that form, so large are the blocks of which it is built, and so
+well joined and united together, not to speak of the ornaments and
+other things that are there, seeing that one would never be able to
+say enough to do them justice. Within it Michele afterwards made a
+piazza, divided by pilasters and arches of the Rustic Order, which
+would have proved to be a very rare work, if it had not been left
+unfinished.
+
+This vast pile having been carried to the condition that has been
+described, some malign and envious persons said to the Signoria that,
+although it was very beautiful and built with every possible
+consideration, nevertheless it would be useless for any purpose, and
+perhaps even dangerous, for the reason that on discharging the
+artillery--on account of the great quantity and weight of artillery
+that the place required--it was almost inevitable that the edifice
+should split open and fall to the ground. It therefore appeared to
+those prudent Signori that it would be well to make certain of this,
+the matter being one of great importance; and they caused to be taken
+there a vast quantity of artillery, the heaviest that could be found
+in the Arsenal. Then, all the embrasures both above and below having
+been filled with cannon, and the cannon charged more heavily than was
+usual, they were all fired off together; whereupon such were the
+noise, the thunder, and the earthquake that resulted, that it seemed
+as if the world had burst to pieces, and the fortress, with all those
+flaming cannon, had the appearance of a volcano and of Hell itself.
+But for all that the building stood firm in its former strength and
+solidity, whereby the Senate was convinced of the great worth of San
+Michele, and the evil-speakers were put to scorn as men of little
+judgment, although they had put such terror into everyone, that the
+ladies then pregnant, fearing some great disaster, had withdrawn from
+Venice.
+
+Not long afterwards a place of no little importance on the coast near
+Venice, called Marano, having returned under the dominion of the
+Venetians, was restored and fortified with promptitude and diligence
+under the direction of San Michele. And about the same time, the fame
+of Michele and of his kinsman, Gian Girolamo, spreading ever more
+widely, they were requested many times, both the one and the other, to
+go to live with the Emperor Charles V and with King Francis of France;
+but, although they were invited under most honourable conditions, they
+would not leave their own masters to enter into the service of
+foreigners. Indeed, continuing in their offices, they went about
+inspecting and restoring every year, wherever it was necessary, all
+the cities and fortresses of the State of Venice.
+
+[Illustration: PORTA DEL PALIO
+
+(_After =Michele San Michele=. Verona_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+But more than all the rest did Michele fortify and adorn his native
+city of Verona, making there, besides other things, those most
+beautiful gates of the city, which have no equal in any other place.
+One was the Porta Nuova, all in the Dorico-rustic Order, which in
+its solidity and massive firmness corresponds to the strength of the
+site, being all built of tufa and pietra viva,[10] and having within
+it rooms for the soldiers who mount guard there, and many other
+conveniences, never before added to that kind of building. That
+edifice, which is quadrangular and open above, serving with its
+embrasures as a cavalier, defends two great bastions, or rather,
+towers, which stand one on either side of the gate at proper
+distances; and all is done with so much judgment, cost, and
+magnificence, that no one thought that for the future there could be
+executed any work of greater grandeur or better design, even as none
+such had been seen in the past. But a few years afterwards the same
+San Michele founded and carried upwards the gate commonly called the
+Porta dal Palio, which is in no way inferior to that described above,
+but equally beautiful, grand, and magnificent, or even more so, and
+designed excellently well. And, in truth, in these two gates the
+Signori of Venice may be seen to have equalled, by means of the genius
+of this architect, the edifices and fabrics of the ancient Romans.
+
+         [Footnote 10: Any kind of stone that is easily split.]
+
+This last gate, then, is on the outer side of the Doric Order, with
+immense projecting columns, all fluted according to the manner of that
+Order; and these columns, which are eight in all, are placed in pairs.
+Four serve to enclose the gate, with the arms of the Rectors of the
+city, between one and another, on either side, and the other four,
+likewise in pairs, make a finish to the angles of the gate, the fa�ade
+of which is very wide and all of bosses, or rather, blocks, not rough,
+but made smooth, with very beautiful ornamentation; and the opening,
+or rather passage, through the gate, is left quadrangular, but of an
+architecture that is new, bizarre, and most beautiful. Above it is a
+great and very rich Doric cornice, with all its appurtenances, over
+which, as may be seen from the model, was to go a fronton with all its
+ornaments, forming a parapet for the artillery, since this gate, like
+the other, was to serve as a cavalier. Within the gate are very large
+rooms for the soldiers, with other apartments and conveniences. On the
+front that faces towards the city, San Michele made a most beautiful
+loggia, all of the Dorico-rustic Order on the outer side, and on the
+inner all in rustic work, with very large piers. that have as
+ornaments columns round on the outside and on the inside square and
+projecting to the half of their thickness, and all made of pieces in
+rustic masonry, with Doric capitals without bases; and at the top is a
+great cornice, likewise Doric, and carved, passing along the whole
+loggia, which is of great length, both within and without. In a word,
+this work is marvellous; wherefore it was well and truly spoken by the
+most illustrious Signor Sforza Pallavicino, Captain General of the
+Venetian forces, when he said that there was not to be found in all
+Europe any structure that could in any way compare with it. This was
+the last of Michele's marvels, for the reason that he had scarcely
+erected the whole of the first range described above, when he finished
+the course of his life. Wherefore the work remained unfinished, nor
+will it ever be finished at all, for there are not wanting certain
+malignant persons--as always happens with great works--who censure it,
+striving to diminish the glory of others by their malignity and
+evil-speaking, since they fail by a great measure to achieve similar
+things with their own powers.
+
+The same master built another gate at Verona, called the Porta di S.
+Zeno, which is very beautiful; in any other place, indeed, it would be
+marvellous, but in Verona its beauty and artistry are obscured by the
+two others described above. A work of Michele's, likewise, is the
+bastion, or rather rampart, that is near this gate, and also another
+that is lower down, opposite to S. Bernardino, and another between
+them, called Dell'Acquaio, which is opposite to the Campo Marzio; and
+also that surpassing all the others in size, which is placed by the
+Chain, where the Adige enters the city.
+
+[Illustration: CAPPELLA DE' PELLEGRINI
+
+(_After =Michele San Michele=. Verona: S. Bernardino_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+At Padua he built the bastion called the Cornaro, and likewise that of
+S. Croce, which are both of marvellous size, and constructed in the
+modern manner, according to the order invented by Michele himself. For
+the method of making bastions with angles was the invention of
+Michele, and before his day they were made round; and whereas that
+kind of bastion was very difficult to defend, at the present day,
+having an obtuse angle on the outer side, they can be defended with
+ease, either from the cavalier erected between the two bastions and
+near to them, or, indeed, from the other bastion, provided that it
+be near the one attacked and the ditch wide. His invention, also, was
+the method of making bastions with three platforms, whereby the two at
+the sides guard and defend the ditch and the curtains, with their open
+embrasures, and the merlon in the centre defends itself and attacks
+the enemy in front. This method of fortification has since been
+imitated by everyone, causing the abandonment of the ancient fashion
+of subterranean embrasures, called casemates, in which, on account of
+the smoke and other impediments, the artillery could not be well
+handled; not to mention that they often weakened the foundations of
+the towers and walls.
+
+The same Michele built two very beautiful gates at Legnago. He
+directed at Peschiera the work of the first foundation of that
+fortress, and likewise many works at Brescia; and he always did
+everything with such diligence and such good foundations, that not one
+of his buildings ever showed a crack. Finally, he restored the
+fortress of La Chiusa above Verona, making it possible for persons to
+pass by without entering the fortress, but yet in such a manner that,
+on the raising of a bridge by those who are within, no one can pass by
+against their will, or even show himself on the road, which is very
+narrow and cut out of the rock. He also built at Verona, just after he
+had returned from Rome, the very beautiful bridge over the Adige,
+called the Ponte Nuovo, doing this at the commission of Messer
+Giovanni Emo, at that time Podest� of that city; which bridge was on
+account of its strength, as it still is, a marvellous thing.
+
+Michele was excellent not only in fortifications, but also in private
+buildings and in temples, churches, and monasteries, as may be seen
+from many buildings at Verona and other places, and particularly from
+the most ornate and beautiful Chapel of the Guareschi in S.
+Bernardino, which is round after the manner of a temple, and in the
+Corinthian Order, with all the ornaments which that manner admits.
+That chapel, I say, he built all of that white pietra viva, which,
+from the sound that it makes when it is being worked, is called in
+that city "Bronzo"; and, in truth, that kind of stone, after fine
+marble, is the most beautiful that has been found down to our own
+times, being absolutely solid and without holes or spots that might
+spoil it. Since that chapel, then, is built on the inside all of that
+most beautiful stone, and wrought by excellent masters of carving, and
+put together very well, it is considered that among works of that kind
+there is at the present day no other more beautiful in all Italy. For
+Michele made the whole work curve in a circle in such a manner, that
+three altars which are in it, with their pediments and cornices, and
+likewise the space of the door, all turn in a perfect round, almost
+after the likeness of the entrances that Filippo Brunelleschi made in
+the Chapels of the Temple of the Angeli in Florence; which is a very
+difficult thing to do. Michele then made therein a gallery over the
+first range of columns, which circles right round the chapel, and
+there are to be seen most beautiful carvings in the form of columns,
+capitals, foliage, grotesques, little pilasters, and other things,
+carved with incredible diligence. The door of that chapel he made
+quadrangular on the outer side, of the Corinthian Order and very
+beautiful, and similar to an ancient door that he saw, so he used to
+say, in some place at Rome. It is true, indeed, that this work, after
+having been left unfinished by Michele, I know not for what reason,
+was given, either from avarice or from lack of judgment, to certain
+others to be finished, who spoiled it, to the infinite vexation of
+Michele, who in his lifetime saw it ruined before his very eyes,
+without being able to prevent it; wherefore he used to complain at
+times to his friends, but only on this account, that he had not
+thousands of ducats wherewith to buy it from the avaricious hands of a
+woman who, by spending less than she was able, was shamefully spoiling
+it.
+
+A work of Michele's was the design of the round Temple of the Madonna
+di Campagna, near Verona, which was very beautiful, although the
+parsimony, weakness, and little judgment of the Wardens of that
+building have since disfigured it in many parts; and even worse would
+they have done, if Bernardino Brugnuoli, a kinsman of Michele, had not
+had charge of it and made a complete model, after which the building
+of that temple, as well as of many others, is now being carried
+forward. For the Friars of S. Maria in Organo, or rather, the Monks of
+Monte Oliveto in Verona, he made a design of the Corinthian Order,
+which was most beautiful, for the fa�ade of their church. This
+fa�ade, after being carried to a certain height by Paolo San Michele,
+was left not long since in that condition, on account of many expenses
+that were incurred by those monks in other matters, but even more by
+reason of the death of him who had begun it, Don Cipriano of Verona, a
+man of saintly life and of much authority in that Order, of which he
+was twice General. At S. Giorgio in Verona, a convent of the Regular
+Priests of S. Giorgio in Alega, the same Michele directed the building
+of the cupola of that church, which was a very beautiful work, and
+succeeded against the expectations of many who did not think that the
+structure would ever remain standing, on account of the weakness of
+its supports; but these were then so strengthened by Michele, that
+there is no longer anything to fear. In the same convent he made the
+design and laid the foundations of a very beautiful campanile of hewn
+stone, partly tufa and partly pietra viva, which was carried well
+forward by him, and is now being continued by the above-mentioned
+Bernardino, his nephew, who is employed in carrying it to completion.
+
+Monsignor Luigi Lippomani, Bishop of Verona, having resolved to carry
+to completion the campanile of his church, which had been begun a
+hundred years before, caused a design for this to be made by Michele,
+who did it very beautifully, taking into consideration the preserving
+of the old part and the expense that the Bishop was able to incur. But
+a certain Messer Domenico Porzio, a Roman, and his vicar, a person
+with little knowledge of building, although otherwise a worthy man,
+allowed himself to be imposed upon by one who also knew little about
+it, and gave him the charge of carrying on that fabric. Whereupon that
+person built it of unprepared stone from the mountains, and made the
+stairs in the thickness of the walls, doing all this in such a manner,
+that everyone who was even slightly conversant with architecture
+foretold that which afterwards happened--namely, that the structure
+would not remain standing. And, among others, the very reverend Fra
+Marco de' Medici of Verona, who, in addition to his other more serious
+studies, has always delighted in architecture, as he still does,
+predicted what would happen to such a building; but he was answered
+thus: "Fra Marco counts for much in his own profession of letters,
+philosophy, and theology, wherein he is public lecturer, but in
+architecture he does not fish so deeply as to command belief."
+Finally, that campanile, having risen to the level where the bells
+were to be, opened out in four parts in such a manner, that, after
+having spent many thousands of crowns in building it, they had to give
+three hundred crowns to the builders to throw it to the ground, lest
+it should fall by itself, as it would have done in a few days, and
+destroy everything all around. And it is only right that this should
+happen to those who desert good and eminent masters, and mix
+themselves up with bunglers. The above-named Monsignor Luigi having
+afterwards been chosen Bishop of Bergamo, Monsignor Agostino Lippomani
+was made Bishop of Verona in his place, and he commissioned Michele to
+reconstruct almost anew the model of that campanile, and to set to
+work. And after him, according to the same model, Monsignor Girolamo
+Trivisani, a friar of S. Dominic, who succeeded the last-named
+Lippomani in the bishopric, has caused that work to be continued,
+which is now progressing passing slowly. The model is very beautiful,
+and the stairs are being accommodated within the tower in such a
+manner, that the fabric remains stable and very strong.
+
+For the noble Counts della Torre of Verona, Michele built a very
+beautiful chapel in the manner of a round temple, with the altar in
+the centre, at their villa of Fumane. And in the Church of the Santo,
+at Padua, a very handsome tomb was built under his direction for
+Messer Alessandro Contarini, Procurator of S. Mark, who had been
+Proveditor to the Venetian forces; in which tomb it would seem that
+Michele sought to show in what manner such works should be done,
+departing from a kind of commonplace method which, in his opinion, had
+in it more of the altar or chapel than of the tomb. This work, which
+is very rich in ornamentation, solid in composition, and warlike in
+character, has as ornaments a Thetis and two prisoners by the hand of
+Alessandro Vittoria, which are held to be good figures, and a head, or
+rather, effigy from life of the above-named lord, with armour on the
+breast, executed in marble by Danese da Carrara. There are, in
+addition, other ornaments in abundance; prisoners, trophies, spoils of
+war, and others, of which there is no need to make mention.
+
+In Venice he made the model of the Convent of the Nuns of S. Biagio
+Catoldo, which was much extolled. It was then resolved at Verona to
+rebuild the Lazzaretto, a dwelling, or rather, hospital, which serves
+for the sick in times of plague, the old one having been destroyed
+together with other edifices that had been in the suburbs; and Michele
+was commissioned to make a design for this (which proved to be
+beautiful beyond all expectations), to the end that it might be put
+into execution on a spot near the river, at some distance from the
+city and beyond the esplanade. But this design, truly most beautiful
+and excellently well considered in every part, which is now in the
+possession of the heirs of Luigi Brugnuoli, Michele's nephew, was not
+carried completely into execution by certain persons, by reason of
+their little judgment and poverty of spirit, but much restricted,
+curtailed, and reduced to mean proportions by those persons, who used
+the authority that they had received in the matter from the public in
+disfiguring the work, in consequence of the untimely death of some
+gentlemen who were in charge of it at the beginning, and who had a
+greatness of spirit equal to their nobility of blood.
+
+A work of Michele's, likewise, was the very beautiful palace that the
+noble Counts of Canossa have at Verona, which was built at the
+commission of the very reverend Monsignor di Bajus, who once was Count
+Lodovico Canossa, a man so much celebrated by all the writers of his
+time. For the same Monsignor Michele built another magnificent palace
+in the Villa of Grezzano, in the Veronese territory. Under the
+direction of the same architect the fa�ade of the Counts Bevilacqua
+was reconstructed, and all the apartments were restored in the castle
+of those lords, called La Bevilacqua. And at Verona, likewise, he
+built the house and fa�ade of the Lavezzoli, which were much extolled.
+
+In Venice he built from the foundations the very rich and magnificent
+palace of the Cornaro family, near S. Polo, and restored another
+palace, also of the Cornaro family, which is by S. Benedetto
+all'Albore, for M. Giovanni Cornaro, of whom Michele was much the
+friend; and this led to Giorgio Vasari painting nine pictures in oils
+for the ceiling of a magnificent apartment, all adorned with woodwork
+carved and richly overlaid with gold, in that palace. In like manner,
+he restored the house of the Bragadini, opposite to S. Marina, and
+made it very commodious and ornate. And in the same city he founded
+and raised above the ground after a model of his own, at incredible
+cost, the marvellous palace of the most noble M. Girolamo Grimani,
+near S. Luca, on the Grand Canal; but Michele, being overtaken by
+death, was not able to carry it to completion himself, and the other
+architects chosen in his stead by that nobleman altered his design and
+model in many parts.
+
+Near Castelfranco, on the borders of the territories of Padua and
+Treviso, there was built under the direction of the same Michele the
+most famous Palace of the Soranzi, called by that family La Soranza;
+which palace is held to be, for a country residence, the most
+beautiful and the most commodious that had been built in those parts
+up to that time. He also built the Casa Cornara at Piombino, in that
+territory, and so many other private houses, that it would make too
+long a story to attempt to speak of them all; let it be enough to have
+made mention of the most important. I will not, indeed, refrain from
+recording that he made most beautiful gates for two palaces, one of
+which was that of the Rectors and of the Captain, and the other that
+of the Palazzo del Podest�, both in Verona and worthy of the highest
+praise, although the latter, which is in the Ionic Order, with double
+columns and very ornate intercolumniations, and some Victories at the
+angles, has a somewhat dwarfed appearance by reason of the lowness of
+the site where it stands, particularly because it is without pedestals
+and very wide on account of the double columns; but such was the wish
+of Messer Giovanni Delfini, who had it made.
+
+While Michele was enjoying a tranquil ease in his native place, and
+the reputation and renown that his honourable labours had brought him,
+there came to him a piece of news that so afflicted him, that it
+finished the course of his life. But to the end that the whole may be
+better understood, and that all the beautiful works of the San Michele
+family may be made known in this Life, I shall say something of Gian
+Girolamo, the kinsman of Michele.
+
+[Illustration: PALAZZO GRIMANI
+
+(_After =Michele San Michele=. Venice_)
+
+_Anderson_]
+
+This Gian Girolamo, then, was the son of Paolo, the cousin of
+Michele, and, being a young man of very beautiful genius, was
+instructed with such diligence by Michele in the matters of
+architecture, and so beloved by him, that he would always have the
+young man with him in all undertakings of importance, and particularly
+in fortifications. Having therefore become in a short time so
+excellent, with the help of such a master, that the most difficult
+work of fortification could be entrusted to him, in which manner of
+architecture he took particular delight, his ability was recognized by
+the Signori of Venice, and he was placed with a good salary among the
+number of their architects, although he was very young, and then sent
+now to one place and now to another, to inspect and restore the
+fortresses of their dominion, and at times to carry into execution the
+designs of his kinsman Michele. And, among other places, he took part
+with much judgment and labour in the fortification of Zara, and in the
+marvellous fortress of S. Niccol� at Sebenico, placed, as has been
+mentioned, at the mouth of the port; which fortress, erected by him
+from the very foundations, is held to be, for a private fortress, one
+of the strongest and best designed that there are to be seen. He also
+reconstructed after his own designs, with the advice of his kinsman,
+the great fortress of Corfu, which is considered the key of Italy on
+that side. In this fortress, I say, Gian Girolamo rebuilt the two
+great towers that face towards the land, making them much larger and
+stronger than they were before, with open embrasures and platforms
+that flank the ditch in the modern manner, after the invention of his
+kinsman. He then caused the ditches to be made much wider than they
+were before, and had a hill levelled, which, being near the fortress,
+appeared to command it. But, besides the many other works that he did
+there with great consideration, what gave most satisfaction was that
+in one corner of the fortress he made a place of great size and
+strength, in which in time of siege the people of that island can stay
+in safety without any danger of being captured by the enemy.
+
+On account of these works Gian Girolamo came into such credit with the
+above-named Signori, that they ordained him a salary equal to that of
+his kinsman, judging him to be not inferior to Michele, and even
+superior in that work of fortification: which gave the greatest
+contentment to San Michele, who saw his own art advancing in the
+person of his relative in proportion as old age was taking away from
+himself the power to go further. Gian Girolamo, besides his great
+judgment in recognizing the nature of different sites, showed much
+industry in having them represented by designs and models in relief,
+insomuch that he enabled his patrons to see even the most minute
+details of his fortifications in very beautiful models of wood that he
+would cause to be made; which diligence pleased them vastly, for
+without leaving Venice they saw every day how matters were proceeding
+in the most distant parts of their State. In order that they might be
+the more readily seen by everyone, these models were kept in the
+Palazzo del Principe, in a place where the Signori could examine them
+at their convenience; and to the end that Gian Girolamo might continue
+to pursue that course, they not only reimbursed him the expenses that
+he incurred in making the above-mentioned models, but also showed him
+many other courtesies.
+
+Gian Girolamo could have gone to serve many lords, with large
+salaries, but he would never leave his Venetian Signori; nay, at the
+advice of his father and his kinsman Michele, he took a wife in
+Verona, a noble young woman of the Fracastoro family, with the
+intention of always living in those parts. But he had been not more
+than a few days with his beloved bride, who was called Madonna
+Ortensia, when he was summoned by his patrons to Venice, and thence
+sent in great haste to Cyprus to inspect every place in that island,
+orders having been given to all the officials that they should provide
+him with all that he might require for any purpose. Having then
+arrived in that island, in three months Gian Girolamo went all round
+it and diligently inspected everything, putting every detail into
+writing and drawing, in order to be able to give an account of the
+whole to his masters. But, while he was attending with too much care
+and solicitude to his office, paying little regard to his own life, in
+the burning heat which prevailed at that time in the island he fell
+sick of a pestilential fever, which robbed him of life in six days;
+although some said that he had been poisoned. However that may have
+been, he died content in being in the service of his masters and
+employed by them in works of importance, knowing that they had trusted
+more in his fidelity and his skill in fortification than in those of
+any other man. The moment that he fell sick, knowing that he was
+dying, he gave all the drawings and writings that he had prepared on
+the works in that island into the hands of the architect Luigi
+Brugnuoli, his kinsman by marriage (who was then engaged in the
+fortification of Famagosta, which is the key of that kingdom), to the
+end that he might carry them to his masters.
+
+When the news of Gian Girolamo's death arrived in Venice, there was
+not one of the Senate who did not feel indescribable sorrow at the
+loss of such a man, who had been so devoted to that Republic. Gian
+Girolamo died at the age of forty-five, and received honourable burial
+from his above-named kinsman in S. Niccol� at Famagosta. Then, having
+returned to Venice, Brugnuoli presented Gian Girolamo's drawings and
+writings; which done, he was sent to give completion to the
+fortifications of Legnago, where he had spent many years in executing
+the designs and models of his uncle. But he had not been long in that
+place when he died, leaving two sons, who are men of passing good
+ability in design and in the practice of architecture. Bernardino, the
+elder, has now many undertakings on his hands, such as the building of
+the campanile of the Duomo, that of S. Giorgio, and that of the church
+called the Madonna di Campagna, in which and other works that he is
+directing at Verona and other places, he is succeeding excellently
+well; and particularly in the ornamental work of the principal chapel
+of S. Giorgio at Verona, which is of the composite order, and such
+that in size, design, and workmanship, the people of Verona declare
+that they do not believe that there is one equal to it to be found in
+Italy. This work, which follows the curve of the recess, is of the
+Corinthian Order, with composite capitals and double columns in full
+relief, and pilasters behind. In like manner, the frontispiece which
+surmounts the whole also curves in very masterly fashion according to
+the shape of the recess, and has all the ornaments which that Order
+embraces. Wherefore Monsignor Barbaro, Patriarch-elect of Aquileia, a
+man with a great knowledge of the profession, who has written of it,
+on his return from the Council of Trent saw not without marvel all
+that had been done in that work, and that which was being done every
+day; and, after considering it several times, he had to say that he
+had never seen the like, and that nothing better could be done. And
+let this suffice as a proof of what may be expected from the genius of
+Bernardino, who was born on the mother's side from the San Michele
+family.
+
+But let us return to Michele, from whom we digressed, not without
+reason, some little time back. He was struck by such grief at the
+death of Gian Girolamo, in whom he saw the house of San Michele become
+extinct, since his kinsman left no children, that, although he strove
+to conquer or conceal it, in a few days he was overcome by a malignant
+fever, to the inconsolable sorrow of his country and of his most
+illustrious patrons. Michele died in the year 1559, and was buried in
+S. Tommaso, a church of Carmelite Friars, where there is the ancient
+burial-place of his forefathers; and at the present day Messer Niccol�
+San Michele, a physician, has set his hand to erecting him an
+honourable tomb, which is even now being carried into execution.
+
+Michele was a man of most upright life, and most honourable in his
+every action. He was a cheerful person, yet with an admixture of
+seriousness. He feared God, and was very religious, insomuch that he
+would never set himself to do anything in the morning without having
+first heard Mass devoutly and said his prayers; and at the beginning
+of any undertaking of importance, in the morning, before doing any
+other thing, he would always have the Mass of the Holy Spirit or of
+the Madonna solemnly chanted. He was very liberal, and so courteous
+with his friends, that they were as much masters of his possessions as
+he was himself. And I will not withhold a proof of his great loyalty
+and goodness, which I believe few others know besides myself. When
+Giorgio Vasari, of whom, as has been told, he was much the friend,
+parted from him for the last time in Venice, Michele said to him: "I
+would have you know, Messer Giorgio, that, when I was in my youth at
+Monte Fiascone, I became enamoured, as fortune would have it, of the
+wife of a stone-cutter, and received from her complaisance all that I
+desired; but no one ever heard of it from me. Now, having heard that
+the poor woman has been left a widow, with a daughter ready for a
+husband, whom she says she conceived by me, I wish--although it may
+well be that this is not true, and such is my belief--that you should
+take to her these fifty crowns of gold and give them to her on my
+part, for the love of God, to the end that she may use them for her
+advantage and settle her daughter according to her station." Giorgio,
+therefore, going to Rome, and arriving at Monte Fiascone, although the
+good woman freely confessed to him that the girl was not the daughter
+of Michele, insisted, in obedience to Michele's command, on paying her
+the fifty crowns, which were as welcome to that poor woman as five
+hundred would have been to another.
+
+Michele, then, was courteous beyond the courtesy of any other man,
+insomuch that he no sooner heard of the needs and desires of his
+friends, than he sought to gratify them, even to the spending of his
+life; nor did any person ever do him a service that was not repaid
+many times over. Giorgio Vasari once made for him in Venice, with the
+greatest diligence at his command, a large drawing in which the proud
+Lucifer and his followers, vanquished by the Angel Michael, could be
+seen raining headlong down from Heaven into the horrible depths of
+Hell; and at that time Michele did not do anything but thank Giorgio
+for it when he took leave of him. But not many days after, returning
+to Arezzo, Giorgio found that San Michele had sent long before to his
+mother, who lived at Arezzo, a quantity of presents beautiful and
+honourable enough to be the gifts of a very rich nobleman, with a
+letter in which he did her great honour for love of her son.
+
+Many times the Signori of Venice offered to increase his salary, but
+he refused, always praying that they should increase his kinsmen's
+salaries instead of his own. In short, Michele was in his every action
+so gentle, courteous, and loving, that he made himself rightly beloved
+by innumerable lords; by Cardinal de' Medici, who became Pope Clement
+VII, while he was in Rome; by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, who became
+Paul III; by the divine Michelagnolo Buonarroti; by Signor Francesco
+Maria, Duke of Urbino; and by a vast number of noblemen and senators
+of Venice. At Verona he was much the friend of Fra Marco de' Medici, a
+man of great learning and infinite goodness, and of many others of
+whom there is no need at present to make mention.
+
+Now, in order not to have to turn back in a short time to speak of the
+Veronese, taking the opportunity presented by the masters mentioned
+above, I shall make mention in this place of some painters from that
+country, who are still alive and worthy to be named, and by no means
+to be passed over in silence. The first of these is Domenico del
+Riccio, who has painted in fresco, mostly in chiaroscuro and partly in
+colour, three fa�ades of the house of Fiorio della Seta at Verona, on
+the Ponte Nuovo--that is, the three that do not look out upon the
+bridge, the house standing by itself. In one, over the river, are
+battles of sea-monsters, in another the battles of the Centaurs and
+many rivers, and in the third two pictures in colour. In the first of
+these, which is over the door, is the Table of the Gods, and in the
+other, over the river, is the fable of the nuptials between the
+Benacus, called the Lake of Garda, and the Nymph Caris, in the person
+of Garda, from whom is born the River Mincio, which in fact issues
+from that lake. In the same house is a large frieze wherein are some
+Triumphs in colour, executed in a beautiful and masterly manner. In
+the house of Messer Pellegrino Ridolfi, also at Verona, the same
+master painted the Coronation of the Emperor Charles V, and the scene
+when, after being crowned in Bologna, he rides with the Pope through
+the city in great pomp. In oils he has painted the principal
+altar-piece of the church that the Duke of Mantua has built recently
+near the Castello, in which is the Beheading and Martyrdom of S.
+Barbara, painted with much diligence and judgment. And what moved the
+Duke to have that altar-piece executed by Domenico was his having seen
+and much liked his manner in an altar-piece that Domenico had painted
+long before for the Chapel of S. Margherita in the Duomo of Mantua, in
+competition with Paolino,[11] who painted that of S. Antonio, with
+Paolo Farinato, who executed that of S. Martino, and with Battista del
+Moro, who painted that of the Magdalene; all which four Veronese had
+been summoned thither by Cardinal Ercole of Mantua, in order to adorn
+that church, which had been reconstructed by him after the design of
+Giulio Romano. Other works has Domenico executed in Verona, Vicenza,
+and Venice, but it must suffice to have spoken of those named. He is
+an honest and excellent craftsman, and, in addition to his painting,
+he is a very fine musician, and one of the first in the most noble
+Philharmonic Academy of Verona.
+
+         [Footnote 11: Paolo Caliari or Veronese.]
+
+Not inferior to him will be his son Felice, who, although still young,
+has proved himself a painter out of the ordinary in an altar-piece
+that he has executed for the Church of the Trinita, in which are the
+Madonna and six other Saints, all of the size of life. Nor is this any
+marvel, for the young man learned his art in Florence, living in the
+house of Bernardo Canigiani, a Florentine gentleman and a crony of his
+father Domenico.
+
+In the same Verona, also, lives Bernardino, called L'India, who,
+besides many other works, has painted the Fable of Psyche in most
+beautiful figures on the ceiling of a chamber in the house of Count
+Marc'Antonio del Tiene. And he has painted another chamber, with
+beautiful inventions and a lovely manner of painting, for Count
+Girolamo of Canossa.
+
+A much extolled painter, also, is Eliodoro Forbicini, a young man of
+most beautiful genius and of considerable skill in every manner of
+painting, but particularly in making grotesques, as may be seen in the
+two chambers mentioned above and in other places where he has worked.
+
+In like manner Battista da Verona, who is called thus, and not
+otherwise, out of his own country, after having learned the first
+rudiments of painting from an uncle at Verona, placed himself with the
+excellent Tiziano in Venice, under whom he has become a very good
+painter. When a young man, this Battista painted in company with
+Paolino a hall in the Palace of the Paymaster and Assessor Portesco at
+Tiene in the territory of Vicenza; where they executed a vast number
+of figures, which acquired credit and repute for both the one and the
+other. With the same Paolino he executed many works in fresco in the
+Palace of the Soranza at Castelfranco, both having been sent to work
+there by Michele San Michele, who loved them as his sons. And with
+him, also, he painted the fa�ade of the house of M. Antonio Cappello,
+which is on the Grand Canal in Venice; and then, still together, they
+painted the ceiling, or rather, soffit in the Hall of the Council of
+Ten, dividing the pictures between them. Not long afterwards, having
+been summoned to Vicenza, Battista executed many works there, both
+within and around the city; and recently he has painted the fa�ade of
+the Monte della Piet�, wherein he has executed an infinite number of
+nude figures in various attitudes, larger than life, with very good
+design, and all in so few months, that it has been a marvel. And if he
+has done so much at so early an age (for he is not yet past thirty),
+everyone may imagine what may be expected of him in the course of his
+life.
+
+A Veronese, likewise, is one Paolino, a painter who is in very good
+repute in Venice at the present day, in that, although he is not yet
+more than thirty years of age, he has executed many works worthy of
+praise. This master, who was born at Verona to a stone-cutter, or, as
+they say in those parts, a stone-hewer, after having learned the
+rudiments of painting from Giovanni Caroto of Verona, painted in
+fresco, in company with the above-named Battista, the hall of the
+Paymaster and Assessor Portesco at Tiene, in the Vicentino; and
+afterwards at the Soranza, with the same companion, many works
+executed with good design and judgment and a beautiful manner. At
+Masiera, near Asolo in the Trevisano, he has painted the very
+beautiful house of Signor Daniello Barbaro, Patriarch-elect of
+Aquileia. At Verona, for the Refectory of S. Nazzaro, a monastery of
+Black Friars, he has painted in a large picture on canvas the supper
+that Simon the Leper gave to Our Lord, when the woman of sin threw
+herself at His feet, with many figures, portraits from life, and very
+rare perspective-views; and under the table are two dogs so beautiful
+that they appear real and alive, and further away certain cripples
+executed excellently well.
+
+[Illustration: THE FEAST IN THE HOUSE OF LEVI
+
+(_After the painting by =Paolo Veronese [Paolino _or_ Caliari]=. Venice:
+Accademia, 203_)
+
+_Anderson_]
+
+By the hand of Paolino, in the Hall of the Council of Ten at Venice,
+in an oval that is larger than certain others that are there, placed,
+as the principal one, in the centre of the ceiling, is a Jove who is
+driving away the Vices, in order to signify that that supreme and
+absolute tribunal drives away vice and chastises wicked and vicious
+men. The same master painted the soffit, or rather, ceiling of the
+Church of S. Sebastiano, which is a very rare work, and the
+altar-piece of the principal chapel, together with some pictures that
+serve to adorn it, and likewise the doors of the organ; which are all
+pictures truly worthy of the highest praise. In the Hall of the Grand
+Council he painted a large picture of Frederick Barbarossa presenting
+himself to the Pope, with a good number of figures varied in their
+costumes and vestments, all most beautiful and representing worthily
+the Court of a Pope and an Emperor, and also a Venetian Senate, with
+many noblemen and Senators of that Republic, portrayed from life. In
+short, this work is such in its grandeur and design, and in the beauty
+and variety of the attitudes, that it is rightly extolled by everyone.
+After this scene, Paolino painted the ceilings of certain chambers,
+which are used by that Council of Ten, with figures in oils, which are
+much foreshortened and very rare.
+
+In like manner, he painted in fresco the fa�ade of the house of a
+merchant, which was a very beautiful work, on the road from S.
+Maurizio to S. Mois�; but the wind from the sea is little by little
+destroying it. For Camillo Trevisani, at Murano, he painted a loggia
+and an apartment in fresco, which were much extolled. And in S.
+Giorgio Maggiore at Venice, at the head of a large apartment, he
+painted in oils the Marriage of Cana in Galilee, which was a
+marvellous work for its grandeur, the number of figures, the variety
+of costumes, and the invention; and, if I remember right, there are to
+be seen in it more than one hundred and fifty heads, all varied and
+executed with great diligence.
+
+The same Paolino was commissioned by the Procurators of S. Mark to
+paint certain angular medallions that are in the ceiling of the Nicene
+Library, which was left to the Signoria by Cardinal Bessarion, with a
+vast treasure of Greek books. Now the above-named lords, when they had
+the painting of that library begun, promised a prize of honour, in
+addition to the ordinary payment, to him who should acquit himself
+best in painting it; and the pictures were divided among the best
+painters that there were at that time in Venice. When the work was
+finished and the pictures painted had been very well considered, a
+chain of gold was placed round the neck of Paolino, he being the man
+who was judged to have done better than all the others. The picture
+that gave him the victory and the prize of honour was that wherein he
+painted Music, in which are depicted three very beautiful young women,
+one of whom, the most beautiful, is playing a great bass-viol, looking
+down at the fingerboard of the instrument, the attitude of her person
+showing that her ear and her voice are fixed intently on the sound;
+and of the other two, one is playing a lute, and the other singing
+from a book. Near these women is a Cupid without wings, who is playing
+a harpsichord, signifying that Love is born from Music, or rather,
+that Love is always in company with Music; and, because he never parts
+from her, Paolino made him without wings. In the same picture he
+painted Pan, the God, according to the poets, of shepherds, with
+certain pipes made of the bark of trees, as it were consecrated to him
+as votive offerings by shepherds who have been victorious in playing
+them. Two other pictures Paolino painted in the same place; in one is
+Arithmetic, with certain Philosophers dressed in the ancient manner,
+and in the other is Honour, seated on a throne, to whom sacrifices are
+being offered and royal crowns presented. But, seeing that this young
+man is at this very moment at the height of his activity and not yet
+in his thirty-second year, I shall say nothing more of him for the
+present.
+
+[Illustration: VENICE ENTHRONED, WITH JUSTICE AND PEACE
+
+(_After the painting by =Paolo Veronese [Paolino _or_ Caliari]=. Venice:
+Ducal Palace_)
+
+_Anderson_]
+
+Likewise a Veronese is Paolo Farinato, an able painter, who, after
+having been a disciple of Niccol� Ursino,[12] has executed many works
+at Verona. The most important are a hall in the house of the
+Fumanelli, which he filled with various scenes in fresco-colours at
+the desire of Messer Antonio, a gentleman of that family, most famous
+as physician over all Europe, and two very large pictures in the
+principal chapel of S. Maria in Organo. In one of these is the story
+of the Innocents, and in the other is the scene when the Emperor
+Constantine causes a number of children to be brought before him,
+intending to kill them and to bathe in their blood, in order to cure
+himself of his leprosy. Then in the recess of that chapel are two
+pictures, large, but smaller than the others, in one of which is
+Christ receiving S. Peter, who is walking towards Him on the water,
+and in the other the dinner that S. Gregory gives to certain poor men.
+In all these works, which are much to be extolled, is a vast number
+of figures, executed with good design, study, and diligence. By the
+hand of the same master is an altar-picture of S. Martino that was
+placed in the Duomo of Mantua, which he executed in competition with
+others his compatriots, as has just been related.
+
+         [Footnote 12: Giolfino.]
+
+And let this be the end of the Lives of the excellent Michele San
+Michele and of those other able men of Verona, so truly worthy of all
+praise on account of their excellence in the arts and their great
+talents.
+
+
+
+
+GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI, CALLED IL SODOMA
+
+
+
+[Illustration: GIOVANNI ANTONIO (IL SODOMA): THE VISION OF S.
+CATHARINE
+
+(_Siena: S. Domenico. Fresco_)]
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI, CALLED IL SODOMA
+
+PAINTER OF VERCELLI
+
+
+If men were to recognize their position when Fortune presents to them
+the opportunity to become rich, obtaining for them the favour of great
+persons, and were to exert themselves in their youth to make their
+merit equal to their good fortune, marvellous results would be seen to
+issue from their actions; whereas very often the contrary is seen to
+happen, for the reason that, even as it is true that he who trusts
+only in Fortune generally finds himself deceived, so it is very clear,
+as experience teaches us every day, that merit alone, likewise, if not
+accompanied by Fortune, does not do great things. If Giovanni Antonio
+of Vercelli, even as he had good fortune, had possessed an equal dower
+of merit, as he could have done if he had studied, he would not have
+been reduced to madness and miserable want in old age at the end of
+his life, which was always eccentric and beastly.
+
+Now Giovanni Antonio was taken to Siena by some merchants, agents of
+the Spannocchi family, and his good fortune, or perhaps his bad
+fortune, would have it that, not finding any competition for a time in
+that city, he should work there alone; which, although it was some
+advantage to him, was in the end injurious, for the reason that he
+went to sleep, as it were, and never studied, but did most of his work
+by rule of thumb. And, if he did study a little, it was only in
+drawing the works of Jacopo della Fonte, which were much esteemed, and
+in little else. In the beginning he executed many portraits from life
+with that glowing manner of colouring which he had brought from
+Lombardy, and he thus made many friendships in Siena, more because
+that people is very kindly disposed towards strangers than because he
+was a good painter; and, besides this, he was a gay and licentious
+man, keeping others entertained and amused with his manner of living,
+which was far from creditable. In which life, since he always had
+about him boys and beardless youths, whom he loved more than was
+decent, he acquired the by-name of Sodoma; and in this name, far from
+taking umbrage or offence, he used to glory, writing about it songs
+and verses in terza rima, and singing them to the lute with no little
+facility. He delighted, in addition, to have about the house many
+kinds of extraordinary animals; badgers, squirrels, apes, marmosets,
+dwarf asses, horses, barbs for running races, little horses from Elba,
+jays, dwarf fowls, Indian turtle-doves, and other suchlike animals, as
+many as he could lay his hands on. But, besides all these beasts, he
+had a raven, which had learned from him to speak so well, that in some
+things it imitated exactly the voice of Giovanni Antonio, and
+particularly in answering to anyone who knocked at the door, doing
+this so excellently that it seemed like Giovanni Antonio himself, as
+all the people of Siena know very well. In like manner, the other
+animals were so tame that they always flocked round anybody in the
+house, playing the strangest pranks and the maddest tricks in the
+world, insomuch that the man's house looked like a real Noah's Ark.
+
+[Illustration: SCENE FROM THE LIFE OF S. BENEDICT
+
+(_After the fresco by =Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma]=. Monte
+Oliveto Maggiore_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+Now this manner of living and his eccentric ways, with his works and
+pictures, wherein he did indeed achieve something of the good, caused
+him to have such a name among the people of Siena--that is, among the
+populace and the common herd, for the people of quality knew him
+better--that he was held by many to be a great man. Whereupon, Fra
+Domenico da Lecco, a Lombard, having been made General of the Monks of
+Monte Oliveto, Sodoma went to visit him at Monte Oliveto di Chiusuri,
+the principal seat of that Order, distant fifteen miles from Siena;
+and he so contrived with his persuasive words, that he was
+commissioned to finish the stories of the life of S. Benedict, part of
+which had been executed on a wall by Luca Signorelli of Cortona. This
+work he finished for a small enough price, besides the expenses that
+he incurred, and those of certain lads and colour-grinders who
+assisted him; nor would it be possible to describe the amusement
+that he gave while he was labouring at that place to those fathers,
+who called him Il Mattaccio,[13] in the mad pranks that he played.
+
+         [Footnote 13: Madcap or buffoon.]
+
+[Illustration: SCENE FROM THE LIFE OF S. BENEDICT
+
+(_After the fresco by =Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma]=. Monte
+Oliveto Maggiore_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+But to return to the work. Having executed there certain scenes, which
+he hurried over mechanically and without diligence, and the General
+complaining of this, Mattaccio said that he worked as he felt
+inclined, and that his brush danced to the tune of money, so that, if
+the General consented to spend more, he was confident that he could do
+much better. The General having therefore promised that he would pay
+him better for the future, Giovanni Antonio painted three scenes,
+which still remained to be executed in the corners, with so much more
+study and diligence than he had shown in the others, that they proved
+to be much finer. In one of these is S. Benedict departing from Norcia
+and from his father and mother, in order to go to study in Rome; in
+the second, S. Mauro and S. Placido as children, presented to him and
+offered to God by their fathers; and in the third, the Goths burning
+Monte Cassino. For the last, in order to do despite to the General and
+the Monks, he painted the story of the priest Fiorenzo, the enemy of
+S. Benedict, bringing many loose women to dance and sing around the
+monastery of that holy man, in order to tempt the purity of those
+fathers. In this scene Sodoma, who was as shameless in his painting as
+in his other actions, painted a dance of nude women, altogether lewd
+and shameful; and, since he would not have been allowed to do it, as
+long as he was at work he would never let any of the monks see it.
+Wherefore, when the scene was uncovered, the General wished by hook or
+by crook to throw it to the ground and utterly destroy it; but
+Mattaccio, after much foolish talk, seeing that father in anger,
+clothed all the naked women in that work, which is one of the best
+that are there. Under each of these scenes he painted two medallions,
+and in each medallion a friar, to represent all the Generals who had
+ruled that congregation. And, since he had not their portraits from
+life, Mattaccio did most of the heads from fancy, and in some he
+portrayed old friars who were in the monastery at that time, and in
+the end he came to paint the head of the above-named Fra Domenico da
+Lecco, who was their General in those days, as has been related, and
+was causing him to execute that work. But, after some of those heads
+had lost the eyes, and others had been damaged, Fra Antonio
+Bentivogli, the Bolognese, caused them all to be removed, for good
+reasons.
+
+Now, while Mattaccio was executing these scenes, there had gone
+thither, to assume the habit of a monk, a Milanese nobleman, who had a
+yellow cloak trimmed with black cords, such as was worn at that time;
+and, after he had put on the monk's habit, the General gave that cloak
+to Mattaccio, who, by means of a mirror, painted a portrait of himself
+with it on his back in one of the scenes, wherein S. Benedict, still
+almost a child, miraculously puts together and mends the corn-measure,
+or rather, tub, of his nurse, which she had broken. At the feet of the
+portrait he painted a raven, an ape, and others of his animals. This
+work finished, he painted the story of the five loaves and two fishes,
+with other figures, in the Refectory of the Monastery of S. Anna, a
+seat of the same Order, distant five miles from Monte Oliveto; which
+work completed, he returned to Siena. There, at the Postierla, he
+painted in fresco the fa�ade of the house of M. Agostino de' Bardi of
+Siena, in which were some things worthy of praise, but for the most
+part they have been consumed by time and the weather.
+
+[Illustration: THE MARRIAGE OF ALEXANDER AND ROXANA
+
+(_Detail, after the fresco by =Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma]=.
+Rome: Villa Farnesina_)
+
+_Braun_]
+
+During this time there arrived in Siena Agostino Chigi, a very rich
+and famous merchant of that city, and he became acquainted with
+Giovanni Antonio, both on account of his follies and because he had
+the name of a good painter. Wherefore he took him in his company to
+Rome, where Pope Julius II was then causing the Papal apartments in
+the Palace of the Vatican, which Pope Nicholas V had formerly erected,
+to be painted; and Chigi so went to work with the Pope, that some
+painting was given also to Sodoma. Now Pietro Perugino, who was
+painting the ceiling of an apartment that is beside the Borgia Tower,
+was working at his ease, like the old man that he was, and was not
+able to set his hand to anything else, as he had been at first
+commanded to do: and there was given to Giovanni Antonio to paint
+another apartment, which is beside the one that Perugino was painting.
+Having therefore set his hand to it, he made the ornamentation of that
+ceiling with cornices, foliage, and friezes; and then, in some large
+medallions, he executed certain passing good scenes in fresco. But
+this animal, devoting his attention to his beasts and his follies,
+would not press the work forward; and therefore, after Raffaello da
+Urbino had been brought to Rome by the architect Bramante, and it had
+become known to the Pope how much he surpassed the others, his
+Holiness ordained that neither Perugino nor Giovanni Antonio should
+work any more in the above-named apartments; indeed, that everything
+should be thrown to the ground. But Raffaello, who was goodness and
+modesty in person, left standing all that had been done by Perugino,
+who had once been his master; and of Mattaccio's he destroyed nothing
+save the inner work and the figures of the medallions and scenes,
+leaving the friezes and the other ornaments, which are still round the
+figures that Raffaello painted there, which were Justice, Universal
+Knowledge, Poetry, and Theology.
+
+But Agostino, who was a gentleman, without paying any attention to the
+affront that Giovanni Antonio had received, commissioned him to paint
+in one of his principal apartments, which opens into the great hall in
+his Palace in the Trastevere, the story of Alexander going to sleep
+with Roxana. In that work, besides other figures, he painted a good
+number of Loves, some of whom are unfastening Alexander's cuirass,
+some are drawing off his boots, or rather, buskins, some are removing
+his helmet and dress, and putting them away; others scattering flowers
+over the bed, and others, again, doing other suchlike offices. Near
+the chimney-piece he painted a Vulcan forging arrows, which was held
+at that time to be a passing good and praiseworthy work; and if
+Mattaccio, who had beautiful gifts and was much assisted by Nature,
+had given his attention, after that reversal of fortune, to his
+studies, as any other man would have done, he would have made very
+great proficience. But he had his mind always set on his amusements,
+and he worked by caprice, caring for nothing so earnestly as for
+dressing in pompous fashion, wearing doublets of brocade, cloaks all
+adorned with cloth of gold, the richest caps, necklaces, and other
+suchlike fripperies only fit for clowns and charlatans; in which
+things Agostino, who liked the man's humour, found the greatest
+amusement in the world.
+
+Julius II having then come to his death, and Leo X having been
+elected, who took pleasure in eccentric and light-headed figures of
+fun such as our painter was, Mattaccio felt the greatest possible joy,
+particularly because he had an ill-will against Julius, who had done
+him that affront, wherefore, having set to work in order to make
+himself known to the new Pontiff, he painted in a picture the Roman
+Lucrece, nude, who was stabbing herself with a dagger; and, since
+Fortune takes care of madmen and sometimes aids the thoughtless, he
+succeeded in executing a most beautiful female body, and a head that
+was breathing. Which work finished, at the instance of Agostino Chigi,
+who was on terms of strait service with the Pope, he presented it to
+his Holiness, by whom he was made a Chevalier and rewarded for so
+beautiful a picture. Whereupon Giovanni Antonio, believing that he had
+become a great man, began to be disinclined to work any more, save
+when he was driven by necessity. But, after Agostino had gone on some
+business to Siena, taking Giovanni Antonio with him, while staying
+there he was forced, being a Chevalier without an income, to set
+himself to painting; and so he painted an altar-piece containing a
+Christ taken down from the Cross, on the ground Our Lady in a swoon,
+and a man in armour who, having his back turned, shows his front
+reflected in a helmet that is on the ground, bright as a mirror. This
+work, which was held to be, as it is, one of the best that he ever
+executed, was placed in S. Francesco, on the right hand as one enters
+the church. Then in the cloister that is beside the above-named
+church, he painted in fresco Christ scourged at the Column, with many
+Jews around Pilate, and with a range of columns drawn in perspective
+after the manner of wing-walls; in which work Giovanni Antonio made a
+portrait of himself without any beard--that is, shaven--and with the
+hair long, as it was worn at that time.
+
+Not long afterwards he executed some pictures for Signor Jacopo VI of
+Piombino, and, while living with him at that place, some other works
+on canvas. Wherefore by his means, besides many courtesies and
+presents that he received from him, Giovanni Antonio obtained from his
+island of Elba many little animals such as that island produces, all
+of which he took to Siena.
+
+[Illustration: S. SEBASTIAN
+
+(_After the painting by =Giovanni Antonio [Il Sodoma]=. Florence:
+Uffizi, 1279_)
+
+_Anderson_]
+
+Arriving next in Florence, a monk of the Brandolini family, Abbot of
+the Monastery of Monte Oliveto, which is without the Porta a S.
+Friano, caused him to paint some pictures in fresco on the wall of the
+refectory; but since, like a careless fellow, he did them without
+study, they proved to be such that he was derided and mocked at for
+his follies by those who were expecting that he would do some
+extraordinary work. Now, while he was engaged on that work, having
+taken a Barbary horse with him to Florence, he set it to run in the
+race of S. Barnaba; and, as fortune would have it, the horse ran so
+much better than the others, that it won. Whereupon, the boys having,
+as is the custom, to call out the name or by-name of the owner of the
+horse that had won, after the running of the race and the fanfare of
+trumpets, Giovanni Antonio was asked what name they were to call out;
+and, after he had replied, "Sodoma, Sodoma," the boys called out that
+name. But some honest old men, having heard that filthy name, began to
+protest against it and to say, "What filthy thing is this, and what
+ribaldry, that so vile a name should be cried through our city?"
+Insomuch that, a clamour arising, poor Sodoma came within an ace of
+being stoned by the boys and the populace, with his horse and the ape
+that he had with him on the crupper. Having in the space of many years
+got together many prizes, won in the same way by his horses, he took
+the greatest pride in the world in them, and showed them to all who
+came into his house; and very often he made a show of them at his
+windows.
+
+But to return to his works: he painted for the Company of S. Bastiano
+in Camollia, beyond the Church of the Umiliati, on a banner of cloth
+which is carried in processions, in oils, a nude S. Sebastian, bound
+to a tree, who is standing on the right leg, with the left in
+foreshortening, and raises the head towards an Angel who is placing a
+crown upon it. This work is truly beautiful, and much to be praised.
+On the reverse side is Our Lady with the Child in her arms, and below
+her are S. Gismondo, S. Rocco, and some Flagellants kneeling on the
+ground. It is said that some merchants of Lucca offered to give three
+hundred crowns of gold to the men of that Company for that picture,
+but did not obtain it, because the others did not wish to deprive
+their Company and the city of so rare a painting. And, in truth, in
+certain works--whether it was study, or good fortune, or
+chance--Sodoma acquitted himself very well; but of such he did very
+few. In the Sacristy of the Friars of the Carmine is a picture by the
+hand of the same master, wherein is a very beautiful Nativity of Our
+Lady, with some nurses; and on the corner near the Piazza de' Tolomei
+he painted in fresco, for the Guild of Shoemakers, a Madonna with the
+Child in her arms, S. John, S. Francis, S. Rocco, and S. Crispino, the
+Patron Saint of the men of that Guild, who has a shoe in his hand. In
+the heads of these figures, and in all the rest, Giovanni Antonio
+acquitted himself very well.
+
+In the Company of S. Bernardino of Siena, beside the Church of S.
+Francesco, he executed some scenes in fresco in competition with
+Girolamo del Pacchia, a Sienese painter, and Domenico Beccafumi--namely,
+the Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple, when she goes to visit S.
+Elizabeth, her Assumption, and when she is crowned in Heaven. In the
+angles of the same Company he painted a Saint in episcopal robes, S.
+Louis, and S. Anthony of Padua; but the best figure of all is a S.
+Francis, who, standing on his feet and raising his head, is gazing at a
+little Angel, who appears to be in the act of speaking to him; the head
+of which S. Francis is truly marvellous. In the Palazzo de' Signori at
+Siena, likewise, in a hall, he painted some little tabernacles full of
+columns and little children, with other ornaments; and within these
+tabernacles are various figures. In one is S. Vittorio armed in the
+ancient fashion, with the sword in his hand; near him, in the same
+manner, is S. Ansano, who is baptizing certain persons; in another is S.
+Benedict; and all are very beautiful. In the lower part of that Palace,
+where salt is sold, he painted a Christ who is returning to life, with
+some soldiers about the Sepulchre, and two little Angels, held to be
+passing beautiful in the heads. Farther on, over a door, is a Madonna
+with the Child in her arms, painted by him in fresco, and two Saints.
+
+[Illustration: S. ANSANO
+
+(_After the fresco by =Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma]=. Siena:
+Palazzo Pubblico_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+In S. Spirito he painted the Chapel of S. Jacopo, which he did at the
+commission of the men of the Spanish colony, who have their place of
+burial there; depicting there an image of the Madonna after the
+ancient manner, with S. Nicholas of Tolentino on the right hand, and,
+on the left, the Archangel S. Michael, who is slaying Lucifer. Above
+these, in a lunette, he painted Our Lady placing the sacerdotal
+habit upon a Saint, with some Angels around. Over all these figures,
+which are in oils on panel, there is painted in fresco, in the
+semicircle of the vaulting, a S. James in armour on a galloping horse,
+who has grasped his sword with a fiery gesture, and below him are many
+Turks, dead and wounded. Below all this, on the sides of the altar,
+are painted in fresco S. Anthony the Abbot and a nude S. Sebastian at
+the Column, which are held to be passing good works.
+
+[Illustration: S. FRANCIS
+
+(_After the fresco by =Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma]=. Siena: S.
+Bernardino, Oratory_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+In the Duomo of the same city, on the right hand as one enters the
+church, there is upon an altar a picture in oils by his hand, in which
+there are Our Lady with the Child on her knee, S. Joseph on one side,
+and S. Calixtus on the other; which work is likewise held to be very
+beautiful, because it is evident that in colouring it Sodoma showed
+much more diligence than he used to devote to his works. He also
+painted for the Company of the Trinity a bier for carrying the dead to
+burial, which was very beautiful; and he executed another for the
+Company of Death, which is held to be the most beautiful in Siena; and
+I believe that the latter is the finest that there is to be seen, for,
+besides that it is indeed much to be extolled, it is very seldom that
+such works are executed at much cost or with much diligence. In the
+Church of S. Domenico, in the Chapel of S. Caterina da Siena, where
+there is in a tabernacle the head of that Saint, enclosed in one of
+silver, Giovanni Antonio painted two scenes, which are one on either
+side of that tabernacle. In one, on the right hand, is that Saint
+when, having received the Stigmata from Jesus Christ, who is in the
+air, she lies half-dead in the arms of two of her sisters, who are
+supporting her; of which work Baldassarre Peruzzi, the painter of
+Siena, after considering it, said that he had never seen anyone
+represent better the expression of persons fainting and half-dead, or
+with more similitude to the reality, than Giovanni Antonio had
+contrived to do. And in truth it is so, as may be seen, apart from the
+work itself, from the design by Sodoma's own hand which I have in my
+book of drawings. On the left hand, in the other picture, is the scene
+when the Angel of God carries to the same Saint the Host of the most
+Holy Communion, and she, raising her head to Heaven, sees Jesus
+Christ and Mary the Virgin, while two of her sisters, her companions,
+stand behind her. In another scene, which is on the wall on the right
+hand, is painted the story of a criminal, who, going to be beheaded,
+would not be converted or commend himself to God, despairing of His
+mercy; when, the above-named Saint praying for him on her knees, her
+prayers were so acceptable to the goodness of God, that, when the
+felon's head was cut off, his soul was seen ascending to Heaven; such
+power with the mercy of God have the prayers of those saintly persons
+who are in His grace. In this scene is a very great number of figures,
+as to which no one should marvel if they are not of the highest
+perfection, for the reason that I have heard as a fact that Giovanni
+Antonio had sunk to such a pitch in his negligence and slothfulness,
+that he would make neither designs nor cartoons when he had any work
+of that kind to execute, but would attack the work by designing it
+with the brush directly on the plaster, which was a strange thing; in
+which method it is evident that this scene was executed by him. The
+same master also painted the arch in front of that chapel, making
+therein a God the Father. The other scenes in that chapel were not
+finished by him, partly from his own fault, he not choosing to work
+save by caprice, and partly because he had not been paid by him who
+was having the chapel painted. Below this is a God the Father, who has
+beneath Him a Virgin in the ancient manner, on panel, with S. Dominic,
+S. Gismondo, S. Sebastian, and S. Catharine.
+
+[Illustration: THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI
+
+(_After the painting by =Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma]=. Siena: S.
+Agostino_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+For S. Agostino, in an altar-piece that is on the right hand at the
+entrance into the church, he painted the Adoration of the Magi, which
+was held to be, and is, a good work, for the reason that, besides the
+Madonna, which is much extolled, the first of the three Magi, and
+certain horses, there is a head of a shepherd between two trees which
+has all the appearance of life. Over a gate of the city, called the
+Porta di S. Viene, he painted in fresco, in a large tabernacle, the
+Nativity of Jesus Christ, with some Angels in the air; and on the arch
+of that gate a child in foreshortening, very beautiful and in strong
+relief, which is intended to signify that the Word has been made
+Flesh. In this work Sodoma made a portrait of himself, with a beard,
+being now old, and with a brush in his hand, which is pointing to a
+scroll that says "Feci."
+
+He painted likewise in fresco the Chapel of the Commune at the foot of
+the Palace, in the Piazza, representing there Our Lady with the Child
+in her arms, upheld by some little Angels, S. Ansano, S. Vittorio, S.
+Augustine, and S. James; and above this, in a triangular lunette, he
+painted a God the Father with some Angels about Him. From this work it
+is evident that when he executed it he was beginning, as it were, to
+have no more love for art, having lost that certain quality of
+excellence that he used to have in his better days, by means of which
+he gave a certain air of beauty to his heads, which made them graceful
+and lovely. And this is manifestly true, for some works that he
+executed long before this one have quite another grace and another
+manner, as may be seen above the Postierla, from a wall in fresco over
+the door of the Captain Lorenzo Mariscotti, where there is a Dead
+Christ in the lap of His Mother, who has a marvellous divinity and
+grace. In like manner, a picture in oils of Our Lady, which he painted
+for Messer Enea Savini della Costerella, is much extolled, and also a
+canvas that he executed for Assuero Rettori of S. Martino, in which is
+the Roman Lucrece stabbing herself, while she is held by her father
+and her husband, all painted with much beauty of attitude and
+marvellous grace in the heads.
+
+Finally, perceiving that the devotion of the people of Siena was all
+turned to the talents and excellent works of Domenico Beccafumi, and
+possessing neither house nor revenues in Siena, and having by that
+time consumed almost all his property and become old and poor,
+Giovanni Antonio departed from Siena almost in despair and went off to
+Volterra. And there, as his good fortune would have it, chancing upon
+Messer Lorenzo di Galeotto de' Medici, a rich and honoured nobleman,
+he proceeded to live under his protection, with the intention of
+staying there a long time. And so, dwelling in the house of that
+nobleman, he painted for him on a canvas the Chariot of the Sun,
+which, having been badly guided by Pha�thon, is falling into the Po;
+but it is easy to see that he did that work to pass the time, and
+hurried through it by rule of thumb, without giving any thought to it,
+so entirely commonplace is it and so ill-considered. Then, having
+grown weary of living at Volterra and in the house of that nobleman,
+as one who was accustomed to being free, he departed and went off to
+Pisa, where, at the instance of Battista del Cervelliera, he executed
+two pictures for Messer Bastiano della Seta, the Warden of Works of
+the Duomo, which were placed in the recess behind the high-altar of
+that Duomo, beside those of Sogliani and Beccafumi. In one is the Dead
+Christ with Our Lady and the other Maries, and in the other Abraham
+sacrificing his son Isaac; but since these pictures did not succeed
+very well, the Warden, who had intended to make him paint some
+altar-pieces for the church, dismissed him, knowing that men who do
+not study, once they have lost in old age the quality of excellence
+that they had in their youth from nature, are left with a kind of
+facility of manner that is generally little to be praised. At that
+same time Giovanni Antonio finished an altar-piece that he had
+previously begun in oils for S. Maria della Spina, painting in it Our
+Lady with the Child in her arms, with S. Mary Magdalene and S.
+Catharine kneeling before her, and S. John, S. Sebastian, and S.
+Joseph standing at the sides; in all which figures he acquitted
+himself much better than in the two pictures for the Duomo.
+
+Then, having nothing more to do at Pisa, he made his way to Lucca,
+where, at S. Ponziano, a seat of the Monks of Monte Oliveto, an Abbot
+of his acquaintance caused him to paint a Madonna on the ascent of a
+staircase that leads to the dormitory. That work finished, he returned
+weary, old, and poor to Siena, where he did not live much longer; for
+he fell ill, through not having anyone to look after him or any means
+of sustenance, and went off to the Great Hospital, and there in a few
+weeks he finished the course of his life.
+
+[Illustration: THE SACRIFICE OF ISAAC
+
+(_After the painting by =Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma]=. Pisa:
+Duomo_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+Giovanni Antonio, when young and in good repute, took for his wife in
+Siena a girl born of a very good family, and had by her in the first
+year a daughter. But after that, having grown weary of her, because he
+was a beast, he would never see her more; and she, therefore,
+withdrawing by herself, lived always on her own earnings and on the
+interest of her dowry, bearing with great and endless patience the
+beastliness and the follies of that husband of hers, who was truly
+worthy of the name of Mattaccio which, as has been related, the Monks
+of Monte Oliveto gave him.
+
+Riccio of Siena, the disciple of Giovanni Antonio, a passing able and
+well-practised painter, having taken as his wife his master's
+daughter, who had been very well and decently brought up by her
+mother, became the heir to all the possessions connected with art of
+his wife's father. This Riccio, I say, has executed many beautiful and
+praiseworthy works at Siena and elsewhere, and has decorated with
+stucco and pictures in fresco a chapel in the Duomo of the above-named
+city, on the left hand as one enters the church; and he now lives at
+Lucca, where he has done, as he still continues to do, many beautiful
+works worthy to be extolled.
+
+A pupil of Giovanni Antonio, likewise, was a young man who was called
+Giomo del Sodoma; but, since he died young, and was not able to give
+more than a small proof of his genius and knowledge, there is no need
+to say more about him.
+
+Sodoma lived seventy-five years, and died in the year 1554.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX OF NAMES
+
+OF THE CRAFTSMEN MENTIONED IN VOLUME VII
+
+
+  Adone Doni, 128
+
+  Agnolo, Baccio d', 74
+
+  Agnolo, Battista d' (Battista del Moro), 236
+
+  Agnolo Bronzino, 29, 31, 113, 149, 158, 160, 163, 167, 168, 171, 172,
+    175, 176, 178, 182, 201
+
+  Agnolo di Cristofano, 70
+
+  Agnolo, Giuliano di Baccio d', 83-86, 88, 89, 102
+
+  Agostino Viniziano, 60, 63
+
+  Albertinelli, Mariotto, 108, 148
+
+  Albrecht D�rer, 163, 164, 166
+
+  Alessandro Vittoria, 228
+
+  Alfonso Berughetta (Alonzo Spagnuolo), 58
+
+  Alfonso Lombardi, 77
+
+  Alonzo Spagnuolo (Alfonso Berughetta), 58
+
+  Ammanati, Bartolommeo, 95, 96, 99, 100, 203, 206
+
+  Andrea, Maestro, 66
+
+  Andrea Contucci (Andrea Sansovino), 5, 9, 61, 62, 187, 189
+
+  Andrea da Fiesole (Andrea Ferrucci), 4
+
+  Andrea del Minga, 97
+
+  Andrea del Sarto, 4, 58, 59, 148-150, 152, 156, 157, 171, 188
+
+  Andrea di Cosimo Feltrini, 13, 149-152
+
+  Andrea Ferrucci (Andrea da Fiesole), 4
+
+  Andrea Pisano, 30
+
+  Andrea Sansovino (Andrea Contucci), 5, 9, 61, 62, 187, 189
+
+  Andrea Verrocchio, 56
+
+  Antonio da San Gallo (the elder), 74
+
+  Antonio da San Gallo (the younger), 9, 78, 119, 186, 189, 190, 193,
+    217, 218
+
+  Antonio di Domenico (Antonio di Donnino Mazzieri), 29
+
+  Antonio di Gino Lorenzi, 24
+
+  Antonio di Giovanni (Solosmeo da Settignano), 5, 79, 80
+
+  Antonio di Marco di Giano (Il Carota), 152
+
+  Aristotile (Bastiano) da San Gallo, 29
+
+
+  Bacchiacca, Il (Francesco Ubertini), 29
+
+  Baccio, Giovanni di (Nanni di Baccio Bigio), 81
+
+  Baccio Bandinelli (Baccio de' Brandini), _Life_, 55-103. 4, 27, 28,
+    42, 43, 55-103, 154, 187
+
+  Baccio d'Agnolo, 74
+
+  Baccio da Montelupo, 155
+
+  Baccio de' Brandini (Baccio Bandinelli), _Life_, 55-103. 4, 27, 28,
+    42, 43, 55-103, 154, 187
+
+  Bagnacavallo, Giovan Battista, 129
+
+  Baldassarre Lancia, 206
+
+  Baldassarre Peruzzi, 253
+
+  Bandinelli, Baccio (Baccio de' Brandini), _Life_, 55-103. 4, 27, 28,
+    42, 43, 55-103, 154, 187
+
+  Bandinelli, Clemente, 77, 94, 95, 98
+
+  Barba, Jacopo della, 71
+
+  Bartolommeo Ammanati, 95, 96, 99, 100, 203, 206
+
+  Bartolommeo di Jacopo di Martino, 147
+
+  Bartolommeo di San Marco, Fra, 108, 109, 148
+
+  Bartolommeo Genga, _Life_, 206-210. 203, 204
+
+  Bartolommeo Neroni (Riccio), 257
+
+  Bartolommeo San Michele, 217
+
+  Bastiano (Aristotile) da San Gallo, 29
+
+  Battista Cungi, 121, 122, 124, 125
+
+  Battista d'Agnolo (Battista del Moro), 236
+
+  Battista da Verona (Battista Farinati), 237, 238
+
+  Battista del Cervelliera, 256
+
+  Battista del Cinque, 12
+
+  Battista del Moro (Battista d'Agnolo), 236
+
+  Battista del Tasso, 13, 30, 31, 34, 35, 137
+
+  Battista della Bilia, 118
+
+  Battista Dossi, 201
+
+  Battista Farinati (Battista da Verona), 237, 238
+
+  Battista Franco, 28, 29, 203
+
+  Battista Naldini, 181, 182
+
+  Battista of Citt� di Castello, 118, 119
+
+  Bazzi, Giovanni Antonio (Il Sodoma), _Life_, 245-257
+
+  Beccafumi, Domenico, 252, 255, 256
+
+  Beceri, Domenico (Domenico Benci), 141
+
+  Bellucci, Giovan Battista (Giovan Battista San Marino),
+    _Life_, 210-213. 207
+
+  Benci, Domenico (Domenico Beceri), 141
+
+  Benedetto da Rovezzano, 4, 63, 64, 187
+
+  Benvenuto Cellini, 93, 94, 96, 97, 99, 100
+
+  Bernardino Brugnuoli, 226, 227, 233, 234
+
+  Bernardino India, 237
+
+  Bersuglia, Gian Domenico, 193
+
+  Bertoldo, 107
+
+  Berughetta, Alfonso (Alonzo Spagnuolo), 58
+
+  Bicci, Lorenzo di, 61
+
+  Bigio, Nanni di Baccio (Giovanni di Baccio), 81
+
+  Bilia, Battista della, 118
+
+  Bizzerra, 129
+
+  Bologna, Giovan, 100, 101
+
+  Bolognese, Marc'Antonio, 65
+
+  Borgo, Raffaello dal (Raffaello dal Colle), 117, 118, 120, 128, 129,
+    201
+
+  Bramante da Urbino, 249
+
+  Brandini, Baccio de' (Baccio Bandinelli), _Life_, 55-103. 4, 27, 28,
+    42, 43, 55-103, 154, 187
+
+  Bronzino, Agnolo, 29, 31, 113, 149, 158, 160, 163, 167, 168, 171,
+    172, 175, 176, 178, 182, 201
+
+  Brugnuoli, Bernardino, 226, 227, 233, 234
+
+  Brugnuoli, Luigi, 229, 233
+
+  Brunelleschi, Filippo, 87, 88, 167, 226
+
+  Brusciasorzi, Domenico (Domenico del Riccio), 236, 237
+
+  Brusciasorzi, Felice (Felice del Riccio), 237
+
+  Buda, Girolamo del, 56
+
+  Bugiardini, Giuliano, _Life_, 107-113
+
+  Buglioni, Santi, 29
+
+  Buonarroti, Michelagnolo, 10, 11, 14, 16, 28, 32, 44, 46, 48, 49, 57,
+    58, 61, 66-68, 71, 72, 75, 77, 81, 98, 99, 107, 108, 110-113, 151,
+    172, 173, 179, 194, 235
+
+
+  Cadore, Tiziano da (Tiziano Vecelli), 237
+
+  Caliari, Paolino or Paolo (Paolo Veronese), 236-240
+
+  Camillo Mantovano, 201
+
+  Carota, Il (Antonio di Marco di Giano), 152
+
+  Caroto, Giovanni, 238
+
+  Carrara, Danese da (Danese Cattaneo), 228
+
+  Carrucci, Jacopo (Jacopo da Pontormo), _Life_, 147-182. 31, 201
+
+  Cattaneo, Danese (Danese da Carrara), 228
+
+  Cavalieri, Tiberio, 50
+
+  Cellini, Benvenuto, 93, 94, 96, 97, 99, 100
+
+  Cervelliera, Battista del, 256
+
+  Cinque, Battista del, 12
+
+  Cioli, Simone, 9, 10, 189
+
+  Clemente Bandinelli, 77, 94, 95, 98
+
+  Colle, Raffaello dal (Raffaello dal Borgo), 117, 118, 120, 128, 129,
+    201
+
+  Conti, Domenico, 29
+
+  Contucci, Andrea (Andrea Sansovino), 5, 9, 61, 62, 187, 189
+
+  Cosimo, Piero di, 148
+
+  Cristofano, Agnolo di, 70
+
+  Cristofano Gherardi (Doceno), _Life_, 117-143
+
+  Cungi, Battista, 121, 122, 124, 125
+
+
+  Danese da Carrara (Danese Cattaneo), 228
+
+  Danti, Vincenzio, 100
+
+  David Fortini, 37
+
+  Doceno (Cristofano Gherardi), _Life_, 117-143
+
+  Domenico, Antonio di (Antonio di Donnino Mazzieri), 29
+
+  Domenico Beccafumi, 252, 255, 256
+
+  Domenico Beceri (Domenico Benci), 141
+
+  Domenico Brusciasorzi (Domenico del Riccio), 236, 237
+
+  Domenico Conti, 29
+
+  Domenico del Riccio (Domenico Brusciasorzi), 236, 237
+
+  Domenico Ghirlandajo, 108, 147
+
+  Donato (Donatello), 30, 56, 57, 62
+
+  Doni, Adone, 128
+
+  Dossi, Battista, 201
+
+  Dossi, Dosso, 201
+
+  D�rer, Albrecht, 163, 164, 166
+
+
+  Eliodoro Forbicini, 237
+
+
+  Fabro, Pippo del, 5
+
+  Fancelli, Giovanni, 97
+
+  Farinati, Battista (Battista da Verona), 237, 238
+
+  Farinato, Paolo, 236, 240, 241
+
+  Felice del Riccio (Felice Brusciasorzi), 237
+
+  Feltrini, Andrea di Cosimo, 13, 149-152
+
+  Ferrarese, Girolamo (Girolamo da Ferrara), 9, 10, 189
+
+  Fiesole, Andrea da (Andrea Ferrucci), 4
+
+  Filippo Brunelleschi, 87, 88, 167, 226
+
+  Filippo Lippi, Fra, 57
+
+  Fonte, Jacopo della (Jacopo della Quercia), 245
+
+  Forbicini, Eliodoro, 237
+
+  Forl�, Francesco da (Francesco Menzochi), 201, 204-206
+
+  Fortini, David, 37
+
+  Fra Bartolommeo di San Marco, 108, 109, 148
+
+  Fra Filippo Lippi, 57
+
+  Fra Giovanni Agnolo Montorsoli, 10, 11, 81, 82
+
+  Fra Sebastiano Viniziano del Piombo, 110, 111
+
+  Francesco da Forl� (Francesco Menzochi), 201, 204-206
+
+  Francesco da San Gallo (the younger), 9, 10, 189
+
+  Francesco de' Rossi (Francesco Salviati), 178, 205
+
+  Francesco del Tadda, 9, 10, 49
+
+  Francesco di Girolamo dal Prato, 72, 73
+
+  Francesco Granacci, 108
+
+  Francesco Menzochi (Francesco da Forl�), 201, 204-206
+
+  Francesco Moschino, 192, 194, 195
+
+  Francesco Salviati (Francesco de' Rossi), 178, 205
+
+  Francesco Ubertini (Il Bacchiacca), 29
+
+  Franciabigio, 70, 157, 171
+
+  Franco, Battista, 28, 29, 203
+
+
+  Galeotto, Pietro Paolo, 152
+
+  Genga, Bartolommeo, _Life_, 206-210. 203, 204
+
+  Genga, Girolamo, _Life_, 199-206. 207, 208, 210, 211
+
+  Gherardi, Cristofano (Doceno), _Life_, 117-143
+
+  Ghirlandajo, Domenico, 108, 147
+
+  Ghirlandajo, Michele di Ridolfo, 28
+
+  Ghirlandajo, Ridolfo, 28, 31, 155, 156
+
+  Gian Domenico Bersuglia, 193
+
+  Gian Girolamo San Michele, 219, 220, 222, 230-234
+
+  Giano, Antonio di Marco di (Il Carota), 152
+
+  Giolfino, Niccol� (Niccol� Ursino), 240
+
+  Giomo del Sodoma, 257
+
+  Giorgio Vasari. See Vasari (Giorgio)
+
+  Giovan Battista Bagnacavallo, 129
+
+  Giovan Battista Bellucci (Giovan Battista San Marino),
+    _Life_, 210-213. 207
+
+  Giovan Battista de' Rossi (Il Rosso), 58, 59, 117, 118, 149, 188
+
+  Giovan Battista San Marino (Giovan Battista Bellucci),
+    _Life_, 210-213. 207
+
+  Giovan Bologna, 100, 101
+
+  Giovan Francesco Rustici, 57, 66
+
+  Giovan Maria Pichi, 158
+
+  Giovanni, Antonio di (Solosmeo da Settignano), 5, 79, 80
+
+  Giovanni Agnolo Montorsoli, Fra, 10, 11, 81, 82
+
+  Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (Il Sodoma), _Life_, 245-257
+
+  Giovanni Antonio Lappoli, 158, 159
+
+  Giovanni Antonio Sogliani, 256
+
+  Giovanni Caroto, 238
+
+  Giovanni da Udine, 118
+
+  Giovanni di Baccio (Nanni di Baccio Bigio), 81
+
+  Giovanni di Goro, 69
+
+  Giovanni Fancelli, 97
+
+  Giovanni Rosso (or Rosto), Maestro, 177
+
+  Giovanni San Michele, 217
+
+  Girolamo da Ferrara (Girolamo Ferrarese), 9, 10, 189
+
+  Girolamo del Buda, 56
+
+  Girolamo del Pacchia, 252
+
+  Girolamo Ferrarese (Girolamo da Ferrara), 9, 10, 189
+
+  Girolamo Genga, _Life_, 199-206. 207, 208, 210, 211
+
+  Giuliano Bugiardini, _Life_, 107-113
+
+  Giuliano di Baccio d'Agnolo, 83-86, 88, 89, 102
+
+  Giulio Romano, 117, 236
+
+  Goro, Giovanni di, 69
+
+  Granacci, Francesco, 108
+
+
+  Il Bacchiacca (Francesco Ubertini), 29
+
+  Il Carota (Antonio di Marco di Giano), 152
+
+  Il Rosso (Giovan Battista de' Rossi), 58, 59, 117, 118, 149, 188
+
+  Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi), _Life_, 245-257
+
+  India, Bernardino, 237
+
+
+  Jacone (Jacopo), 176
+
+  Jacopo da Pontormo (Jacopo Carrucci), _Life_, 147-182. 31, 201
+
+  Jacopo della Barba, 71
+
+  Jacopo della Fonte (Jacopo della Quercia), 245
+
+  Jacopo Sansovino, 4, 5, 58
+
+
+  Lancia, Baldassarre, 206
+
+  Lappoli, Giovanni Antonio, 158, 159
+
+  Lastricati, Zanobi, 45
+
+  Lattanzio di Vincenzio Pagani, 128
+
+  Leonardo da Vinci, 41-44, 57, 58, 60, 148, 152
+
+  Lippi, Fra Filippo, 57
+
+  Lombardi, Alfonso, 77
+
+  Lorenzetto, 78
+
+  Lorenzi, Antonio di Gino, 24
+
+  Lorenzo di Bicci, 61
+
+  Lorenzo Marignolli, 46
+
+  Luca Signorelli, 199, 246
+
+  Luigi Brugnuoli, 229, 233
+
+
+  Maestro Andrea, 66
+
+  Maestro Giovanni Rosso (or Rosto), 177
+
+  Maestro Niccol�, 177
+
+  Mantovano, Camillo, 201
+
+  Marc'Antonio Bolognese, 65
+
+  Marco da Ravenna, 63
+
+  Marco del Tasso, 156
+
+  Marco Palmezzani (Marco Parmigiano), 204, 205
+
+  Marignolli, Lorenzo, 46
+
+  Mariotto Albertinelli, 108, 148
+
+  Martino, Bartolommeo di Jacopo di, 147
+
+  Matteo San Michele, 219
+
+  Mazzieri, Antonio di Donnino (Antonio di Domenico), 29
+
+  Menzochi, Francesco (Francesco da Forl�), 201, 204-206
+
+  Menzochi, Pietro Paolo, 205, 206
+
+  Michelagnolo Buonarroti, 10, 11, 14, 16, 28, 32, 44, 46, 48, 49, 57,
+    58, 61, 66-68, 71, 72, 75, 77, 81, 98, 99, 107, 108, 110-113, 151,
+    172, 173, 179, 194, 235
+
+  Michelagnolo di Viviano, 55-57, 60, 66, 73, 98, 99
+
+  Michele di Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, 28
+
+  Michele San Michele, _Life_, 217-235. 127, 191, 217-235, 237, 241
+
+  Minga, Andrea del, 97
+
+  Montelupo, Baccio da, 155
+
+  Montelupo, Raffaello da, 9-11, 27, 62, 81, 189, 191, 192, 194, 195
+
+  Montorsoli, Fra Giovanni Agnolo, 10, 11, 81, 82
+
+  Moro, Battista del (Battista d'Agnolo), 236
+
+  Mosca, Simone, _Life_, 185-195. 9, 10
+
+  Moschino, Francesco, 192, 194, 195
+
+
+  Naldini, Battista, 181, 182
+
+  Nanni di Baccio Bigio (Giovanni di Baccio), 81
+
+  Nanni Unghero, 4
+
+  Neroni, Bartolommeo (Riccio), 257
+
+  Niccol�, Maestro, 177
+
+  Niccol� (called Tribolo), _Life_, 3-37. 43-45, 81, 112, 176, 189
+
+  Niccol� Giolfino (Niccol� Ursino), 240
+
+  Niccol� Rondinello (Rondinino da Ravenna), 204, 205
+
+  Niccol� Ursino (Niccol� Giolfino), 240
+
+
+  Pacchia, Girolamo del, 252
+
+  Pagani, Lattanzio di Vincenzio, 128
+
+  Palmezzani, Marco (Marco Parmigiano), 204, 205
+
+  Paolino or Paolo Caliari (Paolo Veronese), 236-240
+
+  Paolo Farinato, 236, 240, 241
+
+  Paolo San Michele, 227, 230, 232
+
+  Paolo Veronese (Paolino or Paolo Caliari), 236-240
+
+  Papacello, Tommaso, 128
+
+  Parmigiano, Marco (Marco Palmezzani), 204, 205
+
+  Perugino, Pietro, 199, 248, 249
+
+  Peruzzi, Baldassarre, 253
+
+  Pichi, Giovan Maria, 158
+
+  Pier Francesco da Viterbo, 119, 202
+
+  Pier Francesco di Jacopo di Sandro, 29, 176
+
+  Pierino (Piero) da Vinci, _Life_, 41-51
+
+  Piero di Cosimo, 148
+
+  Pietrasanta, Ranieri da, 9, 10
+
+  Pietrasanta, Stagio da, 7, 195
+
+  Pietro da San Casciano, 15, 16, 19
+
+  Pietro di Subisso, 187, 188
+
+  Pietro Paolo Galeotto, 152
+
+  Pietro Paolo Menzochi, 205, 206
+
+  Pietro Perugino, 199, 248, 249
+
+  Pietro Rosselli, 68, 69
+
+  Piloto, 56, 58, 69
+
+  Piombo, Fra Sebastiano Viniziano del, 110, 111
+
+  Pippo del Fabro, 5
+
+  Pisano, Andrea, 30
+
+  Pontormo, Jacopo da (Jacopo Carrucci), _Life_, 147-182. 31, 201
+
+  Prato, Francesco di Girolamo dal, 72, 73
+
+
+  Quercia, Jacopo della (Jacopo della Fonte), 245
+
+
+  Raffaello da Montelupo, 9-11, 27, 62, 81, 189, 191, 192, 194, 195
+
+  Raffaello da Urbino (Raffaello Sanzio), 111, 117, 148, 174, 199, 249
+
+  Raffaello dal Colle (Raffaello dal Borgo), 117, 118, 120, 128, 129,
+    201
+
+  Raffaello delle Vivole, 152
+
+  Raffaello Sanzio (Raffaello da Urbino), 111, 117, 148, 174, 199, 249
+
+  Ranieri da Pietrasanta, 9, 10
+
+  Ravenna, Marco da, 63
+
+  Ravenna, Rondinino da (Niccol� Rondinello), 204, 205
+
+  Riccio (Bartolommeo Neroni), 257
+
+  Riccio, Domenico del (Domenico Brusciasorzi), 236, 237
+
+  Riccio, Felice del (Felice Brusciasorzi), 237
+
+  Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, 28, 31, 155, 156
+
+  Romano, Giulio, 117, 236
+
+  Rondinino da Ravenna (Niccol� Rondinello), 204, 205
+
+  Rosselli, Pietro, 68, 69
+
+  Rossi, Francesco de' (Francesco Salviati), 178, 205
+
+  Rossi, Giovan Battista de' (Il Rosso), 58, 59, 117, 118, 149, 188
+
+  Rossi, Vincenzio de', 94, 98, 101
+
+  Rosso, Il (Giovan Battista de' Rossi), 58, 59, 117, 118, 149, 188
+
+  Rosto (or Rosso), Maestro Giovanni, 177
+
+  Rovezzano, Benedetto da, 4, 63, 64, 187
+
+  Roviale, 129
+
+  Rustici, Giovan Francesco, 57, 66
+
+
+  Salviati, Francesco (Francesco de' Rossi), 178, 205
+
+  San Casciano, Pietro da, 15, 16, 19
+
+  San Gallo, Antonio da (the elder), 74
+
+  San Gallo, Antonio da (the younger), 9, 78, 119, 186, 189, 190, 193,
+    217, 218
+
+  San Gallo, Bastiano (Aristotile) da, 29
+
+  San Gallo, Francesco da (the younger), 9, 10, 189
+
+  San Marco, Fra Bartolommeo di, 108, 109, 148
+
+  San Marino, Giovan Battista (Giovan Battista Bellucci),
+    _Life_, 210-213. 207
+
+  San Michele, Bartolommeo, 217
+
+  San Michele, Gian Girolamo, 219, 220, 222, 230-234
+
+  San Michele, Giovanni, 217
+
+  San Michele, Matteo, 219
+
+  San Michele, Michele, _Life_, 217-235. 127, 191, 217-235, 237, 241
+
+  San Michele, Paolo, 227, 230, 232
+
+  Sandro, Pier Francesco di Jacopo di, 29, 176
+
+  Sansovino, Andrea (Andrea Contucci), 5, 9, 61, 62, 187, 189
+
+  Sansovino, Jacopo, 4, 5, 58
+
+  Santi Buglioni, 29
+
+  Sanzio, Raffaello (Raffaello da Urbino), 111, 117, 148, 174, 199, 249
+
+  Sarto, Andrea del, 4, 58, 59, 148-150, 152, 156, 157, 171, 188
+
+  Sebastiano Viniziano del Piombo, Fra, 110, 111
+
+  Settignano, Solosmeo da (Antonio di Giovanni), 5, 79, 80
+
+  Signorelli, Luca, 199, 246
+
+  Simone Cioli, 9, 10, 189
+
+  Simone Mosca, _Life_, 185-195. 9, 10
+
+  Sodoma, Giomo del, 257
+
+  Sodoma, Il (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi), _Life_, 245-257
+
+  Sogliani, Giovanni Antonio, 256
+
+  Solosmeo da Settignano (Antonio di Giovanni), 5, 79, 80
+
+  Spagnuolo, Alonzo (Alfonso Berughetta), 58
+
+  Stagio da Pietrasanta, 7, 195
+
+  Stefano Veltroni, 120, 123, 124, 129
+
+  Subisso, Pietro di, 187, 188
+
+
+  Tadda, Francesco del, 9, 10, 49
+
+  Tasso, Battista del, 13, 30, 31, 34, 35, 137
+
+  Tasso, Marco del, 156
+
+  Tiberio Cavalieri, 50
+
+  Timoteo da Urbino (Timoteo della Vite), 200
+
+  Tiziano Vecelli (Tiziano da Cadore), 237
+
+  Tommaso Papacello, 128
+
+  Tribolo (Niccol�), _Life_, 3-37. 43-45, 81, 112, 176, 189
+
+
+  Ubertini, Francesco (Il Bacchiacca), 29
+
+  Udine, Giovanni da, 118
+
+  Unghero, Nanni, 4
+
+  Urbino, Bramante da, 249
+
+  Urbino, Raffaello da (Raffaello Sanzio), 111, 117, 148, 174, 199, 249
+
+  Urbino, Timoteo da (Timoteo della Vite), 200
+
+  Ursino, Niccol� (Niccol� Giolfino), 240
+
+
+  Vasari, Giorgio--
+    as art-collector, 11, 99, 253
+    as author, 3, 11, 12, 14, 16, 21, 24, 25, 28, 31, 33, 34, 36, 37,
+      41, 79, 95, 96, 99-101, 103, 109, 117-125, 127-132, 137-139, 141,
+      142, 147, 155, 157-160, 167, 168, 172, 173, 175, 178-180, 186,
+      190, 202, 209, 210, 217, 225, 226, 230, 231, 234-236, 239, 240,
+      253, 254, 257
+    as painter, 13, 31, 95, 118-132, 137-139, 141-143, 188, 189, 206,
+      229, 230, 235
+    as architect, 35, 37, 85, 91, 95, 101, 102, 119, 137, 193, 194,
+      206
+
+  Vecelli, Tiziano (Tiziano da Cadore), 237
+
+  Veltroni, Stefano, 120, 123, 124, 129
+
+  Verona, Battista da (Battista Farinati), 237, 238
+
+  Veronese, Paolo (Paolino or Paolo Caliari), 236-240
+
+  Verrocchio, Andrea, 56
+
+  Vincenzio Danti, 100
+
+  Vincenzio de' Rossi, 94, 98, 101
+
+  Vinci, Leonardo da, 41-44, 57, 58, 60, 148, 152
+
+  Vinci, Pierino (Piero) da, _Life_, 41-51
+
+  Viniziano, Agostino, 60, 63
+
+  Vite, Timoteo della (Timoteo da Urbino), 200
+
+  Viterbo, Pier Francesco da, 119, 202
+
+  Vitruvius, 211
+
+  Vittoria, Alessandro, 228
+
+  Viviano, Michelagnolo di, 55-57, 60, 66, 73, 98, 99
+
+  Vivole, Raffaello delle, 152
+
+
+  Zanobi Lastricati, 45
+
+
+END OF VOL. VII.
+
+
+  PRINTED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF CHAS. T. JACOBI
+  OF THE CHISWICK PRESS, LONDON. THE COLOURED
+  REPRODUCTIONS ENGRAVED AND PRINTED BY
+  HENRY STONE AND SON, LTD., BANBURY
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lives of the most Eminent Painters
+Sculptors and Architects, by Giorgio Vasari
+
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+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
+<html lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1">
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors &amp; Architects,
+        Volume VII.  by Georgio Vasari.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+<!--
+p {  margin-top: .75em;
+         text-align: justify;
+         margin-bottom: .75em;
+         }
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+                left: 92%;
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+                font-weight: normal; font-variant: normal;  font-style: normal;
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+
+.center   {text-align: center;}
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+
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+
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+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lives of the most Eminent Painters
+Sculptors and Architects, by Giorgio Vasari
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Lives of the most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects
+       Vol 07 (of 10) Tribolo to Il Sodoma
+
+Author: Giorgio Vasari
+
+Translator: Gaston du C. De Vere
+
+Release Date: March 31, 2010 [EBook #31845]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAINTERS SCULPTORS ARCHITECTS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Mark C. Orton, Christine P. Travers and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h1>LIVES OF THE MOST EMINENT PAINTERS SCULPTORS &amp; ARCHITECTS</h1>
+<h2>BY</h2>
+<h2>GIORGIO VASARI:</h2>
+
+<h2>VOLUME VII.<br>
+TRIBOLO TO IL SODOMA<br>
+1914</h2>
+
+<h4>NEWLY TRANSLATED BY GASTON <span class="smcap">Du</span> C. DE VERE. WITH FIVE HUNDRED
+  ILLUSTRATIONS: IN TEN VOLUMES</h4>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/img001.jpg" width="423" height="600" alt="Title page" title="">
+</div>
+
+<p class="center">PHILIP LEE WARNER,<br>
+ PUBLISHER TO THE MEDICI SOCIETY, LIMITED<br> 7 GRAFTON
+  ST. LONDON, W. 1912-14</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS_OF_VOLUME_VII" id="CONTENTS_OF_VOLUME_VII"></a>(p. v) CONTENTS OF VOLUME VII</h2>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="85%" cellspacing="0" summary="CONTENTS">
+<tr><td align='left'>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'>PAGE</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Niccol�, called Tribolo</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_1'><b>1</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Pierino [Piero] da Vinci</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_39'><b>39</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Baccio Bandinelli</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_53'><b>53</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Giuliano Bugiardini</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_105'><b>105</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Cristofano Gherardi, called Doceno</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_115'><b>115</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Jacopo da Pontormo</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_145'><b>145</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Simone Mosca</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_183'><b>183</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Girolamo and Bartolommeo Genga, and Giovan Battista San Marino</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_197'><b>197</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Michele San Michele</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_215'><b>215</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, called Il Sodoma</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_243'><b>243</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Index of Names</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_259'><b>259</b></a></td></tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="ILLUSTRATIONS_TO_VOLUME_VII" id="ILLUSTRATIONS_TO_VOLUME_VII"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vii" name="Page_vii"></a>[Pg vii]</span> ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME VII</h2>
+
+
+<h3>PLATES IN COLOUR</h3>
+
+<div class='centered'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="100%" cellspacing="0" summary="ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME VII">
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Giuliano Bugiardini</span></td>
+<td>Portrait of a Lady</td>
+<td>Florence: Pitti, 140</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img008'><b>106</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Jacopo Da Pontormo</span></td>
+<td>Portrait of an Engraver</td>
+<td>Paris: Louvre, 1241</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img019'><b>174</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Paolo Veronese</span> (<span class="smcap">Paolino</span> <i>or</i> <span class="smcap">Caliari</span>)</td>
+<td>Industry</td>
+<td>Venice: Doges' Palace, Sala Anticollegio</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img023'><b>216</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (Il Sodoma)</span></td>
+<td>The Vision of S. Catharine</td>
+<td>Siena: S. Domenico</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img029'><b>244</b></a></td>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3>PLATES IN MONOCHROME</h3>
+
+<div class='centered'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="100%" cellspacing="0" summary="ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME VII">
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Niccol� (Tribolo)</span></td>
+<td>The Hercules Fountain</td>
+<td>Florence: Villa Reale di Castello</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img002'><b>24</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Niccol� (Tribolo)</span></td>
+<td>The Assumption of the Virgin</td>
+<td>Bologna: S. Petronio</td>
+<td align="right"><a id="FNanchor1" name="FNanchor1"></a><a href="#Footnote1" title="Go to footnote 1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Pierino (Piero) da Vinci</span></td>
+<td>Ugolino della Gherardesca and his Sons in the Tower of Famine</td>
+<td>Oxford: Ashmolean Museum</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img003'><b>48</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Baccio Bandinelli</span></td>
+<td>The Martyrdom of S. Lorenzo</td>
+<td>Hereford: W. J. Davies' Collection</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img004'><b>64</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Baccio Bandinelli</span></td>
+<td>Statue of Hercules and Cacus</td>
+<td>Florence: Piazza della Signoria</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img005'><b>72</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Baccio Bandinelli</span></td>
+<td>Statue of Giovanni delle Bande Nere</td>
+<td>Florence: Piazza di S. Lorenzo</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img006'><b>80</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Baccio Bandinelli</span></td>
+<td>Reliefs from the Choir Screen</td>
+<td>Florence: Duomo</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img007'><b>88</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Giuliano Bugiardini</span></td>
+<td>The Martyrdom of S. Catharine</td>
+<td>Florence: S. Maria Novella, Rucellai Chapel</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img009'><b>110</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Giorgio Vasari</span> and <span class="smcap">Cristofano Gherardi (Doceno)</span></td>
+<td>Detail: The Supper of S. Gregory the Great</td>
+<td>Bologna: Accademia, 198</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img010'><b>122</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Jacopo da Pontormo</span></td>
+<td>The Adoration of the Magi</td>
+<td>Siena: S. Agostino</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img011'><b>146</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Jacopo da Pontormo</span></td>
+<td>Duke Cosimo I. de' Medici</td>
+<td>Florence: Uffizi, 1270</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img012'><b>152</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td>
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_viii" name="Page_viii"></a>[Pg viii]</span>
+<span class="smcap">Jacopo Da Pontormo</span></td>
+<td>The Visitation</td>
+<td>Florence: SS. Annunziata, Cloister</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img013'><b>154</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Jacopo Da Pontormo</span></td>
+<td>Joseph and his Kindred in Egypt</td>
+<td>London: N. G., 1131</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img014'><b>158</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Jacopo Da Pontormo</span></td>
+<td>Detail: Vertumnus Fresco</td>
+<td>Poggio a Caiano: Villa Reale</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img015'><b>160</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Jacopo Da Pontormo</span></td>
+<td>Detail: Vertumnus Fresco</td>
+<td>Poggio a Caiano: Villa Reale</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img016'><b>162</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Jacopo Da Pontormo</span></td>
+<td>The Descent From the Cross</td>
+<td>Florence: S. Felicita</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img017'><b>168</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Jacopo Da Pontormo</span></td>
+<td>The Martyrdom of the Forty Saints</td>
+<td>Florence: Pitti, 182</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img018'><b>170</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Simone Mosca</span> and <span class="smcap">Michele San Michele</span></td>
+<td>The Altar of the Three Kings</td>
+<td>Orvieto: Duomo</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img020'><b>190</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Simone Mosca</span></td>
+<td>The Salutation</td>
+<td>Orvieto: Duomo</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img021'><b>192</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Girolamo Genga</span></td>
+<td>Madonna and Child with Saints</td>
+<td>Milan: Brera, 202</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img022'><b>200</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Michele San Michele</span></td>
+<td>Porta del Palio</td>
+<td>Verona</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img024'><b>222</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Michele San Michele</span></td>
+<td>Cappella de' Pellegrini</td>
+<td>Verona: S. Bernardino</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img025'><b>224</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Michele San Michele</span><br>
+<i>See also at p. <a href="#Page_190">190</a> above</i></td>
+<td>Palazzo Grimani</td>
+<td>Venice</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img026'><b>230</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Paolo Veronese</span> (<span class="smcap">Paolino</span> <i>or</i> <span class="smcap">Caliari</span>)</td>
+<td>The Feast in the House of Levi</td>
+<td>Venice: Accademia, 203</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img027'><b>238</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Paolo Veronese</span> (<span class="smcap">Paolino</span> <i>or</i> <span class="smcap">Caliari</span>)</td>
+<td>Venice Enthroned, with Justice and Peace</td>
+<td>Venice: Ducal Palace</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img028'><b>240</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (Il Sodoma)</span></td>
+<td>Scene from the Life of S. Benedict</td>
+<td>Monte Oliveto Maggiore</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img030'><b>246</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (Il Sodoma)</span></td>
+<td>Scene from the Life of S. Benedict</td>
+<td>Monte Oliveto Maggiore</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img031'><b>246</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (Il Sodoma)</span></td>
+<td>Detail: the Marriage of Alexander and Roxana</td>
+<td>Rome: Villa Farnesina</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img032'><b>248</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (Il Sodoma)</span></td>
+<td>S. Sebastian</td>
+<td>Florence: Uffizi, 1279</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img033'><b>250</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (Il Sodoma)</span></td>
+<td>S. Ansano</td>
+<td>Siena: Palazzo Pubblico</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img034'><b>252</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (Il Sodoma)</span></td>
+<td>S. Francis</td>
+<td>Siena: S. Bernardino, Oratory</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img035'><b>252</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (Il Sodoma)</span></td>
+<td>The Adoration of the Magi</td>
+<td>Siena: S. Agostino</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img036'><b>254</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td><span class="smcap">Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (Il Sodoma)</span></td>
+<td>The Sacrifice of Isaac</td>
+<td>Pisa: Duomo</td>
+<td align="right"><a href='#img037'><b>256</b></a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="niccolotribolo" id="niccolotribolo"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1" name="Page_1"></a>[Pg 1]</span> NICCOL�, CALLED TRIBOLO</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="life_of_niccolo" id="life_of_niccolo"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3" name="Page_3"></a>[Pg 3]</span> LIFE OF NICCOL�, CALLED TRIBOLO<br>
+SCULPTOR AND ARCHITECT</h2>
+
+
+<p>Raffaello the carpenter, surnamed Il Riccio de' Pericoli, who lived
+near the Canto a Monteloro in Florence, had born to him in the year
+1500, as he used to tell me himself, a male child, whom he was pleased
+to call at baptism, like his own father, Niccol�; and having perceived that
+the boy had a quick and ready intelligence and a lofty spirit, he determined,
+although he was but a poor artisan, that he should begin straightway
+by learning to read and write well and cast accounts. Sending him
+to school, therefore, it came about, since the child was very vivacious
+and so high-spirited in his every action, that he was always cramped for
+room and was a very devil both among the other boys at school and
+everywhere else, always teasing and tormenting both himself and others,
+that he lost his own name of Niccol� and acquired that of Tribolo<a id="FNanchor2" name="FNanchor2"></a><a href="#Footnote2" title="Go to footnote 2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> to
+such purpose, that he was called that ever afterwards by everyone.</p>
+
+<p>Now, Tribolo growing, his father, in order both to make use of him
+and to curb the boy's exuberance, took him into his workshop and
+taught him his own trade; but having seen in a few months that he was
+ill suited for such a calling, being somewhat delicate, thin, and feeble in
+health, he came to the conclusion that if he wished to keep him alive, he
+must release him from the heavier labours of his craft and set him to
+wood-carving. Having heard that without design, the father of all the
+arts, the boy could not become an excellent master therein, Raffaello
+resolved that he should begin by devoting all his time to design, and
+therefore made him draw now cornices, foliage, and grotesques, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4" name="Page_4"></a>[Pg 4]</span> now other things necessary to such a profession. And having seen that
+in doing this the boy was well served both by his head and by his hand,
+and reflecting, like a man of judgment, that with him Niccol� could at
+best learn nothing else but to work by the square, Raffaello first spoke
+of this with the carpenter Ciappino, who was the very familiar friend of
+Nanni Unghero; and with his advice and assistance, he placed Niccol�
+for three years with the said Nanni, in whose workshop, where both
+joiner's work and carving were done, there were constantly to be found
+the sculptor Jacopo Sansovino, the painter Andrea del Sarto, and others,
+who afterwards became such able masters. Now Nanni, who had in
+those days a passing good reputation for excellence, was executing many
+works both in joinery and in carving for the villa of Zanobi Bartolini at
+Rovezzano, without the Porta alla Croce, for the palace of the Bartolini,
+which Giovanni, the brother of that Zanobi, was having built at that
+time on the Piazza di S. Trinita, and for the house and garden of the
+same man in Gualfonda; and Tribolo, who was made to work by Nanni
+without discretion, always having to handle saws, planes, and other
+common tools, and not being capable, by reason of the feebleness of his
+body, of such exertions, began to feel dissatisfied and to say to Riccio,
+when he asked for the cause of his discontent, that he did not think that
+he could remain with Nanni in that craft, and that therefore Raffaello
+should see to placing him with Andrea del Sarto or Jacopo Sansovino,
+whom he had come to know in Unghero's workshop, for the reason that
+with one or the other of them he hoped to do better and to be sounder
+in health. Moved by these reasons, then, and again with the advice
+and assistance of Ciappino, Riccio placed Tribolo with Jacopo Sansovino,
+who took him willingly, because he had known him in the workshop of
+Nanni Unghero, and had seen that he worked well in design and even
+better in relief.</p>
+
+<p>Jacopo Sansovino, when Tribolo, now restored to health, went to
+work under him, was executing in the Office of Works of S. Maria del
+Fiore, in competition with Benedetto da Rovezzano, Andrea da Fiesole,
+and Baccio Bandinelli, the marble statue of S. James the Apostle which
+is still to be seen at the present day at that place together with the others.
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5" name="Page_5"></a>[Pg 5]</span> And thus Tribolo, with these opportunities of learning, by working in
+clay and drawing with great diligence, contrived to make such proficience
+in that art, for which he felt a natural inclination, that Jacopo, growing
+to love him more and more every day, began to encourage him and to
+bring him forward by making him execute now one thing and now another.
+Whereupon, although Sansovino had in his workshop at that time Solosmeo
+da Settignano and Pippo del Fabro, young men of great promise, seeing that
+Tribolo, having added skill in the use of chisels to his good knowledge
+of working in clay and in wax, not only equalled them but surpassed
+them by a great measure, he began to make much use of him in his
+works. And after finishing the Apostle and a Bacchus that he made
+for the house of Giovanni Bartolini in Gualfonda, and undertaking to
+make for M. Giovanni Gaddi, his intimate friend, a chimney-piece and
+a water-basin of hard sandstone for his house on the Piazza di Madonna,
+he caused some large figures of boys in clay, which were to go above the
+great cornice, to be made by Tribolo, who executed them so extraordinarily
+well, that M. Giovanni, having seen the beautiful manner and the
+genius of the young man, commissioned him to execute two medallions
+of marble, which, finished with great excellence, were afterwards placed
+over certain doors in the same house.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile there was a commission to be given for a tomb, a work
+of great magnitude, for the King of Portugal; and since Jacopo had been
+the disciple of Andrea Contucci of Monte Sansovino, and had the reputation
+not only of having equalled his master, a man of great renown,
+but of having a manner even more beautiful, that work, through the
+good offices of the Bartolini, was allotted to him. Whereupon Jacopo
+made a most superb model of wood, all covered with scenes and figures
+of wax, which were executed for the most part by Tribolo; and these
+proving to be very beautiful, the young man's fame so increased that
+Matteo di Lorenzo Strozzi&mdash;Tribolo having now left Sansovino, thinking
+that he was by that time able to work by himself&mdash;commissioned him
+to make some children of stone, and shortly afterwards, being much
+pleased with them, two of marble that are holding a dolphin which
+pours water into a fish-pond, a work that is now to be seen at San
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6" name="Page_6"></a>[Pg 6]</span> Casciano, a place eight miles distant from Florence, in the villa of that
+M. Matteo.</p>
+
+<p>While these works were being executed by Tribolo in Florence,
+M. Bartolommeo Barbazzi, a Bolognese gentleman who had gone there
+on some business, remembered that a search was being made in Bologna
+for a young man who could work well, to the end that he might be set
+to making figures and scenes of marble for the fa�ade of S. Petronio, the
+principal church of that city. Wherefore he spoke to Tribolo, and having
+seen some of his works, which pleased him, as also did the young man's
+ways and other qualities, he took him to Bologna, where Tribolo, with
+great diligence and with much credit to himself, in a short time made
+the two Sibyls of marble that were afterwards placed in the ornament of
+that door of S. Petronio which leads to the Della Morte Hospital. These
+works finished, arrangements were being made to give him greater things
+to do, and he was receiving many proofs of love and affection from
+M. Bartolommeo, when the plague of the year 1525 began in Bologna
+and throughout all Lombardy; whereupon Tribolo, in order to avoid that
+plague, made his way to Florence. After living there during all the time
+that this contagious and pestilential sickness lasted, he departed as soon
+as it had ceased, and returned, in obedience to a summons, to Bologna,
+where M. Bartolommeo, not allowing him to set his hand to any work
+for the fa�ade, resolved, seeing that many of his friends and relatives had
+died, to have a tomb made for himself and for them. And so Tribolo,
+after finishing the model, which M. Bartolommeo insisted on seeing completed
+before he did anything else, went in person to Carrara to have
+the marbles excavated, intending to rough-hew them on the spot and
+to lighten them in such a manner, that they might not only be easier to
+transport, as indeed they were, but also that the figures might come
+out larger. In that place, in order not to waste his time, he blocked
+out two large children of marble, which were taken to Bologna with
+beasts of burden, unfinished as they were, together with the rest of the
+work; and after the death of M. Bartolommeo, which caused such grief
+to Tribolo that he returned to Tuscany, they were placed, with the other
+marbles, in a chapel in S. Petronio, where they still are.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7" name="Page_7"></a>[Pg 7]</span> Having thus departed from Carrara, Tribolo, on his way back to
+Florence, stayed in Pisa to visit the sculptor Maestro Stagio da Pietrasanta,
+his very dear friend, who was executing in the Office of Works of
+the Duomo in that city two columns with capitals of marble all in open
+work, which were to stand one on either side of the high-altar and the
+Tabernacle of the Sacrament; and each of these was to have upon the
+capital an Angel of marble one braccio and three quarters in height, with
+a candelabrum in the hand. At the invitation of the said Stagio, having
+nothing else to do at that time, he undertook to make one of those
+Angels: which being finished with all the perfection that could be given
+to a delicate work of that size in marble, proved to be such that nothing
+more could have been desired, for the reason that the Angel, with the
+movement of his person, has the appearance of having stayed his flight
+in order to uphold that light, and the nude form has about it some delicate
+draperies which are so graceful in their effect, and look so well on every
+side and from every point of view, that words could not express their
+beauty. But, having consumed much time in executing this work, since
+he cared for nothing but his delight in art, and not having received for
+it from the Warden the payment that he expected, he resolved that he
+would not make the other Angel, and returned to Florence. There he
+met with Giovan Battista della Palla, who at that time was not only
+causing all the sculptures and pictures that he could to be executed for
+sending to King Francis I in France, but was also buying antiques of
+all sorts and pictures of every kind, provided only that they were by the
+hands of good masters; and every day he was packing them up and
+sending them off. Now, at the very moment when Tribolo returned,
+Giovan Battista had an ancient vase of granite, of a very beautiful
+shape, which he wished to arrange in such a manner that it might serve
+for a fountain for that King. He therefore declared his mind to Tribolo,
+and what he proposed to have done; and he, setting to work, made him
+a Goddess of Nature, who, raising one arm, holds that vase, the foot of
+which she has upon her head, with the hands, the first row of breasts
+being adorned with some boys standing out entirely detached from the
+marble, who are in various most beautiful attitudes, holding certain
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8" name="Page_8"></a>[Pg 8]</span> festoons in their hands, while the next range of breasts is covered with
+quadrupeds, and at her feet are many different kinds of fishes. That
+figure was finished with such diligence and such perfection, that it well
+deserved, after being sent to France together with other works, to be
+held very dear by the King, and to be placed, as a rare thing, in Fontainebleau.</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards, in the year 1529, when preparations were being made
+for the war against Florence and the siege, Pope Clement VII, wishing
+to study the exact site of the city and to consider in what manner and
+in what places his forces could be distributed to the best advantage,
+ordained that a plan of the city should be made secretly, with all the
+country for a mile around it&mdash;the hills, mountains, rivers, rocks, houses,
+churches, and other things, and also the squares and streets within,
+together with the walls and bastions surrounding it, and the other defences.
+The charge of all this was given to Benvenuto di Lorenzo della
+Volpaia, an able maker of clocks and quadrants and a very fine astrologer,
+but above all a most excellent master in taking ground-plans. This
+Benvenuto chose Tribolo as his companion, and that with great judgment,
+for the reason that it was Tribolo who suggested that this plan, for the
+better consideration of the height of the mountains, the depth of the
+low-lying parts, and all other particulars, should be made in relief; the
+doing of which was not without much labour and danger, in that, staying
+out all night to measure the roads and to mark the number of braccia
+between one place and another, and also to measure the height of the
+summits of the belfries and towers, drawing intersecting lines in every
+direction by means of the compass, and going beyond the walls to compare
+the height of the hills with that of the cupola, which they had
+marked as their centre, they did not execute such a work save after many
+months; but they used great diligence, for they made it of cork, for the
+sake of lightness, and limited the whole plan to the space of four braccia,
+and measured everything to scale. Having then been finished in this
+manner, and being made in pieces, that plan was packed up secretly and
+smuggled out of Florence in some bales of wool that were going to Perugia,
+being consigned to one who had orders to send it to the Pope, who made
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9" name="Page_9"></a>[Pg 9]</span> use of it continually during the siege of Florence, keeping it in his chamber,
+and seeing from one day to another, from letters and despatches, where
+and how the army was quartered, where skirmishes took place, and, in
+short, all the incidents, arguments, and discussions that occurred during
+that siege; all greatly to his satisfaction, for it was in truth a rare and
+marvellous work.</p>
+
+<p>The war finished&mdash;during the progress of which Tribolo executed
+some works in clay for his friends, and for Andrea del Sarto, his dearest
+friend, three figures of wax in the round, of which Andrea availed himself
+in painting in fresco, on the Piazza, near the Condotta, portraits from
+nature of three captains who had fled with the pay-chests, depicted as
+hanging by one foot&mdash;Benvenuto, summoned by the Pope, went to Rome
+to kiss the feet of his Holiness, and was placed by him in charge of the
+Belvedere, with an honourable salary. In that office, having often conversations
+with the Pope, Benvenuto, when the occasion arose, did not
+fail to extol Tribolo as an excellent sculptor and to recommend him
+warmly; insomuch that, the siege finished, Clement made use of him.
+For, designing to give completion to the Chapel of Our Lady at Loreto,
+which had been begun by Leo and then abandoned on account of the
+death of Andrea Contucci of Monte Sansovino, he ordained that Antonio
+da San Gallo, who had the charge of executing that fabric, should summon
+Tribolo and set him to complete some of those scenes that Maestro Andrea
+had left unfinished. Tribolo, then, thus summoned by San Gallo by
+order of Clement, went with all his family to Loreto, whither there likewise
+went Simone, called Mosca, a very rare carver of marble, Raffaello da
+Montelupo, Francesco da San Gallo the younger, Girolamo Ferrarese the
+sculptor, a disciple of Maestro Andrea, Simone Cioli, Ranieri da Pietrasanta,
+and Francesco del Tadda, all invited in order to finish that work.
+And to Tribolo, in the distribution of the labours, there fell, as the work of
+the greatest importance, a scene in which Maestro Andrea had represented
+the Marriage of Our Lady.</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon Tribolo made an addition to that scene, and had the
+notion of placing among the many figures that are standing watching
+the Marriage of the Virgin, one who in great fury is breaking his rod,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10" name="Page_10"></a>[Pg 10]</span> because it had not blossomed; and in this he succeeded so well, that the
+suitor could not display with greater animation the rage that he feels at
+not having had the good fortune that he desired. Which work finished,
+and also that of the others, with great perfection, Tribolo had already
+made many models of wax with a view to executing some of those Prophets
+that were to go in the niches of that chapel, which was now built and
+completely finished, when Pope Clement, after seeing those works and
+praising them much, and particularly that of Tribolo, determined that
+they should all return without loss of time to Florence, in order to finish
+under the discipline of Michelagnolo Buonarroti all those figures that were
+wanting in the sacristy and library of S. Lorenzo, and the rest of the work,
+after the models of Michelagnolo and with his assistance, with the greatest
+possible speed, to the end that, having finished the sacristy, they might
+all together be able, thanks to the proficience made under the discipline
+of so great a man, also to finish the fa�ade of S. Lorenzo. And in order
+that there might be no manner of delay in doing this, the Pope sent
+Michelagnolo back to Florence, and with him Fra Giovanni Angelo de'
+Servi, who had executed some works in the Belvedere, to the end that
+he might assist him in carving the marbles and might make some statues,
+according as he should receive orders from Michelagnolo, who caused
+him to make a S. Cosimo, which was to stand on one side of the Madonna,
+with a S. Damiano, allotted to Montelupo, on the other.</p>
+
+<p>These commissions given, Michelagnolo desired that Tribolo should
+make two nude statues, which were to be one on either side of that of
+Duke Giuliano, which he himself had already made; one was to be a
+figure of Earth crowned with cypress, weeping with bowed head and with
+the arms outstretched, and lamenting the death of Duke Giuliano, and
+the other a figure of Heaven with the arms uplifted, all smiling and joyful,
+and showing her gladness at the adornment and splendour that the soul
+and spirit of that lord conferred upon her. But Tribolo's evil fortune
+crossed him at the very moment when he was about to begin to work on
+the statue of Earth; for, whether it was the change of air, or his feeble
+constitution, or because he had been irregular in his way of living, he
+fell ill of a grievous sickness, which, ending in a quartan fever, hung
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11" name="Page_11"></a>[Pg 11]</span> about him many months, to his infinite vexation, since he was tormented
+no less by his grief at having had to abandon the work, and at seeing
+that the friar and Raffaello had taken possession of the field, than by the
+illness itself. However, wishing to conquer that illness, in order not to
+be left behind by his rivals, whose name he heard celebrated more and
+more every day, feeble as he was, he made a large model of clay for the
+statue of Earth, and, when he had finished it, began to execute the work
+in marble, with such diligence and assiduity, that the statue could be
+seen already all cut out in front, when Fortune, who is always ready
+to oppose herself to any fair beginning, by the death of Clement at a
+moment when nothing seemed less likely, cut short the aspirations of all
+those excellent masters who were hoping to acquire under Michelagnolo,
+besides boundless profits, immortal renown and everlasting fame.</p>
+
+<p>Stupefied by this misfortune and robbed of all his spirit, and being
+also ill, Tribolo was living in utter despair, seeming not to be able either
+in Florence or abroad to hit upon anything that might be to his advantage;
+but Giorgio Vasari, who was always his friend and loved him from
+his heart, and helped him all that he could, consoled him, saying that he
+should not lose heart, because he would so contrive that Duke Alessandro
+would give him something to do, by means of the favour of the Magnificent
+Ottaviano de' Medici, into whose service Giorgio had introduced him on
+terms of no little intimacy. Wherefore Tribolo, having regained a little
+courage, occupied himself, while measures were being taken to assist him,
+with copying in clay all the figures of marble in the Sacristy of S. Lorenzo
+which Michelagnolo had executed&mdash;namely, Dawn, Twilight, Day, and
+Night. And he succeeded in doing them so well, that M. Giovan Battista
+Figiovanni, the Prior of S. Lorenzo, to whom he presented the Night in
+return for having the sacristy opened for him, judging it to be a rare
+work, presented it to Duke Alessandro, who afterwards gave it to Giorgio
+Vasari, who was living with his Excellency, knowing that Giorgio gave
+his attention to such studies; which figure is now in his house at Arezzo,
+with other works of art. Having afterwards copied, likewise in clay, the
+Madonna made by Michelagnolo for the same sacristy, Tribolo presented
+it to the above-named M. Ottaviano de' Medici, who had a most beautiful
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12" name="Page_12"></a>[Pg 12]</span> ornament in squared work made for it by Battista del Cinque, with
+columns, cornices, brackets, and other carvings very well executed.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, by the favour of him who was Treasurer to his Excellency,
+and at the commission of Bertoldo Corsini, the proveditor for the
+fortress which was being built at that time, out of three escutcheons
+that were to be made by order of the Duke for placing on the bastions,
+one on each, one four braccia in height was given to Tribolo to execute,
+with two nude figures representing Victories; which escutcheon, finished
+by him with great diligence and promptitude, with the addition of three
+great masks that support the escutcheon and the figures, so pleased the
+Duke, that he conceived a very great love for Tribolo. Now shortly
+afterwards the Duke went to Naples to defend himself before the Emperor
+Charles V, who had just returned from Tunis, against many calumnies
+that had been laid upon him by some of his citizens; and, having not
+only defended himself, but also obtained from his Majesty his daughter
+Signora Margherita of Austria for wife, he wrote to Florence that four
+men should be appointed who might cause vast and splendid decorations
+to be prepared throughout the city, in order to receive the Emperor, who
+was coming to Florence, with proper magnificence. And I, having to
+distribute the various works at the commission of his Excellency&mdash;who
+ordained that I should act in company with the said four men, who were
+Giovanni Corsi, Luigi Guicciardini, Palla Rucellai, and Alessandro
+Corsini&mdash;gave the greatest and most difficult labours for that festival to
+Tribolo to execute, which were four large statues. The first was a
+Hercules that has just killed the Hydra, six braccia in height, in the round
+and overlaid with silver, which was placed at that corner of the Piazza
+di S. Felice that is at the end of the Via Maggio, with the following inscription
+in letters of silver on the base: <span class="smcap">UT HERCULES LABORE ET �RUMNIS
+MONSTRA EDOMUIT, ITA C�SAR VIRTUTE ET CLEMENTIA, HOSTIBUS VICTIS
+SEU PLACATIS, PACEM ORBI TERRARUM ET QUIETEM RESTITUIT</span>. Two
+others were colossal figures eight braccia high, one representing the River
+Bagrada, which was resting upon the skin of the serpent that was brought
+to Rome, and the other representing the Ebro, with the horn of Amaltheia
+in one hand and in the other the helm of a ship; both coloured in imitation
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13" name="Page_13"></a>[Pg 13]</span> of bronze, with inscriptions on the bases; below the Ebro, <span class="smcap">HIBERUS EX
+HISPANIA</span>, and below the other, <span class="smcap">BAGRADAS EX AFRICA</span>. The fourth was
+a statue five braccia in height, on the Canto de' Medici, representing
+Peace, who had in one hand an olive branch and in the other a lighted
+torch, with which she was setting fire to a pile of arms heaped up on the
+base on which she was placed; with the following words: <span class="smcap">FIAT PAX IN
+VIRTUTE TUA</span>. He did not finish, as he had hoped to do, the horse seven
+braccia in length that was set up on the Piazza di S. Trinita, upon which
+was to be placed the statue of the Emperor in armour, because Tasso
+the wood-carver, who was much his friend, did not show any promptitude
+in executing the base and the other things in the way of wood-carving
+that were to be included in the work, being a man who let time slip through
+his fingers in arguing and jesting; and there was only just time to cover
+the horse alone with tin-foil laid upon the still fresh clay. On the base
+were to be read the following words:</p>
+
+<p class="quote10 smcap">IMPERATORI CAROLO AUGUSTO VICTORIOSISSIMO, POST DEVICTOS
+HOSTES, ITALI� PACE RESTITUTA ET SALUTATO FERDIN. FRATRE,
+EXPULSIS ITERUM TURCIS AFRICAQUE PERDOMITA, ALEXANDER MED.
+DUX FLORENTI�, D.D.</p>
+
+<p>His Majesty having departed from Florence, a beginning was made
+with the preparations for the nuptials, in expectation of his daughter,
+and to the end that she and the Vice-Queen of Naples, who was in her
+company, might be commodiously lodged according to the orders of his
+Excellency in the house of M. Ottaviano de' Medici, an addition was made
+to his old house in four weeks, to the astonishment of everyone; and
+Tribolo, the painter Andrea di Cosimo, and I, in ten days, with the help
+of about ninety sculptors and painters of the city, what with masters
+and assistants, completed the preparations for the wedding in so far as
+appertained to the house and its decorations, painting the loggie, courtyards,
+and other spaces in a manner suitable for nuptials of such importance.
+Among these decorations, Tribolo made, besides other things,
+two Victories in half-relief that were one on either side of the principal
+door, supported by two large terminal figures, which also upheld the
+escutcheon of the Emperor, pendent from the neck of a very beautiful
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14" name="Page_14"></a>[Pg 14]</span> eagle in the round. The same master also made certain boys, likewise in
+the round, and large in size, which were placed on either side of some
+heads over the pediments of various doors; and these were much extolled.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, as the nuptials were in progress, Tribolo received letters
+from Bologna, in which Messer Pietro del Magno, his devoted friend,
+besought him that he should consent to go to Bologna, in order to make
+for the Madonna di Galliera, where a most beautiful ornament of marble
+was already prepared, a scene likewise of marble three braccia and a half
+in extent. Whereupon Tribolo, happening to have nothing else to do
+at that time, went thither, and after making a model of a Madonna
+ascending into Heaven, with the Apostles below in various attitudes,
+which, being very beautiful, gave great satisfaction, he set his hand to
+executing it; but with little pleasure for himself, since the marble that he
+was carving was that Milanese marble, saline, full of emery, and bad in
+quality; and it seemed to him that he was wasting his time, without
+feeling a particle of that delight that men find in working those marbles
+which are a pleasure to carve, and which in the end, when brought to completion,
+show a surface that has the appearance of the living flesh itself.
+However, he did so much that it was already almost finished, when I,
+having persuaded Duke Alessandro to recall Michelagnolo from Rome,
+and also the other masters, in order to finish the work of the sacristy begun
+by Clement, was arranging to give him something to do in Florence; and
+I would have succeeded, but in the meantime, by reason of the death of
+Alessandro, who was murdered by Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de' Medici,
+not only was this design frustrated, but the greatness and prosperity of
+art were thrown into utter ruin.</p>
+
+<p>Having heard of the Duke's death, Tribolo condoled with me in his
+letters, beseeching me, after he had exhorted me to bear with resignation
+the death of that great Prince, my gracious master, that if I went to Rome,
+as he had heard that I, being wholly determined to abandon Courts and
+to pursue my studies, was intending to do, I should obtain some commission
+for him, for the reason that, if assisted by my friends, he would
+do whatever I told him. But it so chanced that it became in no way
+necessary for him to seek commissions in Rome. For Signor Cosimo de'
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15" name="Page_15"></a>[Pg 15]</span> Medici, having been created Duke of Florence, as soon as he had freed
+himself from the troubles that he had in the first year of his rule by
+routing his enemies at Monte Murlo, began to take some diversion, and
+in particular to frequent not a little the villa of Castello, which is little
+more than two miles distant from Florence. There he began to do some
+building, in order that he might be able to live there comfortably with
+his Court, and little by little&mdash;being encouraged in this by Maestro Pietro
+da San Casciano, who was held to be a passing good master in those days,
+and was much in the service of Signora Maria, the mother of the Duke,
+and had also always been the master-builder and the former servant of
+Signor Giovanni&mdash;he resolved to conduct to that place certain waters
+that he had desired long before to bring thither. Whereupon a beginning
+was made with building an aqueduct that was to receive all the waters
+from the hill of Castellina, which was at a distance of a quarter of a mile
+or more from Castello; and the work was pursued vigorously with a good
+number of men. But the Duke recognizing that Maestro Pietro had
+neither invention nor power of design enough to make in that place a
+beginning that might afterwards in time receive that ornamentation
+which the site and the waters required, one day that his Excellency was
+on the spot, speaking of this with such men as Messer Ottaviano de'
+Medici and Cristofano Rinieri, the friend of Tribolo and the old servant
+of Signora Maria and of the Duke, they extolled Tribolo in such a manner,
+as a man endowed with all those parts that were requisite in the head of
+such a fabric, that the Duke gave Cristofano a commission to make
+him come from Bologna. Which having been straightway done by
+Rinieri, Tribolo, who could not have received any better news than that
+he was to serve Duke Cosimo, set out immediately for Florence, and,
+arriving there, was taken to Castello, where his most illustrious Excellency,
+having heard from him what he thought should be done in the way of
+decorative fountains, gave him a commission to make the models.
+Whereupon he set his hand to these, and was engaged upon them, while
+Maestro Pietro da San Casciano was executing the aqueduct and bringing
+the waters to the place, when the Duke, who meanwhile had begun, for
+the security of the city, to surround with a very strong wall the bastions
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16" name="Page_16"></a>[Pg 16]</span> erected on the hill of San Miniato at the time of the siege after the designs
+of Michelagnolo, ordained that Tribolo should make an escutcheon of
+hard stone, with two Victories, for an angle of the summit of a bastion
+that faces Florence. But Tribolo had scarcely finished the escutcheon,
+which was very large, and one of those Victories, a figure four braccia
+high, which was held to be a very beautiful thing, when he was obliged
+to leave that work incomplete, for the reason that, Maestro Pietro having
+carried well on the making of the aqueduct and the bringing of the waters,
+to the full satisfaction of the Duke, his Excellency wished that Tribolo
+should begin to put into execution, for the adornment of that place, the
+designs and models that he had already shown to him, ordaining him for
+the time being a salary of eight crowns a month, the same that was paid
+to San Casciano.</p>
+
+<p>Now, in order that I may not become confused in describing the
+intricacies of the aqueducts and of the ornaments of the fountains, it
+may be well to say briefly some few words about the site and position of
+Castello. The villa of Castello stands at the roots of Monte Morello,
+below the Villa della Topaia, which is halfway up the slope; it has before
+it a plain that descends little by little, for the space of a mile and a half,
+down to the River Arno, and exactly where the ascent of the mountain
+begins stands the palace, which was built in past times by Pier Francesco
+de' Medici, after a very good design. The principal front faces straight
+towards the south, overlooking a vast lawn with two very large fish-ponds
+full of running water, which comes from an ancient aqueduct made
+by the Romans in order to conduct water from Valdimarina to Florence,
+and provided with a vaulted cistern under the ground; and so it has a
+very beautiful and very pleasing view. The fish-ponds in front are divided
+in the middle by a bridge twelve braccia wide, which leads to an avenue
+of the same width, bounded at the sides and covered above by an unbroken
+vault of mulberry-trees, ten braccia in height, thus making a
+covered avenue three hundred braccia in length, delightful for its shade,
+which opens on to the high road to Prato by a gate placed between two
+fountains that serve to give water to travellers and animals. On the
+eastern side the same palace has a very beautiful pile of stable-buildings,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17" name="Page_17"></a>[Pg 17]</span> and on the western side a private garden into which one goes from the
+courtyard of the stables, passing straight through the ground-floor of the
+palace by way of the loggie, halls, and chambers on the level of the
+ground; from which private garden one can enter by a door on the west
+side into another garden, very large and all filled with fruit-trees, and
+bounded by a forest of fir-trees that conceals the houses of the labourers
+and others who live there, engaged in the service of the palace and of the
+gardens. Next, that part of the palace which faces north, towards the
+mountain, has in front of it a lawn as long as the palace, the stables, and
+the private garden altogether, and from this lawn one climbs by steps to
+the principal garden, a place enclosed by ordinary walls, which, rising
+in a gentle slope, stretches so well clear of the palace as it rises, that the
+mid-day sun searches it out and bathes it all with its rays, as if there
+were no palace in front; and at the upper end it stands so high that it
+commands a view not only of the whole palace, but also of the plain that
+is in front and around it, and likewise about the city. In the middle of
+this garden is a forest of very tall and thickly-planted cypresses, laurels,
+and myrtles, which, laid out in a circular shape, have the form of a labyrinth,
+all surrounded by box-hedges two braccia and a half in height, so
+even and grown with such beautiful order that they have the appearance
+of a painting done with the brush; in the centre of which labyrinth, at
+the desire of the Duke, Tribolo, as will be described below, made a very
+beautiful fountain of marble. At the principal entrance, where there is
+the first-mentioned lawn with the two fish-ponds and the avenue covered
+with mulberry-trees, Tribolo wished that the avenue should be so extended
+that it might stretch for a distance of more than a mile, covered
+and shaped in like manner, and might reach as far as the River Arno,
+and that the waters which ran away from all the fountains, flowing
+gently in pleasant channels at the sides of the avenue, and filled with
+various kinds of fishes and crayfish, might accompany it down to that
+river.</p>
+
+<p>As for the palace&mdash;to describe what has still to be done as well as
+that which has been finished&mdash;he wished to make a loggia in front of it,
+which, passing by an open courtyard, was to have on the side where the
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18" name="Page_18"></a>[Pg 18]</span> stables are another palace as large as the old one, with the same proportion
+of apartments, loggie, private garden, and the rest; which addition
+would have made it a vast palace, with a most beautiful fa�ade.
+After passing the court from which one enters into the large garden of
+the labyrinth, at the main entrance, where there is a vast lawn, after
+climbing the steps that lead to that labyrinth, there came a level space
+thirty braccia square, on which there was to be&mdash;and has since been
+made&mdash;a very large fountain of white marble, which was to spout upwards
+above ornaments fourteen braccia in height, while from the mouth
+of a statue at the highest point was to issue a jet of water rising to the
+height of six braccia. At either end of the lawn was to be a loggia, one
+opposite to the other, each thirty braccia in length and fifteen in breadth;
+and in the middle of each loggia was to be placed a marble table twelve
+braccia in length, and on the outside a basin of eight braccia, which was
+to receive the water from a vase held by two figures. In the middle of
+the above-mentioned labyrinth Tribolo had thought to achieve the most
+decorative effect with water by means of jets and a very beautiful seat
+round the fountain, the marble basin of which was to be, even as it was
+afterwards made, much smaller than that of the large principal fountain;
+and at the summit it was to have a figure of bronze spouting water. At
+the end of this garden, in the centre, there was to be a gate with some
+children of marble on both sides spouting water, with a fountain on
+either side, and in the corners double niches in which statues were to
+be placed, as in the others that are in the walls at the sides, at the opposite
+ends of the avenues that cross the garden, which are all covered with
+greenery distributed in various ways.</p>
+
+<p>Through the above-mentioned gate, which is at the upper end of
+this garden, above some steps, one enters into another garden, as wide
+as the first, but of no great depth in the direct line, in comparison with
+the mountain beyond. In this garden were to be two other loggie, one
+on either side, and in the wall opposite to the gate, which supports the
+soil of the mountain, there was to be in the centre a grotto with three
+basins, with water playing into them in imitation of rain. The grotto
+was to be between two fountains placed in the same wall, and opposite
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19" name="Page_19"></a>[Pg 19]</span> to these, in the lower wall of the garden, were to be two others, one on
+either side of the gate; so that the fountains of this garden would have
+been equal in number to those of the other, which is below it, and receives
+its water from the first, which is higher. And this garden was to be all
+full of orange-trees, which would have had&mdash;and will have, whenever
+that may be&mdash;a most favourable situation, being defended by the walls
+and by the mountain from the north wind and other harmful winds.</p>
+
+<p>From this garden one climbs by two staircases of flint, one on either
+side, to a forest of cypresses, fir-trees, holm-oaks, laurels, and other evergreen
+trees, distributed with beautiful order, in the middle of which,
+according to Tribolo's design, there was to be a most lovely fish-pond,
+which has since been made. And because this part, gradually narrowing,
+forms an angle, that angle, to the end that it might be made flat, was to
+be blunted by the breadth of a loggia, from which, after climbing some
+steps, might be seen in front the palace, the gardens, the fountains, and
+all the plain below and about them, as far as the Ducal Villa of Poggio
+a Caiano, Florence, Prato, Siena, and all that is around for many miles.</p>
+
+<p>Now the above-named Maestro Pietro da San Casciano, having
+carried his work of the aqueduct as far as Castello, and having turned
+into it all the waters of Castellina, was overtaken by a violent fever, and
+died in a few days. Whereupon Tribolo, undertaking the charge of
+directing all the building by himself, perceived that, although the waters
+brought to Castello were in great abundance, nevertheless they were not
+sufficient for all that he had made up his mind to do; not to mention that,
+coming from Castellina, they did not rise to the height that he required
+for his purposes. Having therefore obtained from the Lord Duke a
+commission to conduct thither the waters of Petraia, a place more than
+one hundred and fifty braccia above Castello, which are good and very
+abundant, he caused a conduit to be made, similar to the other, and so
+high that one can enter into it, to the end that thus those waters of
+Petraia might come to the fish-pond through another aqueduct with
+enough fall for the fish-pond and the great fountain.</p>
+
+<p>This done, Tribolo began to build the above-mentioned grotto, proposing
+to make it with three niches, in a beautiful architectural design,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20" name="Page_20"></a>[Pg 20]</span> and likewise the two fountains that were one on either side of it. In
+one of these there was to be a large statue of stone, representing Monte
+Asinaio, which, pressing its beard, was to pour water from its mouth
+into a basin that was to be in front of it; from which basin the water,
+issuing by a hidden channel, and passing under the wall, was to flow to
+the fountain that there is at the present day behind the wall, at the end
+of the slope of the garden of the labyrinth, pouring into the vase on the
+shoulder of the figure of the River Mugnone, which is in a large niche of
+grey-stone decorated with most beautiful ornaments, and all covered
+with sponge-stone. This work, if it had been finished in all its perfection,
+even as it is in part, would have had great similarity to the reality,
+since the Mugnone rises from Monte Asinaio.</p>
+
+<p>For the Mugnone, then, to describe that which has been done,
+Tribolo made a figure of grey-stone, four braccia in length, and reclining
+in a very beautiful attitude, which has upon one shoulder a vase that
+pours water into a basin, and rests the other on the ground, leaning
+upon it, with the left leg crossed over the right. And behind this river
+is a woman representing Fiesole, wholly naked, issuing from among the
+sponge-stones and rocks in the middle of the niche, and holding in the
+hand a moon which is the ancient emblem of the people of Fiesole.
+Below this niche is a very large basin supported by two great Capricorns,
+which are one of the devices of the Duke; from which Capricorns hang
+some festoons and masks of great beauty, and from their lips issues the
+water from that basin, which is convex in the middle, and has outlets at
+the sides; and all the water that overflows pours away from the sides
+through the mouths of the Capricorns, and then, after falling into the
+hollow base of the vase, flows through the herb-beds that are round the
+walls of the garden of the labyrinth, where there are fountains between the
+niches, and between the fountains espaliers of oranges and pomegranates.</p>
+
+<p>In the second garden described above, where Tribolo had intended
+that there should be made the Monte Asinaio that was to supply water
+to the Mugnone, there was to be on the other side, beyond the gate, a
+similar figure of the Monte della Falterona; and even as this mountain
+is the source of the River Arno, so the statue representing that river in
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21" name="Page_21"></a>[Pg 21]</span> the garden of the labyrinth, opposite to the Mugnone, was to receive
+the water from the Falterona. But since neither the figure of that
+mountain nor its fountain has ever been finished, let us speak of the
+fountain and figure of the River Arno, which were completed by Tribolo
+to perfection. This river, then, holds its vase upon one thigh, lying
+down and leaning with one arm on a lion, which holds a lily in its paw,
+and the vase receives its water through the perforated wall, behind
+which there was to be the Falterona, exactly in the manner in which, as
+has been described, the statue of the River Mugnone also receives its
+water; and since the long basin is in every way similar to that of the
+Mugnone, I shall say no more about it, save this, that it is a pity that
+the art and excellence of these works, which are truly most beautiful,
+are not embodied in marble.</p>
+
+<p>Then, continuing the work of the conduit, Tribolo caused the water
+from the grotto to pass under the orange-garden and then under the
+next garden, and thus brought it into the labyrinth, where, forming a
+circle round all the middle of the labyrinth, in a good circumference
+round the centre, he laid down the central pipe, through which the fountain
+was to spout water. After which, taking the waters from the Arno
+and the Mugnone, and bringing them together under the level of the
+labyrinth by means of certain bronze pipes that were distributed in
+beautiful order throughout that space, he filled that whole pavement
+with very fine jets, in such a manner that it was possible by turning a
+key to drench all those who came near to see the fountain. Nor is one
+able to escape either quickly or with ease, because Tribolo made round
+the fountain and the pavement, in which are the jets, a seat of grey-stone
+supported by lion's paws, between which are sea monsters in low-relief;
+which was a difficult thing to do, because he chose, since the place
+was sloping and the square lay on the slant, to make it level, and the
+same with the seat.</p>
+
+<p>Having then set his hand to the fountain of the labyrinth, he
+made on the shaft, in marble, an interwoven design of sea monsters cut
+out in full relief, with tails intertwined so well, that nothing better of
+that kind could be done. And this finished, he executed the tazza with
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22" name="Page_22"></a>[Pg 22]</span> a piece of marble brought long before to Castello, together with a large
+table, also of marble, from the Villa dell'Antella, which M. Ottaviano de'
+Medici formerly bought from Giuliano Salviati. By reason of this opportunity,
+then, Tribolo made that tazza sooner than he might otherwise
+have done, fashioning round it a dance of little children attached to the
+moulding which is beside the lip of the tazza; which children are holding
+festoons of products of the sea, cut out of the marble with beautiful art.
+And so also the shaft which he made over the tazza, he executed with
+much grace, with some very beautiful children and masks to spout water.
+Upon that shaft it was the intention of Tribolo to place a bronze statue
+three braccia high, representing Florence, in order to signify that from
+the above-named Mounts Asinaio and Falterona the waters of the Arno
+and Mugnone come to Florence; of which figure he had made a most
+beautiful model which, pressing the hair with the hands, caused water
+to pour forth. Then, having brought the water as far as the space thirty
+braccia square, below the labyrinth, he made a beginning with the great
+fountain, which, made with eight sides, was to receive all the above-mentioned
+waters into its lowest basin&mdash;namely, those from the waterworks
+of the labyrinth, and likewise those of the great conduit. Each of
+these eight sides, then, rises above a step one-fifth of a braccio in height,
+and each angle of the eight sides has a projection, as have also the steps,
+which, thus projecting, rise at each angle in a great step of two-fifths of
+a braccio, in such a way that the central face of the steps withdraws into
+the projections, and their straight line is thus broken, which produces a
+bizarre effect, and makes the ascent very easy. The edges of the fountain
+have the shape of a vase, and the body of the fountain&mdash;that is, the
+inner part where the water is&mdash;curves in the form of a circle. The shaft
+begins with eight sides, and continues with eight seats almost up to the
+base of the tazza, upon which are seated eight children of the size of life,
+all in the round and in various attitudes, who, linked together with the
+legs and arms, make a rich adornment and a most beautiful effect. And
+since the tazza, which is round, projects to the extent of six braccia, the
+water of the whole fountain, pouring equally over the edge on every side,
+sends a very beautiful rain, like the drippings from a roof, into the
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23" name="Page_23"></a>[Pg 23]</span> octagonal basin mentioned above, and those children that are on the
+shaft of the tazza are not wetted, and they appear to be there in order
+not to be wetted by the rain, almost like real children, full of delight
+and playing as they shelter under the lip of the tazza, which could not
+be equalled in its simplicity and beauty. Opposite to the four paths
+that intersect the garden are four children of bronze lying at play in
+various attitudes, which are after the designs of Tribolo, although they
+were executed afterwards by others. Above this tazza begins another
+shaft, which has at the foot, on some projections, four children of marble
+in the round, who are pressing the necks of some geese that spout water
+from their mouths; and this water is that of the principal conduit coming
+from the labyrinth, and rises exactly to this height. Above these children
+is the rest of the shaft of this pedestal, which is made with certain cartouches
+which spurt forth water in a most bizarre manner; and then,
+regaining a quadrangular form, it rises over some masks that are very
+well made. Above this, then, is a smaller tazza, on the lip of which, on
+all four sides, are fixed by the horns four heads of Capricorns, making a
+square, which spout water through their mouths into the large tazza,
+together with the children, in order to make the rain which falls, as has
+been told, into the first basin, which has eight sides. Still higher there
+follows another shaft, adorned with other ornaments and with some
+children in half-relief, who, projecting outwards, form at the top a round
+space that serves as base to the figure of a Hercules who is crushing
+Ant�us, which was designed by Tribolo and executed afterwards by
+others, as will be related in the proper place. From the mouth of this
+Ant�us he intended that, instead of his spirit, there should gush out
+through a pipe water in great abundance, as indeed it does; which water
+is that of the great conduit of Petraia, which comes with much force,
+and rises sixteen braccia above the level where the steps are, and makes
+a marvellous effect in falling back into the greater tazza. In that same
+aqueduct, then, come not only those waters from Petraia, but also those
+that go to the fish-pond and the grotto, and these, uniting with those
+from Castellina, go to the fountains of the Falterona and Monte Asinaio,
+and thence to the fountains of the Arno and Mugnone, as has been related;
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24" name="Page_24"></a>[Pg 24]</span> after which, being reunited at the fountain of the labyrinth, they go to
+the centre of the great fountain, where are the children with the geese.
+From there, according to the design of Tribolo, they were to flow through
+two distinct and separate conduits into the basins of the loggie, where
+the tables are, and then each into a separate private garden. The first of
+these gardens&mdash;that towards the west&mdash;is all filled with rare and medicinal
+plants; wherefore at the highest level of that water, in that garden of
+simples, in the niche of the fountain, and behind a basin of marble, there
+was to be a statue of �sculapius.</p>
+
+<p>The principal fountain described above, then, was completely finished
+in marble by Tribolo, and carried to the finest and greatest perfection
+that could be desired in a work of this kind. Wherefore I believe that
+it may be said with truth that it is the most beautiful fountain, the
+richest, the best proportioned, and the most pleasing that has ever been
+made, for the reason that in the figures, in the vases, in the tazze, and,
+in short, throughout the whole work, are proofs of extraordinary diligence
+and industry. After this, having made the model of the above-mentioned
+statue of �sculapius, Tribolo began to execute it in marble, but, being
+hindered by other things, he did not finish that figure, which was completed
+afterwards by the sculptor Antonio di Gino, his disciple.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img002" id="img002"></a>
+<img src="images/img002-tb.jpg" width="400" height="510" alt="The Hercules Fountain." title="">
+<p class="caption">THE HERCULES FOUNTAIN<br>
+(<i>After</i> Niccol� [Tribolo]. <i>Florence: Villa Reale di Castello</i>)<br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img002.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>On the side towards the east, in a little lawn without the garden,
+Tribolo arranged an oak in a most ingenious manner, for, besides the
+circumstance that it is so thickly covered both above and all around
+with ivy intertwined among the branches, that it has the appearance of
+a very dense grove, one can climb up it by a convenient staircase of
+wood similarly covered with ivy, at the top of which, in the middle of
+the oak, there is a square chamber surrounded by seats, the backs of
+which are all of living verdure, and in the centre is a little table of marble
+with a vase of variegated marble in the middle, from which, through a
+pipe, there flows and spurts into the air a strong jet of water, which,
+after falling, runs away through another pipe. These pipes mount
+upwards from the foot of the oak so well hidden by the ivy, that nothing
+is seen of them, and the water can be turned on or off at pleasure by
+means of certain keys; nor is it possible to describe in full in how many
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25" name="Page_25"></a>[Pg 25]</span> ways that water of the oak can be turned on, in order to drench anyone at
+pleasure with various instruments of copper, not to mention that with
+the same instruments one can cause the water to produce various sounds
+and whistlings.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, all these waters, after having served so many different
+purposes, and supplied so many fountains, are collected together, and
+flow into the two fish-ponds that are without the palace, at the beginning
+of the avenue, and thence to other uses of the villa.</p>
+
+<p>Nor will I omit to tell what was the intention of Tribolo with regard
+to the statues that were to be as ornaments in the great garden of the
+labyrinth, in the niches that may be seen regularly distributed there in
+various spaces. He proposed, then&mdash;acting in this on the judicious
+advice of M. Benedetto Varchi, who has been in our times most excellent
+as poet, orator, and philosopher&mdash;that at the upper and lower ends there
+should be placed the four Seasons of the year&mdash;Spring, Summer, Autumn,
+and Winter&mdash;and that each should be set up in that part where its particular
+season is most felt. At the entrance, on the right hand, beside
+the Winter, and in that part of the wall which stretches upwards, were
+to go six figures that were to demonstrate the greatness and goodness
+of the house of Medici, and to denote that all the virtues are to be found
+in Duke Cosimo; and these were Justice, Compassion, Valour, Nobility,
+Wisdom, and Liberality, which have always dwelt in the house of Medici,
+and are all united together at the present day in the most excellent Lord
+Duke, in that he is just, compassionate, valorous, noble, wise, and liberal.
+And because these qualities have made the city of Florence, as they still
+do, strong in laws, peace, arms, science, wisdom, tongues, and arts, and
+also because the said Lord Duke is just in the laws, compassionate in
+peace, valorous in arms, noble through the sciences, wise in his encouragement
+of tongues and other culture, and liberal to the arts, Tribolo wished
+that on the other side from the Justice, Compassion, Valour, Nobility,
+Wisdom, and Liberality, on the left hand, as will be seen below, there
+should be these other figures: Laws, Peace, Arms, Sciences, Tongues, and
+Arts. And it was most appropriately arranged that in this manner these
+statues and images should be placed, as they would have been, above
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26" name="Page_26"></a>[Pg 26]</span> the Arno and Mugnone, in order to signify that they do honour to Florence.
+It was also proposed that in the pediments there should be placed portrait-busts
+of men of the house of Medici, one in each&mdash;over Justice, for
+example, the portrait of his Excellency, that being his particular virtue,
+over Compassion that of the Magnificent Giuliano, over Valour Signor
+Giovanni, over Nobility the elder Lorenzo, over Wisdom the elder Cosimo
+or Clement VII, and over Liberality Pope Leo. And in the pediments
+on the other side it was suggested that there might be placed other heads
+from the house of Medici, or of persons of the city connected with that
+house. But since these names make the matter somewhat confused,
+they have been placed here in the following order:</p>
+
+<table style="margin-left: 10%" class="smcap" border="0" cellpadding="1" summary="Placement of statues.">
+<colgroup>
+    <col width="6em">
+    <col width="3em">
+    <col width="8em">
+    <col width="5em">
+    <col width="6em">
+    <col width="3em">
+    <col width="7em">
+</colgroup>
+<tr>
+<td>Summer.</td>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="center">The Mugnone.</td>
+<td class="center">Gate.</td>
+<td class="center">The Arno.</td>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="center">Spring.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="7">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Arts.</td>
+<td rowspan="6" title="Loggia" class="center">L<br>o<br>g<br>g<br>i<br>a.</td>
+<td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td>
+<td rowspan="6" title="Loggia" class="center">L<br>o<br>g<br>g<br>i<br>a.</td>
+<td>Liberality.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Tongues.</td>
+<td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td>
+<td>Wisdom.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Sciences.</td>
+<td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td>
+<td>Nobility.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Arms.</td>
+<td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td>
+<td>Valour.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Peace.</td>
+<td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td>
+<td>Compassion.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Laws.</td>
+<td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td>
+<td>Justice.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="7">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="center">Autumn.</td>
+<td class="center">Gate.</td>
+<td class="center">Loggia.</td>
+<td class="center">Gate.</td>
+<td class="center">Winter.</td>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>All these ornaments would have made this in truth the richest, the
+most magnificent, and the most ornate garden in Europe; but these
+works were not carried to completion, for the reason that Tribolo was
+not able to take measures to have them finished while the Duke was in
+the mind to continue them, as he might have done in a short time, having
+men in abundance and the Duke ready to spend money, and not suffering
+from those hindrances that afterwards stopped him. The Duke, indeed,
+not being contented at that time with the great quantity of water that
+is to be seen there, was thinking of trying to obtain the water of Valcenni,
+which is very abundant, in order to join it with the rest, and then to
+conduct it from Castello by an aqueduct similar to the one which he had
+made to the Piazza in front of his Palace in Florence. And of a truth,
+if this work had been pressed forward by a man with greater energy and
+more desire of glory, it would have been carried at least well on; but
+since Tribolo, besides that he was much occupied with various affairs of
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27" name="Page_27"></a>[Pg 27]</span> the Duke's, had not much energy, nothing more was done. And in all
+the time that he worked at Castello, he did not execute with his own
+hand anything save the two fountains, with the two rivers, the Arno and
+the Mugnone, and the statue of Fiesole; this arising from no other cause,
+so far as one can see, but his being too much occupied, as has been related,
+with the many affairs of the Duke.</p>
+
+<p>Among other things, the Duke caused him to make a bridge over
+the River Mugnone on the high road that goes to Bologna, without the
+Porta a S. Gallo. This bridge, since the river crosses the road obliquely,
+Tribolo caused to be built with an arch likewise oblique, in accordance
+with its oblique line across the river, which was a new thing, and much
+extolled, above all because he had the arch put together of stones cut
+on the slant on every side in such a manner that it proved to be very
+strong and very graceful; in short, this bridge was a very beautiful work.</p>
+
+<p>Not long before, the Duke had been seized with a desire to make a
+tomb for Signor Giovanni de' Medici, his father, and Tribolo, being eager
+to have the commission, made a very beautiful model for it, in competition
+with one that had been executed by Raffaello da Montelupo, who
+had the favour of Francesco di Sandro, the master of arms to his Excellency.
+And then, the Duke having resolved that the one to be put
+into execution should be Tribolo's, he went off to have the marble quarried
+at Carrara, where he also caused to be quarried the two basins for the
+loggie at Castello, a table, and many other blocks of marble. Meanwhile,
+Messer Giovan Battista da Ricasoli, now Bishop of Pistoia, being in Rome
+on business of the Lord Duke's, he was sought out by Baccio Bandinelli,
+who had just finished the tombs of Pope Leo X and Clement VII in the
+Minerva; and he was asked by Baccio to recommend him to his Excellency.
+Whereupon Messer Giovan Battista wrote to the Duke that
+Bandinelli desired to serve him, and his Excellency wrote in reply that
+on his return he should bring him in his company. And Bandinelli,
+having therefore arrived in Florence, so haunted the Duke in his audacity,
+making promises and showing him designs and models, that the tomb
+of the above-named Signor Giovanni, which was to have been made by
+Tribolo, was allotted to him; and so, taking some pieces of marble of
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28" name="Page_28"></a>[Pg 28]</span> Michelagnolo's, which were in the Via Mozza in Florence, he hacked
+them about without scruple and began the work. Wherefore Tribolo,
+on returning from Carrara, found that in consequence of his being too
+leisurely and good-natured, the commission had been taken away
+from him.</p>
+
+<p>In the year when bonds of kinship were formed between the Lord
+Duke Cosimo and the Lord Don Pedro di Toledo, Marquis of Villafranca,
+at that time Viceroy of Naples, the Lord Duke taking Don Pedro's
+daughter, Signora Leonora, to wife, preparations were made in Florence
+for the nuptials, and Tribolo was given the charge of constructing a
+triumphal arch at the Porta al Prato, through which the bride, coming
+from Poggio, was to enter; which arch he made a thing of beauty, very
+ornate with columns, pilasters, architraves, great cornices, and pediments.
+That arch was to be all covered with figures and scenes, in addition to
+the statues by the hand of Tribolo; and all those paintings were executed
+by Battista Franco of Venice, Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, and Michele, his disciple.
+Now the principal figure that Tribolo made for this work, which
+was placed at the highest point in the centre of the pediment, on a dado
+wrought in relief, was a woman five braccia high, representing Fecundity,
+with five little boys, three clinging to her legs, one on her lap, and another
+in her arms; and beside her, where the pediment sloped away, were two
+figures of the same size, one on either side. Of these figures, which were
+lying down, one was Security, leaning on a column with a light wand in
+her hand, and the other was Eternity, with a globe in her arms, and below
+her feet a white-haired old man representing Time, and holding in his
+arms the Sun and Moon. I shall say nothing as to the works of painting
+that were on that arch, because everyone may read about them for himself
+in the description of the festive preparations for those nuptials.
+And since Tribolo had particular charge of all decorations for the Palace
+of the Medici, he caused many devices to be executed in the lunettes of
+the vaulting of the court, with mottoes appropriate to the nuptials, and
+all those of the most illustrious members of the house of Medici. Besides
+this, he had a most sumptuous decoration made in the great open court,
+all full of stories; on one side of the Greeks and Romans, and on the
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29" name="Page_29"></a>[Pg 29]</span> other sides of deeds done by illustrious men of that house of Medici,
+which were all executed under the direction of Tribolo by the most
+excellent young painters that there were in Florence at that time&mdash;Bronzino,
+Pier Francesco di Sandro, Francesco Il Bacchiacca, Domenico
+Conti, Antonio di Domenico, and Battista Franco of Venice.</p>
+
+<p>On the Piazza di S. Marco, also, upon a vast pedestal ten braccia in
+height (in which Bronzino had painted two very beautiful scenes of the
+colour of bronze on the socle that was above the cornices), Tribolo erected
+a horse of twelve braccia, with the fore-legs in the air, and upon it an
+armed figure, large in proportion; and this figure, which had below it
+men dead and wounded, represented the most valorous Signor Giovanni
+de' Medici, the father of his Excellency. This work was executed by
+Tribolo with so much art and judgment, that it was admired by all who
+saw it, and what caused even greater marvel was the speed with which
+he finished it; among his assistants being the sculptor Santi Buglioni,
+who was crippled for ever in one leg by a fall, and came very near dying.</p>
+
+<p>Under the direction of Tribolo, likewise, for the comedy that was
+performed, Aristotile da San Gallo executed marvellous scenery, being
+truly most excellent in such things, as will be told in his Life; and for
+the costumes in the interludes, which were the work of Giovan Battista
+Strozzi, who had charge of the whole comedy, Tribolo himself made the
+most pleasing and beautiful inventions that it is possible to imagine in
+the way of vestments, buskins, head-dresses, and other wearing apparel.
+These things were the reason that the Duke afterwards availed himself
+of Tribolo's ingenuity in many fantastic masquerades, as in that of the
+bears, in a race of buffaloes, in the masquerade of the ravens, and in
+others.</p>
+
+<p>In like manner, in the year when there was born to the said Lord
+Duke his eldest son, the Lord Don Francesco, there was to be made in
+the Temple of S. Giovanni in Florence a very magnificent decoration
+which was to be marvellous in its grandeur, and capable of accommodating
+one hundred most noble young maidens, who were to accompany
+the Prince from the Palace as far as the said temple, where he was to
+receive baptism. The charge of this was given to Tribolo, who, in company
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30" name="Page_30"></a>[Pg 30]</span> with Tasso, adapting himself to the place, brought it about that
+the temple, which in itself is ancient and very beautiful, had the appearance
+of a new temple designed very well in the modern manner, with
+seats all round it richly adorned with pictures and gilding. In the centre,
+beneath the lantern, he made a great vase of carved woodwork with
+eight sides, the base of which rested on four steps, and at the corners of
+the eight sides were some large caulicoles, which, springing from the
+ground, where there were some lions' paws, had at the top of them certain
+children of large size in various attitudes, who were holding with their
+hands the lip of the vase, and supporting with their shoulders some
+festoons which hung like a garland right round the space in the middle.
+Besides this, Tribolo had made in the middle of the vase a pedestal of
+wood with beautiful things of fancy round it, upon which, to crown the
+work, he placed the S. John the Baptist of marble, three braccia high,
+by the hand of Donatello, which was left by him in the house of Gismondo
+Martelli, as has been related in the Life of Donatello himself.
+In short, this temple was adorned both within and without as well as
+could possibly be imagined, and the only part neglected was the principal
+chapel, where there is an old tabernacle with those figures in relief that
+Andrea Pisano made long ago; by reason of which it appeared that,
+every other part being made new, that old chapel spoilt all the grace
+that the other things together displayed. Wherefore the Duke, going
+one day to see those decorations, after praising everything like a man of
+judgment, and recognizing how well Tribolo had adapted himself to the
+situation and to every other feature of the place, censured one thing only,
+but that severely&mdash;that no thought had been given to the principal chapel.
+And then he ordained on the spot, like a person of resolute character and
+beautiful judgment, that all that part should be covered with a vast
+canvas painted in chiaroscuro, with S. John the Baptist baptizing Christ,
+and the people standing all around to see them or to be baptized, some
+taking off their clothes, and others putting them on again, in various
+attitudes; and above this was to be a God the Father sending down the
+Holy Spirit, with two fountains in the guise of river-gods, representing
+the Jor and the Dan, which, pouring forth water, were to form the Jordan.
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31" name="Page_31"></a>[Pg 31]</span> Jacopo da Pontormo was requested to execute this work by Messer Pier
+Francesco Riccio, at that time major-domo to the Duke, and by Tribolo,
+but he would not do it, on the ground that he did not think that the
+time given, which was only six days, would be enough for him; and the
+same refusal was made by Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, Bronzino, and many
+others. Now at this time Giorgio Vasari, having returned from Bologna,
+was executing for Messer Bindo Altoviti the altar-piece of his chapel in
+S. Apostolo at Florence, but he was not held in much consideration,
+although he had friendship with Tribolo and Tasso, because certain
+persons had formed a faction under the protection of the above-named
+Messer Pier Francesco Riccio, and whoever was not of that faction had
+no share in the favours of the Court, although he might be able and
+deserving. This was the reason that many who, with the aid of so great
+a Prince, would have become excellent, found themselves neglected, none
+being employed save those chosen by Tasso, who, being a gay person,
+got Riccio so well under his thumb with his jokes, that in certain affairs
+he neither proposed nor did anything save what was suggested by Tasso,
+who was architect to the Palace and did all the work. These men, then,
+having a sort of suspicion of Giorgio, who laughed at their vanities and
+follies, and sought to make a position for himself rather by means of the
+studies of art than by favour, gave no thought to his claims; but he was
+commissioned by the Lord Duke to execute that canvas, with the subject
+described above. This work he executed in chiaroscuro, in six days, and
+delivered it finished in the manner known to those who saw what grace
+and adornment it conferred on the whole decoration, and how much it
+enlivened that part of the temple that stood most in need of it, amid the
+magnificence of that festival. Tribolo, then (to return to the point whence,
+I know not how, I digressed), acquitted himself so well, that he rightly
+won the highest praise; and the Duke commanded that a great part of
+the ornaments that he placed between the columns should be left there,
+where they still are, and deservedly.</p>
+
+<p>For the Villa of Cristofano Rinieri at Castello, while he was occupied
+with the fountains of the Duke, Tribolo made for a niche over a fish-pond
+which is at the head of a fowling-place, a river-god of grey-stone,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32" name="Page_32"></a>[Pg 32]</span> of the size of life, which pours water into a very large basin of the same
+stone; which figure is made of pieces, and put together with such diligence
+and art, that it appears to be all of one block. Tribolo then set
+his hand, at the command of his Excellency, to attempting to finish the
+staircase of the library of S. Lorenzo&mdash;that, namely, which is in the
+vestibule before the door; but after he had placed four steps in position,
+not finding either the plan or the measurements of Michelagnolo, by order
+of the Duke he went to Rome, not only to hear the opinion of Michelagnolo
+with regard to that staircase, but also to make an effort to bring
+him to Florence. But he did not succeed either in the one object or in
+the other, for Michelagnolo, not wishing to leave Rome, excused himself
+in a handsome manner, and as for the staircase he declared that he
+remembered neither the measurements nor anything else. Tribolo, therefore,
+having returned to Florence, and not being able to continue the
+work of that staircase, set himself to make the pavement of the said
+library with white and red bricks, after the manner of some pavements
+that he had seen in Rome; but he added a filling of red clay to the white
+clay mixed with bole, in order to produce various effects of carving in
+those bricks; and thus he made in that pavement a copy of the ceiling
+and coffered work above&mdash;a notion that was highly extolled. He then
+began, but did not finish, a work that was to be placed on the main tower
+of the defences of the Porta a Faenza, for Don Giovanni di Luna, the
+castellan at that time&mdash;namely, an escutcheon of grey-stone, and a large
+eagle in full relief with two heads, which he made in wax to the end that
+it might be cast in bronze, but nothing more was done with it, and of
+the escutcheon only the shield was finished.</p>
+
+<p>Now it was the custom in the city of Florence to have almost every
+year on the principal piazza, on the evening of the festival of S. John
+the Baptist, towards nightfall, a girandola&mdash;that is, a contrivance full of
+fire-trumpets, rockets, and other fireworks; which girandola had the form
+now of a temple, now of a ship, sometimes of rocks, and at times of a
+city or of an inferno, according as it pleased the designer; and one year
+the charge of making one was given to Tribolo, who, as will be described
+below, made it very beautifully. Of the various manners of these fireworks,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33" name="Page_33"></a>[Pg 33]</span> and particularly of set pieces, Vannoccio of Siena and others give
+an account, and on this subject I shall enlarge no further; but I must
+say something as to the nature of these girandole. The whole structure,
+then, is of wood, with broad compartments radiating outwards from the
+foot, to the end that the rockets, when they have been lighted, may not
+set fire to the other fireworks, but may rise in due order from their
+separate places, one after another, filling the heavens in proper succession
+with the fire that blazes in the girandola both above and below.
+They are distributed, I say, at wide intervals, to the end that they may
+not burn all at once, and may produce a beautiful effect; and the same
+do the mortars, which are bound to the firm parts of the girandola, and
+make the most beautiful and joyous noises. The fire-trumpets, likewise,
+are fitted in among the ornaments, and are generally contrived so as to
+discharge through the mouths of masks and other suchlike things. But
+the most important point is to arrange the girandola in such a manner
+that the lights that burn in certain vases may last the whole night, and
+illuminate the piazza; wherefore the whole work is connected together
+by a simple match of tow steeped in a mixture of powder full of sulphur
+and aquavit�, which creeps little by little with its fire to every part
+which it has to set alight, one after another, until it has kindled the
+whole. Now, as I have said, the things represented are various, but all
+must have something to do with fire, and must be subject to its action;
+and long before this there had been counterfeited the city of Sodom,
+with Lot and his daughters flying from it, at another time Geryon, with
+Virgil and Dante on his back, according as Dante himself relates in the
+<i>Inferno</i>, and even earlier Orpheus bringing Eurydice with him from
+those infernal regions, with many other inventions. And his Excellency
+ordained that the work should not be given to any of the puppet-painters,
+who for many years past had made a thousand absurdities in the girandole,
+but that an excellent master should produce a work that might
+have in it something of the good; wherefore the charge of this was given
+to Tribolo, who, with the ingenuity and art wherewith he had executed
+all his other works, made one in the form of a very beautiful octagonal
+temple, rising with its ornaments to the total height of twenty braccia.
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34" name="Page_34"></a>[Pg 34]</span> This temple he represented as the Temple of Peace, placing on the summit
+an image of Peace, who was setting fire to a great pile of arms which she
+had at her feet; and these arms, the statue of Peace, and all the other
+figures that made this structure one of great beauty, were made of pasteboard,
+clay, and cloth steeped in glue, put together with extraordinary
+art. They were, I say, of these materials, to the end that the whole work
+might be the lighter, since it was to be suspended at a great height from
+the ground by a double rope that crossed the Piazza high in the air.
+It is true, indeed, that the fireworks having been placed in it too thickly,
+and the fuses of tow being too near one to another, when they were set
+alight, such was the fury of the conflagration, and so great and so violent
+the blaze, that everything caught fire all at once, and was burned in a
+flash, whereas it should have continued to burn for an hour at least;
+and what was worse, the fire seizing on the woodwork and on all that
+should have been preserved, the ropes and every other thing were consumed
+in a moment, which was no small loss, and gave little pleasure to
+the people. But with regard to workmanship, it was more beautiful
+than any other girandola that had ever been made up to that time.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke, then, resolving to erect the Loggia of the Mercato Nuovo
+for the convenience of his citizens and merchants, did not wish to lay a
+greater burden than he could bear on Tribolo, who, as chief engineer to
+the Capitani di Parte and the commissioners of the rivers and the sewers
+of the city, was always riding through the Florentine dominions, engaged
+in bringing back to their proper beds many rivers that did damage by
+breaking away from them, in repairing bridges, and in other suchlike
+works; and he gave the charge of this enterprise to Tasso, at the advice
+of the above-mentioned Messer Pier Francesco, his major-domo, in order
+to change that Tasso from a carpenter into an architect. This was certainly
+against the wishes of Tribolo, although he did not show it, and
+even acted as the close friend of Tasso; and a proof that this is true is
+that Tribolo perceived many errors in Tasso's model, but, so it is believed,
+would by no means tell him of them. Such an error, for example, was
+that of the capitals of the columns that are beside the pilasters, whereby,
+the columns not leaving enough space, when everything had been drawn
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35" name="Page_35"></a>[Pg 35]</span> up, and the capitals had to be set into position, the corona above those
+capitals would not go in, so that it was found necessary to cut away so
+much that the order of the architecture was ruined; besides many other
+errors, of which there is no need to speak. For the above-named Messer
+Pier Francesco the same Tasso executed the door of the Church of
+S. Romolo, and a window with knee-shaped brackets on the Piazza del
+Duca, in an order of his own, substituting capitals for bases, and doing
+so many other things without measure or order, that it might have been
+said that the German Order had begun to return to life in Tuscany by
+means of this man; to say nothing of the works that he did in the Palace
+in the way of staircases and apartments, which the Duke has been obliged
+to have destroyed, because they had no sort of order, measure, or proportion,
+and were, on the contrary, all shapeless, out of square, and
+without the least convenience or grace. All these things were not done
+without some responsibility falling on Tribolo, who, having considerable
+knowledge in such matters, should not, so it seemed, have allowed his
+Prince to throw away his money and to do him such an affront to his
+face; and, what was even more serious, he should not have permitted
+such things to Tasso, who was his friend. Well did men of judgment
+recognize the presumption and madness of the one in seeking to exercise
+an art of which he knew nothing, and the dissimulation of the other, who
+declared that he was pleased with that which he certainly knew to be
+bad; and of this a proof may be found in the works that Giorgio Vasari
+has had to pull down in the Palace, to the loss of the Duke and the great
+shame of those men.</p>
+
+<p>But the same thing happened to Tribolo as to Tasso, in that, even
+as Tasso abandoned wood-carving, a craft in which he had no equal,
+but never became a good architect, and thus won little honour by deserting
+an art in which he was very able, and applying himself to another
+of which he knew not one scrap, so Tribolo, abandoning sculpture, in
+which it may be said with truth that he was most excellent and caused
+everyone to marvel, and setting himself to attempt to straighten out
+rivers, ceased to win honour by pursuing the one, while the other brought
+him blame and loss rather than honour and profit. For he did not succeed
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36" name="Page_36"></a>[Pg 36]</span> in his tinkering with rivers, and he made many enemies, particularly
+in the district of Prato, on account of the Bisenzio, and in many
+places in the Val di Nievole.</p>
+
+<p>Duke Cosimo having then bought the Palace of the Pitti, of which
+there has been an account in another place, and his Excellency desiring
+to adorn it with gardens, groves, fountains, fish-ponds, and other suchlike
+things, Tribolo executed all the distribution of the hill in the manner
+in which it still remains, accommodating everything in its proper place
+with beautiful judgment, although various things in many parts of the
+garden have since been changed. Of this Pitti Palace, which is the most
+beautiful in Europe, mention will be made in another place with a more
+suitable occasion.</p>
+
+<p>After these things, Tribolo was sent by his Excellency to the
+island of Elba, not only that he might see the city and port that the
+Duke had caused to be built there, but also that he might make arrangements
+for the transport of a round piece of granite, twelve braccia in
+diameter, from which was to be made a tazza for the great lawn of the
+Pitti Palace, which might receive the water of the principal fountain.
+Tribolo, therefore, went thither and caused a boat to be made on purpose
+for transporting the tazza, and then, after giving the stone-cutters
+directions for the transportation, he returned to Florence; where he had
+no sooner arrived, than he found the whole country full of murmurings
+and maledictions against him, since about that time floods and inundations
+had done infinite havoc in the neighbourhood of those rivers that
+he had patched up, although it was, perhaps, not altogether through his
+fault that this had happened. However that may have been, whether
+it was the malignity of some of his assistants, or perchance envy, or that
+the accusation was indeed true, the blame for all that damage was laid
+on Tribolo, who, being a man of no great spirit, and rather wanting in
+resolution than otherwise, and doubting that the malice of some enemy
+might make him lose the favour of the Duke, was in a state of great
+despondency, when, being of a feeble habit of body, on the 20th of August
+in the year 1550, there came upon him a most violent fever. At that
+time Giorgio Vasari was in Florence, for the purpose of having sent to
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37" name="Page_37"></a>[Pg 37]</span> Rome the marbles for the tombs that Pope Julius III caused to be
+erected in S. Pietro a Montorio; and he, as one who sincerely esteemed
+the talents of Tribolo, visited and comforted him, beseeching him that
+he should think of nothing save his health, and that, when cured, he
+should return to finish the work of Castello, letting the rivers go their
+own way, for they were more likely to drown his fame than to bring him
+any profit or honour. This, which he promised to attempt to do, he
+would, I believe, have done at all costs, if he had not been prevented
+by death, which closed his eyes on the 7th of September in the same
+year. And so the works of Castello, begun and carried well forward by
+him, remained unfinished; for although some work has been done there
+since his day, now in one part and now in another, nevertheless they
+have never been pursued with the diligence and resolution that were
+shown when Tribolo was alive and when the Lord Duke was hot in the
+undertaking. Of a truth, he who does not press great works forward
+while those who are having them done are spending money willingly and
+devoting their best attention to them, brings it about that those works
+are put on one side and left unfinished, which zeal and solicitude could
+have carried to perfection. And thus, by the negligence of the workers,
+the world is left without its adornment, and they without their honour
+and fame, for the reason that it rarely happens, as it did to this work
+of Castello, that on the death of the first master he who succeeds to his
+place is willing to finish it according to his design and model with that
+modesty with which Giorgio Vasari, at the commission of the Duke, has
+caused the great fish-pond of Castello to be finished after the directions
+of Tribolo, even as he will do with the other things according as his
+Excellency may desire from time to time to have them done.</p>
+
+<p>Tribolo lived sixty-five years, and was interred by the Company of
+the Scalzo in their place of burial. He left behind him a son called
+Raffaello, who has not taken up art, and two daughters, one of whom
+is the wife of David, Tribolo's assistant in building all the works at
+Castello, who, being a man of judgment and capable in such matters, is
+now employed on the aqueducts of Florence, Pisa, and all the other places
+in the dominion, according as it may please his Excellency.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="pierinodavinci" id="pierinodavinci"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39" name="Page_39"></a>[Pg 39]</span> PIERINO (PIERO) DA VINCI</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="life_of_pierinodavinci" id="life_of_pierinodavinci"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41" name="Page_41"></a>[Pg 41]</span> LIFE OF PIERINO (PIERO) DA VINCI<br>
+SCULPTOR</h2>
+
+<p>Although those men are generally the most celebrated who have executed
+some work excellently well, nevertheless, if the works already accomplished
+by any man foreshadow those that he did not achieve as likely
+to have been numerous and much more rare, if some accident, unforeseen
+and out of the common use, had not happened to interrupt him, it
+is certain that such a man, wherever there may be one willing to be just
+in his appreciation of the talent of another, will be rightly extolled and
+celebrated both on the one count and on the other, and as much for
+what he would have done as for what he did. The sculptor Vinci, therefore,
+should not suffer on account of the short duration of his life, or be
+robbed thereby of the praise due to him from the judgment of those
+who shall come after us, considering that he was only in the first bloom
+both of his life and of his studies at the time when he produced and
+gave to the world that which everyone admires, and was like to bring
+forth fruits in greater abundance, if a hostile tempest had not destroyed
+both the fruits and the tree.</p>
+
+<p>I remember having said in another place that in the township of
+Vinci, in the lower Valdarno, there lived Ser Piero, the father of Leonardo
+da Vinci, most famous of painters. To this Ser Piero, after Leonardo,
+there was born, as his youngest son, Bartolommeo, who, living at Vinci
+and attaining to manhood, took for his wife one of the first maidens of
+that township. Bartolommeo was desirous of having a male child, and
+spoke very often to his wife of the greatness of the genius with which his
+brother Leonardo had been endowed, praying God that He should make
+her worthy that from her there might be born in his house another
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42" name="Page_42"></a>[Pg 42]</span> Leonardo, the first being now dead. In a short time, therefore, according
+to his desire, there was born to him a gracious boy, to whom he
+wished to give the name of Leonardo; but, being advised by his relatives
+to revive the memory of his father, he gave him the name of Piero.
+Having come to the age of three years, the boy had a most beautiful
+countenance, with curly locks, and showed great grace in every movement,
+with a quickness of intelligence that was marvellous; insomuch
+that Maestro Giuliano del Carmine, an excellent astrologer, and with him
+a priest devoted to chiromancy, who were both close friends of Bartolommeo,
+having arrived in Vinci and lodged in Bartolommeo's house,
+looking at the forehead and hand of the boy, revealed to the father, both
+the astrologer and the chiromancer together, the greatness of his genius,
+and predicted that in a short time he would make extraordinary proficience
+in the mercurial arts, but that his life would also be very short.
+And only too true was their prophecy, for both in the one part and in
+the other (when one would have sufficed), in his life as well as in his art,
+it needs must be fulfilled.</p>
+
+<p>Then, continuing to grow, Piero had his father as his master in
+letters, but of himself, without any master, giving his attention to drawing
+and to making various little puppets in clay, he showed that the
+divine inclination of his nature recognized by the astrologer and the
+chiromancer was already awakening and beginning to work in him. By
+reason of which Bartolommeo judged that his prayer had been heard by
+God; and, believing that his brother had been restored to him in his son,
+he began to think of removing Piero from Vinci and taking him to
+Florence. Having then done this without delay, he placed Piero, who
+was now twelve years of age, with Bandinelli in Florence, flattering himself
+that Baccio, having been once the friend of Leonardo, would take
+notice of the boy and teach him with diligence; besides which, it seemed
+to him that Piero delighted more in sculpture than in painting. But
+afterwards, coming very often to Florence, he recognized that Bandinelli
+was not answering with deeds to his expectations, and was not taking
+pains with the boy or showing interest in him, although he saw him to
+be willing to learn. For which reason Bartolommeo took him away from
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43" name="Page_43"></a>[Pg 43]</span> Bandinelli, and entrusted him to Tribolo, who appeared to him to make
+more effort to help those who were seeking to learn, besides giving more
+attention to the studies of art and bearing even greater affection to the
+memory of Leonardo.</p>
+
+<p>Tribolo was executing some fountains at Castello, the villa of his
+Excellency; and thereupon Piero, beginning once more his customary
+drawing, through having there the competition of the other young men
+whom Tribolo kept about him, set himself with great ardour of spirit to
+study day and night, being spurred by his nature, which was desirous of
+excellence and honour, and being even more kindled by the example of
+the others like himself whom he saw constantly around him. Wherefore
+in a few months he made such progress, that it was a marvel to everyone;
+and, having begun to gain some experience with the chisels, he
+sought to see whether his hand and his tools would obey in practice the
+thoughts within him and the designs formed in his brain. Tribolo, perceiving
+his readiness, and having had a water-basin of stone made at
+that very time for Cristofano Rinieri, gave to Piero a small piece of
+marble, from which he was to make for that water-basin a boy that
+should spurt forth water from the private part. Piero, taking the marble
+with great gladness, first made a little model of clay, and then executed
+the work with so much grace, that Tribolo and the others ventured the
+opinion that he would become one of those who are counted as rare in
+that art. Tribolo then gave him a Ducal Mazzocchio<a id="FNanchor3" name="FNanchor3"></a><a href="#Footnote3" title="Go to footnote 3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> to make in stone,
+to be placed over an escutcheon with the Medici balls, for Messer Pier
+Francesco Riccio, the major-domo of the Duke; and he made it with
+two children with their legs intertwined together, who are holding the
+Mazzocchio in their hands and placing it upon the escutcheon, which is
+fixed over the door of a house that the major-domo then occupied,
+opposite to S. Giuliano, near the Priests of S. Antonio. When this work
+was seen, all the craftsmen of Florence formed the same judgment that
+Tribolo had pronounced before.</p>
+
+<p>After this, he carved a boy squeezing a fish that is pouring water
+from its mouth, for the fountains of Castello. And then, Tribolo having
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44" name="Page_44"></a>[Pg 44]</span> given him a larger piece of marble, Piero made from it two children who
+are embracing each other and squeezing fishes, causing water to spout
+from their mouths. These children were so graceful in the heads and in
+their whole persons, and executed with so beautiful a manner in the legs,
+arms, and hair, that already it could be seen that he would have been
+able to execute the most difficult work to perfection. Taking heart,
+therefore, and buying a piece of grey-stone, two braccia and a half in
+length, which he took to his house on the Canto alla Briga, Piero began
+to work at it in the evenings, after returning from his labours, at night,
+and on feast-days, insomuch that little by little he brought it to completion.
+This was a figure of Bacchus, who had a Satyr at his feet, and
+with one hand was holding a cup, while in the other he had a bunch of
+grapes, and his head was girt with a crown of grapes; all after a model
+made by himself in clay. In this and in his other early works Piero
+showed a marvellous facility, which never offends the eye, nor is it in
+any respect disturbing to him who beholds it. This Bacchus, when
+finished, was bought by Bongianni Capponi, and his nephew Lodovico
+Capponi now has it in a courtyard in his house.</p>
+
+<p>The while that Piero was executing these works, few persons as yet
+knew that he was the nephew of Leonardo da Vinci; but his labours
+making him well known and renowned, by this means his parentage and
+his birth were likewise revealed. Wherefore ever afterwards, both from
+his connection with his uncle and from his own happy genius, wherein
+he resembled that great man, he was called by everyone not Piero, but
+Vinci.</p>
+
+<p>Now Vinci, while occupied in this manner, had often heard various
+persons speaking of the things connected with the arts to be seen in
+Rome, and extolling them, as is always done by everyone; wherefore a
+great desire had been kindled in him to see them, hoping to be able to
+derive profit by beholding not only the works of the ancients, but also
+those of Michelagnolo, and even the master himself, who was then alive
+and residing in Rome. He went thither, therefore, in company with
+some friends; but after seeing Rome and all that he wished, he returned
+to Florence, having reflected judiciously that the things of Rome were
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45" name="Page_45"></a>[Pg 45]</span> as yet too profound for him, and should be studied and imitated not so
+early in his career, but after a greater acquaintance with art.</p>
+
+<p>At that time Tribolo had finished a model for the shaft of the fountain
+in the labyrinth, in which are some Satyrs in low-relief, four masks
+in half-relief, and four little boys in the round, who are seated upon
+certain caulicoles. Vinci having then returned, Tribolo gave him this
+shaft to do, and he executed and finished it, making in it some delicate
+designs not employed by any other but himself, which greatly pleased
+all who saw them. Then, having had the whole marble tazza of that
+fountain finished, Tribolo thought of placing on the edge of it four children
+in the round, lying down and playing with their arms and legs in the
+water, in various attitudes; and these he intended to cast in bronze.
+Vinci, at the commission of Tribolo, made them of clay, and they were
+afterwards cast in bronze by Zanobi Lastricati, a sculptor and a man
+very experienced in matters of casting; and they were placed not long
+since around the fountain, where they make a most beautiful effect.</p>
+
+<p>There was in daily intercourse with Tribolo one Luca Martini, the
+proveditor at that time for the building of the Mercato Nuovo, who,
+praising highly the excellence in art and the fine character of Vinci, and
+desiring to help him, provided him with a piece of marble two-thirds of
+a braccio in height and one and a quarter in length. Vinci, taking the
+marble, made with it a Christ being scourged at the Column, in which
+the rules of low-relief and of design may be seen to have been well observed;
+and in truth it made everyone marvel, considering that he had
+not yet reached the age of seventeen, and had made in five years of
+study that proficience in art which others do not achieve save after
+length of life and great experience of many things.</p>
+
+<p>At this time Tribolo, having undertaken the office of superintendent
+of the drains in the city of Florence, ordained in that capacity that the
+drain in the old Piazza di S. Maria Novella should be raised from the
+ground, in such a way that, becoming more capacious, it might be better
+able to receive all the waters that ran into it from various quarters.
+For this work, then, he commissioned Vinci to make the model of a
+great mask of three braccia, which with its open mouth might swallow
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46" name="Page_46"></a>[Pg 46]</span> all the rain-water. Afterwards, by order of the Ufficiali della Torre, the
+work was allotted to Vinci, who, in order to execute it more quickly,
+summoned to his aid the sculptor Lorenzo Marignolli. In company with
+this master he finished it, making it from a block of hard-stone; and the
+work is such that it adorns the whole Piazza, with no small advantage
+to the city.</p>
+
+<p>It now appeared to Vinci that he had made such proficience in art,
+that it would be a great benefit to him to see the principal works in Rome,
+and to associate with the most excellent craftsmen living there; wherefore,
+an occasion to go there presenting itself, he seized it readily. There
+had arrived from Rome an intimate friend of Michelagnolo Buonarroti,
+Francesco Bandini, who, having come to know Vinci by means of Luca
+Martini, and having praised him highly, caused him to make a model of
+wax for a tomb of marble that he wished to erect in his chapel in S. Croce;
+and shortly afterwards, on returning to Rome, Vinci having spoken his
+mind to Luca Martini, Bandini took him in his company. There Vinci
+remained a year, studying all the time, and executed some works worthy
+of remembrance. The first was a Christ on the Cross in low-relief, rendering
+up His spirit to His Father, which was copied from a design done
+by Michelagnolo. For Cardinal Ridolfi he added to an antique head a
+breast in bronze, and made a Venus of marble in low-relief, which was
+much extolled. For Francesco Bandini he restored an ancient horse, of
+which many pieces were wanting, and made it complete. And in order
+to give some proof of gratitude, where he could, to Luca Martini, who
+was writing to him by every courier, and continually recommending him
+to Bandini, it seemed good to Vinci to make a copy in wax, in the round
+and two-thirds (of a braccio) in height, of the Moses of Michelagnolo that
+is on the tomb of Pope Julius II in S. Pietro in Vincula, than which there
+is no more beautiful work to be seen; and so, having made the Moses of
+wax, he sent it as a present to Luca Martini.</p>
+
+<p>At the time when Vinci was living in Rome and executing the works
+mentioned above, Luca Martini was made by the Duke of Florence
+proveditor of Pisa, and in his office he did not forget his friend, and
+therefore wrote to him that he was preparing a room for him and was
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47" name="Page_47"></a>[Pg 47]</span> providing a block of marble of three braccia, so that he might return
+from Rome at his pleasure, seeing that while with him he should want
+for nothing. Vinci, attracted by this prospect and by the love that he
+bore to Luca, resolved to depart from Rome and to take up his abode
+for some time in Pisa, where he looked to find opportunities of practising
+his hand and making trial of his ability. Having therefore gone to Pisa,
+he found that the marble was already in his room, prepared according to
+the orders of Luca; but, on proceeding to begin to carve from it an
+upright figure, he perceived that the marble had in it a crack that diminished
+it by a braccio. Wherefore, having resolved to change it into a
+recumbent figure, he made a young River God holding a vase that is
+pouring out water, the vase being upheld by three children, who are
+assisting the River God to pour the water forth; and beneath his feet
+runs a copious stream of water, in which may be seen fishes darting
+about and water-fowl flying in various parts. This River God finished,
+Vinci made a present of it to Luca, who presented it to the Duchess, to
+whom it was very dear; and then, her brother Don Garzia di Toledo being
+at that time in Pisa, whither he had gone by galley, she gave it to that
+brother, who accepted it with much pleasure for the fountains of his
+garden in the Chiaia at Naples.</p>
+
+<p>In those days Luca Martini was writing some observations on the
+Commedia of Dante, and he pointed out to Vinci the cruelty described
+by Dante, which the Pisans and Archbishop Ruggieri showed towards
+Count Ugolino della Gherardesca, causing him to die of hunger with his
+four sons in the tower that is therefore called the Tower of Hunger;
+whereby he offered to Vinci the occasion for a new work and the idea of
+a new design. Wherefore, while he was still working at the River God
+described above, he set his hand to making a scene in wax more than a
+braccio in height and three-quarters in breadth, to be cast in bronze, in
+which he represented two of the Count's sons already dead, one in the
+act of expiring, and the fourth overcome by hunger and near his end,
+but not yet reduced to the last breath; with the father in a pitiful and
+miserable attitude, blind and heavy with grief, and groping over the
+wretched bodies of his sons stretched upon the ground. In this work
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48" name="Page_48"></a>[Pg 48]</span> Vinci displayed the excellence of design no less than did Dante the perfection
+of poetry in his verses, for no less compassion is stirred by the
+attitudes shaped in wax by the sculptor in him who beholds them, than
+is roused in him who listens to the words and accents imprinted on the
+living page by the poet. And in order to mark the place where the event
+happened, he made at the foot of the scene the River Arno, which occupies
+its whole width, for the above-named tower is not far distant from the
+river in Pisa; while upon that tower he placed an old woman, naked,
+withered, and fearsome, representing Hunger, much after the manner
+wherein Ovid describes her. The wax model finished, he cast the scene
+in bronze, and it gave consummate satisfaction, being held by the Court
+and by everyone to be no ordinary work.</p>
+
+<p>Duke Cosimo was then intent on enriching and beautifying the city
+of Pisa, and he had already caused the Piazza del Mercato to be built
+anew, with a great number of shops around it, and had placed in the
+centre a column ten braccia high, upon which, according to the design
+of Luca, was to stand a statue representing Abundance. Martini, therefore,
+having spoken to the Duke and presented Vinci to his notice, easily
+obtained for him from his Excellency the commission for that statue,
+the Duke being always eager to assist men of talent and to bring fine
+intellects forward. Vinci executed a statue of travertine, three braccia
+and a half in height, which was much extolled by everyone; for at the
+feet of the figure he placed a little child, who assists her to support the
+Cornucopia, carved with much softness and facility, although the stone
+is rough and difficult to work.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img003" id="img003"></a>
+<img src="images/img003-tb.jpg" width="400" height="558" alt="Ugolino della Gherardesca and his Sons
+in the Tower of Famine." title="">
+<p class="caption">UGOLINO DELLA GHERARDESCA AND HIS SONS
+IN THE TOWER OF FAMINE<br>
+(<i>After the wax relief by</i> Pierino [Piero] da Vinci. <i>Oxford: Ashmolean Museum</i>)<br>
+<i>Reproduced by permission of the Visitors of the Ashmolean Museum.</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img003.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Luca afterwards sent to Carrara to have a block of marble quarried
+five braccia in height and three in breadth, from which Vinci, who had
+once seen some sketches by Michelagnolo of Samson slaying a Philistine
+with the jawbone of an ass, proposed to make two figures of five braccia
+from his own fancy, after that subject. Whereupon, while the marble
+was on its way, he set himself to make several models, all varying one
+from another, and then fixed on one of them; and after the block had
+arrived he began to carve it, and carried it well on, imitating Michelagnolo
+in cutting his conception and design little by little out of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49" name="Page_49"></a>[Pg 49]</span> stone, without spoiling it or making any sort of error. He executed all
+the perforation in this work, whether undercut or at an easy angle, with
+great facility, laborious as it was, and the manner of the whole work
+was very delicate. But since the labour was very fatiguing, he sought
+to distract himself with other studies and works of less importance; and
+thus he executed during the same time a little tablet of marble in low-relief,
+in which he represented Our Lady with Christ, S. John, and
+S. Elizabeth, which was held, as it still is, to be a rare work. This came
+into the hands of the most illustrious Duchess, and it is now among the
+choice things in the study of the Duke.</p>
+
+<p>He then set his hand to a scene of marble, one braccio high and one
+and a half wide, partly in half-relief and partly in low-relief, in which he
+represented the restoration of Pisa by the Duke, who is in the work
+present in person at the restoration of that city, which is being pressed
+forward by his presence. Round the Duke are figures of his virtues; in
+particular a Minerva representing his wisdom and also the arts revived
+by him in that city of Pisa, who is surrounded by many evils and natural
+defects of the site, which besiege her on every side, and afflict her in the
+manner of enemies; but from all these that city has since been delivered
+by the above-mentioned virtues of the Duke. All these virtues round
+the Duke, with all the evils round Pisa, were portrayed by Vinci in his
+scene with most beautiful gestures and attitudes; but he left it unfinished,
+to the great regret of those who saw it, on account of the perfection of
+the things in it that were completed.</p>
+
+<p>The fame of Vinci having grown and spread abroad by reason of
+these works, the heirs of Messer Baldassarre Turini da Pescia besought
+him that he should make a model of a marble tomb for Messer Baldassarre;
+which finished, it pleased them, whereupon they made an agreement
+that the tomb should be executed, and Vinci sent Francesco del
+Tadda, an able master of marble-carving, to have the marble quarried at
+Carrara. And when that master had sent him a block of marble, Vinci
+began a statue, and carved out of the stone a figure blocked out in such
+a manner that one who knew not the circumstances would have said that
+it was certainly blocked out by Michelagnolo.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50" name="Page_50"></a>[Pg 50]</span> The name of Vinci was now very great, and his genius was admired
+by all, being much more perfect than could have been expected in one
+so young, and it was likely to grow even more and to become greater,
+and to equal that of any other man in his art, as his own works bear
+witness, without any other testimony; when the term prescribed for him
+by Heaven, being now close at hand, interrupted all his plans, and caused
+his rapid progress to cease at one blow, not suffering that he should
+climb any higher, and depriving the world of many excellent works of
+art with which, had Vinci lived, it would have been adorned. It happened
+at this time, while Vinci was intent on the tomb of another, not
+knowing that his own was preparing, that the Duke had to send Luca
+Martini to Genoa on affairs of importance; and Luca, both because he
+loved Vinci and wished to have him in his company, and also in order
+to give him some diversion and recreation, and to enable him to see
+Genoa, took him with him on his journey. There, while Martini was
+transacting his business, at his suggestion Messer Adamo Centurioni commissioned
+Vinci to execute a figure of S. John the Baptist, of which he
+made the model. But soon he was attacked by fever, and, to increase
+his distress, at the same time his friend was also taken away from him;
+perchance to provide a way in which fate might be fulfilled in the life
+of Vinci. For it became necessary that Luca, in the interests of the
+business entrusted to him, should go to Florence to find the Duke; wherefore
+he parted from his sick friend, to the great grief of both the one
+and the other, leaving him in the house of the Abate Nero, to whom he
+straitly recommended him, although Piero was very unwilling to remain
+in Genoa. But Vinci, feeling himself growing worse every day, resolved
+to have himself removed from Genoa; and, having caused an assistant of
+his own, called Tiberio Cavalieri, to come from Pisa, with his help he had
+himself carried to Livorno by water, and from Livorno to Pisa in a litter.
+Arriving in Pisa at the twenty-second hour in the evening, all exhausted
+and broken by the journey, the sea-voyage, and the fever, during the
+night he had no repose, and the next morning, at the break of day, he
+passed to the other life, not having yet reached the age of twenty-three.</p>
+
+<p>The death of Vinci was a great grief to all his friends, and to Luca
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51" name="Page_51"></a>[Pg 51]</span> Martini beyond measure; and it grieved all those who had hoped to see
+from his hands such works as are not often seen. And Messer Benedetto
+Varchi, who was much the friend of his abilities and of those of every
+master, afterwards wrote the following sonnet in memory of his fame:</p>
+
+<p class="poem20">
+Come potr� da me, se tu non presti<br>
+<span class="add1em">O forza, o tregua al mio gran duolo interno,</span><br>
+<span class="add1em">Soffrirlo in pace mai, Signor superno,</span><br>
+<span class="add1em">Che fin qu� nuova ognor pena mi desti?</span><br>
+Dunque de' miei pi� cari or quegli, or questi,<br>
+<span class="add1em">Verde sen voli all'alto Asilo eterno,</span><br>
+<span class="add1em">Ed io canuto in questo basso inferno</span><br>
+<span class="add1em">A pianger sempre e lamentarmi resti?</span><br>
+Sciolgami almen tua gran bontade quinci,<br>
+<span class="add1em">Or che reo fato nostro, o sua ventura,</span><br>
+<span class="add1em">Ch' era ben degno d' altra vita, e gente,</span><br>
+Per far pi� ricco il cielo, e la scultura<br>
+<span class="add1em">Men bella, e me col buon Martin dolente,</span><br>
+<span class="add1em">N' ha privi, o piet�, del secondo Vinci.</span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="bacciobandinelli" id="bacciobandinelli"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53" name="Page_53"></a>[Pg 53]</span> BACCIO BANDINELLI</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="life_of_bacciobandinelli" id="life_of_bacciobandinelli"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55" name="Page_55"></a>[Pg 55]</span> LIFE OF BACCIO BANDINELLI<br>
+SCULPTOR OF FLORENCE</h2>
+
+
+<p>In the days when the arts of design flourished in Florence by the favour
+and assistance of the elder Lorenzo de' Medici the Magnificent, there
+lived in the city a goldsmith called Michelagnolo di Viviano of Gaiuole,
+who worked excellently well at chasing and incavo for enamels and niello,
+and was very skilful in every sort of work in gold and silver plate. This
+Michelagnolo had a great knowledge of jewels, and set them very well;
+and on account of his talents and his versatility all the foreign masters
+of his art used to have recourse to him, and he gave them hospitality, as
+well as to the young men of the city, insomuch that his workshop was
+held to be, as it was, the first in Florence. Of him the Magnificent
+Lorenzo and all the house of Medici availed themselves; and for the
+tourney that Giuliano, the brother of that Magnificent Lorenzo, held on
+the Piazza di S. Croce, he executed with subtle craftsmanship all the
+ornaments of helmets, crests, and devices. Wherefore he acquired a
+great name and much intimacy with the sons of the Magnificent Lorenzo,
+to whom his work was ever afterwards very dear, and no less useful to
+him their acquaintance and friendship, by reason of which, and also by
+the many works that he executed throughout the whole city and dominion,
+he became a man of substance as well as one of much repute in his art.
+To this Michelagnolo the Medici, on their departure from Florence in the
+year 1494, entrusted much plate in silver and gold, which was all kept in
+safe hiding by him and faithfully preserved until their return, when he
+was much extolled by them for his fidelity, and afterwards recompensed
+with rewards.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56" name="Page_56"></a>[Pg 56]</span> In the year 1487 there was born to Michelagnolo a son, whom he
+called Bartolommeo, but afterwards, according to the Florentine custom,
+he was called by everyone Baccio. Michelagnolo, desiring to leave his
+son heir to his art and connection, took him into his own workshop in
+company with other young men who were learning to draw; for that
+was the custom in those times, and no one was held to be a good goldsmith
+who was not a good draughtsman and able to work well in relief.
+Baccio, then, in his first years, gave his attention to design according to
+the teaching of his father, being assisted no less to make proficience by
+the competition of the other lads, among whom he chose as his particular
+companion one called Piloto, who afterwards became an able goldsmith;
+and with him he often went about the churches drawing the works of
+the good painters, but also mingling work in relief with his drawing,
+and counterfeiting in wax certain sculptures of Donato and Verrocchio,
+besides executing some works in clay, in the round.</p>
+
+<p>While still a boy in age, Baccio frequented at times the workshop of
+Girolamo del Buda, a commonplace painter, on the Piazza di S. Pulinari.
+There, at one time during the winter, a great quantity of snow had fallen,
+which had been thrown afterwards by the people into a heap in that
+piazza; and Girolamo, turning to Baccio, said to him jestingly: "Baccio,
+if this snow were marble, could we not carve a fine giant out of it, such as
+a Marforio lying down?" "We could so," answered Baccio, "and I
+suggest that we should act as if it were marble." And immediately,
+throwing off his cloak, he set his hands to the snow, and, assisted by other
+boys, taking away the snow where there was too much, and adding some
+in other places, he made a rough figure of Marforio lying down, eight
+braccia in length. Whereupon the painter and all the others stood marvelling,
+not so much at what he had done as at the spirit with which he
+had set his hand to a work so vast, and he so young and so small.</p>
+
+<p>Baccio, indeed, having more love for sculpture than for goldsmith's
+work, gave many proofs of this; and when he went to Pinzirimonte, a
+villa bought by his father, he would often plant himself before the naked
+labourers and draw them with great eagerness, and he did the same
+with the cattle on the farm. At this time he continued for many days
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57" name="Page_57"></a>[Pg 57]</span> to go in the morning to Prato, which was near the villa, where he stayed
+the whole day drawing in the Chapel of the Pieve from the work of Fra
+Filippo Lippi, and he did not cease until he had drawn it all, imitating
+the draperies of that master, who did them very well. And already he
+handled with great skill the style and the pen, and also chalk both red
+and black, which last is a soft stone that comes from the mountains of
+France, and with it, when cut to a point, drawings can be executed with
+great delicacy.</p>
+
+<p>These things making clear to Michelagnolo the mind and inclination
+of his son, he also changed his intention, like the boy himself, and, being
+likewise advised by his friends, placed him under the care of Giovan
+Francesco Rustici, one of the best sculptors in the city, whose workshop
+was still constantly frequented by Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo, seeing
+the drawings of Baccio and being pleased with them, exhorted him to
+persevere and to take to working in relief; and he recommended strongly
+to him the works of Donato, saying also that he should execute something
+in marble, such as a head or a low-relief. Baccio, encouraged by
+the comforting advice of Leonardo, set himself to copy in marble an
+antique head of a woman, of which he had shaped a model from one
+that is in the house of the Medici. This, for his first work, he executed
+passing well, and it was held very dear by Andrea Carnesecchi, who
+received it as a present from Baccio's father and placed it in his house
+in the Via Larga, over that door in the centre of the court which leads
+into the garden. Now, Baccio continuing to make other models of
+figures in clay in the round, his father, wishing not to fail in his duty
+towards the praiseworthy zeal of his son, sent for some blocks of marble
+from Carrara, and caused to be built for him, at the end of his house at
+Pinti, a room with lights arranged for working, which looked out upon
+the Via Fiesolana. Whereupon he set himself to block out various
+figures in those marbles, and one, among others, he carried well on from
+a piece of marble of two braccia and a half, which was a Hercules that is
+holding the dead Cacus beneath him, between his legs. These sketches
+were left in the same place in memory of him.</p>
+
+<p>At this time was thrown open to view the cartoon of Michelagnolo
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58" name="Page_58"></a>[Pg 58]</span> Buonarroti, full of nude figures, which Michelagnolo had executed at the
+commission of Piero Soderini for the Great Council Chamber, and, as
+has been related in another place, all the craftsmen flocked together to
+draw it on account of its excellence. Among these came Baccio, and no
+long time passed before he outstripped them all, for the reason that he
+understood nudes, and outlined, shaded, and finished them, better than
+any of the other draughtsmen, among whom were Jacopo Sansovino,
+Andrea del Sarto, Il Rosso, who was then very young, and Alfonso
+Berughetta the Spaniard, together with many other famous craftsmen.
+Baccio frequented the place more than any of the others, and had a
+counterfeit key; and it happened that, Piero Soderini having been deposed
+from the government about this time, in the year 1512, and the
+house of Medici having been restored to power, during the confusion
+caused in the Palace by the change of government, Baccio entered in
+secret, all by himself, and tore the cartoon into many pieces. Of which
+not knowing the reason, some said that Baccio had torn it up in order
+to have some pieces of the cartoon in his possession for his own convenience,
+some declared that he wished to deprive the other young men
+of that advantage, so that they might not be able to profit by it and
+make themselves a name in art, others said that he was moved to do this
+by his affection for Leonardo da Vinci, from whom Michelagnolo's cartoon
+had taken much of his reputation, and others, again, perhaps interpreting
+his action better, attributed it to the hatred which he felt against Michelagnolo
+and afterwards demonstrated as long as he lived. The loss of the
+cartoon was no light one for the city, and very heavy the blame that was
+rightly laid upon Baccio by everyone, as an envious and malicious person.</p>
+
+<p>Baccio then executed some pieces of cartoon with lead-white and
+charcoal, among which was a very beautiful one of a nude Cleopatra,
+which he presented to the goldsmith Piloto. Having already acquired a
+name as a great draughtsman, he was desirous of learning to paint in
+colours, having a firm belief that he would not only equal Buonarroti,
+but even greatly surpass him in both fields of art. Now he had executed
+a cartoon of a Leda, in which Castor and Pollux were issuing from the
+egg of the swan embraced by her, and he wished to colour it in oils, in
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59" name="Page_59"></a>[Pg 59]</span> such a way as to make it appear that the methods of handling the colours
+and mixing them together in order to make the various tints, with the
+lights and shades, had not been taught to him by others, but that he had
+found them by himself, and, after pondering how he could do this, he
+thought of the following expedient. He besought Andrea del Sarto,
+who was much his friend, that he should paint a portrait of him in oils,
+flattering himself that he would thereby gain two advantages in accordance
+with his purpose; one was that he would see the method of mixing
+the colours, and the other was that the painted picture would remain in
+his hands, which, having seen it executed and understanding it, would
+assist him and serve him as a pattern. But Andrea perceived Baccio's
+intention as he made his request, and was angry at his want of confidence
+and astuteness, for he would have been willing to show him what he
+desired, if Baccio had asked him as a friend; wherefore, without making
+any sign that he had found him out, and refraining from mixing the
+colours into tints, he placed every sort of colour on his palette and mingled
+them together with the brush, and, taking some now from one and now
+from another with great dexterity of hand, counterfeited in this way
+the vivid colouring of Baccio's face. The latter, both through the artfulness
+of Andrea and because he had to sit still where he was if he wished
+to be painted, was never able to see or learn anything that he wished:
+and it was a fine notion of Andrea's, thus at the same time to punish the
+deceitfulness of his friend and to display with this method of painting,
+like a well-practised master, even greater ability and experience in art.</p>
+
+<p>For all this, however, Baccio did not abandon his determination, in
+which he was assisted by the painter Rosso, whom he afterwards asked
+more openly for the help that he desired. Having thus learned the
+methods of colouring, he painted a picture in oils of the Holy Fathers
+delivered from the Limbo of Hell by the Saviour, and also a larger picture
+of Noah drunk with wine and revealing his nakedness in the presence of
+his sons. He tried his hand at painting on the wall, on fresh plaster, and
+executed on the walls of his house heads, arms, legs, and torsi, coloured
+in various ways; but, perceiving that this involved him in greater difficulties
+than he had expected, through the drying of the plaster, he returned
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60" name="Page_60"></a>[Pg 60]</span> to his former study of working in relief. He made a figure of
+marble, three braccia in height, of a young Mercury with a flute in his
+hand, with which he took great pains, and it was extolled and held to be
+a rare work; and afterwards, in the year 1530, it was bought by Giovan
+Battista della Palla and sent to France to King Francis, who held it in
+great estimation.</p>
+
+<p>Baccio devoted himself with great study and solicitude to examining
+and reproducing the most minute details of anatomy, persevering in
+this for many months and even years. And certainly one can praise
+highly in this man his desire for honour and excellence in art, and for
+working well therein; spurred by which desire, and by the most fiery
+ardour, with which, rather than with aptitude or dexterity in art, he had
+been endowed by nature from his earliest years, Baccio spared himself
+no fatigue, never relaxed his efforts for a moment, was always intent
+either on preparing for work or on working, always occupied, and never
+to be found idle, thinking that by continual work he would surpass all
+others who had ever practised his art, and promising this result to himself
+as the reward of his incessant study and endless labour. Continuing,
+therefore, his zealous study, he not only produced a great number of
+sheets drawn in various ways with his own hand, but also contrived to
+get Agostino Viniziano, the engraver of prints, to engrave for him a nude
+Cleopatra and a larger plate filled with various anatomical studies, in
+order to see whether this would be successful; and the latter plate brought
+him great praise.</p>
+
+<p>He then set himself to make in wax, in full-relief, a figure one braccio
+and a half in height of S. Jerome in Penitence, lean beyond belief, which
+showed on the bones the muscles all withered, a great part of the nerves,
+and the skin dry and wrinkled; and with such diligence was this work
+executed by him, that all the craftsmen, and particularly Leonardo da
+Vinci, pronounced the opinion that there had never been seen a better
+thing of its kind, nor one wrought with greater art. This figure Baccio
+carried to Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici and to his brother the Magnificent
+Giuliano, and by its means he made himself known to them as the son
+of the goldsmith Michelagnolo; and they, besides praising the work,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61" name="Page_61"></a>[Pg 61]</span> showed him many other favours. This was in the year 1512, when they
+had returned to their house and their government. At this same time
+there were being executed in the Office of Works of S. Maria del Fiore
+certain Apostles of marble, which were to be set up within the marble
+tabernacles in those very places in that church where there are the
+Apostles painted by the painter Lorenzo di Bicci. At the instance of
+the Magnificent Giuliano there was allotted to Baccio a S. Peter, four
+braccia and a half in height, which after a long time he brought to completion;
+and, although it has not the highest perfection of sculpture,
+nevertheless good design may be seen in it. This Apostle remained in
+the Office of Works from the year 1513 down to 1565, in which year
+Duke Cosimo, in honour of the marriage of Queen Joanna of Austria, his
+daughter-in-law, was pleased to have the interior of S. Maria del Fiore
+whitewashed, which church had never been touched from the time of its
+erection down to that day, and to have four Apostles set up in their
+places, among which was the S. Peter mentioned above.</p>
+
+<p>Now in the year 1515, Pope Leo X passing through Florence on
+his way to Bologna, the city, in order to do him honour, ordained, among
+many other ornaments and festive preparations, that there should be
+made a colossal figure of nine braccia and a half, which was to be placed
+under an arch of the Loggia in the Piazza near the Palace; and this was
+given to Baccio. This colossal figure was a Hercules, and from the
+premature words of Baccio men expected that it would surpass the David
+of Buonarroti, which stood there near it; but the act did not correspond
+to the word, nor the work to the boast, and it robbed Baccio of much
+of the estimation in which he had previously been held by the craftsmen
+and by the whole city.</p>
+
+<p>Pope Leo had allotted the work of the ornamentation in marble
+that surrounds the Chamber of Our Lady at Loreto, with the statues and
+scenes, to Maestro Andrea Contucci of Monte Sansovino, who had already
+executed some of these with great credit to himself, and was then engaged
+on others. Now at this time Baccio took to Rome, for the Pope, a very
+beautiful model of a nude David who was holding Goliath under him and
+was cutting off his head; which model he intended to execute in bronze
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62" name="Page_62"></a>[Pg 62]</span> or in marble for that very spot in the court of the house of the Medici
+in Florence where there once stood the David of Donato, which, at the
+spoiling of the Medici Palace, was taken to the Palace that then belonged
+to the Signori. The Pope, having praised Baccio, but not thinking that the
+time had come to execute the David, sent him to Loreto to Maestro Andrea,
+to the end that Andrea might give him one of those scenes to do. Having
+arrived in Loreto, he was received lovingly by Maestro Andrea and shown
+much kindness, both on account of his fame and because the Pope had
+recommended him, and a piece of marble was assigned to him from which
+he should carve the Nativity of Our Lady. Baccio, after making the
+model, began the work; but, being a person who was not able to endure
+a colleague or an equal, and had little praise for the works of others, he
+also began to speak hardly before the other sculptors who were there of
+the works of Maestro Andrea, saying that he had no design, and he said
+the same of the others, insomuch that in a short time he made himself
+disliked by them all. Whereupon, all that Baccio had said of Maestro
+Andrea having come to his ears, he, like a wise man, answered him
+lovingly, saying that works are done with the hands and not with the
+tongue, that good design is to be looked for not in drawings but in the
+perfection of the work finished in stone, and, finally, that in future
+Baccio should speak of him in a different tone. But Baccio answering
+him arrogantly with many abusive words, Maestro Andrea could endure
+no more, and rushed upon him in order to kill him; but Bandinelli was
+torn away from him by some who intervened between them. Being
+therefore forced to depart from Loreto, Baccio had his scene carried to
+Ancona; but he grew weary of it, although it was near completion, and
+he went away leaving it unfinished. This work was finished afterwards
+by Raffaello da Montelupo, and placed together with the others of
+Maestro Andrea; but it is by no means equal to them in excellence,
+although even so it is worthy of praise.</p>
+
+<p>Baccio, having returned to Rome, obtained a promise from the
+Pope, through the favour of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, always ready to
+assist the arts and their followers, that he should be commissioned to
+execute some statue for the court of the Medici Palace in Florence.
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63" name="Page_63"></a>[Pg 63]</span> Having therefore come to Florence, he made an Orpheus of marble,
+who with his playing and his singing is charming Cerberus, and moving
+Hell itself to compassion. He imitated in this work the Apollo of the
+Belvedere at Rome, and it was very highly praised, and rightly, because,
+although the Orpheus of Baccio is not in the attitude of the Apollo
+Belvedere, nevertheless it reproduces very successfully the manner of
+the torso and of all the members. The statue, when finished, was carried
+by order of Cardinal Giulio, while he was governing Florence, into the
+above-mentioned court, and placed on a carved base executed by the
+sculptor Benedetto da Rovezzano. But since Baccio never paid any
+attention to the art of architecture, he took no heed of the genius of
+Donatello, who had made for the David that was there before a simple
+column on which rested a cleft base in open-work, to the end that one
+entering from without might see from the street-door the inner door,
+that of the other court, opposite to him; and, not having such foresight,
+he caused his statue to be placed on a broad and wholly solid base, of
+such a kind that it blocks the view of him who enters and covers the opening
+of the inner door, so that in passing through the first door one does
+not see whether the palace extends farther inwards or finishes in the first
+court.</p>
+
+<p>Cardinal Giulio had caused a most beautiful villa to be erected below
+Monte Mario at Rome, and wished to set up two giants in this villa;
+and he had them executed in stucco by Baccio, who was always delighted
+to make giants. These figures, eight braccia in height, stand one on
+either side of the gate that leads into the wood, and they were held to
+be reasonably beautiful. While Baccio was engaged on these works,
+never abandoning his practice of drawing, he caused Marco da Ravenna
+and Agostino Viniziano, the engravers of prints, to engrave a scene
+drawn by him on a very large sheet, in which was the Slaughter of the
+Innocents, so cruelly done to death by Herod. This scene, which was
+filled by him with a quantity of nudes, both male and female, children
+living and dead, and women and soldiers in various attitudes, made known
+the fine draughtsmanship that he showed in figures and his knowledge
+of muscles and of all the members, and it won him great fame over all
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64" name="Page_64"></a>[Pg 64]</span> Europe. He also made a most beautiful model of wood, with the figures
+in wax, of a tomb for the King of England, which in the end was not
+carried out by Baccio, but was given to the sculptor Benedetto da
+Rovezzano, who executed it in metal.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img004" id="img004"></a>
+<img src="images/img004-tb.jpg" width="500" height="365" alt="The Martyrdom of S. Lorenzo." title="">
+<p class="caption">THE MARTYRDOM OF S. LORENZO<br>
+(<i>After the painting by</i> Baccio Bandinelli. <i>Hereford: W. J. Davies' Collection</i>)<br>
+<i>M.S.</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img004.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>There had recently returned from France Cardinal Bernardo Divizio
+of Bibbiena, who, perceiving that King Francis possessed not a single
+work in marble, whether ancient or modern, although he much delighted
+in such things, had promised his Majesty that he would prevail on the
+Pope to send him some beautiful work. After this Cardinal there came
+to the Pope two Ambassadors from King Francis, and they, having
+seen the statues of the Belvedere, lavished all the praise at their command
+on the Laocoon. Cardinals de' Medici and Bibbiena, who were with
+them, asked them whether the King would be glad to have a work of
+that kind; and they answered that it would be too great a gift. Then
+the Cardinal said to them: "There shall be sent to his Majesty either
+this one or one so like it that there shall be no difference." And, having
+resolved to have another made in imitation of it, he remembered Baccio,
+whom he sent for and asked whether he had the courage to make a
+Laocoon equal to the original. Baccio answered that he was confident
+that he could make one not merely equal to it, but even surpassing it
+in perfection. The Cardinal then resolved that the work should be begun,
+and Baccio, while waiting for the marble to come, made one in wax,
+which was much extolled, and also executed a cartoon in lead-white
+and charcoal of the same size as the one in marble. After the marble
+had come and Baccio had caused an enclosure with a roof for working
+in to be erected for himself in the Belvedere, he made a beginning with
+one of the boys of the Laocoon, the larger one, and executed this in such
+a manner that the Pope and all those who were good judges were satisfied,
+because between his work and the ancient there was scarcely any difference
+to be seen. But after setting his hand to the other boy and to
+the statue of the father, which is in the middle, he had not gone far
+when the Pope died. Adrian VI being then elected, he returned with
+the Cardinal to Florence, where he occupied himself with his studies
+in design. After the death of Adrian and the election of Clement VII,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65" name="Page_65"></a>[Pg 65]</span> Baccio went post-haste to Rome in order to be in time for his coronation,
+for which he made statues and scenes in half-relief by order of his Holiness.
+Then, having been provided by the Pope with rooms and an
+allowance, he returned to his Laocoon, a work which was executed by
+him in the space of two years with the greatest excellence that he ever
+achieved. He also restored the right arm of the ancient Laocoon, which
+had been broken off and never found, and Baccio made one of the full
+size in wax, which so resembled the ancient work in the muscles, in force,
+and in manner, and harmonized with it so well, that it showed how
+Baccio understood his art; and this model served him as a pattern for
+making the whole arm of his own Laocoon. This work seemed to his
+Holiness to be so good, that he changed his mind and resolved to send
+other ancient statues to the King, and this one to Florence; and to
+Cardinal Silvio Passerino of Cortona, his Legate in Florence, who was
+then governing the city, he sent orders that he should place the Laocoon
+at the head of the second court in the Palace of the Medici. This was
+in the year 1525.</p>
+
+<p>This work brought great fame to Baccio, who, after finishing the
+Laocoon, set himself to draw a scene on a sheet of royal folio laid open,
+in order to carry out a design of the Pope, who wished to have the Martyrdom
+of S. Cosimo and S. Damiano painted on one wall of the principal
+chapel of S. Lorenzo in Florence, and on the other that of S. Laurence,
+when he was put to death by Decius on the gridiron. Baccio then drew
+with great subtlety the story of S. Laurence, in which he counterfeited
+with much judgment and art figures both clothed and nude, different
+attitudes and gestures in the bodies and limbs, and various movements
+in those who are standing about S. Laurence, engaged in their dreadful
+office, and in particular the cruel Decius, who with threatening brow is
+urging on the fiery death of the innocent Martyr, who, raising one arm
+to Heaven, recommends his spirit to God. With this scene Baccio so
+satisfied the Pope, that he took steps to have it engraved on copper by
+Marc'Antonio Bolognese, which was done by Marc'Antonio with great
+diligence; and his Holiness created Baccio, in order to do honour to his
+talents, a Chevalier of S. Pietro.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66" name="Page_66"></a>[Pg 66]</span> After these things Baccio returned to Florence, where he found
+that Giovan Francesco Rustici, his first master, was painting a scene of
+the Conversion of S. Paul; for which reason he undertook to make in
+a cartoon, in competition with his master, a nude figure of a young
+S. John in the desert, who is holding a lamb with the left arm and raising
+the right to Heaven. Then, having caused a panel to be prepared, he
+set himself to colour it, and when it was finished he exposed it to view
+in the workshop of his father Michelagnolo, opposite to the descent
+that leads from Orsanmichele to the Mercato Nuovo. The design was
+praised by the craftsmen, but not so much the colouring, because it was
+somewhat crude and painted in no beautiful manner. But Baccio sent
+it as a present to Pope Clement, who had it placed in his guardaroba,
+where it may still be found.</p>
+
+<p>As far back as the time of Leo X there had been quarried at Carrara,
+together with the marbles for the fa�ade of S. Lorenzo in Florence,
+another block of marble nine braccia and a half high and five braccia
+wide at the foot. With this block of marble Michelagnolo Buonarroti
+had thought of making a giant in the person of Hercules slaying Cacus,
+intending to place it in the Piazza beside the colossal figure of David
+formerly made by him, since both the one and the other, David and
+Hercules, were emblems of the Palace. He had made several designs and
+various models for it, and had sought to gain the favour of Pope Leo
+and of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, saying that the David had many
+defects caused by the sculptor Maestro Andrea, who had first blocked it
+out and spoiled it. But by reason of the death of Leo the fa�ade of
+S. Lorenzo was for a time abandoned, and also this block of marble.
+Now afterwards, Pope Clement having conceived a desire to avail himself
+of Michelagnolo for the tombs of the heroes of the house of Medici, which
+he wished to have constructed in the Sacristy of S. Lorenzo, it became
+once more necessary to quarry marbles; and the head of these works,
+keeping the accounts of the expenses, was Domenico Buoninsegni.
+This man tried to tempt Michelagnolo to make a secret partnership with
+him in the matter of the stone-work for the fa�ade of S. Lorenzo; but
+Michelagnolo refused, not consenting that his genius should be employed
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67" name="Page_67"></a>[Pg 67]</span> in defrauding the Pope, and Domenico conceived such hatred against
+him that he went about ever afterwards opposing his undertakings, in
+order to annoy and humiliate him, but this he did covertly. He thus
+contrived to have the fa�ade discontinued and the sacristy pushed forward,
+which two works, he said, were enough to keep Michelagnolo occupied
+for many years. And as for the marble for the making of the giant,
+he urged the Pope that it should be given to Baccio, who at that time
+had nothing to do; saying that through the emulation of two men so
+eminent his Holiness would be served better and with more diligence
+and promptitude, rivalry stimulating both the one and the other in his
+work. The counsel of Domenico pleased the Pope, and he acted in
+accordance with it. Baccio, having obtained the marble, made a great
+model in wax, which was a Hercules who, having fixed the head of
+Cacus between two stones with one knee, was constraining him with
+great force with the left arm, holding him crouching under his legs in a
+distorted attitude, wherein Cacus revealed his suffering and the strain
+of the weight of Hercules upon him, which was rending asunder every
+least muscle in his whole body. Hercules, likewise, with his head bent
+down close against his enemy, grinding and gnashing his teeth, was
+raising the right arm and with great vehemence giving him another blow
+with his club, in order to dash his head to pieces.</p>
+
+<p>Michelagnolo, as soon as he had heard that the marble had been
+given to Baccio, was very much displeased; but, for all the efforts that
+he made in this matter, he was never able to turn the Pope from his
+purpose, so completely had he been satisfied by Baccio's model; to which
+reason were added his promises and boasts, for he boasted that he would
+surpass the David of Michelagnolo, and he was also assisted by Buoninsegni,
+who said that Michelagnolo desired everything for himself.
+Thus was the city deprived of a rare ornament, such as that marble
+would undoubtedly have been when shaped by the hand of Buonarroti.
+The above-mentioned model of Baccio is now to be found in the guardaroba
+of Duke Cosimo, by whom it is held very dear, and by the craftsmen
+as a rare work.</p>
+
+<p>Baccio was sent to Carrara to see this marble, and the Overseers of
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68" name="Page_68"></a>[Pg 68]</span> the Works of S. Maria del Fiore were commissioned to transport it by
+water, along the River Arno, as far as Signa. The marble having been
+conveyed there, within a distance of eight miles from Florence, when
+they set about removing it from the river in order to transport it by land,
+the river being too low from Signa to Florence, it fell into the water,
+and on account of its great size sank so deep into the sand, that the
+Overseers, with all the contrivances that they used, were not able to
+drag it out. For which reason, the Pope wishing that the marble should
+be recovered at all costs, by order of the Wardens of Works Pietro
+Rosselli, an old builder of great ingenuity, went to work in such a manner
+that, having diverted the course of the water into another channel and
+cut away the bank of the river, with levers and windlasses he moved it,
+dragged it out of the Arno, and brought it to solid ground, for which he
+was greatly extolled. Tempted by this accident to the marble, certain
+persons wrote verses, both Tuscan and Latin, ingeniously ridiculing Baccio,
+who was detested for his loquacity and his evil-speaking against Michelagnolo
+and all the other craftsmen. One among them took for his verses
+the following subject, saying that the marble, after having been approved
+by the genius of Michelagnolo, learning that it was to be mangled by the
+hands of Baccio, had thrown itself into the river out of despair at such
+an evil fate.</p>
+
+<p>While the marble was being drawn out of the water, a difficult
+process which took time, Baccio found, on measuring it, that it was neither
+high enough nor wide enough to enable him to carve the figures of his
+first model. Whereupon he went to Rome, taking the measurements
+with him, and made known to the Pope how he was constrained by
+necessity to abandon his first design and make another. He then made
+several models, and out of their number the Pope was most pleased with
+one in which Hercules had Cacus between his legs, and, grasping his
+hair, was holding him down after the manner of a prisoner; and this one
+they resolved to adopt and to carry into execution. On returning to
+Florence, Baccio found that the marble had been conveyed into the Office
+of Works of S. Maria del Fiore by Pietro Rosselli, who had first placed on
+the ground some planks of walnut-wood planed square, and laid lengthways,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69" name="Page_69"></a>[Pg 69]</span> which he kept changing according as the marble moved forward,
+under which and upon those planks he placed some round rollers well
+shod with iron, so that by pulling the marble with three windlasses, to
+which he had attached it, little by little he brought it with ease into the
+Office of Works. The block having been set up there, Baccio began
+a model in clay as large as the marble and shaped according to the last
+one which he had made previously in Rome; and he finished it, working
+with great diligence, in a few months. But with all this it appeared to
+many craftsmen that there was not in this model that spirited vivacity
+that the action required, nor that which he had given to his first model.
+Afterwards, beginning to work at the marble, Baccio cut it away all
+round as far as the navel, laying bare the limbs in front, and taking care
+all the time to carve the figures in such a way that they might be
+exactly like those of the large model in clay.</p>
+
+<p>At this same time Baccio had undertaken to execute in painting
+an altar-piece of considerable size for the Church of Cestello, and for this
+he had made a very beautiful cartoon containing a Dead Christ surrounded
+by the Maries, with Nicodemus and other figures; but, for
+a reason that we shall give below, he did not paint the altar-piece. He
+also made at this time, in order to paint a picture, a cartoon in which
+was Christ taken down from the Cross and held in the arms of Nicodemus,
+with His Mother, who was standing, weeping for Him, and an Angel
+who was holding in his hands the Nails and the Crown of Thorns. Setting
+himself straightway to colour it, he finished it quickly and placed it on
+exhibition in the workshop of his friend Giovanni di Goro, the goldsmith,
+in the Mercato Nuovo, in order to hear the opinions of men and
+particularly what Michelagnolo said of it. Michelagnolo was taken by
+the goldsmith Piloto to see it, and, after he had examined every part,
+he said that he marvelled that so good a draughtsman as Baccio should
+allow a picture so crude and wanting in grace to leave his hands, that he
+had seen the most feeble painters executing their works in a better manner,
+and that this was no art for Baccio. Piloto reported Michelagnolo's
+judgment to Baccio, who, for all the hatred that he felt against him,
+recognized that he spoke the truth. Certainly Baccio's drawings were
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70" name="Page_70"></a>[Pg 70]</span> very beautiful, but in colours he executed them badly and without grace,
+and he therefore resolved to paint no more with his own hand; but he
+took into his service one who handled colours passing well, a young
+man called Agnolo, the brother of the excellent painter Franciabigio,
+who had died a few years before. To this Agnolo he desired to entrust
+the execution of the altar-piece for Cestello, but it remained unfinished,
+the reason of which was the change of government in Florence, which
+took place in the year 1527, when the Medici left Florence after the sack
+of Rome. For Baccio did not think himself safe, having a private feud
+with a neighbour at his villa of Pinzirimonte, who was of the popular
+party; and after he had buried at that villa some cameos and little antique
+figures of bronze, which belonged to the Medici, he went off to live in
+Lucca. There he remained until the time when the Emperor Charles V
+came to receive his crown at Bologna; whereupon he presented himself
+before the Pope and then went with him to Rome, where he was given
+rooms in the Belvedere, as before.</p>
+
+<p>While Baccio was living there, his Holiness resolved to fulfil a vow
+that he had made when he was shut up in the Castello di S. Angelo;
+which vow was that he would place on the summit of the great round tower
+of marble, which is in front of the Ponte di Castello, seven large figures
+of bronze, each six braccia in length, and all lying down in different
+attitudes, as it were vanquished by an Angel that he wished to have set
+up on the centre of the tower, upon a column of variegated marble, the
+Angel being of bronze with a sword in the hand. By this figure of the
+Angel he wished to represent the Angel Michael, the guardian and protector
+of the Castle, whose favour and assistance had delivered him and
+brought him out of that prison; and the seven recumbent figures were to
+personify the seven Mortal Sins, demonstrating that with the help of the
+victorious Angel he had conquered and thrown to the ground his enemies,
+evil and impious men, who were represented by those seven figures of the
+seven Mortal Sins. For this work his Holiness caused a model to be
+made; which having pleased him, he ordained that Baccio should begin
+to make the figures in clay of the size that they were to be, in order to
+have them cast afterwards in bronze. Baccio began the work, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71" name="Page_71"></a>[Pg 71]</span> finished in one of the apartments in the Belvedere one of those figures
+in clay, which was much extolled. At the same time, also, in order to
+divert himself, and wishing to see how he would succeed in casting, he
+made many little figures in the round, two-thirds of a braccio in height,
+as of Hercules, Venus, Apollo, Leda, and other fantasies of his own,
+which he caused to be cast in bronze by Maestro Jacopo della Barba of
+Florence; and they succeeded excellently well. He presented them
+afterwards to his Holiness and to many lords; and some of them are now
+in the study of Duke Cosimo, among a collection of more than a hundred
+antique figures, all very choice, and others that are modern.</p>
+
+<p>At this same time Baccio had made a scene of the Deposition from
+the Cross with little figures in low-relief and half-relief, which was a rare
+work; and he had it cast with great diligence in bronze. When finished,
+he presented it in Genoa to Charles V, who held it very dear; and a sign
+of this was that his Majesty gave Baccio a Commandery of S. Jago,
+and made him a Chevalier. From Prince Doria, also, he received many
+courtesies; and from the Republic of Genoa he had the commission for
+a statue of marble six braccia high, which was to be a Neptune in the
+likeness of Prince Doria, to be set up on the Piazza in memory of the
+virtues of that Prince and of the extraordinary benefits that his native
+country of Genoa had received from him. This statue was allotted to
+Baccio at the price of a thousand florins, of which he received five hundred
+at that time; and he went straightway to Carrara to block it out at the
+quarry of Polvaccio.</p>
+
+<p>While the popular government was ruling Florence, after the departure
+of the Medici, Michelagnolo Buonarroti was employed on the fortifications
+of the city; and there was shown to him the marble that Baccio
+had blocked out, together with the model of the Hercules and Cacus, the
+intention being that if the marble had not been cut away too much
+Michelagnolo should take it and carve from it two figures after his own
+design. Michelagnolo, having examined the block, thought of a different
+subject; and, abandoning the Hercules and Cacus, he chose the subject
+of Samson holding beneath him two Philistines whom he had cast down,
+one being already dead, and the other still alive, against whom he was
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72" name="Page_72"></a>[Pg 72]</span> aiming a blow with the jawbone of an ass, seeking to kill him. But
+even as it often happens that the minds of men promise themselves at
+times certain things the opposite of which is determined by the wisdom
+of God, so it came to pass then, for, war having arisen against the city
+of Florence, Michelagnolo had other things to think about than polishing
+marble, and was obliged from fear of the citizens to withdraw from the
+city. Afterwards, the war being finished and peace made, Pope Clement
+caused Michelagnolo to return to Florence in order to finish the Sacristy
+of S. Lorenzo, and sent Baccio to see to the completion of the giant.
+Baccio, while engaged in this, took up his abode in the Palace of the
+Medici; and, writing almost every week to his Holiness in order to make
+a show of devotion, he entered, besides dealing with matters of art, into
+particulars relating to the citizens and those who were administering
+the government, with an odious officiousness likely to bring upon him
+even more ill-will than he had awakened before. Whereupon, when
+Duke Alessandro returned from the Court of his Majesty to Florence,
+the citizens made known to him the sinister policy that Baccio was
+pursuing against them; from which it followed that his work of the
+giant was hindered and retarded by the citizens by every means in
+their power.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img005" id="img005"></a>
+<img src="images/img005-tb.jpg" width="400" height="521" alt="Hercules and Cacus." title="">
+<p class="caption">HERCULES AND CACUS<br>
+(<i>After the marble by</i> Baccio Bandinelli. <i>Florence: Piazza della Signoria</i>)<br>
+<i>Alinari</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img005.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>At this time, after the war of Hungary, Pope Clement and the
+Emperor Charles held a conference at Bologna, whither there went Cardinal
+Ippolito de' Medici and Duke Alessandro; and it occurred to Baccio
+to go and kiss the feet of his Holiness. He took with him a panel, one
+braccio high and one and a half wide, of Christ being scourged at the
+Column by two nude figures, which was in half-relief and very well
+executed; and he gave this panel to the Pope, together with a portrait-medal
+of his Holiness, which he had caused to be made by Francesco
+dal Prato, his familiar friend, the reverse of the medal being the Flagellation
+of Christ. This gift was very acceptable to his Holiness, to whom
+Baccio described the annoyances and impediments that he had experienced
+in the execution of his Hercules, praying him that he should prevail
+upon the Duke to give him the means to carry it to completion. He
+added that he was envied and hated in that city; and, being a very
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73" name="Page_73"></a>[Pg 73]</span> devil with his wit and his tongue, he persuaded the Pope to induce the
+Duke to see that his work should be brought to completion and set up
+in its place in the Piazza.</p>
+
+<p>Death had now snatched away the goldsmith Michelagnolo, the
+father of Baccio, who during his lifetime had undertaken to make for
+the Wardens of Works of S. Maria del Fiore, by order of the Pope, a very
+large cross of silver, all covered with scenes in low-relief of the Passion
+of Christ. This cross, for which Baccio had made the figures and scenes
+in wax, to be afterwards cast in silver, Michelagnolo had left unfinished
+at his death; and Baccio, having the work in his hands, together with
+many libbre of silver, sought to persuade his Holiness to have it finished
+by Francesco dal Prato, who had gone with him to Bologna. But the
+Pope, perceiving that Baccio wished not only to withdraw from his
+father's engagements, but also to make something out of the labours of
+Francesco, gave Baccio orders that the silver and the scenes, those
+merely begun as well as those finished, should be given to the Wardens
+of Works, that the account should be settled, and that the Wardens
+should melt all the silver of that cross, in order to make use of it for the
+necessities of the church, which had been stripped of its ornaments at the
+time of the siege; and to Baccio he caused one hundred florins of gold
+and letters of recommendation to be given, to the end that he might
+return to Florence and finish the work of the giant.</p>
+
+<p>While Baccio was at Bologna, Cardinal Doria, having heard that he
+was about to depart, went to the pains of seeking him out, and threatened
+him with many reproaches and abusive words, for the reason that he had
+broken his pledge and failed in his duty by neglecting to finish the statue
+of Prince Doria and leaving it only blocked out at Carrara, after taking
+five hundred crowns in payment; on which account, said the Cardinal,
+if Andrea could get Baccio into his hands, he would make him pay for
+it at the galleys. Baccio defended himself humbly and with soft words,
+saying that he had been delayed by a sufficient hindrance, but that he
+had in Florence a block of marble of the same height, from which he had
+intended to carve that figure, and that when he had carved and finished
+it he would send it to Genoa. And so well did he contrive to speak and
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74" name="Page_74"></a>[Pg 74]</span> to excuse himself that he succeeded in escaping from the presence of the
+Cardinal. After this he returned to Florence, and caused the base for
+the giant to be taken in hand; and, himself working continuously at the
+figure, in the year 1534 he finished it completely. But Duke Alessandro,
+on account of the hostile reports of the citizens, did not take steps to
+have it set up in the Piazza.</p>
+
+<p>The Pope had returned to Rome many months before this, and
+desired to erect two tombs of marble in the Minerva, one for Pope Leo
+and one for himself; and Baccio, seizing this occasion, went to Rome.
+Thereupon the Pope resolved that Baccio should make those tombs after
+he had succeeded in setting up the giant on the Piazza; and his Holiness
+wrote to the Duke that he should give Baccio every convenience for
+placing his Hercules in position there. Whereupon, after an enclosure of
+planks had been made all round, the base was built of marble, and at the
+foot of it they placed a stone with letters in memory of Pope Clement VII,
+and a good number of medals with the heads of his Holiness and of Duke
+Alessandro. The giant was then taken from the Office of Works, where
+it had been executed; and in order to convey it with greater ease, without
+damaging it, they made round it a scaffolding of wood, with ropes passing
+under the legs and cords supporting it under the arms and at every other
+part; and thus, suspended in the air between the beams in such a way
+that it did not touch the wood, little by little, by means of compound
+pulleys and windlasses and ten pairs of oxen, it was drawn as far as the
+Piazza. Great assistance was rendered by two thick, semi-cylindrical
+beams, which were fixed lengthways along the foot of the scaffolding, in
+the manner of a base, and rested on other similar beams smeared with
+soap, which were withdrawn and replaced by workmen in succession,
+according as the structure moved forward; and with these ingenious
+contrivances the giant was conveyed safely and without much labour to
+the Piazza. The charge of all this was given to Baccio d'Agnolo and the
+elder Antonio da San Gallo, the architects to the Office of Works, who
+afterwards with other beams and a double system of compound pulleys
+set the statue securely on its base.</p>
+
+<p>It would not be easy to describe the concourse and multitude that
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75" name="Page_75"></a>[Pg 75]</span> for two days occupied the whole Piazza, flocking to see the giant as
+soon as it was uncovered; and various judgments and opinions were
+heard from all kinds of men, every one censuring the work and the
+master. There were also attached round the base many verses, both
+Latin and Tuscan, in which it was pleasing to see the wit, the ingenious
+conceits, and the sharp sayings of the writers; but they overstepped all
+decent limits with their evil-speaking and their biting and satirical compositions,
+and Duke Alessandro, considering that, the work being a public
+one, the indignity was his, was forced to put in prison some who went so
+far as to attach sonnets openly and without scruple to the statue; which
+proceeding soon stopped the mouths of the critics.</p>
+
+<p>When Baccio examined his work in position, it seemed to him that
+the open air was little favourable to it, making the muscles appear too
+delicate. Having therefore caused a new enclosure of planks to be made
+around it, he attacked it again with his chisels, and, strengthening the
+muscles in many places, gave the figures stronger relief than they had
+before. Finally, the work was uncovered for good; and by everyone
+able to judge it has always been held to be not only a triumph over difficulties,
+but also very well studied, with every part carefully considered,
+and the figure of Cacus excellently adapted to its position. It is true
+that the David of Michelagnolo, which is beside Baccio's Hercules, takes
+away not a little of its glory, being the most beautiful colossal figure that
+has ever been made; for in it is all grace and excellence, whereas the
+manner of Baccio is entirely different. But in truth, considering Baccio's
+Hercules by itself, one cannot but praise it highly, and all the more
+because it is known that many sculptors have since tried to make colossal
+statues, and not one has attained to the standard of Baccio, who, if he
+had received as much grace and facility from nature as he took pains
+and trouble by himself, would have been absolutely perfect in the art of
+sculpture.</p>
+
+<p>Desiring to know what was being said of his work, he sent to the
+Piazza a pedagogue whom he kept in his house, telling him that he
+should not fail to report to him the truth of what he might hear said.
+The pedagogue, hearing nothing but censure, returned sadly to the
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76" name="Page_76"></a>[Pg 76]</span> house, and, when questioned by Baccio, answered that all with one voice
+were abusing the giants, and that they pleased no one. "And you,"
+asked Baccio, "what do you say of them?" "I speak well of them,"
+he replied, "and say, may it please you, that they please me." "I will
+not have them please you," said Baccio, "and you, also, must speak ill
+of them, for, as you may remember, I never speak well of anyone; and
+so we are quits." Thus Baccio concealed his vexation, and it was always
+his custom to act thus, pretending not to care for the censure that any
+man laid on his works. Nevertheless, it is likely enough that his resentment
+was considerable, because when a man labours for honour, and
+then obtains nothing but censure, one cannot but believe, although that
+censure may be unjust and undeserved, that it afflicts him secretly in his
+heart and torments him continually. He was consoled in his displeasure
+by an estate, which was given to him in addition to his payment, by
+order of Pope Clement. This gift was doubly dear to him, first because
+it was useful for its revenue and was near his villa of Pinzirimonte, and
+then because it had previously belonged to Rignadori, his mortal enemy,
+who had just been declared an outlaw, and with whom he had always
+been at strife on account of the boundary of this property.</p>
+
+<p>At this time a letter was written to Duke Alessandro by Prince
+Doria, asking that he should prevail upon Baccio to finish his statue,
+now that the giant was completely finished, and saying that he was
+ready to revenge himself on Baccio if he did not do his duty; at which
+Baccio was so frightened that he would not trust himself to go to Carrara.
+However, having been reassured by Cardinal Cibo and Duke Alessandro,
+he went there, and, working with some assistants, proceeded to carry the
+statue forward. The Prince had himself informed every day as to how
+much Baccio was doing; wherefore, receiving a report that the statue
+was not of that excellence which had been promised, he gave Baccio to
+understand that, if he did not serve him well, he would make him smart
+for it. Baccio, hearing this, spoke very ill of the Prince; which having
+come to the Prince's ears, he determined to get him into his hands at all
+costs, and to take vengeance upon him by putting him in wholesome
+fear of the galleys. Whereupon Baccio, seeing certain persons spying
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77" name="Page_77"></a>[Pg 77]</span> and keeping a watch upon him, became suspicious, and, being a shrewd
+and resolute man, left the work as it was and returned to Florence.</p>
+
+<p>About this time a son was born to Baccio from a woman whom he
+kept in his house, and to this son, Pope Clement having died in those
+days, he gave the name of Clemente, in memory of that Pontiff, who had
+always loved and favoured him. After the death of Pope Clement, he
+heard that Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici, Cardinal Innocenzio Cibo, Cardinal
+Giovanni Salviati, and Cardinal Niccol� Ridolfi, together with
+Messer Baldassarre Turini da Pescia, being the executors of the Pope's
+will, had commissions to give for the two marble tombs of Leo and
+Clement, which were to be placed in the Minerva. For these tombs
+Baccio in the past had already made the models; but the work had been
+promised recently to the Ferrarese sculptor Alfonso Lombardi through
+the favour of Cardinal de' Medici, whose servant he was. This Alfonso,
+by the advice of Michelagnolo, had changed the design of the tombs, and
+he had already made the models for them, but without any contract for
+the commission, relying wholly on promises, and expecting every day to
+have to go to Carrara to quarry the marble. While the time was slipping
+away in this manner, it happened that Cardinal Ippolito died of poison
+on his way to meet Charles V. Baccio, hearing this, went without
+wasting any time to Rome, where he was first received by the sister of
+Pope Leo, Madonna Lucrezia Salviati de' Medici, to whom he strove to
+prove that no one could do greater honour to the remains of those great
+Pontiffs than himself, with his ability in art, adding that Alfonso was a
+sculptor without power of design and without skill and judgment in the
+handling of marble, and that he was not able to execute so honourable
+an undertaking save only with the help of others. He also used many
+other devices, and so went to work in various ways and by various means
+that he succeeded in changing the purpose of those lords, who finally
+entrusted to Cardinal Salviati the charge of making an agreement with
+Baccio.</p>
+
+<p>At this time the Emperor Charles V had arrived in Naples, and in
+Rome Filippo Strozzi, Anton Francesco degli Albizzi, and the other
+exiles were seeking to arrange with Cardinal Salviati to go and set his
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78" name="Page_78"></a>[Pg 78]</span> Majesty against Duke Alessandro; and they were with the Cardinal at
+all hours. Baccio was also all day long in Salviati's halls and apartments,
+waiting to have the contract made for the tombs, but not able
+to bring matters to a head, because of the Cardinal's preoccupation with
+the affairs of the exiles; and they, seeing Baccio in those rooms morning
+and evening, grew suspicious of this, and, fearing lest he might be there
+to spy upon their movements and give information to the Duke, some
+of the young men among them agreed to follow him secretly one evening
+and put him out of the way. But Fortune, coming to his aid in time,
+brought it about that the two other Cardinals, with Messer Baldassarre
+da Pescia, undertook to finish Baccio's business. Knowing that Baccio
+was worth little as an architect, they had caused a design to be made by
+Antonio da San Gallo, which pleased them, and had ordained that all the
+mason's work to be done in marble should be executed under the direction
+of the sculptor Lorenzetto, and that the marble statues and scenes should
+be allotted to Baccio. Having arranged the matter in this way, they
+finally made the contract with Baccio, who therefore appeared no more
+about the house of Cardinal Salviati, withdrawing himself just in time;
+and the exiles, the occasion having passed by, thought nothing more
+about him.</p>
+
+<p>After these things Baccio made two models of wood, with the statues
+and scenes in wax. These models had the bases solid, without projections,
+and on each base were four fluted Ionic columns, which divided
+the space into three compartments, a large one in the middle, where in
+each there was a Pope in full pontificals seated upon a pedestal, who was
+giving the benediction, and smaller spaces, each with a niche containing
+a figure in the round and standing upright, four braccia high; which
+figures, representing Saints, stood on either side of those Popes. The
+order of the composition had the form of a triumphal arch, and above
+the columns that supported the cornice was a marble tablet three braccia
+in height and four braccia and a half in width, in which was a scene in
+half-relief. In the scene above the statue of Pope Leo, which statue
+had on either side of it in the niches S. Peter and S. Paul, was his Conference
+with King Francis at Bologna, and this story of Leo in the middle,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79" name="Page_79"></a>[Pg 79]</span> above the columns, was accompanied by two smaller scenes, in one of
+which, that above S. Peter, was the Saint restoring a dead man to life,
+and in the other, that above S. Paul, that Saint preaching to the people.
+In the scene above Pope Clement, which corresponded to that mentioned
+above, was that Pontiff crowning the Emperor Charles at Bologna, and
+on either side of it are two smaller scenes, in one of which is S. John the
+Baptist preaching to the people, and in the other S. John the Evangelist
+raising Drusiana from the dead; and these have below them in the niches
+the same Saints, four braccia high, standing on either side of the statue
+of Pope Clement, as with that of Leo.</p>
+
+<p>In this structure Baccio showed either too little religion or too much
+adulation, or both together, in that he thought fit that the first founders&mdash;after
+Christ&mdash;of our religion, men deified and most dear to God, should
+give way to our Popes, and placed them in positions unworthy of them
+and inferior to those of Leo and Clement. Certain it is that this design
+of his, even as it was displeasing to God and to the Saints, so likewise
+gave no pleasure to the Popes or to any other man, for the reason, it
+appears to me, that religion&mdash;and I mean our own, the true religion&mdash;should
+be placed by mankind before all other interests and considerations.
+And, on the other hand, he who wishes to exalt and honour any
+other person, should, I think, be temperate and restrained, and confine
+himself within certain limits, so that his praise and honour may not
+become another thing&mdash;I mean senseless adulation, which first disgraces
+the praiser, and also gives no pleasure to the person praised, if he has
+any proper feeling, but does quite the contrary. Baccio, in doing what
+I have described, made known to everyone that he had much goodwill
+and affection indeed towards the Popes, but little judgment in exalting
+and honouring them in their sepulchres.</p>
+
+<p>The models described above were taken by Baccio to the garden of
+Cardinal Ridolfi at S. Agata on Monte Cavallo, where his lordship was
+entertaining Cibo, Salviati, and Messer Baldassarre da Pescia to dinner,
+they having assembled together there in order to settle all that was necessary
+in the matter of the tombs. While they were at table, then, there
+arrived the sculptor Solosmeo, an amusing and outspoken person, who
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80" name="Page_80"></a>[Pg 80]</span> was always ready to speak ill of anyone, and little the friend of Baccio.
+When the message was brought to those lords that Solosmeo was seeking
+admittance, Ridolfi ordered that he should be ushered in, and then, turning
+to Baccio, said to him: "I wish that we should hear what Solosmeo
+says of our bestowal of these tombs. Raise that door-curtain, Baccio,
+and stand behind it." Baccio immediately obeyed, and, when Solosmeo
+had entered and had been invited to drink, they then turned to the
+subject of the tombs allotted to Baccio; whereupon Solosmeo reproached
+the Cardinals for having made a bad choice, and went on to speak all
+manner of evil against Baccio, taxing him with ignorance of art, avarice,
+and arrogance, and going into many particulars in his criticisms. Baccio,
+who stood hidden behind the door-curtain, was not able to contain himself
+until Solosmeo should have finished, and, bursting out scowling and
+full of rage, said to Solosmeo: "What have I done to you, that you
+should speak of me with such scant respect?" Dumbfounded at the
+appearance of Baccio, Solosmeo turned to Ridolfi and said: "What tricks
+are these, my lord? I want nothing more to do with priests!" and took
+himself off. The Cardinals had a hearty laugh both at the one and at
+the other; and Salviati said to Baccio: "You hear the opinion of your
+brothers in art. Go and give them the lie with your work."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img006" id="img006"></a>
+<img src="images/img006-tb.jpg" width="400" height="492" alt="Statue of Giovanni delle Bande Nere." title="">
+<p class="caption">STATUE OF GIOVANNI DELLE BANDE NERE<br>
+(<i>After the marble by</i> Baccio Bandinelli. <i>Florence: Piazza di S. Lorenzo</i>)<br>
+<i>Brogi</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img006.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Baccio then began the work of the statues and scenes, but his performances
+by no means corresponded to his promises and his duty towards
+those Pontiffs, for he used little diligence in the figures and scenes, and
+left them badly finished and full of defects, being more solicitous
+about drawing his money than about working at the marble. Now his
+patrons became aware of Baccio's procedure, and repented of what they
+had done; but the two largest pieces of marble remained, those for the
+two statues that were still to be executed, one of Leo seated and the
+other of Clement, and these they ordered him to finish, beseeching him
+that he should do better in them. But Baccio, having already drawn
+all the money, entered into negotiations with Messer Giovan Battista da
+Ricasoli, Bishop of Cortona, who was in Rome on business of Duke
+Cosimo's, to depart from Rome and go to Florence in order to serve
+Cosimo in the matter of the fountains of his villa of Castello and the tomb
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81" name="Page_81"></a>[Pg 81]</span> of his father, Signor Giovanni. The Duke having answered that Baccio
+should come, he set off for Florence without a word, leaving the work
+of the tombs unfinished and the statues in the hands of two assistants.
+The Cardinals, hearing of this, allotted those two statues of the Popes,
+which still remained to be finished, to two sculptors, one of whom was
+Raffaello da Montelupo, who received the statue of Pope Leo, and the
+other Giovanni di Baccio, to whom was given the statue of Clement.
+They then gave orders that the masonry and all that was prepared
+should be put together, and the work was erected; but the statues and
+scenes were in many parts neither pumiced nor polished, so that they
+brought Baccio more discredit than fame.</p>
+
+<p>Arriving in Florence, Baccio found that the Duke had sent the
+sculptor Tribolo to Carrara to quarry the marble for the fountains of
+Castello and the tomb of Signor Giovanni; and he so wrought upon the
+Duke that he wrested the tomb of Signor Giovanni from the hands of
+Tribolo, demonstrating to his Excellency that the marbles for such a
+work were already in great measure in Florence. Thus, little by little,
+he penetrated into the confidence of the Duke, insomuch that both for
+this reason and for his arrogance everyone was afraid of him. He then
+proposed to the Duke that the tomb of Signor Giovanni should be erected
+in the Chapel of the Neroni, a narrow, confined, and mean place, in
+S. Lorenzo, being too ignorant or not wishing to suggest that for so great
+a Prince it was proper that a new chapel should be built on purpose.
+He also prevailed on the Duke to demand from Michelagnolo, on Baccio's
+behalf, many pieces of marble that he had in Florence; and when the
+Duke had obtained them from Michelagnolo, and Baccio from the Duke,
+among those marbles being some blocked out figures and a statue carried
+well on towards completion by Michelagnolo, Bandinelli, taking them all
+over, hacked and broke to pieces everything that he could find, thinking
+that by so doing he was avenging himself on Michelagnolo and causing
+him displeasure. He found, moreover, in the same room in S. Lorenzo
+wherein Michelagnolo worked, two statues in one block of marble, representing
+Hercules crushing Ant�us, which the Duke was having executed
+by the sculptor Fra Giovanni Agnolo. These were well advanced; but
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82" name="Page_82"></a>[Pg 82]</span> Baccio, saying to the Duke that the friar had spoilt that marble, broke
+it into many pieces.</p>
+
+<p>In the end, he constructed all the base of the tomb, which is an
+isolated pedestal about four braccia on every side, and has at the foot
+a socle with a moulding in the manner of a base, which goes right round,
+and with a fillet at the top, such as is generally made for pedestals; and
+above this a cyma three-quarters of a braccio in height, which goes
+inwards in a concave curve, inverted, after the manner of a frieze, on
+which are carved some horse's skulls bound one to another with draperies;
+and above the whole was to be a smaller pedestal, with a seated statue
+of four braccia and a half, armed in the ancient fashion, and holding
+in the hand the baton of a condottiere captain of armies, which was to
+represent the person of the invincible Signor Giovanni de' Medici. This
+statue was begun by him from a block of marble, and carried well on,
+but never finished or placed on the base built for it. It is true that on
+the front of that base he finished entirely a scene of marble in half-relief,
+with figures about two braccia high, in which he represented Signor
+Giovanni seated, to whom are being brought many prisoners, soldiers,
+women with dishevelled hair, and nude figures, but all without invention
+and without revealing any feeling. At the end of the scene, indeed,
+there is a figure with a pig on the shoulder, which is said to have been
+made by Baccio to represent Messer Baldassarre da Pescia, in derision;
+for Baccio looked upon him as his enemy, since about this time Messer
+Baldassarre, as has been related above, had allotted the two statues of
+Leo and Clement to other sculptors, and, moreover, had so gone to
+work in Rome that Baccio had perforce to restore at great inconvenience
+the money that he had received beyond his due for those statues and
+figures.</p>
+
+<p>During this time Baccio had given his attention to nothing else but
+demonstrating to Duke Cosimo how much the glory of the ancients had
+lived through their statues and buildings, saying that his Excellency
+should seek to obtain in the same way immortality for himself and his
+actions in the ages to come. Then, after he had brought the tomb of
+Signor Giovanni near completion, he set about planning to make the
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83" name="Page_83"></a>[Pg 83]</span> Duke begin some great and costly work, which might take a very long
+time. Duke Cosimo had ceased to inhabit the Palace of the Medici, and
+had returned with his Court to live in the Palace in the Piazza, which
+was formerly occupied by the Signoria; and this he was daily rearranging
+and adorning. Now he had said to Baccio that he had a desire to make
+a public audience-chamber, both for the foreign Ambassadors and for his
+citizens and the subjects of the State; and Baccio, with Giuliano di
+Baccio d'Agnolo, went about thinking how to suggest to him that he
+should erect an ornamental work of Fossato stone and marble, thirty-eight
+braccia in width and eighteen in height. This ornamental work,
+they proposed, should serve as the audience-chamber, and should be in
+the Great Hall of the Palace, at that end which looks towards the north.
+The audience-chamber was to have a space of fourteen braccia in depth,
+the ascent to which was to be by seven great steps; and it was to be
+closed in front by a balustrade, excepting the entrance in the middle.
+At the end of the hall were to be three great arches, two of which were to
+serve for windows, being divided up by columns, four to each, two of
+Fossato stone and two of marble; and above this was to curve a round
+arch with a frieze of brackets, which were to form on the outer side the
+ornament of the fa�ade of the Palace, and on the inner side to adorn in
+the same manner the fa�ade of the hall. The arch in the middle, forming
+not a window, but a niche, was to be accompanied by two other
+similar niches, which were to be at the ends of the audience-chamber,
+one on the east and the other on the west, and adorned with four round
+Corinthian columns, which were to be ten braccia high and to form a
+projection at the ends. In the central fa�ade were to be four pilasters,
+which were to serve as supports between one arch and another to the
+architrave, frieze, and cornice running right round both above the arches
+and above the columns. These pilasters were to have between one and
+another a space of about three braccia, and in each of these spaces was
+to be a niche four braccia and a half in height, to contain statues, by
+way of accompaniment to the great niche in the middle of the fa�ade
+and the two at the sides; in each of which niches Baccio wished to place
+three statues.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84" name="Page_84"></a>[Pg 84]</span> Baccio and Giuliano had in mind, in addition to the ornament of the
+inner fa�ade, another larger ornament of extraordinary cost and grandeur
+for the outer fa�ade. The hall being awry and out of square, this ornament
+was to reduce that outer side to a square form; and there was to
+be a projection of six braccia right round the walls of the Palazzo Vecchio,
+with a range of columns fourteen braccia high supporting other columns,
+between which were to be arches, forming a loggia below, right round the
+Palace, where there are the Ringhiera and the Giants. Above this,
+again, was to be another range of pilasters, with arches between them in
+the same manner, running all the way round the windows of the Palazzo
+Vecchio, so as to make a fa�ade right round the Palace; and above these
+pilasters was to be yet another range of arches and pilasters, after the
+manner of a theatre, with the battlements of that Palace, finally, forming
+a cornice to the whole structure.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing that this was a work of vast expense, Baccio and Giuliano
+consulted together that they should not reveal their conception to the
+Duke, save only with regard to the ornament of the audience-chamber
+within the hall, and that of the fa�ade of Fossato stone on the side towards
+the Piazza, stretching to the length of twenty-four braccia, which is the
+breadth of the hall. Designs and plans of this work were made by
+Giuliano, and with these in his hand Baccio spoke to the Duke, to whom
+he pointed out that in the large niches at the sides he wished to place
+statues of marble four braccia high, seated on pedestals&mdash;namely, Leo X
+in the act of restoring peace to Italy, and Clement VII crowning Charles V,
+with two statues in smaller niches within the large ones, on either side
+of the Popes, which should represent the virtues practised and put into
+action by them. For the niches four braccia high between the pilasters,
+in the central fa�ade, he wished to make upright statues of Signor
+Giovanni, Duke Alessandro, and Duke Cosimo, together with many
+decorations of various fantasies in carving, and a pavement all of variegated
+marbles of different colours.</p>
+
+<p>This ornament much pleased the Duke, thinking that with this
+opportunity it should be possible in time to bring to completion, as has
+since been done, the body of that hall, with the rest of the decorations
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85" name="Page_85"></a>[Pg 85]</span> and the ceiling, in order to make it the most beautiful hall in Italy.
+And so great was his Excellency's desire that this work should be done,
+that he assigned for its execution such a sum of money as Baccio wished
+and demanded every week. A beginning was made with the quarrying
+and cutting of the Fossato stone, in order to make the ornamentation in
+the form of the base, columns, and cornices; and Baccio required that all
+should be done and carried to completion by the stone-cutters of the
+Office of Works of S. Maria del Fiore. This work was certainly executed
+by those masters with great diligence; and if Baccio and Giuliano had
+urged it on, they would have finished and built in all the ornaments of
+stone very quickly. But Baccio gave his attention to nothing save to
+having the statues blocked out, finishing few of them entirely, and to
+drawing his salary, which the Duke gave him every month, besides
+paying for his assistants and meeting every sort of expense that he
+incurred in the work, and giving him five hundred crowns for one of the
+statues finished by him in marble; wherefore the end of this work was
+never in sight.</p>
+
+<p>Even so, if Baccio and Giuliano, being engaged on a work of such
+importance, had brought the head of that hall into square, as they could
+have done, instead of putting right only half of the eight braccia by which
+it was awry, and leaving several parts badly proportioned, such as the
+central niche and the two large ones at the sides, which are squat, and
+the members of the cornices, which are too slight for so great a body;
+if, as they might have done, they had gone higher with the columns, thus
+giving greater grandeur, a better manner, and more invention to that
+work; and if, also, they had brought the uppermost cornice into touch
+with the level of the original old ceiling above, they would have shown
+more art and judgment, nor would all that labour have been spent in
+vain and wasted so thoughtlessly, as has since been evident to those to
+whom, as will be related, it has fallen to put it right and finish it. For,
+in spite of all the pains and thought afterwards devoted to it, there are
+many defects and errors in the door of entrance and in the relation of the
+niches in the side-walls, in which it has since been seen to be necessary to
+change the form of many parts, although it has never yet been found
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86" name="Page_86"></a>[Pg 86]</span> possible, without demolishing the whole, to correct the divergence from
+the square or to prevent this from being revealed in the pavement and
+the ceiling. It is true that in the manner in which they arranged it,
+even as it now stands, there is proof of great craftsmanship and pains,
+and it deserves no little praise for the many stones worked with the
+bevel-square, which slant away obliquely by reason of the hall being
+awry; and as for diligence and excellence in the working, laying, and
+joining together of the stones, nothing better could be seen or done.
+But the whole work would have succeeded much better if Baccio, who
+never held architecture in any account, had availed himself of some
+judgment more able than that of Giuliano, who, although he was a good
+master in wood and had some knowledge of architecture, was yet not
+the sort of man to be suitable for such a work as that was, as experience
+has proved. For this reason the work was pursued over a period of
+many years, without much more than half being built. Baccio finished
+and placed in the smaller niches the statue of Signor Giovanni and that
+of Duke Alessandro, both in the principal fa�ade, and on a pedestal of
+bricks in the great niche the statue of Pope Clement; and he also brought
+to completion the statue of Duke Cosimo. In the last he took no little
+pains with the head, but for all this the Duke and the gentlemen of the
+Court said that it did not resemble him in the least. Wherefore Baccio,
+having already made one of marble, which is now in one of the upper
+apartments in the same Palace, and which looked very well and was the
+best head that he ever made, defended himself and sought to cover up
+the defects and worthlessness of the new head with the excellence of the
+old. However, hearing that head censured by everyone, one day in a
+rage he knocked it off, with the intention of making another and fixing
+it in its place; but in the end he never made it at all. It was a custom
+of Baccio's to add pieces of marble both small and large to the statues
+that he executed, feeling no annoyance in doing this, and making light
+of it. He did this with one of the heads of Cerberus in the group of
+Orpheus; in the S. Peter that is in S. Maria del Fiore he let in a piece
+of drapery; in the case of the Giant of the Piazza, as may be seen, he
+joined two pieces&mdash;a shoulder and a leg&mdash;to the Cacus, and in many other
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87" name="Page_87"></a>[Pg 87]</span> works he did the same, holding to such ways as generally damn a sculptor
+completely.</p>
+
+<p>Having finished these statues, he set his hand to the statue of Pope
+Leo for this work, and carried it well forward. Then, perceiving that
+the work was proving very long, that he was now never likely to attain
+to the completion of his original design for the fa�ades right round the
+Palace, that a great sum of money had been spent and much time consumed,
+and that for all this the work was not half finished and gained
+little approval from the people, he set about thinking of some new fantasy,
+and began to attempt to remove from the Duke's mind the thought of
+the Palace, believing that his Excellency also was weary of that work.
+Thus, then, having made enemies of the proveditors and of all the stone-cutters
+in the Office of Works of S. Maria del Fiore, which was under his
+authority, while the statues that were destined for the audience-chamber
+were, after his fashion, some only blocked out and others finished and
+placed in position, and the ornamentation in great part built up, wishing
+to conceal the many defects that were in the work and little by little to
+abandon it, he suggested to the Duke that the Wardens of Works of
+S. Maria del Fiore were throwing away his money and no longer doing
+anything of any importance. He said that he had therefore thought
+that his Excellency would do well to divert all that useless expenditure
+of the Office of Works into making the octagonal choir of the church
+and the ornaments of the altar, the steps, the da�ses of the Duke and the
+magistrates, and the stalls in the choir for the canons, chaplains, and
+clerks, according as was proper for so honourable a church. Of this choir
+Filippo di Ser Brunellesco had left the model in that simple framework
+of wood which previously served as the choir in the church, intending
+in time to have it executed in marble, in the same form, but more ornate.
+Baccio reflected, besides the considerations mentioned above, that in this
+choir he would have occasion to make many statues and scenes in marble
+and in bronze for the high-altar and all around the choir, and also for
+two pulpits of marble that were to be in the choir, and that the base of
+the outer side of the eight faces might be adorned with many scenes in
+bronze let into the marble ornamentation. Above this he thought to
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88" name="Page_88"></a>[Pg 88]</span> place a range of columns and pilasters to support the cornice right round,
+and four arches distributed according to the cross of the church; of
+which arches one was to form the principal entrance, opposite to another
+rising above the high-altar, and the two others were to be at the sides,
+one on the right hand and another on the left, and below these last two
+were to be placed the pulpits. Over the cornice was to be a range of
+balusters, curving right round above the eight sides, and over the balusters
+a garland of candelabra, in order, as it were, to crown the choir with
+lights according to the seasons, as had always been the custom while the
+wooden model of Brunelleschi was there.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img007" id="img007"></a>
+<img src="images/img007-tb.jpg" width="400" height="514" alt="Reliefs from the Choir Screen." title="">
+<p class="caption">RELIEFS FROM THE CHOIR SCREEN<br>
+(<i>After</i> Baccio Bandinelli. <i>Florence: Duomo</i>)<br>
+<i>Alinari</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img007.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Pointing out all this to the Duke, Baccio said that his Excellency,
+with the revenues of the Office of Works&mdash;namely, of S. Maria del Fiore
+and of its Wardens&mdash;and with that which his liberality might add, in a
+short time could adorn that temple and give great grandeur and magnificence
+to the same, and consequently to the whole city, of which it
+was the principal temple, and would leave an everlasting and honourable
+memorial of himself in such a structure; and besides all this, he said, his
+Excellency would be giving him an opportunity of exerting his powers
+and of making many good and beautiful works, and also, by displaying
+his ability, of acquiring for himself name and fame with posterity, which
+should be pleasing to his Excellency, since he was his servant and had
+been brought up by the house of the Medici. With these designs and
+these words Baccio so moved the Duke, that, consenting that such a
+structure should be erected, his Excellency commissioned him to make
+a model of the whole choir. Departing from the Duke, then, Baccio
+went to his architect, Giuliano di Baccio d'Agnolo, and discussed the
+whole matter with him; and, after they had gone to the place and examined
+everything with diligence, they resolved not to depart from the
+form of Filippo's model, but to follow it, adding only other ornaments
+in the shape of columns and projections, and enriching it as much as
+they could while preserving the original design and form. But it is not
+the number of parts and ornaments that renders a fabric rich and beautiful,
+but their excellence, however few they may be, provided also that
+they are set in their proper places and arranged together with due proportion;
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89" name="Page_89"></a>[Pg 89]</span> it is these that give pleasure and are admired, and, having been
+executed with judgment by the craftsman, afterwards receive praise from
+all others. This Giuliano and Baccio do not seem to have considered or
+observed, for they chose a subject involving much labour and endless
+pains, but wanting in grace, as experience has proved.</p>
+
+<p>The design of Giuliano, as may be seen, was to place at the corners
+of all the eight sides pilasters bent round the angles, the whole work
+being composed in the Ionic Order; and these pilasters, since in the
+ground-plan they were made, with all the rest of the work, to diminish
+towards the centre of the choir and were not even, necessarily had to
+be broad on the outer side and narrow on the inner, which is a breach
+of proportionate measurement. And since each pilaster was bent according
+to the inner angles of the eight sides, the extension-lines towards the
+centre so diminished it that the two columns that were one on either side
+of the pilaster at the corner caused it to appear too slender, and produced
+an ungraceful effect both in it and in the whole work, both on the
+outer side and likewise on the inner, although the measurements there
+are correct. Giuliano also made the model of the whole altar, which
+stood at a distance of one braccio and a half from the ornament of the
+choir. For the upper part of this Baccio afterwards made in wax a Christ
+lying dead, with two Angels, one of whom was holding His right arm
+and supporting His head on one knee, and the other was holding the
+Mysteries of the Passion; which statue of Christ occupied almost the
+whole altar, so that there would scarcely have been room to celebrate
+Mass, and Baccio proposed to make this statue about four braccia and
+a half in length. He made, also, a projection in the form of a pedestal
+behind the altar, attached to it in the centre, with a seat upon which he
+afterwards placed a seated figure of God the Father, six braccia high
+and giving the benediction, and accompanied by two other Angels, each
+four braccia high, kneeling at the extreme corners of the predella of the
+altar, on the level on which rested the feet of God the Father. This
+predella was more than a braccio in height, and on it were many stories
+of the Passion of Jesus Christ, which were all to be in bronze, and on the
+corners of the predella were the Angels mentioned above, both kneeling
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90" name="Page_90"></a>[Pg 90]</span> and each holding in the hands a candelabrum; which candelabra of the
+Angels served to accompany eight large candelabra placed between the
+Angels, and three braccia and a half in height, which adorned that altar;
+and God the Father was in the midst of them all. Behind God the
+Father was left a space of half a braccio, in order that there might be
+room to ascend to kindle the lights.</p>
+
+<p>Under the arch that stood opposite to the principal entrance of the
+choir, on the base that ran right round, on the outer side, Baccio had
+placed, directly under the centre of that arch, the Tree of the Fall, round
+the trunk of which was wound the Ancient Serpent with a human face,
+and two nude figures were about the Tree, one being Adam and the
+other Eve. On the outer side of the choir, to which those figures had
+their faces turned, there ran lengthways along the base a space about
+three braccia long, which was to contain the story of their Creation,
+either in marble or in bronze; and this was to be pursued along the faces
+of the base of the whole work, to the number of twenty-one stories, all
+from the Old Testament. And for the further enrichment of this base
+he had made for each of the socles upon which stood the columns and
+pilasters, a figure of some Prophet, either draped or nude, to be afterwards
+executed in marble&mdash;a great work, truly, and a marvellous opportunity,
+likely to reveal all the art and genius of a perfect master, whose
+memory should never be extinguished by any lapse of time. This model
+was shown to the Duke, and also a double series of designs made by
+Baccio, which, both from their variety and their number, and likewise
+from their beauty&mdash;for the reason that Baccio worked boldly in wax and
+drew very well&mdash;pleased his Excellency, and he ordained that the masonry-work
+should be straightway taken in hand, devoting to it all the expenditure
+administered by the Office of Works, and giving orders that a great
+quantity of marble should be brought from Carrara.</p>
+
+<p>Baccio, on his part, also set to work to make a beginning with the
+statues; and among the first was an Adam who was raising one arm, and
+was about four braccia in height. This figure was finished by Baccio,
+but, since it proved to be narrow in the flanks and somewhat defective in
+other parts, he changed it into a Bacchus, and afterwards gave it to the
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91" name="Page_91"></a>[Pg 91]</span> Duke, who kept it in his Palace many years, in his chamber; and not long
+ago it was placed in a niche in the ground-floor apartments which his
+Excellency occupies in summer. He had also made a seated figure of
+Eve of the same size, which he had half finished: but it was abandoned
+on account of the Adam, which it was to have accompanied. For, having
+made a beginning with another Adam, in a different form and attitude,
+it became necessary for him to change also the Eve, and the original
+seated figure was converted by him into a Ceres, which he gave to the
+most illustrious Duchess Leonora, together with an Apollo, which was
+another nude that he had executed; and her Excellency had them placed
+in the ornament in front of the fish-pond, the design and architecture
+of which are by Giorgio Vasari, in the gardens of the Pitti Palace.
+Baccio worked at these two figures with very great zeal, thinking to satisfy
+the craftsmen and all the world as well as he had satisfied himself; and
+he finished and polished them with all the diligence and lovingness that
+were in him. He then set up these figures of Adam and Eve in their place,
+but, when uncovered, they experienced the same fate as his other works,
+and were torn to pieces with savage bitterness in sonnets and Latin
+verses, one going to the length of suggesting that even as Adam and Eve,
+having defiled Paradise by their disobedience, deserved to be driven out,
+so these figures, defiling the earth, deserved to be expelled from the
+church. Nevertheless the statues are well-proportioned, and beautiful
+in many parts; and although there is not in them that grace which has
+been spoken of in other places, and which he was not able to give to his
+works, yet they display so much art and design, that they deserve no
+little praise. A lady who had set herself to examine these statues, being
+asked by some gentlemen what she thought of these naked bodies,
+answered, "About the man I can give no judgment;" and, being pressed
+to give her opinion of the woman, she replied that in the Eve there were
+two good points, worthy of considerable praise, in that she was white and
+firm; whereby she contrived ingeniously, while seeming to praise, covertly
+to deal a shrewd blow to the craftsman and his art, giving to the
+statue the praise proper to the female body, which it is also necessary
+to apply to the marble, the material, and which is true of it, but not of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92" name="Page_92"></a>[Pg 92]</span> work or of the craftsmanship, for by such praise the craftsmanship is not
+praised. Thus, then, that shrewd lady hinted that in her opinion nothing
+could be praised in that statue save the marble.</p>
+
+<p>Baccio afterwards set his hand to the statue of the Dead Christ, which
+likewise not succeeding as he had expected, he abandoned it when it was
+already well advanced, and, taking another block of marble, began another
+Christ in an attitude different from the first, and together with that the
+Angel who supports the head of Christ on one leg and with one hand His
+arm; and he did not rest until he had finished entirely both the one figure
+and the other. When arrangements were made to set it up on the altar, it
+proved to be so large that it occupied too much space, and there was no
+room left for the ministrations of the priest; and although this statue was
+passing good, and even one of Baccio's best, nevertheless the people&mdash;the
+ordinary citizens no less than the priests&mdash;could never have their fill of
+speaking ill of it and picking it to pieces. Recognizing that to uncover
+unfinished works injures the reputation of a craftsman in the eyes of all
+those who are not of the profession, or have no knowledge of art, or have
+not seen the models, Baccio resolved, in order to accompany the statue
+of Christ and to complete the altar, to make the statue of God the Father,
+for which a very beautiful block of marble had come from Carrara.
+And he had already carried it well forward, making it half nude after the
+manner of a Jove, when, since it did not please the Duke and appeared
+to Baccio himself to have certain defects, he left it as it was, and even so
+it is still to be found in the Office of Works.</p>
+
+<p>Baccio cared nothing for the words of others, but gave his attention
+to making himself rich and buying property. He bought a most beautiful
+farm, called Lo Spinello, on the heights of Fiesole, and another with a
+very beautiful house called Il Cantone, in the plain above San Salvi, on
+the River Affrico, and a great house in the Via de' Ginori, which he was
+enabled to acquire by the moneys and favours of the Duke. Having thus
+secured his own position, Baccio thenceforward cared little to work or
+to exert himself; and although the tomb of Signor Giovanni was unfinished,
+the audience-chamber of the Great Hall only begun, and the
+choir and altar behindhand, he paid little attention to the words of others
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93" name="Page_93"></a>[Pg 93]</span> or to the censure that was laid upon him on that account. However,
+having erected the altar and set into position the marble base upon which
+was to stand the statue of God the Father, he made a model for this and
+finally began it, and, employing stone-cutters, proceeded to carry it
+slowly forward.</p>
+
+<p>There came from France in those days Benvenuto Cellini, who had
+served King Francis in the matter of goldsmith's work, of which he was
+the most famous master of his day; and he had also executed some
+castings in bronze for that King. Benvenuto was introduced to Duke
+Cosimo, who, desiring to adorn the city, showed also to him much favour
+and affection, and commissioned him to make a statue of bronze about
+five braccia high, of a nude Perseus standing over a nude woman representing
+Medusa, whose head he had cut off; which work was to be placed
+under one of the arches of the Loggia in the Piazza. While he was
+executing the Perseus, Benvenuto also did other things for the Duke.
+Now, even as it happens that the potter is always the jealous enemy of
+the potter, and the sculptor of the sculptor, Baccio was not able to endure
+the various favours shown to Benvenuto. It appeared to him a strange
+thing, also, that Benvenuto should have thus changed in a moment
+from a goldsmith into a sculptor, nor was he able to grasp in his mind how
+a man who was used to making medals and little things, could now execute
+colossal figures and giants. Baccio could not conceal his thoughts, but
+expressed them freely, and he found a man able to answer him; for,
+Baccio saying many of his biting words to Benvenuto in the presence
+of the Duke, Benvenuto, who was no less proud than himself, took pains
+to be even with him. And thus, arguing often on the matters of art
+and their own works, and pointing out each other's defects, they would
+utter the most slanderous words of one another in the presence of the
+Duke, who, because he took pleasure in this and recognized true genius
+and acuteness in their biting phrases, had given them full liberty and
+licence to say whatever they pleased about one another before him,
+provided that they did not remember their quarrel elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>This rivalry, or rather, enmity, was the reason that Baccio pressed
+forward his statue of God the Father; but he was no longer receiving
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94" name="Page_94"></a>[Pg 94]</span> from the Duke those favours to which he had been accustomed, and he
+consoled himself for this by paying court and doing service to the Duchess.
+One day, among others, that they were railing at one another as usual
+and laying bare many of each others' actions, Benvenuto, glaring at
+Baccio and threatening him, said: "Prepare yourself for another world,
+Baccio, for I mean to send you out of this one." And Baccio answered:
+"Let me know a day beforehand, so that I may confess and make my
+will, and may not die like the sort of beast that you are." By reason
+of which the Duke, who for many months had found amusement in their
+quarrels, bade them be silent, fearing some evil ending, and caused them
+to make a portrait-bust of himself from the girdle upwards, both to be
+cast in bronze, to the end that he who should succeed best should carry
+off the honours.</p>
+
+<p>Amid this rivalry and contention Baccio finished his figure of God
+the Father, which he arranged to have placed in the church on the base
+beside the altar. This figure was clothed and six braccia high, and he
+erected and completely finished it. But, in order not to leave it unaccompanied,
+he summoned from Rome the sculptor Vincenzio de' Rossi,
+his pupil, wishing to execute in clay for the altar all that remained to be
+done in marble; and he caused Vincenzio to assist him in finishing the
+two Angels who are holding the candelabra at the corners, and the greater
+part of the scenes on the predella and the base. Having then set everything
+upon the altar, in order to see how his work, when finished, was to
+stand, he strove to prevail on the Duke to come and see it, before he should
+uncover it. But the Duke would never go, and, although entreated by
+the Duchess, who favoured Baccio in this matter, he would never let
+himself be shaken, and did not go to see it, being angered because among
+so many works Baccio had never finished one, even after his Excellency
+had made him rich and had won odium among the citizens by honouring
+him highly and doing him many favours. For all this his Excellency
+was disposed to assist Clemente, the natural son of Baccio&mdash;a young
+man of ability, who had made considerable proficience in design&mdash;because
+it was likely to fall to him in time to finish his father's works.</p>
+
+<p>At this same time, which was in the year 1554, there came from
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95" name="Page_95"></a>[Pg 95]</span> Rome, where he had been working for Pope Julius III, Giorgio Vasari
+of Arezzo, in order to serve his Excellency in many works that he was
+intending to execute, and in particular to decorate the Palace on the
+Piazza, and to renovate it with new constructions, and to finish the Great
+Hall, as he was afterwards seen to do. In the following year Giorgio
+Vasari summoned from Rome and engaged in the Duke's service the
+sculptor Bartolommeo Ammanati, to the end that he might execute the
+other fa�ade in the above-named Hall, opposite to the audience-chamber
+begun by Baccio, and a fountain in the centre of that fa�ade; and a
+beginning was straightway made with executing a part of the statues
+that were to go into that work. Baccio, perceiving that the Duke was
+employing others, recognized that he did not wish to use his services
+any longer; at which, feeling great displeasure and vexation, he had
+become so strange and so irritable that no one could have any dealings
+with him either in his house or out of it, and to his son Clemente he
+behaved very strangely, keeping him in want of everything. For this
+reason Clemente, who had made a large head of his Excellency in clay,
+in order to execute it in marble for the statue of the audience-chamber,
+sought leave of the Duke to depart and go to Rome, on account of his
+father's strangeness; and the Duke said that he would not fail him.
+Baccio, at the departure of Clemente, who had asked leave of him, would
+not give him anything, although the young man had been a great help
+to him in Florence, and, indeed, Baccio's right hand in every matter;
+nevertheless, he thought nothing of getting rid of him. The young man,
+having arrived in Rome at an unfavourable season, died in the same year
+both from over-study and from wild living, leaving in Florence an example
+of his handiwork in an almost finished head of Duke Cosimo in marble,
+which is very beautiful, and was afterwards placed by Baccio over the
+principal door of his house in the Via de' Ginori. Clemente also left well
+advanced a Dead Christ who is supported by Nicodemus, which Nicodemus
+is a portrait from life of Baccio; and these statues, which are passing
+good, Baccio set up in the Church of the Servites, as we shall relate in the
+proper place. The death of Clemente was a very great loss to Baccio
+and to art, and Bandinelli recognized this after he was dead.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96" name="Page_96"></a>[Pg 96]</span> Baccio uncovered the altar of S. Maria del Fiore, and the statue
+of God the Father was criticized. The altar has remained as was described
+above, nor has anything more been done to it since; but the work of
+the choir has been continued.</p>
+
+<p>Many years before, there had been quarried at Carrara a great
+block of marble ten braccia and a half in height and five braccia in width,
+of which having received notice, Baccio rode to Carrara and made a
+contract for it with him to whom it belonged, giving him fifty crowns
+as earnest-money. He then returned to Florence and so pestered the
+Duke, that, by the favour of the Duchess, he obtained the commission
+to make from it a giant, which was to be placed in the Piazza, at the
+corner where the Lion was; on which spot was to be made a great fountain
+to spout water, in the middle of which was to be a Neptune in his chariot,
+drawn by sea-horses, and this figure was to be carved out of the above-mentioned
+block of marble. For this figure Baccio made more than
+one model, and showed them to his Excellency; but the matter stood thus,
+without anything more being done, until the year 1559, at which time
+the owner of the marble, having come from Carrara, asked to be paid
+the rest of the money, saying that otherwise he would give back the fifty
+crowns and break it into several pieces, in order to sell it, since he had
+received many offers. Orders were given by the Duke to Giorgio Vasari
+that he should have the marble paid for; which having been heard
+throughout the world of art, and also that the Duke had not yet made
+a free gift of the marble to Baccio, Benvenuto, and likewise Ammanati,
+bestirring themselves, each besought the Duke that he should be allowed
+to make a model in competition with Baccio, and that his Excellency
+should deign to give the marble to him who had shown the greatest
+ability in his model. The Duke did not deny to either of them the right
+to make a model, or deprive them of the hope that he who should acquit
+himself the best might be chosen to execute the statue. His Excellency
+knew that in ability, judgment, and design Baccio was still better than
+any of the sculptors who were in his service, if only he would consent to
+take pains, and he welcomed this competition, in order to incite Baccio
+to acquit himself better and to do the most that he could. Bandinelli,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97" name="Page_97"></a>[Pg 97]</span> having seen this competition on his shoulders, was greatly troubled by it,
+fearing the loss of the Duke's favour more than any other thing, and once
+more he set himself to making models. He was most assiduous in waiting
+on the Duchess, and so wrought upon her, that he obtained leave to go
+to Carrara in order to make arrangements for having the marble brought
+to Florence. Having arrived in Carrara, he had the marble so reduced
+in size&mdash;as he had planned to do&mdash;that he made it a sorry thing, and
+robbed both himself and the others of a noble opportunity and of the hope
+of ever making from it a beautiful and magnificent work. On returning
+to Florence, there was a long contention between Benvenuto and him,
+Benvenuto saying to the Duke that Baccio had spoilt the marble before
+it had been assigned to him. Finally the Duchess so went to work that
+the marble became Baccio's; and orders were given that it should be
+taken from Carrara to the sea-shore, and a boat was made ready with the
+proper appliances, which was to convey it up the Arno as far as Signa.
+Baccio also caused a room to be built up in the Loggia of the Piazza,
+wherein to work at the marble.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime he had set his hand to executing cartoons, in order
+to have some pictures painted which were to adorn the apartments of
+the Pitti Palace. These pictures were painted by a young man called
+Andrea del Minga, who handled colour passing well. The stories painted
+in the pictures were the Creation of Adam and Eve, and their Expulsion
+from Paradise by the Angel, a Noah, and a Moses with the Tables; which
+finished, he then presented them to the Duchess, seeking to obtain her
+favour in his difficulties and contentions. And, in truth, if it had not
+been for that lady, who loved him for his abilities and held him on his feet,
+Baccio would have fallen headlong down and would have lost completely
+the favour of the Duke. The Duchess also made much use of Baccio
+in the Pitti garden, where she had caused to be constructed a grotto
+full of tufa and sponge-stone formed by the action of water, and containing
+a fountain; and for this Baccio had caused his pupil, Giovanni
+Fancelli, to execute in marble a large basin and some goats of the size
+of life, which spout forth water, and likewise, for a fish-pond, after a model
+made by himself, a countryman who is emptying a barrel full of water.
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98" name="Page_98"></a>[Pg 98]</span> For these reasons the Duchess was constantly helping and favouring Baccio
+with the Duke, who finally gave him leave to begin the great model
+of the Neptune; on which account he once more sent to Rome for
+Vincenzio de' Rossi, who had previously departed from Florence, with
+the intention of making him help to execute it.</p>
+
+<p>While these preparations were in progress, Baccio was seized with
+a desire to finish the statue of the Dead Christ supported by Nicodemus,
+which his son Clemente had carried well forward; for he had heard that
+Buonarroti was finishing one in Rome that he had begun to carve from
+a large block of marble, containing five figures, which was to be placed
+on his tomb in S. Maria Maggiore. Out of emulation with him Baccio
+set to work on his group with the greatest assiduity, with assistants,
+until he had finished it. And meanwhile he was going about among the
+principal churches of Florence, seeking for a place where he might set
+up that work and also make a tomb for himself; but for long he found
+no place for the tomb that could content him, until he resolved on a
+chapel in the Church of the Servites which belongs to the family of the
+Pazzi. The owners of this chapel, at the request of the Duchess, granted
+the place to Baccio, without divesting themselves of the rights of ownership
+and of the devices of their house that were there; and they granted
+him only this, that he should erect an altar of marble and place upon it
+the statues mentioned above, and make his tomb at the foot of it. Afterwards,
+also, he came to an agreement with the friars of that convent with
+regard to the other matters appertaining to the celebration of Mass.
+During this time, then, Baccio was causing the altar and the marble
+base to be built, in order to place upon it the above-named statues; and,
+when he had finished it, he proposed to lay in that tomb, in which he
+wished to be laid himself together with his wife, the bones of his father
+Michelagnolo, which, at his death, he had caused to be placed in a vault
+in the same church. These bones of his father he chose to lay piously
+in that tomb with his own hands; whereupon it happened that either
+because he felt sorrow and a shock to his mind in handling his father's
+bones, or because he exerted himself too much in transferring those bones
+with his own hands and in rearranging the marbles, or from both reasons
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99" name="Page_99"></a>[Pg 99]</span> together, he was so overcome that he felt ill and had to go home, and,
+his malady growing daily worse, in eight days he died, at the age of
+seventy-two, having been up to that time robust and vigorous, and
+without having ever suffered much illness during the whole of his life.
+He was buried with honourable obsequies, and laid beside his father's
+bones in the above-mentioned tomb constructed by himself, on which
+is this epitaph:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="center smcap">
+           D. O. M.<br>
+BACCIUS BANDINELL. DIVI JACOBI EQUES<br>
+  SUB HAC SERVATORIS IMAGINE,<br>
+A SE EXPRESSA, CUM JACOBA DONIA<br>
+  UXORE QUIESCIT, AN. S. MDLIX.</p>
+
+<p>He left behind him both sons and daughters, who were the heirs
+to his many possessions in lands, houses, and money, which he bequeathed
+to them; and to the world he left the works in sculpture described by
+us, and designs in great numbers, which are in the possession of his family,
+and in our book there are some executed with the pen and with chalk,
+than which it is certain that nothing better could be done.</p>
+
+<p>The marble for the giant was left more in dispute than ever, because
+Benvenuto was always about the Duke, and wished, in virtue of a little
+model that he had made, that the Duke should give it to him. On the
+other hand, Ammanati, being a sculptor of marbles and more experienced
+in such works than Benvenuto, considered for many reasons that this
+work belonged to him. Now it happened that Giorgio Vasari had to
+go to Rome with the Cardinal, the son of the Duke, when he went to
+receive his hat, and Ammanati gave to Vasari a little model of wax
+showing the shape in which he desired to carve that figure from the
+marble, and a piece of wood reproducing the exact proportions&mdash;the
+length, breadth, thickness, and inclination from the straight&mdash;of the
+marble, to the end that Giorgio might show them in Rome to Michelagnolo
+Buonarroti and persuade him to declare his opinion in the matter, and so
+move the Duke to give him the marble. All this Giorgio did most
+willingly, and it was the reason that the Duke gave orders that an arch
+should be partitioned off in the Loggia of the Piazza, and that Ammanati
+should make a great model as large as the giant was to be. Having
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100" name="Page_100"></a>[Pg 100]</span> heard this. Benvenuto rode in a great fury to Pisa, where the Duke was,
+and said to him that he could not suffer that his genius should be trampled
+underfoot by one who was inferior to himself, and that he desired to
+make a great model in competition with Ammanati, in the same place;
+and the Duke, wishing to pacify him, granted him leave to have another
+arch of the Loggia partitioned off, and caused to be given to him materials
+for making, as he desired, a large model in competition with Ammanati.</p>
+
+<p>While these masters were engaged in making their models, after
+having made fast their enclosures in such a manner that neither the one
+nor the other could see what his rival was doing, although these enclosures
+were attached to each other, there rose up the Flemish sculptor Maestro
+Giovan Bologna, a young man not inferior in ability or in spirit to either
+of the others. This master, being in the service of the Lord Don Francesco,
+Prince of Florence, asked his Excellency to enable him to make a giant
+which might serve as a model, of the same size as the marble; and the
+Prince granted him this favour. Maestro Giovan Bologna had as yet
+no thought of having the giant to execute in marble, but he wished at
+least to display his ability and to make himself known for what he was
+worth; and, having received permission from the Prince, he, also, began
+a model in the Convent of S. Croce. Nor was Vincenzio Danti, the
+sculptor of Perugia, a younger man than any of the others, willing to
+fail to compete with these three masters, not in the hope of obtaining
+the marble, but in order to demonstrate his spirit and genius. And so,
+having set to work on his own account in the house of Messer Alessandro,
+the son of M. Ottaviano de' Medici, he executed a model good in many
+parts and as large as the others.</p>
+
+<p>The models finished, the Duke went to see those of Ammanati and
+of Benvenuto; and, being more pleased with that of Ammanati than
+with that of Benvenuto, he resolved that Ammanati should have the
+marble and make the giant, because he was younger than Benvenuto
+and more practised in marble. The disposition of the Duke was strengthened
+by Giorgio Vasari, who did many good offices with his Excellency
+for Ammanati, having perceived that, in addition to his knowledge,
+he was ready to endure any labour, and hoping that from his hands
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101" name="Page_101"></a>[Pg 101]</span> there would issue an excellent work finished in a short time. The Duke
+would not at that time see the model of Maestro Giovan Bologna, because,
+not having seen any work by him in marble, it did not seem to him that
+he could entrust to that master, as his first work, so great an undertaking,
+although he heard from many craftsmen and other men of judgment
+that Giovan Bologna's model was in many parts better than the others.
+But if Baccio had been alive, there would not have been all that contention
+among those masters, because without a doubt it would have fallen
+to him to make the model of clay and the giant of marble. This work,
+then, was snatched from Baccio by death, but the same circumstance
+brought him no little glory, in that it revealed by means of those four
+models&mdash;the reason of the making of which was that Baccio was not alive&mdash;how
+much better were the design, judgment and ability of him who
+placed on the Piazza the Hercules and Cacus, as it were living in the
+marble; the excellence of which work has been made evident and brought
+to light even more by the works that have been executed since Baccio's
+death by those others, who, although they have acquitted themselves
+in a manner worthy of praise, have yet not been able to attain to the
+beauty and excellence that he placed in his work.</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards Duke Cosimo, for the marriage of Queen Joanna of
+Austria, his daughter-in-law, seven years after the death of Baccio, caused
+the audience-chamber in the Great Hall, begun by Baccio, of which we
+have spoken above, to be finished; and he chose that the head of this
+work of completion should be Giorgio Vasari, who has sought with all
+diligence to put right the many defects that would have been in it if it
+had been continued and finished after the original design followed in the
+beginning by Baccio. Thus that imperfect work has now been carried
+with the help of God to completion, and is enriched on its side faces by
+the addition of niches and pilasters, and statues set in their places.
+Moreover, since it was laid out awry and out of square, we have taken
+pains to make it even in so far as has been possible, and have raised it
+considerably with a corridor of Tuscan columns at the top; and as for
+the statue of Leo begun by Baccio, his pupil Vincenzio de' Rossi has
+finished it. Besides this, that work has been adorned with friezes full
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102" name="Page_102"></a>[Pg 102]</span> of stucco-work, with many figures large and small, and with devices and
+other ornaments of various kinds, and under the niches and in the
+partitions of the vaulting have been made many and various designs in
+stucco and many beautiful inventions in carving; all which things have
+enriched the work in such a manner, that it has changed its form and has
+gained not a little in beauty and grace. For whereas, according to the
+first design, the ceiling of the Hall being twenty-one braccia above the
+floor, the audience-chamber did not rise higher than eighteen braccia,
+so that between it and the old ceiling there was a space of only three
+braccia; now, after our design, the ceiling of the Hall has been raised so
+much that it has risen twelve braccia above the old ceiling and fifteen
+above the audience-chamber of Baccio and Giuliano, so that the ceiling
+is now thirty-three braccia above the floor of the Hall. And it certainly
+showed great spirit in his Excellency, that he should resolve to cause
+to be finished in the space of five months for the above-named nuptials
+the whole of a work of which more than a third still remained to do,
+although it had taken more than fifteen years to arrive at the condition
+in which it was at that time; so eager was he to carry it to completion.
+But it was not only Baccio's work that his Excellency caused to be
+completely finished, but also all the rest of what Giorgio Vasari had
+designed; beginning again from the base that runs over the whole of that
+work, with a border of balusters in the open spaces, which forms a corridor
+that passes above the work in the Hall, and commands a view on the outer
+side of the Piazza and on the inner side of the whole Hall. Thus the
+Princes and other lords will be able to see, without being seen, all the
+festivals that may be held there, with much pleasure and convenience
+for themselves, and then to retire to their apartments, passing by the
+private and public staircases through all the rooms in the Palace. Nevertheless,
+to many it has caused dissatisfaction that in a work of such
+beauty and grandeur that structure was not made square, and many
+would have liked to have it pulled down and then rebuilt true to square.
+But it has been judged to be better to continue the work in that way,
+in order not to appear presumptuous and malign towards Baccio, and also
+because otherwise we would have seemed not to have the power to correct
+the errors and defects found by us but committed by others.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103" name="Page_103"></a>[Pg 103]</span> But, returning to Baccio, we must say that his abilities were always
+recognized during his lifetime, yet will be recognized and regretted much
+more now that he is dead. And even more would he have been acknowledged
+for what he was, when alive, and beloved, if he had been so favoured
+by nature as to be more amiable and more courteous, because his being
+the contrary, and very rough with his tongue, robbed him of the goodwill
+of other persons, obscured his talents, and brought it about that his
+works were regarded with ill will and a prejudiced eye, and therefore
+could never please anyone. And although he served one nobleman after
+another, and was enabled by his talent to serve them well, nevertheless
+he rendered his services with such bad grace, that there was no one who
+felt grateful to him for them. Moreover, his always decrying and
+maligning the works of others brought it about that no one could endure
+him, and, whenever another was able to pay him back in his own coin,
+it was returned to him with interest; and before the magistrates he spoke
+all manner of evil without scruple about the other citizens, and received
+from them as good as he gave. He brought suits and went to law about
+everything with the greatest readiness, living in one long succession of
+law-suits, and appearing to triumph in them. But since his drawing,
+to which it is evident that he gave his attention more than to any other
+thing, was of such a kind and of such excellence that it atones for his
+every natural defect and makes him known as a rare master of our art,
+we therefore not only count him among the greatest craftsmen, but also
+have always paid respect to his works, and have sought not to destroy
+but to finish them and do them honour, for the reason that it appears
+to us that Baccio was in truth one of those who deserve honourable praise
+and everlasting fame.</p>
+
+<p>We have deferred to the end the mention of his family name, because
+it was not always the same, but varied, Baccio having himself called
+now De' Brandini, and now De' Bandinelli. In his early prints the name
+De' Brandini may be seen engraved after that of Baccio; but afterwards
+he preferred the name De' Bandinelli, which he retained to the end and
+still retains, and he used to say that his ancestors were of the Bandinelli
+of Siena, who once removed to Gaiuole, and from Gaiuole to Florence.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="bugiardini" id="bugiardini"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105" name="Page_105"></a>[Pg 105]</span> GIULIANO BUGIARDINI</h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img008" id="img008"></a>
+<img src="images/img008-tb.jpg" width="400" height="548" alt="Giuliano Bugiardini: Portrait of a Lady." title="">
+<p class="caption">GIULIANO BUGIARDINI: PORTRAIT OF A LADY<br>
+(<i>Florence: Pitti, 140. Panel</i>)<br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img008.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="life_of_bugiardini" id="life_of_bugiardini"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107" name="Page_107"></a>[Pg 107]</span> LIFE OF GIULIANO BUGIARDINI<br>
+PAINTER OF FLORENCE</h2>
+
+
+<p>Before the siege of Florence the population had multiplied in such great
+numbers that the widespread suburbs which lay without every gate,
+together with the churches, monasteries, and hospitals, formed as it were
+another city, inhabited by many honourable persons and by good craftsmen
+of every kind, although for the most part they were less wealthy
+than those of the city, and lived there with less expense in the way of
+customs-dues and the like. In one of these suburbs, then, without the
+Porta a Faenza, was born Giuliano Bugiardini, who lived there, even as
+his ancestors had done, until the year 1529, when all the suburbs were
+pulled down. But before that, when still a mere lad, he began his studies
+in the garden of the Medici on the Piazza di S. Marco, in which, attending
+to the study of art under the sculptor Bertoldo, he formed such strait
+friendship and intimacy with Michelagnolo Buonarroti, that he was much
+beloved by Buonarroti ever afterwards; which Michelagnolo did not so
+much because of any depth that he saw in Giuliano's manner of drawing,
+as on account of the extraordinary diligence and love that he showed
+towards art. There was in Giuliano, besides this, a certain natural
+goodness and a sort of simplicity in his mode of living, free from all envy
+and malice, which vastly pleased Buonarroti; nor was there any notable
+defect in him save this, that he loved too well the works of his own hand.
+For, although all men are wont to err in this respect, Giuliano in truth
+passed all due bounds, whatever may have been the reason&mdash;either the
+great pains and diligence that he put into executing them, or some other
+cause. Wherefore Michelagnolo used to call him blessed, since he
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108" name="Page_108"></a>[Pg 108]</span> appeared to be content with what he knew, and himself unhappy, in that
+no work of his ever fully satisfied him.</p>
+
+<p>After Giuliano had studied design for some time in the above-named
+garden, he worked, together with Buonarroti and Granacci, under
+Domenico Ghirlandajo, at the time when he was painting the chapel in
+S. Maria Novella. Then, having made his growth and become a passing
+good master, he betook himself to work in company with Mariotto
+Albertinelli in Gualfonda; in which place he finished a panel-picture that
+is now at the door of entrance of S. Maria Maggiore in Florence, containing
+S. Alberto, a Carmelite friar, who has under his feet the Devil in the form
+of a woman, a work that was much extolled.</p>
+
+<p>It was the custom in Florence before the siege of 1530, at the burial
+of dead persons of good family and noble blood, to carry in front of
+the bier a string of pennons fixed round a panel that a porter bore
+on his head; which pennons were afterwards left in the church in memory
+of the deceased and of his family. Now, when the elder Cosimo Rucellai
+died, Bernardo and Palla, his sons, in order to have something new,
+thought of having not pennons, but in place of them a quadrangular
+banner four braccia wide and five braccia high, with some pennons at the
+foot containing the arms of the Rucellai. These men therefore giving
+this work to Giuliano to execute, he painted on the body of the said
+banner four great figures, executed very well&mdash;namely, S. Cosimo,
+S. Damiano, S. Peter, and S. Paul, which were truly most beautiful
+paintings, and done with more diligence than had ever been shown in
+any other work on cloth.</p>
+
+<p>These and other works of Giuliano's having been seen by Mariotto
+Albertinelli, he recognized how careful Giuliano was in following the
+designs that were put before him, without departing from them by a
+hair's breadth, and, since he was preparing in those days to abandon art,
+he gave him to finish a panel-picture that Fra Bartolommeo di San Marco,
+his friend and companion, had formerly left only designed and shaded
+with water-colours on the gesso of the panel, as was his custom. Giuliano,
+then, setting his hand to this work, executed it with supreme diligence
+and labour, and it was placed at that time in the Church of S. Gallo,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109" name="Page_109"></a>[Pg 109]</span> without the gate of that name. The church and convent were afterwards
+pulled down on account of the siege, and the picture was carried into the
+city and placed in the Priests' Hospital in the Via di S. Gallo, and then
+from there into the Convent of S. Marco, and finally into S. Jacopo tra
+Fossi on the Canto degli Alberti, where it stands at the present day on
+the high-altar. In this picture is the Dead Christ, with the Magdalene,
+who is embracing His feet, and S. John the Evangelist, who is holding
+His head and supporting it on one knee. There, likewise, are S. Peter,
+who is weeping, and S. Paul, who, stretching out his arms, is contemplating
+his Dead Master; and, to tell the truth, Giuliano executed this
+picture with so much lovingness and so much consideration and judgment,
+that he will be always very highly extolled for it, even as he was
+at that time, and that rightly. And after this he finished for Cristofano
+Rinieri a picture with the Rape of Dina that had been likewise left incomplete
+by the same Fra Bartolommeo; and he painted another picture like
+it, which was sent to France.</p>
+
+<p>Not long afterwards, having been drawn to Bologna by certain
+friends, he executed some portraits from life, and, for a chapel in the
+new choir of S. Francesco, an altar-piece in oils containing Our Lady
+and two Saints, which was held at that time in Bologna, from there not
+being many masters there, to be a good work and worthy of praise.
+Then, having returned to Florence, he painted for I know not what person
+five pictures of the life of Our Lady, which are now in the house of Maestro
+Andrea Pasquali, physician to his Excellency and a man of great distinction.</p>
+
+<p>Messer Palla Rucellai having commissioned him to execute an altar-piece
+that was to be placed on his altar in S. Maria Novella, Giuliano
+began to paint in it the Martyrdom of S. Catharine the Virgin. Mountains
+in labour! He had it in hand for twelve years, but never carried it
+to completion after all that time, because he had no invention and knew
+not how to paint the many various things that had a part in that martyrdom;
+and, although he was always racking his brain as to how those
+wheels should be made, and how he should paint the lightning and the
+fire that consumed them, constantly changing one day what he had done
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110" name="Page_110"></a>[Pg 110]</span> the day before, in all that time he was never able to finish it. It is true
+that in the meantime he executed many works, and among others, for
+Messer Francesco Guicciardini&mdash;who had returned from Bologna and
+was then living in his villa at Montici, writing his history&mdash;a portrait
+of him, which was a passing good likeness and pleased him much. He
+took the portrait, likewise, of Signora Angela de' Rossi, the sister of the
+Count of Sansecondo, for Signor Alessandro Vitelli, her husband, who
+was then on garrison-duty in Florence. For Messer Ottaviano de' Medici
+he painted in a large picture, copied from one by Fra Sebastiano del
+Piombo, two full-length portraits, Pope Clement seated and Fra Niccol�
+della Magna standing; and in another picture, likewise, with incredible
+pains and patience, he portrayed Pope Clement seated, and before him
+Bartolommeo Valori, who is kneeling and speaking to him.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img009" id="img009"></a>
+<img src="images/img009-tb.jpg" width="400" height="607" alt="The Martyrdom of S. Catharine." title="">
+<p class="caption">THE MARTYRDOM OF S. CATHARINE<br>
+(<i>After the painting by</i> Giuliano Bugiardini.
+<i>Florence: S. Maria Novella, Rucellai Chapel</i>)<br>
+<i>Alinari</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img009.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Next, the above-named Messer Ottaviano de' Medici having besought
+Giuliano privately that he should take for him the portrait of Michelagnolo
+Buonarroti, he set his hand to it; and, after he had kept Michelagnolo,
+who used to take pleasure in his conversation, sitting for two hours,
+Giuliano said to him: "Michelagnolo, if you wish to see yourself, get up
+and look, for I have now fixed the expression of the face." Michelagnolo,
+having risen and looked at the portrait, said to Giuliano, laughing:
+"What the devil have you been doing? You have painted me with one
+of my eyes up in the temple. Give a little thought to what you are
+doing." Hearing this, Giuliano, after standing pensive for a while and
+looking many times from the portrait to the living model, answered in
+serious earnest: "To me it does not seem so, but sit you down again, and
+I shall see a little better from the life whether it be true." Buonarroti,
+who knew whence the defect arose and how small was the judgment of
+Bugiardini, straightway resumed his seat, grinning. And Giuliano looked
+many times now at Michelagnolo and now at the picture, and then
+finally, rising to his feet, declared: "To me it seems that the thing is just
+as I have drawn it, and that the life is in no way different." "Well,
+then," answered Buonarroti, "it is a natural deformity. Go on, and
+spare neither brush nor art." And so Giuliano finished the picture and
+gave it to Messer Ottaviano, together with the portrait of Pope Clement
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111" name="Page_111"></a>[Pg 111]</span> by the hand of Fra Sebastiano, as Buonarroti desired, who had sent to
+Rome for it.</p>
+
+<p>Giuliano afterwards made for Cardinal Innocenzio Cibo a copy of
+the picture in which Raffaello da Urbino had formerly painted portraits
+of Pope Leo, Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, and Cardinal de' Rossi; but in
+place of Cardinal de' Rossi he painted the head of Cardinal Cibo, in
+which he acquitted himself very well, and he executed the whole picture
+with great diligence and labour. At that time, likewise, he took the
+portrait of Cencio Guasconi, who was then a very beautiful youth. And
+after this he painted at the villa of Baccio Valori, at Olmo a Castello, a
+tabernacle in fresco, which, although it had not much design, was well
+and very carefully executed.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Palla Rucellai was pressing him to finish his altar-piece,
+of which mention has been made above, and Giuliano resolved to take
+Michelagnolo one day to see it. And so, after he had brought him to
+the place where he kept it, and had described to him with what pains he
+had executed the lightning-flash, which, coming down from Heaven,
+shivers the wheels and kills those who are turning them, and also a sun,
+which, bursting from a cloud, delivers S. Catharine from death, he frankly
+besought Michelagnolo, who could not keep from laughing as he heard
+poor Bugiardini's lamentations, that he should tell him how to make
+eight or ten principal figures of soldiers in the foreground of this altar-piece,
+drawn up in line after the manner of a guard, and in the act of
+flight, some being prostrate, some wounded, and others dead; for, said
+Giuliano, he did not know for himself how to foreshorten them in such a
+manner that there might be room for them all in so narrow a space, in
+the fashion that he had imagined, in line. Buonarroti, then, having
+compassion on the poor man and wishing to oblige him, went up to the
+picture with a piece of charcoal and outlined with a few strokes, lightly
+sketched in, a line of marvellous nude figures, which, foreshortened in
+different attitudes, were falling in various ways, some backward and
+others forward, with some wounded or dead, and all executed with that
+judgment and excellence that were peculiar to Michelagnolo. This done,
+he went away with the thanks of Giuliano, who not long afterwards took
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112" name="Page_112"></a>[Pg 112]</span> Tribolo, his dearest friend, to see what Buonarroti had done, telling him
+the whole story. But since, as has been related, Buonarroti had drawn
+his figures only in outline, Bugiardini was not able to put them into
+execution, because there were neither shadows in them nor any other
+help; whereupon Tribolo resolved to assist him, and thus made some
+sketch-models in clay, which he executed excellently well, giving them
+that boldness of manner that Michelagnolo had put into the drawing,
+and working them over with the gradine, which is a toothed instrument
+of iron, to the end that they might be somewhat rough and might have
+greater force; and, thus finished, he gave them to Giuliano. However,
+since that manner did not please the smooth fancy of Bugiardini, no
+sooner had Tribolo departed than he took a brush and, dipping it from
+time to time in water, so smoothed them that he took away the gradine-marks
+and polished them all over, insomuch that, whereas the lights
+should have served as contrasts to make the shadows stronger, he contrived
+to destroy all the excellence that made the work perfect. Which
+having afterwards heard from Giuliano himself, Tribolo laughed at the
+foolish simplicity of the man; and Giuliano finally delivered the work
+finished in such a manner that there is nothing in it to show that Michelagnolo
+ever looked at it.</p>
+
+<p>In the end, being old and poor, and having very few works to do,
+Giuliano applied himself with extraordinary and even incredible pains to
+make a Piet� in a tabernacle that was to go to Spain, with figures of no
+great size, and executed it with such diligence, that it seems a strange
+thing to think of an old man of his age having the patience to do such
+a work for the love that he bore to art. On the doors of that tabernacle,
+in order to depict the darkness that fell at the death of the Saviour, he
+painted a Night on a black ground, copied from the one by the hand of
+Michelagnolo which is in the Sacristy of S. Lorenzo. But since that
+statue has no other sign than an owl, Giuliano, amusing himself over his
+picture of Night by giving rein to his fancy, painted there a net for
+catching thrushes by night, with the lantern, and one of those little
+vessels holding a candle, or rather, a candle-end, that are carried about at
+night, with other suchlike things that have something to do with darkness
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113" name="Page_113"></a>[Pg 113]</span> and gloom, such as night-caps, coifs, pillows, and bats; wherefore
+Buonarroti was like to dislocate his jaw with laughing when he saw this
+work and considered with what strange caprices Bugiardini had enriched
+his Night.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, after having always been that kind of man, Giuliano died
+at the age of seventy-five, and was buried in the Church of S. Marco at
+Florence, in the year 1556.</p>
+
+<p>Giuliano once relating to Bronzino how he had seen a very beautiful
+woman, after he had praised her to the skies, Bronzino said, "Do you
+know her?" "No," answered Giuliano, "but she is a miracle of beauty.
+Just imagine that she is a picture by my hand, and there you have her."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="gherardi" id="gherardi"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115" name="Page_115"></a>[Pg 115]</span> CRISTOFANO GHERARDI,
+CALLED DOCENO</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="life_of_gherardi" id="life_of_gherardi"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117" name="Page_117"></a>[Pg 117]</span> LIFE OF CRISTOFANO GHERARDI [CALLED DOCENO] OF
+BORGO SAN SEPOLCRO<br>
+PAINTER</h2>
+
+<p>While Raffaello dal Colle of Borgo San Sepolcro, who was a disciple
+of Giulio Romano and helped him to paint in fresco the Hall of Constantine
+in the Papal Palace at Rome, and the apartments of the Te in
+Mantua, was painting, after his return to the Borgo, the altar-piece of
+the Chapel of SS. Gilio e Arcanio (in which, imitating Giulio and Raffaello
+da Urbino, he depicted the Resurrection of Christ, a work that was much
+extolled), with another altar-piece of the Assumption for the Frati de'
+Zoccoli without the Borgo, and some other works for the Servite Friars
+at Citt� di Castello; while, I say, Raffaello was executing these and other
+works in the Borgo, his native place, acquiring riches and fame, a young
+man sixteen years of age, called Cristofano, and by way of by-name,
+Doceno, the son of Guido Gherardi, a man of honourable family in that
+city, was attending from a natural inclination and with much profit to
+painting, drawing and colouring so well and with such grace, that it was
+a marvel. Wherefore the above-named Raffaello, having seen some
+animals by the hand of this Cristofano, such as dogs, wolves, hares, and
+various kinds of birds and fishes, executed very well, and perceiving that
+he was most agreeable in his conversation and very witty and amusing,
+although he lived a life apart, almost like a philosopher, was well pleased
+to form a friendship with him and to have him frequent his workshop in
+order to learn.</p>
+
+<p>Now, after Cristofano had spent some time drawing under the discipline
+of Raffaello, there arrived in the Borgo the painter Rosso, with whom
+he contracted a friendship, and received some of his drawings; and these
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118" name="Page_118"></a>[Pg 118]</span> Doceno studied with great diligence, considering, as one who had seen no
+others but those by the hand of Raffaello, that they were very beautiful,
+as indeed they were. But these studies were broken off by him, for,
+when Giovanni de' Turrini of the Borgo, at that time Captain of the
+Florentines, went with a band of soldiers from the Borgo and from Citt�
+di Castello to the defence of Florence, which was besieged by the armies
+of the Emperor and of Pope Clement, Cristofano went thither among the
+other soldiers, having been led away by his many friends. It is true that
+he did this no less in the hope of having some occasion to study the
+works in Florence than with the intention of fighting; but in this he
+failed, for his captain, Giovanni, had to guard not a place within the
+city, but the bastions on the hill without. That war finished, and the
+guard of Florence being commanded not long afterwards by Signor
+Alessandro Vitelli of Citt� di Castello, Cristofano, drawn by his friends
+and by his desire to see the pictures and sculptures of the city, enlisted as
+a soldier in that guard. And while he was in that service, Signor Alessandro,
+having heard from Battista della Bilia, a painter and soldier
+from Citt� di Castello, that Cristofano gave his attention to painting,
+and having obtained a beautiful picture by his hand, determined to send
+him with that same Battista della Bilia and with another Battista, likewise
+of Citt� di Castello, to decorate with sgraffiti and paintings a garden and
+loggia that he had begun at Citt� di Castello. But the one Battista
+having died while that garden was being built up, and the other Battista
+having taken his place, for the time being, whatever may have been the
+reason, nothing more was done.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Giorgio Vasari had returned from Rome, and was passing
+his time with Duke Alessandro in Florence, until his patron Cardinal
+Ippolito should return from Hungary; and he had received rooms in the
+Convent of the Servites, that he might make a beginning with the execution
+of certain scenes in fresco from the life of C�sar in the chamber at
+the corner of the Medici Palace, where Giovanni da Udine had decorated
+the ceiling with stucco-work and pictures. Now Cristofano, having
+made Giorgio's acquaintance at the Borgo in the year 1528, when he
+went to see Rosso in that place, where he had shown him much
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119" name="Page_119"></a>[Pg 119]</span> kindness, resolved that he would attach himself to Vasari and thus find
+much more opportunity for giving attention to art than he had done in
+the past. Giorgio, then, after a year's intercourse with him as his companion,
+finding that he was likely to make an able master, and that he
+was pleasant and gentle in manners and a man after his own heart,
+conceived an extraordinary affection for him. Wherefore, having to go
+not long afterwards, at the commission of Duke Alessandro, to Citt� di
+Castello, in company with Antonio da San Gallo and Pier Francesco da
+Viterbo (who had been in Florence to build the castle, or rather, citadel,
+and on their return were taking the road by Citt� di Castello), in order
+to repair the walls of the above-mentioned garden of Vitelli, which were
+threatening to fall, he took Cristofano with him, to the end that after
+Vasari himself had designed and distributed in their due order the friezes
+that were to be executed in certain apartments, and likewise the scenes
+and compartments of a bath-room, and other sketches for the walls of
+the loggia, Gherardi and the above-named Battista might carry the
+whole to completion. All this they did so well and with such grace, and
+particularly Cristofano, that a past master in art, well practised in his
+work, could not have done so much; and, what is more, experimenting
+in that work, he became facile and able to a marvel in drawing and
+colouring.</p>
+
+<p>Then, in the year 1536, the Emperor Charles V coming to Italy and
+to Florence, as has been related in other places, the most magnificent
+festive preparations were ordained, among which Vasari, by order of
+Duke Alessandro, received the charge of the decorations of the Porta a
+S. Piero Gattolini, of the fa�ade at S. Felice in Piazza, at the head of the
+Via Maggio, and of the pediment that was erected over the door of
+S. Maria del Fiore; and, in addition, of a standard of cloth for the castle,
+fifteen braccia in depth and forty in length, into the gilding of which
+there went fifty thousand leaves of gold. Now the Florentine painters
+and others who were employed in these preparations, thinking that
+Vasari was too much in favour with Duke Alessandro, and wishing to
+leave him disgraced in that part of the decorations&mdash;a part truly great
+and laborious&mdash;which had fallen to him, so went to work that he was
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120" name="Page_120"></a>[Pg 120]</span> not able to enlist the services of any master of architectural painting,
+whether young or old, among all those that were in the city, to assist
+him in any single thing. Of which having become aware, Vasari sent for
+Cristofano, Raffaello dal Colle, and Stefano Veltroni of Monte Sansovino,
+his kinsman; and with their assistance and that of other painters from
+Arezzo and other places, he executed the works mentioned above, in
+which Cristofano acquitted himself in such a manner, that he caused
+everyone to marvel, doing honour to himself and also to Vasari, who was
+much extolled for those works. After they were finished, Cristofano
+remained many days in Florence, assisting the same Vasari in the preparations
+that were made in the Palace of Messer Ottaviano de' Medici
+for the nuptials of Duke Alessandro; wherein, among other things,
+Cristofano executed the coat of arms of the Duchess Margherita of
+Austria, with the balls, upheld by a most beautiful eagle, with some boys,
+very well done.</p>
+
+<p>Not long afterwards, when Duke Alessandro had been assassinated,
+a compact was made in the Borgo to hand over one of the gates of the
+city to Piero Strozzi, when he came to Sestino, and letters were therefore
+written to Cristofano by some soldiers exiled from the Borgo, entreating
+him that he should consent to help them in this: which letters received,
+although Cristofano did not grant their request, yet, in order not to do
+a mischief to the soldiers, he chose rather to tear them up, as he did,
+than to lay them, as according to the laws and edicts he should have
+done, before Gherardo Gherardi, who was then Commissioner for the
+Lord Duke Cosimo in the Borgo. When the troubles were over and the
+matter became known, many citizens of the Borgo were exiled as rebels,
+and among them Doceno; and Signor Alessandro Vitelli, who knew the
+truth of this affair and could have helped him, did not do so, to the end
+that Cristofano might be as it were forced to serve him in the work of his
+garden at Citt� di Castello, of which we have spoken above.</p>
+
+<p>After having consumed much time in this service, without any profit
+or advantage, Cristofano finally took refuge, almost in despair, with other
+exiles, in the village of S. Giustino in the States of the Church, a mile and
+a half distant from the Borgo and very near the Florentine frontier.
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121" name="Page_121"></a>[Pg 121]</span> In that place, although he stayed there at his peril, he painted for Abbot
+Bufolini of Citt� di Castello, who has most beautiful and commodious
+apartments there, a chamber in a tower, with a pattern of little boys and
+figures very well foreshortened to be seen from below, and with grotesques,
+festoons, and masks, the most lovely and the most bizarre that could be
+imagined. This chamber, when finished, so pleased the Abbot that he
+caused him to do another, in which, desiring to make some ornaments
+of stucco, and not having marble to grind into powder for mixing it,
+for this purpose he found a very good substitute in some stones from a
+river-bed, veined with white, the powder from which took a good and
+very firm hold. And within these ornaments of stucco Cristofano then
+painted some scenes from Roman history, executing them so well in
+fresco that it was a marvel.</p>
+
+<p>At that time Giorgio Vasari was painting in fresco the upper part
+of the tramezzo<a id="FNanchor4" name="FNanchor4"></a><a href="#Footnote4" title="Go to footnote 4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> of the Abbey of Camaldoli, and two panel-pictures for
+the lower part; and, wishing to make about these last an ornament in
+fresco full of scenes, he would have liked to have Cristofano with him,
+no less to restore him to the favour of the Duke than to make use of him.
+But, although Messer Ottaviano de' Medici pleaded strongly with the
+Duke, it proved impossible to bend him, so ugly was the information
+that had been given to him about the behaviour of Cristofano. Not
+having succeeded in this, therefore, Vasari, as one who loved Cristofano,
+set himself to contrive to remove him at least from S. Giustino, where
+he, with other exiles, was living in the greatest peril. In the year 1539,
+then, having to execute for the Monks of Monte Oliveto, for the head
+of a great refectory in the Monastery of S. Michele in Bosco without
+Bologna, three panel-pictures in oils with three scenes each four braccia
+in length, and a frieze in fresco three braccia high all round with twenty
+stories of the Apocalypse in little figures, and all the monasteries of that
+Order copied from the reality, with partitions of grotesques, and round
+each window fourteen braccia of festoons with fruits copied from nature,
+Giorgio wrote straightway to Cristofano that he should go from S. Giustino
+to Bologna, together with Battista Cungi of the Borgo, his compatriot,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122" name="Page_122"></a>[Pg 122]</span> who had also served Vasari for seven years. These men, therefore, having
+gone to Bologna, where Giorgio had not yet arrived&mdash;for he was still at
+Camaldoli, where, having finished the tramezzo, he was drawing the
+cartoon for a Deposition from the Cross, which was afterwards executed
+by him and set up on the high-altar in that same place&mdash;set themselves
+to prime the said three panels with gesso and to lay on the ground, until
+such time as Giorgio should arrive.</p>
+
+<p>Now Vasari had given a commission to Dattero, a Jew, the friend
+of Messer Ottaviano de' Medici, who was then a banker in Bologna, that
+he should provide Cristofano and Battista with everything that they
+required. And since this Dattero was very obliging and most courteous,
+he did them a thousand favours and courtesies; wherefore those two at
+times went about Bologna in his company in very familiar fashion, and,
+Battista having prominent eyes and Cristofano a great speck in one of his,
+they were thus taken for Jews, as Dattero was in fact. One morning,
+therefore, a shoemaker, who had to bring a pair of new shoes at the
+commission of the above-named Jew to Cristofano, arriving at the
+monastery, said to Cristofano himself, who was standing at the gate
+looking on at the distribution of alms, "Sir, could you show me the rooms
+of those two Jew painters who are working in there?" "Jews or no
+Jews," said Cristofano, "what have you to do with them?" "I have
+to give these shoes," he answered, "to one of them called Cristofano."
+"I am he," replied Cristofano, "an honest man and a better Christian
+than you are." "You may be what you please," answered the shoemaker.
+"I called you Jews, because, besides that you are held and
+known as Jews by everyone, that look of yours, which is not of our
+country, convinced me of it." "Enough," said Cristofano, "you shall
+see that we do the work of Christians."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img010" id="img010"></a>
+<img src="images/img010-tb.jpg" width="400" height="645" alt="The Supper of S. Gregory the Great." title="">
+<p class="caption">THE SUPPER OF S. GREGORY THE GREAT<br>
+(<i>After the panel by</i> Giorgio Vasari, <i>with details by</i> Cristofano Gherardi
+[Doceno]. <i>Bologna: Accademia, 198</i>)<br>
+<i>Poppi</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img010.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>But to return to the work: Vasari having arrived in Bologna, not a
+month had passed before, Giorgio designing, and Cristofano and Battista
+laying in the panels in colour, all three were completely laid in, with
+great credit to Cristofano, who acquitted himself in this excellently well.
+The laying in of the panels being finished, work was begun on the frieze,
+in which Cristofano had a companion, although he was to have executed
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123" name="Page_123"></a>[Pg 123]</span> it all by himself; for there came from Camaldoli to Bologna the cousin of
+Vasari, Stefano Veltroni of Monte Sansovino, who had laid in the panel-picture
+of the Deposition, and the two executed that work together, and
+that so well, that it proved a marvel. Cristofano painted grotesques so
+well, that there was nothing better to be seen, but he did not give them
+that particular finish that would have made them perfect; and Stefano,
+on the contrary, was wanting in resolution and grace, for the reason that
+his brush-strokes did not fix his subjects in their places at one sweep,
+but, since he was very patient, in the end, although he endured greater
+labour, he used to execute his grotesques with more neatness and delicacy.
+Labouring in competition, then, at the work of this frieze, these two took
+such pains, both the one and the other, that Cristofano learned to finish
+from Stefano, and Stefano learned from Cristofano to be more resolute
+and to work like a master.</p>
+
+<p>Work being then begun on the broad festoons that were to run in
+clusters round the windows, Vasari made one with his own hand, keeping
+real fruits in front of him, that he might copy them from nature. This
+done, he ordained that Cristofano and Stefano should go on with the rest,
+holding to the same design, one on one side of the window, and the other
+on the other side, and should thus, one by one, proceed to finish them
+all; promising to him who might prove at the end of the work to have
+acquitted himself best a pair of scarlet hose. And so, competing lovingly
+for both honour and profit, they set themselves to copy everything, from
+the large things down to the most minute, such as millet-seed, hemp-seed,
+bunches of fennel, and the like, in such a manner that those festoons
+proved to be very beautiful; and both of them received from Vasari the
+prize of the scarlet hose.</p>
+
+<p>Giorgio took great pains to persuade Cristofano to execute by himself
+part of the designs for the scenes that were to go into the frieze, but he
+would never do it. Wherefore, the while that Giorgio was drawing them
+himself, Gherardi executed the buildings in two of the panel-pictures,
+with much grace and beauty of manner, and such perfection, that a
+master of great judgment, even if he had had the cartoons before him,
+could not have done what Cristofano did. And, in truth, there never was
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124" name="Page_124"></a>[Pg 124]</span> a painter who could do by himself, and without study, the things that
+he contrived to do. After having finished the execution of the buildings
+in the two panel-pictures, the while that Vasari was carrying to completion
+the twenty stories from the Apocalypse for the above-mentioned frieze,
+Cristofano, taking in hand the panel-picture in which S. Gregory (whose
+head is a portrait of Pope Clement VII) is eating with his twelve poor
+men, executed the whole service of the table, all very lifelike and most
+natural. Then, a beginning having been made with the third panel-picture,
+while Stefano was occupied with the gilding of the ornamental
+frames of the other two, a staging was erected upon two trestles of wood,
+from which, while Vasari was painting on one side, in a glory of sunlight,
+the three Angels that appeared to Abraham in the Valley of Mamre,
+Cristofano painted some buildings on the other side. But he was always
+making some contraption with stools and tables, and at times with basins
+and pans upside down, on which he would climb, like the casual creature
+that he was; and once it happened that, seeking to draw back in order
+to look at what he had done, one of his feet gave way under him, the
+whole contraption turned topsy-turvy, and he fell from a height of five
+braccia, bruising himself so grievously that he had to be bled and properly
+nursed, or he would have died. And, what was worse, being the sort of
+careless fellow that he was, one night there slipped off the bandages that
+were on the arm from which the blood had been drawn, to the great
+danger of his life, so that, if Stefano, who was sleeping with him, had not
+noticed this, it would have been all up with him; and even so Stefano
+had something to do to revive him, for the bed was a lake of blood, and
+he himself was reduced almost to his last gasp. Vasari, therefore, taking
+him under his own particular charge, as if he had been his brother, had
+him tended with the greatest possible care, than which, indeed, nothing
+less would have sufficed; and with all this he was not restored until that
+work was completely finished. After that, returning to S. Giustino,
+Cristofano completed some of the apartments of the Abbot there, which
+had been left unfinished, and then executed at Citt� di Castello, all with
+his own hand, an altar-piece that had been allotted to Battista, his dearest
+friend, and a lunette that is over the side-door of S. Fiorido, containing
+three figures in fresco.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125" name="Page_125"></a>[Pg 125]</span> Giorgio being afterwards summoned to Venice at the instance of
+Messer Pietro Aretino, in order to arrange and execute for the nobles and
+gentlemen of the Company of the Calza the setting for a most sumptuous
+and magnificent festival, and the scenery of a comedy written by that
+same Messer Pietro Aretino for those gentlemen, Giorgio, I say, knowing
+that he was not able to carry out so great a work by himself alone, sent
+for Cristofano and the above-mentioned Battista Cungi. And they,
+having finally arrived in Venice after being carried by the chances of the
+sea to Sclavonia, found that Vasari not only had arrived there before
+them, but had already designed everything, so that there was nothing
+for them to do but to set hand to painting. Now the said gentlemen of
+the Calza had taken at the end of the Canareio a large house which was
+not finished&mdash;it had nothing, indeed, save the main walls and the roof&mdash;and
+in a space forming an apartment seventy braccia long and sixteen
+braccia wide, Giorgio caused to be made two ranges of wooden steps,
+four braccia in height from the floor, on which the ladies were to be seated.
+The walls at the sides he divided each into four square spaces of ten
+braccia, separated by niches each four braccia in breadth, within which
+were figures, and these niches had each on either side a terminal figure
+in relief, nine braccia high; insomuch that the niches on either side were
+five and the terminal figures ten, and in the whole apartment there were
+altogether ten niches, twenty terminal figures, and eight square pictures
+with scenes. In the first of these pictures (which were all in chiaroscuro),
+that on the right hand, next the stage, there was, representing Venice,
+a most beautiful figure of Adria depicted as seated upon a rock in the
+midst of the sea, with a branch of coral in the hand. Around her stood
+Neptune, Thetis, Proteus, Nereus, Glaucus, Pal�mon, and other sea gods
+and nymphs, who were presenting to her jewels, pearls, gold, and other
+riches of the sea; and besides this there were some Loves that were
+shooting arrows, and others that were flying through the air and scattering
+flowers, and the rest of the field of the picture was all most beautiful
+palms. In the second picture were the Rivers Drava and Sava naked,
+with their vases. In the third was the Po, conceived as large and corpulent,
+with seven sons, representing the seven branches which, issuing
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126" name="Page_126"></a>[Pg 126]</span> from the Po, pour into the sea as if each of them were a kingly river. In
+the fourth was the Brenta, with other rivers of Friuli. On the other
+wall, opposite to the Adria, was the Island of Candia, wherein was to be
+seen Jove being suckled by the Goat, with many Nymphs around. Beside
+this, and opposite to the Drava, were the River Tagliamento and the
+Mountains of Cadore. Beyond this, opposite to the Po, were Lake
+Benacus and the Mincio, which were pouring their waters into the Po;
+and beside them, opposite to the Brenta, were the Adige and the Tesino,
+falling into the sea. The pictures on the right-hand side were divided by
+these Virtues, placed in the niches&mdash;Liberality, Concord, Compassion,
+Peace, and Religion; and opposite to these, on the other wall, were
+Fortitude, Civic Wisdom, Justice, a Victory with War beneath her, and,
+lastly, a Charity. Above all, then, were a large cornice and architrave,
+and a frieze full of lights and of glass globes filled with distilled waters,
+to the end that these, having lights behind them, might illuminate the
+whole apartment. Next, the ceiling was divided into four quadrangular
+compartments, each ten braccia wide in one direction and eight braccia
+in the other; and, with a width equal to that of the niches of four braccia,
+there was a frieze which ran right round the cornice, while in a
+line with the niches there came in the middle of all the spaces a compartment
+three braccia square. These compartments were in all twenty-three,
+without counting one of double size that was above the stage,
+which brought the number up to twenty-four; and in them were the
+Hours, twelve of the night, namely, and twelve of the day. In the first
+of the compartments ten braccia in length, which was above the stage,
+was Time, who was arranging the Hours in their places, accompanied by
+�olus, God of the Winds, by Juno, and by Iris. In another compartment,
+at the door of entrance, was the Car of Aurora, who, rising from
+the arms of Tithonus, was scattering roses, while the Car itself was being
+drawn by some Cocks. In the third was the Chariot of the Sun; and in
+the fourth was the Chariot of Night, drawn by Owls, and Night had the
+Moon upon her head, some Bats in front of her, and all around her
+darkness.</p>
+
+<p>Of these pictures Cristofano executed the greater part, and he
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127" name="Page_127"></a>[Pg 127]</span> acquitted himself so well, that everyone stood marvelling at them: particularly
+in the Chariot of Night, wherein he did in the way of oil-sketches
+that which was, in a manner of speaking, not possible. And in the
+picture of Adria, likewise, he painted those monsters of the sea with such
+beauty and variety, that whoever looked at them was struck with astonishment
+that a craftsman of his rank should have shown such knowledge.
+In short, in all this work he bore himself beyond all expectation like an
+able and well-practised painter, and particularly in the foliage and
+grotesques.</p>
+
+<p>After finishing the preparations for that festival, Vasari and Cristofano
+stayed some months in Venice, painting for the Magnificent Messer
+Giovanni Cornaro the ceiling, or rather, soffit, of an apartment, into which
+there went nine large pictures in oils. Vasari being then entreated by
+the Veronese architect, Michele San Michele, to stay in Venice, he might
+perhaps have consented to remain there for a year or two; but Cristofano
+always dissuaded him from it, saying that it was not a good thing to
+stay in Venice, where no account was taken of design, nor did the painters
+in that city make any use of it, not to mention that those painters themselves
+were the reason that no attention was paid there to the labours
+of the arts; and he declared that it would be better to return to Rome,
+the true school of noble arts, where ability was recognized much more
+than in Venice. The dissuasions of Cristofano being thus added to the
+little desire that Vasari had to stay there, they went off together. But,
+since Cristofano, being an exile from the State of Florence, was not able
+to follow Giorgio, he returned to S. Giustino, where he did not remain
+long, doing some work all the time for the above-mentioned Abbot, before
+he went to Perugia on the first occasion when Pope Paul III went there
+after the war waged with the people of that city. There, in the festive
+preparations that were made to receive his Holiness, he acquitted himself
+very well in several works, and particularly in the portal called after
+Frate Rinieri, where, at the wish of Monsignore della Barba, who was
+then governor there, Cristofano executed a large Jove in Anger and
+another Pacified, which are two most beautiful figures, and on the other
+side he painted an Atlas with the world on his back, between two women,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128" name="Page_128"></a>[Pg 128]</span> one of whom had a sword and the other a pair of scales. These works,
+with many others that Cristofano executed for those festivities, were the
+reason that afterwards, when the citadel had been built in Perugia by
+order of the same Pontiff, Messer Tiberio Crispo, who was governor and
+castellan at that time, when causing many of the rooms to be painted,
+desired that Cristofano, in addition to that which Lattanzio, a painter
+of the March, had executed in them up to that time, should also work
+there. Whereupon Cristofano not only assisted the above-named Lattanzio,
+but afterwards executed with his own hand the greater part of the
+best works that are painted in the apartments of that fortress, in which
+there also worked Raffaello dal Colle and Adone Doni of Assisi, an able
+and well-practised painter, who has executed many things in his native
+city and in other places. Tommaso Papacello also worked there; but the
+best that there was among them, and the one who gained most praise
+there, was Cristofano, on which account he was recommended by Lattanzio
+to the favour of the said Crispo, and was ever afterwards much
+employed by him.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, that same Crispo having built in Perugia a new little
+church known as S. Maria del Popolo, but first called Del Mercato,
+Lattanzio had begun for it an altar-piece in oils, and in this Cristofano
+painted with his own hand all the upper part, which is indeed most
+beautiful and worthy of great praise. Then, Lattanzio having been
+changed from a painter into the Constable of Perugia, Cristofano returned
+to S. Giustino, where he stayed many months, again working for the
+above-named Lord Abbot Bufolini.</p>
+
+<p>After this, in the year 1543, Giorgio Vasari, having to execute a
+panel-picture in oils for the Great Cancelleria by order of the most illustrious
+Cardinal Farnese, and another for the Church of S. Agostino at
+the commission of Galeotto da Girone, sent for Cristofano, who went
+very willingly, as one who had a desire to see Rome. There he stayed
+many months, doing little else but go about seeing everything; but nevertheless
+he thus gained so much, that, after returning once more to
+S. Giustino, he painted in a hall some figures after his own fancy which
+were so beautiful, that it appeared that he must have studied at them
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129" name="Page_129"></a>[Pg 129]</span> twenty years. Then, in the year 1545, Vasari had to go to Naples to
+paint for the Monks of Monte Oliveto a refectory involving much more
+work than that of S. Michele in Bosco at Bologna, and he sent for Cristofano,
+Raffaello dal Colle, and Stefano, already mentioned as his friends
+and pupils; and they all came together at the appointed time in Naples,
+excepting Cristofano, who remained behind because he was ill. However,
+being pressed by Vasari, he made his way to Rome on his journey to
+Naples; but he was detained by his brother Borgognone, who was likewise
+an exile, and who wished to take him to France to enter the service of
+the Colonel Giovanni da Turrino, and so that occasion was lost. But
+when Vasari returned from Naples to Rome in the year 1546, in order
+to execute twenty-four pictures that were afterwards sent to Naples
+and placed in the Sacristy of S. Giovanni Carbonaro, in which he painted
+stories from the Old Testament, and also from the life of S. John the
+Baptist, with figures of one braccio or little more, and also in order to
+paint the doors of the organ of the Piscopio, which were six braccia in
+height, he availed himself of Cristofano, who was of great assistance to
+him and executed figures and landscapes in those works excellently well.
+Giorgio had also proposed to make use of him in the Hall of the Cancelleria,
+which was painted after cartoons by his hand, and entirely
+finished in a hundred days, for Cardinal Farnese, but in this he did not
+succeed, for Cristofano fell ill and returned to S. Giustino as soon as he
+had begun to mend. And Vasari finished the Hall without him, assisted
+by Raffaello dal Colle, the Bolognese Giovan Battista Bagnacavallo,
+the Spaniards Roviale and Bizzerra, and many others of his friends
+and pupils.</p>
+
+<p>After returning from Rome to Florence and setting out from that
+city to go to Rimini, to paint a chapel in fresco and an altar-piece in the
+Church of the Monks of Monte Oliveto for Abbot Gian Matteo Faettani,
+Giorgio passed through S. Giustino, in order to take Cristofano with him:
+but Abbot Bufolini, for whom he was painting a hall, would not let him
+go for the time being, although he promised Giorgio that he should send
+Cristofano to him soon all the way to Romagna. But, notwithstanding
+such a promise, the Abbot delayed so long to send him, that Cristofano,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130" name="Page_130"></a>[Pg 130]</span> when he did go, found that Vasari had not only finished all the work for
+the other Abbot, but had also executed an altar-piece for the high-altar
+of S. Francesco at Rimini, for Messer Niccol� Marcheselli, and another
+altar-piece in the Church of Classi, belonging to the Monks of Camaldoli,
+at Ravenna, for Don Romualdo da Verona, the Abbot of that abbey.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1550, not long before this, Giorgio had just executed
+the story of the Marriage of Esther in the Black Friars' Abbey of S. Fiore,
+that is, in the refectory, at Arezzo, and also, at Florence, for the Chapel
+of the Martelli in the Church of S. Lorenzo, the altar-piece of S. Gismondo,
+when, Julius III having been elected Pope, he was summoned to Rome
+to enter the service of his Holiness. Thereupon he thought for certain
+that by means of Cardinal Farnese, who went at that time to stay in
+Florence, he would be able to reinstate Cristofano in his country and
+restore him to the favour of Duke Cosimo. But this proved to be impossible,
+so that poor Cristofano had to stay as he was until 1554, at
+which time, Vasari having been invited into the service of Duke Cosimo,
+there came to him an opportunity of delivering Cristofano. Bishop da'
+Ricasoli, who knew that he would be doing a thing pleasing to his Excellency,
+had set to work to have the three fa�ades of his palace, which
+stands on the abutment of the Ponte alla Carraja, painted in chiaroscuro,
+when Messer Sforza Almeni, Cup-bearer as well as first and favourite
+Chamberlain to the Duke, resolved that he also would have his house
+in the Via de' Servi painted in chiaroscuro, in emulation of the Bishop.
+But, not having found in Florence any painters according to his fancy,
+he wrote to Giorgio Vasari, who had not then arrived in Florence, that he
+should think out the inventions and send him designs of all that it might
+seem to him best to paint on that fa�ade of his. Whereupon Giorgio,
+who was much his friend, for they had known each other from the time
+when they were both in the service of Duke Alessandro, having thought
+out the whole according to the measurements of the fa�ade, sent him a
+design of most beautiful invention, which embellished the windows and
+joined them together with a well-varied decoration in a straight line
+from top to bottom, and filled all the spaces in the fa�ade with rich scenes.
+This design, I say, which contained, to put it briefly, the whole life of
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131" name="Page_131"></a>[Pg 131]</span> man from birth to death, was sent by Vasari to Messer Sforza; and it so
+pleased him, and likewise the Duke, that, in order that it might have all
+its perfection, they resolved that they would not have it taken in hand
+until such time as Vasari himself should have arrived in Florence. Which
+Vasari having at last come and having been received by his most illustrious
+Excellency and by the above-named Messer Sforza with great
+friendliness, they began to discuss who might be the right man to execute
+that fa�ade. Whereupon Giorgio, not allowing the occasion to slip by,
+said to Messer Sforza that no one was better able to carry out that work
+than Cristofano, and that neither in that nor in the works that were to
+be executed in the Palace, could he do without Cristofano's aid. And
+so, Messer Sforza having spoken of this to the Duke, after many inquiries
+it was found that Cristofano's crime was not so black as it had been
+painted, and the poor fellow was at last pardoned by his Excellency.
+Which news having been received by Vasari, who was at Arezzo, revisiting
+his native place and his friends, he sent a messenger expressly to Cristofano,
+who knew nothing of the matter, to give him that good news; and
+when he heard it, he was like to faint with joy. All rejoicing, therefore,
+and confessing that no one had ever been a better friend to him than
+Vasari, he went off next morning from Citt� di Castello to the Borgo,
+where, after presenting his letters of deliverance to the Commissioner, he
+made his way to his father's house, where his mother and also his brother,
+who had been recalled from exile long before, were struck with astonishment.
+Then, after passing two days there, he went off to Arezzo, where
+he was received by Giorgio with more rejoicing than if he had been his
+own brother, and recognized that he was so beloved by Vasari that he
+resolved that he would spend the rest of his life with him.</p>
+
+<p>They then went from Arezzo to Florence together, and Cristofano
+went to kiss the hands of the Duke, who received him readily and was
+struck with amazement, for the reason that, whereas he had thought to
+see some great bravo, he saw the best little man in the world. Cristofano
+was likewise made much of by Messer Sforza, who conceived a very great
+affection for him; and he then set his hand to the above-mentioned
+fa�ade. In that work, Giorgio, because it was not yet possible to work
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132" name="Page_132"></a>[Pg 132]</span> in the Palace, assisted him, at his own request, to execute some designs
+for the scenes in the fa�ade, also designing at times during the progress
+of the work, on the plaster, some of the figures that are there. But,
+although there are in it many things retouched by Vasari, nevertheless
+the whole fa�ade, with the greater part of the figures and all the ornaments,
+festoons, and large ovals, is by the hand of Cristofano, who in truth,
+as may be seen, was so able in handling colours in fresco, that it may be
+said&mdash;and Vasari confesses it&mdash;that he knew more about it than Giorgio
+himself. And if Cristofano, when he was a lad, had exercised himself
+continuously in the studies of art&mdash;for he never did a drawing save when
+he had afterwards to carry it into execution&mdash;and had pursued the practice
+of art with spirit, he would have had no equal, seeing that his facility,
+judgment and memory enabled him to execute his works in such a way,
+without any further study, that he used to surpass many who in fact
+knew more than he. Nor could anyone believe with what facility and
+resolution he executed his labours, for, when he set himself to work, no
+matter how long a time it might take, he so delighted in it that he would
+never lift his eyes off his painting; wherefore his friends might well expect
+the greatest things from him. Besides this, he was so gracious in his
+conversation and his jesting as he worked, that Vasari would at times
+stay working in his company from morning till night, without ever
+growing weary.</p>
+
+<p>Cristofano executed this fa�ade in a few months, not to mention
+that he sometimes stayed away some weeks without working there, going
+to the Borgo to see and enjoy his home. Now I do not wish to grudge
+the labour of describing the distribution and the figures of this work,
+which, from its being in the open air and much exposed to the vagaries
+of the weather, may not have a very long life; scarcely, indeed, was it
+finished, when it was much injured by a terrible rain and a very heavy
+hail-storm, and in some places the wall was stripped of plaster. In this
+fa�ade, then, there are three compartments. The first, to begin at the
+foot, is where the principal door and the two windows are; the second is
+from the sill of those windows to that of the second range of windows;
+and the third is from those last windows to the cornice of the roof. There
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133" name="Page_133"></a>[Pg 133]</span> are, besides this, six windows in each range, which give seven spaces;
+and the whole work was divided according to this plan in straight lines
+from the cornice of the roof down to the ground. Next to the cornice
+of the roof, then, there is in perspective a great cornice, with brackets
+that project over a frieze of little boys, six of whom stand upright along
+the breadth of the fa�ade&mdash;namely, one above the centre of the arch of
+each window; and these support with their shoulders most beautiful
+festoons of fruits, leaves, and flowers, which run from one to another.
+Those fruits and flowers are arranged in due succession according to the
+seasons, symbolizing the periods of our life, which is there depicted; and
+on the middle of the festoons, likewise, where they hang down, are other
+little boys in various attitudes. This frieze finished, between the upper
+windows, in the spaces that are there, there were painted the seven
+Planets, with the seven celestial Signs above them as a crown and an
+ornament. Beneath the sill of these windows, on the parapet, is a frieze
+of Virtues, who, two by two, are holding seven great ovals; in which
+ovals are seven distinct stories representing the Seven Ages of Man, and
+each Age is accompanied by two Virtues appropriate to her, and beneath
+the ovals in the spaces between the lower windows there are the three
+Theological and the four Moral Virtues. Below this, in the frieze that
+is above the door and the windows supported by knee-shaped brackets,
+are the seven Liberal Arts, each of which is in a line with the oval in
+which is the particular story of the Life of Man appropriate to it; and in
+the same straight lines, continued upwards, are the Moral Virtues, Planets,
+Signs, and other corresponding symbols. Next, between the windows
+with knee-shaped brackets, there is Life, both the active and the contemplative,
+with scenes and statues, continued down to Death, Hell, and
+our final Resurrection.</p>
+
+<p>In brief, Cristofano executed almost all by himself the whole cornice,
+the festoons, the little boys, and the seven Signs of the Planets. Then,
+beginning on one side, he painted first the Moon, and represented her by
+a Diana who has her lap full of flowers, after the manner of Proserpine,
+with a moon upon her head and the Sign of Cancer above her. Below,
+in the oval wherein is the story of Infancy, there are present at the
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134" name="Page_134"></a>[Pg 134]</span> Birth of Man some nurses who are suckling infants, and newly-delivered
+women in bed, executed by Cristofano with much grace; and this oval is
+supported by Will alone, who is a half-nude young woman, fair and
+beautiful, and she is sustained by Charity, who is also suckling infants.
+And beneath the oval, on the parapet, is Grammar, who is teaching some
+little boys to read.</p>
+
+<p>Beginning over again, there follows Mercury with the Caduceus and
+with his Sign, who has below him in the oval some little boys, some of
+whom are going to school and some playing. This oval is supported
+by Truth, who is a nude little girl all pure and simple, who has on one
+side a male figure representing Falsehood, with a variety of girt-up
+garments and a most beautiful countenance, but with the eyes much
+sunken. Beneath the oval of the windows is Faith, who with the right
+hand is baptizing a child in a conch full of water, and with the left
+hand is holding a cross; and below her, on the parapet, is Logic covered
+by a veil, with a serpent.</p>
+
+<p>Next follows the Sun, represented by an Apollo who has the lyre
+in his hand, with his Sign in the ornament above. In the oval is Adolescence,
+represented by two boys of equal age, one of whom, holding a
+branch of olive, is ascending a mountain illumined by the sun, and the
+other, halting halfway up to admire the beauties that Fraud displays
+from the middle upwards, without perceiving that her hideous countenance
+is concealed behind a smooth and beautiful mask, is caused by her
+and her wiles to fall over a precipice. This oval is supported by Sloth,
+a gross and corpulent man, who stands all sleepy and nude in the guise
+of a Silenus; and also by Toil, in the person of a robust and hard-working
+peasant, who has around him the implements for tilling the earth. These
+are supported by that part of the ornament that is between the windows,
+where Hope is, who has the anchors at her feet; and on the parapet below
+is Music, with various musical instruments about her.</p>
+
+<p>There follows in due order Venus, who has clasped Love to her
+bosom, and is kissing him; and she, also, has her Sign above her. In the
+oval that she has beneath her is the story of Youth; that is, in the centre
+a young man seated, with books, instruments for measuring, and other
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135" name="Page_135"></a>[Pg 135]</span> things appertaining to design, and in addition maps of the world and
+cosmographical globes and spheres; and behind him is a loggia, in which
+are young men who are merrily passing the time away with singing,
+dancing, and playing, and also a banquet of young people all given over
+to enjoyment. On one side this oval is supported by Self-knowledge,
+who has about her compasses, armillary spheres, quadrants, and books,
+and is gazing at herself in a mirror; and, on the other side, by Fraud, a
+hideous old hag, lean and toothless, who is mocking at Self-knowledge,
+and in the act of covering her face with a smooth and beautiful mask.
+Below the oval is Temperance, with a horse's bridle in her hand, and
+beneath her, on the parapet, is Rhetoric, who is in a line with the other
+similar figures.</p>
+
+<p>Next to these comes Mars in armour, with many trophies about
+him, and with the Sign of the Lion above him. In his oval, which is
+below him, is Virility, represented by a full-grown man, standing between
+Memory and Will, who are holding before him a basin of gold containing
+a pair of wings, and are pointing out to him the path of deliverance
+in the direction of a mountain; and this oval is supported by Innocence,
+who is a maiden with a lamb at her side, and by Hilarity, who, all smiling
+and merry, reveals herself as what she really is. Beneath the oval, between
+the windows, is Prudence, who is making herself beautiful before
+a mirror; and she has below her, on the parapet, a figure of Philosophy.</p>
+
+<p>Next there follows Jove, with his thunderbolt and his bird, the
+Eagle, and with his Sign above him. In the oval is Old Age, who is
+represented by an old man clothed as a priest and kneeling before an
+altar, upon which he is placing the basin of gold with the two wings;
+and this oval is supported by Compassion, who is covering some naked
+little boys, and by Religion, enveloped in sacerdotal vestments. Below
+these is a Fortitude in armour, who, planting one of her legs in a
+spirited attitude on a fragment of a column, is placing some balls in the
+mouth of a lion; and beneath her, on the parapet, she has a figure of
+Astrology.</p>
+
+<p>The last of the seven Planets is Saturn, depicted as an old man
+heavy with melancholy, who is devouring his own children, with a great
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136" name="Page_136"></a>[Pg 136]</span> serpent that is seizing its own tail with its teeth; which Saturn has above
+him the Sign of Capricorn. In the oval is Decrepitude, and here is depicted
+Jove in Heaven receiving a naked and decrepit old man, kneeling,
+who is watched over by Felicity and Immortality, who are casting his
+garments into the world. This oval is supported by Beatitude, who is
+upheld by a figure of Justice in the ornament below, who is seated and
+has in her hand the sceptre and upon her shoulders the stork, with arms
+and laws around her; and on the parapet below is Geometry.</p>
+
+<p>In the lowest part at the foot, which is about the windows with
+knee-shaped brackets and the door, is Leah in a niche, representing the
+Active Life, and on the other side of the same place is Industry, who has
+a Cornucopia and two goads in her hands. Near the door is a scene in
+which many masters in wood and stone, architects, and stone-cutters
+have before them the gate of Cosmopolis, a city built by the Lord Duke
+Cosimo in the island of Elba, with a representation of Porto-Ferrajo.
+Between this scene and the frieze in which are the Liberal Arts, is Lake
+Trasimene, round which are Nymphs who are issuing from the water
+with tench, pike, eels, and roach, and beside the lake is Perugia, a nude
+figure holding with her hands a dog, which she is showing to a figure of
+Florence corresponding to her, who stands on the other side, with a
+figure of Arno beside her who is embracing and fondling her. And below
+this is the Contemplative Life in another scene, in which many philosophers
+and astrologers are measuring the heavens, appearing to be casting
+the horoscope of the Duke; and beside this, in the niche corresponding
+to that of Leah, is her sister Rachel, the daughter of Laban, representing
+the Contemplative Life. The last scene, which is likewise between two
+niches and forms the conclusion of the whole invention, is Death, who,
+mounted on a lean horse and holding the scythe, and accompanied by
+War, Pestilence, and Famine, is riding over persons of every kind. In
+one niche is the God Pluto, and beneath him Cerberus, the Hound of
+Hell; and in the other is a large figure rising again from a sepulchre on
+the last day. After all these things Cristofano executed on the pediments
+of the windows with knee-shaped brackets some nude figures that are
+holding the devices of his Excellency, and over the door a Ducal coat of
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137" name="Page_137"></a>[Pg 137]</span> arms, the six balls of which are upheld by some naked little boys, who
+twine in and out between each other as they fly through the air. And
+last of all, in the bases at the foot, beneath all the scenes, the same
+Cristofano painted the device of M. Sforza; that is, some obelisks, or
+rather triangular pyramids, which rest upon three balls, with a motto
+around that reads&mdash;Immobilis.</p>
+
+<p>This work, when finished, was vastly extolled by his Excellency and
+by Messer Sforza himself, who, like the courteous gentleman that he was,
+wished to reward with a considerable present the art and industry of
+Cristofano; but he would have none of it, being contented and fully
+repaid by the goodwill of that lord, who loved him ever afterwards more
+than I could say. While the work was being executed, Vasari had
+Cristofano with him, as he had always done in the past, in the house of
+Signor Bernardetto de' Medici, who much delighted in painting; which
+having perceived, Cristofano painted two scenes in chiaroscuro in a
+corner of his garden. One was the Rape of Proserpine, and in the
+other were Vertumnus and Pomona, the deities of agriculture; and
+besides this Cristofano painted in this work some ornaments of terminal
+figures and children of such variety and beauty, that there is nothing
+better to be seen.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile arrangements had been made for beginning to paint in
+the Palace, and the first thing that was taken in hand was a hall in the
+new apartments, which, being twenty braccia wide, and having a height,
+according as Tasso had constructed it, of not more than nine braccia,
+was raised three braccia with beautiful ingenuity by Vasari, that is, to a
+total height of twelve braccia, without moving the roof, which was half
+a pavilion roof.</p>
+
+<p>But because in doing this, before it could become possible to paint,
+much time had to be devoted to reconstructing the ceilings and to other
+works in that apartment and in others, Vasari himself obtained leave
+to go to Arezzo to spend two months there together with Cristofano.
+However, he did not succeed in being able to rest during that time, for
+the reason that he could not refuse to go in those days to Cortona, where
+he painted in fresco the vaulting and the walls of the Company of Jesus
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138" name="Page_138"></a>[Pg 138]</span> with the assistance of Cristofano, who acquitted himself very well, and
+particularly in the twelve different sacrifices from the Old Testament
+which they executed in the lunettes between the spandrels of the
+vaulting. Indeed, to speak more exactly, almost the whole of this
+work was by the hand of Cristofano, Vasari having done nothing therein
+beyond making certain sketches, designing some parts on the plaster,
+and then retouching it at times in various places, according as it was
+necessary.</p>
+
+<p>This work finished, which is not otherwise than grand, worthy of
+praise, and very well executed, by reason of the great variety of things
+that are in it, they both returned to Florence in the month of January
+of the year 1555. There, having taken in hand the Hall of the Elements,
+while Vasari was painting the pictures of the ceiling, Cristofano executed
+some devices that bind together the friezes of the beams in perpendicular
+lines, in which are heads of capricorns and tortoises with the sail, devices
+of his Excellency. But the works in which he showed himself most
+marvellous were some festoons of fruits that are in the friezes of the
+beams on the under side, which are so beautiful that there is nothing
+better coloured or more natural to be seen, particularly because they are
+separated one from another by certain masks, that hold in their mouths
+the ligatures of the festoons, than which one would not be able to find
+any more varied or more bizarre; in which manner of work it may be
+said that Cristofano was superior to any other who has ever made it
+his principal and particular profession. This done, he painted some large
+figures on that part of the walls where there is the Birth of Venus, but
+after the cartoons of Vasari, and many little figures in a landscape, which
+were executed very well. In like manner, on the wall where there are the
+Loves as tiny little children, fashioning the arrows of Cupid, he painted
+the three Cyclopes forging thunderbolts for Jove. Over six doors he
+executed in fresco six large ovals with ornaments in chiaroscuro and
+containing scenes in the colour of bronze, which were very beautiful; and
+in the same hall, between the windows, he painted in colours a Mercury
+and a Pluto, which are likewise very beautiful.</p>
+
+<p>Work being then begun in the Chamber of the Goddess Ops, which
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139" name="Page_139"></a>[Pg 139]</span> is next to that described above, he painted the four Seasons in fresco
+on the ceiling, and, in addition to the figures, some festoons that were
+marvellous in their variety and beauty, for the reason that, even as those
+of Spring were filled with a thousand kinds of flowers, so those of Summer
+were painted with an infinite number of fruits and cereals, those of
+Autumn were of leaves and bunches of the grape, and those of Winter
+were of onions, turnips, radishes, carrots, parsnips, and dried leaves, not
+to mention that in the central picture, in which is the Car of Ops, he
+coloured so beautifully in oils four lions that are drawing the Car, that
+nothing better could be done; and, in truth, in painting animals he had
+no equal.</p>
+
+<p>Then in the Chamber of Ceres, which is beside the last-named, he
+executed in certain angles some little boys and festoons that are beautiful
+to a marvel. And in the central picture, where Vasari had painted Ceres
+seeking for Proserpine with a lighted pine torch, upon a car drawn by
+two serpents, Cristofano carried many things to completion with his own
+hand, because Vasari was ill at that time and had left that picture, among
+other things, unfinished.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, when it came to decorating a terrace that is beyond the
+Chamber of Jove and beside that of Ops, it was decided that all the
+history of Juno should be painted there; and so, after all the ornamentation
+in stucco had been finished, with very rich carvings and various
+compositions of figures, wrought after the cartoons of Vasari, the same
+Vasari ordained that Cristofano should execute that work by himself in
+fresco, desiring, since it was a work to be seen from near, and of figures
+not higher than one braccio, that Gherardi should do something beautiful
+in this, which was his peculiar profession. Cristofano, then, executed
+in an oval on the vaulting a Marriage with Juno in the sky, and in a picture
+on one side Hebe, Goddess of Youth, and on the other Iris, who is pointing
+to the rainbow in the heavens. On the same vaulting he painted three
+other quadrangular pictures, two to match the others, and a larger
+one in a line with the oval in which is the Marriage, and in the
+last-named picture is Juno seated in a car drawn by peacocks. In one
+of the other two, which are on either side of that one, is the Goddess
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140" name="Page_140"></a>[Pg 140]</span> of Power, and in the other Abundance with the Cornucopia at her feet.
+And in two other pictures on the walls below, over the openings of
+two doors, are two other stories of Juno&mdash;the Transformation of
+Io, the daughter of the River Inachus, into a Cow, and of Callisto
+into a Bear.</p>
+
+<p>During the execution of that work his Excellency conceived a very
+great affection for Cristofano, seeing him zealous and diligent in no ordinary
+manner at his work; for the morning had scarcely broken into day
+when Cristofano would appear at his labour, of which he had such a love,
+and it so delighted him, that very often he would not finish dressing
+before setting out. And at times, nay, frequently, it happened that in
+his haste he put on a pair of shoes&mdash;all such things he kept under his
+bed&mdash;that were not fellows, but of two kinds; and more often than not
+he had his cloak wrong side out, with the hood on the inside. One
+morning, therefore, appearing at an early hour at his work, where the
+Lord Duke and the Lady Duchess were standing looking at it, while
+preparations were being made to set out for the chase, and the ladies
+and others of the Court were making themselves ready, they noticed that
+Cristofano had as usual his cloak wrong side out and the hood inside.
+At which both laughing, the Duke said: "What is your idea in always
+wearing your cloak inside out?" "I know not, my Lord," answered
+Cristofano, "but I mean to find some day a kind of cloak that shall have
+neither right side nor wrong side, and shall be the same on both sides,
+for I have not the patience to think of wearing it in any other way, since
+in the morning I generally dress and go out of the house in the dark,
+besides that I have one eye so feeble that I can see nothing with it. But
+let your Excellency look at what I paint, and not at my manner of
+dressing." The Duke said nothing in answer, but within a few days he
+caused to be made for him a cloak of the finest cloth, with the pieces
+sewn and drawn together in such a manner that there was no difference
+to be seen between outside and inside, and the collar worked with braid
+in the same manner both inside and out, and so also the trimming that
+it had round the edges. This being finished, he sent it to Cristofano by
+a lackey, commanding the man that he should give it to him on the part
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141" name="Page_141"></a>[Pg 141]</span> of the Duke. Having therefore received the cloak very early one morning,
+Cristofano, without making any further ceremony, tried it on and then
+said to the lackey: "The Duke is a man of sense. Tell him that it suits
+me well."</p>
+
+<p>Now, since Cristofano was thus careless of his person and hated
+nothing more than to have to put on new clothes or to go about too
+tightly constrained and confined in them, Vasari, who knew this humour
+of his, whenever he observed that he was in need of any new clothes,
+used to have them made for him in secret, and then, early one morning,
+used to place these in his chamber and take away the old ones; and so
+Cristofano was forced to put on those that he found. But it was marvellous
+sport to stand and hear him raging with fury as he dressed himself
+in the new clothes. "Look here," he would say, "what devilments are
+these? Devil take it, can a man not live in his own way in this world,
+without the enemies of comfort giving themselves all this trouble?"
+One morning among others, Cristofano having put on a pair of white
+hose, the painter Domenico Benci, who was also working in the Palace
+with Vasari, contrived to persuade him to go with himself, in company
+with other young men, to the Madonna dell'Impruneta. There they
+walked, danced, and enjoyed themselves all day, and in the evening,
+after supper, they returned home. Then Cristofano, who was tired, went
+off straightway to his room to sleep; but, when he set himself to take
+off his hose, what with their being new and his having sweated, he was not
+able to pull off more than one of them. Now Vasari, having gone in the
+evening to see how he was, found that he had fallen asleep with one leg
+covered and the other bare; whereupon, one servant holding his leg and
+the other pulling at the stocking, they contrived to draw it off, while he
+lay cursing clothes, Giorgio, and him who invented such fashions as&mdash;so
+he said&mdash;kept men bound in chains like slaves. Nay, he grumbled
+that he would take leave of them all and by hook or by crook return
+to S. Giustino, where he was allowed to live in his own way and
+had not all these restraints; and it was the devil's own business to
+pacify him.</p>
+
+<p>It pleased him to talk seldom, and he loved that others also should
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142" name="Page_142"></a>[Pg 142]</span> be brief in speaking, insomuch that he would have gone so far as to have
+men's proper names very short, like that of a slave belonging to M. Sforza,
+who was called "M." "These," said Cristofano, "are fine names, and
+not your Giovan Francesco and Giovanni Antonio, which take an hour's
+work to pronounce;" and since he was a good fellow at heart, and said
+these things in his own jargon of the Borgo, it would have made the
+Doleful Knight himself laugh. He delighted to go on feast-days to
+the places where legends and printed pictures were sold, and he would
+stay there the whole day; and if he bought some, more often than not,
+while he went about looking at the others, he would leave them at some
+place where he had been leaning. And never, unless he was forced,
+would he go on horseback, although he was born from a noble family in
+his native place and was rich enough.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, his brother Borgognone having died, he had to go to the
+Borgo; and Vasari, who had drawn much of the money of his salary and
+had kept it for him, said to him: "See, I have all this money of yours,
+it is right that you should take it with you and make use of it in your
+requirements." "I want no money," answered Cristofano, "take it for
+yourself. For me it is enough to have the luck to stay with you and to
+live and die in your company." "It is not my custom," replied Vasari,
+"to profit by the labour of others. If you will not have it, I shall send
+it to your father Guido." "That you must not do," said Cristofano,
+"for he would only waste it, as he always does." In the end, he took
+the money and went off to the Borgo, but in poor health and with little
+contentment of mind; and after arriving there, what with his sorrow at the
+death of his brother, whom he had loved very dearly, and a cruel flux of
+the reins, he died in a few days, after receiving the full sacraments of
+the Church and distributing to his family and to many poor persons the
+money that he had brought. He declared a little before his death that
+it grieved him for no other reason save that he was leaving Vasari too
+much embarrassed by the great labours to which he had set his hand in
+the Palace of the Duke. Not long afterwards, his Excellency having
+heard of the death of Cristofano, and that with true regret, he caused
+a head of him to be made in marble and sent it with the underwritten
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143" name="Page_143"></a>[Pg 143]</span> epitaph from Florence to the Borgo, where it was placed in
+S. Francesco:</p>
+
+<p class="center smcap">
+              D. O. M.<br>
+   CHRISTOPHORO GHERARDO BURGENSI<br>
+      PINGENDI ARTE PR�STANTISS.<br>
+QUOD GEORGIUS VASARIUS ARETINUS HUJUS<br>
+        ARTIS FACILE PRINCEPS<br>
+            IN EXORNANDO<br>
+    COSMI FLORENTIN. DUCIS PALATIO<br>
+      ILLIUS OPERAM QUAM MAXIME<br>
+              PROBAVERIT,<br>
+      PICTORES HETRUSCI POSUERE.<br>
+           OBIIT A.D. MDLVI.<br>
+     VIXIT AN. LVI, M. III, D. VI.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="pontormo" id="pontormo"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145" name="Page_145"></a>[Pg 145]</span> JACOPO DA PONTORMO</h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img011" id="img011"></a>
+<img src="images/img011-tb.jpg" width="600" height="259" alt="The Adoration of the Magi." title="">
+<p class="caption">THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI<br>
+(<i>After the painting by</i> Jacopo da Pontormo. <i>Siena: S. Agostino</i>)<br>
+<i>Anderson</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img011.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="life_of_pontormo" id="life_of_pontormo"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147" name="Page_147"></a>[Pg 147]</span> LIFE OF JACOPO DA PONTORMO<br>
+PAINTER OF FLORENCE</h2>
+
+
+<p>The ancestors&mdash;or rather, the elders of Bartolommeo di Jacopo di Martino,
+the father of Jacopo da Pontormo, whose Life we are now about to write&mdash;had
+their origin, so some declare, in Ancisa, a township in the Upper
+Valdarno, famous enough because from it the ancestors of Messer
+Francesco Petrarca likewise derived their origin. But, whether it was
+from there or from some other place that his elders came, the above-named
+Bartolommeo, who was a Florentine, and, so I have been told, of the
+family of the Carrucci, is said to have been a disciple of Domenico
+Ghirlandajo, and, after executing many works in the Valdarno, as a painter
+passing able for those times, to have finally made his way to Empoli to
+carry out certain labours, living there and in the neighbouring places, and
+taking to wife at Pontormo a most virtuous girl of good condition, called
+Alessandra, the daughter of Pasquale di Zanobi and of his wife Monna
+Brigida. To this Bartolommeo, then, there was born in the year 1493
+our Jacopo. But the father having died in the year 1499, the mother
+in the year 1504, and the grandfather in the year 1506, Jacopo was left
+to the care of his grandmother, Monna Brigida, who kept him for several
+years at Pontormo, and had him taught reading, writing, and the first
+rudiments of Latin grammar; and finally, at the age of thirteen, he was
+taken by the same guardian to Florence, and placed with the Pupilli,
+to the end that his small property might be safeguarded and preserved by
+that board, as is the custom. And after settling the boy himself in the
+house of one Battista, a shoemaker distantly related to him, Monna
+Brigida returned to Pontormo, taking with her a sister of Jacopo's.
+But not long after that, Monna Brigida herself having died, Jacopo was
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148" name="Page_148"></a>[Pg 148]</span> forced to bring that sister to Florence, and to place her in the house of a
+kinsman called Niccolaio, who lived in the Via de' Servi; and the girl,
+also, following the rest of her family, died in the year 1512, before ever
+she was married.</p>
+
+<p>But to return to Jacopo; he had not been many months in Florence
+when he was placed by Bernardo Vettori with Leonardo da Vinci, and
+shortly afterwards with Mariotto Albertinelli, then with Piero di Cosimo,
+and finally, in the year 1512, with Andrea del Sarto, with whom, likewise,
+he did not stay long, for the reason that, after Jacopo had executed the
+cartoons of the little arch for the Servites, of which there will be an
+account below, it appears that Andrea never again looked favourably
+upon him, whatever may have been the reason. The first work, then,
+that Jacopo executed at that time was a little Annunciation for one
+his friend, a tailor; but the tailor having died before the work was finished,
+it remained in the hands of Jacopo, who was at that time with Mariotto,
+and Mariotto took pride in it, and showed it as a rare work to all who
+entered his workshop. Now Raffaello da Urbino, coming in those days
+to Florence, saw with infinite marvel the work and the lad who had done it,
+and prophesied of Jacopo that which was afterwards seen to come true.
+Not long afterwards, Mariotto having departed from Florence and gone
+to Viterbo to execute the panel-picture that Fra Bartolommeo had begun
+there, Jacopo, who was young, solitary, and melancholy, being thus left
+without a master, went by himself to work under Andrea del Sarto, at
+the very moment when Andrea had finished the stories of S. Filippo in
+the court of the Servites, which pleased Jacopo vastly, as did all his other
+works and his whole manner and design. Jacopo having then set himself
+to make every effort to imitate him, no long time passed before it was
+seen that he had made marvellous progress in drawing and colouring,
+insomuch that from his facility it seemed as if he had been many years
+in art.</p>
+
+<p>Now Andrea had finished in those days a panel-picture of the
+Annunciation for the Church of the Friars of S. Gallo, which is now
+destroyed, as has been related in his Life; and he gave the predella of that
+panel-picture to Jacopo to execute in oils. Jacopo painted in it a Dead
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149" name="Page_149"></a>[Pg 149]</span> Christ, with two little Angels who are weeping over Him and illuminating
+Him with two torches, and, in two round pictures at the sides, two
+Prophets, which were executed by him so ably, that they have the appearance
+of having been painted not by a mere lad but by a practised master;
+but it may also be, as Bronzino says, that he remembers having heard
+from Jacopo da Pontormo himself that Rosso likewise worked on this
+predella. And even as Andrea was assisted by Jacopo in executing the
+predella, so also was he aided by him in finishing the many pictures and
+works that Andrea continually had in hand.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici having been elected
+Supreme Pontiff under the title of Leo X, there were being made all
+over Florence by the friends and adherents of that house many escutcheons
+of the Pontiff, in stone, in marble, on canvas, and in fresco.
+Wherefore the Servite Friars, wishing to give some sign of their service
+and devotion to that house and Pontiff, caused the arms of Leo to be
+made in stone, and placed in the centre of the arch in the first portico
+of the Nunziata, which is on the piazza; and shortly afterwards they
+arranged that it should be overlaid with gold by the painter Andrea di
+Cosimo, and adorned with grotesques, of which he was an excellent master,
+and with the devices of the house of Medici, and that, in addition, on
+either side of it there should be painted a Faith and a Charity. But
+Andrea di Cosimo, knowing that he was not able to execute all these
+things by himself, thought of giving the two figures to some other to do;
+and so, having sent for Jacopo, who was then not more than nineteen
+years of age, he gave him those two figures to execute, although he had
+no little trouble to persuade him to undertake to do it, seeing that, being
+a mere lad, he did not wish to expose himself at the outset to such a risk,
+or to work in a place of so much importance. However, having taken
+heart, although he was not as well practised in fresco as in oil-painting,
+Jacopo undertook to paint those two figures. And, withdrawing&mdash;for he
+was still working with Andrea del Sarto&mdash;to draw the cartoons at S.
+Antonio by the Porta a Faenza, where he lived, in a short time he carried
+them to completion; which done, one day he took his master Andrea to
+see them. Andrea, after seeing them with infinite marvel and amazement,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150" name="Page_150"></a>[Pg 150]</span> praised them vastly; but afterwards, as has been related, whether
+it was from envy or from some other reason, he never again looked with a
+kindly eye on Jacopo; nay, Jacopo going several times to his workshop,
+either the door was not opened to him or he was mocked at by the
+assistants, insomuch that he retired altogether by himself, beginning to
+live on the least that he could, for he was very poor, and to study with
+the greatest assiduity.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img012" id="img012"></a>
+<img src="images/img012-tb.jpg" width="200" height="593" alt="Duke Cosimo I. de' Medici." title="">
+<p class="caption">DUKE COSIMO I. DE' MEDICI<br>
+(<i>After the painting by</i> Jacopo da Pontormo. <i>Florence: Uffizi, 1270</i>)<br>
+<i>Anderson</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img012.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>When Andrea di Cosimo, then, had finished gilding the escutcheon and
+all the eaves, Jacopo set to work all by himself to finish the rest; and
+being carried away by the desire to make a name, by his joy in working,
+and by nature, which had endowed him with extraordinary grace and
+fertility of genius, he executed that work with incredible rapidity and with
+such perfection as could not have been surpassed by an old, well-practised,
+and excellent master. Wherefore, growing in courage through this
+experience, and thinking that he could do a much better work, he took
+it into his head that he would throw to the ground all that he had done,
+without saying a word to anyone, and paint it all over again after another
+design that he had in his brain. But in the meantime the friars, having
+seen that the work was finished and that Jacopo came no more to his
+labour, sought out Andrea, and so pestered him that he resolved to
+uncover it. Having therefore looked for Jacopo, in order to ask him
+whether he wished to do any more to the work, and not finding him, for
+the reason that he stayed shut up over his new design and would not
+answer to anyone, Andrea had the screen and scaffolding removed and
+the work uncovered. The same evening Jacopo, having issued from
+his house in order to go to the Servite convent, and, when it should be
+night, to throw to the ground the work that he had done, and to put into
+execution the new design, found the scaffolding taken away and everything
+uncovered, and a multitude of people all around gazing at the work.
+Whereupon, full of fury, he sought out Andrea, and complained of his
+having uncovered it without his consent, going on to describe what he
+had in mind to do. To which Andrea answered, laughing: "You are
+wrong to complain, because the work that you have done is so good that,
+if you had it to do again, you may take my word for it that you would
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151" name="Page_151"></a>[Pg 151]</span> not be able to do it better. You will not want for work, so keep these
+designs for another occasion." That work, as may be seen, was of such
+a kind and so beautiful, what with the novelty of the manner, the sweetness
+in the heads of those two women, and the loveliness of the graceful
+and lifelike children, that it was the most beautiful work in fresco that
+had ever been seen up to that time; and, besides the children with the
+Charity, there are two others in the air holding a piece of drapery over
+the escutcheon of the Pope, who are so beautiful that nothing better
+could be done, not to mention that all the figures have very strong relief
+and are so executed in colouring and in every other respect that one is
+not able to praise them enough. And Michelagnolo Buonarroti, seeing
+the work one day, and reflecting that a youth of nineteen had done it,
+said: "This young man, judging from what may be seen here, will
+become such that, if he lives and perseveres, he will exalt this art to the
+heavens." This renown and fame being heard by the men of Pontormo,
+they sent for Jacopo, and commissioned him to execute in their stronghold,
+over a gate placed on the main road, an escutcheon of Pope Leo with
+two little boys, which was very beautiful; but already it has been little
+less than ruined by rain.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img013" id="img013"></a>
+<img src="images/img013-tb.jpg" width="400" height="496" alt="The Visitation." title="">
+<p class="caption">THE VISITATION<br>
+(<i>After the fresco by</i> Jacopo da Pontormo. <i>Florence: SS. Annunziata, Cloister</i>)<br>
+<i>Anderson</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img013.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>At the Carnival in the same year, all Florence being gay and full
+of rejoicing at the election of the above-named Leo X, many festive
+spectacles were ordained, and among them two of great beauty and
+extraordinary cost, which were given by two companies of noblemen
+and gentlemen of the city. One of these, which was called the Diamante,<a id="FNanchor5" name="FNanchor5"></a><a href="#Footnote5" title="Go to footnote 5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>
+had for its head the brother of the Pope, Signor Giuliano de' Medici, who
+had given it that name because the diamond had been a device of his
+father, the elder Lorenzo; and the head of the other, which had as name
+and device the Broncone,<a id="FNanchor6" name="FNanchor6"></a><a href="#Footnote6" title="Go to footnote 6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> was Signor Lorenzo, the son of Piero de'
+Medici, who had for his device a Broncone&mdash;that is, a dried trunk of
+laurel growing green again with leaves, as it were to signify that he was
+reviving and restoring the name of his grandfather.</p>
+
+<p>By the Company of the Diamante, then, a commission was given
+to M. Andrea Dazzi, who was then lecturing on Greek and Latin Letters
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152" name="Page_152"></a>[Pg 152]</span> at the Studio in Florence, to look to the invention of a triumphal procession;
+whereupon he arranged one similar to those that the Romans used
+to have for their triumphs, with three very beautiful cars wrought in
+wood, and painted with rich and beautiful art. In the first was Boyhood,
+with a most beautiful array of boys. In the second was Manhood, with
+many persons who had done great things in their manly prime. And
+in the third was Old Age, with many famous men who had performed
+great achievements in their last years. All these persons were very
+richly apparelled, insomuch that it was thought that nothing better
+could be done. The architects of these cars were Raffaello delle Vivole,
+Il Carota the wood-carver, the painter Andrea di Cosimo, and Andrea
+del Sarto; those who arranged and prepared the dresses of the figures
+were Ser Piero da Vinci, the father of Leonardo, and Bernardino di
+Giordano, both men of beautiful ingenuity; and to Jacopo da Pontormo
+alone it fell to paint all the three cars, wherein he executed various scenes
+in chiaroscuro of the Transformations of the Gods into different forms,
+which are now in the possession of Pietro Paolo Galeotto, an excellent
+goldsmith. The first car bore, written in very clear characters, the word
+"Erimus," the second "Sumus," and the third "Fuimus"&mdash;that is,
+"We shall be," "We are," and "We have been." The song began,
+"The years fly on...."</p>
+
+<p>Having seen these triumphal cars, Signor Lorenzo, the head of the
+Company of the Broncone, desiring that they should be surpassed, gave
+the charge of the whole work to Jacopo Nardi, a noble and most learned
+gentleman, to whom, for what he afterwards became, his native city of
+Florence is much indebted. This Jacopo prepared six triumphal cars,
+in order to double the number of those executed by the Diamante. The
+first, drawn by a pair of oxen decked with herbage, represented the Age
+of Saturn and Janus, called the Age of Gold; and on the summit of the
+car were Saturn with the Scythe, and Janus with the two heads and with
+the key of the Temple of Peace in the hand, and at his feet a figure of
+Fury bound, with a vast number of things around appertaining to
+Saturn, all executed most beautifully in different colours by the genius
+of Pontormo. Accompanying this car were six couples of Shepherds,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153" name="Page_153"></a>[Pg 153]</span> naked but for certain parts covered by skins of marten and sable, with
+footwear of various kinds after the ancient manner, and with their
+wallets, and on their heads garlands of many kinds of leaves. The horses
+on which these Shepherds sat were without saddles, but covered with
+skins of lions, tigers, and lynxes, the paws of which, overlaid with gold,
+hung at their sides with much grace and beauty. The ornaments of their
+croups and of the grooms were of gold cord, the stirrups were heads of
+rams, dogs, and other suchlike animals, and the bridles and reins made
+with silver cord and various kinds of verdure. Each Shepherd had
+four grooms in the garb of shepherd-boys, dressed more simply in other
+skins, with torches fashioned in the form of dry trunks and branches of
+pine, which made a most beautiful sight.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the second car, drawn by two pairs of oxen draped in the richest
+cloth, with garlands on their heads and great paternosters hanging from
+their gilded horns, was Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome, with
+the books of religion and all the sacerdotal instruments and the things
+appertaining to sacrifices, for the reason that he was the originator and
+first founder of religion and sacrifices among the Romans. This car was
+accompanied by six priests on most beautiful she-mules, their heads
+covered with hoods of linen embroidered with silver and gold in a masterly
+pattern of ivy-leaves; and on their bodies they had sacerdotal vestments
+in the ancient fashion, with borders and fringes of gold all round, and in
+the hands one had a thurible, another a vase of gold, and the rest
+other similar things. At their stirrups they had attendants in the
+guise of Levites, and the torches that these had in their hands were
+after the manner of ancient candelabra, and wrought with beautiful
+artistry.</p>
+
+<p>The third car represented the Consulate of Titus Manlius Torquatus,
+who was Consul after the end of the first Carthaginian war, and governed
+in such a manner, that in his time there flourished in Rome every virtue
+and every blessing. That car, upon which was Titus himself, with many
+ornaments executed by Pontormo, was drawn by eight most beautiful
+horses, and before it went six couples of Senators clad in the toga, on
+horses covered with cloth of gold, accompanied by a great number of
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154" name="Page_154"></a>[Pg 154]</span> grooms representing Lictors, with the fasces, axes, and other things
+appertaining to the administration of justice.</p>
+
+<p>The fourth car, drawn by four buffaloes disguised as elephants,
+represented Julius C�sar in Triumph for the victory gained over Cleopatra,
+the car being all painted by Pontormo with his most famous deeds. That
+car was accompanied by six couples of men-at-arms clad in rich and
+brightly shining armour all bordered with gold, with their lances on their
+hips; and the torches that the half-armed grooms carried had the form
+of trophies, designed in various ways.</p>
+
+<p>The fifth car, drawn by winged horses that had the form of gryphons,
+bore upon it C�sar Augustus, the Lord of the Universe, accompanied by
+six couples of Poets on horseback, all crowned, as was also C�sar, with
+laurel, and dressed in costumes varying according to their provinces;
+and these were there because poets were always much favoured by C�sar
+Augustus, whom they exalted with their works to the heavens. And
+to the end that they might be recognized, each of them had across his
+forehead a scroll after the manner of a fillet, on which was his name.</p>
+
+<p>On the sixth car, drawn by four pairs of heifers richly draped, was
+Trajan, that just Emperor, before whom, as he sat on the car, which was
+painted very well by Pontormo, there rode upon beautiful and finely
+caparisoned horses six couples of Doctors of Law, with togas reaching
+to their feet and with capes of miniver, such as it was the ancient custom
+for Doctors to wear. The grooms who carried their torches, a great
+number, were scriveners, copyists, and notaries, with books and writings
+in their hands.</p>
+
+<p>After these six came the car, or rather, triumphal chariot, of the
+Age or Era of Gold, wrought with the richest and most beautiful artistry,
+with many figures in relief executed by Baccio Bandinelli, and very
+beautiful paintings by the hand of Pontormo; among those in relief the
+four Cardinal Virtues being highly extolled. From the centre of the car
+rose a great sphere in the form of a globe of the world, upon which there
+lay prostrate on his face, as if dead, a man clad in armour all eaten with
+rust, who had the back open and cleft, and from the fissure there issued
+a child all naked and gilded, who represented the new birth of the age
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155" name="Page_155"></a>[Pg 155]</span> of gold and the end of the age of iron, from which he was coming forth
+into that new birth by reason of the election of that Pontiff; and this
+same significance had the dry trunk putting forth new leaves, although
+some said that the matter of that dry trunk was an allusion to the
+Lorenzo de' Medici who became Duke of Urbino. I should mention
+that the gilded boy, who was the son of a baker, died shortly afterwards
+through the sufferings that he endured in order to gain ten
+crowns.</p>
+
+<p>The chant that was sung in that masquerade, as is the custom, was
+composed by the above-named Jacopo Nardi, and the first stanza ran
+thus:</p>
+
+<p class="poem20">
+Colui che da le leggi alla Natura<br>
+E i varii stati e secoli dispone,<br>
+D'ogni bene � cagione;<br>
+E il mal, quanto permette, al Mondo dura;<br>
+Onde questa figura<br>
+Contemplando si vede,<br>
+Come con certo piede<br>
+L'un secol dopo l'altro al Mondo viene<br>
+E muta il bene in male, e 'l male in bene.</p>
+
+<p>From the works that he executed for this festival Pontormo gained,
+besides the profit, so much praise, that probably few young men of his
+age ever gained as much in that city; wherefore, Pope Leo himself afterwards
+coming to Florence, he was much employed in the festive preparations
+that were made, for he had attached himself to Baccio da Montelupo,
+a sculptor advanced in years, who made an arch of wood at the head of
+the Via del Palagio, at the steps of the Badia, and Pontormo painted it
+all with very beautiful scenes, which afterwards came to an evil end
+through the scant diligence of those who had charge of them. Only one
+remained, that in which Pallas is tuning an instrument into accord with
+the lyre of Apollo, with great grace and beauty; from which scene one is
+able to judge what excellence and perfection were in the other works and
+figures. For the same festivities Ridolfo Ghirlandajo had received the
+task of fitting up and embellishing the Sala del Papa, which is attached
+to the Convent of S. Maria Novella, and was formerly the residence of
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156" name="Page_156"></a>[Pg 156]</span> the Pontiffs in the city of Florence; but being pressed for time, he was
+forced to avail himself in some things of the work of others, and thus, after
+having adorned all the other rooms, he laid on Jacopo da Pontormo the
+charge of executing some pictures in fresco in the chapel where his
+Holiness was to hear Mass every morning. Whereupon, setting his hand
+to the work, Jacopo painted there a God the Father with many little
+Angels, and a Veronica who had the Sudarium with the image of Jesus
+Christ; which work, thus executed by Jacopo in so short a time, was
+much extolled.</p>
+
+<p>He then painted in fresco, in a chapel of the Church of S. Ruffillo,
+behind the Archbishop's Palace in Florence, Our Lady with her Son in
+her arms between S. Michelagnolo and S. Lucia, and two other Saints
+kneeling; and, in the lunette of the chapel, a God the Father with some
+Seraphim about Him. Next, having been commissioned by Maestro Jacopo,
+a Servite friar, as he had greatly desired, to paint a part of the court of
+the Servites, because Andrea del Sarto had gone off to France and left
+the work of that court unfinished, he set himself with much study to make
+the cartoons. But since he was poorly provided with the things of this
+world, and was obliged, while studying in order to win honour, to have
+something to live upon, he executed over the door of the Hospital for
+Women&mdash;behind the Church of the Priest's Hospital, between the Piazza
+di S. Marco and the Via di S. Gallo, and exactly opposite to the wall of
+the Sisters of S. Catharine of Siena&mdash;two most beautiful figures in
+chiaroscuro, with Christ in the guise of a pilgrim awaiting certain women
+in order to give them hospitality and lodging; which work was deservedly
+much extolled in those days, as it still is, by all good judges. At this
+same time he painted some pictures and little scenes in oils for the Masters
+of the Mint, on the Carro della Moneta, which goes every year in the
+procession of S. John; the workmanship of which car was by the hand
+of Marco del Tasso. And over the door of the Company of Cecilia, on
+the heights of Fiesole, he painted a S. Cecilia with some roses in her hand,
+coloured in fresco, and so beautiful and so well suited to that place, that,
+for a work of that kind, it is one of the best paintings in fresco that there
+are to be seen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157" name="Page_157"></a>[Pg 157]</span> These works having been seen by the above-named Servite friar,
+Maestro Jacopo, he became even more ardent in his desire, and he determined
+at all costs to cause Jacopo to finish the work in that court of the
+Servites, thinking that in emulation of the other masters who had worked
+there he would execute something of extraordinary beauty in the part
+that remained to be painted. Having therefore set his hand to it, from
+a desire no less of glory and honour than of gain, Jacopo painted the
+scene of the Visitation of the Madonna, in a manner a little freer and more
+lively than had been his wont up to that time; which circumstance gave
+an infinite excellence to the work, in addition to its other extraordinary
+beauties, in that the women, little boys, youths, and old men are executed
+in fresco with such softness and such harmony of colouring, that it is a
+thing to marvel at, and the flesh-colours of a little boy who is seated on
+some steps, and, indeed, those likewise of all the other figures, are such
+that they could not be done better or with more softness in fresco. This
+work, then, after the others that Jacopo had executed, gave a sure earnest
+of his future perfection to the craftsmen, comparing them with those of
+Andrea del Sarto and Franciabigio. Jacopo delivered the work finished
+in the year 1516, and received in payment sixteen crowns and no more.</p>
+
+<p>Having then been allotted by Francesco Pucci, if I remember rightly,
+the altar-piece of a chapel that he had caused to be built in S. Michele
+Bisdomini in the Via de' Servi, Jacopo executed the work in so beautiful
+a manner, and with a colouring so vivid, that it seems almost impossible
+to credit it. In this altar-piece Our Lady, who is seated, is handing the
+Infant Jesus to S. Joseph, in whose countenance there is a smile so
+animated and so lifelike that it is a marvel; and very beautiful, likewise,
+is a little boy painted to represent S. John the Baptist, and also two other
+little children, naked, who are upholding a canopy. There may be seen
+also a S. John the Evangelist, a most beautiful old man, and a S. Francis
+kneeling, who is absolutely alive, for, with the fingers of one hand
+interlocked with those of the other, and wholly intent in contemplating
+fixedly with his eyes and his mind the Virgin and her Son, he appears
+really to be breathing. And no less beautiful is the S. James who may
+be seen beside the others. Wherefore it is no marvel that this is the
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158" name="Page_158"></a>[Pg 158]</span> most beautiful altar-piece that was ever executed by this truly rare
+painter.</p>
+
+<p>I used to believe that it was after this work, and not before, that the
+same Jacopo had painted in fresco the two most lovely and graceful
+little boys who are supporting a coat of arms over a door within a passage
+on the Lungarno, between the Ponte S. Trinita and the Ponte alla Carraja,
+for Bartolommeo Lanfredini; but since Bronzino, who may be supposed
+to know the truth about these matters, declares that they were among
+the first works that Jacopo executed, we must believe that this is so
+without a doubt, and praise Pontormo for them all the more, seeing that
+they are so beautiful that they cannot be matched, and yet were among
+the earliest works that he did.</p>
+
+<p>But to resume the order of our story: after these works, Jacopo
+executed for the men of Pontormo an altar-piece wherein are S. Michelagnolo
+and S. John the Evangelist, which was placed in the Chapel of the
+Madonna in S. Agnolo, their principal church. At this time one of two
+young men who were working under Jacopo&mdash;that is, Giovan Maria Pichi
+of Borgo a S. Sepolcro, who was acquitting himself passing well, and
+who afterwards became a Servite friar, and executed some works in the
+Borgo and in the Pieve a S. Stefano&mdash;while still working, I say, under
+Jacopo, painted in a large picture a nude S. Quentin in martyrdom, in
+order to send it to the Borgo. But since Jacopo, like a loving master to
+his disciple, desired that Giovan Maria should win honour and praise,
+he set himself to retouch it, and so, not being able to take his hands off
+it, and retouching one day the head, the next day the arms, and the
+day after the body, the retouching became such that it may almost be
+said that the work is entirely by his hand. Wherefore it is no marvel
+that this picture, which is now in the Church of the Observantine Friars
+of S. Francis in the Borgo, is most beautiful.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img014" id="img014"></a>
+<img src="images/img014-tb.jpg" width="400" height="344" alt="Joseph and his Kindred in Egypt." title="">
+<p class="caption">JOSEPH AND HIS KINDRED IN EGYPT<br>
+(<i>After the painting by</i> Jacopo da Pontormo. <i>London: National Gallery, 1131</i>)<br>
+<i>Hanfstaengl</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img014.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The second of the two young men, who was Giovanni Antonio
+Lappoli of Arezzo, of whom there has been an account in another place,
+like a vain fellow had taken a portrait of himself with a mirror, also while
+he was working under Jacopo. But his master, thinking that the portrait
+was a poor likeness, took it in hand himself, and executed a portrait that
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159" name="Page_159"></a>[Pg 159]</span> is so good that it has the appearance of life; which portrait is now at
+Arezzo, in the house of the heirs of that Giovanni Antonio.</p>
+
+<p>Pontormo also portrayed in one and the same picture two of his
+dearest friends&mdash;one the son-in-law of Beccuccio Bicchieraio, and another,
+whose name likewise I do not know; it is enough that the portraits are
+by the hand of Pontormo. He then executed for Bartolommeo Ginori,
+in anticipation of his death, a string of pennons, according to the custom
+of the Florentines; and in the upper part of all these, on the white
+taffeta, he painted a Madonna with the Child, and on the coloured fringe
+below he painted the arms of that family, as is the custom. For the
+centre of the string, which was of twenty-four pennons, he made two all
+of white taffeta without any fringe, on which he painted two figures of
+S. Bartholomew, each two braccia high. The size of all these pennons
+and their almost novel manner caused all the others that had been made
+up to that time to appear poor and mean; and this was the reason that
+they began to be made of the size that they are at the present day, with
+great grace and much less expense for gold.</p>
+
+<p>At the head of the garden and vineyard of the Friars of S. Gallo,
+without the gate that is called after that Saint, in a chapel that is in a
+line with the central entrance, he painted a Dead Christ, a Madonna
+weeping, and two little Angels in the air, one of whom was holding the
+Chalice of the Passion in his hands, and the other was supporting the
+fallen head of Christ. On one side was S. John the Evangelist, all tearful,
+with the arms stretched out, and on the other S. Augustine in episcopal
+robes, who, leaning with the left hand on the pastoral staff, stood in an
+attitude truly full of sorrow, contemplating the Dead Saviour. And for
+Messer Spina, the familiar friend of Giovanni Salviati, he executed in a
+courtyard, opposite to the principal door of his house, the coat of arms
+of that Giovanni (who had been made a Cardinal in those days by Pope
+Leo), with the red hat above and two little boys standing&mdash;works in
+fresco which are very beautiful, and much esteemed by Messer Filippo
+Spina, as being by the hand of Pontormo.</p>
+
+<p>Jacopo also worked, in competition with other masters, on the
+ornamentation in wood that was formerly executed in a magnificent
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160" name="Page_160"></a>[Pg 160]</span> manner, as has been related elsewhere, in some apartments of Pier
+Francesco Borgherini; and, in particular, he painted there with his own
+hand on two coffers some stories from the life of Joseph in little figures,
+which were truly most beautiful. And whoever wishes to see the best
+work that he ever did in all his life, in order to consider how able and
+masterly was Jacopo in giving liveliness to heads, in grouping figures,
+in varying attitudes, and in beauty of invention, let him look at a scene
+of some size, likewise in little figures, in the corner on the left hand as
+one enters through the door, in the chamber of Borgherini, who was a
+nobleman of Florence; in which scene is Joseph in Egypt, as it were a
+Prince or a King, in the act of receiving his father Jacob with all his
+brethren, the sons of that Jacob, with extraordinary affection. Among
+these figures he portrayed at the foot of the scene, seated upon some
+steps, Il Bronzino, who was then a boy and his disciple&mdash;a figure with a
+basket, which is lifelike and beautiful to a marvel. And if this scene were
+on a greater scale, on a large panel or a wall, instead of being small, I
+would venture to say that it would not be possible to find another picture
+executed with the grace, excellence, and even perfection wherewith this
+one was painted by Jacopo; wherefore it was rightly regarded by all
+craftsmen as the most beautiful picture that Pontormo ever executed.
+Nor is it to be wondered at that Borgherini should have prized it as he
+did, and should have been besought to sell it by great persons as a
+present for mighty lords and princes.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img015" id="img015"></a>
+<img src="images/img015-tb.jpg" width="400" height="520" alt="Vertumnus Fresco (Detail)." title="">
+<p class="caption">VERTUMNUS FRESCO (DETAIL)<br>
+(<i>After</i> Jacopo da Pontormo. <i>Poggio a Caiano: Villa Reale</i>)<br>
+<i>Alinari</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img015.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>On account of the siege of Florence Pier Francesco retired to Lucca,
+and Giovan Battista della Palla, who desired to obtain, together with
+other things that he was transporting into France, the decorations of this
+chamber, so that they might be presented to King Francis in the name
+of the Signoria, received such favours, and went to work so effectively
+with both words and deeds, that the Gonfalonier granted a commission
+that they should be taken away after payment to the wife of Pier
+Francesco. Whereupon some others went with Giovan Battista to
+execute the will of the Signori; but, when they arrived at the house of
+Pier Francesco, his wife, who was in the house, poured on Giovan Battista
+the greatest abuse that was ever spoken to any man. "So you make
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161" name="Page_161"></a>[Pg 161]</span> bold, Giovan Battista," said she, "you vile slop-dealer, you little twopenny
+pedlar, to strip the ornaments from the chambers of noblemen
+and despoil our city of her richest and most honoured treasures, as you
+have done and are always doing, in order to embellish with them the
+countries of foreigners, our enemies! At you I do not marvel, you, a
+base plebeian and the enemy of your country, but at the magistrates of
+this city, who aid and abet you in these shameful rascalities. This bed,
+which you would seize for your own private interest and for greed of gain,
+although you keep your evil purpose cloaked with a veil of righteousness,
+this is the bed of my nuptials, in honour of which my husband's father,
+Salvi, made all these magnificent and regal decorations, which I revere
+in memory of him and from love for my husband, and mean to defend
+with my very blood and with life itself. Out of this house with these
+your cut-throats, Giovan Battista, and go to those who sent you with
+orders that these things should be removed from their places, for I am
+not the woman to suffer a single thing to be moved from here. If they
+who believe in you, a vile creature of no account, wish to make presents
+to King Francis of France, let them go and strip their own houses, and
+take the ornaments and beds from their own chambers, and send them
+to him. And you, if you are ever again so bold as to come to this house
+on such an errand, I will make you smart sorely for it, and teach you what
+respect should be paid by such as you to the houses of noblemen."
+Thus spoke Madonna Margherita, the wife of Pier Francesco Borgherini,
+and the daughter of Ruberto Acciaiuoli, a most noble and wise citizen;
+and she, a truly courageous woman and a worthy daughter of such a
+father, with her noble ardour and spirit, was the reason that those gems
+are still preserved in that house.</p>
+
+<p>Giovan Maria Benintendi, about this same time, had adorned an
+antechamber in his house with many pictures by the hands of various able
+men; and after the work executed for Borgherini, incited by hearing
+Jacopo da Pontormo very highly praised, he caused a picture to be
+painted by him with the Adoration of the Magi, who went to Bethlehem
+to see Christ; which work, since Jacopo devoted to it much study and
+diligence, proved to be well varied and beautiful in the heads and in
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162" name="Page_162"></a>[Pg 162]</span> every other part, and to be truly worthy of all praise. Afterwards he
+executed for Messer Goro da Pistoia, then Secretary to the Medici, a
+picture with the portrait of the Magnificent Cosimo de' Medici, the elder,
+from the knees upwards, which is indeed worthy to be extolled; and this
+portrait is now in the house of Messer Ottaviano de' Medici, in the
+possession of his son, Messer Alessandro, a young man&mdash;besides the
+distinction and nobility of his blood&mdash;of most upright character, well
+lettered, and the worthy son of the Magnificent Ottaviano and of Madonna
+Francesca, the daughter of Jacopo Salviati and the maternal aunt of the
+Lord Duke Cosimo.</p>
+
+<p>By means of this work, and particularly this head of Cosimo, Pontormo
+became the friend of Messer Ottaviano; and the Great Hall at Poggio a
+Caiano having then to be painted, there were given to him to paint the
+two ends where the round openings are that give light&mdash;that is, the
+windows&mdash;from the vaulting down to the floor. Whereupon, desiring to
+do himself honour even beyond his wont, both from regard for the place
+and from emulation of the other painters who were working there, he set
+himself to study with such diligence, that he overshot the mark, for the
+reason that, destroying and doing over again every day what he had done
+the day before, he racked his brains in such a manner that it was a
+tragedy; but all the time he was always making new discoveries, which
+brought credit to himself and beauty to the work. Thus, having to
+execute a Vertumnus with his husbandmen, he painted a peasant seated
+with a vine-pruner in his hand, which is so beautiful and so well done
+that it is a very rare thing, even as certain children that are there are
+lifelike and natural beyond all belief. On the other side he painted
+Pomona and Diana, with other Goddesses, enveloping them perhaps too
+abundantly with draperies. However, the work as a whole is beautiful
+and much extolled; but while it was being executed Leo was overtaken
+by death, and so it remained unfinished, like many other similar works
+at Rome, Florence, Loreto, and other places; nay, the whole world was
+left poor, being robbed of the true M�cenas of men of talent.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img016" id="img016"></a>
+<img src="images/img016-tb.jpg" width="400" height="522" alt="Vertumnus Fresco (Detail)." title="">
+<p class="caption">VERTUMNUS FRESCO (DETAIL)<br>
+(<i>After</i> Jacopo da Pontormo. <i>Poggio a Caiano: Villa Reale</i>)<br>
+<i>Alinari</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img016.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Having returned to Florence, Jacopo painted in a picture a seated
+figure of S. Augustine as a Bishop, who is giving the benediction, with two
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163" name="Page_163"></a>[Pg 163]</span> little nude Angels flying through the air, who are very beautiful; which
+picture is over an altar in the little Church of the Sisters of S. Clemente
+in the Via di S. Gallo. He carried to completion, likewise, a picture of
+a Piet� with certain nude Angels, which was a very beautiful work, and
+held very dear by certain merchants of Ragusa, for whom he painted it;
+but most beautiful of all in this picture was a landscape taken for the
+most part from an engraving by Albrecht D�rer. He also painted a
+picture of Our Lady with the Child in her arms, and some little Angels
+about her, which is now in the house of Alessandro Neroni; and for
+certain Spaniards he executed another like it&mdash;that is, of the Madonna&mdash;but
+different from the one described above and in another manner, which
+picture, being for sale in a second-hand dealer's shop many years after,
+was bought by Bartolommeo Panciatichi at the suggestion of Bronzino.</p>
+
+<p>Then, in the year 1522, there being a slight outbreak of plague in
+Florence, and many persons therefore departing in order to avoid that
+most infectious sickness and to save themselves, an occasion presented
+itself to Jacopo of flying the city and removing himself to some distance,
+for a certain Prior of the Certosa, a place built by the Acciaiuoli three
+miles away from Florence, had to have some pictures painted in fresco
+at the corners of a very large and beautiful cloister that surrounds a
+lawn, and Jacopo was brought to his notice; whereupon the Prior had him
+sought out, and he, having accepted the work very willingly at such a
+time, went off to Certosa, taking with him only Bronzino. There, after
+a trial of that mode of life, that quiet, that silence, and that solitude&mdash;all
+things after the taste and nature of Jacopo&mdash;he thought with such an
+occasion to make a special effort in the matters of art, and to show to
+the world that he had acquired greater perfection and a different manner
+since those works that he had executed before. Now not long before
+there had come from Germany to Florence many sheets printed from
+engravings done with great subtlety with the burin by Albrecht D�rer,
+a most excellent German painter and a rare engraver of plates on copper
+and on wood; and, among others, many scenes, both large and small, of
+the Passion of Jesus Christ, in which was all the perfection and excellence
+of engraving with the burin that could ever be achieved, what with the
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164" name="Page_164"></a>[Pg 164]</span> beauty and variety of the vestments and the invention. Jacopo, having
+to paint at the corners of those cloisters scenes from the Passion of the
+Saviour, thought to avail himself of the above-named inventions of
+Albrecht D�rer, in the firm belief that he would satisfy not only himself
+but also the greater part of the craftsmen of Florence, who were all
+proclaiming with one voice and with common consent and agreement the
+beauty of those engravings and the excellence of Albrecht. Setting
+himself therefore to imitate that manner, and seeking to give to the
+expressions of the heads of his figures that liveliness and variety which
+Albrecht had given to his, he caught it so thoroughly, that the charm of
+his own early manner, which had been given to him by nature, all full of
+sweetness and grace, suffered a great change from that new study and
+labour, and was so impaired through his stumbling on that German
+manner, that in all these works, although they are all beautiful, there is
+but a sorry remnant to be seen of that excellence and grace that he had
+given up to that time to all his figures.</p>
+
+<p>At the entrance to the cloister, then, in one corner, he painted Christ
+in the Garden, counterfeiting so well the darkness of night illumined by
+the light of the moon, that it appears almost like daylight; and while
+Christ is praying, not far distant are Peter, James, and John sleeping,
+executed in a manner so similar to that of D�rer, that it is a marvel.
+Not far away is Judas leading the Jews, likewise with a countenance so
+strange, even as the features of all those soldiers are depicted in the
+German manner with bizarre expressions, that it moves him who beholds
+it to pity for the simplicity of the man, who sought with such patience
+to learn that which others avoid and seek to lose, and all to lose the
+manner that surpassed all others in excellence and gave infinite pleasure
+to everyone. Did not Pontormo know, then, that the Germans and
+Flemings came to these parts to learn the Italian manner, which he with
+such effort sought to abandon as if it were bad?</p>
+
+<p>Beside this scene is one in which is Christ led by the Jews before
+Pilate, and in the Saviour he painted all the humility that could possibly
+be imagined in the Person of Innocence betrayed by the sins of men,
+and in the wife of Pilate that pity and dread for themselves which those
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165" name="Page_165"></a>[Pg 165]</span> have who fear the divine judgment; which woman, while she pleads the
+cause of Christ before her husband, gazes into His countenance with
+pitying wonder. Round Pilate are some soldiers so characteristic in
+the expressions of the faces and in the German garments, that one who
+knew not by whose hand was that work would believe it to have been
+executed in reality by ultramontanes. It is true, indeed, that in the
+distance in this scene there is a cup-bearer of Pilate's that is descending
+some steps with a basin and a ewer in his hands, carrying to his master
+the means to wash the hands, who is lifelike and very beautiful, having
+in him something of the old manner of Jacopo.</p>
+
+<p>Having next to paint the Resurrection of Christ in one of the other
+corners, the fancy came to Jacopo, as to one who had no steadfastness
+in his brain and was always cogitating new things, to change his colouring;
+and so he executed that work with a colouring in fresco so soft and
+so good, that, if he had done the work in another manner than that same
+German, it would certainly have been very beautiful, for in the heads
+of those soldiers, who are in various attitudes, heavy with sleep, and as
+it were dead, there may be seen such excellence, that one cannot believe
+that it is possible to do better.</p>
+
+<p>Then, continuing the stories of the Passion in another of the corners,
+he painted Christ going with the Cross upon His shoulder to Mount
+Calvary, and behind Him the people of Jerusalem, accompanying Him;
+and in front are the two Thieves, naked, between the ministers of justice,
+who are partly on foot and partly on horseback, with the ladders, the
+inscription for the Cross, hammers, nails, cords, and other suchlike instruments.
+And in the highest part, behind a little hill, is the Madonna with
+the Maries, who, weeping, are awaiting Christ, who has fallen to the
+ground in the middle of the scene, and has about Him many Jews that
+are smiting Him, while Veronica is offering to Him the Sudarium, accompanied
+by some women both young and old, all weeping at the outrage
+that they see being done to the Saviour. This scene, either because he
+was warned by his friends, or perhaps because Jacopo himself at last
+became aware, although tardily, of the harm that had been done to his
+own sweet manner by the study of the German, proved to be much better
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166" name="Page_166"></a>[Pg 166]</span> than the others executed in the same place, for the reason that certain
+naked Jews and some heads of old men are so well painted in fresco,
+that it would not be possible to do more, although the same German
+manner may be seen constantly maintained in the work as a whole.</p>
+
+<p>After these he was to have gone on with the Crucifixion and the
+Deposition from the Cross in the other corners; but, putting them aside
+for a time, with the intention of executing them last, he painted in their
+stead Christ taken down from the Cross, keeping to the same manner,
+but with great harmony of colouring. In this scene, besides that the
+Magdalene, who is kissing the feet of Christ, is most beautiful, there are
+two old men, representing Joseph of Arimath�a and Nicodemus, who,
+although they are in the German manner, have the most beautiful expressions
+and heads of old men, with beards feathery and coloured with
+marvellous softness, that there are to be seen.</p>
+
+<p>Now Jacopo, besides being generally slow over his works, was
+pleased with the solitude of the Certosa, and he therefore spent several
+years on these labours; and, after the plague had finished and he had
+returned to Florence, he did not for that reason cease to frequent that
+place constantly, and was always going and coming between the Certosa
+and the city. Proceeding thus, he satisfied those fathers in many things,
+and, among others, he painted in their church, over one of the doors that
+lead into the chapels, in a figure from the waist upwards, the portrait of
+a lay-brother of that monastery, who was alive at that time and one
+hundred and twenty years old, executing it so well and with such finish,
+such vivacity, and such animation, that through it alone Pontormo
+deserves to be excused for the strange and fantastic new manner with
+which he was saddled by that solitude and by living far from the commerce
+of men.</p>
+
+<p>Besides this, he painted for the Prior of that place a picture of the
+Nativity of Christ, representing Joseph as giving light to Jesus Christ
+in the darkness of the night with a lantern, and this in pursuit of the
+same notions and caprices which the German engravings put into his
+head. Now let no one believe that Jacopo is to blame because he
+imitated Albrecht D�rer in his inventions, for the reason that this is no
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167" name="Page_167"></a>[Pg 167]</span> error, and many painters have done it and are continually doing it; but
+only because he adopted the unmixed German manner in everything, in
+the draperies, in the expressions of the heads, and in the attitudes, which
+he should have avoided, availing himself only of the inventions, since he
+had the modern manner in all the fullness of its beauty and grace. For
+the Stranger's Apartment of the same monks he painted a large picture
+on canvas and in oil-colours, without straining himself at all or forcing
+his natural powers, of Christ at table with Cleophas and Luke, figures
+of the size of life; and since in this work he followed the bent of his own
+genius, it proved to be truly marvellous, particularly because he portrayed
+among those who are serving at that table some lay-brothers of
+the convent, whom I myself have known, in such a manner that they
+could not be either more lifelike or more animated than they are.</p>
+
+<p>Bronzino, meanwhile (that is, while his master was executing the
+works described above in the Certosa), pursuing with great spirit the
+studies of painting, and encouraged all the time by Pontormo, who was
+very loving with his disciples, executed on the inner side over an arch
+above the door of the cloister that leads into the church, without having
+ever seen the process of painting in oil-colours on the wall, a nude
+S. Laurence on the gridiron, which was so beautiful that there began
+to be seen some indication of that excellence to which he has since
+attained, as will be related in the proper place; which circumstance gave
+infinite satisfaction to Jacopo, who already saw whither that genius would
+arrive.</p>
+
+<p>Not long afterwards there returned from Rome Lodovico di Gino
+Capponi, who had bought that chapel in S. Felicita, on the right hand of
+the entrance into the church, which the Barbadori had formerly caused
+to be built by Filippo di Ser Brunellesco; and he resolved to have all the
+vaulting painted, and then to have an altar-piece executed for it, with
+a rich ornament. Having therefore consulted in the matter with
+M. Niccol� Vespucci, knight of Rhodes, who was much his friend, the
+knight, who was also much the friend of Jacopo, and knew, into the
+bargain, the talent and worth of that able man, did and said so much that
+Lodovico allotted that work to Pontormo. And so, having erected an
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168" name="Page_168"></a>[Pg 168]</span> enclosure, which kept that chapel closed for three years, he set his hand
+to the work. On the vaulted ceiling he painted a God the Father, who
+has about Him four very beautiful Patriarchs; and in the four medallions
+at the angles he depicted the four Evangelists, or rather, he executed
+three of them with his own hand, and Bronzino one all by himself. And
+with this occasion I must mention that Pontormo used scarcely ever to
+allow himself to be helped by his assistants, or to suffer them to lay a
+hand on that which he intended to execute with his own hand; and when
+he did wish to avail himself of one of them, chiefly in order that they
+might learn, he allowed them to do the whole work by themselves, as
+he allowed Bronzino to do here.</p>
+
+<p>In the works that Jacopo executed in the said chapel up to this
+point, it seemed almost as if he had returned to his first manner; but
+he did not follow the same method in painting the altar-piece, for, thinking
+always of new things, he executed it without shadows, and with a colouring
+so bright and so uniform, that one can scarcely distinguish the lights
+from the middle tints, and the middle tints from the darks. In this
+altar-piece is a Dead Christ taken down from the Cross and being carried
+to the Sepulchre. There is the Madonna who is swooning, and the
+Maries, all executed in a fashion so different from his first work, that it
+is clearly evident that his brain was always busy investigating new
+conceptions and fantastic methods of painting, not being content with,
+and not fixing on, any single method. In a word, the composition of
+this altar-piece is altogether different from the figures on the vaulting,
+and likewise the colouring; and the four Evangelists, which are in the
+medallions on the spandrels of the vaulting, are much better and in a
+different manner.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img017" id="img017"></a>
+<img src="images/img017-tb.jpg" width="400" height="656" alt="The Descent from the Cross." title="">
+<p class="caption">THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS<br>
+(<i>After the painting by</i> Jacopo da Pontormo.
+<i>Florence: S. Felicita</i>)<br>
+<i>Alinari</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img017.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>On the wall where the window is are two figures in fresco, on one
+side the Virgin, and on the other the Angel, who is bringing her the
+Annunciation, but so distorted, both the one and the other, that it is
+evident that, as I have said, that bizarre and fantastic brain was never
+content with anything. And in order to be able to do as he pleased in
+this, and to avoid having his attention distracted by anyone, all the time
+that he was executing this work he would never allow even the owner
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169" name="Page_169"></a>[Pg 169]</span> of the chapel himself to see it, insomuch that, having painted it after
+his own fancy, without any of his friends having been able to give him
+a single hint, when it was finally uncovered and seen, it amazed all
+Florence. For the same Lodovico he executed a picture of Our Lady in
+that same manner for his chamber, and in the head of a S. Mary Magdalene
+he made the portrait of a daughter of Lodovico, who was a very
+beautiful young woman.</p>
+
+<p>Near the Monastery of Boldrone, on the road that goes from there
+to Castello, and at the corner of another that climbs the hill and goes
+to Cercina (that is, at a distance of two miles from Florence), he painted
+in fresco in a shrine Christ Crucified, Our Lady weeping, S. John the
+Evangelist, S. Augustine, and S. Giuliano; all which figures, his caprice
+not being yet satisfied, and the German manner still pleasing him, are
+not very different from those that he executed at the Certosa. He did
+the same, also, in an altar-piece that he painted for the Nuns of S. Anna,
+at the Porta a S. Friano, in which altar-piece is Our Lady with the Child
+in her arms, and S. Anne behind her, with S. Peter, S. Benedict, and other
+Saints, and in the predella is a small scene with little figures, which
+represent the Signoria of Florence as it used to go in procession with
+trumpeters, pipers, mace-bearers, messengers, and ushers, with the rest
+of the household; and this he did because the commission for that
+altar-piece was given to him by the Captain and the household of the
+Palace.</p>
+
+<p>The while that Jacopo was executing this work, Alessandro and
+Ippolito de' Medici, who were both very young, having been sent to
+Florence by Pope Clement VII under the care of the Legate, Silvio
+Passerini, Bishop of Cortona, the Magnificent Ottaviano, to whom the
+Pope had straitly recommended them, had the portraits of both of them
+taken by Pontormo, who served him very well, and made them very
+good likenesses, although he did not much depart from the manner that
+he had learned from the Germans. In the portrait of Ippolito he also
+painted a favourite dog of that lord, called Rodon, and made it so characteristic
+and so natural, that it might be alive. He took the portrait,
+likewise, of Bishop Ardinghelli, who afterwards became a Cardinal; and
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170" name="Page_170"></a>[Pg 170]</span> for Filippo del Migliore, who was much his friend, he painted in fresco
+in his house on the Via Larga, in a niche opposite to the principal door,
+a woman representing Pomona, from which it appeared that he was
+beginning to seek to abandon in part his German manner.</p>
+
+<p>Now Giovan Battista della Palla perceived that by reason of many
+works the name of Jacopo was becoming every day more celebrated;
+and, since he had not succeeded in sending to King Francis the pictures
+executed by that same master and by others for Borgherini, he resolved,
+knowing that the King had a desire for them, at all costs to send him
+something by the hand of Pontormo. Whereupon he so went to work
+that he persuaded Jacopo to execute a most beautiful picture of the
+Raising of Lazarus, which proved to be one of the best works that he
+ever painted and that was ever sent by Giovan Battista, among the vast
+number that he sent, to King Francis of France. For, besides that the
+heads were most beautiful, the figure of Lazarus, whose spirit as he
+returned to life was re-entering his dead flesh, could not have been more
+marvellous, for about the eyes he still had the hue of corruption, and the
+flesh cold and dead at the extremities of the hands and feet, where the
+spirit had not yet come.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img018" id="img018"></a>
+<img src="images/img018-tb.jpg" width="400" height="371" alt="The Martyrdom of the forty Saints." title="">
+<p class="caption">THE MARTYRDOM OF THE FORTY SAINTS<br>
+(<i>After the panel by</i> Jacopo da Pontormo. <i>Florence: Pitti, 182</i>)<br>
+<i>Alinari</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img018.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In a picture of one braccio and a half he painted for the Sisters of
+the Hospital of the Innocenti, with an infinite number of little figures,
+the story of the eleven thousand Martyrs who were condemned to death
+by Diocletian and all crucified in a wood. In this Jacopo represented
+a battle of horsemen and nude figures, very beautiful, and some most
+lovely little Angels flying through the air, who are shooting arrows at
+the ministers of the crucifixion; and in like manner, about the Emperor,
+who is pronouncing the condemnation, are some most beautiful nude
+figures who are going to their death. This picture, which in every part
+is worthy to be praised, is now held in great price by Don Vincenzio
+Borghini, the Director of that Hospital, who once was much the friend of
+Jacopo. Another picture similar to that described above he painted
+for Carlo Neroni, but only with the Battle of the Martyrs and the Angel
+baptizing them; and then the portrait of Carlo himself. He also executed
+a portrait, at the time of the siege of Florence, of Francesco Guardi in
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171" name="Page_171"></a>[Pg 171]</span> the habit of a soldier, which was a very beautiful work; and on the cover
+of this picture Bronzino afterwards painted Pygmalion praying to Venus
+that his statue, receiving breath, might spring to life and become&mdash;as,
+according to the fables of the poets, it did&mdash;flesh and blood. At this
+time, after much labour, there came to Jacopo the fulfilment of a desire
+that he had long had, in that, having always felt a wish to have a house
+that might be his own, so that he should no longer live in the house of
+another, but might occupy his own and live as pleased himself, finally
+he bought one in the Via della Colonna, opposite to the Nuns of S. Maria
+degli Angeli.</p>
+
+<p>The siege finished, Pope Clement commanded Messer Ottaviano de'
+Medici that he should cause the hall of Poggio a Caiano to be finished.
+Whereupon, Franciabigio and Andrea del Sarto being dead, the whole
+charge of this was given to Pontormo, who, after having the staging and
+the screens made, began to execute the cartoons; but, for the reason
+that he went off into fantasies and cogitations, beyond that he never set
+a hand to the work. This, perchance, would not have happened if
+Bronzino had been in those parts, who was then working at the Imperiale,
+a place belonging to the Duke of Urbino, near Pesaro; which Bronzino,
+although he was sent for every day by Jacopo, nevertheless was not able
+to depart at his own pleasure, for the reason that, after he had executed
+a very beautiful naked Cupid on the spandrel of a vault in the Imperiale,
+and the cartoons for the others, Prince Guidobaldo, having recognized
+the young man's genius, ordained that his own portrait should be taken
+by him, and, seeing that he wished to be portrayed in some armour that
+he was expecting from Lombardy, Bronzino was forced to stay with that
+Prince longer than he could have wished. During that time he painted
+the case of a harpsichord, which much pleased the Prince, and finally
+Bronzino executed his portrait, which was very beautiful, and the Prince
+was well satisfied with it.</p>
+
+<p>Jacopo, then, wrote so many times, and employed so many means, that
+in the end he brought Bronzino back; but for all that the man could never
+be induced to do any other part of this work than the cartoons, although
+he was urged to it by the Magnificent Ottaviano and by Duke Alessandro.
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172" name="Page_172"></a>[Pg 172]</span> In one of these cartoons, which are now for the most part in the house of
+Lodovico Capponi, is a Hercules who is crushing Ant�us, in another a
+Venus and Adonis, and in yet another drawing a scene of nude figures
+playing football.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Signor Alfonso Davalos, Marchese del Vasto, having
+obtained from Michelagnolo Buonarroti by means of Fra Niccol� della
+Magna a cartoon of Christ appearing to the Magdalene in the garden,
+moved heaven and earth to have it executed for him in painting by
+Pontormo, Buonarroti having told him that no one could serve him better
+than that master. Jacopo then executed that work to perfection, and
+it was accounted a rare painting by reason both of the grandeur of
+Michelagnolo's design and of Jacopo's colouring. Wherefore Signor
+Alessandro Vitelli, who was at that time Captain of the garrison of soldiers
+in Florence, having seen it, had a picture painted for himself from the
+same cartoon by Jacopo, which he sent to Citt� di Castello and caused
+to be placed in his house. It thus became evident in what estimation
+Michelagnolo held Pontormo, and with what diligence Pontormo carried
+to completion and executed excellently well the designs and cartoons
+of Michelagnolo, and Bartolommeo Bettini so went to work that Buonarroti,
+who was much his friend, made for him a cartoon of a nude Venus
+with a Cupid who is kissing her, in order that he might have it executed
+in painting by Pontormo and place it in the centre of a chamber of his
+own, in the lunettes of which he had begun to have painted by Bronzino
+figures of Dante, Petrarca, and Boccaccio, with the intention of having
+there all the other poets who have sung of love in Tuscan prose and verse.
+Jacopo, then, having received this cartoon, executed it to perfection at
+his leisure, as will be related, in the manner that all the world knows
+without my saying another word in praise of it. These designs of Michelagnolo's
+were the reason that Pontormo, considering the manner of that
+most noble craftsman, took heart of grace, and resolved that by hook
+or by crook he would imitate and follow it to the best of his ability.
+And then it was that Jacopo recognized how ill he had done to allow
+the work of Poggio a Caiano to slip through his hands, although he put
+the blame in great measure on a long and very troublesome illness that he
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173" name="Page_173"></a>[Pg 173]</span> had suffered, and finally on the death of Pope Clement, which brought
+that undertaking completely to an end.</p>
+
+<p>Jacopo having executed after the works described above a picture
+with the portrait from life of Amerigo Antinori, a young man much
+beloved in Florence at that time, and that portrait being much extolled
+by everyone, Duke Alessandro had him informed that he wished to have
+his portrait taken by him in a large picture. And Jacopo, for the sake
+of convenience, executed his portrait for the time being in a little picture
+of the size of a sheet of half-folio, and with such diligence and care, that
+the works of the miniaturists do not in any way come up to it; for the
+reason that, besides its being a very good likeness, there is in that head
+all that could be desired in the rarest of paintings. From that little
+picture, which is now in the guardaroba of Duke Cosimo, Jacopo afterwards
+made a portrait of the same Duke in a large picture, with a style
+in the hand, drawing the head of a woman; which larger portrait Duke
+Alessandro afterwards presented to Signora Taddea Malespina, the sister
+of the Marchesa di Massa. Desiring at all costs to reward liberally the
+genius of Jacopo for these works, the Duke sent him a message by Niccol�
+da Montaguto, his servant, that he should ask whatever he wished, and
+it would be granted to him. But such was the poor spirit or the excessive
+respect and modesty of the man, I know not which to call it, that
+he asked for nothing save as much money as would suffice him to redeem
+a cloak that he had pledged; which having heard, the Duke, not without
+laughing at the character of the man, commanded that fifty gold crowns
+should be given and a salary offered to him; and even then Niccol� had
+much ado to make him accept it.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Jacopo had finished painting the Venus from the cartoon
+belonging to Bettini, which proved to be a marvellous thing, but it was
+not given to Bettini at the price for which Jacopo had promised it to him,
+for certain tuft-hunters, in order to do Bettini an injury, took it almost
+by force from the hands of Jacopo and gave it to Duke Alessandro,
+restoring the cartoon to Bettini. Which having heard, Michelagnolo
+felt much displeasure for love of the friend for whom he had drawn
+the cartoon, and he bore a grudge against Jacopo, who, although he
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174" name="Page_174"></a>[Pg 174]</span> received fifty crowns for it from the Duke, nevertheless cannot be said
+to have defrauded Bettini, seeing that he gave up the Venus at the
+command of him who was his lord. But of all this some say that Bettini
+himself was in great measure the cause, from his asking too much.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img019" id="img019"></a>
+<img src="images/img019-tb.jpg" width="400" height="534" alt="Jacopo da Pontormo: Portrait of an Engraver." title="">
+<p class="caption">JACOPO DA PONTORMO: PORTRAIT OF AN ENGRAVER<br>
+(<i>Paris: Louvre, 1241. Panel</i>)<br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img019.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The occasion having thus presented itself to Pontormo, by means
+of these moneys, to set his hand to the fitting up of his house, he made
+a beginning with his building, but did nothing of much importance.
+Indeed, although some persons declare that he had it in mind to spend
+largely, according to his position, and to make a commodious dwelling
+and one that might have some design, it is nevertheless evident that
+what he did, whether this came from his not having the means to spend
+or from some other reason, has rather the appearance of a building erected
+by an eccentric and solitary creature than of a well-ordered habitation,
+for the reason that to the room where he used to sleep and at times to
+work, he had to climb by a wooden ladder, which, after he had gone in,
+he would draw up with a pulley, to the end that no one might go up to
+him without his wish or knowledge. But that which most displeased
+other men in him was that he would not work save when and for whom
+he pleased, and after his own fancy; wherefore on many occasions, being
+sought out by noblemen who desired to have some of his work, and once
+in particular by the Magnificent Ottaviano de' Medici, he would not
+serve them; and then he would set himself to do anything in the world
+for some low and common fellow, at a miserable price. Thus the mason
+Rossino, a person of no small ingenuity considering his calling, by playing
+the simpleton, received from him in payment for having paved certain
+rooms with bricks, and for having done other mason's work, a most
+beautiful picture of Our Lady, in executing which Jacopo toiled and
+laboured as much as the mason did in his building. And so well did the
+good Rossino contrive to manage his business, that, in addition to the
+above-named picture, he got from the hands of Jacopo a most beautiful
+portrait of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, copied from one by the hand of
+Raffaello, and, into the bargain, a very beautiful little picture of a
+Christ Crucified, which, although the above-mentioned Magnificent
+Ottaviano bought it from the mason Rossino as a work by the hand of
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175" name="Page_175"></a>[Pg 175]</span> Jacopo, nevertheless is known for certain to be by the hand of Bronzino,
+who executed it all by himself while he was working with Jacopo at the
+Certosa, although it afterwards remained, I know not why, in the possession
+of Pontormo. All these three pictures, won by the industry of the
+mason from the hands of Jacopo, are now in the house of M. Alessandro
+de' Medici, the son of the above-named Ottaviano.</p>
+
+<p>Now, although this procedure of Jacopo's and his living solitary and
+after his own fashion were not much commended, that does not mean
+that if anyone wished to excuse him he would not be able, for the reason
+that for those works that he did we should acknowledge our obligation
+to him, and for those that he did not choose to do we should not blame
+or censure him. No craftsman is obliged to work save when and for whom
+he pleases; and, if he suffered thereby, the loss was his. As for solitude,
+I have always heard say that it is the greatest friend of study; and, even
+if it were not so, I do not believe that much blame is due to him who lives
+in his own fashion without offence to God or to his neighbour, dwelling
+and employing his time as best suits his nature.</p>
+
+<p>But to return, leaving these matters on one side, to the works of
+Jacopo: Duke Alessandro had caused to be restored in some parts the
+Villa of Careggi, formerly built by the elder Cosimo de' Medici, at a
+distance of two miles from Florence, and had carried out the ornamentation
+of the fountain and the labyrinth, which wound through the centre of
+an open court, into which there opened two loggie, and his Excellency
+ordained that those loggie should be painted by Jacopo, but that company
+should be given him, to the end that he might finish them the quicker,
+and that conversation with others, keeping him cheerful, might be a means
+of making him work without straying so much into vagaries and distilling
+away his brains. Nay, the Duke himself sent for Jacopo and
+besought him that he should strive to deliver that work completely
+finished as soon as possible. Jacopo, therefore, having summoned
+Bronzino, caused him to paint a figure on each of five spandrels of the
+vaulting, these being Fortune, Justice, Victory, Peace, and Fame; and
+on the other spandrel, for they are in all six, Jacopo with his own hand
+painted a Love. Then, having made the design for some little boys
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176" name="Page_176"></a>[Pg 176]</span> that were going in the oval space of the vaulting, with various animals
+in their hands, and all foreshortened to be seen from below, he caused
+them all, with the exception of one, to be executed in colour by Bronzino,
+who acquitted himself very well. And since, while Jacopo and Bronzino
+were painting these figures, the ornaments all around were executed by
+Jacone, Pier Francesco di Jacopo, and others, the whole of that work
+was finished in a short time, to the great satisfaction of the Lord Duke.
+His Excellency wished to have the other loggia painted, but he was not
+in time, for the reason that the above-named work having been finished
+on the 13th of December in the year 1536, on the 6th of the January
+following that most illustrious lord was assassinated by his kinsman
+Lorenzino; and so this work and others remained without their completion.</p>
+
+<p>The Lord Duke Cosimo having then been elected, and the affair of
+Montemurlo having passed off happily, a beginning was made with the
+works of Castello, according as has been related in the Life of Tribolo,
+and his most illustrious Excellency, in order to gratify Signora Donna
+Maria, his mother, ordained that Jacopo should paint the first loggia,
+which one finds on the left hand in entering the Palace of Castello.
+Whereupon, setting to work, Jacopo first designed all the ornaments that
+were to be painted there, and had them executed for the most part by
+Bronzino and the masters who had executed those of Careggi. Then,
+shutting himself up alone, he proceeded with that work after his own
+fancy and wholly at his leisure, studying with all diligence, to the end
+that it might be much better than that of Careggi, which he had not
+executed entirely with his own hand. This he was able to do very conveniently,
+having eight crowns a month for it from his Excellency, whom
+he portrayed, young as he was, in the beginning of that work, and likewise
+Signora Donna Maria, his mother. Finally, after that loggia had
+been closed for five years, no one being able to have even a glance at
+what Jacopo had done, one day the above-named lady became enraged
+against him, and commanded that the staging and the screen should be
+thrown to the ground. But Jacopo, having begged for grace and having
+obtained leave to keep it covered for a few days more, first retouched it
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177" name="Page_177"></a>[Pg 177]</span> where it seemed to him to be necessary, and then caused a cloth of his
+own contriving to be made, which should keep that loggia covered when
+those lords were not there, to the end that the weather might not, as it
+had done at Careggi, eat away those pictures, which were executed in oils
+on the dry plaster; and at last he uncovered it, amid the lively expectation
+of everyone, all thinking that in that work Jacopo must have surpassed
+himself and done something altogether stupendous. But the effect did
+not correspond completely to the expectations, for the reason that,
+although many parts of the work are good, the general proportion of
+the figures appears very poor in form, and certain distorted attitudes
+that are there seem to be wanting in measure and very strange. But
+Jacopo excused himself by saying that he had never worked very willingly
+in that place, for the reason that, being without the city, it seemed much
+exposed to the fury of the soldiery and to other suchlike dangers; but there
+was no need for him to be afraid of that, seeing that time and the weather,
+from the work having been executed in the manner already described,
+are eating it away little by little.</p>
+
+<p>In the centre of the vaulting, then, he painted a Saturn with the
+Sign of Capricorn, and a Hermaphrodite Mars in the Sign of the Lion
+and of the Virgin, and some little Angels who are flying through the air,
+like those of Careggi. He then painted in certain gigantic women,
+almost entirely nude, Philosophy, Astrology, Geometry, Music, Arithmetic,
+and a Ceres; with some little scenes in medallions, executed with
+various tints of colour and appropriate to the figures. Although this
+work, so fatiguing and so laboured, did not give much satisfaction, or,
+if a certain measure of satisfaction, much less than was expected, yet his
+Excellency declared that it pleased him, and availed himself of Jacopo
+on every occasion, chiefly because that painter was held in great veneration
+by the people on account of the very good and beautiful works that
+he had executed in the past.</p>
+
+<p>The Lord Duke then brought to Florence the Flemings, Maestro
+Giovanni Rosso and Maestro Niccol�, excellent masters in arras-tapestries,
+to the end that the art might be learned and practised by the Florentines,
+and he ordained that tapestries in silk and gold should be executed for
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178" name="Page_178"></a>[Pg 178]</span> the Council Hall of the Two Hundred at a cost of 60,000 crowns, and
+that Jacopo and Bronzino should make the cartoons with the stories of
+Joseph. But, when Jacopo had made two of them, in one of which is
+the scene when the death of Joseph is announced to Jacob and the
+bloody garments are shown to him, and in the other the Flight of Joseph
+from the wife of Potiphar, leaving his garment behind, they did not
+please either the Duke or those masters who had to put them into execution,
+for they appeared to them to be strange things and not likely to be
+successful when executed in woven tapestries. And so Jacopo did not
+go on to make any more cartoons, but returned to his usual labours and
+painted a picture of Our Lady, which was presented by the Duke to Signor
+Don ..., who took it to Spain.</p>
+
+<p>Now his Excellency, following in the footsteps of his ancestors, has
+always sought to embellish and adorn his city; and he resolved, the
+necessity having come to his notice, to cause to be painted all the principal
+chapel of the magnificent Temple of S. Lorenzo, formerly built by the
+great Cosimo de' Medici, the elder. Whereupon he gave the charge of
+this to Jacopo da Pontormo, either of his own accord, or, as was said,
+at the instance of Messer Pier Francesco Ricci, his major-domo; and
+Jacopo was very glad of that favour, for the reason that, although the
+greatness of the work, he being well advanced in years, gave him food
+for thought and perhaps dismayed him, on the other hand he reflected
+how, in a work of such magnitude, he had a fair field to show his ability
+and worth. Some say that Jacopo, finding that the work had been allotted
+to him notwithstanding that Francesco Salviati, a painter of great fame,
+was in Florence and had brought to a happy conclusion the painting of
+that hall in the Palace which was once the audience-chamber of the
+Signoria, must needs declare that he would show the world how to draw
+and paint, and how to work in fresco, and, besides this, that the other
+painters were but ordinary hacks, with other words equally insolent and
+overbearing. But I myself always knew Jacopo as a modest person,
+who spoke of everyone honourably and in a manner proper to an orderly
+and virtuous craftsman, such as he was, and I believe that these words
+were imputed to him falsely, and that he never let slip from his mouth
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179" name="Page_179"></a>[Pg 179]</span> any such boastings, which are for the most part the marks of vain men
+who presume too much upon their merits, in which manner of men there
+is no place for virtue or good breeding. And, although I might have kept
+silent about these matters, I have not chosen to do so, because to proceed
+as I have done appears to me the office of a faithful and veracious historian;
+it is enough that, although these rumours went around, and
+particularly among our craftsmen, nevertheless I have a firm belief that
+they were the words of malicious persons, Jacopo having always been in
+the experience of everyone modest and well-behaved in his every action.</p>
+
+<p>Having then closed up that chapel with walls, screens of planks,
+and curtains, and having given himself over to complete solitude, he kept
+it for a period of eleven years so well sealed up, that excepting himself
+not a living soul entered it, neither friend nor any other. It is true,
+indeed, that certain lads who were drawing in the sacristy of Michelagnolo,
+as young men will do, climbed by its spiral staircase on to the
+roof of the church, and, removing some tiles and the plank of one of the
+gilded rosettes that are there, saw everything. Of which having heard,
+Jacopo took it very ill, but took no further notice beyond closing up
+everything with greater care; although some say that he persecuted those
+young men sorely, and sought to make them regret it.</p>
+
+<p>Imagining, then, that in this work he would surpass all other painters,
+and perchance, so it was said, even Michelagnolo, he painted in the upper
+part, in a number of scenes, the Creation of Adam and Eve, the Eating
+of the Forbidden Fruit, their Expulsion from Paradise, the Tilling of the
+Earth, the Sacrifice of Abel, the Death of Cain, the Blessing of the Seed
+of Noah, and the same Noah designing the plan and the measurements
+of the Ark. Next, on one of the lower walls, each of which is fifteen
+braccia in each direction, he painted the inundation of the Deluge, in
+which is a mass of dead and drowned bodies, and Noah speaking with God.
+On the other wall is painted the Universal Resurrection of the Dead,
+which has to take place on the last and final day; with such variety and
+confusion, that the real resurrection will perhaps not be more confused,
+or more full of movement, in a manner of speaking, than Pontormo
+painted it. Opposite to the altar and between the windows&mdash;that is,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180" name="Page_180"></a>[Pg 180]</span> on the central wall&mdash;there is on either side a row of nude figures, who,
+clinging to each other's bodies with hands and legs, form a ladder wherewith
+to ascend to Paradise, rising from the earth, where there are many
+dead in company with them, and at the end, on either side, are two dead
+bodies clothed with the exception of the legs and also the arms, with which
+they are holding two lighted torches. At the top, in the centre of the
+wall, above the windows, he painted in the middle Christ on high in His
+Majesty, who, surrounded by many Angels all nude, is raising those dead
+in order to judge them.</p>
+
+<p>But I have never been able to understand the significance of this
+scene, although I know that Jacopo had wit enough for himself, and also
+associated with learned and lettered persons; I mean, what he could
+have intended to signify in that part where there is Christ on high, raising
+the dead, and below His feet is God the Father, who is creating Adam
+and Eve. Besides this, in one of the corners, where are the four Evangelists,
+nude, with books in their hands, it does not seem to me that in a
+single place did he give a thought to any order of composition, or measurement,
+or time, or variety in the heads, or diversity in the flesh-colours,
+or, in a word, to any rule, proportion, or law of perspective; for the
+whole work is full of nude figures with an order, design, invention, composition,
+colouring, and painting contrived after his own fashion, and
+with such melancholy and so little satisfaction for him who beholds the
+work, that I am determined, since I myself do not understand it, although
+I am a painter, to leave all who may see it to form their own judgment,
+for the reason that I believe that I would drive myself mad with it and
+would bury myself alive, even as it appears to me that Jacopo in the
+period of eleven years that he spent upon it sought to bury himself and
+all who might see the painting, among all those extraordinary figures.
+And although there may be seen in this work some bit of a torso with the
+back turned or facing to the front and some attachments of flanks, executed
+with marvellous care and great labour by Jacopo, who made finished
+models of clay in the round for almost all the figures, nevertheless the
+work as a whole is foreign to his manner, and, as it appears to almost
+every man, without proportion, the torsi for the most part being large and
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181" name="Page_181"></a>[Pg 181]</span> the legs and arms small, to say nothing of the heads, in which there is
+not a trace to be seen of that singular excellence and grace that he used
+to give to them, so greatly to the satisfaction of those who examine his
+other pictures. Wherefore it appears that in this work he paid no attention
+to anything save certain parts, and of the other more important parts
+he took no account whatever. In a word, whereas he had thought in
+this work to surpass all the paintings in the world of art, he failed by a
+great measure to equal his own works that he had executed in the past;
+whence it is evident that he who seeks to strive beyond his strength and,
+as it were, to force nature, ruins the good qualities with which he may
+have been liberally endowed by her. But what can we or ought we to
+do save have compassion upon him, seeing that the men of our arts are
+as much liable to error as others? And the good Homer, so it is said,
+even he sometimes nods; nor shall it ever be said that there is a single
+work of Jacopo's, however he may have striven to force his nature, in
+which there is not something good and worthy of praise.</p>
+
+<p>He died shortly before finishing the work, and some therefore declare
+that he died of grief, ending his life very much dissatisfied with himself;
+but the truth is that, being old and much exhausted by making portraits
+and models in clay and labouring so much in fresco, he sank into a dropsy,
+which finally killed him at the age of sixty-five. After his death there
+were found in his house many designs, cartoons, and models in clay, all
+very beautiful, and a picture of Our Lady executed by him excellently
+well and in a lovely manner, to all appearance many years before, which
+was sold by his heirs to Piero Salviati. Jacopo was buried in the first
+cloister of the Church of the Servite Friars, beneath the scene of the
+Visitation that he had formerly painted there; and he was followed to
+the grave by an honourable company of the painters, sculptors, and
+architects.</p>
+
+<p>Jacopo was a frugal and sober man, and in his dress and manner
+of life he was rather miserly than moderate; and he lived almost always
+by himself, without desiring that anyone should serve him or cook for
+him. In his last years, indeed, he kept in his house, as it were to bring
+him up, Battista Naldini, a young man of fine spirit, who took such care
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182" name="Page_182"></a>[Pg 182]</span> of Jacopo's life as Jacopo would allow him to take; and under his master's
+discipline he made no little proficiency in design, and became such, indeed,
+that a very happy result is looked for from him. Among Pontormo's
+friends, particularly in this last period of his life, were Pier Francesco
+Vernacci and Don Vincenzio Borghini, with whom he took his recreation,
+sometimes eating with them, but rarely. But above all others, and
+always supremely beloved by him, was Bronzino, who loved him as
+dearly, being grateful and thankful for the benefits that he had received
+from him.</p>
+
+<p>Pontormo had very beautiful manners, and he was so afraid of death,
+that he would not even hear it spoken of, and avoided having to meet
+dead bodies. He never went to festivals or to any other places where
+people gathered together, so as not to be caught in the press; and he was
+solitary beyond all belief. At times, going out to work, he set himself
+to think so profoundly on what he was to do, that he went away without
+having done any other thing all day but stand thinking. And that this
+happened to him times without number in the work of S. Lorenzo may
+readily be believed, for the reason that when he was determined, like an
+able and well-practised craftsman, he had no difficulty in doing what
+he desired and had resolved to put into execution.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="mosca" id="mosca"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183" name="Page_183"></a>[Pg 183]</span> SIMONE MOSCA</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="life_of_simonemosca" id="life_of_simonemosca"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185" name="Page_185"></a>[Pg 185]</span> LIFE OF SIMONE MOSCA<br>
+SCULPTOR AND ARCHITECT</h2>
+
+<p>From the times of the ancient Greek and Roman sculptors to our own,
+no modern carver has equalled the beautiful and difficult works that
+they executed in their bases, capitals, friezes, cornices, festoons, trophies,
+masks, candelabra, birds, grotesques, or other carved cornice-work, save
+only Simone Mosca of Settignano, who in our own days has worked in
+such a manner in those kinds of labour, that he has made it evident by
+his genius and art that all the diligence and study of the modern carvers
+who had come before him had not enabled them up to that time to
+imitate the best work of those ancients or to adopt the good method
+in their carvings, for the reason that their works incline to dryness, and
+the turn of their foliage to spikiness and crudeness. He, on the other
+hand, has executed foliage with great boldness, rich and abundant in
+new curves, the leaves being carved in various manners with beautiful
+indentations and with the most lovely flowers, seeds and creepers that
+there are to be seen, not to speak of the birds that he has contrived to
+carve so gracefully in various forms among his foliage and festoons,
+insomuch that it may be affirmed that Simone alone&mdash;be it said without
+offence to the others&mdash;has been able to remove from the marble that
+hardness which craftsmen are wont very often to leave in their sculptures,
+and has brought his works by his handling of the chisel to such a point
+that they have the appearance of things real to the touch, and the same
+may be said of the cornices and other suchlike labours, executed by him
+with most beautiful grace and judgment.</p>
+
+<p>This Simone, having given his attention to design in his childhood
+with much profit, and having then become well-practised in carving,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186" name="Page_186"></a>[Pg 186]</span> was taken by Maestro Antonio da San Gallo, who recognized his genius
+and noble spirit, to Rome, where he caused him to execute, as his first
+works, some capitals and bases and several friezes of foliage for the
+Church of S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini, and some works for the Palace of
+Alessandro, the first Cardinal Farnese. Simone meanwhile devoting
+himself, particularly on feast-days, and whenever he could snatch the
+time, to drawing the antiquities of that city, no long time passed before
+he was drawing and tracing ground-plans with more grace and neatness
+than did Antonio himself, insomuch that, having applied himself heart
+and soul to the study of designing foliage in the ancient manner, of giving
+a bold turn to the leaves, and of perforating his works in such a way as
+to make them perfect, taking the best from the best examples, one
+thing from one and one from another, in a few years he formed a manner
+of composition so beautiful and so catholic, that afterwards he did everything
+well, whether in company or by himself. This may be seen in
+some coats of arms that were to be placed in the above-named Church
+of S. Giovanni in the Strada Giulia; in one of which coats of arms, making
+a great lily, the ancient emblem of the Commune of Florence, he carved
+upon it some curves of foliage with creepers and seeds executed so well
+that they made everyone gasp with wonder. Nor had any long time
+passed when Antonio da San Gallo&mdash;who was directing for Messer Agnolo
+Cesis the execution of the marble ornaments of a chapel and tomb for
+himself and his family, which were afterwards erected in the year 1550
+in the Church of S. Maria della Pace&mdash;caused part of certain pilasters
+and socles covered with friezes, which were going into that work, to be
+wrought by Simone, who executed them so well and with such beauty,
+that they make themselves known among the others, without my saying
+which they are, by their grace and perfection; nor is it possible to see
+any altars for the offering of sacrifices after the ancient use more beautiful
+and fanciful than those that he made on the base of that work. Afterwards
+the same San Gallo, who was superintending the execution of the
+mouth of the well in the cloister of S. Pietro in Vincula, caused Mosca
+to make the borders with some large masks of great beauty.</p>
+
+<p>Not long afterwards he returned one summer to Florence, having a
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187" name="Page_187"></a>[Pg 187]</span> good name among craftsmen, and Baccio Bandinelli, who was making
+the Orpheus of marble that was placed in the court of the Medici Palace,
+after having the base for that work carried out by Benedetto da Rovezzano,
+caused Simone to execute the festoons and other carvings therein, which
+are very beautiful, although one festoon is unfinished and only worked
+over with the gradine. Having then done many works in grey sandstone,
+of which there is no need to make record, he was planning to
+return to Rome, when in the meantime the sack took place, and he did
+not go after all. But, having taken a wife, he was living in Florence
+with little to do: wherefore, being obliged to support his family, and
+having no income, he was occupying himself with any work that he
+could obtain. Now in those days there arrived in Florence one Pietro
+di Subisso, a master-mason of Arezzo, who always had under him a good
+number of workmen, for the reason that all the building in Arezzo passed
+through his hands; and he took Simone, with many others, to Arezzo.
+There he set Simone to making a chimney-piece of grey sandstone and
+a water-basin of no great cost, for a hall in the house of the heirs of
+Pellegrino da Fossombrone, a citizen of Arezzo; which house had been
+formerly erected by M. Piero Geri, an excellent astrologer, after the
+design of Andrea Sansovino, and had been sold by his nephews. Setting
+to work, therefore, and beginning with the chimney-piece, Simone placed
+it upon two pilasters, making two niches in the thickness of the wall,
+in the direction of the fire, and laying upon those pilasters architrave,
+frieze, and great cornice, and over all a pediment with festoons and with
+the arms of that family. And thus, proceeding with it, he executed it
+with carvings of such a kind and so well varied, and with such subtle
+craftsmanship, that, although that work was of grey sandstone, under his
+hands it became more beautiful than if it had been of marble, and more
+astounding; which, indeed, came to pass the more readily because that
+stone is not as hard as marble and, if anything, rather sandy. Putting
+extraordinary diligence, therefore, into the work, he executed on the
+pilasters trophies in half-relief and low-relief, than which nothing more
+bizarre or more beautiful could be done, with helmets, buskins, shields,
+quivers, and various other arms; and he likewise made there masks,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188" name="Page_188"></a>[Pg 188]</span> sea monsters, and other graceful fantasies, all so well figured and cut
+out that they have the appearance of silver. The frieze that is between
+the architrave and the great cornice, he made with a most beautiful
+turn of foliage, all pierced through and full of birds that are executed so
+well, that they seem to be flying through the air; and it is a marvellous
+thing to see their little legs, no larger than life, and yet completely in the
+round and detached from the stone in such a way as one cannot believe
+to be possible; and, in truth, the work seems rather a miracle than a
+product of human art. Besides all this, he made there in a festoon some
+leaves and fruits so well cut out, and wrought with such delicacy and
+care, that in a certain sense they surpass the reality. Lastly, the work
+is finished off by some great masks and candelabra, which are truly most
+beautiful. Although Simone need not have given such care to a work
+of that kind, for which he was to be but poorly paid by those patrons,
+who could not afford much, yet, drawn by the love that he bore to art
+and by the pleasure that a man feels in working well, he chose to do so;
+but he did not do the same with the water-basin for the same patrons,
+for he made it beautiful enough, but simple.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time he assisted Pietro di Subisso, who did not know
+much, to make many designs of buildings and plans of houses, doors,
+windows, and other things appertaining to that profession. On the
+Canto degli Albergotti, below the school and university of the Commune,
+there is a window of considerable beauty constructed after his design;
+and there are two of them in the house of Ser Bernardino Serragli in the
+Pelliceria. On the corner of the Palazzo de' Priori there is a large
+escutcheon of Pope Clement VII in grey sandstone, by the hand of the
+same master; and under his direction, and partly by his hand, was
+executed for Bernardino di Cristofano da Giuovi a chapel of grey sandstone
+in the Corinthian Order, which was erected in the Abbey of S. Fiore,
+a passing handsome monastery of Black Friars in Arezzo. For this
+chapel the patron wished to have the altar-piece painted by Andrea del
+Sarto, and then by Rosso, but in this he never succeeded, seeing that,
+being hindered now by one thing and now by another, they were not
+able to serve him. Finally Bernardino turned to Giorgio Vasari, but
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189" name="Page_189"></a>[Pg 189]</span> with him also he had difficulties, and there was much trouble in finding
+a way of arranging the matter, for the reason that, the chapel being
+dedicated to S. James and S. Christopher, he wished to have in the picture
+Our Lady with the Child in her arms, and also the giant S. Christopher
+with another little Christ on his shoulder; which composition, besides
+that it appeared monstrous, could not be accommodated, nor was it
+possible to paint a giant of six braccia in an altar-piece of four braccia.
+Giorgio, then, being desirous to serve Bernardino, made him a design
+in this manner: he placed Our Lady upon some clouds, with a sun behind
+her back, and on the ground he painted S. Christopher kneeling on one
+side of the picture, with one leg in the water, and with the other in the
+act of moving in order to rise, while Our Lady is placing upon his shoulders
+the Infant Christ with the globe of the world in His hands. In the rest
+of the altar-piece, also, were to be S. James and the other Saints, accommodated
+in such a manner that they would not have been in the way;
+and this design, pleasing Bernardino, would have been put into execution,
+but Bernardino in the meantime died, and the chapel was left in that
+condition to his heirs, who have not done anything more.</p>
+
+<p>Now, while Simone was labouring at that chapel, there passed
+through Arezzo Antonio da San Gallo, who was returning from the work
+of fortifying Parma and was going to Loreto to finish the work of the
+Chapel of the Madonna, to which he had sent Tribolo, Raffaello da Montelupo,
+the young Francesco da San Gallo, Girolamo da Ferrara, Simone
+Cioli, and other carvers, masons, and stone-cutters, in order to finish
+that which Andrea Sansovino at his death had left incomplete; and he
+contrived to take Simone to work there. He ordained that Simone
+should have charge not only of the carvings, but also of the architecture
+and of the other ornaments of that work; in which commissions Mosca
+acquitted himself very well, and, what is more, executed many things
+perfectly with his own hands, particularly some little boys of marble in
+the round, which are on the pediments of the doors; and although there
+are also some by the hand of Simone Cioli, the best&mdash;and rare indeed
+they are&mdash;are all by Mosca. He made, likewise, all the festoons of marble
+that are around all that work, with most beautiful artistry and carvings
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190" name="Page_190"></a>[Pg 190]</span> full of grace and worthy of all praise; wherefore it is no marvel that
+these works are so esteemed and admired, that many craftsmen from
+distant parts have set off in order to go to see them.</p>
+
+<p>Antonio da San Gallo, then, recognizing how much Mosca was worth,
+made use of him in any undertaking of importance, with the intention of
+remunerating him some day when the occasion might present itself, and
+of giving him to know how much he loved him for his abilities. When,
+therefore, after the death of Pope Clement, a new Supreme Pontiff had
+been elected in Paul III of the Farnese family, who ordained that, the
+mouth of the well at Orvieto having remained unfinished, Antonio should
+have charge of it, Antonio took Mosca thither, to the end that he might
+carry that work to completion, which presented some difficulties, and
+particularly in the ornamentation of the doors, for the reason that,
+the curve of the mouth being round, convex without and concave within,
+those two circles conflicted with each other and caused a difficulty in
+accommodating the squared doors with the ornaments of stone. But
+the virtue of that singular genius of Simone's solved every difficulty, and
+executed the whole work with such grace and perfection, that no one
+could see that there had ever been any difficulty. He finished off the
+mouth and border of the well in grey sandstone, filled in with bricks, together
+with some very beautiful inscriptions on white stone and other
+ornaments, making the doors correspond with one another. He also
+made there in marble the arms of the above-named Pope Paul Farnese,
+or rather, where they had previously been made of balls for Pope Clement,
+who had carried out that work, Mosca was forced&mdash;and he succeeded
+excellently well&mdash;to make lilies out of the balls in relief, and thus to
+change the arms of the Medici into those of the house of Farnese; notwithstanding,
+as I have said (for so do things go in this world), that the
+author of that vast, regal, and magnificent work was Pope Clement VII,
+of whom in this last and most imposing part no mention whatever was
+made.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img020" id="img020"></a>
+<img src="images/img020-tb.jpg" width="400" height="647" alt="The Altar of the three Kings." title="">
+<p class="caption">THE ALTAR OF THE THREE KINGS<br>
+(<i>After</i> Simone Mosca <i>and</i> Michele San Michele. <i>Orvieto: Duomo</i>)<br>
+<i>Alinari</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img020.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>While Simone was engaged in finishing this well, the Wardens of
+Works of S. Maria, the Duomo of Orvieto, desiring to give completion
+to the chapel of marble that had been carried as far as the socle under
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191" name="Page_191"></a>[Pg 191]</span> the direction of Michele San Michele of Verona, with some carvings,
+besought Simone, whom they had come to know as a master of true
+excellence, that he should attend to it. Whereupon they came to terms,
+and Simone, liking the society of the people of Orvieto, brought his
+family thither, in order to live in greater comfort; and then he set himself
+to work with a quiet and composed mind, being greatly honoured by
+everyone in that place. When, therefore, as it were by way of sample,
+he had made a beginning with some pilasters and friezes, the excellence
+and ability of Simone were recognized by those men, and there was
+assigned to him a salary of two hundred crowns of gold a year, and with
+this, continuing to labour, he carried that work well forward. Now in the
+centre, to fill up the ornaments, there was to go a scene of marble in
+half-relief, representing the Adoration of the Magi; and there was summoned
+at the suggestion of Simone his very dear friend Raffaello da
+Montelupo, the Florentine sculptor, who, as has been related, executed
+half of that scene in a very beautiful manner. In the ornamentation of
+this chapel, then, are certain socles, each two and a half braccia in breadth,
+which are on either side of the altar, and upon these are pilasters five
+braccia high, two on either side, between which is the story of the Magi;
+and on the pilasters next to the story, of which two of the faces are seen,
+are carved some candelabra, with friezes of grotesques, masks, little
+figures, and foliage, which are things divine. In the predella at the
+foot, which runs right over the altar from pilaster to pilaster, is a little
+half-length Angel who is holding an inscription with his hands, with
+festoons over all, between the capitals of the pilasters, where the architrave,
+frieze and great cornice project to the extent of the depth of the
+pilasters. Above those in the centre, in a space equal to their breadth,
+curves an arch that serves as an ornament to the above-named story of
+the Magi, and in this, namely, in the lunette, are many Angels; and above
+the arch is a cornice, which runs from one pilaster to another, that is,
+from those on the outside, which form a frontispiece to the whole work.
+In this part is a God the Father in half-relief; and at the sides, where
+the arch rises over the pilasters, are two Victories in half-relief. All
+this work, then, is so well composed, and executed with such a wealth
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192" name="Page_192"></a>[Pg 192]</span> of carvings, that one cannot have enough of examining the minute details
+of the perforations and the excellence of all the things that are in the
+capitals, cornices, masks, festoons, and candelabra in the round, which
+form the completion of a work truly worthy to be admired as something
+rare.</p>
+
+<p>Simone Mosca thus dwelling in Orvieto, a son of his called Francesco,
+and as a bye-name Il Moschino, a boy fifteen years of age, who had been
+produced by nature with chisels in his hand, as it were, and with so
+beautiful a genius, that he did with supreme grace whatsoever thing he
+desired to do, executed in this work under the discipline of his father,
+miraculously, so to speak, the Angels that are holding the inscriptions
+between the pilasters, then the God the Father in the pediment, as well as
+the Angels that are in the lunette of that work, above the Adoration of
+the Magi executed by Raffaello da Montelupo, and finally the Victories
+at the sides of the lunette; by which works he caused everyone to wonder
+and marvel. All this was the reason that, when the chapel was finished,
+Simone was commissioned by the Wardens of Works of the Duomo to
+make another similar to it, on the other side, to the end that the space
+of the Chapel of the High-Altar might be suitably set off, on the understanding
+that the figures should be varied without varying the architecture,
+and that in the centre there should be the Visitation of Our Lady,
+which was allotted to the above-named Moschino. Then, having made
+an agreement about every matter, the father and son set their hands to
+the work; and, while they were engaged upon it, Mosca was very helpful
+and useful to that city, making for many citizens architectural designs
+of houses and many other edifices. Among other things, he executed
+in that city the ground-plan and fa�ade of the house of Messer Raffaello
+Gualtieri, father of the Bishop of Viterbo, and of Messer Felice, both
+noblemen and lords of great excellence and reputation; and likewise the
+ground-plans of some houses for the honourable Counts della Cervara.
+He did the same in many places near Orvieto, and made, in particular,
+the models of many structures and buildings for Signor Pirro Colonna
+da Stripicciano.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img021" id="img021"></a>
+<img src="images/img021-tb.jpg" width="400" height="604" alt="The Salutation." title="">
+<p class="caption">THE SALUTATION<br>
+(<i>After</i> Simone Mosca. <i>Orvieto: Duomo</i>)<br>
+<i>Alinari</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img021.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The Pope then causing the fortress to be built in Perugia where there
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193" name="Page_193"></a>[Pg 193]</span> had stood the houses of the Baglioni, Antonio da San Gallo, having sent
+for Mosca, gave him the charge of making the ornaments; where there
+were executed after his designs all the doors, windows, chimney-pieces,
+and other suchlike things, and in particular two large and very beautiful
+escutcheons of his Holiness. In that work Simone formed a connection
+with M. Tiberio Crispo, who was Castellan there; and he was sent by
+M. Tiberio to Bolsena, where, on the highest point of that stronghold,
+overlooking the lake, he arranged a large and beautiful habitation, partly
+on the old structure and partly founding anew, with a very handsome
+flight of steps and many ornaments of stone. Nor did any long time
+pass before Messer Tiberio, having been made Castellan of the Castello
+di S. Angelo, caused Mosca to go to Rome, where he made use of him in
+many matters in renovating the apartments of that castle; and, among
+other things, he caused him to make over the arches that rise over the
+new loggia, which faces towards the meadows, two escutcheons of the
+above-named Pope in marble, which are so well wrought and perforated
+in the mitre, or rather, triple crown, in the keys, and in certain festoons
+and little masks, that they are marvellous.</p>
+
+<p>Having then returned to Orvieto in order to finish the work of the
+chapel, he laboured there continuously all the time that Pope Paul was
+alive, executing it in such a manner that it proved to be, as may be
+seen, no less excellent than the first, and perhaps even better. For
+Mosca, as has been said, bore such love to art, and took such pleasure in
+working, that he could never have enough of it, almost striving after
+the impossible, and that rather from a desire for glory than from any
+wish to accumulate gold, for he was more pleased to work well at his
+profession than to acquire property.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, Julius III having been elected Pope in the year 1550, and
+all men thinking that work would be begun in earnest on the building of
+S. Pietro, Mosca went off to Rome and sought to obtain at a fixed price
+from the superintendents of that building the commission for some
+capitals of marble, but more to accommodate Gian Domenico, his son-in-law,
+than for any other reason. Now Giorgio Vasari, who always
+bore love to Mosca, found him in Rome, whither he also had been summoned
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194" name="Page_194"></a>[Pg 194]</span> to the service of the Pope, and he thought that without fail he
+would have some work to offer him, for the reason that the old Cardinal
+dal Monte, when he died, had left directions with his heirs that a tomb of
+marble should be built for him in S. Pietro a Montorio, and the above-named
+Pope Julius, his nephew and heir, had ordained that this should
+be done, and had given the charge of the matter to Vasari; and Giorgio
+wished that in that tomb Mosca should execute some extraordinary work
+in carving. But, after Giorgio had made some models for that tomb, the
+Pope discussed the whole matter with Michelagnolo Buonarroti before
+he would make up his mind; whereupon Michelagnolo told his Holiness
+that he should not involve himself with carvings, saying that, although
+they enrich a work, they confuse the figures, whereas squared work,
+when it is well done, is much more beautiful than carving and is a better
+accompaniment for the figures, for the reason that figures do not brook
+other carvings about them: and even so did his Holiness order the work
+to be done. Wherefore Vasari was not able to give Mosca anything to do
+in that work, and he was dismissed; and the tomb was finished without
+any carvings, which made it much better than it would have been with
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Simone having then returned to Orvieto, arrangements were made
+to erect after his designs, in the cross at the head of the church, two great
+tabernacles of marble, works truly graceful, beautiful, and well-proportioned,
+for one of which Raffaello da Montelupo made in marble a
+nude Christ with the Cross on His shoulder in a niche, and for the other
+Moschino made a S. Sebastian, likewise nude. Work being then continued
+on the execution of the Apostles for the church, Moschino made
+a S. Peter and a S. Paul of the same size, which were held to be creditable
+statues. Meanwhile the work of the above-mentioned Chapel of the
+Visitation was not abandoned, and it was carried so far forward during
+the lifetime of Mosca, that there was nothing left to do save two birds,
+and even these would not have been wanting, had not M. Bastiano
+Gualtieri, Bishop of Viterbo, as has been related, kept Simone occupied
+with an ornament of marble in four pieces, which, when finished, he sent
+to France to the Cardinal of Lorraine, who held it very dear, for it was
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_195" name="Page_195"></a>[Pg 195]</span> beautiful to a marvel, all full of foliage and wrought with such diligence,
+that it is believed to have been one of the best that Simone ever executed.</p>
+
+<p>Not long after he had finished that work, in the year 1554, Simone
+died, at the age of fifty-eight, to the no small loss of that church of
+Orvieto, in which he was buried with honour.</p>
+
+<p>Francesco Moschino was then elected to his father's place by the
+Wardens of Works of that same Duomo, but, thinking nothing of it, he
+left it to Raffaello da Montelupo, and went to Rome, where he finished
+for M. Ruberto Strozzi two very graceful figures in marble, the Mars
+and Venus, namely, which are in the court of his house in the Banchi.
+Afterwards he executed a scene with little figures, almost in full-relief,
+in which is Diana bathing with her Nymphs, who changes Act�on into a
+stag, and he is devoured by his own hounds; and then Francesco came to
+Florence, and gave the work to the Lord Duke Cosimo, whom he much
+desired to serve. Whereupon his Excellency, having accepted and much
+commended it, did not disappoint the desire of Moschino, even as he has
+never disappointed anyone who has sought to work valiantly in any
+calling. For he was attached to the Works of the Duomo at Pisa, and
+has laboured up to the present day with great credit to himself in the
+Chapel of the Nunziata, formerly built by Stagio da Pietrasanta, executing
+the Angel and the Madonna in figures of four braccia, together with the
+carvings and every other thing; in the centre, Adam and Eve, who have
+the apple-tree between them; and a large God the Father with certain
+little boys on the vaulting of that chapel, which is all of marble, as are
+also the two statues, which have gained for Moschino no little fame and
+honour. And since that chapel is little less than finished, his Excellency
+has given orders that the chapel opposite to it should be taken in hand,
+which is called the Chapel of the Incoronata and stands immediately
+at the entrance of the church, on the left hand. The same Moschino,
+in connection with the nuptial festivities of her most serene Majesty
+Queen Joanna and the most illustrious Prince of Florence, has acquitted
+himself very well in those works that were given him to do.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="girolamo" id="girolamo"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_197" name="Page_197"></a>[Pg 197]</span> GIROLAMO AND BARTOLOMMEO
+GENGA, AND GIOVAN BATTISTA
+SAN MARINO, SON-IN-LAW
+OF GIROLAMO</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="life_of_girolamo" id="life_of_girolamo"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_199" name="Page_199"></a>[Pg 199]</span> LIVES OF GIROLAMO AND BARTOLOMMEO GENGA,
+AND OF GIOVAN BATTISTA SAN MARINO,
+SON-IN-LAW OF GIROLAMO</h2>
+
+
+<p>Girolamo Genga, who was of Urbino, was apprenticed by his father
+at the age of ten to the wool trade, but he followed it with the greatest
+ill-will, and, according as he could find time and place, he was for ever
+drawing in secret with charcoal or an ordinary pen. Which circumstance
+being observed by some friends of his father, they exhorted him
+to remove the boy from that trade and to set him to painting; wherefore
+he placed Girolamo with certain masters of little reputation in Urbino.
+But, having seen his beautiful manner, and that he was like to make
+proficience, when the boy was fifteen years of age the father apprenticed
+him to Maestro Luca Signorelli of Cortona, an excellent master in
+painting of that time; with whom he stayed many years, following him
+to the March of Ancona, to Cortona, and to many other places where he
+executed works, and in particular to Orvieto, in the Duomo of which city,
+as has been related, Luca painted a chapel of Our Lady with an infinite
+number of figures. At this our Girolamo worked continually, and he
+was always one of the best disciples that Luca had.</p>
+
+<p>Then, having parted from Signorelli, he placed himself with Pietro
+Perugino, a much esteemed painter, with whom he stayed about three
+years, giving considerable attention to perspective, which was so well
+grasped and understood by him, that it may be said that he became
+very excellent therein, even as is evident from his works in painting and
+architecture. This was at the same time that there was with Pietro
+the divine Raffaello da Urbino, who was much the friend of Girolamo.</p>
+
+<p>After leaving Pietro, he went off to live in Florence, where he studied
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_200" name="Page_200"></a>[Pg 200]</span> for some considerable time. Then, having gone to Siena, he stayed there
+for months and even years with Pandolfo Petrucci, in whose house he
+painted many rooms, which, from their being very well designed and
+coloured in a pleasing manner, were rightly admired and praised by all
+the people of Siena, and particularly by the above-named Pandolfo, by
+whom he was always looked upon with great favour and cherished most
+dearly. Pandolfo having died, he then returned to Urbino, where
+Guidobaldo, the second Duke, retained him for a considerable time,
+causing him to paint horse's caparisons, such as were used in those times,
+in company with Timoteo da Urbino, a painter of passing good name
+and much experience, together with whom he painted a chapel of S. Martino
+in the Vescovado for Messer Giovan Piero Arrivabene of Mantua,
+then Bishop of Urbino. In this, both the one and the other of them
+gave proof of very beautiful genius, as the work itself demonstrates, in
+which is a portrait of the above-named Bishop, which has all the appearance
+of life. Genga was also particularly employed by the same Duke
+to execute scenery and settings for comedies, which, since he had a very
+good understanding of perspective and was well-grounded in architecture,
+he made marvellously beautiful.</p>
+
+<p>He then departed from Urbino and went to Rome, where he executed
+in painting, in S. Caterina da Siena on the Strada Giulia, a Resurrection
+of Christ, wherein he made himself known as a rare and excellent master,
+having done it with good design and with figures foreshortened in beautiful
+attitudes and well coloured, to which those who are of the profession
+and have seen it are able to bear ample testimony. While living in
+Rome, he gave much attention to measuring the antiquities there, as is
+proved by writings in the possession of his heirs.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img022" id="img022"></a>
+<img src="images/img022-tb.jpg" width="400" height="603" alt="Madonna and Child with Saints." title="">
+<p class="caption">MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINTS<br>
+(<i>After the painting by</i> Girolamo Genga. <i>Milan: Brera, 202</i>)<br>
+<i>Alinari</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img022.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>At this time, Duke Guido having died, and having been succeeded
+by Francesco Maria, third Duke of Urbino, Girolamo was recalled from
+Rome by Francesco Maria, and constrained to return to Urbino at the
+time when the above-named Duke took to wife and brought into his
+dominions Leonora Gonzaga, the daughter of the Marquis of Mantua;
+and he was employed by his Excellency in making triumphal arches,
+festive preparations, and scenery for comedies, which were all so well
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_201" name="Page_201"></a>[Pg 201]</span> arranged and carried into execution by him, that Urbino could be likened
+to a Rome in triumph; from which he gained very great fame and honour.
+Afterwards, in due course, the Duke was expelled from his state for the
+last time, when he went to Mantua, and Girolamo followed him, even as
+he had already done in his other periods of exile, always sharing one
+and the same fortune with him; and he retired with his family to Cesena.
+There he painted for the high-altar of S. Agostino an altar-piece in oils,
+at the top of which is an Annunciation, and below that a God the Father,
+and still lower down a Madonna with the Child in her arms, between the
+four Doctors of the Church&mdash;a work truly beautiful and worthy to be
+esteemed. He then painted in fresco a chapel on the right hand in
+S. Francesco at Forl�, containing the Assumption of the Madonna, with
+many Angels and other figures&mdash;Prophets, namely, and Apostles&mdash;around;
+in this, also, it is evident how admirable was his genius, and the
+work was judged to be very beautiful. He also painted there the story
+of the Holy Spirit, which he finished in the year 1512, for Messer Francesco
+Lombardi, a physician; and other works throughout Romagna, for all
+which he gained honour and rewards.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke having then returned to his state, Girolamo also returned,
+and was retained by him and employed as architect in restoring an old
+palace on the Monte dell'Imperiale, above Pesaro, and adding to it
+another tower. That palace was adorned with scenes in painting from
+the actions of the Duke, after the directions and designs of Girolamo,
+by Francesco da Forl� and Raffaello dal Borgo, painters of good repute,
+and by Camillo Mantovano, a very rare master in painting landscapes
+and verdure; and the young Florentine Bronzino also worked there,
+among others, as has been related in the Life of Pontormo. Thither,
+likewise, were summoned the Dossi of Ferrara, and a room was assigned
+to them to paint; but since, when they had finished that room, it did not
+please the Duke, he had it thrown down and repainted by the masters
+mentioned above. Girolamo then erected the tower there, one hundred
+and twenty feet in height, with thirteen flights of wooden steps whereby
+to ascend to the top, so well fitted and concealed in the walls, that they
+can be withdrawn with ease from story to story, which renders that
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_202" name="Page_202"></a>[Pg 202]</span> tower very strong and marvellous. A desire afterwards came to the
+Duke to fortify Pesaro, and he caused Pier Francesco da Viterbo, a most
+excellent architect, to be sent for; and Girolamo always taking part in the
+discussions that arose about the fortifications, his discourse and his opinions
+were held to be good and full of judgment. Wherefore, if I may be
+allowed to say it, the design of that fortress came rather from Girolamo
+than from any other, although that sort of architecture was always little
+esteemed by him, appearing to him to be of small value and dignity.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke, then, perceiving how rare a genius he had at his command,
+determined to build on the above-named Monte dell'Imperiale,
+near the old palace, a new palace; and so he built that to be seen there
+at the present day, which being a very beautiful and well-planned fabric,
+and full of apartments, colonnades, courts, loggie, fountains, and most
+delightful gardens, there is no Prince passes that way that does not go
+to see it. Wherefore it was right fitting that Pope Paul III, on his way
+to Bologna with all his Court, should go to see it and find it entirely to
+his satisfaction. From the design of this same master, the Duke caused
+the Palace at Pesaro to be restored, and also the little park, making
+within it a house representing a ruin, which is a very beautiful thing to
+see. Among other things, there is a staircase similar to that of the
+Belvedere in Rome, which is very handsome. By means of him the
+Duke had the fortress of Gradara restored, and likewise the Palace at
+Castel Durante, insomuch that all that is good in those works came from
+that admirable genius. Girolamo also built the corridor of the Palace
+at Urbino, above the garden, and he enclosed a courtyard on one side
+with perforated stone-work executed with great diligence.</p>
+
+<p>From the design of the same master, likewise, were begun the Convent
+of the Frati Zoccolanti at Monte Baroccio and S. Maria delle Grazie at
+Sinigaglia, which in the end remained unfinished by reason of the death
+of the Duke. And about the same time was begun after his directions
+and design the Vescovado of Sinigaglia, of which the model, made by
+him, is still to be seen. He also executed some works in sculpture and
+figures of clay and wax in the round, beautiful enough, which are in the
+house of his family at Urbino. For the Imperiale he made some Angels
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_203" name="Page_203"></a>[Pg 203]</span> in clay, which he afterwards caused to be cast in bronze and placed
+over the doors of the rooms decorated with stucco-work in the new palace;
+and these are very beautiful. For the Bishop of Sinigaglia he executed
+some fantasies in wax in the form of drinking-cups, which were afterwards
+to be made in silver; and with greater diligence he made some
+others, most beautiful, for the Duke's credence. He showed fine invention
+in masquerades and costumes, as was seen in the time of the above-named
+Duke, by whom he was passing well rewarded, as he deserved, for
+his rare parts and good qualities.</p>
+
+<p>His son, Guidobaldo, who reigns at the present day, having then
+succeeded him as Duke, caused a beginning to be made by the above-named
+Genga with the Church of S. Giovan Battista at Pesaro, which,
+having been carried out according to the model of Girolamo by his son
+Bartolommeo, is of very beautiful architecture in every part, for he
+imitated the antique considerably, and made it in such a manner that
+it is the most beautiful temple that there is in those parts, as the work
+itself clearly demonstrates, being able to challenge comparison with the
+most famous buildings in Rome. After his designs and directions, likewise,
+there was executed in S. Chiara at Urbino by the Florentine sculptor
+Bartolommeo Ammanati, who was then very young, the tomb of Duke
+Francesco Maria, which, for a simple work of little cost, proved to be
+very beautiful. In like manner, the Venetian painter Battista Franco
+was summoned by him to paint the great chapel of the Duomo at Urbino,
+at the time when there was being made after his design the ornament of
+the organ of that Duomo, which is not yet finished.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly afterwards, the Cardinal of Mantua having written to the
+Duke that he should send him Girolamo, because he wished to restore the
+Vescovado of that city, Girolamo went thither and fitted it up very
+well with lights and with all that the above-named lord desired. Besides
+this, the Cardinal, wishing to make a beautiful fa�ade for the Duomo,
+caused him to prepare a model for it, which was executed by him in
+such a manner, that it may be said that it surpassed all the architectural
+works of his time, for the reason that in it may be seen grandeur, proportion,
+grace, and great beauty of composition.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204" name="Page_204"></a>[Pg 204]</span> Having then returned from Mantua, now an old man, he went to
+live at a villa of his own, called Le Valle, in the territory of Urbino, in
+order to rest and enjoy the fruits of his labours; in which place, not
+wishing to remain idle, he executed in chalk a Conversion of S. Paul
+with figures and horses of considerable size and in very beautiful attitudes,
+which was finished by him with such patience and diligence, that no
+greater could be either described or seen, as is evident from the work itself,
+now in the possession of his heirs, by whom it is treasured as a very dear
+and precious thing. There, while living with a tranquil mind, he was
+attacked by a terrible fever, and, after he had received all the Sacraments
+of the Church, finished the course of his life, to the infinite grief of his
+wife and children, on the 11th of July in the year 1551, at the age of
+about seventy-five. Having been carried from that place to Urbino, he
+was buried with honour in the Vescovado, in front of the Chapel of
+S. Martino formerly painted by him; and his death caused extraordinary
+sorrow to his relatives and to all the citizens.</p>
+
+<p>Girolamo was always an excellent man, insomuch that nothing was
+ever heard of any bad action committed by him. He was not only a
+painter, sculptor, and architect, but also a good musician and a fine
+talker, and his society was very agreeable. He was full of courtesy and
+lovingness towards his relatives and friends; and, what entitles him to
+no little praise, he laid the foundation of the house of Genga at Urbino
+with his good name and property. He left two sons, one of whom followed
+in his footsteps and gave his attention to architecture, in which, if he
+had not been hindered by death, he was like to become most excellent,
+as his beginnings demonstrate; and the other, who devoted himself to the
+cares of the family, is still alive at the present day.</p>
+
+<p>A disciple of Girolamo, as has been related, was Francesco Menzochi
+of Forl�, who first began to draw by himself when still a child, imitating
+and copying an altar-piece in the Duomo of Forl�, by the hand of Marco
+Parmigiano<a id="FNanchor7" name="FNanchor7"></a><a href="#Footnote7" title="Go to footnote 7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> of Forl�, containing a Madonna, S. Jerome, and other
+Saints, and held at that time to be the best of the modern pictures; and
+he occupied himself likewise with imitating the works of Rondinino<a id="FNanchor8" name="FNanchor8"></a><a href="#Footnote8" title="Go to footnote 8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> da
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_205" name="Page_205"></a>[Pg 205]</span> Ravenna, a painter more excellent than Marco, who a little time before
+had placed on the high-altar of the above-named Duomo a most beautiful
+altar-piece, in which was painted Christ giving the Communion to the
+Apostles, and in a lunette above it a Dead Christ, and in the predella of
+that altar-piece very graceful scenes with little figures from the life of
+S. Helen. These works brought him forward in such a manner, that,
+when Girolamo Genga went, as we have said, to paint the chapel in
+S. Francesco at Forl� for M. Bartolommeo Lombardino, Francesco at
+that time went to live with Genga, seizing that opportunity of learning,
+and did not cease to serve him as long as he lived. There, and also at
+Urbino and in the work of the Imperiale at Pesaro, he laboured continually,
+as has been related, esteemed and beloved by Genga, because
+he acquitted himself very well, as many altar-pieces by his hand bear
+witness that are dispersed throughout the city of Forl�, and particularly
+three of them which are in S. Francesco, besides that there are some
+scenes of his in fresco in the hall of the Palace.</p>
+
+<p>He painted many works throughout Romagna; and at Venice, also,
+for the very reverend Patriarch Grimani, he executed four large pictures
+in oils that were placed in the ceiling of a little hall in his house, round
+an octagon that Francesco Salviati painted; in which pictures are the
+stories of Psyche, held to be very beautiful. But the place where he
+strove to do his utmost and to put forth all his powers, was the Chapel
+of the most holy Sacrament in the Church of Loreto, in which he painted
+some Angels round a tabernacle of marble wherein rests the Body of
+Christ, and two scenes on the walls of that chapel, one of Melchizedek
+and the other of the Manna raining down, both executed in fresco; and
+over the vaulting he distributed fifteen little scenes of the Passion of
+Jesus Christ, nine of which he executed in painting, and six in half-relief.
+This was a rich work and well conceived, and he won for it such honour,
+that he was not suffered to depart until he had decorated another chapel
+of equal size in the same place, opposite to the first, and called the Chapel
+of the Conception, with the vaulting all wrought with rich and very
+beautiful stucco-work; in which he taught the art of stucco-work to his
+son Pietro Paolo, who has since done him honour and has become a well-practised
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_206" name="Page_206"></a>[Pg 206]</span> master in that field. Francesco, then, painted in fresco on the
+walls the Nativity and the Presentation of Our Lady, and over the altar
+he painted S. Anne and the Virgin with the Child in her arms, and two
+Angels that are crowning her. And, in truth, his works are much extolled
+by the craftsmen, and likewise his ways and his life, which was that of a
+true Christian; and he lived in peace, enjoying that which he had gained
+with his labours.</p>
+
+<p>A pupil of Genga, also, was Baldassarre Lancia of Urbino, who,
+having given his attention to many ingenious matters, has since practised
+his hand in fortifications, at which he worked on a salary for the
+Signoria of Lucca, in which place he stayed for some time. He then
+attached himself to the most illustrious Duke Cosimo de' Medici, whom
+he came to serve in the fortifications of the states of Florence and Siena;
+and the Duke has employed and still employs him in many ingenious
+works, in which Baldassarre has laboured valiantly and with honour,
+winning remunerations from that grateful lord.</p>
+
+<p>Many others also served Girolamo Genga, of whom, from their
+not having attained to any great excellence, there is no need to
+speak.</p>
+
+<p>To the above-named Girolamo, at Cesena, in the year 1518, the
+while that he was accompanying the Duke his master in exile, there
+was born a son called Bartolommeo, who was brought up by him very
+decently, and then, when he was well grown, placed to learn grammar,
+in which he made more than ordinary proficience. Afterwards, when he
+was eighteen years of age, the father, perceiving that he was inclined more
+to design than to letters, caused him to study design under his own
+discipline for about two years: which finished, he sent him to study
+design and painting in Florence, where he knew that the true study of
+that art was to be found, on account of the innumerable works by excellent
+masters that are there, both ancient and modern. Living in that place,
+and attending to design and to architecture, Bartolommeo formed a
+friendship with Giorgio Vasari, the painter and architect of Arezzo, and
+with the sculptor Bartolommeo Ammanati, from whom he learned many
+things appertaining to art. Finally, after having been three years in
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_207" name="Page_207"></a>[Pg 207]</span> Florence, he returned to his father, who was then attending to the building
+of S. Giovanni Battista at Pesaro. Whereupon, the father having seen
+the designs of Bartolommeo, it appeared to him that he acquitted himself
+much better in architecture, for which he had a very good inclination,
+than in painting; wherefore, keeping him under his own care some months,
+he taught him the methods of perspective. And afterwards he sent him
+to Rome, to the end that he might see the marvellous buildings, both
+ancient and modern, that are there, of which, in the four years that he
+stayed there, he took the measurements, and made therein very great
+proficience. Then, on his way back to Urbino, passing through Florence
+in order to see Francesco<a id="FNanchor9" name="FNanchor9"></a><a href="#Footnote9" title="Go to footnote 9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> San Marino, his brother-in-law, who was living
+there as engineer to the Lord Duke Cosimo, Signor Stefano Colonna da
+Palestrina, at that time general to that lord, having heard of his ability,
+sought to engage him with himself, with a good salary. But he, being
+much indebted to the Duke of Urbino, would not attach himself to others,
+and returned to Urbino, where he was received by that Duke into his
+service, and ever afterwards held very dear.</p>
+
+<p>Not long afterwards, the Duke taking to wife Signora Vittoria
+Farnese, Bartolommeo received from the Duke the charge of executing
+the festive preparations for those nuptials, which he did in a truly honourable
+and magnificent manner. Among other things, he made a triumphal
+arch in the Borgo di Valbuona, so beautiful and so well wrought, that
+there is none larger or more beautiful to be seen; whence it became
+evident how much knowledge of architecture he had acquired at Rome.
+Then the Duke, having to go into Lombardy, as General to the Signoria
+of Venice, to inspect the fortresses of that dominion, took with him
+Bartolommeo, of whom he availed himself much in preparing designs
+and sites of fortresses, and in particular at the Porta S. Felice in Verona.
+Now, while Bartolommeo was in Lombardy, the King of Bohemia, who
+was returning from Spain to his kingdom, passed through that province
+and was received with honour by the Duke at Verona; and he saw those
+fortresses. And, since they pleased him, after he had become acquainted
+with Bartolommeo, he wished to take him to his kingdom, in order to
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_208" name="Page_208"></a>[Pg 208]</span> make use of him in fortifying his territories, with a good salary; but the
+Duke would not give him leave, and the matter went no further.</p>
+
+<p>When they had returned to Urbino, no long time passed before
+Girolamo, the father, came to his death; whereupon Bartolommeo was
+set by the Duke in the place of his father over all the buildings of the
+state, and sent to Pesaro, where he continued the building of S. Giovanni
+Battista, after the model of Girolamo. During that time he built in the
+Palace of Pesaro, over the Strada de' Mercanti, a suite of rooms which
+the Duke now occupies; a fine work, with most beautiful ornaments in
+the form of doors, staircases, and chimney-pieces, of which things he was
+an excellent architect. Which having seen, the Duke desired that in
+the Palace of Urbino as well he should make another suite of apartments,
+almost entirely on the fa�ade that faces towards S. Domenico; and this,
+when finished, proved to be the most beautiful suite in that court, or
+rather, palace, and the most ornate that is there. Not long afterwards,
+the Signori of Bologna having asked for him for some days from the
+Duke, his Excellency granted him to them very readily; and he, having
+gone, served them in what they desired in such a manner, that they
+remained very well satisfied and showed him innumerable courtesies.</p>
+
+<p>He then made for the Duke, who desired to construct a sea-port at
+Pesaro, a very beautiful model; and this was taken to Venice, to the
+house of Count Giovan Giacomo Leonardi, at that time the Duke's
+Ambassador in that place, to the end that it might be seen by many
+of the profession who often assembled, with other choice spirits, to hold
+discussions and disputations on various matters in the house of the above-named
+Count, who was a truly remarkable man. There, then, after that
+model had been seen and the fine discourse of Genga had been heard, the
+model was held by all without exception to be masterly and beautiful,
+and the master who had made it a man of the rarest genius. But, when
+he had returned to Pesaro, the model after all was not carried into execution,
+because new circumstances of great importance drove that project
+out of the Duke's mind.</p>
+
+<p>About that time Genga made the design of the Church of Monte
+L'Abbate, and also that of the Church of S. Piero in Mondavio, which
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_209" name="Page_209"></a>[Pg 209]</span> was carried into execution by Don Pier Antonio Genga in such a manner,
+that, for a small work, I do not believe that there is anything better to
+be seen.</p>
+
+<p>These works finished, no long time passed before, Pope Julius III
+having been elected, and the Duke of Urbino having been created by
+him Captain General of Holy Church, his Excellency went to Rome, and
+Genga with him. There, his Holiness wishing to fortify the Borgo,
+at the request of the Duke Genga made some very beautiful designs,
+which, with a number of others, are in the collection of his Excellency
+at Urbino. For these reasons the fame of Bartolommeo spread abroad,
+and the Genoese, while he was living with the Duke in Rome, asked for
+him from his Excellency, in order to make use of him in some fortifications
+of their own; but the Duke would not grant him to them, either at that
+time or on another occasion when they again asked for him, after his
+return to Urbino.</p>
+
+<p>In the end, when he was near the close of his life, there were sent
+to Pesaro by the Grand Master of Rhodes two knights of that Order of
+Jerusalem, to beseech his Excellency that he should deign to lend them
+Bartolommeo, to the end that they might take him to the Island of
+Malta, in which they wished to construct not only very large fortifications
+wherewith to defend themselves against the Turks, but also two cities,
+so as to unite many villages that were there into one or two places.
+Whereupon the Duke, whom the above-named knights in two months
+had not been able to induce to grant them Bartolommeo, although they
+had availed themselves of the good services of the Duchess and others,
+finally complied with their request for a fixed period, at the entreaty of
+a good Capuchin father, to whom his Excellency bore a very great affection,
+and refused nothing that he asked; and the artifice that was used
+by that holy man, who made it a matter of conscience with the Duke,
+saying that it was in the interest of the Christian Republic, was not
+otherwise than highly commendable and worthy of praise. And thus
+Bartolommeo, who had never received any favour greater than this,
+departed with the above-named knights from Pesaro on the 20th of
+January, 1558; but they lingered in Sicily, being delayed by the fortune
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_210" name="Page_210"></a>[Pg 210]</span> of the sea, and they did not reach Malta, where they were received with
+rejoicing by the Grand Master, until the 11th of March. Having then
+been shown what he was to do, he acquitted himself so well in those
+fortifications, that it could not be expressed in words; insomuch that to
+the Grand Master and all those noble knights it appeared that they had
+found another Archimedes, and this they proved by making him most
+honourable presents and holding him, as a rare master, in supreme
+veneration. Then, after having made the models of a city, of some
+churches, and of the palace and residence of the same Grand Master,
+with most beautiful invention and design, he fell sick of his last illness,
+for, having set himself one day in the month of July, the heat in that
+island being very great, between two doors to refresh himself, he had not
+been there long when he was assailed by insufferable pains of the body
+and by a cruel flux, which killed him in seventeen days, to the infinite
+sorrow of the Grand Master and all those most honourable and valiant
+knights, to whom it appeared that they had found a man after their own
+hearts, when he was snatched from them by death. The Lord Duke of
+Urbino, having been advised of this sad news, felt indescribable sorrow,
+and bewailed the death of poor Genga; and then, having resolved to
+demonstrate to the five children whom he had left behind him the love
+that he bore to him, he took them under his particular and loving protection.</p>
+
+<p>Bartolommeo showed beautiful invention in masquerades, and was
+a rare master in making scenic settings for comedies. He delighted to
+write sonnets and other compositions in verse and prose, and in none
+was he better than in the ottava rima, in which manner of writing he was
+an author of passing good renown. He died at the age of forty, in the
+year 1558.</p>
+
+<p>Giovan Battista Bellucci of San Marino having been the son-in-law
+of Girolamo Genga, I have judged that it would not be well to withhold
+what I have to say of him, after the Lives of Girolamo and Bartolommeo
+Genga, and particularly in order to show that men of fine intellect, if
+only they be willing, succeed in everything, even if they set themselves
+late in life to difficult and honourable enterprises; for study, when added
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_211" name="Page_211"></a>[Pg 211]</span> to natural inclination, has often been seen to accomplish marvellous
+things. Giovan Battista, then, was born in San Marino on the 27th of
+September, 1506, to Bartolommeo Bellucci, a person of passing good
+family in that place; and after he had learned the first rudiments of the
+humanities, when eighteen years of age, he was sent by that same Bartolommeo,
+his father, to Bologna, to attend to the pursuit of commerce
+under Bastiano di Ronco, a merchant of the Guild of Wool. Having been
+there about two years, he returned to San Marino sick of a quartan
+fever, which hung upon him two years; of which being finally cured, he
+set up a wool business of his own, with which he continued up to the
+year 1535, at which time his father, perceiving that Giovan Battista
+was in good circumstances, gave him for a wife in Cagli a daughter of
+Guido Peruzzi, a person of considerable standing in that city. But she
+died not long afterwards, and Giovan Battista went to Rome to seek out
+Domenico Peruzzi, his brother-in-law, who was equerry to Signor Ascanio
+Colonna; and by means of him Giovan Battista lived for two years with
+that lord as a gentleman. He then returned home; and it came about
+that, as he frequented Pesaro, Girolamo Genga, having come to know him
+as an excellent and well-behaved young man, gave him a daughter of his
+own for wife and took him into his house. Whereupon Giovan Battista,
+being much inclined to architecture, and giving his attention with much
+diligence to the architectural works that his wife's father was executing,
+began to gain a very good grasp of the various manners of building, and
+to study Vitruvius; and thus, what with that which he acquired by
+himself and that which Genga taught him, he became a good architect,
+and particularly in the matter of fortifications and other things relating
+to war.</p>
+
+<p>Then, in the year 1541, his wife died, leaving him two boys; and
+he remained until 1543 without coming to any further resolution about
+his life. At that time, in the month of September, there appeared in
+San Marino one Signor Gustamante, a Spaniard, sent by his Imperial
+Majesty to that Republic on some affairs. Giovan Battista was recognized
+by him as an excellent architect, and at his instance he entered not
+long afterwards into the service of the most illustrious Lord Duke Cosimo,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_212" name="Page_212"></a>[Pg 212]</span> as engineer. And thus, having arrived in Florence, his Excellency
+made use of him for all the fortifications of his dominion, according to
+the necessities that arose every day; and, among other things, the fortress
+of the city of Pistoia having been begun many years before, San Marino,
+by the desire of the Duke, completely finished it, with great credit to
+himself, although it is no great work. Then, under the direction of the
+same architect, a very strong bastion was built at Pisa. Wherefore,
+his method of work pleasing the Duke, his Excellency caused him to
+construct&mdash;where, as has been related, there had been built on the hill
+of S. Miniato, without Florence, the wall that curves from the Porta S.
+Niccol� to the Porta S. Miniato&mdash;the fortification that encloses a gate
+by means of two bastions, and guards the Church and Monastery of
+S. Miniato; making on the summit of that hill a fortress that dominates
+the whole city and looks on the outer side towards the east and the south,
+a work that was vastly extolled. The same Giovan Battista made many
+designs and ground-plans of various fortifications for places in the states
+of his Excellency, and also various rough models in clay, which are in
+the possession of the Lord Duke. And since San Marino was a man of
+fine genius and very studious, he wrote a little book on the methods of
+fortifications; which work, a beautiful and useful one, is now in the
+possession of Messer Bernardo Puccini, a gentleman of Florence, who
+learned many things with regard to the matters of architecture and
+fortification from San Marino, who was much his friend.</p>
+
+<p>Giovan Battista, after having designed in the year 1554 many
+bastions that were to be built round the walls of the city of Florence,
+some of which were begun in earth, went with the most illustrious lord,
+Don Garzia di Toledo, to Monte Alcino, where, having made some
+trenches, he mined under a bastion and so shattered it, that he threw
+down the breastwork; but as it was falling to the ground a harquebus-ball
+struck San Marino in the thigh. Not long afterwards, his wound
+being healed, he went secretly to Siena and took the ground-plan of
+that city, and of the earthworks that the people of Siena had made at the
+Porta Camollia; which plan of fortifications he then showed to the Lord
+Duke and to the Marchese di Marignano, making it clear to them that
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_213" name="Page_213"></a>[Pg 213]</span> the work was not difficult to capture or to secure afterwards on the side
+towards Siena. That this was true was proved by the fact, the night
+that it was taken by the above-named Marquis, with whom Giovan
+Battista had gone by order and commission of the Duke. On that
+account, then, the Marquis, having conceived an affection for him and
+knowing that he had need of his judgment and ability in the field (that
+is, in the war against Siena), so went to work with the Duke, that his
+Excellency sent Giovan Battista off as captain of a strong company of
+foot-soldiers; whereupon he served from that day onward in the field,
+as a valiant soldier and an ingenious architect. Finally, having been
+sent by the Marquis to Aiuola, a fortress in the Chianti, while disposing
+the artillery he was wounded in the head by a harquebus-ball; wherefore
+he was taken by his soldiers to the Pieve di S. Paolo, which belongs to
+Bishop da Ricasoli, and died in a few days, and was carried to San Marino,
+where he received honourable burial from his children.</p>
+
+<p>Giovan Battista deserves to be highly extolled, for the reason that,
+besides having been excellent in his profession, it is a marvellous thing
+that, having set himself to give attention to it late in life, at the age
+of thirty-five, he should have made in it the proficience that he did
+make; and it may be believed that if he had begun younger, he would
+have become a very rare master. Giovan Battista was something
+obstinate, so that it was a serious undertaking to move him from any
+opinion. He took extraordinary pleasure in reading stories, and turned
+them to very great advantage, writing down with great pains the most
+notable things in them. His death much grieved the Duke and his innumerable
+friends; wherefore his son Gian Andrea, coming to kiss his
+Excellency's hands, was received kindly by him and welcomed most
+warmly with very generous offers, on account of the ability and fidelity
+of the father, who died at the age of forty-eight.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="sanmichele" id="sanmichele"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_215" name="Page_215"></a>[Pg 215]</span> MICHELE SAN MICHELE</h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img023" id="img023"></a>
+<img src="images/img023-tb.jpg" width="500" height="348" alt="Paolo Veronese: Industry." title="">
+<p class="caption">PAOLO VERONESE: INDUSTRY<br>
+(<i>Venice: Doges' Palace, Sala Anticollegio. Ceiling Painting</i>)<br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img023.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="life_of_sanmichele" id="life_of_sanmichele"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_217" name="Page_217"></a>[Pg 217]</span> LIFE OF MICHELE SAN MICHELE<br>
+ARCHITECT OF VERONA</h2>
+
+
+<p>Michele San Michele, who was born at Verona in the year 1484, and
+learned the first principles of architecture from his father Giovanni and
+his uncle Bartolommeo, both excellent architects, went off at sixteen
+years of age to Rome, leaving his father and two brothers of fine parts,
+one of whom, called Jacopo, devoted himself to letters, and the other,
+named Don Camillo, was a Canon Regular and General of that Order.
+Having arrived there, he studied the ancient remains of architecture in
+such a manner, and with such diligence, observing and measuring everything
+minutely, that in a short time he became renowned and famous
+not only in Rome, but throughout all the places that are around that
+city. Moved by his fame, the people of Orvieto summoned him as architect
+to their celebrated temple, with an honourable salary; and while he
+was employed in their service, he was summoned for the same reason to
+Monte Fiascone, as architect for the building of their principal temple;
+and thus, serving both the one and the other of these places, he executed
+all that there is to be seen in these two cities in the way of good architecture.
+Among other works, a most beautiful tomb was built after his
+design in S. Domenico at Monte Fiascone&mdash;I believe, for one of the
+Petrucci, a nobleman of Siena&mdash;which cost a great sum of money, and
+proved to be marvellous. Besides all this, he made an infinite number
+of designs for private houses in those places, and made himself known
+as a man of great judgment and excellence.</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon Pope Clement VII, proposing to make use of him in the
+most important operations of the wars that were stirring at that time
+throughout all Italy, gave him as a companion to Antonio da San Gallo,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_218" name="Page_218"></a>[Pg 218]</span> with a very good salary, to the end that they might go together to inspect
+all the places of greatest importance in the States of the Church, and,
+wherever necessary, might see to the construction of fortifications; above
+all, at Parma and Piacenza, because those two cities were most distant
+from Rome, and nearest and most exposed to the perils of war. Which
+duty having been executed by Michele and Antonio to the full satisfaction
+of the Pontiff, there came to Michele a desire, after all those years,
+to revisit his native city and his relatives and friends, and even more to
+see the fortresses of the Venetians. Wherefore, after he had been a few
+days in Verona, he went to Treviso to see the fortress there, and then to
+Padua for the same purpose; but the Signori of Venice, having been
+warned of this, became suspicious that San Michele might be going about
+inspecting those fortresses with a hostile intent. Having therefore been
+arrested at Padua at their command and thrown into prison, he was
+examined at great length; but, when it was found that he was an honest
+man, he was not only liberated by them, but also entreated that he should
+consent to enter the service of those same Signori of Venice, with honourable
+rank and salary. He excused himself by saying that he was not able
+to do that for the present, being engaged to his Holiness; but he gave
+them fair promises, and then took his leave of them. Now he had not
+been away long, when he was forced to depart from Rome&mdash;to such purpose
+did those Signori go to work in order to secure him&mdash;and to go, with
+the gracious leave of the Pope, whom he first satisfied in full, to serve
+those most illustrious noblemen, his natural lords. Abiding with them,
+he gave soon enough a proof of his judgment and knowledge by making
+at Verona (after many difficulties which the work appeared to present)
+a very strong and beautiful bastion, which gave infinite satisfaction to
+those Signori and to the Lord Duke of Urbino, their Captain General.
+After these things, the same Signori, having determined to fortify Legnago
+and Porto, places most important to their dominion, and situated
+upon the River Adige, one on one side and the other on the opposite side,
+but joined by a bridge, commissioned San Michele to show them by means
+of a model how it appeared to him that those places could and should be
+fortified. Which having been done by him, his design gave infinite satisfaction
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_219" name="Page_219"></a>[Pg 219]</span> to the Signori and to the Duke of Urbino. Whereupon, arrangements
+having been made for all that had to be done, San Michele executed
+the fortifications of those two places in such a manner, that among works
+of that kind there is nothing better to be seen, or more beautiful, or more
+carefully considered, or stronger, as whoever has seen them well knows.</p>
+
+<p>This done, he fortified in the Bresciano, almost from the foundations,
+Orzinuovo, a fortress and port similar to Legnago. San Michele
+being then sought for with great insistence by Signor Francesco Sforza,
+last Duke of Milan, the Signori consented to grant him leave, but for
+three months only. Having therefore gone to Milan, he inspected all the
+fortresses of that State, and gave directions in every place for all that it
+seemed to him necessary to do, and that with such credit and so much to
+the satisfaction of the Duke, that his Excellency, besides thanking the
+Signori of Venice, presented five hundred crowns to San Michele. And
+with this occasion, before returning to Venice, Michele went to Casale di
+Monferrato, in order to see that very strong and beautiful fortress and
+city, the architecture of which was the work of Matteo San Michele, an
+excellent architect, his cousin; and also an honoured and very beautiful
+tomb of marble erected in S. Francesco in the same city, likewise under
+the direction of Matteo.</p>
+
+<p>Having then returned home, he had no sooner arrived than he was
+sent with the above-named Duke of Urbino to inspect La Chiusa, a fortress
+and pass of much importance, above Verona, and then all the places in
+Friuli, Bergamo, Vicenza, Peschiera, and others, of all which, and of what
+seemed to him to be required, he gave minute information in writing to
+the Signori. Having next been sent by the same Signori to Dalmatia,
+to fortify the cities and other places of that province, he inspected everything,
+and carried out restorations with great diligence wherever he saw
+the necessity to be greatest; and, since he could not himself despatch all
+the work, he left there Gian Girolamo, his kinsman, who, after fortifying
+Zara excellently well, erected from the foundations the marvellous fortress
+of S. Niccol�, over the mouth of the harbour of Sebenico.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Michele was sent in great haste to Corfu, and restored
+the fortress there in many parts; and he did the same in all the places
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_220" name="Page_220"></a>[Pg 220]</span> in Cyprus and Candia. Even so, not long afterwards&mdash;on account of a
+fear that the island might be lost, by reason of the war with the Turks,
+which was imminent&mdash;he was forced to return there, after having inspected
+the fortresses of the Venetian dominion in Italy, to fortify, with
+incredible rapidity, Canea, Candia, Retimo, and Settia, but particularly
+Canea and Candia, which he rebuilt from the foundations and made
+impregnable. Napoli di Romania being then besieged by the Turks,
+what with the diligence of S. Michele in fortifying it and furnishing it
+with bastions, and the valour of Agostino Chisoni of Verona, a very
+valiant captain, in defending it with arms, it was not after all taken by
+the enemy or forced to surrender.</p>
+
+<p>These wars finished, San Michele went with the Magnificent M. Tommaso
+Mozzenigo, Captain General of the Fleet, to fortify Corfu once
+again; and they then returned to Sebenico, where the diligence of Gian
+Girolamo, shown by him in constructing the above-mentioned fortress of
+S. Niccol�, was much commended. San Michele having then returned to
+Venice, where he was much extolled for the works executed in the Levant
+in the service of that Republic, the Signori resolved to build a fortress
+on the Lido, at the mouth of the port of Venice. Wherefore, giving the
+charge of this to San Michele, they said to him that, if he had done such
+great things far away from Venice, he should think how much it was his
+duty to do in a work of such importance, which was to lie for ever under
+the eyes of the Senate and of so many great lords; and that in addition,
+besides beauty and strength in the work, there was expected of him
+particular industry in founding truly and well in a marshy spot, which
+was surrounded on all sides by the sea and exposed to the ebb and flow
+of the tide, a pile of such importance. San Michele having therefore not
+only made a very beautiful and solid model, but also considered the
+method of laying the foundations and carrying it into effect, orders were
+given to him that he should set his hand to the work without delay.
+Whereupon, after receiving from those Signori all that was required, he
+prepared the materials for filling in the foundations, and, besides this,
+caused great numbers of piles to be sunk in double rows, and then, with
+a vast number of persons well acquainted with those waters, he set himself
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_221" name="Page_221"></a>[Pg 221]</span> to make the excavations, and to contrive by means of pumps and
+other instruments to keep the water pumped out, which was seen continually
+rising from below, because the site was in the sea. One morning,
+finally, resolving to make a supreme effort to begin the foundations, and
+assembling as many men fit for the purpose as could be obtained, with
+all the porters of Venice, and many of the Signori being present, in a
+moment, with incredible assiduity and promptitude, the waters were
+mastered for a little to such purpose, that the first stones of the foundations
+were thrown instantly upon the piles already driven in; which
+stones, being very large, took up much space and made an excellent
+foundation. And so, continuing to keep the water pumped out without
+losing any time, almost in a flash those foundations were laid, contrary
+to the expectation of many who had looked upon that work as absolutely
+impossible. The foundations, when finished, were allowed sufficient time
+to settle, and then Michele erected upon them a mighty and marvellous
+fortress, building it on the outer side all in rustic work, with very large
+stones from Istria, which are of an extreme hardness and able to withstand
+wind, frost, and the worst of weather. Wherefore that fortress,
+besides being marvellous with regard to the site on which it is built, is
+also, from the beauty of the masonry and from its incredible cost, one
+of the most stupendous that there are in Europe at the present day,
+rivalling the grandeur and majesty of the most famous edifices erected
+by the greatness of the Romans; for, besides other things, it appears as
+if made all from one block, and as though a mountain of living rock had
+been carved and given that form, so large are the blocks of which it is
+built, and so well joined and united together, not to speak of the ornaments
+and other things that are there, seeing that one would never be
+able to say enough to do them justice. Within it Michele afterwards
+made a piazza, divided by pilasters and arches of the Rustic Order, which
+would have proved to be a very rare work, if it had not been left unfinished.</p>
+
+<p>This vast pile having been carried to the condition that has been
+described, some malign and envious persons said to the Signoria that,
+although it was very beautiful and built with every possible consideration,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_222" name="Page_222"></a>[Pg 222]</span> nevertheless it would be useless for any purpose, and perhaps even
+dangerous, for the reason that on discharging the artillery&mdash;on account
+of the great quantity and weight of artillery that the place required&mdash;it
+was almost inevitable that the edifice should split open and fall to the
+ground. It therefore appeared to those prudent Signori that it would
+be well to make certain of this, the matter being one of great importance;
+and they caused to be taken there a vast quantity of artillery, the heaviest
+that could be found in the Arsenal. Then, all the embrasures both above
+and below having been filled with cannon, and the cannon charged more
+heavily than was usual, they were all fired off together; whereupon such
+were the noise, the thunder, and the earthquake that resulted, that it
+seemed as if the world had burst to pieces, and the fortress, with all those
+flaming cannon, had the appearance of a volcano and of Hell itself. But
+for all that the building stood firm in its former strength and solidity,
+whereby the Senate was convinced of the great worth of San Michele,
+and the evil-speakers were put to scorn as men of little judgment, although
+they had put such terror into everyone, that the ladies then pregnant,
+fearing some great disaster, had withdrawn from Venice.</p>
+
+<p>Not long afterwards a place of no little importance on the coast
+near Venice, called Marano, having returned under the dominion of the
+Venetians, was restored and fortified with promptitude and diligence
+under the direction of San Michele. And about the same time, the fame
+of Michele and of his kinsman, Gian Girolamo, spreading ever more
+widely, they were requested many times, both the one and the other, to
+go to live with the Emperor Charles V and with King Francis of France;
+but, although they were invited under most honourable conditions, they
+would not leave their own masters to enter into the service of foreigners.
+Indeed, continuing in their offices, they went about inspecting and
+restoring every year, wherever it was necessary, all the cities and fortresses
+of the State of Venice.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img024" id="img024"></a>
+<img src="images/img024-tb.jpg" width="500" height="318" alt="Porta del Palio." title="">
+<p class="caption">PORTA DEL PALIO<br>
+(<i>After</i> Michele San Michele. <i>Verona</i>)<br>
+<i>Alinari</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img024.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>But more than all the rest did Michele fortify and adorn his native
+city of Verona, making there, besides other things, those most beautiful
+gates of the city, which have no equal in any other place. One was the
+Porta Nuova, all in the Dorico-rustic Order, which in its solidity and
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_223" name="Page_223"></a>[Pg 223]</span> massive firmness corresponds to the strength of the site, being all built
+of tufa and pietra viva,<a id="FNanchor10" name="FNanchor10"></a><a href="#Footnote10" title="Go to footnote 10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> and having within it rooms for the soldiers
+who mount guard there, and many other conveniences, never before
+added to that kind of building. That edifice, which is quadrangular
+and open above, serving with its embrasures as a cavalier, defends two
+great bastions, or rather, towers, which stand one on either side of the
+gate at proper distances; and all is done with so much judgment, cost,
+and magnificence, that no one thought that for the future there could
+be executed any work of greater grandeur or better design, even as none
+such had been seen in the past. But a few years afterwards the same
+San Michele founded and carried upwards the gate commonly called the
+Porta dal Palio, which is in no way inferior to that described above, but
+equally beautiful, grand, and magnificent, or even more so, and designed
+excellently well. And, in truth, in these two gates the Signori of Venice
+may be seen to have equalled, by means of the genius of this architect,
+the edifices and fabrics of the ancient Romans.</p>
+
+<p>This last gate, then, is on the outer side of the Doric Order, with
+immense projecting columns, all fluted according to the manner of that
+Order; and these columns, which are eight in all, are placed in pairs.
+Four serve to enclose the gate, with the arms of the Rectors of the city,
+between one and another, on either side, and the other four, likewise in
+pairs, make a finish to the angles of the gate, the fa�ade of which is very
+wide and all of bosses, or rather, blocks, not rough, but made smooth,
+with very beautiful ornamentation; and the opening, or rather passage,
+through the gate, is left quadrangular, but of an architecture that is new,
+bizarre, and most beautiful. Above it is a great and very rich Doric
+cornice, with all its appurtenances, over which, as may be seen from the
+model, was to go a fronton with all its ornaments, forming a parapet for
+the artillery, since this gate, like the other, was to serve as a cavalier.
+Within the gate are very large rooms for the soldiers, with other apartments
+and conveniences. On the front that faces towards the city, San
+Michele made a most beautiful loggia, all of the Dorico-rustic Order on
+the outer side, and on the inner all in rustic work, with very large piers.
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_224" name="Page_224"></a>[Pg 224]</span> that have as ornaments columns round on the outside and on the inside
+square and projecting to the half of their thickness, and all made of
+pieces in rustic masonry, with Doric capitals without bases; and at the
+top is a great cornice, likewise Doric, and carved, passing along the whole
+loggia, which is of great length, both within and without. In a word,
+this work is marvellous; wherefore it was well and truly spoken by the
+most illustrious Signor Sforza Pallavicino, Captain General of the Venetian
+forces, when he said that there was not to be found in all Europe any
+structure that could in any way compare with it. This was the last of
+Michele's marvels, for the reason that he had scarcely erected the whole
+of the first range described above, when he finished the course of his life.
+Wherefore the work remained unfinished, nor will it ever be finished at
+all, for there are not wanting certain malignant persons&mdash;as always
+happens with great works&mdash;who censure it, striving to diminish the glory
+of others by their malignity and evil-speaking, since they fail by a great
+measure to achieve similar things with their own powers.</p>
+
+<p>The same master built another gate at Verona, called the Porta di
+S. Zeno, which is very beautiful; in any other place, indeed, it would be
+marvellous, but in Verona its beauty and artistry are obscured by the
+two others described above. A work of Michele's, likewise, is the bastion,
+or rather rampart, that is near this gate, and also another that is
+lower down, opposite to S. Bernardino, and another between them, called
+Dell'Acquaio, which is opposite to the Campo Marzio; and also that
+surpassing all the others in size, which is placed by the Chain, where the
+Adige enters the city.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img025" id="img025"></a>
+<img src="images/img025-tb.jpg" width="400" height="523" alt="Cappella de' Pellegrini." title="">
+<p class="caption">CAPPELLA DE' PELLEGRINI<br>
+(<i>After</i> Michele San Michele. <i>Verona: S. Bernardino</i>)<br>
+<i>Alinari</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img025.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>At Padua he built the bastion called the Cornaro, and likewise that
+of S. Croce, which are both of marvellous size, and constructed in the
+modern manner, according to the order invented by Michele himself.
+For the method of making bastions with angles was the invention of
+Michele, and before his day they were made round; and whereas that
+kind of bastion was very difficult to defend, at the present day, having
+an obtuse angle on the outer side, they can be defended with ease, either
+from the cavalier erected between the two bastions and near to them,
+or, indeed, from the other bastion, provided that it be near the one
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_225" name="Page_225"></a>[Pg 225]</span> attacked and the ditch wide. His invention, also, was the method of
+making bastions with three platforms, whereby the two at the sides
+guard and defend the ditch and the curtains, with their open embrasures,
+and the merlon in the centre defends itself and attacks the enemy in
+front. This method of fortification has since been imitated by everyone,
+causing the abandonment of the ancient fashion of subterranean embrasures,
+called casemates, in which, on account of the smoke and other
+impediments, the artillery could not be well handled; not to mention
+that they often weakened the foundations of the towers and walls.</p>
+
+<p>The same Michele built two very beautiful gates at Legnago. He
+directed at Peschiera the work of the first foundation of that fortress,
+and likewise many works at Brescia; and he always did everything with
+such diligence and such good foundations, that not one of his buildings
+ever showed a crack. Finally, he restored the fortress of La Chiusa
+above Verona, making it possible for persons to pass by without entering
+the fortress, but yet in such a manner that, on the raising of a bridge
+by those who are within, no one can pass by against their will, or even
+show himself on the road, which is very narrow and cut out of the rock.
+He also built at Verona, just after he had returned from Rome, the very
+beautiful bridge over the Adige, called the Ponte Nuovo, doing this at
+the commission of Messer Giovanni Emo, at that time Podest� of that
+city; which bridge was on account of its strength, as it still is, a marvellous
+thing.</p>
+
+<p>Michele was excellent not only in fortifications, but also in private
+buildings and in temples, churches, and monasteries, as may be seen
+from many buildings at Verona and other places, and particularly from
+the most ornate and beautiful Chapel of the Guareschi in S. Bernardino,
+which is round after the manner of a temple, and in the Corinthian Order,
+with all the ornaments which that manner admits. That chapel, I say,
+he built all of that white pietra viva, which, from the sound that it
+makes when it is being worked, is called in that city "Bronzo"; and, in
+truth, that kind of stone, after fine marble, is the most beautiful that
+has been found down to our own times, being absolutely solid and without
+holes or spots that might spoil it. Since that chapel, then, is built
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_226" name="Page_226"></a>[Pg 226]</span> on the inside all of that most beautiful stone, and wrought by excellent
+masters of carving, and put together very well, it is considered that
+among works of that kind there is at the present day no other more
+beautiful in all Italy. For Michele made the whole work curve in a
+circle in such a manner, that three altars which are in it, with their
+pediments and cornices, and likewise the space of the door, all turn in
+a perfect round, almost after the likeness of the entrances that Filippo
+Brunelleschi made in the Chapels of the Temple of the Angeli in Florence;
+which is a very difficult thing to do. Michele then made therein a gallery
+over the first range of columns, which circles right round the chapel, and
+there are to be seen most beautiful carvings in the form of columns,
+capitals, foliage, grotesques, little pilasters, and other things, carved with
+incredible diligence. The door of that chapel he made quadrangular on
+the outer side, of the Corinthian Order and very beautiful, and similar
+to an ancient door that he saw, so he used to say, in some place at Rome.
+It is true, indeed, that this work, after having been left unfinished by
+Michele, I know not for what reason, was given, either from avarice or
+from lack of judgment, to certain others to be finished, who spoiled it,
+to the infinite vexation of Michele, who in his lifetime saw it ruined
+before his very eyes, without being able to prevent it; wherefore he used
+to complain at times to his friends, but only on this account, that he had
+not thousands of ducats wherewith to buy it from the avaricious hands
+of a woman who, by spending less than she was able, was shamefully
+spoiling it.</p>
+
+<p>A work of Michele's was the design of the round Temple of the
+Madonna di Campagna, near Verona, which was very beautiful, although
+the parsimony, weakness, and little judgment of the Wardens of that
+building have since disfigured it in many parts; and even worse would
+they have done, if Bernardino Brugnuoli, a kinsman of Michele, had not
+had charge of it and made a complete model, after which the building
+of that temple, as well as of many others, is now being carried forward.
+For the Friars of S. Maria in Organo, or rather, the Monks of Monte Oliveto
+in Verona, he made a design of the Corinthian Order, which was most
+beautiful, for the fa�ade of their church. This fa�ade, after being carried
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_227" name="Page_227"></a>[Pg 227]</span> to a certain height by Paolo San Michele, was left not long since in that
+condition, on account of many expenses that were incurred by those
+monks in other matters, but even more by reason of the death of him
+who had begun it, Don Cipriano of Verona, a man of saintly life and of
+much authority in that Order, of which he was twice General. At
+S. Giorgio in Verona, a convent of the Regular Priests of S. Giorgio in
+Alega, the same Michele directed the building of the cupola of that
+church, which was a very beautiful work, and succeeded against the expectations
+of many who did not think that the structure would ever remain
+standing, on account of the weakness of its supports; but these were
+then so strengthened by Michele, that there is no longer anything to
+fear. In the same convent he made the design and laid the foundations
+of a very beautiful campanile of hewn stone, partly tufa and partly
+pietra viva, which was carried well forward by him, and is now being
+continued by the above-mentioned Bernardino, his nephew, who is
+employed in carrying it to completion.</p>
+
+<p>Monsignor Luigi Lippomani, Bishop of Verona, having resolved to
+carry to completion the campanile of his church, which had been begun
+a hundred years before, caused a design for this to be made by Michele,
+who did it very beautifully, taking into consideration the preserving of
+the old part and the expense that the Bishop was able to incur. But a
+certain Messer Domenico Porzio, a Roman, and his vicar, a person with
+little knowledge of building, although otherwise a worthy man, allowed
+himself to be imposed upon by one who also knew little about it, and
+gave him the charge of carrying on that fabric. Whereupon that person
+built it of unprepared stone from the mountains, and made the stairs in
+the thickness of the walls, doing all this in such a manner, that everyone
+who was even slightly conversant with architecture foretold that which
+afterwards happened&mdash;namely, that the structure would not remain
+standing. And, among others, the very reverend Fra Marco de' Medici
+of Verona, who, in addition to his other more serious studies, has always
+delighted in architecture, as he still does, predicted what would happen
+to such a building; but he was answered thus: "Fra Marco counts for
+much in his own profession of letters, philosophy, and theology, wherein
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_228" name="Page_228"></a>[Pg 228]</span> he is public lecturer, but in architecture he does not fish so deeply as to
+command belief." Finally, that campanile, having risen to the level
+where the bells were to be, opened out in four parts in such a manner,
+that, after having spent many thousands of crowns in building it, they
+had to give three hundred crowns to the builders to throw it to the
+ground, lest it should fall by itself, as it would have done in a few days,
+and destroy everything all around. And it is only right that this should
+happen to those who desert good and eminent masters, and mix themselves
+up with bunglers. The above-named Monsignor Luigi having
+afterwards been chosen Bishop of Bergamo, Monsignor Agostino Lippomani
+was made Bishop of Verona in his place, and he commissioned
+Michele to reconstruct almost anew the model of that campanile, and to
+set to work. And after him, according to the same model, Monsignor
+Girolamo Trivisani, a friar of S. Dominic, who succeeded the last-named
+Lippomani in the bishopric, has caused that work to be continued, which
+is now progressing passing slowly. The model is very beautiful, and the
+stairs are being accommodated within the tower in such a manner, that
+the fabric remains stable and very strong.</p>
+
+<p>For the noble Counts della Torre of Verona, Michele built a very
+beautiful chapel in the manner of a round temple, with the altar in the
+centre, at their villa of Fumane. And in the Church of the Santo, at
+Padua, a very handsome tomb was built under his direction for Messer
+Alessandro Contarini, Procurator of S. Mark, who had been Proveditor
+to the Venetian forces; in which tomb it would seem that Michele sought
+to show in what manner such works should be done, departing from a
+kind of commonplace method which, in his opinion, had in it more of the
+altar or chapel than of the tomb. This work, which is very rich in ornamentation,
+solid in composition, and warlike in character, has as ornaments
+a Thetis and two prisoners by the hand of Alessandro Vittoria,
+which are held to be good figures, and a head, or rather, effigy from life
+of the above-named lord, with armour on the breast, executed in marble
+by Danese da Carrara. There are, in addition, other ornaments in
+abundance; prisoners, trophies, spoils of war, and others, of which there
+is no need to make mention.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_229" name="Page_229"></a>[Pg 229]</span> In Venice he made the model of the Convent of the Nuns of S. Biagio
+Catoldo, which was much extolled. It was then resolved at Verona to
+rebuild the Lazzaretto, a dwelling, or rather, hospital, which serves for
+the sick in times of plague, the old one having been destroyed together
+with other edifices that had been in the suburbs; and Michele was commissioned
+to make a design for this (which proved to be beautiful beyond
+all expectations), to the end that it might be put into execution on a
+spot near the river, at some distance from the city and beyond the
+esplanade. But this design, truly most beautiful and excellently well
+considered in every part, which is now in the possession of the heirs of
+Luigi Brugnuoli, Michele's nephew, was not carried completely into
+execution by certain persons, by reason of their little judgment and
+poverty of spirit, but much restricted, curtailed, and reduced to mean
+proportions by those persons, who used the authority that they had
+received in the matter from the public in disfiguring the work, in consequence
+of the untimely death of some gentlemen who were in charge of
+it at the beginning, and who had a greatness of spirit equal to their
+nobility of blood.</p>
+
+<p>A work of Michele's, likewise, was the very beautiful palace that the
+noble Counts of Canossa have at Verona, which was built at the commission
+of the very reverend Monsignor di Bajus, who once was Count
+Lodovico Canossa, a man so much celebrated by all the writers of his
+time. For the same Monsignor Michele built another magnificent palace
+in the Villa of Grezzano, in the Veronese territory. Under the direction
+of the same architect the fa�ade of the Counts Bevilacqua was reconstructed,
+and all the apartments were restored in the castle of those lords,
+called La Bevilacqua. And at Verona, likewise, he built the house and
+fa�ade of the Lavezzoli, which were much extolled.</p>
+
+<p>In Venice he built from the foundations the very rich and magnificent
+palace of the Cornaro family, near S. Polo, and restored another
+palace, also of the Cornaro family, which is by S. Benedetto all'Albore,
+for M. Giovanni Cornaro, of whom Michele was much the friend; and this
+led to Giorgio Vasari painting nine pictures in oils for the ceiling of a
+magnificent apartment, all adorned with woodwork carved and richly
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_230" name="Page_230"></a>[Pg 230]</span> overlaid with gold, in that palace. In like manner, he restored the house
+of the Bragadini, opposite to S. Marina, and made it very commodious
+and ornate. And in the same city he founded and raised above the
+ground after a model of his own, at incredible cost, the marvellous palace
+of the most noble M. Girolamo Grimani, near S. Luca, on the Grand
+Canal; but Michele, being overtaken by death, was not able to carry it
+to completion himself, and the other architects chosen in his stead by that
+nobleman altered his design and model in many parts.</p>
+
+<p>Near Castelfranco, on the borders of the territories of Padua and
+Treviso, there was built under the direction of the same Michele the most
+famous Palace of the Soranzi, called by that family La Soranza; which
+palace is held to be, for a country residence, the most beautiful and the
+most commodious that had been built in those parts up to that time.
+He also built the Casa Cornara at Piombino, in that territory, and so
+many other private houses, that it would make too long a story to attempt
+to speak of them all; let it be enough to have made mention of the most
+important. I will not, indeed, refrain from recording that he made most
+beautiful gates for two palaces, one of which was that of the Rectors and
+of the Captain, and the other that of the Palazzo del Podest�, both in
+Verona and worthy of the highest praise, although the latter, which is
+in the Ionic Order, with double columns and very ornate intercolumniations,
+and some Victories at the angles, has a somewhat dwarfed appearance
+by reason of the lowness of the site where it stands, particularly
+because it is without pedestals and very wide on account of the double
+columns; but such was the wish of Messer Giovanni Delfini, who had it
+made.</p>
+
+<p>While Michele was enjoying a tranquil ease in his native place, and
+the reputation and renown that his honourable labours had brought him,
+there came to him a piece of news that so afflicted him, that it finished
+the course of his life. But to the end that the whole may be better
+understood, and that all the beautiful works of the San Michele family
+may be made known in this Life, I shall say something of Gian Girolamo,
+the kinsman of Michele.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img026" id="img026"></a>
+<img src="images/img026-tb.jpg" width="400" height="568" alt="Palazzo Grimani." title="">
+<p class="caption">PALAZZO GRIMANI<br>
+(<i>After</i> Michele San Michele. <i>Venice</i>)<br>
+<i>Anderson</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img026.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>This Gian Girolamo, then, was the son of Paolo, the cousin of Michele,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_231" name="Page_231"></a>[Pg 231]</span> and, being a young man of very beautiful genius, was instructed with
+such diligence by Michele in the matters of architecture, and so beloved
+by him, that he would always have the young man with him in all undertakings
+of importance, and particularly in fortifications. Having therefore
+become in a short time so excellent, with the help of such a master,
+that the most difficult work of fortification could be entrusted to him, in
+which manner of architecture he took particular delight, his ability was
+recognized by the Signori of Venice, and he was placed with a good
+salary among the number of their architects, although he was very
+young, and then sent now to one place and now to another, to inspect
+and restore the fortresses of their dominion, and at times to carry into
+execution the designs of his kinsman Michele. And, among other places,
+he took part with much judgment and labour in the fortification of Zara,
+and in the marvellous fortress of S. Niccol� at Sebenico, placed, as has
+been mentioned, at the mouth of the port; which fortress, erected by
+him from the very foundations, is held to be, for a private fortress, one
+of the strongest and best designed that there are to be seen. He also
+reconstructed after his own designs, with the advice of his kinsman, the
+great fortress of Corfu, which is considered the key of Italy on that side.
+In this fortress, I say, Gian Girolamo rebuilt the two great towers that
+face towards the land, making them much larger and stronger than they
+were before, with open embrasures and platforms that flank the ditch in
+the modern manner, after the invention of his kinsman. He then caused
+the ditches to be made much wider than they were before, and had a hill
+levelled, which, being near the fortress, appeared to command it. But,
+besides the many other works that he did there with great consideration,
+what gave most satisfaction was that in one corner of the fortress he
+made a place of great size and strength, in which in time of siege the
+people of that island can stay in safety without any danger of being
+captured by the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>On account of these works Gian Girolamo came into such credit with
+the above-named Signori, that they ordained him a salary equal to that
+of his kinsman, judging him to be not inferior to Michele, and even
+superior in that work of fortification: which gave the greatest contentment
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_232" name="Page_232"></a>[Pg 232]</span> to San Michele, who saw his own art advancing in the person of his
+relative in proportion as old age was taking away from himself the power
+to go further. Gian Girolamo, besides his great judgment in recognizing
+the nature of different sites, showed much industry in having them
+represented by designs and models in relief, insomuch that he enabled
+his patrons to see even the most minute details of his fortifications in
+very beautiful models of wood that he would cause to be made; which
+diligence pleased them vastly, for without leaving Venice they saw every
+day how matters were proceeding in the most distant parts of their State.
+In order that they might be the more readily seen by everyone, these
+models were kept in the Palazzo del Principe, in a place where the Signori
+could examine them at their convenience; and to the end that Gian
+Girolamo might continue to pursue that course, they not only reimbursed
+him the expenses that he incurred in making the above-mentioned
+models, but also showed him many other courtesies.</p>
+
+<p>Gian Girolamo could have gone to serve many lords, with large
+salaries, but he would never leave his Venetian Signori; nay, at the
+advice of his father and his kinsman Michele, he took a wife in Verona,
+a noble young woman of the Fracastoro family, with the intention of
+always living in those parts. But he had been not more than a few days
+with his beloved bride, who was called Madonna Ortensia, when he was
+summoned by his patrons to Venice, and thence sent in great haste to
+Cyprus to inspect every place in that island, orders having been given to
+all the officials that they should provide him with all that he might
+require for any purpose. Having then arrived in that island, in three
+months Gian Girolamo went all round it and diligently inspected everything,
+putting every detail into writing and drawing, in order to be able
+to give an account of the whole to his masters. But, while he was
+attending with too much care and solicitude to his office, paying little
+regard to his own life, in the burning heat which prevailed at that time
+in the island he fell sick of a pestilential fever, which robbed him of life
+in six days; although some said that he had been poisoned. However
+that may have been, he died content in being in the service of his masters
+and employed by them in works of importance, knowing that they had
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_233" name="Page_233"></a>[Pg 233]</span> trusted more in his fidelity and his skill in fortification than in those of
+any other man. The moment that he fell sick, knowing that he was
+dying, he gave all the drawings and writings that he had prepared on
+the works in that island into the hands of the architect Luigi Brugnuoli,
+his kinsman by marriage (who was then engaged in the fortification of
+Famagosta, which is the key of that kingdom), to the end that he might
+carry them to his masters.</p>
+
+<p>When the news of Gian Girolamo's death arrived in Venice, there
+was not one of the Senate who did not feel indescribable sorrow at the
+loss of such a man, who had been so devoted to that Republic. Gian
+Girolamo died at the age of forty-five, and received honourable burial
+from his above-named kinsman in S. Niccol� at Famagosta. Then,
+having returned to Venice, Brugnuoli presented Gian Girolamo's drawings
+and writings; which done, he was sent to give completion to the
+fortifications of Legnago, where he had spent many years in executing
+the designs and models of his uncle. But he had not been long in that
+place when he died, leaving two sons, who are men of passing good ability
+in design and in the practice of architecture. Bernardino, the elder, has
+now many undertakings on his hands, such as the building of the campanile
+of the Duomo, that of S. Giorgio, and that of the church called
+the Madonna di Campagna, in which and other works that he is directing
+at Verona and other places, he is succeeding excellently well; and particularly
+in the ornamental work of the principal chapel of S. Giorgio at
+Verona, which is of the composite order, and such that in size, design,
+and workmanship, the people of Verona declare that they do not believe
+that there is one equal to it to be found in Italy. This work, which
+follows the curve of the recess, is of the Corinthian Order, with composite
+capitals and double columns in full relief, and pilasters behind.
+In like manner, the frontispiece which surmounts the whole also curves
+in very masterly fashion according to the shape of the recess, and has
+all the ornaments which that Order embraces. Wherefore Monsignor
+Barbaro, Patriarch-elect of Aquileia, a man with a great knowledge of
+the profession, who has written of it, on his return from the Council of
+Trent saw not without marvel all that had been done in that work, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_234" name="Page_234"></a>[Pg 234]</span> that which was being done every day; and, after considering it several
+times, he had to say that he had never seen the like, and that nothing
+better could be done. And let this suffice as a proof of what may be
+expected from the genius of Bernardino, who was born on the mother's
+side from the San Michele family.</p>
+
+<p>But let us return to Michele, from whom we digressed, not without
+reason, some little time back. He was struck by such grief at the death
+of Gian Girolamo, in whom he saw the house of San Michele become
+extinct, since his kinsman left no children, that, although he strove to
+conquer or conceal it, in a few days he was overcome by a malignant
+fever, to the inconsolable sorrow of his country and of his most illustrious
+patrons. Michele died in the year 1559, and was buried in S. Tommaso,
+a church of Carmelite Friars, where there is the ancient burial-place of
+his forefathers; and at the present day Messer Niccol� San Michele, a
+physician, has set his hand to erecting him an honourable tomb, which
+is even now being carried into execution.</p>
+
+<p>Michele was a man of most upright life, and most honourable in his
+every action. He was a cheerful person, yet with an admixture of
+seriousness. He feared God, and was very religious, insomuch that he
+would never set himself to do anything in the morning without having
+first heard Mass devoutly and said his prayers; and at the beginning of
+any undertaking of importance, in the morning, before doing any other
+thing, he would always have the Mass of the Holy Spirit or of the Madonna
+solemnly chanted. He was very liberal, and so courteous with his friends,
+that they were as much masters of his possessions as he was himself.
+And I will not withhold a proof of his great loyalty and goodness, which
+I believe few others know besides myself. When Giorgio Vasari, of whom,
+as has been told, he was much the friend, parted from him for the last
+time in Venice, Michele said to him: "I would have you know, Messer
+Giorgio, that, when I was in my youth at Monte Fiascone, I became
+enamoured, as fortune would have it, of the wife of a stone-cutter, and
+received from her complaisance all that I desired; but no one ever heard
+of it from me. Now, having heard that the poor woman has been left
+a widow, with a daughter ready for a husband, whom she says she conceived
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_235" name="Page_235"></a>[Pg 235]</span> by me, I wish&mdash;although it may well be that this is not true, and
+such is my belief&mdash;that you should take to her these fifty crowns of gold
+and give them to her on my part, for the love of God, to the end that
+she may use them for her advantage and settle her daughter according
+to her station." Giorgio, therefore, going to Rome, and arriving at
+Monte Fiascone, although the good woman freely confessed to him that
+the girl was not the daughter of Michele, insisted, in obedience to Michele's
+command, on paying her the fifty crowns, which were as welcome to that
+poor woman as five hundred would have been to another.</p>
+
+<p>Michele, then, was courteous beyond the courtesy of any other man,
+insomuch that he no sooner heard of the needs and desires of his friends,
+than he sought to gratify them, even to the spending of his life; nor did
+any person ever do him a service that was not repaid many times over.
+Giorgio Vasari once made for him in Venice, with the greatest diligence
+at his command, a large drawing in which the proud Lucifer and his followers,
+vanquished by the Angel Michael, could be seen raining headlong
+down from Heaven into the horrible depths of Hell; and at that time
+Michele did not do anything but thank Giorgio for it when he took leave
+of him. But not many days after, returning to Arezzo, Giorgio found
+that San Michele had sent long before to his mother, who lived at Arezzo,
+a quantity of presents beautiful and honourable enough to be the gifts
+of a very rich nobleman, with a letter in which he did her great honour
+for love of her son.</p>
+
+<p>Many times the Signori of Venice offered to increase his salary, but
+he refused, always praying that they should increase his kinsmen's
+salaries instead of his own. In short, Michele was in his every action so
+gentle, courteous, and loving, that he made himself rightly beloved by
+innumerable lords; by Cardinal de' Medici, who became Pope Clement VII,
+while he was in Rome; by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, who became
+Paul III; by the divine Michelagnolo Buonarroti; by Signor Francesco
+Maria, Duke of Urbino; and by a vast number of noblemen and senators
+of Venice. At Verona he was much the friend of Fra Marco de' Medici,
+a man of great learning and infinite goodness, and of many others of
+whom there is no need at present to make mention.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_236" name="Page_236"></a>[Pg 236]</span> Now, in order not to have to turn back in a short time to speak of
+the Veronese, taking the opportunity presented by the masters mentioned
+above, I shall make mention in this place of some painters from
+that country, who are still alive and worthy to be named, and by no
+means to be passed over in silence. The first of these is Domenico del
+Riccio, who has painted in fresco, mostly in chiaroscuro and partly in
+colour, three fa�ades of the house of Fiorio della Seta at Verona, on the
+Ponte Nuovo&mdash;that is, the three that do not look out upon the bridge,
+the house standing by itself. In one, over the river, are battles of sea-monsters,
+in another the battles of the Centaurs and many rivers, and
+in the third two pictures in colour. In the first of these, which is over
+the door, is the Table of the Gods, and in the other, over the river, is the
+fable of the nuptials between the Benacus, called the Lake of Garda, and
+the Nymph Caris, in the person of Garda, from whom is born the River
+Mincio, which in fact issues from that lake. In the same house is a
+large frieze wherein are some Triumphs in colour, executed in a beautiful
+and masterly manner. In the house of Messer Pellegrino Ridolfi, also
+at Verona, the same master painted the Coronation of the Emperor
+Charles V, and the scene when, after being crowned in Bologna, he rides
+with the Pope through the city in great pomp. In oils he has painted
+the principal altar-piece of the church that the Duke of Mantua has built
+recently near the Castello, in which is the Beheading and Martyrdom of
+S. Barbara, painted with much diligence and judgment. And what
+moved the Duke to have that altar-piece executed by Domenico was his
+having seen and much liked his manner in an altar-piece that Domenico
+had painted long before for the Chapel of S. Margherita in the Duomo of
+Mantua, in competition with Paolino,<a id="FNanchor11" name="FNanchor11"></a><a href="#Footnote11" title="Go to footnote 11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> who painted that of S. Antonio,
+with Paolo Farinato, who executed that of S. Martino, and with Battista
+del Moro, who painted that of the Magdalene; all which four Veronese
+had been summoned thither by Cardinal Ercole of Mantua, in order to
+adorn that church, which had been reconstructed by him after the design
+of Giulio Romano. Other works has Domenico executed in Verona,
+Vicenza, and Venice, but it must suffice to have spoken of those named.
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_237" name="Page_237"></a>[Pg 237]</span> He is an honest and excellent craftsman, and, in addition to his painting,
+he is a very fine musician, and one of the first in the most noble Philharmonic
+Academy of Verona.</p>
+
+<p>Not inferior to him will be his son Felice, who, although still young,
+has proved himself a painter out of the ordinary in an altar-piece that
+he has executed for the Church of the Trinita, in which are the Madonna
+and six other Saints, all of the size of life. Nor is this any marvel, for
+the young man learned his art in Florence, living in the house of Bernardo
+Canigiani, a Florentine gentleman and a crony of his father
+Domenico.</p>
+
+<p>In the same Verona, also, lives Bernardino, called L'India, who,
+besides many other works, has painted the Fable of Psyche in most
+beautiful figures on the ceiling of a chamber in the house of Count Marc'Antonio
+del Tiene. And he has painted another chamber, with beautiful
+inventions and a lovely manner of painting, for Count Girolamo of
+Canossa.</p>
+
+<p>A much extolled painter, also, is Eliodoro Forbicini, a young man of
+most beautiful genius and of considerable skill in every manner of
+painting, but particularly in making grotesques, as may be seen in
+the two chambers mentioned above and in other places where he has
+worked.</p>
+
+<p>In like manner Battista da Verona, who is called thus, and not otherwise,
+out of his own country, after having learned the first rudiments of
+painting from an uncle at Verona, placed himself with the excellent
+Tiziano in Venice, under whom he has become a very good painter.
+When a young man, this Battista painted in company with Paolino a
+hall in the Palace of the Paymaster and Assessor Portesco at Tiene in
+the territory of Vicenza; where they executed a vast number of figures,
+which acquired credit and repute for both the one and the other. With
+the same Paolino he executed many works in fresco in the Palace of the
+Soranza at Castelfranco, both having been sent to work there by Michele
+San Michele, who loved them as his sons. And with him, also, he painted
+the fa�ade of the house of M. Antonio Cappello, which is on the Grand
+Canal in Venice; and then, still together, they painted the ceiling, or
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_238" name="Page_238"></a>[Pg 238]</span> rather, soffit in the Hall of the Council of Ten, dividing the pictures
+between them. Not long afterwards, having been summoned to Vicenza,
+Battista executed many works there, both within and around the city;
+and recently he has painted the fa�ade of the Monte della Piet�, wherein
+he has executed an infinite number of nude figures in various attitudes,
+larger than life, with very good design, and all in so few months, that it
+has been a marvel. And if he has done so much at so early an age (for
+he is not yet past thirty), everyone may imagine what may be expected
+of him in the course of his life.</p>
+
+<p>A Veronese, likewise, is one Paolino, a painter who is in very good
+repute in Venice at the present day, in that, although he is not yet more
+than thirty years of age, he has executed many works worthy of praise.
+This master, who was born at Verona to a stone-cutter, or, as they say
+in those parts, a stone-hewer, after having learned the rudiments of
+painting from Giovanni Caroto of Verona, painted in fresco, in company
+with the above-named Battista, the hall of the Paymaster and Assessor
+Portesco at Tiene, in the Vicentino; and afterwards at the Soranza, with
+the same companion, many works executed with good design and judgment
+and a beautiful manner. At Masiera, near Asolo in the Trevisano,
+he has painted the very beautiful house of Signor Daniello Barbaro,
+Patriarch-elect of Aquileia. At Verona, for the Refectory of S. Nazzaro,
+a monastery of Black Friars, he has painted in a large picture on canvas
+the supper that Simon the Leper gave to Our Lord, when the woman of
+sin threw herself at His feet, with many figures, portraits from life, and
+very rare perspective-views; and under the table are two dogs so beautiful
+that they appear real and alive, and further away certain cripples executed
+excellently well.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img027" id="img027"></a>
+<img src="images/img027-tb.jpg" width="600" height="260" alt="The Feast in the House of Levi." title="">
+<p class="caption">THE FEAST IN THE HOUSE OF LEVI<br>
+(<i>After the painting by</i> Paolo Veronese [Paolino <i>or</i> Caliari]. <i>Venice: Accademia, 203</i>)<br>
+<i>Anderson</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img027.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>By the hand of Paolino, in the Hall of the Council of Ten at Venice,
+in an oval that is larger than certain others that are there, placed, as the
+principal one, in the centre of the ceiling, is a Jove who is driving away
+the Vices, in order to signify that that supreme and absolute tribunal
+drives away vice and chastises wicked and vicious men. The same
+master painted the soffit, or rather, ceiling of the Church of S. Sebastiano,
+which is a very rare work, and the altar-piece of the principal
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_239" name="Page_239"></a>[Pg 239]</span> chapel, together with some pictures that serve to adorn it, and likewise
+the doors of the organ; which are all pictures truly worthy of the highest
+praise. In the Hall of the Grand Council he painted a large picture of
+Frederick Barbarossa presenting himself to the Pope, with a good number
+of figures varied in their costumes and vestments, all most beautiful and
+representing worthily the Court of a Pope and an Emperor, and also a
+Venetian Senate, with many noblemen and Senators of that Republic,
+portrayed from life. In short, this work is such in its grandeur and
+design, and in the beauty and variety of the attitudes, that it is rightly
+extolled by everyone. After this scene, Paolino painted the ceilings of
+certain chambers, which are used by that Council of Ten, with figures in
+oils, which are much foreshortened and very rare.</p>
+
+<p>In like manner, he painted in fresco the fa�ade of the house of a
+merchant, which was a very beautiful work, on the road from S. Maurizio
+to S. Mois�; but the wind from the sea is little by little destroying it.
+For Camillo Trevisani, at Murano, he painted a loggia and an apartment
+in fresco, which were much extolled. And in S. Giorgio Maggiore at
+Venice, at the head of a large apartment, he painted in oils the Marriage
+of Cana in Galilee, which was a marvellous work for its grandeur, the
+number of figures, the variety of costumes, and the invention; and, if I
+remember right, there are to be seen in it more than one hundred and
+fifty heads, all varied and executed with great diligence.</p>
+
+<p>The same Paolino was commissioned by the Procurators of S. Mark
+to paint certain angular medallions that are in the ceiling of the Nicene
+Library, which was left to the Signoria by Cardinal Bessarion, with a
+vast treasure of Greek books. Now the above-named lords, when they
+had the painting of that library begun, promised a prize of honour, in
+addition to the ordinary payment, to him who should acquit himself
+best in painting it; and the pictures were divided among the best painters
+that there were at that time in Venice. When the work was finished
+and the pictures painted had been very well considered, a chain of gold
+was placed round the neck of Paolino, he being the man who was judged
+to have done better than all the others. The picture that gave him the
+victory and the prize of honour was that wherein he painted Music, in
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_240" name="Page_240"></a>[Pg 240]</span> which are depicted three very beautiful young women, one of whom, the
+most beautiful, is playing a great bass-viol, looking down at the fingerboard
+of the instrument, the attitude of her person showing that her ear
+and her voice are fixed intently on the sound; and of the other two, one
+is playing a lute, and the other singing from a book. Near these women
+is a Cupid without wings, who is playing a harpsichord, signifying that
+Love is born from Music, or rather, that Love is always in company with
+Music; and, because he never parts from her, Paolino made him without
+wings. In the same picture he painted Pan, the God, according to the
+poets, of shepherds, with certain pipes made of the bark of trees, as it
+were consecrated to him as votive offerings by shepherds who have been
+victorious in playing them. Two other pictures Paolino painted in the
+same place; in one is Arithmetic, with certain Philosophers dressed in
+the ancient manner, and in the other is Honour, seated on a throne, to
+whom sacrifices are being offered and royal crowns presented. But,
+seeing that this young man is at this very moment at the height of his
+activity and not yet in his thirty-second year, I shall say nothing more
+of him for the present.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img028" id="img028"></a>
+<img src="images/img028-tb.jpg" width="400" height="541" alt="Venice Enthroned, with Justice and Peace." title="">
+<p class="caption">VENICE ENTHRONED, WITH JUSTICE AND PEACE<br>
+(<i>After the painting by</i> Paolo Veronese [Paolino <i>or</i> Caliari]. <i>Venice: Ducal Palace</i>)<br>
+<i>Anderson</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img028.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Likewise a Veronese is Paolo Farinato, an able painter, who, after
+having been a disciple of Niccol� Ursino,<a id="FNanchor12" name="FNanchor12"></a><a href="#Footnote12" title="Go to footnote 12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> has executed many works at
+Verona. The most important are a hall in the house of the Fumanelli,
+which he filled with various scenes in fresco-colours at the desire of
+Messer Antonio, a gentleman of that family, most famous as physician
+over all Europe, and two very large pictures in the principal chapel of
+S. Maria in Organo. In one of these is the story of the Innocents, and
+in the other is the scene when the Emperor Constantine causes a number
+of children to be brought before him, intending to kill them and to bathe
+in their blood, in order to cure himself of his leprosy. Then in the recess
+of that chapel are two pictures, large, but smaller than the others, in one
+of which is Christ receiving S. Peter, who is walking towards Him on the
+water, and in the other the dinner that S. Gregory gives to certain poor
+men. In all these works, which are much to be extolled, is a vast number
+of figures, executed with good design, study, and diligence. By the hand
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_241" name="Page_241"></a>[Pg 241]</span> of the same master is an altar-picture of S. Martino that was placed in
+the Duomo of Mantua, which he executed in competition with others his
+compatriots, as has just been related.</p>
+
+<p>And let this be the end of the Lives of the excellent Michele San
+Michele and of those other able men of Verona, so truly worthy of all
+praise on account of their excellence in the arts and their great
+talents.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="bazzi" id="bazzi"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_243" name="Page_243"></a>[Pg 243]</span> GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI,
+CALLED IL SODOMA</h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img029" id="img029"></a>
+<img src="images/img029-tb.jpg" width="400" height="555" alt="Giovanni Antonio (Il Sodoma): The Vision of S. Catharine." title="">
+<p class="caption">GIOVANNI ANTONIO (IL SODOMA): THE VISION OF S. CATHARINE<br>
+(<i>Siena: S. Domenico. Fresco</i>)<br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img029.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="life_of_bazzi" id="life_of_bazzi"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_245" name="Page_245"></a>[Pg 245]</span> LIFE OF GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI, CALLED IL SODOMA<br>
+PAINTER OF VERCELLI</h2>
+
+
+<p>If men were to recognize their position when Fortune presents to them
+the opportunity to become rich, obtaining for them the favour of great
+persons, and were to exert themselves in their youth to make their merit
+equal to their good fortune, marvellous results would be seen to issue
+from their actions; whereas very often the contrary is seen to happen, for
+the reason that, even as it is true that he who trusts only in Fortune
+generally finds himself deceived, so it is very clear, as experience teaches
+us every day, that merit alone, likewise, if not accompanied by Fortune,
+does not do great things. If Giovanni Antonio of Vercelli, even as he
+had good fortune, had possessed an equal dower of merit, as he could
+have done if he had studied, he would not have been reduced to madness
+and miserable want in old age at the end of his life, which was always
+eccentric and beastly.</p>
+
+<p>Now Giovanni Antonio was taken to Siena by some merchants,
+agents of the Spannocchi family, and his good fortune, or perhaps his
+bad fortune, would have it that, not finding any competition for a time
+in that city, he should work there alone; which, although it was some
+advantage to him, was in the end injurious, for the reason that he went
+to sleep, as it were, and never studied, but did most of his work by rule of
+thumb. And, if he did study a little, it was only in drawing the works
+of Jacopo della Fonte, which were much esteemed, and in little else.
+In the beginning he executed many portraits from life with that glowing
+manner of colouring which he had brought from Lombardy, and he thus
+made many friendships in Siena, more because that people is very kindly
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_246" name="Page_246"></a>[Pg 246]</span> disposed towards strangers than because he was a good painter; and,
+besides this, he was a gay and licentious man, keeping others entertained
+and amused with his manner of living, which was far from creditable.
+In which life, since he always had about him boys and beardless youths,
+whom he loved more than was decent, he acquired the by-name of
+Sodoma; and in this name, far from taking umbrage or offence, he used
+to glory, writing about it songs and verses in terza rima, and singing
+them to the lute with no little facility. He delighted, in addition, to
+have about the house many kinds of extraordinary animals; badgers,
+squirrels, apes, marmosets, dwarf asses, horses, barbs for running races,
+little horses from Elba, jays, dwarf fowls, Indian turtle-doves, and other
+suchlike animals, as many as he could lay his hands on. But, besides all
+these beasts, he had a raven, which had learned from him to speak so
+well, that in some things it imitated exactly the voice of Giovanni Antonio,
+and particularly in answering to anyone who knocked at the door, doing
+this so excellently that it seemed like Giovanni Antonio himself, as all the
+people of Siena know very well. In like manner, the other animals were
+so tame that they always flocked round anybody in the house, playing
+the strangest pranks and the maddest tricks in the world, insomuch that
+the man's house looked like a real Noah's Ark.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img030" id="img030"></a>
+<img src="images/img030-tb.jpg" width="400" height="370" alt="Scene from the Life of S. Benedict." title="">
+<p class="caption">SCENE FROM THE LIFE OF S. BENEDICT<br>
+(<i>After the fresco by</i> Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma]. <i>Monte Oliveto Maggiore</i>)<br>
+<i>Alinari</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img030.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Now this manner of living and his eccentric ways, with his works and
+pictures, wherein he did indeed achieve something of the good, caused
+him to have such a name among the people of Siena&mdash;that is, among the
+populace and the common herd, for the people of quality knew him
+better&mdash;that he was held by many to be a great man. Whereupon, Fra
+Domenico da Lecco, a Lombard, having been made General of the Monks
+of Monte Oliveto, Sodoma went to visit him at Monte Oliveto di Chiusuri,
+the principal seat of that Order, distant fifteen miles from Siena; and he
+so contrived with his persuasive words, that he was commissioned to
+finish the stories of the life of S. Benedict, part of which had been executed
+on a wall by Luca Signorelli of Cortona. This work he finished for a
+small enough price, besides the expenses that he incurred, and those of
+certain lads and colour-grinders who assisted him; nor would it be possible
+to describe the amusement that he gave while he was labouring at that
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_247" name="Page_247"></a>[Pg 247]</span> place to those fathers, who called him Il Mattaccio,<a id="FNanchor13" name="FNanchor13"></a><a href="#Footnote13" title="Go to footnote 13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> in the mad pranks
+that he played.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img031" id="img031"></a>
+<img src="images/img031-tb.jpg" width="400" height="357" alt="Scene from the Life of S. Benedict." title="">
+<p class="caption">SCENE FROM THE LIFE OF S. BENEDICT<br>
+(<i>After the fresco by</i> Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma]. <i>Monte Oliveto Maggiore</i>)<br>
+<i>Alinari</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img031.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>But to return to the work. Having executed there certain scenes,
+which he hurried over mechanically and without diligence, and the
+General complaining of this, Mattaccio said that he worked as he felt
+inclined, and that his brush danced to the tune of money, so that, if the
+General consented to spend more, he was confident that he could do
+much better. The General having therefore promised that he would pay
+him better for the future, Giovanni Antonio painted three scenes, which
+still remained to be executed in the corners, with so much more study and
+diligence than he had shown in the others, that they proved to be much
+finer. In one of these is S. Benedict departing from Norcia and from
+his father and mother, in order to go to study in Rome; in the second,
+S. Mauro and S. Placido as children, presented to him and offered to God
+by their fathers; and in the third, the Goths burning Monte Cassino.
+For the last, in order to do despite to the General and the Monks, he
+painted the story of the priest Fiorenzo, the enemy of S. Benedict, bringing
+many loose women to dance and sing around the monastery of that holy
+man, in order to tempt the purity of those fathers. In this scene Sodoma,
+who was as shameless in his painting as in his other actions, painted a
+dance of nude women, altogether lewd and shameful; and, since he would
+not have been allowed to do it, as long as he was at work he would never
+let any of the monks see it. Wherefore, when the scene was uncovered,
+the General wished by hook or by crook to throw it to the ground and
+utterly destroy it; but Mattaccio, after much foolish talk, seeing that
+father in anger, clothed all the naked women in that work, which is one
+of the best that are there. Under each of these scenes he painted two
+medallions, and in each medallion a friar, to represent all the Generals
+who had ruled that congregation. And, since he had not their portraits
+from life, Mattaccio did most of the heads from fancy, and in some he
+portrayed old friars who were in the monastery at that time, and in the
+end he came to paint the head of the above-named Fra Domenico da
+Lecco, who was their General in those days, as has been related, and was
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_248" name="Page_248"></a>[Pg 248]</span> causing him to execute that work. But, after some of those heads had
+lost the eyes, and others had been damaged, Fra Antonio Bentivogli, the
+Bolognese, caused them all to be removed, for good reasons.</p>
+
+<p>Now, while Mattaccio was executing these scenes, there had gone
+thither, to assume the habit of a monk, a Milanese nobleman, who had a
+yellow cloak trimmed with black cords, such as was worn at that time;
+and, after he had put on the monk's habit, the General gave that cloak
+to Mattaccio, who, by means of a mirror, painted a portrait of himself
+with it on his back in one of the scenes, wherein S. Benedict, still almost
+a child, miraculously puts together and mends the corn-measure, or
+rather, tub, of his nurse, which she had broken. At the feet of the
+portrait he painted a raven, an ape, and others of his animals. This
+work finished, he painted the story of the five loaves and two fishes,
+with other figures, in the Refectory of the Monastery of S. Anna, a seat
+of the same Order, distant five miles from Monte Oliveto; which work
+completed, he returned to Siena. There, at the Postierla, he painted in
+fresco the fa�ade of the house of M. Agostino de' Bardi of Siena, in which
+were some things worthy of praise, but for the most part they have been
+consumed by time and the weather.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img032" id="img032"></a>
+<img src="images/img032-tb.jpg" width="400" height="508" alt="The Marriage of Alexander and Roxana." title="">
+<p class="caption">THE MARRIAGE OF ALEXANDER AND ROXANA<br>
+(<i>Detail, after the fresco by</i> Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma].
+<i>Rome: Villa Farnesina</i>)<br>
+<i>Braun</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img032.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>During this time there arrived in Siena Agostino Chigi, a very rich
+and famous merchant of that city, and he became acquainted with
+Giovanni Antonio, both on account of his follies and because he had the
+name of a good painter. Wherefore he took him in his company to
+Rome, where Pope Julius II was then causing the Papal apartments in
+the Palace of the Vatican, which Pope Nicholas V had formerly erected,
+to be painted; and Chigi so went to work with the Pope, that some painting
+was given also to Sodoma. Now Pietro Perugino, who was painting the
+ceiling of an apartment that is beside the Borgia Tower, was working
+at his ease, like the old man that he was, and was not able to set his hand
+to anything else, as he had been at first commanded to do: and there
+was given to Giovanni Antonio to paint another apartment, which is
+beside the one that Perugino was painting. Having therefore set his hand
+to it, he made the ornamentation of that ceiling with cornices, foliage,
+and friezes; and then, in some large medallions, he executed certain
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_249" name="Page_249"></a>[Pg 249]</span> passing good scenes in fresco. But this animal, devoting his attention
+to his beasts and his follies, would not press the work forward; and
+therefore, after Raffaello da Urbino had been brought to Rome by the
+architect Bramante, and it had become known to the Pope how much he
+surpassed the others, his Holiness ordained that neither Perugino nor
+Giovanni Antonio should work any more in the above-named apartments;
+indeed, that everything should be thrown to the ground. But
+Raffaello, who was goodness and modesty in person, left standing all
+that had been done by Perugino, who had once been his master; and of
+Mattaccio's he destroyed nothing save the inner work and the figures
+of the medallions and scenes, leaving the friezes and the other ornaments,
+which are still round the figures that Raffaello painted there, which were
+Justice, Universal Knowledge, Poetry, and Theology.</p>
+
+<p>But Agostino, who was a gentleman, without paying any attention
+to the affront that Giovanni Antonio had received, commissioned him to
+paint in one of his principal apartments, which opens into the great hall in
+his Palace in the Trastevere, the story of Alexander going to sleep with
+Roxana. In that work, besides other figures, he painted a good number
+of Loves, some of whom are unfastening Alexander's cuirass, some are
+drawing off his boots, or rather, buskins, some are removing his helmet
+and dress, and putting them away; others scattering flowers over the
+bed, and others, again, doing other suchlike offices. Near the chimney-piece
+he painted a Vulcan forging arrows, which was held at that time
+to be a passing good and praiseworthy work; and if Mattaccio, who had
+beautiful gifts and was much assisted by Nature, had given his attention,
+after that reversal of fortune, to his studies, as any other man would
+have done, he would have made very great proficience. But he had
+his mind always set on his amusements, and he worked by caprice,
+caring for nothing so earnestly as for dressing in pompous fashion,
+wearing doublets of brocade, cloaks all adorned with cloth of gold, the
+richest caps, necklaces, and other suchlike fripperies only fit for clowns
+and charlatans; in which things Agostino, who liked the man's humour,
+found the greatest amusement in the world.</p>
+
+<p>Julius II having then come to his death, and Leo X having been
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_250" name="Page_250"></a>[Pg 250]</span> elected, who took pleasure in eccentric and light-headed figures of fun
+such as our painter was, Mattaccio felt the greatest possible joy, particularly
+because he had an ill-will against Julius, who had done him
+that affront, wherefore, having set to work in order to make himself
+known to the new Pontiff, he painted in a picture the Roman Lucrece,
+nude, who was stabbing herself with a dagger; and, since Fortune takes
+care of madmen and sometimes aids the thoughtless, he succeeded in
+executing a most beautiful female body, and a head that was breathing.
+Which work finished, at the instance of Agostino Chigi, who was on
+terms of strait service with the Pope, he presented it to his Holiness,
+by whom he was made a Chevalier and rewarded for so beautiful a picture.
+Whereupon Giovanni Antonio, believing that he had become a great man,
+began to be disinclined to work any more, save when he was driven by
+necessity. But, after Agostino had gone on some business to Siena,
+taking Giovanni Antonio with him, while staying there he was forced,
+being a Chevalier without an income, to set himself to painting; and so
+he painted an altar-piece containing a Christ taken down from the Cross,
+on the ground Our Lady in a swoon, and a man in armour who, having
+his back turned, shows his front reflected in a helmet that is on the
+ground, bright as a mirror. This work, which was held to be, as it is,
+one of the best that he ever executed, was placed in S. Francesco, on the
+right hand as one enters the church. Then in the cloister that is beside
+the above-named church, he painted in fresco Christ scourged at the
+Column, with many Jews around Pilate, and with a range of columns
+drawn in perspective after the manner of wing-walls; in which work
+Giovanni Antonio made a portrait of himself without any beard&mdash;that is,
+shaven&mdash;and with the hair long, as it was worn at that time.</p>
+
+<p>Not long afterwards he executed some pictures for Signor Jacopo VI
+of Piombino, and, while living with him at that place, some other works
+on canvas. Wherefore by his means, besides many courtesies and presents
+that he received from him, Giovanni Antonio obtained from his island
+of Elba many little animals such as that island produces, all of which he
+took to Siena.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img033" id="img033"></a>
+<img src="images/img033-tb.jpg" width="400" height="565" alt="S. Sebastian." title="">
+<p class="caption">S. SEBASTIAN<br>
+(<i>After the painting by</i> Giovanni Antonio [Il Sodoma]. <i>Florence: Uffizi, 1279</i>)<br>
+<i>Anderson</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img033.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Arriving next in Florence, a monk of the Brandolini family, Abbot of
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_251" name="Page_251"></a>[Pg 251]</span> the Monastery of Monte Oliveto, which is without the Porta a S. Friano,
+caused him to paint some pictures in fresco on the wall of the refectory;
+but since, like a careless fellow, he did them without study, they proved
+to be such that he was derided and mocked at for his follies by those who
+were expecting that he would do some extraordinary work. Now,
+while he was engaged on that work, having taken a Barbary horse with
+him to Florence, he set it to run in the race of S. Barnaba; and, as
+fortune would have it, the horse ran so much better than the others,
+that it won. Whereupon, the boys having, as is the custom, to call out
+the name or by-name of the owner of the horse that had won, after the
+running of the race and the fanfare of trumpets, Giovanni Antonio was
+asked what name they were to call out; and, after he had replied, "Sodoma,
+Sodoma," the boys called out that name. But some honest old men,
+having heard that filthy name, began to protest against it and to say,
+"What filthy thing is this, and what ribaldry, that so vile a name should
+be cried through our city?" Insomuch that, a clamour arising, poor
+Sodoma came within an ace of being stoned by the boys and the populace,
+with his horse and the ape that he had with him on the crupper. Having
+in the space of many years got together many prizes, won in the same
+way by his horses, he took the greatest pride in the world in them, and
+showed them to all who came into his house; and very often he made a
+show of them at his windows.</p>
+
+<p>But to return to his works: he painted for the Company of S.
+Bastiano in Camollia, beyond the Church of the Umiliati, on a banner
+of cloth which is carried in processions, in oils, a nude S. Sebastian,
+bound to a tree, who is standing on the right leg, with the left in foreshortening,
+and raises the head towards an Angel who is placing a crown
+upon it. This work is truly beautiful, and much to be praised. On the
+reverse side is Our Lady with the Child in her arms, and below her are
+S. Gismondo, S. Rocco, and some Flagellants kneeling on the ground.
+It is said that some merchants of Lucca offered to give three hundred
+crowns of gold to the men of that Company for that picture, but did not
+obtain it, because the others did not wish to deprive their Company
+and the city of so rare a painting. And, in truth, in certain works&mdash;whether
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_252" name="Page_252"></a>[Pg 252]</span> it was study, or good fortune, or chance&mdash;Sodoma acquitted
+himself very well; but of such he did very few. In the Sacristy of the
+Friars of the Carmine is a picture by the hand of the same master, wherein
+is a very beautiful Nativity of Our Lady, with some nurses; and on the
+corner near the Piazza de' Tolomei he painted in fresco, for the Guild
+of Shoemakers, a Madonna with the Child in her arms, S. John, S. Francis,
+S. Rocco, and S. Crispino, the Patron Saint of the men of that Guild,
+who has a shoe in his hand. In the heads of these figures, and in all the
+rest, Giovanni Antonio acquitted himself very well.</p>
+
+<p>In the Company of S. Bernardino of Siena, beside the Church of S.
+Francesco, he executed some scenes in fresco in competition with Girolamo
+del Pacchia, a Sienese painter, and Domenico Beccafumi&mdash;namely, the
+Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple, when she goes to visit S.
+Elizabeth, her Assumption, and when she is crowned in Heaven. In
+the angles of the same Company he painted a Saint in episcopal robes,
+S. Louis, and S. Anthony of Padua; but the best figure of all is a S.
+Francis, who, standing on his feet and raising his head, is gazing at a
+little Angel, who appears to be in the act of speaking to him; the head
+of which S. Francis is truly marvellous. In the Palazzo de' Signori at
+Siena, likewise, in a hall, he painted some little tabernacles full of columns
+and little children, with other ornaments; and within these tabernacles
+are various figures. In one is S. Vittorio armed in the ancient fashion,
+with the sword in his hand; near him, in the same manner, is S. Ansano,
+who is baptizing certain persons; in another is S. Benedict; and all are
+very beautiful. In the lower part of that Palace, where salt is sold, he
+painted a Christ who is returning to life, with some soldiers about the
+Sepulchre, and two little Angels, held to be passing beautiful in the heads.
+Farther on, over a door, is a Madonna with the Child in her arms, painted
+by him in fresco, and two Saints.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img034" id="img034"></a>
+<img src="images/img034-tb.jpg" width="400" height="518" alt="S. Ansano." title="">
+<p class="caption">S. ANSANO<br>
+(<i>After the fresco by</i> Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma]. <i>Siena: Palazzo Pubblico</i>)<br>
+<i>Alinari</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img034.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In S. Spirito he painted the Chapel of S. Jacopo, which he did at
+the commission of the men of the Spanish colony, who have their place
+of burial there; depicting there an image of the Madonna after the ancient
+manner, with S. Nicholas of Tolentino on the right hand, and, on the
+left, the Archangel S. Michael, who is slaying Lucifer. Above these, in
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_253" name="Page_253"></a>[Pg 253]</span> a lunette, he painted Our Lady placing the sacerdotal habit upon a Saint,
+with some Angels around. Over all these figures, which are in oils on
+panel, there is painted in fresco, in the semicircle of the vaulting, a S. James
+in armour on a galloping horse, who has grasped his sword with a fiery
+gesture, and below him are many Turks, dead and wounded. Below all
+this, on the sides of the altar, are painted in fresco S. Anthony the Abbot
+and a nude S. Sebastian at the Column, which are held to be passing
+good works.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img035" id="img035"></a>
+<img src="images/img035-tb.jpg" width="250" height="565" alt="S. Francis." title="">
+<p class="caption">S. FRANCIS<br>
+(<i>After the fresco by</i> Giovanni Antonio Bazzi
+[Il Sodoma]. <i>Siena: S. Bernardino, Oratory</i>)<br>
+<i>Alinari</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img035.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In the Duomo of the same city, on the right hand as one enters the
+church, there is upon an altar a picture in oils by his hand, in which there
+are Our Lady with the Child on her knee, S. Joseph on one side, and
+S. Calixtus on the other; which work is likewise held to be very beautiful,
+because it is evident that in colouring it Sodoma showed much more
+diligence than he used to devote to his works. He also painted for the
+Company of the Trinity a bier for carrying the dead to burial, which was
+very beautiful; and he executed another for the Company of Death,
+which is held to be the most beautiful in Siena; and I believe that the
+latter is the finest that there is to be seen, for, besides that it is indeed
+much to be extolled, it is very seldom that such works are executed at
+much cost or with much diligence. In the Church of S. Domenico, in
+the Chapel of S. Caterina da Siena, where there is in a tabernacle the
+head of that Saint, enclosed in one of silver, Giovanni Antonio painted
+two scenes, which are one on either side of that tabernacle. In one, on
+the right hand, is that Saint when, having received the Stigmata from
+Jesus Christ, who is in the air, she lies half-dead in the arms of two of her
+sisters, who are supporting her; of which work Baldassarre Peruzzi, the
+painter of Siena, after considering it, said that he had never seen anyone
+represent better the expression of persons fainting and half-dead, or
+with more similitude to the reality, than Giovanni Antonio had contrived
+to do. And in truth it is so, as may be seen, apart from the work itself,
+from the design by Sodoma's own hand which I have in my book of
+drawings. On the left hand, in the other picture, is the scene when the
+Angel of God carries to the same Saint the Host of the most Holy Communion,
+and she, raising her head to Heaven, sees Jesus Christ and
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_254" name="Page_254"></a>[Pg 254]</span> Mary the Virgin, while two of her sisters, her companions, stand behind
+her. In another scene, which is on the wall on the right hand, is painted
+the story of a criminal, who, going to be beheaded, would not be converted
+or commend himself to God, despairing of His mercy; when, the above-named
+Saint praying for him on her knees, her prayers were so acceptable
+to the goodness of God, that, when the felon's head was cut off, his soul
+was seen ascending to Heaven; such power with the mercy of God have
+the prayers of those saintly persons who are in His grace. In this scene
+is a very great number of figures, as to which no one should marvel if
+they are not of the highest perfection, for the reason that I have heard
+as a fact that Giovanni Antonio had sunk to such a pitch in his negligence
+and slothfulness, that he would make neither designs nor cartoons when
+he had any work of that kind to execute, but would attack the work by
+designing it with the brush directly on the plaster, which was a strange
+thing; in which method it is evident that this scene was executed by him.
+The same master also painted the arch in front of that chapel, making
+therein a God the Father. The other scenes in that chapel were not
+finished by him, partly from his own fault, he not choosing to work save
+by caprice, and partly because he had not been paid by him who was
+having the chapel painted. Below this is a God the Father, who has
+beneath Him a Virgin in the ancient manner, on panel, with S. Dominic,
+S. Gismondo, S. Sebastian, and S. Catharine.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img036" id="img036"></a>
+<img src="images/img036-tb.jpg" width="400" height="650" alt="The Adoration of the Magi." title="">
+<p class="caption">THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI<br>
+(<i>After the painting by</i> Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma].
+<i>Siena: S. Agostino</i>)<br>
+<i>Alinari</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img036.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>For S. Agostino, in an altar-piece that is on the right hand at the
+entrance into the church, he painted the Adoration of the Magi, which
+was held to be, and is, a good work, for the reason that, besides the
+Madonna, which is much extolled, the first of the three Magi, and certain
+horses, there is a head of a shepherd between two trees which has all
+the appearance of life. Over a gate of the city, called the Porta di S. Viene,
+he painted in fresco, in a large tabernacle, the Nativity of Jesus Christ, with
+some Angels in the air; and on the arch of that gate a child in foreshortening,
+very beautiful and in strong relief, which is intended to signify that
+the Word has been made Flesh. In this work Sodoma made a portrait
+of himself, with a beard, being now old, and with a brush in his hand,
+which is pointing to a scroll that says "Feci."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_255" name="Page_255"></a>[Pg 255]</span> He painted likewise in fresco the Chapel of the Commune at the
+foot of the Palace, in the Piazza, representing there Our Lady with the
+Child in her arms, upheld by some little Angels, S. Ansano, S. Vittorio,
+S. Augustine, and S. James; and above this, in a triangular lunette, he
+painted a God the Father with some Angels about Him. From this
+work it is evident that when he executed it he was beginning, as it were,
+to have no more love for art, having lost that certain quality of excellence
+that he used to have in his better days, by means of which he gave a
+certain air of beauty to his heads, which made them graceful and lovely.
+And this is manifestly true, for some works that he executed long before
+this one have quite another grace and another manner, as may be seen
+above the Postierla, from a wall in fresco over the door of the Captain
+Lorenzo Mariscotti, where there is a Dead Christ in the lap of His Mother,
+who has a marvellous divinity and grace. In like manner, a picture in
+oils of Our Lady, which he painted for Messer Enea Savini della Costerella,
+is much extolled, and also a canvas that he executed for Assuero Rettori
+of S. Martino, in which is the Roman Lucrece stabbing herself, while she
+is held by her father and her husband, all painted with much beauty of
+attitude and marvellous grace in the heads.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, perceiving that the devotion of the people of Siena was all
+turned to the talents and excellent works of Domenico Beccafumi, and
+possessing neither house nor revenues in Siena, and having by that time
+consumed almost all his property and become old and poor, Giovanni
+Antonio departed from Siena almost in despair and went off to Volterra.
+And there, as his good fortune would have it, chancing upon Messer
+Lorenzo di Galeotto de' Medici, a rich and honoured nobleman, he proceeded
+to live under his protection, with the intention of staying there a long
+time. And so, dwelling in the house of that nobleman, he painted for
+him on a canvas the Chariot of the Sun, which, having been badly guided
+by Pha�thon, is falling into the Po; but it is easy to see that he did that
+work to pass the time, and hurried through it by rule of thumb, without
+giving any thought to it, so entirely commonplace is it and so ill-considered.
+Then, having grown weary of living at Volterra and in the
+house of that nobleman, as one who was accustomed to being free, he
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_256" name="Page_256"></a>[Pg 256]</span> departed and went off to Pisa, where, at the instance of Battista del
+Cervelliera, he executed two pictures for Messer Bastiano della Seta, the
+Warden of Works of the Duomo, which were placed in the recess behind
+the high-altar of that Duomo, beside those of Sogliani and Beccafumi.
+In one is the Dead Christ with Our Lady and the other Maries, and in
+the other Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac; but since these pictures did
+not succeed very well, the Warden, who had intended to make him paint
+some altar-pieces for the church, dismissed him, knowing that men who
+do not study, once they have lost in old age the quality of excellence
+that they had in their youth from nature, are left with a kind of facility
+of manner that is generally little to be praised. At that same time
+Giovanni Antonio finished an altar-piece that he had previously begun
+in oils for S. Maria della Spina, painting in it Our Lady with the Child
+in her arms, with S. Mary Magdalene and S. Catharine kneeling before
+her, and S. John, S. Sebastian, and S. Joseph standing at the sides; in
+all which figures he acquitted himself much better than in the two pictures
+for the Duomo.</p>
+
+<p>Then, having nothing more to do at Pisa, he made his way to Lucca,
+where, at S. Ponziano, a seat of the Monks of Monte Oliveto, an Abbot
+of his acquaintance caused him to paint a Madonna on the ascent of a
+staircase that leads to the dormitory. That work finished, he returned
+weary, old, and poor to Siena, where he did not live much longer; for
+he fell ill, through not having anyone to look after him or any means
+of sustenance, and went off to the Great Hospital, and there in a few
+weeks he finished the course of his life.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="img037" id="img037"></a>
+<img src="images/img037-tb.jpg" width="400" height="589" alt="The Sacrifice of Isaac." title="">
+<p class="caption">THE SACRIFICE OF ISAAC<br>
+(<i>After the painting by</i> Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma]. <i>Pisa: Duomo</i>)<br>
+<i>Alinari</i><br>
+<span class="link"><a href="images/img037.jpg">View larger image</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Giovanni Antonio, when young and in good repute, took for his wife
+in Siena a girl born of a very good family, and had by her in the first
+year a daughter. But after that, having grown weary of her, because he
+was a beast, he would never see her more; and she, therefore, withdrawing
+by herself, lived always on her own earnings and on the interest of her
+dowry, bearing with great and endless patience the beastliness and the
+follies of that husband of hers, who was truly worthy of the name of
+Mattaccio which, as has been related, the Monks of Monte Oliveto gave
+him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_257" name="Page_257"></a>[Pg 257]</span> Riccio of Siena, the disciple of Giovanni Antonio, a passing able and
+well-practised painter, having taken as his wife his master's daughter,
+who had been very well and decently brought up by her mother, became
+the heir to all the possessions connected with art of his wife's father.
+This Riccio, I say, has executed many beautiful and praiseworthy works
+at Siena and elsewhere, and has decorated with stucco and pictures in
+fresco a chapel in the Duomo of the above-named city, on the left hand
+as one enters the church; and he now lives at Lucca, where he has done,
+as he still continues to do, many beautiful works worthy to be extolled.</p>
+
+<p>A pupil of Giovanni Antonio, likewise, was a young man who was
+called Giomo del Sodoma; but, since he died young, and was not able to
+give more than a small proof of his genius and knowledge, there is no
+need to say more about him.</p>
+
+<p>Sodoma lived seventy-five years, and died in the year 1554.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;">
+<h2><a name="index_name_vol_7" id="index_name_vol_7"></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_259" name="Page_259"></a>[Pg 259]</span> INDEX OF NAMES
+OF THE CRAFTSMEN MENTIONED IN VOLUME VII</h2>
+
+
+<ul class="none">
+<li>Adone Doni,
+<a href="#Page_128"><b>128</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Agnolo, Baccio d',
+<a href="#Page_74"><b>74</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Agnolo, Battista d' (Battista del Moro),
+<a href="#Page_236"><b>236</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Agnolo Bronzino,
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_31"><b>31</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_113"><b>113</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_149"><b>149</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_158"><b>158</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_160"><b>160</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_163"><b>163</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_167"><b>167</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_168"><b>168</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_171"><b>171</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_172"><b>172</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_175"><b>175</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_176"><b>176</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_178"><b>178</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_182"><b>182</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_201"><b>201</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Agnolo di Cristofano,
+<a href="#Page_70"><b>70</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Agnolo, Giuliano di Baccio d',
+<a href="#Page_83"><b>83</b></a>-86,
+<a href="#Page_88"><b>88</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_89"><b>89</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_102"><b>102</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Agostino Viniziano,
+<a href="#Page_60"><b>60</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_63"><b>63</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Albertinelli, Mariotto,
+<a href="#Page_108"><b>108</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_148"><b>148</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Albrecht D�rer,
+<a href="#Page_163"><b>163</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_164"><b>164</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_166"><b>166</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Alessandro Vittoria,
+<a href="#Page_228"><b>228</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Alfonso Berughetta (Alonzo Spagnuolo),
+<a href="#Page_58"><b>58</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Alfonso Lombardi,
+<a href="#Page_77"><b>77</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Alonzo Spagnuolo (Alfonso Berughetta),
+<a href="#Page_58"><b>58</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Ammanati, Bartolommeo,
+<a href="#Page_95"><b>95</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_96"><b>96</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_99"><b>99</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_100"><b>100</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_203"><b>203</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_206"><b>206</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Andrea, Maestro,
+<a href="#Page_66"><b>66</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Andrea Contucci (Andrea Sansovino),
+<a href="#Page_5"><b>5</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_61"><b>61</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_62"><b>62</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_187"><b>187</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_189"><b>189</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Andrea da Fiesole (Andrea Ferrucci),
+<a href="#Page_4"><b>4</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Andrea del Minga,
+<a href="#Page_97"><b>97</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Andrea del Sarto,
+<a href="#Page_4"><b>4</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_58"><b>58</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_59"><b>59</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_148"><b>148</b></a>-150,
+<a href="#Page_152"><b>152</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_156"><b>156</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_157"><b>157</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_171"><b>171</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_188"><b>188</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Andrea di Cosimo Feltrini,
+<a href="#Page_13"><b>13</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_149"><b>149</b></a>-152</li>
+
+<li>Andrea Ferrucci (Andrea da Fiesole),
+<a href="#Page_4"><b>4</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Andrea Pisano,
+<a href="#Page_30"><b>30</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Andrea Sansovino (Andrea Contucci),
+<a href="#Page_5"><b>5</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_61"><b>61</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_62"><b>62</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_187"><b>187</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_189"><b>189</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Andrea Verrocchio,
+<a href="#Page_56"><b>56</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Antonio da San Gallo (the elder),
+<a href="#Page_74"><b>74</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Antonio da San Gallo (the younger),
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_78"><b>78</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_119"><b>119</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_186"><b>186</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_189"><b>189</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_190"><b>190</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_193"><b>193</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_217"><b>217</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_218"><b>218</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Antonio di Domenico (Antonio di Donnino Mazzieri),
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Antonio di Gino Lorenzi,
+<a href="#Page_24"><b>24</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Antonio di Giovanni (Solosmeo da Settignano),
+<a href="#Page_5"><b>5</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_79"><b>79</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_80"><b>80</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Antonio di Marco di Giano (Il Carota),
+<a href="#Page_152"><b>152</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Aristotile (Bastiano) da San Gallo,
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="none p2">
+<li>Bacchiacca, Il (Francesco Ubertini),
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Baccio, Giovanni di (Nanni di Baccio Bigio),
+<a href="#Page_81"><b>81</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Baccio Bandinelli (Baccio de' Brandini), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_55"><b>55</b></a>-103.
+<a href="#Page_4"><b>4</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_27"><b>27</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_28"><b>28</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_42"><b>42</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_43"><b>43</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_55"><b>55</b></a>-103,
+<a href="#Page_154"><b>154</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_187"><b>187</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Baccio d'Agnolo,
+<a href="#Page_74"><b>74</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Baccio da Montelupo,
+<a href="#Page_155"><b>155</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Baccio de' Brandini (Baccio Bandinelli), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_55"><b>55</b></a>-103.
+<a href="#Page_4"><b>4</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_27"><b>27</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_28"><b>28</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_42"><b>42</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_43"><b>43</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_55"><b>55</b></a>-103,
+<a href="#Page_154"><b>154</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_187"><b>187</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bagnacavallo, Giovan Battista,
+<a href="#Page_129"><b>129</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Baldassarre Lancia,
+<a href="#Page_206"><b>206</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Baldassarre Peruzzi,
+<a href="#Page_253"><b>253</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bandinelli, Baccio (Baccio de' Brandini), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_55"><b>55</b></a>-103.
+<a href="#Page_4"><b>4</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_27"><b>27</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_28"><b>28</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_42"><b>42</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_43"><b>43</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_55"><b>55</b></a>-103,
+<a href="#Page_154"><b>154</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_187"><b>187</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bandinelli, Clemente,
+<a href="#Page_77"><b>77</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_94"><b>94</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_95"><b>95</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_98"><b>98</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Barba, Jacopo della,
+<a href="#Page_71"><b>71</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bartolommeo Ammanati,
+<a href="#Page_95"><b>95</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_96"><b>96</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_99"><b>99</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_100"><b>100</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_203"><b>203</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_206"><b>206</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bartolommeo di Jacopo di Martino,
+<a href="#Page_147"><b>147</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bartolommeo di San Marco, Fra,
+<a href="#Page_108"><b>108</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_109"><b>109</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_148"><b>148</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bartolommeo Genga, <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_206"><b>206</b></a>-210.
+<a href="#Page_203"><b>203</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_204"><b>204</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bartolommeo Neroni (Riccio),
+<a href="#Page_257"><b>257</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bartolommeo San Michele,
+<a href="#Page_217"><b>217</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bastiano (Aristotile) da San Gallo,
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Battista Cungi,
+<a href="#Page_121"><b>121</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_122"><b>122</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_124"><b>124</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_125"><b>125</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Battista d'Agnolo (Battista del Moro),
+<a href="#Page_236"><b>236</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Battista da Verona (Battista Farinati),
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_238"><b>238</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Battista del Cervelliera,
+<a href="#Page_256"><b>256</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Battista del Cinque,
+<a href="#Page_12"><b>12</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Battista del Moro (Battista d'Agnolo),
+<a href="#Page_236"><b>236</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Battista del Tasso,
+<a href="#Page_13"><b>13</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_30"><b>30</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_31"><b>31</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_34"><b>34</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_35"><b>35</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_137"><b>137</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Battista della Bilia,
+<a href="#Page_118"><b>118</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Battista Dossi,
+<a href="#Page_201"><b>201</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Battista Farinati (Battista da Verona),
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_238"><b>238</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Battista Franco,
+<a href="#Page_28"><b>28</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_203"><b>203</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Battista Naldini,
+<a href="#Page_181"><b>181</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_182"><b>182</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Battista of Citt� di Castello,
+<a href="#Page_118"><b>118</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_119"><b>119</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bazzi, Giovanni Antonio (Il Sodoma), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_245"><b>245</b></a>-257</li>
+
+<li>Beccafumi, Domenico,
+<a href="#Page_252"><b>252</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_255"><b>255</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_256"><b>256</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Beceri, Domenico (Domenico Benci),
+<a href="#Page_141"><b>141</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bellucci, Giovan Battista (Giovan Battista San Marino), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_210"><b>210</b></a>-213.
+<a href="#Page_207"><b>207</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Benci, Domenico (Domenico Beceri),
+<a href="#Page_141"><b>141</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Benedetto da Rovezzano,
+<a href="#Page_4"><b>4</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_63"><b>63</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_64"><b>64</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_187"><b>187</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Benvenuto Cellini,
+<a href="#Page_93"><b>93</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_94"><b>94</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_96"><b>96</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_97"><b>97</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_99"><b>99</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_100"><b>100</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bernardino Brugnuoli,
+<a href="#Page_226"><b>226</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_227"><b>227</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_233"><b>233</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_234"><b>234</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bernardino India,
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bersuglia, Gian Domenico,
+<a href="#Page_193"><b>193</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bertoldo,
+<a href="#Page_107"><b>107</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Berughetta, Alfonso (Alonzo Spagnuolo),
+<a href="#Page_58"><b>58</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bicci, Lorenzo di,
+<a href="#Page_61"><b>61</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bigio, Nanni di Baccio (Giovanni di Baccio),
+<a href="#Page_81"><b>81</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bilia, Battista della,
+<a href="#Page_118"><b>118</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bizzerra,
+<a href="#Page_129"><b>129</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bologna, Giovan,
+<a href="#Page_100"><b>100</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_101"><b>101</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bolognese, Marc'Antonio,
+<a href="#Page_65"><b>65</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Borgo, Raffaello dal (Raffaello dal Colle),
+<a href="#Page_117"><b>117</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_118"><b>118</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_120"><b>120</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_128"><b>128</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_129"><b>129</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_201"><b>201</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bramante da Urbino,
+<a href="#Page_249"><b>249</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Brandini, Baccio de' (Baccio Bandinelli), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_55"><b>55</b></a>-103.
+<a href="#Page_4"><b>4</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_27"><b>27</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_28"><b>28</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_42"><b>42</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_43"><b>43</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_55"><b>55</b></a>-103,
+<a href="#Page_154"><b>154</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_187"><b>187</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bronzino, Agnolo,
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_31"><b>31</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_113"><b>113</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_149"><b>149</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_158"><b>158</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_160"><b>160</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_163"><b>163</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_167"><b>167</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_168"><b>168</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_171"><b>171</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_172"><b>172</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_175"><b>175</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_176"><b>176</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_178"><b>178</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_182"><b>182</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_201"><b>201</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Brugnuoli, Bernardino,
+<a href="#Page_226"><b>226</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_227"><b>227</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_233"><b>233</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_234"><b>234</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Brugnuoli, Luigi,
+<a href="#Page_229"><b>229</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_233"><b>233</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Brunelleschi, Filippo,
+<a href="#Page_87"><b>87</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_88"><b>88</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_167"><b>167</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_226"><b>226</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Brusciasorzi, Domenico (Domenico del Riccio),
+<a href="#Page_236"><b>236</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Brusciasorzi, Felice (Felice del Riccio),
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Buda, Girolamo del,
+<a href="#Page_56"><b>56</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Bugiardini, Giuliano, <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_107"><b>107</b></a>-113</li>
+
+<li>Buglioni, Santi,
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Buonarroti, Michelagnolo,
+<a href="#Page_10"><b>10</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_11"><b>11</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_14"><b>14</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_16"><b>16</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_28"><b>28</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_32"><b>32</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_44"><b>44</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_46"><b>46</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_48"><b>48</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_49"><b>49</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_57"><b>57</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_58"><b>58</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_61"><b>61</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_66"><b>66</b></a>-68,
+<a href="#Page_71"><b>71</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_72"><b>72</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_75"><b>75</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_77"><b>77</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_81"><b>81</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_98"><b>98</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_99"><b>99</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_107"><b>107</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_108"><b>108</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_110"><b>110</b></a>-113,
+<a href="#Page_151"><b>151</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_172"><b>172</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_173"><b>173</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_179"><b>179</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_194"><b>194</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_235"><b>235</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="none p2">
+<li>Cadore, Tiziano da (Tiziano Vecelli),
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Caliari, Paolino or Paolo (Paolo Veronese),
+<a href="#Page_236"><b>236</b></a>-240</li>
+
+<li>Camillo Mantovano,
+<a href="#Page_201"><b>201</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Carota, Il (Antonio di Marco di Giano),
+<a href="#Page_152"><b>152</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Caroto, Giovanni,
+<a href="#Page_238"><b>238</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Carrara, Danese da (Danese Cattaneo),
+<a href="#Page_228"><b>228</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Carrucci, Jacopo (Jacopo da Pontormo), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_147"><b>147</b></a>-182.
+<a href="#Page_31"><b>31</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_201"><b>201</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Cattaneo, Danese (Danese da Carrara),
+<a href="#Page_228"><b>228</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Cavalieri, Tiberio,
+<a href="#Page_50"><b>50</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Cellini, Benvenuto,
+<a href="#Page_93"><b>93</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_94"><b>94</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_96"><b>96</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_97"><b>97</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_99"><b>99</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_100"><b>100</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Cervelliera, Battista del,
+<a href="#Page_256"><b>256</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Cinque, Battista del,
+<a href="#Page_12"><b>12</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Cioli, Simone,
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_10"><b>10</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_189"><b>189</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Clemente Bandinelli,
+<a href="#Page_77"><b>77</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_94"><b>94</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_95"><b>95</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_98"><b>98</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Colle, Raffaello dal (Raffaello dal Borgo),
+<a href="#Page_117"><b>117</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_118"><b>118</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_120"><b>120</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_128"><b>128</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_129"><b>129</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_201"><b>201</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Conti, Domenico,
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Contucci, Andrea (Andrea Sansovino),
+<a href="#Page_5"><b>5</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_61"><b>61</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_62"><b>62</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_187"><b>187</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_189"><b>189</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Cosimo, Piero di,
+<a href="#Page_148"><b>148</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Cristofano, Agnolo di,
+<a href="#Page_70"><b>70</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Cristofano Gherardi (Doceno), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_117"><b>117</b></a>-143</li>
+
+<li>Cungi, Battista,
+<a href="#Page_121"><b>121</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_122"><b>122</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_124"><b>124</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_125"><b>125</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="none p2">
+<li>Danese da Carrara (Danese Cattaneo),
+<a href="#Page_228"><b>228</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Danti, Vincenzio,
+<a href="#Page_100"><b>100</b></a></li>
+
+<li>David Fortini,
+<a href="#Page_37"><b>37</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Doceno (Cristofano Gherardi), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_117"><b>117</b></a>-143</li>
+
+<li>Domenico, Antonio di (Antonio di Donnino Mazzieri),
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Domenico Beccafumi,
+<a href="#Page_252"><b>252</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_255"><b>255</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_256"><b>256</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Domenico Beceri (Domenico Benci),
+<a href="#Page_141"><b>141</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Domenico Brusciasorzi (Domenico del Riccio),
+<a href="#Page_236"><b>236</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Domenico Conti,
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Domenico del Riccio (Domenico Brusciasorzi),
+<a href="#Page_236"><b>236</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Domenico Ghirlandajo,
+<a href="#Page_108"><b>108</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_147"><b>147</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Donato (Donatello),
+<a href="#Page_30"><b>30</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_56"><b>56</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_57"><b>57</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_62"><b>62</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Doni, Adone,
+<a href="#Page_128"><b>128</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Dossi, Battista,
+<a href="#Page_201"><b>201</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Dossi, Dosso,
+<a href="#Page_201"><b>201</b></a></li>
+
+<li>D�rer, Albrecht,
+<a href="#Page_163"><b>163</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_164"><b>164</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_166"><b>166</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="none p2">
+<li>Eliodoro Forbicini,
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="none p2">
+<li>Fabro, Pippo del,
+<a href="#Page_5"><b>5</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Fancelli, Giovanni,
+<a href="#Page_97"><b>97</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Farinati, Battista (Battista da Verona),
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_238"><b>238</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Farinato, Paolo,
+<a href="#Page_236"><b>236</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_240"><b>240</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_241"><b>241</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Felice del Riccio (Felice Brusciasorzi),
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Feltrini, Andrea di Cosimo,
+<a href="#Page_13"><b>13</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_149"><b>149</b></a>-152</li>
+
+<li>Ferrarese, Girolamo (Girolamo da Ferrara),
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_10"><b>10</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_189"><b>189</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Fiesole, Andrea da (Andrea Ferrucci),
+<a href="#Page_4"><b>4</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Filippo Brunelleschi,
+<a href="#Page_87"><b>87</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_88"><b>88</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_167"><b>167</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_226"><b>226</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Filippo Lippi, Fra,
+<a href="#Page_57"><b>57</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Fonte, Jacopo della (Jacopo della Quercia),
+<a href="#Page_245"><b>245</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Forbicini, Eliodoro,
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Forl�, Francesco da (Francesco Menzochi),
+<a href="#Page_201"><b>201</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_204"><b>204</b></a>-206</li>
+
+<li>Fortini, David,
+<a href="#Page_37"><b>37</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Fra Bartolommeo di San Marco,
+<a href="#Page_108"><b>108</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_109"><b>109</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_148"><b>148</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Fra Filippo Lippi,
+<a href="#Page_57"><b>57</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Fra Giovanni Agnolo Montorsoli,
+<a href="#Page_10"><b>10</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_11"><b>11</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_81"><b>81</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_82"><b>82</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Fra Sebastiano Viniziano del Piombo,
+<a href="#Page_110"><b>110</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_111"><b>111</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Francesco da Forl� (Francesco Menzochi),
+<a href="#Page_201"><b>201</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_204"><b>204</b></a>-206</li>
+
+<li>Francesco da San Gallo (the younger),
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_10"><b>10</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_189"><b>189</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Francesco de' Rossi (Francesco Salviati),
+<a href="#Page_178"><b>178</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_205"><b>205</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Francesco del Tadda,
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_10"><b>10</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_49"><b>49</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Francesco di Girolamo dal Prato,
+<a href="#Page_72"><b>72</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_73"><b>73</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Francesco Granacci,
+<a href="#Page_108"><b>108</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Francesco Menzochi (Francesco da Forl�),
+<a href="#Page_201"><b>201</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_204"><b>204</b></a>-206</li>
+
+<li>Francesco Moschino,
+<a href="#Page_192"><b>192</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_194"><b>194</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_195"><b>195</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Francesco Salviati (Francesco de' Rossi),
+<a href="#Page_178"><b>178</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_205"><b>205</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Francesco Ubertini (Il Bacchiacca),
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Franciabigio,
+<a href="#Page_70"><b>70</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_157"><b>157</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_171"><b>171</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Franco, Battista,
+<a href="#Page_28"><b>28</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_203"><b>203</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="none p2">
+<li>Galeotto, Pietro Paolo,
+<a href="#Page_152"><b>152</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Genga, Bartolommeo, <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_206"><b>206</b></a>-210.
+<a href="#Page_203"><b>203</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_204"><b>204</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Genga, Girolamo, <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_199"><b>199</b></a>-206.
+<a href="#Page_207"><b>207</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_208"><b>208</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_210"><b>210</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_211"><b>211</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Gherardi, Cristofano (Doceno), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_117"><b>117</b></a>-143</li>
+
+<li>Ghirlandajo, Domenico,
+<a href="#Page_108"><b>108</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_147"><b>147</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Ghirlandajo, Michele di Ridolfo,
+<a href="#Page_28"><b>28</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Ghirlandajo, Ridolfo,
+<a href="#Page_28"><b>28</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_31"><b>31</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_155"><b>155</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_156"><b>156</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Gian Domenico Bersuglia,
+<a href="#Page_193"><b>193</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Gian Girolamo San Michele,
+<a href="#Page_219"><b>219</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_220"><b>220</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_222"><b>222</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_230"><b>230</b></a>-234</li>
+
+<li>Giano, Antonio di Marco di (Il Carota),
+<a href="#Page_152"><b>152</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giolfino, Niccol� (Niccol� Ursino),
+<a href="#Page_240"><b>240</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giomo del Sodoma,
+<a href="#Page_257"><b>257</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giorgio Vasari. See <a href="#vasari">Vasari</a> (Giorgio)</li>
+
+<li>Giovan Battista Bagnacavallo,
+<a href="#Page_129"><b>129</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giovan Battista Bellucci (Giovan Battista San Marino), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_210"><b>210</b></a>-213.
+<a href="#Page_207"><b>207</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giovan Battista de' Rossi (Il Rosso),
+<a href="#Page_58"><b>58</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_59"><b>59</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_117"><b>117</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_118"><b>118</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_149"><b>149</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_188"><b>188</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giovan Battista San Marino (Giovan Battista Bellucci), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_210"><b>210</b></a>-213.
+<a href="#Page_207"><b>207</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giovan Bologna,
+<a href="#Page_100"><b>100</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_101"><b>101</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giovan Francesco Rustici,
+<a href="#Page_57"><b>57</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_66"><b>66</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giovan Maria Pichi,
+<a href="#Page_158"><b>158</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giovanni, Antonio di (Solosmeo da Settignano),
+<a href="#Page_5"><b>5</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_79"><b>79</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_80"><b>80</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giovanni Agnolo Montorsoli, Fra,
+<a href="#Page_10"><b>10</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_11"><b>11</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_81"><b>81</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_82"><b>82</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (Il Sodoma), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_245"><b>245</b></a>-257</li>
+
+<li>Giovanni Antonio Lappoli,
+<a href="#Page_158"><b>158</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_159"><b>159</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giovanni Antonio Sogliani,
+<a href="#Page_256"><b>256</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giovanni Caroto,
+<a href="#Page_238"><b>238</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giovanni da Udine,
+<a href="#Page_118"><b>118</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giovanni di Baccio (Nanni di Baccio Bigio),
+<a href="#Page_81"><b>81</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giovanni di Goro,
+<a href="#Page_69"><b>69</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giovanni Fancelli,
+<a href="#Page_97"><b>97</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giovanni Rosso (or Rosto), Maestro,
+<a href="#Page_177"><b>177</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giovanni San Michele,
+<a href="#Page_217"><b>217</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Girolamo da Ferrara (Girolamo Ferrarese),
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_10"><b>10</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_189"><b>189</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Girolamo del Buda,
+<a href="#Page_56"><b>56</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Girolamo del Pacchia,
+<a href="#Page_252"><b>252</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Girolamo Ferrarese (Girolamo da Ferrara),
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_10"><b>10</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_189"><b>189</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Girolamo Genga, <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_199"><b>199</b></a>-206.
+<a href="#Page_207"><b>207</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_208"><b>208</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_210"><b>210</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_211"><b>211</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giuliano Bugiardini, <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_107"><b>107</b></a>-113</li>
+
+<li>Giuliano di Baccio d'Agnolo,
+<a href="#Page_83"><b>83</b></a>-86,
+<a href="#Page_88"><b>88</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_89"><b>89</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_102"><b>102</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Giulio Romano,
+<a href="#Page_117"><b>117</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_236"><b>236</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Goro, Giovanni di,
+<a href="#Page_69"><b>69</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Granacci, Francesco,
+<a href="#Page_108"><b>108</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="none p2">
+<li>Il Bacchiacca (Francesco Ubertini),
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Il Carota (Antonio di Marco di Giano),
+<a href="#Page_152"><b>152</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Il Rosso (Giovan Battista de' Rossi),
+<a href="#Page_58"><b>58</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_59"><b>59</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_117"><b>117</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_118"><b>118</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_149"><b>149</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_188"><b>188</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_245"><b>245</b></a>-257</li>
+
+<li>India, Bernardino,
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="none p2">
+<li>Jacone (Jacopo),
+<a href="#Page_176"><b>176</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Jacopo da Pontormo (Jacopo Carrucci), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_147"><b>147</b></a>-182.
+<a href="#Page_31"><b>31</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_201"><b>201</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Jacopo della Barba,
+<a href="#Page_71"><b>71</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Jacopo della Fonte (Jacopo della Quercia),
+<a href="#Page_245"><b>245</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Jacopo Sansovino,
+<a href="#Page_4"><b>4</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_5"><b>5</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_58"><b>58</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="none p2">
+<li>Lancia, Baldassarre,
+<a href="#Page_206"><b>206</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Lappoli, Giovanni Antonio,
+<a href="#Page_158"><b>158</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_159"><b>159</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Lastricati, Zanobi,
+<a href="#Page_45"><b>45</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Lattanzio di Vincenzio Pagani,
+<a href="#Page_128"><b>128</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Leonardo da Vinci,
+<a href="#Page_41"><b>41</b></a>-44,
+<a href="#Page_57"><b>57</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_58"><b>58</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_60"><b>60</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_148"><b>148</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_152"><b>152</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Lippi, Fra Filippo,
+<a href="#Page_57"><b>57</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Lombardi, Alfonso,
+<a href="#Page_77"><b>77</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Lorenzetto,
+<a href="#Page_78"><b>78</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Lorenzi, Antonio di Gino,
+<a href="#Page_24"><b>24</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Lorenzo di Bicci,
+<a href="#Page_61"><b>61</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Lorenzo Marignolli,
+<a href="#Page_46"><b>46</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Luca Signorelli,
+<a href="#Page_199"><b>199</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_246"><b>246</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Luigi Brugnuoli,
+<a href="#Page_229"><b>229</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_233"><b>233</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="none p2">
+<li>Maestro Andrea,
+<a href="#Page_66"><b>66</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Maestro Giovanni Rosso (or Rosto),
+<a href="#Page_177"><b>177</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Maestro Niccol�,
+<a href="#Page_177"><b>177</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Mantovano, Camillo,
+<a href="#Page_201"><b>201</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Marc'Antonio Bolognese,
+<a href="#Page_65"><b>65</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Marco da Ravenna,
+<a href="#Page_63"><b>63</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Marco del Tasso,
+<a href="#Page_156"><b>156</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Marco Palmezzani (Marco Parmigiano),
+<a href="#Page_204"><b>204</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_205"><b>205</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Marignolli, Lorenzo,
+<a href="#Page_46"><b>46</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Mariotto Albertinelli,
+<a href="#Page_108"><b>108</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_148"><b>148</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Martino, Bartolommeo di Jacopo di,
+<a href="#Page_147"><b>147</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Matteo San Michele,
+<a href="#Page_219"><b>219</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Mazzieri, Antonio di Donnino (Antonio di Domenico),
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Menzochi, Francesco (Francesco da Forl�),
+<a href="#Page_201"><b>201</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_204"><b>204</b></a>-206</li>
+
+<li>Menzochi, Pietro Paolo,
+<a href="#Page_205"><b>205</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_206"><b>206</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Michelagnolo Buonarroti,
+<a href="#Page_10"><b>10</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_11"><b>11</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_14"><b>14</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_16"><b>16</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_28"><b>28</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_32"><b>32</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_44"><b>44</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_46"><b>46</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_48"><b>48</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_49"><b>49</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_57"><b>57</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_58"><b>58</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_61"><b>61</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_66"><b>66</b></a>-68,
+<a href="#Page_71"><b>71</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_72"><b>72</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_75"><b>75</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_77"><b>77</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_81"><b>81</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_98"><b>98</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_99"><b>99</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_107"><b>107</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_108"><b>108</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_110"><b>110</b></a>-113,
+<a href="#Page_151"><b>151</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_172"><b>172</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_173"><b>173</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_179"><b>179</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_194"><b>194</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_235"><b>235</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Michelagnolo di Viviano,
+<a href="#Page_55"><b>55</b></a>-57,
+<a href="#Page_60"><b>60</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_66"><b>66</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_73"><b>73</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_98"><b>98</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_99"><b>99</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Michele di Ridolfo Ghirlandajo,
+<a href="#Page_28"><b>28</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Michele San Michele, <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_217"><b>217</b></a>-235.
+<a href="#Page_127"><b>127</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_191"><b>191</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_217"><b>217</b></a>-235,
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_241"><b>241</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Minga, Andrea del,
+<a href="#Page_97"><b>97</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Montelupo, Baccio da,
+<a href="#Page_155"><b>155</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Montelupo, Raffaello da,
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>-11,
+<a href="#Page_27"><b>27</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_62"><b>62</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_81"><b>81</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_189"><b>189</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_191"><b>191</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_192"><b>192</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_194"><b>194</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_195"><b>195</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Montorsoli, Fra Giovanni Agnolo,
+<a href="#Page_10"><b>10</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_11"><b>11</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_81"><b>81</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_82"><b>82</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Moro, Battista del (Battista d'Agnolo),
+<a href="#Page_236"><b>236</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Mosca, Simone, <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_185"><b>185</b></a>-195.
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_10"><b>10</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Moschino, Francesco,
+<a href="#Page_192"><b>192</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_194"><b>194</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_195"><b>195</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="none p2">
+<li>Naldini, Battista,
+<a href="#Page_181"><b>181</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_182"><b>182</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Nanni di Baccio Bigio (Giovanni di Baccio),
+<a href="#Page_81"><b>81</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Nanni Unghero,
+<a href="#Page_4"><b>4</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Neroni, Bartolommeo (Riccio),
+<a href="#Page_257"><b>257</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Niccol�, Maestro,
+<a href="#Page_177"><b>177</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Niccol� (called Tribolo), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_3"><b>3</b></a>-37.
+<a href="#Page_43"><b>43</b></a>-45,
+<a href="#Page_81"><b>81</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_112"><b>112</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_176"><b>176</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_189"><b>189</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Niccol� Giolfino (Niccol� Ursino),
+<a href="#Page_240"><b>240</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Niccol� Rondinello (Rondinino da Ravenna),
+<a href="#Page_204"><b>204</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_205"><b>205</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Niccol� Ursino (Niccol� Giolfino),
+<a href="#Page_240"><b>240</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="none p2">
+<li>Pacchia, Girolamo del,
+<a href="#Page_252"><b>252</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Pagani, Lattanzio di Vincenzio,
+<a href="#Page_128"><b>128</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Palmezzani, Marco (Marco Parmigiano),
+<a href="#Page_204"><b>204</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_205"><b>205</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Paolino or Paolo Caliari (Paolo Veronese),
+<a href="#Page_236"><b>236</b></a>-240</li>
+
+<li>Paolo Farinato,
+<a href="#Page_236"><b>236</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_240"><b>240</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_241"><b>241</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Paolo San Michele,
+<a href="#Page_227"><b>227</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_230"><b>230</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_232"><b>232</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Paolo Veronese (Paolino or Paolo Caliari),
+<a href="#Page_236"><b>236</b></a>-240</li>
+
+<li>Papacello, Tommaso,
+<a href="#Page_128"><b>128</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Parmigiano, Marco (Marco Palmezzani),
+<a href="#Page_204"><b>204</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_205"><b>205</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Perugino, Pietro,
+<a href="#Page_199"><b>199</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_248"><b>248</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_249"><b>249</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Peruzzi, Baldassarre,
+<a href="#Page_253"><b>253</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Pichi, Giovan Maria,
+<a href="#Page_158"><b>158</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Pier Francesco da Viterbo,
+<a href="#Page_119"><b>119</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_202"><b>202</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Pier Francesco di Jacopo di Sandro,
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_176"><b>176</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Pierino (Piero) da Vinci, <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_41"><b>41</b></a>-51</li>
+
+<li>Piero di Cosimo,
+<a href="#Page_148"><b>148</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Pietrasanta, Ranieri da,
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_10"><b>10</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Pietrasanta, Stagio da,
+<a href="#Page_7"><b>7</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_195"><b>195</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Pietro da San Casciano,
+<a href="#Page_15"><b>15</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_16"><b>16</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_19"><b>19</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Pietro di Subisso,
+<a href="#Page_187"><b>187</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_188"><b>188</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Pietro Paolo Galeotto,
+<a href="#Page_152"><b>152</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Pietro Paolo Menzochi,
+<a href="#Page_205"><b>205</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_206"><b>206</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Pietro Perugino,
+<a href="#Page_199"><b>199</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_248"><b>248</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_249"><b>249</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Pietro Rosselli,
+<a href="#Page_68"><b>68</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_69"><b>69</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Piloto,
+<a href="#Page_56"><b>56</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_58"><b>58</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_69"><b>69</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Piombo, Fra Sebastiano Viniziano del,
+<a href="#Page_110"><b>110</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_111"><b>111</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Pippo del Fabro,
+<a href="#Page_5"><b>5</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Pisano, Andrea,
+<a href="#Page_30"><b>30</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Pontormo, Jacopo da (Jacopo Carrucci), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_147"><b>147</b></a>-182.
+<a href="#Page_31"><b>31</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_201"><b>201</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Prato, Francesco di Girolamo dal,
+<a href="#Page_72"><b>72</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_73"><b>73</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="none p2">
+<li>Quercia, Jacopo della (Jacopo della Fonte),
+<a href="#Page_245"><b>245</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="none p2">
+<li>Raffaello da Montelupo,
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>-11,
+<a href="#Page_27"><b>27</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_62"><b>62</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_81"><b>81</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_189"><b>189</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_191"><b>191</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_192"><b>192</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_194"><b>194</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_195"><b>195</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Raffaello da Urbino (Raffaello Sanzio),
+<a href="#Page_111"><b>111</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_117"><b>117</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_148"><b>148</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_174"><b>174</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_199"><b>199</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_249"><b>249</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Raffaello dal Colle (Raffaello dal Borgo),
+<a href="#Page_117"><b>117</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_118"><b>118</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_120"><b>120</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_128"><b>128</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_129"><b>129</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_201"><b>201</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Raffaello delle Vivole,
+<a href="#Page_152"><b>152</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Raffaello Sanzio (Raffaello da Urbino),
+<a href="#Page_111"><b>111</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_117"><b>117</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_148"><b>148</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_174"><b>174</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_199"><b>199</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_249"><b>249</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Ranieri da Pietrasanta,
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_10"><b>10</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Ravenna, Marco da,
+<a href="#Page_63"><b>63</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Ravenna, Rondinino da (Niccol� Rondinello),
+<a href="#Page_204"><b>204</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_205"><b>205</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Riccio (Bartolommeo Neroni),
+<a href="#Page_257"><b>257</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Riccio, Domenico del (Domenico Brusciasorzi),
+<a href="#Page_236"><b>236</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Riccio, Felice del (Felice Brusciasorzi),
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Ridolfo Ghirlandajo,
+<a href="#Page_28"><b>28</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_31"><b>31</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_155"><b>155</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_156"><b>156</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Romano, Giulio,
+<a href="#Page_117"><b>117</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_236"><b>236</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Rondinino da Ravenna (Niccol� Rondinello),
+<a href="#Page_204"><b>204</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_205"><b>205</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Rosselli, Pietro,
+<a href="#Page_68"><b>68</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_69"><b>69</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Rossi, Francesco de' (Francesco Salviati),
+<a href="#Page_178"><b>178</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_205"><b>205</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Rossi, Giovan Battista de' (Il Rosso),
+<a href="#Page_58"><b>58</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_59"><b>59</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_117"><b>117</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_118"><b>118</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_149"><b>149</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_188"><b>188</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Rossi, Vincenzio de',
+<a href="#Page_94"><b>94</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_98"><b>98</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_101"><b>101</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Rosso, Il (Giovan Battista de' Rossi),
+<a href="#Page_58"><b>58</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_59"><b>59</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_117"><b>117</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_118"><b>118</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_149"><b>149</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_188"><b>188</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Rosto (or Rosso), Maestro Giovanni,
+<a href="#Page_177"><b>177</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Rovezzano, Benedetto da,
+<a href="#Page_4"><b>4</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_63"><b>63</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_64"><b>64</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_187"><b>187</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Roviale,
+<a href="#Page_129"><b>129</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Rustici, Giovan Francesco,
+<a href="#Page_57"><b>57</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_66"><b>66</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="none p2">
+<li>Salviati, Francesco (Francesco de' Rossi),
+<a href="#Page_178"><b>178</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_205"><b>205</b></a></li>
+
+<li>San Casciano, Pietro da,
+<a href="#Page_15"><b>15</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_16"><b>16</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_19"><b>19</b></a></li>
+
+<li>San Gallo, Antonio da (the elder),
+<a href="#Page_74"><b>74</b></a></li>
+
+<li>San Gallo, Antonio da (the younger),
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_78"><b>78</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_119"><b>119</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_186"><b>186</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_189"><b>189</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_190"><b>190</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_193"><b>193</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_217"><b>217</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_218"><b>218</b></a></li>
+
+<li>San Gallo, Bastiano (Aristotile) da,
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a></li>
+
+<li>San Gallo, Francesco da (the younger),
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_10"><b>10</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_189"><b>189</b></a></li>
+
+<li>San Marco, Fra Bartolommeo di,
+<a href="#Page_108"><b>108</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_109"><b>109</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_148"><b>148</b></a></li>
+
+<li>San Marino, Giovan Battista (Giovan Battista Bellucci), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_210"><b>210</b></a>-213.
+<a href="#Page_207"><b>207</b></a></li>
+
+<li>San Michele, Bartolommeo,
+<a href="#Page_217"><b>217</b></a></li>
+
+<li>San Michele, Gian Girolamo,
+<a href="#Page_219"><b>219</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_220"><b>220</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_222"><b>222</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_230"><b>230</b></a>-234</li>
+
+<li>San Michele, Giovanni,
+<a href="#Page_217"><b>217</b></a></li>
+
+<li>San Michele, Matteo,
+<a href="#Page_219"><b>219</b></a></li>
+
+<li>San Michele, Michele, <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_217"><b>217</b></a>-235.
+<a href="#Page_127"><b>127</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_191"><b>191</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_217"><b>217</b></a>-235,
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_241"><b>241</b></a></li>
+
+<li>San Michele, Paolo,
+<a href="#Page_227"><b>227</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_230"><b>230</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_232"><b>232</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Sandro, Pier Francesco di Jacopo di,
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_176"><b>176</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Sansovino, Andrea (Andrea Contucci),
+<a href="#Page_5"><b>5</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_61"><b>61</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_62"><b>62</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_187"><b>187</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_189"><b>189</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Sansovino, Jacopo,
+<a href="#Page_4"><b>4</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_5"><b>5</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_58"><b>58</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Santi Buglioni,
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Sanzio, Raffaello (Raffaello da Urbino),
+<a href="#Page_111"><b>111</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_117"><b>117</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_148"><b>148</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_174"><b>174</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_199"><b>199</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_249"><b>249</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Sarto, Andrea del,
+<a href="#Page_4"><b>4</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_58"><b>58</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_59"><b>59</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_148"><b>148</b></a>-150,
+<a href="#Page_152"><b>152</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_156"><b>156</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_157"><b>157</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_171"><b>171</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_188"><b>188</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Sebastiano Viniziano del Piombo, Fra,
+<a href="#Page_110"><b>110</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_111"><b>111</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Settignano, Solosmeo da (Antonio di Giovanni),
+<a href="#Page_5"><b>5</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_79"><b>79</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_80"><b>80</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Signorelli, Luca,
+<a href="#Page_199"><b>199</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_246"><b>246</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Simone Cioli,
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_10"><b>10</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_189"><b>189</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Simone Mosca, <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_185"><b>185</b></a>-195.
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_10"><b>10</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Sodoma, Giomo del,
+<a href="#Page_257"><b>257</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Sodoma, Il (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_245"><b>245</b></a>-257</li>
+
+<li>Sogliani, Giovanni Antonio,
+<a href="#Page_256"><b>256</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Solosmeo da Settignano (Antonio di Giovanni),
+<a href="#Page_5"><b>5</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_79"><b>79</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_80"><b>80</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Spagnuolo, Alonzo (Alfonso Berughetta),
+<a href="#Page_58"><b>58</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Stagio da Pietrasanta,
+<a href="#Page_7"><b>7</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_195"><b>195</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Stefano Veltroni,
+<a href="#Page_120"><b>120</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_123"><b>123</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_124"><b>124</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_129"><b>129</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Subisso, Pietro di,
+<a href="#Page_187"><b>187</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_188"><b>188</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="none p2">
+<li>Tadda, Francesco del,
+<a href="#Page_9"><b>9</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_10"><b>10</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_49"><b>49</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Tasso, Battista del,
+<a href="#Page_13"><b>13</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_30"><b>30</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_31"><b>31</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_34"><b>34</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_35"><b>35</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_137"><b>137</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Tasso, Marco del,
+<a href="#Page_156"><b>156</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Tiberio Cavalieri,
+<a href="#Page_50"><b>50</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Timoteo da Urbino (Timoteo della Vite),
+<a href="#Page_200"><b>200</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Tiziano Vecelli (Tiziano da Cadore),
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Tommaso Papacello,
+<a href="#Page_128"><b>128</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Tribolo (Niccol�), <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_3"><b>3</b></a>-37.
+<a href="#Page_43"><b>43</b></a>-45,
+<a href="#Page_81"><b>81</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_112"><b>112</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_176"><b>176</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_189"><b>189</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="none p2">
+<li>Ubertini, Francesco (Il Bacchiacca),
+<a href="#Page_29"><b>29</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Udine, Giovanni da,
+<a href="#Page_118"><b>118</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Unghero, Nanni,
+<a href="#Page_4"><b>4</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Urbino, Bramante da,
+<a href="#Page_249"><b>249</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Urbino, Raffaello da (Raffaello Sanzio),
+<a href="#Page_111"><b>111</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_117"><b>117</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_148"><b>148</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_174"><b>174</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_199"><b>199</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_249"><b>249</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Urbino, Timoteo da (Timoteo della Vite),
+<a href="#Page_200"><b>200</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Ursino, Niccol� (Niccol� Giolfino),
+<a href="#Page_240"><b>240</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<a name="vasari" id="vasari"></a>
+<ul class="none p2">
+<li>Vasari, Giorgio&mdash;<br>
+<span class="add1em">as art-collector,</span>
+<a href="#Page_11"><b>11</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_99"><b>99</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_253"><b>253</b></a><br>
+<span class="add1em">as author,</span>
+<a href="#Page_3"><b>3</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_11"><b>11</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_12"><b>12</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_14"><b>14</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_16"><b>16</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_21"><b>21</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_24"><b>24</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_25"><b>25</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_28"><b>28</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_31"><b>31</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_33"><b>33</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_34"><b>34</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_36"><b>36</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_37"><b>37</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_41"><b>41</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_79"><b>79</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_95"><b>95</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_96"><b>96</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_99"><b>99</b></a>-101,
+<a href="#Page_103"><b>103</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_109"><b>109</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_117"><b>117</b></a>-125,
+<a href="#Page_127"><b>127</b></a>-132,
+<a href="#Page_137"><b>137</b></a>-139,
+<a href="#Page_141"><b>141</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_142"><b>142</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_147"><b>147</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_155"><b>155</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_157"><b>157</b></a>-160,
+<a href="#Page_167"><b>167</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_168"><b>168</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_172"><b>172</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_173"><b>173</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_175"><b>175</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_178"><b>178</b></a>-180,
+<a href="#Page_186"><b>186</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_190"><b>190</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_202"><b>202</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_209"><b>209</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_210"><b>210</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_217"><b>217</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_225"><b>225</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_226"><b>226</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_230"><b>230</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_231"><b>231</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_234"><b>234</b></a>-236,
+<a href="#Page_239"><b>239</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_240"><b>240</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_253"><b>253</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_254"><b>254</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_257"><b>257</b></a><br>
+<span class="add1em">as painter,</span>
+<a href="#Page_13"><b>13</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_31"><b>31</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_95"><b>95</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_118"><b>118</b></a>-132,
+<a href="#Page_137"><b>137</b></a>-139,
+<a href="#Page_141"><b>141</b></a>-143,
+<a href="#Page_188"><b>188</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_189"><b>189</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_206"><b>206</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_229"><b>229</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_230"><b>230</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_235"><b>235</b></a><br>
+<span class="add1em">as architect,</span>
+<a href="#Page_35"><b>35</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_37"><b>37</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_85"><b>85</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_91"><b>91</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_95"><b>95</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_101"><b>101</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_102"><b>102</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_119"><b>119</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_137"><b>137</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_193"><b>193</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_194"><b>194</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_206"><b>206</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Vecelli, Tiziano (Tiziano da Cadore),
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Veltroni, Stefano,
+<a href="#Page_120"><b>120</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_123"><b>123</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_124"><b>124</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_129"><b>129</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Verona, Battista da (Battista Farinati),
+<a href="#Page_237"><b>237</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_238"><b>238</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Veronese, Paolo (Paolino or Paolo Caliari),
+<a href="#Page_236"><b>236</b></a>-240</li>
+
+<li>Verrocchio, Andrea,
+<a href="#Page_56"><b>56</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Vincenzio Danti,
+<a href="#Page_100"><b>100</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Vincenzio de' Rossi,
+<a href="#Page_94"><b>94</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_98"><b>98</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_101"><b>101</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Vinci, Leonardo da,
+<a href="#Page_41"><b>41</b></a>-44,
+<a href="#Page_57"><b>57</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_58"><b>58</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_60"><b>60</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_148"><b>148</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_152"><b>152</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Vinci, Pierino (Piero) da, <i>Life</i>,
+<a href="#Page_41"><b>41</b></a>-51</li>
+
+<li>Viniziano, Agostino,
+<a href="#Page_60"><b>60</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_63"><b>63</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Vite, Timoteo della (Timoteo da Urbino),
+<a href="#Page_200"><b>200</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Viterbo, Pier Francesco da,
+<a href="#Page_119"><b>119</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_202"><b>202</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Vitruvius,
+<a href="#Page_211"><b>211</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Vittoria, Alessandro,
+<a href="#Page_228"><b>228</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Viviano, Michelagnolo di,
+<a href="#Page_55"><b>55</b></a>-57,
+<a href="#Page_60"><b>60</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_66"><b>66</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_73"><b>73</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_98"><b>98</b></a>,
+<a href="#Page_99"><b>99</b></a></li>
+
+<li>Vivole, Raffaello delle,
+<a href="#Page_152"><b>152</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<ul class="none p2">
+<li>Zanobi Lastricati,
+<a href="#Page_45"><b>45</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<h4>END OF VOL. VII.</h4>
+
+<p class="center">PRINTED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF CHAS. T. JACOBI
+OF THE CHISWICK PRESS, LONDON. THE COLOURED
+REPRODUCTIONS ENGRAVED AND PRINTED BY
+HENRY STONE AND SON, LTD., BANBURY</p>
+
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES</h3>
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote1" id="Footnote1"></a><a href="#FNanchor1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Illustrated with <i>Two Angels</i>, by Madonna Properzia de' Rossi, vol. v., p. 126.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote2" id="Footnote2"></a><a href="#FNanchor2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Teasel.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote3" id="Footnote3"></a><a href="#FNanchor3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> See note on p. 132, Vol. II.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote4" id="Footnote4"></a><a href="#FNanchor4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> See note on p. 57, Vol. I.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote5" id="Footnote5"></a><a href="#FNanchor5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Diamond.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote6" id="Footnote6"></a><a href="#FNanchor6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Trunk or branch.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote7" id="Footnote7"></a><a href="#FNanchor7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Palmezzani.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote8" id="Footnote8"></a><a href="#FNanchor8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Rondinello.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote9" id="Footnote9"></a><a href="#FNanchor9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Giovan Battista.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote10" id="Footnote10"></a><a href="#FNanchor10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Any kind of stone that is easily split.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote11" id="Footnote11"></a><a href="#FNanchor11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Paolo Caliari or Veronese.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote12" id="Footnote12"></a><a href="#FNanchor12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Giolfino.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote13" id="Footnote13"></a><a href="#FNanchor13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Madcap or buffoon.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="trans-note">
+Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected.
+Hyphenation and accentuation have been standardised, all
+other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling
+has been maintained.</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lives of the most Eminent Painters
+Sculptors and Architects, by Giorgio Vasari
+
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+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lives of the most Eminent Painters
+Sculptors and Architects, by Giorgio Vasari
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Lives of the most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects
+       Vol 07 (of 10) Tribolo to Il Sodoma
+
+Author: Giorgio Vasari
+
+Translator: Gaston du C. De Vere
+
+Release Date: March 31, 2010 [EBook #31845]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAINTERS SCULPTORS ARCHITECTS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Mark C. Orton, Christine P. Travers and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected.
+Hyphenation and accentuation have been standardised, all other
+inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling has been
+maintained.
+
+Bold text is marked with =.]
+
+
+
+
+LIVES OF THE MOST EMINENT PAINTERS SCULPTORS & ARCHITECTS BY GIORGIO
+VASARI:
+
+VOLUME VII. TRIBOLO TO IL SODOMA 1914
+
+NEWLY TRANSLATED BY GASTON Du C. DE VERE. WITH FIVE HUNDRED
+ILLUSTRATIONS: IN TEN VOLUMES
+
+[Illustration: 1511-1574]
+
+PHILIP LEE WARNER, PUBLISHER TO THE MEDICI SOCIETY, LIMITED 7 GRAFTON
+ST. LONDON, W. 1912-14
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF VOLUME VII
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+    NICCOLO, CALLED TRIBOLO                                            1
+
+    PIERINO [PIERO] DA VINCI                                          39
+
+    BACCIO BANDINELLI                                                 53
+
+    GIULIANO BUGIARDINI                                              105
+
+    CRISTOFANO GHERARDI, CALLED DOCENO                               115
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO                                               145
+
+    SIMONE MOSCA                                                     183
+
+    GIROLAMO AND BARTOLOMMEO GENGA, AND GIOVAN BATTISTA SAN
+      MARINO                                                         197
+
+    MICHELE SAN MICHELE                                              215
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI, CALLED IL SODOMA                         243
+
+    INDEX OF NAMES                                                   259
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME VII
+
+PLATES IN COLOUR
+
+                                                             FACING PAGE
+
+    GIULIANO BUGIARDINI
+        Portrait of a Lady
+            Florence: Pitti, 140                                     106
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+        Portrait of an Engraver
+            Paris: Louvre, 1241                                      174
+
+    PAOLO VERONESE (PAOLINO _or_ CALIARI)
+        Industry
+            Venice: Doges' Palace, Sala Anticollegio                 216
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI (IL SODOMA)
+        The Vision of S. Catharine
+            Siena: S. Domenico                                       244
+
+
+PLATES IN MONOCHROME
+
+    NICCOLO (TRIBOLO)
+        The Hercules Fountain
+            Florence: Villa Reale di Castello                         24
+
+    NICCOLO (TRIBOLO)
+        The Assumption of the Virgin
+            Bologna: S. Petronio                                     [1]
+
+         [Footnote 1: Illustrated with _Two Angels_, by Madonna
+         Properzia de' Rossi, vol. v., p. 126.]
+
+    PIERINO (PIERO) DA VINCI
+        Ugolino della Gherardesca and his Sons in the Tower of Famine
+            Oxford: Ashmolean Museum                                  48
+
+    BACCIO BANDINELLI
+        The Martyrdom of S. Lorenzo
+            Hereford: W. J. Davies' Collection                        64
+
+    BACCIO BANDINELLI
+        Statue of Hercules and Cacus
+            Florence: Piazza della Signoria                           72
+
+    BACCIO BANDINELLI
+        Statue of Giovanni delle Bande Nere
+            Florence: Piazza di S. Lorenzo                            80
+
+    BACCIO BANDINELLI
+        Reliefs from the Choir Screen
+            Florence: Duomo                                           88
+
+    GIULIANO BUGIARDINI
+        The Martyrdom of S. Catharine
+            Florence: S. Maria Novella, Rucellai Chapel              110
+
+    GIORGIO VASARI and CRISTOFANO GHERARDI (DOCENO)
+        Detail: The Supper of S. Gregory the Great
+            Bologna: Accademia, 198                                  122
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+        The Adoration of the Magi
+            Siena: S. Agostino                                       146
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+        Duke Cosimo I. de' Medici
+            Florence: Uffizi, 1270                                   152
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+        The Visitation
+            Florence: SS. Annunziata, Cloister                       154
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+        Joseph and his Kindred in Egypt
+            London: N. G., 1131                                      158
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+        Detail: Vertumnus Fresco
+            Poggio a Caiano: Villa Reale                             160
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+        Detail: Vertumnus Fresco
+            Poggio a Caiano: Villa Reale                             162
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+        The Descent From the Cross
+            Florence: S. Felicita                                    168
+
+    JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+        The Martyrdom of the Forty Saints
+            Florence: Pitti, 182                                     170
+
+    SIMONE MOSCA and MICHELE SAN MICHELE
+        The Altar of the Three Kings
+            Orvieto: Duomo                                           190
+
+    SIMONE MOSCA
+        The Salutation
+            Orvieto: Duomo                                           192
+
+    GIROLAMO GENGA
+        Madonna and Child with Saints
+            Milan: Brera, 202                                        200
+
+    MICHELE SAN MICHELE
+        Porta del Palio
+            Verona                                                   222
+
+    MICHELE SAN MICHELE
+        Cappella de' Pellegrini
+            Verona: S. Bernardino                                    224
+
+    MICHELE SAN MICHELE
+     _See also at p. 190 above_
+        Palazzo Grimani
+            Venice                                                   230
+
+    PAOLO VERONESE (PAOLINO _or_ CALIARI)
+        The Feast in the House of Levi
+            Venice: Accademia, 203                                   238
+
+    PAOLO VERONESE (PAOLINO _or_ CALIARI)
+        Venice Enthroned, with Justice and Peace
+            Venice: Ducal Palace                                     240
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI (IL SODOMA)
+        Scene from the Life of S. Benedict
+            Monte Oliveto Maggiore                                   246
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI (IL SODOMA)
+        Scene from the Life of S. Benedict
+            Monte Oliveto Maggiore                                   246
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI (IL SODOMA)
+        Detail: the Marriage of Alexander and Roxana
+            Rome: Villa Farnesina                                    248
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI (IL SODOMA)
+        S. Sebastian
+            Florence: Uffizi, 1279                                   250
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI (IL SODOMA)
+        S. Ansano
+            Siena: Palazzo Pubblico                                  252
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI (IL SODOMA)
+        S. Francis
+            Siena: S. Bernardino, Oratory                            252
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI (IL SODOMA)
+        The Adoration of the Magi
+            Siena: S. Agostino                                       254
+
+    GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI (IL SODOMA)
+        The Sacrifice of Isaac
+            Pisa: Duomo                                              256
+
+
+
+
+NICCOLO, CALLED TRIBOLO
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF NICCOLO, CALLED TRIBOLO
+
+SCULPTOR AND ARCHITECT
+
+
+Raffaello the carpenter, surnamed Il Riccio de' Pericoli, who lived
+near the Canto a Monteloro in Florence, had born to him in the year
+1500, as he used to tell me himself, a male child, whom he was pleased
+to call at baptism, like his own father, Niccolo; and having perceived
+that the boy had a quick and ready intelligence and a lofty spirit, he
+determined, although he was but a poor artisan, that he should begin
+straightway by learning to read and write well and cast accounts.
+Sending him to school, therefore, it came about, since the child was
+very vivacious and so high-spirited in his every action, that he was
+always cramped for room and was a very devil both among the other boys
+at school and everywhere else, always teasing and tormenting both
+himself and others, that he lost his own name of Niccolo and acquired
+that of Tribolo[2] to such purpose, that he was called that ever
+afterwards by everyone.
+
+         [Footnote 2: Teasel.]
+
+Now, Tribolo growing, his father, in order both to make use of him and
+to curb the boy's exuberance, took him into his workshop and taught
+him his own trade; but having seen in a few months that he was ill
+suited for such a calling, being somewhat delicate, thin, and feeble
+in health, he came to the conclusion that if he wished to keep him
+alive, he must release him from the heavier labours of his craft and
+set him to wood-carving. Having heard that without design, the father
+of all the arts, the boy could not become an excellent master therein,
+Raffaello resolved that he should begin by devoting all his time to
+design, and therefore made him draw now cornices, foliage, and
+grotesques, and now other things necessary to such a profession. And
+having seen that in doing this the boy was well served both by his
+head and by his hand, and reflecting, like a man of judgment, that
+with him Niccolo could at best learn nothing else but to work by the
+square, Raffaello first spoke of this with the carpenter Ciappino, who
+was the very familiar friend of Nanni Unghero; and with his advice and
+assistance, he placed Niccolo for three years with the said Nanni, in
+whose workshop, where both joiner's work and carving were done, there
+were constantly to be found the sculptor Jacopo Sansovino, the painter
+Andrea del Sarto, and others, who afterwards became such able masters.
+Now Nanni, who had in those days a passing good reputation for
+excellence, was executing many works both in joinery and in carving
+for the villa of Zanobi Bartolini at Rovezzano, without the Porta alla
+Croce, for the palace of the Bartolini, which Giovanni, the brother of
+that Zanobi, was having built at that time on the Piazza di S.
+Trinita, and for the house and garden of the same man in Gualfonda;
+and Tribolo, who was made to work by Nanni without discretion, always
+having to handle saws, planes, and other common tools, and not being
+capable, by reason of the feebleness of his body, of such exertions,
+began to feel dissatisfied and to say to Riccio, when he asked for the
+cause of his discontent, that he did not think that he could remain
+with Nanni in that craft, and that therefore Raffaello should see to
+placing him with Andrea del Sarto or Jacopo Sansovino, whom he had
+come to know in Unghero's workshop, for the reason that with one or
+the other of them he hoped to do better and to be sounder in health.
+Moved by these reasons, then, and again with the advice and assistance
+of Ciappino, Riccio placed Tribolo with Jacopo Sansovino, who took him
+willingly, because he had known him in the workshop of Nanni Unghero,
+and had seen that he worked well in design and even better in relief.
+
+Jacopo Sansovino, when Tribolo, now restored to health, went to work
+under him, was executing in the Office of Works of S. Maria del Fiore,
+in competition with Benedetto da Rovezzano, Andrea da Fiesole, and
+Baccio Bandinelli, the marble statue of S. James the Apostle which is
+still to be seen at the present day at that place together with the
+others. And thus Tribolo, with these opportunities of learning, by
+working in clay and drawing with great diligence, contrived to make
+such proficience in that art, for which he felt a natural inclination,
+that Jacopo, growing to love him more and more every day, began to
+encourage him and to bring him forward by making him execute now one
+thing and now another. Whereupon, although Sansovino had in his
+workshop at that time Solosmeo da Settignano and Pippo del Fabro,
+young men of great promise, seeing that Tribolo, having added skill in
+the use of chisels to his good knowledge of working in clay and in
+wax, not only equalled them but surpassed them by a great measure, he
+began to make much use of him in his works. And after finishing the
+Apostle and a Bacchus that he made for the house of Giovanni Bartolini
+in Gualfonda, and undertaking to make for M. Giovanni Gaddi, his
+intimate friend, a chimney-piece and a water-basin of hard sandstone
+for his house on the Piazza di Madonna, he caused some large figures
+of boys in clay, which were to go above the great cornice, to be made
+by Tribolo, who executed them so extraordinarily well, that M.
+Giovanni, having seen the beautiful manner and the genius of the young
+man, commissioned him to execute two medallions of marble, which,
+finished with great excellence, were afterwards placed over certain
+doors in the same house.
+
+Meanwhile there was a commission to be given for a tomb, a work of great
+magnitude, for the King of Portugal; and since Jacopo had been the
+disciple of Andrea Contucci of Monte Sansovino, and had the reputation
+not only of having equalled his master, a man of great renown, but of
+having a manner even more beautiful, that work, through the good offices
+of the Bartolini, was allotted to him. Whereupon Jacopo made a most
+superb model of wood, all covered with scenes and figures of wax, which
+were executed for the most part by Tribolo; and these proving to be very
+beautiful, the young man's fame so increased that Matteo di Lorenzo
+Strozzi--Tribolo having now left Sansovino, thinking that he was by that
+time able to work by himself--commissioned him to make some children of
+stone, and shortly afterwards, being much pleased with them, two of
+marble that are holding a dolphin which pours water into a fish-pond, a
+work that is now to be seen at San Casciano, a place eight miles distant
+from Florence, in the villa of that M. Matteo.
+
+While these works were being executed by Tribolo in Florence, M.
+Bartolommeo Barbazzi, a Bolognese gentleman who had gone there on some
+business, remembered that a search was being made in Bologna for a
+young man who could work well, to the end that he might be set to
+making figures and scenes of marble for the facade of S. Petronio, the
+principal church of that city. Wherefore he spoke to Tribolo, and
+having seen some of his works, which pleased him, as also did the
+young man's ways and other qualities, he took him to Bologna, where
+Tribolo, with great diligence and with much credit to himself, in a
+short time made the two Sibyls of marble that were afterwards placed
+in the ornament of that door of S. Petronio which leads to the Della
+Morte Hospital. These works finished, arrangements were being made to
+give him greater things to do, and he was receiving many proofs of
+love and affection from M. Bartolommeo, when the plague of the year
+1525 began in Bologna and throughout all Lombardy; whereupon Tribolo,
+in order to avoid that plague, made his way to Florence. After living
+there during all the time that this contagious and pestilential
+sickness lasted, he departed as soon as it had ceased, and returned,
+in obedience to a summons, to Bologna, where M. Bartolommeo, not
+allowing him to set his hand to any work for the facade, resolved,
+seeing that many of his friends and relatives had died, to have a tomb
+made for himself and for them. And so Tribolo, after finishing the
+model, which M. Bartolommeo insisted on seeing completed before he did
+anything else, went in person to Carrara to have the marbles
+excavated, intending to rough-hew them on the spot and to lighten them
+in such a manner, that they might not only be easier to transport, as
+indeed they were, but also that the figures might come out larger. In
+that place, in order not to waste his time, he blocked out two large
+children of marble, which were taken to Bologna with beasts of burden,
+unfinished as they were, together with the rest of the work; and after
+the death of M. Bartolommeo, which caused such grief to Tribolo that
+he returned to Tuscany, they were placed, with the other marbles, in
+a chapel in S. Petronio, where they still are.
+
+Having thus departed from Carrara, Tribolo, on his way back to
+Florence, stayed in Pisa to visit the sculptor Maestro Stagio da
+Pietrasanta, his very dear friend, who was executing in the Office of
+Works of the Duomo in that city two columns with capitals of marble
+all in open work, which were to stand one on either side of the
+high-altar and the Tabernacle of the Sacrament; and each of these was
+to have upon the capital an Angel of marble one braccio and three
+quarters in height, with a candelabrum in the hand. At the invitation
+of the said Stagio, having nothing else to do at that time, he
+undertook to make one of those Angels: which being finished with all
+the perfection that could be given to a delicate work of that size in
+marble, proved to be such that nothing more could have been desired,
+for the reason that the Angel, with the movement of his person, has
+the appearance of having stayed his flight in order to uphold that
+light, and the nude form has about it some delicate draperies which
+are so graceful in their effect, and look so well on every side and
+from every point of view, that words could not express their beauty.
+But, having consumed much time in executing this work, since he cared
+for nothing but his delight in art, and not having received for it
+from the Warden the payment that he expected, he resolved that he
+would not make the other Angel, and returned to Florence. There he met
+with Giovan Battista della Palla, who at that time was not only
+causing all the sculptures and pictures that he could to be executed
+for sending to King Francis I in France, but was also buying antiques
+of all sorts and pictures of every kind, provided only that they were
+by the hands of good masters; and every day he was packing them up and
+sending them off. Now, at the very moment when Tribolo returned,
+Giovan Battista had an ancient vase of granite, of a very beautiful
+shape, which he wished to arrange in such a manner that it might serve
+for a fountain for that King. He therefore declared his mind to
+Tribolo, and what he proposed to have done; and he, setting to work,
+made him a Goddess of Nature, who, raising one arm, holds that vase,
+the foot of which she has upon her head, with the hands, the first row
+of breasts being adorned with some boys standing out entirely detached
+from the marble, who are in various most beautiful attitudes, holding
+certain festoons in their hands, while the next range of breasts is
+covered with quadrupeds, and at her feet are many different kinds of
+fishes. That figure was finished with such diligence and such
+perfection, that it well deserved, after being sent to France together
+with other works, to be held very dear by the King, and to be placed,
+as a rare thing, in Fontainebleau.
+
+Afterwards, in the year 1529, when preparations were being made for
+the war against Florence and the siege, Pope Clement VII, wishing to
+study the exact site of the city and to consider in what manner and in
+what places his forces could be distributed to the best advantage,
+ordained that a plan of the city should be made secretly, with all the
+country for a mile around it--the hills, mountains, rivers, rocks,
+houses, churches, and other things, and also the squares and streets
+within, together with the walls and bastions surrounding it, and the
+other defences. The charge of all this was given to Benvenuto di
+Lorenzo della Volpaia, an able maker of clocks and quadrants and a
+very fine astrologer, but above all a most excellent master in taking
+ground-plans. This Benvenuto chose Tribolo as his companion, and that
+with great judgment, for the reason that it was Tribolo who suggested
+that this plan, for the better consideration of the height of the
+mountains, the depth of the low-lying parts, and all other
+particulars, should be made in relief; the doing of which was not
+without much labour and danger, in that, staying out all night to
+measure the roads and to mark the number of braccia between one place
+and another, and also to measure the height of the summits of the
+belfries and towers, drawing intersecting lines in every direction by
+means of the compass, and going beyond the walls to compare the height
+of the hills with that of the cupola, which they had marked as their
+centre, they did not execute such a work save after many months; but
+they used great diligence, for they made it of cork, for the sake of
+lightness, and limited the whole plan to the space of four braccia,
+and measured everything to scale. Having then been finished in this
+manner, and being made in pieces, that plan was packed up secretly and
+smuggled out of Florence in some bales of wool that were going to
+Perugia, being consigned to one who had orders to send it to the
+Pope, who made use of it continually during the siege of Florence,
+keeping it in his chamber, and seeing from one day to another, from
+letters and despatches, where and how the army was quartered, where
+skirmishes took place, and, in short, all the incidents, arguments,
+and discussions that occurred during that siege; all greatly to his
+satisfaction, for it was in truth a rare and marvellous work.
+
+The war finished--during the progress of which Tribolo executed some
+works in clay for his friends, and for Andrea del Sarto, his dearest
+friend, three figures of wax in the round, of which Andrea availed
+himself in painting in fresco, on the Piazza, near the Condotta,
+portraits from nature of three captains who had fled with the
+pay-chests, depicted as hanging by one foot--Benvenuto, summoned by
+the Pope, went to Rome to kiss the feet of his Holiness, and was
+placed by him in charge of the Belvedere, with an honourable salary.
+In that office, having often conversations with the Pope, Benvenuto,
+when the occasion arose, did not fail to extol Tribolo as an excellent
+sculptor and to recommend him warmly; insomuch that, the siege
+finished, Clement made use of him. For, designing to give completion
+to the Chapel of Our Lady at Loreto, which had been begun by Leo and
+then abandoned on account of the death of Andrea Contucci of Monte
+Sansovino, he ordained that Antonio da San Gallo, who had the charge
+of executing that fabric, should summon Tribolo and set him to
+complete some of those scenes that Maestro Andrea had left unfinished.
+Tribolo, then, thus summoned by San Gallo by order of Clement, went
+with all his family to Loreto, whither there likewise went Simone,
+called Mosca, a very rare carver of marble, Raffaello da Montelupo,
+Francesco da San Gallo the younger, Girolamo Ferrarese the sculptor, a
+disciple of Maestro Andrea, Simone Cioli, Ranieri da Pietrasanta, and
+Francesco del Tadda, all invited in order to finish that work. And to
+Tribolo, in the distribution of the labours, there fell, as the work
+of the greatest importance, a scene in which Maestro Andrea had
+represented the Marriage of Our Lady.
+
+Thereupon Tribolo made an addition to that scene, and had the notion
+of placing among the many figures that are standing watching the
+Marriage of the Virgin, one who in great fury is breaking his rod,
+because it had not blossomed; and in this he succeeded so well, that
+the suitor could not display with greater animation the rage that he
+feels at not having had the good fortune that he desired. Which work
+finished, and also that of the others, with great perfection, Tribolo
+had already made many models of wax with a view to executing some of
+those Prophets that were to go in the niches of that chapel, which was
+now built and completely finished, when Pope Clement, after seeing
+those works and praising them much, and particularly that of Tribolo,
+determined that they should all return without loss of time to
+Florence, in order to finish under the discipline of Michelagnolo
+Buonarroti all those figures that were wanting in the sacristy and
+library of S. Lorenzo, and the rest of the work, after the models of
+Michelagnolo and with his assistance, with the greatest possible
+speed, to the end that, having finished the sacristy, they might all
+together be able, thanks to the proficience made under the discipline
+of so great a man, also to finish the facade of S. Lorenzo. And in
+order that there might be no manner of delay in doing this, the Pope
+sent Michelagnolo back to Florence, and with him Fra Giovanni Angelo
+de' Servi, who had executed some works in the Belvedere, to the end
+that he might assist him in carving the marbles and might make some
+statues, according as he should receive orders from Michelagnolo, who
+caused him to make a S. Cosimo, which was to stand on one side of the
+Madonna, with a S. Damiano, allotted to Montelupo, on the other.
+
+These commissions given, Michelagnolo desired that Tribolo should make
+two nude statues, which were to be one on either side of that of Duke
+Giuliano, which he himself had already made; one was to be a figure of
+Earth crowned with cypress, weeping with bowed head and with the arms
+outstretched, and lamenting the death of Duke Giuliano, and the other
+a figure of Heaven with the arms uplifted, all smiling and joyful, and
+showing her gladness at the adornment and splendour that the soul and
+spirit of that lord conferred upon her. But Tribolo's evil fortune
+crossed him at the very moment when he was about to begin to work on
+the statue of Earth; for, whether it was the change of air, or his
+feeble constitution, or because he had been irregular in his way of
+living, he fell ill of a grievous sickness, which, ending in a
+quartan fever, hung about him many months, to his infinite vexation,
+since he was tormented no less by his grief at having had to abandon
+the work, and at seeing that the friar and Raffaello had taken
+possession of the field, than by the illness itself. However, wishing
+to conquer that illness, in order not to be left behind by his rivals,
+whose name he heard celebrated more and more every day, feeble as he
+was, he made a large model of clay for the statue of Earth, and, when
+he had finished it, began to execute the work in marble, with such
+diligence and assiduity, that the statue could be seen already all cut
+out in front, when Fortune, who is always ready to oppose herself to
+any fair beginning, by the death of Clement at a moment when nothing
+seemed less likely, cut short the aspirations of all those excellent
+masters who were hoping to acquire under Michelagnolo, besides
+boundless profits, immortal renown and everlasting fame.
+
+Stupefied by this misfortune and robbed of all his spirit, and being
+also ill, Tribolo was living in utter despair, seeming not to be able
+either in Florence or abroad to hit upon anything that might be to his
+advantage; but Giorgio Vasari, who was always his friend and loved him
+from his heart, and helped him all that he could, consoled him, saying
+that he should not lose heart, because he would so contrive that Duke
+Alessandro would give him something to do, by means of the favour of
+the Magnificent Ottaviano de' Medici, into whose service Giorgio had
+introduced him on terms of no little intimacy. Wherefore Tribolo,
+having regained a little courage, occupied himself, while measures
+were being taken to assist him, with copying in clay all the figures
+of marble in the Sacristy of S. Lorenzo which Michelagnolo had
+executed--namely, Dawn, Twilight, Day, and Night. And he succeeded in
+doing them so well, that M. Giovan Battista Figiovanni, the Prior of
+S. Lorenzo, to whom he presented the Night in return for having the
+sacristy opened for him, judging it to be a rare work, presented it to
+Duke Alessandro, who afterwards gave it to Giorgio Vasari, who was
+living with his Excellency, knowing that Giorgio gave his attention to
+such studies; which figure is now in his house at Arezzo, with other
+works of art. Having afterwards copied, likewise in clay, the Madonna
+made by Michelagnolo for the same sacristy, Tribolo presented it to
+the above-named M. Ottaviano de' Medici, who had a most beautiful
+ornament in squared work made for it by Battista del Cinque, with
+columns, cornices, brackets, and other carvings very well executed.
+
+Meanwhile, by the favour of him who was Treasurer to his Excellency,
+and at the commission of Bertoldo Corsini, the proveditor for the
+fortress which was being built at that time, out of three escutcheons
+that were to be made by order of the Duke for placing on the bastions,
+one on each, one four braccia in height was given to Tribolo to
+execute, with two nude figures representing Victories; which
+escutcheon, finished by him with great diligence and promptitude, with
+the addition of three great masks that support the escutcheon and the
+figures, so pleased the Duke, that he conceived a very great love for
+Tribolo. Now shortly afterwards the Duke went to Naples to defend
+himself before the Emperor Charles V, who had just returned from
+Tunis, against many calumnies that had been laid upon him by some of
+his citizens; and, having not only defended himself, but also obtained
+from his Majesty his daughter Signora Margherita of Austria for wife,
+he wrote to Florence that four men should be appointed who might cause
+vast and splendid decorations to be prepared throughout the city, in
+order to receive the Emperor, who was coming to Florence, with proper
+magnificence. And I, having to distribute the various works at the
+commission of his Excellency--who ordained that I should act in
+company with the said four men, who were Giovanni Corsi, Luigi
+Guicciardini, Palla Rucellai, and Alessandro Corsini--gave the
+greatest and most difficult labours for that festival to Tribolo to
+execute, which were four large statues. The first was a Hercules that
+has just killed the Hydra, six braccia in height, in the round and
+overlaid with silver, which was placed at that corner of the Piazza di
+S. Felice that is at the end of the Via Maggio, with the following
+inscription in letters of silver on the base: UT HERCULES LABORE ET
+AERUMNIS MONSTRA EDOMUIT, ITA CAESAR VIRTUTE ET CLEMENTIA, HOSTIBUS
+VICTIS SEU PLACATIS, PACEM ORBI TERRARUM ET QUIETEM RESTITUIT. Two
+others were colossal figures eight braccia high, one representing the
+River Bagrada, which was resting upon the skin of the serpent that was
+brought to Rome, and the other representing the Ebro, with the horn of
+Amaltheia in one hand and in the other the helm of a ship; both
+coloured in imitation of bronze, with inscriptions on the bases; below
+the Ebro, HIBERUS EX HISPANIA, and below the other, BAGRADAS EX
+AFRICA. The fourth was a statue five braccia in height, on the Canto
+de' Medici, representing Peace, who had in one hand an olive branch
+and in the other a lighted torch, with which she was setting fire to a
+pile of arms heaped up on the base on which she was placed; with the
+following words: FIAT PAX IN VIRTUTE TUA. He did not finish, as he had
+hoped to do, the horse seven braccia in length that was set up on the
+Piazza di S. Trinita, upon which was to be placed the statue of the
+Emperor in armour, because Tasso the wood-carver, who was much his
+friend, did not show any promptitude in executing the base and the
+other things in the way of wood-carving that were to be included in
+the work, being a man who let time slip through his fingers in arguing
+and jesting; and there was only just time to cover the horse alone
+with tin-foil laid upon the still fresh clay. On the base were to be
+read the following words:
+
+     IMPERATORI CAROLO AUGUSTO VICTORIOSISSIMO, POST DEVICTOS HOSTES,
+     ITALIAE PACE RESTITUTA ET SALUTATO FERDIN. FRATRE, EXPULSIS ITERUM
+     TURCIS AFRICAQUE PERDOMITA, ALEXANDER MED. DUX FLORENTIAE, D.D.
+
+His Majesty having departed from Florence, a beginning was made with
+the preparations for the nuptials, in expectation of his daughter, and
+to the end that she and the Vice-Queen of Naples, who was in her
+company, might be commodiously lodged according to the orders of his
+Excellency in the house of M. Ottaviano de' Medici, an addition was
+made to his old house in four weeks, to the astonishment of everyone;
+and Tribolo, the painter Andrea di Cosimo, and I, in ten days, with
+the help of about ninety sculptors and painters of the city, what with
+masters and assistants, completed the preparations for the wedding in
+so far as appertained to the house and its decorations, painting the
+loggie, courtyards, and other spaces in a manner suitable for nuptials
+of such importance. Among these decorations, Tribolo made, besides
+other things, two Victories in half-relief that were one on either
+side of the principal door, supported by two large terminal figures,
+which also upheld the escutcheon of the Emperor, pendent from the
+neck of a very beautiful eagle in the round. The same master also made
+certain boys, likewise in the round, and large in size, which were
+placed on either side of some heads over the pediments of various
+doors; and these were much extolled.
+
+Meanwhile, as the nuptials were in progress, Tribolo received letters
+from Bologna, in which Messer Pietro del Magno, his devoted friend,
+besought him that he should consent to go to Bologna, in order to make
+for the Madonna di Galliera, where a most beautiful ornament of marble
+was already prepared, a scene likewise of marble three braccia and a
+half in extent. Whereupon Tribolo, happening to have nothing else to
+do at that time, went thither, and after making a model of a Madonna
+ascending into Heaven, with the Apostles below in various attitudes,
+which, being very beautiful, gave great satisfaction, he set his hand
+to executing it; but with little pleasure for himself, since the
+marble that he was carving was that Milanese marble, saline, full of
+emery, and bad in quality; and it seemed to him that he was wasting
+his time, without feeling a particle of that delight that men find in
+working those marbles which are a pleasure to carve, and which in the
+end, when brought to completion, show a surface that has the
+appearance of the living flesh itself. However, he did so much that it
+was already almost finished, when I, having persuaded Duke Alessandro
+to recall Michelagnolo from Rome, and also the other masters, in order
+to finish the work of the sacristy begun by Clement, was arranging to
+give him something to do in Florence; and I would have succeeded, but
+in the meantime, by reason of the death of Alessandro, who was
+murdered by Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de' Medici, not only was this
+design frustrated, but the greatness and prosperity of art were thrown
+into utter ruin.
+
+Having heard of the Duke's death, Tribolo condoled with me in his
+letters, beseeching me, after he had exhorted me to bear with
+resignation the death of that great Prince, my gracious master, that
+if I went to Rome, as he had heard that I, being wholly determined to
+abandon Courts and to pursue my studies, was intending to do, I should
+obtain some commission for him, for the reason that, if assisted by my
+friends, he would do whatever I told him. But it so chanced that it
+became in no way necessary for him to seek commissions in Rome. For
+Signor Cosimo de' Medici, having been created Duke of Florence, as
+soon as he had freed himself from the troubles that he had in the
+first year of his rule by routing his enemies at Monte Murlo, began to
+take some diversion, and in particular to frequent not a little the
+villa of Castello, which is little more than two miles distant from
+Florence. There he began to do some building, in order that he might
+be able to live there comfortably with his Court, and little by
+little--being encouraged in this by Maestro Pietro da San Casciano,
+who was held to be a passing good master in those days, and was much
+in the service of Signora Maria, the mother of the Duke, and had also
+always been the master-builder and the former servant of Signor
+Giovanni--he resolved to conduct to that place certain waters that he
+had desired long before to bring thither. Whereupon a beginning was
+made with building an aqueduct that was to receive all the waters from
+the hill of Castellina, which was at a distance of a quarter of a mile
+or more from Castello; and the work was pursued vigorously with a good
+number of men. But the Duke recognizing that Maestro Pietro had
+neither invention nor power of design enough to make in that place a
+beginning that might afterwards in time receive that ornamentation
+which the site and the waters required, one day that his Excellency
+was on the spot, speaking of this with such men as Messer Ottaviano
+de' Medici and Cristofano Rinieri, the friend of Tribolo and the old
+servant of Signora Maria and of the Duke, they extolled Tribolo in
+such a manner, as a man endowed with all those parts that were
+requisite in the head of such a fabric, that the Duke gave Cristofano
+a commission to make him come from Bologna. Which having been
+straightway done by Rinieri, Tribolo, who could not have received any
+better news than that he was to serve Duke Cosimo, set out immediately
+for Florence, and, arriving there, was taken to Castello, where his
+most illustrious Excellency, having heard from him what he thought
+should be done in the way of decorative fountains, gave him a
+commission to make the models. Whereupon he set his hand to these, and
+was engaged upon them, while Maestro Pietro da San Casciano was
+executing the aqueduct and bringing the waters to the place, when the
+Duke, who meanwhile had begun, for the security of the city, to
+surround with a very strong wall the bastions erected on the hill of
+San Miniato at the time of the siege after the designs of
+Michelagnolo, ordained that Tribolo should make an escutcheon of hard
+stone, with two Victories, for an angle of the summit of a bastion
+that faces Florence. But Tribolo had scarcely finished the escutcheon,
+which was very large, and one of those Victories, a figure four
+braccia high, which was held to be a very beautiful thing, when he was
+obliged to leave that work incomplete, for the reason that, Maestro
+Pietro having carried well on the making of the aqueduct and the
+bringing of the waters, to the full satisfaction of the Duke, his
+Excellency wished that Tribolo should begin to put into execution, for
+the adornment of that place, the designs and models that he had
+already shown to him, ordaining him for the time being a salary of
+eight crowns a month, the same that was paid to San Casciano.
+
+Now, in order that I may not become confused in describing the
+intricacies of the aqueducts and of the ornaments of the fountains, it
+may be well to say briefly some few words about the site and position
+of Castello. The villa of Castello stands at the roots of Monte
+Morello, below the Villa della Topaia, which is halfway up the slope;
+it has before it a plain that descends little by little, for the space
+of a mile and a half, down to the River Arno, and exactly where the
+ascent of the mountain begins stands the palace, which was built in
+past times by Pier Francesco de' Medici, after a very good design. The
+principal front faces straight towards the south, overlooking a vast
+lawn with two very large fish-ponds full of running water, which comes
+from an ancient aqueduct made by the Romans in order to conduct water
+from Valdimarina to Florence, and provided with a vaulted cistern
+under the ground; and so it has a very beautiful and very pleasing
+view. The fish-ponds in front are divided in the middle by a bridge
+twelve braccia wide, which leads to an avenue of the same width,
+bounded at the sides and covered above by an unbroken vault of
+mulberry-trees, ten braccia in height, thus making a covered avenue
+three hundred braccia in length, delightful for its shade, which opens
+on to the high road to Prato by a gate placed between two fountains
+that serve to give water to travellers and animals. On the eastern
+side the same palace has a very beautiful pile of stable-buildings,
+and on the western side a private garden into which one goes from the
+courtyard of the stables, passing straight through the ground-floor of
+the palace by way of the loggie, halls, and chambers on the level of
+the ground; from which private garden one can enter by a door on the
+west side into another garden, very large and all filled with
+fruit-trees, and bounded by a forest of fir-trees that conceals the
+houses of the labourers and others who live there, engaged in the
+service of the palace and of the gardens. Next, that part of the
+palace which faces north, towards the mountain, has in front of it a
+lawn as long as the palace, the stables, and the private garden
+altogether, and from this lawn one climbs by steps to the principal
+garden, a place enclosed by ordinary walls, which, rising in a gentle
+slope, stretches so well clear of the palace as it rises, that the
+mid-day sun searches it out and bathes it all with its rays, as if
+there were no palace in front; and at the upper end it stands so high
+that it commands a view not only of the whole palace, but also of the
+plain that is in front and around it, and likewise about the city. In
+the middle of this garden is a forest of very tall and thickly-planted
+cypresses, laurels, and myrtles, which, laid out in a circular shape,
+have the form of a labyrinth, all surrounded by box-hedges two braccia
+and a half in height, so even and grown with such beautiful order that
+they have the appearance of a painting done with the brush; in the
+centre of which labyrinth, at the desire of the Duke, Tribolo, as will
+be described below, made a very beautiful fountain of marble. At the
+principal entrance, where there is the first-mentioned lawn with the
+two fish-ponds and the avenue covered with mulberry-trees, Tribolo
+wished that the avenue should be so extended that it might stretch for
+a distance of more than a mile, covered and shaped in like manner, and
+might reach as far as the River Arno, and that the waters which ran
+away from all the fountains, flowing gently in pleasant channels at
+the sides of the avenue, and filled with various kinds of fishes and
+crayfish, might accompany it down to that river.
+
+As for the palace--to describe what has still to be done as well as
+that which has been finished--he wished to make a loggia in front of
+it, which, passing by an open courtyard, was to have on the side
+where the stables are another palace as large as the old one, with the
+same proportion of apartments, loggie, private garden, and the rest;
+which addition would have made it a vast palace, with a most beautiful
+facade. After passing the court from which one enters into the large
+garden of the labyrinth, at the main entrance, where there is a vast
+lawn, after climbing the steps that lead to that labyrinth, there came
+a level space thirty braccia square, on which there was to be--and has
+since been made--a very large fountain of white marble, which was to
+spout upwards above ornaments fourteen braccia in height, while from
+the mouth of a statue at the highest point was to issue a jet of water
+rising to the height of six braccia. At either end of the lawn was to
+be a loggia, one opposite to the other, each thirty braccia in length
+and fifteen in breadth; and in the middle of each loggia was to be
+placed a marble table twelve braccia in length, and on the outside a
+basin of eight braccia, which was to receive the water from a vase
+held by two figures. In the middle of the above-mentioned labyrinth
+Tribolo had thought to achieve the most decorative effect with water
+by means of jets and a very beautiful seat round the fountain, the
+marble basin of which was to be, even as it was afterwards made, much
+smaller than that of the large principal fountain; and at the summit
+it was to have a figure of bronze spouting water. At the end of this
+garden, in the centre, there was to be a gate with some children of
+marble on both sides spouting water, with a fountain on either side,
+and in the corners double niches in which statues were to be placed,
+as in the others that are in the walls at the sides, at the opposite
+ends of the avenues that cross the garden, which are all covered with
+greenery distributed in various ways.
+
+Through the above-mentioned gate, which is at the upper end of this
+garden, above some steps, one enters into another garden, as wide as
+the first, but of no great depth in the direct line, in comparison
+with the mountain beyond. In this garden were to be two other loggie,
+one on either side, and in the wall opposite to the gate, which
+supports the soil of the mountain, there was to be in the centre a
+grotto with three basins, with water playing into them in imitation of
+rain. The grotto was to be between two fountains placed in the same
+wall, and opposite to these, in the lower wall of the garden, were to
+be two others, one on either side of the gate; so that the fountains
+of this garden would have been equal in number to those of the other,
+which is below it, and receives its water from the first, which is
+higher. And this garden was to be all full of orange-trees, which
+would have had--and will have, whenever that may be--a most favourable
+situation, being defended by the walls and by the mountain from the
+north wind and other harmful winds.
+
+From this garden one climbs by two staircases of flint, one on either
+side, to a forest of cypresses, fir-trees, holm-oaks, laurels, and
+other evergreen trees, distributed with beautiful order, in the middle
+of which, according to Tribolo's design, there was to be a most lovely
+fish-pond, which has since been made. And because this part, gradually
+narrowing, forms an angle, that angle, to the end that it might be
+made flat, was to be blunted by the breadth of a loggia, from which,
+after climbing some steps, might be seen in front the palace, the
+gardens, the fountains, and all the plain below and about them, as far
+as the Ducal Villa of Poggio a Caiano, Florence, Prato, Siena, and all
+that is around for many miles.
+
+Now the above-named Maestro Pietro da San Casciano, having carried his
+work of the aqueduct as far as Castello, and having turned into it all
+the waters of Castellina, was overtaken by a violent fever, and died
+in a few days. Whereupon Tribolo, undertaking the charge of directing
+all the building by himself, perceived that, although the waters
+brought to Castello were in great abundance, nevertheless they were
+not sufficient for all that he had made up his mind to do; not to
+mention that, coming from Castellina, they did not rise to the height
+that he required for his purposes. Having therefore obtained from the
+Lord Duke a commission to conduct thither the waters of Petraia, a
+place more than one hundred and fifty braccia above Castello, which
+are good and very abundant, he caused a conduit to be made, similar to
+the other, and so high that one can enter into it, to the end that
+thus those waters of Petraia might come to the fish-pond through
+another aqueduct with enough fall for the fish-pond and the great
+fountain.
+
+This done, Tribolo began to build the above-mentioned grotto,
+proposing to make it with three niches, in a beautiful architectural
+design, and likewise the two fountains that were one on either side of
+it. In one of these there was to be a large statue of stone,
+representing Monte Asinaio, which, pressing its beard, was to pour
+water from its mouth into a basin that was to be in front of it; from
+which basin the water, issuing by a hidden channel, and passing under
+the wall, was to flow to the fountain that there is at the present day
+behind the wall, at the end of the slope of the garden of the
+labyrinth, pouring into the vase on the shoulder of the figure of the
+River Mugnone, which is in a large niche of grey-stone decorated with
+most beautiful ornaments, and all covered with sponge-stone. This
+work, if it had been finished in all its perfection, even as it is in
+part, would have had great similarity to the reality, since the
+Mugnone rises from Monte Asinaio.
+
+For the Mugnone, then, to describe that which has been done, Tribolo
+made a figure of grey-stone, four braccia in length, and reclining in
+a very beautiful attitude, which has upon one shoulder a vase that
+pours water into a basin, and rests the other on the ground, leaning
+upon it, with the left leg crossed over the right. And behind this
+river is a woman representing Fiesole, wholly naked, issuing from
+among the sponge-stones and rocks in the middle of the niche, and
+holding in the hand a moon which is the ancient emblem of the people
+of Fiesole. Below this niche is a very large basin supported by two
+great Capricorns, which are one of the devices of the Duke; from which
+Capricorns hang some festoons and masks of great beauty, and from
+their lips issues the water from that basin, which is convex in the
+middle, and has outlets at the sides; and all the water that overflows
+pours away from the sides through the mouths of the Capricorns, and
+then, after falling into the hollow base of the vase, flows through
+the herb-beds that are round the walls of the garden of the labyrinth,
+where there are fountains between the niches, and between the
+fountains espaliers of oranges and pomegranates.
+
+In the second garden described above, where Tribolo had intended that
+there should be made the Monte Asinaio that was to supply water to the
+Mugnone, there was to be on the other side, beyond the gate, a similar
+figure of the Monte della Falterona; and even as this mountain is the
+source of the River Arno, so the statue representing that river in the
+garden of the labyrinth, opposite to the Mugnone, was to receive the
+water from the Falterona. But since neither the figure of that
+mountain nor its fountain has ever been finished, let us speak of the
+fountain and figure of the River Arno, which were completed by Tribolo
+to perfection. This river, then, holds its vase upon one thigh, lying
+down and leaning with one arm on a lion, which holds a lily in its
+paw, and the vase receives its water through the perforated wall,
+behind which there was to be the Falterona, exactly in the manner in
+which, as has been described, the statue of the River Mugnone also
+receives its water; and since the long basin is in every way similar
+to that of the Mugnone, I shall say no more about it, save this, that
+it is a pity that the art and excellence of these works, which are
+truly most beautiful, are not embodied in marble.
+
+Then, continuing the work of the conduit, Tribolo caused the water
+from the grotto to pass under the orange-garden and then under the
+next garden, and thus brought it into the labyrinth, where, forming a
+circle round all the middle of the labyrinth, in a good circumference
+round the centre, he laid down the central pipe, through which the
+fountain was to spout water. After which, taking the waters from the
+Arno and the Mugnone, and bringing them together under the level of
+the labyrinth by means of certain bronze pipes that were distributed
+in beautiful order throughout that space, he filled that whole
+pavement with very fine jets, in such a manner that it was possible by
+turning a key to drench all those who came near to see the fountain.
+Nor is one able to escape either quickly or with ease, because Tribolo
+made round the fountain and the pavement, in which are the jets, a
+seat of grey-stone supported by lion's paws, between which are sea
+monsters in low-relief; which was a difficult thing to do, because he
+chose, since the place was sloping and the square lay on the slant, to
+make it level, and the same with the seat.
+
+Having then set his hand to the fountain of the labyrinth, he made on
+the shaft, in marble, an interwoven design of sea monsters cut out in
+full relief, with tails intertwined so well, that nothing better of
+that kind could be done. And this finished, he executed the tazza
+with a piece of marble brought long before to Castello, together with
+a large table, also of marble, from the Villa dell'Antella, which M.
+Ottaviano de' Medici formerly bought from Giuliano Salviati. By reason
+of this opportunity, then, Tribolo made that tazza sooner than he
+might otherwise have done, fashioning round it a dance of little
+children attached to the moulding which is beside the lip of the
+tazza; which children are holding festoons of products of the sea, cut
+out of the marble with beautiful art. And so also the shaft which he
+made over the tazza, he executed with much grace, with some very
+beautiful children and masks to spout water. Upon that shaft it was
+the intention of Tribolo to place a bronze statue three braccia high,
+representing Florence, in order to signify that from the above-named
+Mounts Asinaio and Falterona the waters of the Arno and Mugnone come
+to Florence; of which figure he had made a most beautiful model which,
+pressing the hair with the hands, caused water to pour forth. Then,
+having brought the water as far as the space thirty braccia square,
+below the labyrinth, he made a beginning with the great fountain,
+which, made with eight sides, was to receive all the above-mentioned
+waters into its lowest basin--namely, those from the waterworks of the
+labyrinth, and likewise those of the great conduit. Each of these
+eight sides, then, rises above a step one-fifth of a braccio in
+height, and each angle of the eight sides has a projection, as have
+also the steps, which, thus projecting, rise at each angle in a great
+step of two-fifths of a braccio, in such a way that the central face
+of the steps withdraws into the projections, and their straight line
+is thus broken, which produces a bizarre effect, and makes the ascent
+very easy. The edges of the fountain have the shape of a vase, and the
+body of the fountain--that is, the inner part where the water
+is--curves in the form of a circle. The shaft begins with eight sides,
+and continues with eight seats almost up to the base of the tazza,
+upon which are seated eight children of the size of life, all in the
+round and in various attitudes, who, linked together with the legs and
+arms, make a rich adornment and a most beautiful effect. And since the
+tazza, which is round, projects to the extent of six braccia, the
+water of the whole fountain, pouring equally over the edge on every
+side, sends a very beautiful rain, like the drippings from a roof,
+into the octagonal basin mentioned above, and those children that are
+on the shaft of the tazza are not wetted, and they appear to be there
+in order not to be wetted by the rain, almost like real children, full
+of delight and playing as they shelter under the lip of the tazza,
+which could not be equalled in its simplicity and beauty. Opposite to
+the four paths that intersect the garden are four children of bronze
+lying at play in various attitudes, which are after the designs of
+Tribolo, although they were executed afterwards by others. Above this
+tazza begins another shaft, which has at the foot, on some
+projections, four children of marble in the round, who are pressing
+the necks of some geese that spout water from their mouths; and this
+water is that of the principal conduit coming from the labyrinth, and
+rises exactly to this height. Above these children is the rest of the
+shaft of this pedestal, which is made with certain cartouches which
+spurt forth water in a most bizarre manner; and then, regaining a
+quadrangular form, it rises over some masks that are very well made.
+Above this, then, is a smaller tazza, on the lip of which, on all four
+sides, are fixed by the horns four heads of Capricorns, making a
+square, which spout water through their mouths into the large tazza,
+together with the children, in order to make the rain which falls, as
+has been told, into the first basin, which has eight sides. Still
+higher there follows another shaft, adorned with other ornaments and
+with some children in half-relief, who, projecting outwards, form at
+the top a round space that serves as base to the figure of a Hercules
+who is crushing Antaeus, which was designed by Tribolo and executed
+afterwards by others, as will be related in the proper place. From the
+mouth of this Antaeus he intended that, instead of his spirit, there
+should gush out through a pipe water in great abundance, as indeed it
+does; which water is that of the great conduit of Petraia, which comes
+with much force, and rises sixteen braccia above the level where the
+steps are, and makes a marvellous effect in falling back into the
+greater tazza. In that same aqueduct, then, come not only those waters
+from Petraia, but also those that go to the fish-pond and the grotto,
+and these, uniting with those from Castellina, go to the fountains of
+the Falterona and Monte Asinaio, and thence to the fountains of the
+Arno and Mugnone, as has been related; after which, being reunited at
+the fountain of the labyrinth, they go to the centre of the great
+fountain, where are the children with the geese. From there, according
+to the design of Tribolo, they were to flow through two distinct and
+separate conduits into the basins of the loggie, where the tables are,
+and then each into a separate private garden. The first of these
+gardens--that towards the west--is all filled with rare and medicinal
+plants; wherefore at the highest level of that water, in that garden
+of simples, in the niche of the fountain, and behind a basin of
+marble, there was to be a statue of AEsculapius.
+
+The principal fountain described above, then, was completely finished
+in marble by Tribolo, and carried to the finest and greatest
+perfection that could be desired in a work of this kind. Wherefore I
+believe that it may be said with truth that it is the most beautiful
+fountain, the richest, the best proportioned, and the most pleasing
+that has ever been made, for the reason that in the figures, in the
+vases, in the tazze, and, in short, throughout the whole work, are
+proofs of extraordinary diligence and industry. After this, having
+made the model of the above-mentioned statue of AEsculapius, Tribolo
+began to execute it in marble, but, being hindered by other things, he
+did not finish that figure, which was completed afterwards by the
+sculptor Antonio di Gino, his disciple.
+
+[Illustration: THE HERCULES FOUNTAIN
+
+(_After =Niccolo [Tribolo]=. Florence: Villa Reale di Castello_)]
+
+On the side towards the east, in a little lawn without the garden,
+Tribolo arranged an oak in a most ingenious manner, for, besides the
+circumstance that it is so thickly covered both above and all around
+with ivy intertwined among the branches, that it has the appearance of
+a very dense grove, one can climb up it by a convenient staircase of
+wood similarly covered with ivy, at the top of which, in the middle of
+the oak, there is a square chamber surrounded by seats, the backs of
+which are all of living verdure, and in the centre is a little table
+of marble with a vase of variegated marble in the middle, from which,
+through a pipe, there flows and spurts into the air a strong jet of
+water, which, after falling, runs away through another pipe. These
+pipes mount upwards from the foot of the oak so well hidden by the
+ivy, that nothing is seen of them, and the water can be turned on or
+off at pleasure by means of certain keys; nor is it possible to
+describe in full in how many ways that water of the oak can be turned
+on, in order to drench anyone at pleasure with various instruments of
+copper, not to mention that with the same instruments one can cause
+the water to produce various sounds and whistlings.
+
+Finally, all these waters, after having served so many different
+purposes, and supplied so many fountains, are collected together, and
+flow into the two fish-ponds that are without the palace, at the
+beginning of the avenue, and thence to other uses of the villa.
+
+Nor will I omit to tell what was the intention of Tribolo with regard
+to the statues that were to be as ornaments in the great garden of the
+labyrinth, in the niches that may be seen regularly distributed there
+in various spaces. He proposed, then--acting in this on the judicious
+advice of M. Benedetto Varchi, who has been in our times most
+excellent as poet, orator, and philosopher--that at the upper and
+lower ends there should be placed the four Seasons of the
+year--Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter--and that each should be set
+up in that part where its particular season is most felt. At the
+entrance, on the right hand, beside the Winter, and in that part of
+the wall which stretches upwards, were to go six figures that were to
+demonstrate the greatness and goodness of the house of Medici, and to
+denote that all the virtues are to be found in Duke Cosimo; and these
+were Justice, Compassion, Valour, Nobility, Wisdom, and Liberality,
+which have always dwelt in the house of Medici, and are all united
+together at the present day in the most excellent Lord Duke, in that
+he is just, compassionate, valorous, noble, wise, and liberal. And
+because these qualities have made the city of Florence, as they still
+do, strong in laws, peace, arms, science, wisdom, tongues, and arts,
+and also because the said Lord Duke is just in the laws, compassionate
+in peace, valorous in arms, noble through the sciences, wise in his
+encouragement of tongues and other culture, and liberal to the arts,
+Tribolo wished that on the other side from the Justice, Compassion,
+Valour, Nobility, Wisdom, and Liberality, on the left hand, as will be
+seen below, there should be these other figures: Laws, Peace, Arms,
+Sciences, Tongues, and Arts. And it was most appropriately arranged
+that in this manner these statues and images should be placed, as
+they would have been, above the Arno and Mugnone, in order to signify
+that they do honour to Florence. It was also proposed that in the
+pediments there should be placed portrait-busts of men of the house of
+Medici, one in each--over Justice, for example, the portrait of his
+Excellency, that being his particular virtue, over Compassion that of
+the Magnificent Giuliano, over Valour Signor Giovanni, over Nobility
+the elder Lorenzo, over Wisdom the elder Cosimo or Clement VII, and
+over Liberality Pope Leo. And in the pediments on the other side it
+was suggested that there might be placed other heads from the house of
+Medici, or of persons of the city connected with that house. But since
+these names make the matter somewhat confused, they have been placed
+here in the following order:
+
+  SUMMER.      THE MUGNONE.  GATE.  THE ARNO.    SPRING.
+
+  ARTS.      L                                L  LIBERALITY.
+  TONGUES.   O                                O  WISDOM.
+  SCIENCES.  G                                G  NOBILITY.
+  ARMS.      G                                G  VALOUR.
+  PEACE.     I                                I  COMPASSION.
+  LAWS.      A                                A  JUSTICE.
+
+      AUTUMN.    GATE.     LOGGIA.  GATE.  WINTER.
+
+All these ornaments would have made this in truth the richest, the
+most magnificent, and the most ornate garden in Europe; but these
+works were not carried to completion, for the reason that Tribolo was
+not able to take measures to have them finished while the Duke was in
+the mind to continue them, as he might have done in a short time,
+having men in abundance and the Duke ready to spend money, and not
+suffering from those hindrances that afterwards stopped him. The Duke,
+indeed, not being contented at that time with the great quantity of
+water that is to be seen there, was thinking of trying to obtain the
+water of Valcenni, which is very abundant, in order to join it with
+the rest, and then to conduct it from Castello by an aqueduct similar
+to the one which he had made to the Piazza in front of his Palace in
+Florence. And of a truth, if this work had been pressed forward by a
+man with greater energy and more desire of glory, it would have been
+carried at least well on; but since Tribolo, besides that he was much
+occupied with various affairs of the Duke's, had not much energy,
+nothing more was done. And in all the time that he worked at Castello,
+he did not execute with his own hand anything save the two fountains,
+with the two rivers, the Arno and the Mugnone, and the statue of
+Fiesole; this arising from no other cause, so far as one can see, but
+his being too much occupied, as has been related, with the many
+affairs of the Duke.
+
+Among other things, the Duke caused him to make a bridge over the
+River Mugnone on the high road that goes to Bologna, without the Porta
+a S. Gallo. This bridge, since the river crosses the road obliquely,
+Tribolo caused to be built with an arch likewise oblique, in
+accordance with its oblique line across the river, which was a new
+thing, and much extolled, above all because he had the arch put
+together of stones cut on the slant on every side in such a manner
+that it proved to be very strong and very graceful; in short, this
+bridge was a very beautiful work.
+
+Not long before, the Duke had been seized with a desire to make a tomb
+for Signor Giovanni de' Medici, his father, and Tribolo, being eager
+to have the commission, made a very beautiful model for it, in
+competition with one that had been executed by Raffaello da Montelupo,
+who had the favour of Francesco di Sandro, the master of arms to his
+Excellency. And then, the Duke having resolved that the one to be put
+into execution should be Tribolo's, he went off to have the marble
+quarried at Carrara, where he also caused to be quarried the two
+basins for the loggie at Castello, a table, and many other blocks of
+marble. Meanwhile, Messer Giovan Battista da Ricasoli, now Bishop of
+Pistoia, being in Rome on business of the Lord Duke's, he was sought
+out by Baccio Bandinelli, who had just finished the tombs of Pope Leo
+X and Clement VII in the Minerva; and he was asked by Baccio to
+recommend him to his Excellency. Whereupon Messer Giovan Battista
+wrote to the Duke that Bandinelli desired to serve him, and his
+Excellency wrote in reply that on his return he should bring him in
+his company. And Bandinelli, having therefore arrived in Florence, so
+haunted the Duke in his audacity, making promises and showing him
+designs and models, that the tomb of the above-named Signor Giovanni,
+which was to have been made by Tribolo, was allotted to him; and so,
+taking some pieces of marble of Michelagnolo's, which were in the Via
+Mozza in Florence, he hacked them about without scruple and began the
+work. Wherefore Tribolo, on returning from Carrara, found that in
+consequence of his being too leisurely and good-natured, the
+commission had been taken away from him.
+
+In the year when bonds of kinship were formed between the Lord Duke
+Cosimo and the Lord Don Pedro di Toledo, Marquis of Villafranca, at
+that time Viceroy of Naples, the Lord Duke taking Don Pedro's
+daughter, Signora Leonora, to wife, preparations were made in Florence
+for the nuptials, and Tribolo was given the charge of constructing a
+triumphal arch at the Porta al Prato, through which the bride, coming
+from Poggio, was to enter; which arch he made a thing of beauty, very
+ornate with columns, pilasters, architraves, great cornices, and
+pediments. That arch was to be all covered with figures and scenes, in
+addition to the statues by the hand of Tribolo; and all those
+paintings were executed by Battista Franco of Venice, Ridolfo
+Ghirlandajo, and Michele, his disciple. Now the principal figure that
+Tribolo made for this work, which was placed at the highest point in
+the centre of the pediment, on a dado wrought in relief, was a woman
+five braccia high, representing Fecundity, with five little boys,
+three clinging to her legs, one on her lap, and another in her arms;
+and beside her, where the pediment sloped away, were two figures of
+the same size, one on either side. Of these figures, which were lying
+down, one was Security, leaning on a column with a light wand in her
+hand, and the other was Eternity, with a globe in her arms, and below
+her feet a white-haired old man representing Time, and holding in his
+arms the Sun and Moon. I shall say nothing as to the works of painting
+that were on that arch, because everyone may read about them for
+himself in the description of the festive preparations for those
+nuptials. And since Tribolo had particular charge of all decorations
+for the Palace of the Medici, he caused many devices to be executed in
+the lunettes of the vaulting of the court, with mottoes appropriate to
+the nuptials, and all those of the most illustrious members of the
+house of Medici. Besides this, he had a most sumptuous decoration made
+in the great open court, all full of stories; on one side of the
+Greeks and Romans, and on the other sides of deeds done by illustrious
+men of that house of Medici, which were all executed under the
+direction of Tribolo by the most excellent young painters that there
+were in Florence at that time--Bronzino, Pier Francesco di Sandro,
+Francesco Il Bacchiacca, Domenico Conti, Antonio di Domenico, and
+Battista Franco of Venice.
+
+On the Piazza di S. Marco, also, upon a vast pedestal ten braccia in
+height (in which Bronzino had painted two very beautiful scenes of the
+colour of bronze on the socle that was above the cornices), Tribolo
+erected a horse of twelve braccia, with the fore-legs in the air, and
+upon it an armed figure, large in proportion; and this figure, which
+had below it men dead and wounded, represented the most valorous
+Signor Giovanni de' Medici, the father of his Excellency. This work
+was executed by Tribolo with so much art and judgment, that it was
+admired by all who saw it, and what caused even greater marvel was the
+speed with which he finished it; among his assistants being the
+sculptor Santi Buglioni, who was crippled for ever in one leg by a
+fall, and came very near dying.
+
+Under the direction of Tribolo, likewise, for the comedy that was
+performed, Aristotile da San Gallo executed marvellous scenery, being
+truly most excellent in such things, as will be told in his Life; and
+for the costumes in the interludes, which were the work of Giovan
+Battista Strozzi, who had charge of the whole comedy, Tribolo himself
+made the most pleasing and beautiful inventions that it is possible to
+imagine in the way of vestments, buskins, head-dresses, and other
+wearing apparel. These things were the reason that the Duke afterwards
+availed himself of Tribolo's ingenuity in many fantastic masquerades,
+as in that of the bears, in a race of buffaloes, in the masquerade of
+the ravens, and in others.
+
+In like manner, in the year when there was born to the said Lord Duke
+his eldest son, the Lord Don Francesco, there was to be made in the
+Temple of S. Giovanni in Florence a very magnificent decoration which
+was to be marvellous in its grandeur, and capable of accommodating one
+hundred most noble young maidens, who were to accompany the Prince
+from the Palace as far as the said temple, where he was to receive
+baptism. The charge of this was given to Tribolo, who, in company with
+Tasso, adapting himself to the place, brought it about that the
+temple, which in itself is ancient and very beautiful, had the
+appearance of a new temple designed very well in the modern manner,
+with seats all round it richly adorned with pictures and gilding. In
+the centre, beneath the lantern, he made a great vase of carved
+woodwork with eight sides, the base of which rested on four steps, and
+at the corners of the eight sides were some large caulicoles, which,
+springing from the ground, where there were some lions' paws, had at
+the top of them certain children of large size in various attitudes,
+who were holding with their hands the lip of the vase, and supporting
+with their shoulders some festoons which hung like a garland right
+round the space in the middle. Besides this, Tribolo had made in the
+middle of the vase a pedestal of wood with beautiful things of fancy
+round it, upon which, to crown the work, he placed the S. John the
+Baptist of marble, three braccia high, by the hand of Donatello, which
+was left by him in the house of Gismondo Martelli, as has been related
+in the Life of Donatello himself. In short, this temple was adorned
+both within and without as well as could possibly be imagined, and the
+only part neglected was the principal chapel, where there is an old
+tabernacle with those figures in relief that Andrea Pisano made long
+ago; by reason of which it appeared that, every other part being made
+new, that old chapel spoilt all the grace that the other things
+together displayed. Wherefore the Duke, going one day to see those
+decorations, after praising everything like a man of judgment, and
+recognizing how well Tribolo had adapted himself to the situation and
+to every other feature of the place, censured one thing only, but that
+severely--that no thought had been given to the principal chapel. And
+then he ordained on the spot, like a person of resolute character and
+beautiful judgment, that all that part should be covered with a vast
+canvas painted in chiaroscuro, with S. John the Baptist baptizing
+Christ, and the people standing all around to see them or to be
+baptized, some taking off their clothes, and others putting them on
+again, in various attitudes; and above this was to be a God the Father
+sending down the Holy Spirit, with two fountains in the guise of
+river-gods, representing the Jor and the Dan, which, pouring forth
+water, were to form the Jordan. Jacopo da Pontormo was requested to
+execute this work by Messer Pier Francesco Riccio, at that time
+major-domo to the Duke, and by Tribolo, but he would not do it, on the
+ground that he did not think that the time given, which was only six
+days, would be enough for him; and the same refusal was made by
+Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, Bronzino, and many others. Now at this time
+Giorgio Vasari, having returned from Bologna, was executing for Messer
+Bindo Altoviti the altar-piece of his chapel in S. Apostolo at
+Florence, but he was not held in much consideration, although he had
+friendship with Tribolo and Tasso, because certain persons had formed
+a faction under the protection of the above-named Messer Pier
+Francesco Riccio, and whoever was not of that faction had no share in
+the favours of the Court, although he might be able and deserving.
+This was the reason that many who, with the aid of so great a Prince,
+would have become excellent, found themselves neglected, none being
+employed save those chosen by Tasso, who, being a gay person, got
+Riccio so well under his thumb with his jokes, that in certain affairs
+he neither proposed nor did anything save what was suggested by Tasso,
+who was architect to the Palace and did all the work. These men, then,
+having a sort of suspicion of Giorgio, who laughed at their vanities
+and follies, and sought to make a position for himself rather by means
+of the studies of art than by favour, gave no thought to his claims;
+but he was commissioned by the Lord Duke to execute that canvas, with
+the subject described above. This work he executed in chiaroscuro, in
+six days, and delivered it finished in the manner known to those who
+saw what grace and adornment it conferred on the whole decoration, and
+how much it enlivened that part of the temple that stood most in need
+of it, amid the magnificence of that festival. Tribolo, then (to
+return to the point whence, I know not how, I digressed), acquitted
+himself so well, that he rightly won the highest praise; and the Duke
+commanded that a great part of the ornaments that he placed between
+the columns should be left there, where they still are, and
+deservedly.
+
+For the Villa of Cristofano Rinieri at Castello, while he was occupied
+with the fountains of the Duke, Tribolo made for a niche over a
+fish-pond which is at the head of a fowling-place, a river-god of
+grey-stone, of the size of life, which pours water into a very large
+basin of the same stone; which figure is made of pieces, and put
+together with such diligence and art, that it appears to be all of one
+block. Tribolo then set his hand, at the command of his Excellency, to
+attempting to finish the staircase of the library of S. Lorenzo--that,
+namely, which is in the vestibule before the door; but after he had
+placed four steps in position, not finding either the plan or the
+measurements of Michelagnolo, by order of the Duke he went to Rome,
+not only to hear the opinion of Michelagnolo with regard to that
+staircase, but also to make an effort to bring him to Florence. But he
+did not succeed either in the one object or in the other, for
+Michelagnolo, not wishing to leave Rome, excused himself in a handsome
+manner, and as for the staircase he declared that he remembered
+neither the measurements nor anything else. Tribolo, therefore, having
+returned to Florence, and not being able to continue the work of that
+staircase, set himself to make the pavement of the said library with
+white and red bricks, after the manner of some pavements that he had
+seen in Rome; but he added a filling of red clay to the white clay
+mixed with bole, in order to produce various effects of carving in
+those bricks; and thus he made in that pavement a copy of the ceiling
+and coffered work above--a notion that was highly extolled. He then
+began, but did not finish, a work that was to be placed on the main
+tower of the defences of the Porta a Faenza, for Don Giovanni di Luna,
+the castellan at that time--namely, an escutcheon of grey-stone, and a
+large eagle in full relief with two heads, which he made in wax to the
+end that it might be cast in bronze, but nothing more was done with
+it, and of the escutcheon only the shield was finished.
+
+Now it was the custom in the city of Florence to have almost every
+year on the principal piazza, on the evening of the festival of S.
+John the Baptist, towards nightfall, a girandola--that is, a
+contrivance full of fire-trumpets, rockets, and other fireworks; which
+girandola had the form now of a temple, now of a ship, sometimes of
+rocks, and at times of a city or of an inferno, according as it
+pleased the designer; and one year the charge of making one was given
+to Tribolo, who, as will be described below, made it very
+beautifully. Of the various manners of these fireworks, and
+particularly of set pieces, Vannoccio of Siena and others give an
+account, and on this subject I shall enlarge no further; but I must
+say something as to the nature of these girandole. The whole
+structure, then, is of wood, with broad compartments radiating
+outwards from the foot, to the end that the rockets, when they have
+been lighted, may not set fire to the other fireworks, but may rise in
+due order from their separate places, one after another, filling the
+heavens in proper succession with the fire that blazes in the
+girandola both above and below. They are distributed, I say, at wide
+intervals, to the end that they may not burn all at once, and may
+produce a beautiful effect; and the same do the mortars, which are
+bound to the firm parts of the girandola, and make the most beautiful
+and joyous noises. The fire-trumpets, likewise, are fitted in among
+the ornaments, and are generally contrived so as to discharge through
+the mouths of masks and other suchlike things. But the most important
+point is to arrange the girandola in such a manner that the lights
+that burn in certain vases may last the whole night, and illuminate
+the piazza; wherefore the whole work is connected together by a simple
+match of tow steeped in a mixture of powder full of sulphur and
+aquavitae, which creeps little by little with its fire to every part
+which it has to set alight, one after another, until it has kindled
+the whole. Now, as I have said, the things represented are various,
+but all must have something to do with fire, and must be subject to
+its action; and long before this there had been counterfeited the city
+of Sodom, with Lot and his daughters flying from it, at another time
+Geryon, with Virgil and Dante on his back, according as Dante himself
+relates in the _Inferno_, and even earlier Orpheus bringing Eurydice
+with him from those infernal regions, with many other inventions. And
+his Excellency ordained that the work should not be given to any of
+the puppet-painters, who for many years past had made a thousand
+absurdities in the girandole, but that an excellent master should
+produce a work that might have in it something of the good; wherefore
+the charge of this was given to Tribolo, who, with the ingenuity and
+art wherewith he had executed all his other works, made one in the
+form of a very beautiful octagonal temple, rising with its ornaments
+to the total height of twenty braccia. This temple he represented as
+the Temple of Peace, placing on the summit an image of Peace, who was
+setting fire to a great pile of arms which she had at her feet; and
+these arms, the statue of Peace, and all the other figures that made
+this structure one of great beauty, were made of pasteboard, clay, and
+cloth steeped in glue, put together with extraordinary art. They were,
+I say, of these materials, to the end that the whole work might be the
+lighter, since it was to be suspended at a great height from the
+ground by a double rope that crossed the Piazza high in the air. It is
+true, indeed, that the fireworks having been placed in it too thickly,
+and the fuses of tow being too near one to another, when they were set
+alight, such was the fury of the conflagration, and so great and so
+violent the blaze, that everything caught fire all at once, and was
+burned in a flash, whereas it should have continued to burn for an
+hour at least; and what was worse, the fire seizing on the woodwork
+and on all that should have been preserved, the ropes and every other
+thing were consumed in a moment, which was no small loss, and gave
+little pleasure to the people. But with regard to workmanship, it was
+more beautiful than any other girandola that had ever been made up to
+that time.
+
+The Duke, then, resolving to erect the Loggia of the Mercato Nuovo for
+the convenience of his citizens and merchants, did not wish to lay a
+greater burden than he could bear on Tribolo, who, as chief engineer
+to the Capitani di Parte and the commissioners of the rivers and the
+sewers of the city, was always riding through the Florentine
+dominions, engaged in bringing back to their proper beds many rivers
+that did damage by breaking away from them, in repairing bridges, and
+in other suchlike works; and he gave the charge of this enterprise to
+Tasso, at the advice of the above-mentioned Messer Pier Francesco, his
+major-domo, in order to change that Tasso from a carpenter into an
+architect. This was certainly against the wishes of Tribolo, although
+he did not show it, and even acted as the close friend of Tasso; and a
+proof that this is true is that Tribolo perceived many errors in
+Tasso's model, but, so it is believed, would by no means tell him of
+them. Such an error, for example, was that of the capitals of the
+columns that are beside the pilasters, whereby, the columns not
+leaving enough space, when everything had been drawn up, and the
+capitals had to be set into position, the corona above those capitals
+would not go in, so that it was found necessary to cut away so much
+that the order of the architecture was ruined; besides many other
+errors, of which there is no need to speak. For the above-named Messer
+Pier Francesco the same Tasso executed the door of the Church of S.
+Romolo, and a window with knee-shaped brackets on the Piazza del Duca,
+in an order of his own, substituting capitals for bases, and doing so
+many other things without measure or order, that it might have been
+said that the German Order had begun to return to life in Tuscany by
+means of this man; to say nothing of the works that he did in the
+Palace in the way of staircases and apartments, which the Duke has
+been obliged to have destroyed, because they had no sort of order,
+measure, or proportion, and were, on the contrary, all shapeless, out
+of square, and without the least convenience or grace. All these
+things were not done without some responsibility falling on Tribolo,
+who, having considerable knowledge in such matters, should not, so it
+seemed, have allowed his Prince to throw away his money and to do him
+such an affront to his face; and, what was even more serious, he
+should not have permitted such things to Tasso, who was his friend.
+Well did men of judgment recognize the presumption and madness of the
+one in seeking to exercise an art of which he knew nothing, and the
+dissimulation of the other, who declared that he was pleased with that
+which he certainly knew to be bad; and of this a proof may be found in
+the works that Giorgio Vasari has had to pull down in the Palace, to
+the loss of the Duke and the great shame of those men.
+
+But the same thing happened to Tribolo as to Tasso, in that, even as
+Tasso abandoned wood-carving, a craft in which he had no equal, but
+never became a good architect, and thus won little honour by deserting
+an art in which he was very able, and applying himself to another of
+which he knew not one scrap, so Tribolo, abandoning sculpture, in
+which it may be said with truth that he was most excellent and caused
+everyone to marvel, and setting himself to attempt to straighten out
+rivers, ceased to win honour by pursuing the one, while the other
+brought him blame and loss rather than honour and profit. For he did
+not succeed in his tinkering with rivers, and he made many enemies,
+particularly in the district of Prato, on account of the Bisenzio, and
+in many places in the Val di Nievole.
+
+Duke Cosimo having then bought the Palace of the Pitti, of which there
+has been an account in another place, and his Excellency desiring to
+adorn it with gardens, groves, fountains, fish-ponds, and other
+suchlike things, Tribolo executed all the distribution of the hill in
+the manner in which it still remains, accommodating everything in its
+proper place with beautiful judgment, although various things in many
+parts of the garden have since been changed. Of this Pitti Palace,
+which is the most beautiful in Europe, mention will be made in another
+place with a more suitable occasion.
+
+After these things, Tribolo was sent by his Excellency to the island
+of Elba, not only that he might see the city and port that the Duke
+had caused to be built there, but also that he might make arrangements
+for the transport of a round piece of granite, twelve braccia in
+diameter, from which was to be made a tazza for the great lawn of the
+Pitti Palace, which might receive the water of the principal fountain.
+Tribolo, therefore, went thither and caused a boat to be made on
+purpose for transporting the tazza, and then, after giving the
+stone-cutters directions for the transportation, he returned to
+Florence; where he had no sooner arrived, than he found the whole
+country full of murmurings and maledictions against him, since about
+that time floods and inundations had done infinite havoc in the
+neighbourhood of those rivers that he had patched up, although it was,
+perhaps, not altogether through his fault that this had happened.
+However that may have been, whether it was the malignity of some of
+his assistants, or perchance envy, or that the accusation was indeed
+true, the blame for all that damage was laid on Tribolo, who, being a
+man of no great spirit, and rather wanting in resolution than
+otherwise, and doubting that the malice of some enemy might make him
+lose the favour of the Duke, was in a state of great despondency,
+when, being of a feeble habit of body, on the 20th of August in the
+year 1550, there came upon him a most violent fever. At that time
+Giorgio Vasari was in Florence, for the purpose of having sent to Rome
+the marbles for the tombs that Pope Julius III caused to be erected in
+S. Pietro a Montorio; and he, as one who sincerely esteemed the
+talents of Tribolo, visited and comforted him, beseeching him that he
+should think of nothing save his health, and that, when cured, he
+should return to finish the work of Castello, letting the rivers go
+their own way, for they were more likely to drown his fame than to
+bring him any profit or honour. This, which he promised to attempt to
+do, he would, I believe, have done at all costs, if he had not been
+prevented by death, which closed his eyes on the 7th of September in
+the same year. And so the works of Castello, begun and carried well
+forward by him, remained unfinished; for although some work has been
+done there since his day, now in one part and now in another,
+nevertheless they have never been pursued with the diligence and
+resolution that were shown when Tribolo was alive and when the Lord
+Duke was hot in the undertaking. Of a truth, he who does not press
+great works forward while those who are having them done are spending
+money willingly and devoting their best attention to them, brings it
+about that those works are put on one side and left unfinished, which
+zeal and solicitude could have carried to perfection. And thus, by the
+negligence of the workers, the world is left without its adornment,
+and they without their honour and fame, for the reason that it rarely
+happens, as it did to this work of Castello, that on the death of the
+first master he who succeeds to his place is willing to finish it
+according to his design and model with that modesty with which Giorgio
+Vasari, at the commission of the Duke, has caused the great fish-pond
+of Castello to be finished after the directions of Tribolo, even as he
+will do with the other things according as his Excellency may desire
+from time to time to have them done.
+
+Tribolo lived sixty-five years, and was interred by the Company of the
+Scalzo in their place of burial. He left behind him a son called
+Raffaello, who has not taken up art, and two daughters, one of whom is
+the wife of David, Tribolo's assistant in building all the works at
+Castello, who, being a man of judgment and capable in such matters, is
+now employed on the aqueducts of Florence, Pisa, and all the other
+places in the dominion, according as it may please his Excellency.
+
+
+
+
+PIERINO (PIERO) DA VINCI
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF PIERINO (PIERO) DA VINCI
+
+SCULPTOR
+
+
+Although those men are generally the most celebrated who have executed
+some work excellently well, nevertheless, if the works already
+accomplished by any man foreshadow those that he did not achieve as
+likely to have been numerous and much more rare, if some accident,
+unforeseen and out of the common use, had not happened to interrupt
+him, it is certain that such a man, wherever there may be one willing
+to be just in his appreciation of the talent of another, will be
+rightly extolled and celebrated both on the one count and on the
+other, and as much for what he would have done as for what he did. The
+sculptor Vinci, therefore, should not suffer on account of the short
+duration of his life, or be robbed thereby of the praise due to him
+from the judgment of those who shall come after us, considering that
+he was only in the first bloom both of his life and of his studies at
+the time when he produced and gave to the world that which everyone
+admires, and was like to bring forth fruits in greater abundance, if a
+hostile tempest had not destroyed both the fruits and the tree.
+
+I remember having said in another place that in the township of Vinci,
+in the lower Valdarno, there lived Ser Piero, the father of Leonardo
+da Vinci, most famous of painters. To this Ser Piero, after Leonardo,
+there was born, as his youngest son, Bartolommeo, who, living at Vinci
+and attaining to manhood, took for his wife one of the first maidens
+of that township. Bartolommeo was desirous of having a male child, and
+spoke very often to his wife of the greatness of the genius with which
+his brother Leonardo had been endowed, praying God that He should make
+her worthy that from her there might be born in his house another
+Leonardo, the first being now dead. In a short time, therefore,
+according to his desire, there was born to him a gracious boy, to whom
+he wished to give the name of Leonardo; but, being advised by his
+relatives to revive the memory of his father, he gave him the name of
+Piero. Having come to the age of three years, the boy had a most
+beautiful countenance, with curly locks, and showed great grace in
+every movement, with a quickness of intelligence that was marvellous;
+insomuch that Maestro Giuliano del Carmine, an excellent astrologer,
+and with him a priest devoted to chiromancy, who were both close
+friends of Bartolommeo, having arrived in Vinci and lodged in
+Bartolommeo's house, looking at the forehead and hand of the boy,
+revealed to the father, both the astrologer and the chiromancer
+together, the greatness of his genius, and predicted that in a short
+time he would make extraordinary proficience in the mercurial arts,
+but that his life would also be very short. And only too true was
+their prophecy, for both in the one part and in the other (when one
+would have sufficed), in his life as well as in his art, it needs must
+be fulfilled.
+
+Then, continuing to grow, Piero had his father as his master in
+letters, but of himself, without any master, giving his attention to
+drawing and to making various little puppets in clay, he showed that
+the divine inclination of his nature recognized by the astrologer and
+the chiromancer was already awakening and beginning to work in him. By
+reason of which Bartolommeo judged that his prayer had been heard by
+God; and, believing that his brother had been restored to him in his
+son, he began to think of removing Piero from Vinci and taking him to
+Florence. Having then done this without delay, he placed Piero, who
+was now twelve years of age, with Bandinelli in Florence, flattering
+himself that Baccio, having been once the friend of Leonardo, would
+take notice of the boy and teach him with diligence; besides which, it
+seemed to him that Piero delighted more in sculpture than in painting.
+But afterwards, coming very often to Florence, he recognized that
+Bandinelli was not answering with deeds to his expectations, and was
+not taking pains with the boy or showing interest in him, although he
+saw him to be willing to learn. For which reason Bartolommeo took him
+away from Bandinelli, and entrusted him to Tribolo, who appeared to
+him to make more effort to help those who were seeking to learn,
+besides giving more attention to the studies of art and bearing even
+greater affection to the memory of Leonardo.
+
+Tribolo was executing some fountains at Castello, the villa of his
+Excellency; and thereupon Piero, beginning once more his customary
+drawing, through having there the competition of the other young men
+whom Tribolo kept about him, set himself with great ardour of spirit
+to study day and night, being spurred by his nature, which was
+desirous of excellence and honour, and being even more kindled by the
+example of the others like himself whom he saw constantly around him.
+Wherefore in a few months he made such progress, that it was a marvel
+to everyone; and, having begun to gain some experience with the
+chisels, he sought to see whether his hand and his tools would obey in
+practice the thoughts within him and the designs formed in his brain.
+Tribolo, perceiving his readiness, and having had a water-basin of
+stone made at that very time for Cristofano Rinieri, gave to Piero a
+small piece of marble, from which he was to make for that water-basin
+a boy that should spurt forth water from the private part. Piero,
+taking the marble with great gladness, first made a little model of
+clay, and then executed the work with so much grace, that Tribolo and
+the others ventured the opinion that he would become one of those who
+are counted as rare in that art. Tribolo then gave him a Ducal
+Mazzocchio[3] to make in stone, to be placed over an escutcheon with
+the Medici balls, for Messer Pier Francesco Riccio, the major-domo of
+the Duke; and he made it with two children with their legs intertwined
+together, who are holding the Mazzocchio in their hands and placing it
+upon the escutcheon, which is fixed over the door of a house that the
+major-domo then occupied, opposite to S. Giuliano, near the Priests of
+S. Antonio. When this work was seen, all the craftsmen of Florence
+formed the same judgment that Tribolo had pronounced before.
+
+         [Footnote 3: See note on p. 132, Vol. II.]
+
+After this, he carved a boy squeezing a fish that is pouring water
+from its mouth, for the fountains of Castello. And then, Tribolo
+having given him a larger piece of marble, Piero made from it two
+children who are embracing each other and squeezing fishes, causing
+water to spout from their mouths. These children were so graceful in
+the heads and in their whole persons, and executed with so beautiful a
+manner in the legs, arms, and hair, that already it could be seen that
+he would have been able to execute the most difficult work to
+perfection. Taking heart, therefore, and buying a piece of grey-stone,
+two braccia and a half in length, which he took to his house on the
+Canto alla Briga, Piero began to work at it in the evenings, after
+returning from his labours, at night, and on feast-days, insomuch that
+little by little he brought it to completion. This was a figure of
+Bacchus, who had a Satyr at his feet, and with one hand was holding a
+cup, while in the other he had a bunch of grapes, and his head was
+girt with a crown of grapes; all after a model made by himself in
+clay. In this and in his other early works Piero showed a marvellous
+facility, which never offends the eye, nor is it in any respect
+disturbing to him who beholds it. This Bacchus, when finished, was
+bought by Bongianni Capponi, and his nephew Lodovico Capponi now has
+it in a courtyard in his house.
+
+The while that Piero was executing these works, few persons as yet
+knew that he was the nephew of Leonardo da Vinci; but his labours
+making him well known and renowned, by this means his parentage and
+his birth were likewise revealed. Wherefore ever afterwards, both from
+his connection with his uncle and from his own happy genius, wherein
+he resembled that great man, he was called by everyone not Piero, but
+Vinci.
+
+Now Vinci, while occupied in this manner, had often heard various
+persons speaking of the things connected with the arts to be seen in
+Rome, and extolling them, as is always done by everyone; wherefore a
+great desire had been kindled in him to see them, hoping to be able to
+derive profit by beholding not only the works of the ancients, but
+also those of Michelagnolo, and even the master himself, who was then
+alive and residing in Rome. He went thither, therefore, in company
+with some friends; but after seeing Rome and all that he wished, he
+returned to Florence, having reflected judiciously that the things of
+Rome were as yet too profound for him, and should be studied and
+imitated not so early in his career, but after a greater acquaintance
+with art.
+
+At that time Tribolo had finished a model for the shaft of the
+fountain in the labyrinth, in which are some Satyrs in low-relief,
+four masks in half-relief, and four little boys in the round, who are
+seated upon certain caulicoles. Vinci having then returned, Tribolo
+gave him this shaft to do, and he executed and finished it, making in
+it some delicate designs not employed by any other but himself, which
+greatly pleased all who saw them. Then, having had the whole marble
+tazza of that fountain finished, Tribolo thought of placing on the
+edge of it four children in the round, lying down and playing with
+their arms and legs in the water, in various attitudes; and these he
+intended to cast in bronze. Vinci, at the commission of Tribolo, made
+them of clay, and they were afterwards cast in bronze by Zanobi
+Lastricati, a sculptor and a man very experienced in matters of
+casting; and they were placed not long since around the fountain,
+where they make a most beautiful effect.
+
+There was in daily intercourse with Tribolo one Luca Martini, the
+proveditor at that time for the building of the Mercato Nuovo, who,
+praising highly the excellence in art and the fine character of Vinci,
+and desiring to help him, provided him with a piece of marble
+two-thirds of a braccio in height and one and a quarter in length.
+Vinci, taking the marble, made with it a Christ being scourged at the
+Column, in which the rules of low-relief and of design may be seen to
+have been well observed; and in truth it made everyone marvel,
+considering that he had not yet reached the age of seventeen, and had
+made in five years of study that proficience in art which others do
+not achieve save after length of life and great experience of many
+things.
+
+At this time Tribolo, having undertaken the office of superintendent
+of the drains in the city of Florence, ordained in that capacity that
+the drain in the old Piazza di S. Maria Novella should be raised from
+the ground, in such a way that, becoming more capacious, it might be
+better able to receive all the waters that ran into it from various
+quarters. For this work, then, he commissioned Vinci to make the model
+of a great mask of three braccia, which with its open mouth might
+swallow all the rain-water. Afterwards, by order of the Ufficiali
+della Torre, the work was allotted to Vinci, who, in order to execute
+it more quickly, summoned to his aid the sculptor Lorenzo Marignolli.
+In company with this master he finished it, making it from a block of
+hard-stone; and the work is such that it adorns the whole Piazza, with
+no small advantage to the city.
+
+It now appeared to Vinci that he had made such proficience in art,
+that it would be a great benefit to him to see the principal works in
+Rome, and to associate with the most excellent craftsmen living there;
+wherefore, an occasion to go there presenting itself, he seized it
+readily. There had arrived from Rome an intimate friend of
+Michelagnolo Buonarroti, Francesco Bandini, who, having come to know
+Vinci by means of Luca Martini, and having praised him highly, caused
+him to make a model of wax for a tomb of marble that he wished to
+erect in his chapel in S. Croce; and shortly afterwards, on returning
+to Rome, Vinci having spoken his mind to Luca Martini, Bandini took
+him in his company. There Vinci remained a year, studying all the
+time, and executed some works worthy of remembrance. The first was a
+Christ on the Cross in low-relief, rendering up His spirit to His
+Father, which was copied from a design done by Michelagnolo. For
+Cardinal Ridolfi he added to an antique head a breast in bronze, and
+made a Venus of marble in low-relief, which was much extolled. For
+Francesco Bandini he restored an ancient horse, of which many pieces
+were wanting, and made it complete. And in order to give some proof of
+gratitude, where he could, to Luca Martini, who was writing to him by
+every courier, and continually recommending him to Bandini, it seemed
+good to Vinci to make a copy in wax, in the round and two-thirds (of a
+braccio) in height, of the Moses of Michelagnolo that is on the tomb
+of Pope Julius II in S. Pietro in Vincula, than which there is no more
+beautiful work to be seen; and so, having made the Moses of wax, he
+sent it as a present to Luca Martini.
+
+At the time when Vinci was living in Rome and executing the works
+mentioned above, Luca Martini was made by the Duke of Florence
+proveditor of Pisa, and in his office he did not forget his friend,
+and therefore wrote to him that he was preparing a room for him and
+was providing a block of marble of three braccia, so that he might
+return from Rome at his pleasure, seeing that while with him he should
+want for nothing. Vinci, attracted by this prospect and by the love
+that he bore to Luca, resolved to depart from Rome and to take up his
+abode for some time in Pisa, where he looked to find opportunities of
+practising his hand and making trial of his ability. Having therefore
+gone to Pisa, he found that the marble was already in his room,
+prepared according to the orders of Luca; but, on proceeding to begin
+to carve from it an upright figure, he perceived that the marble had
+in it a crack that diminished it by a braccio. Wherefore, having
+resolved to change it into a recumbent figure, he made a young River
+God holding a vase that is pouring out water, the vase being upheld by
+three children, who are assisting the River God to pour the water
+forth; and beneath his feet runs a copious stream of water, in which
+may be seen fishes darting about and water-fowl flying in various
+parts. This River God finished, Vinci made a present of it to Luca,
+who presented it to the Duchess, to whom it was very dear; and then,
+her brother Don Garzia di Toledo being at that time in Pisa, whither
+he had gone by galley, she gave it to that brother, who accepted it
+with much pleasure for the fountains of his garden in the Chiaia at
+Naples.
+
+In those days Luca Martini was writing some observations on the
+Commedia of Dante, and he pointed out to Vinci the cruelty described
+by Dante, which the Pisans and Archbishop Ruggieri showed towards
+Count Ugolino della Gherardesca, causing him to die of hunger with his
+four sons in the tower that is therefore called the Tower of Hunger;
+whereby he offered to Vinci the occasion for a new work and the idea
+of a new design. Wherefore, while he was still working at the River
+God described above, he set his hand to making a scene in wax more
+than a braccio in height and three-quarters in breadth, to be cast in
+bronze, in which he represented two of the Count's sons already dead,
+one in the act of expiring, and the fourth overcome by hunger and near
+his end, but not yet reduced to the last breath; with the father in a
+pitiful and miserable attitude, blind and heavy with grief, and
+groping over the wretched bodies of his sons stretched upon the
+ground. In this work Vinci displayed the excellence of design no less
+than did Dante the perfection of poetry in his verses, for no less
+compassion is stirred by the attitudes shaped in wax by the sculptor
+in him who beholds them, than is roused in him who listens to the
+words and accents imprinted on the living page by the poet. And in
+order to mark the place where the event happened, he made at the foot
+of the scene the River Arno, which occupies its whole width, for the
+above-named tower is not far distant from the river in Pisa; while
+upon that tower he placed an old woman, naked, withered, and fearsome,
+representing Hunger, much after the manner wherein Ovid describes her.
+The wax model finished, he cast the scene in bronze, and it gave
+consummate satisfaction, being held by the Court and by everyone to be
+no ordinary work.
+
+Duke Cosimo was then intent on enriching and beautifying the city of
+Pisa, and he had already caused the Piazza del Mercato to be built
+anew, with a great number of shops around it, and had placed in the
+centre a column ten braccia high, upon which, according to the design
+of Luca, was to stand a statue representing Abundance. Martini,
+therefore, having spoken to the Duke and presented Vinci to his
+notice, easily obtained for him from his Excellency the commission for
+that statue, the Duke being always eager to assist men of talent and
+to bring fine intellects forward. Vinci executed a statue of
+travertine, three braccia and a half in height, which was much
+extolled by everyone; for at the feet of the figure he placed a little
+child, who assists her to support the Cornucopia, carved with much
+softness and facility, although the stone is rough and difficult to
+work.
+
+[Illustration: UGOLINO DELLA GHERARDESCA AND HIS SONS IN THE TOWER OF
+FAMINE
+
+(_After the wax relief by =Pierino [Piero] da Vinci=. Oxford: Ashmolean
+Museum_)
+
+_Reproduced by permission of the Visitors of the Ashmolean Museum._]
+
+Luca afterwards sent to Carrara to have a block of marble quarried
+five braccia in height and three in breadth, from which Vinci, who had
+once seen some sketches by Michelagnolo of Samson slaying a Philistine
+with the jawbone of an ass, proposed to make two figures of five
+braccia from his own fancy, after that subject. Whereupon, while the
+marble was on its way, he set himself to make several models, all
+varying one from another, and then fixed on one of them; and after the
+block had arrived he began to carve it, and carried it well on,
+imitating Michelagnolo in cutting his conception and design little
+by little out of the stone, without spoiling it or making any sort of
+error. He executed all the perforation in this work, whether undercut
+or at an easy angle, with great facility, laborious as it was, and the
+manner of the whole work was very delicate. But since the labour was
+very fatiguing, he sought to distract himself with other studies and
+works of less importance; and thus he executed during the same time a
+little tablet of marble in low-relief, in which he represented Our
+Lady with Christ, S. John, and S. Elizabeth, which was held, as it
+still is, to be a rare work. This came into the hands of the most
+illustrious Duchess, and it is now among the choice things in the
+study of the Duke.
+
+He then set his hand to a scene of marble, one braccio high and one
+and a half wide, partly in half-relief and partly in low-relief, in
+which he represented the restoration of Pisa by the Duke, who is in
+the work present in person at the restoration of that city, which is
+being pressed forward by his presence. Round the Duke are figures of
+his virtues; in particular a Minerva representing his wisdom and also
+the arts revived by him in that city of Pisa, who is surrounded by
+many evils and natural defects of the site, which besiege her on every
+side, and afflict her in the manner of enemies; but from all these
+that city has since been delivered by the above-mentioned virtues of
+the Duke. All these virtues round the Duke, with all the evils round
+Pisa, were portrayed by Vinci in his scene with most beautiful
+gestures and attitudes; but he left it unfinished, to the great regret
+of those who saw it, on account of the perfection of the things in it
+that were completed.
+
+The fame of Vinci having grown and spread abroad by reason of these
+works, the heirs of Messer Baldassarre Turini da Pescia besought him
+that he should make a model of a marble tomb for Messer Baldassarre;
+which finished, it pleased them, whereupon they made an agreement that
+the tomb should be executed, and Vinci sent Francesco del Tadda, an
+able master of marble-carving, to have the marble quarried at Carrara.
+And when that master had sent him a block of marble, Vinci began a
+statue, and carved out of the stone a figure blocked out in such a
+manner that one who knew not the circumstances would have said that
+it was certainly blocked out by Michelagnolo.
+
+The name of Vinci was now very great, and his genius was admired by
+all, being much more perfect than could have been expected in one so
+young, and it was likely to grow even more and to become greater, and
+to equal that of any other man in his art, as his own works bear
+witness, without any other testimony; when the term prescribed for him
+by Heaven, being now close at hand, interrupted all his plans, and
+caused his rapid progress to cease at one blow, not suffering that he
+should climb any higher, and depriving the world of many excellent
+works of art with which, had Vinci lived, it would have been adorned.
+It happened at this time, while Vinci was intent on the tomb of
+another, not knowing that his own was preparing, that the Duke had to
+send Luca Martini to Genoa on affairs of importance; and Luca, both
+because he loved Vinci and wished to have him in his company, and also
+in order to give him some diversion and recreation, and to enable him
+to see Genoa, took him with him on his journey. There, while Martini
+was transacting his business, at his suggestion Messer Adamo
+Centurioni commissioned Vinci to execute a figure of S. John the
+Baptist, of which he made the model. But soon he was attacked by
+fever, and, to increase his distress, at the same time his friend was
+also taken away from him; perchance to provide a way in which fate
+might be fulfilled in the life of Vinci. For it became necessary that
+Luca, in the interests of the business entrusted to him, should go to
+Florence to find the Duke; wherefore he parted from his sick friend,
+to the great grief of both the one and the other, leaving him in the
+house of the Abate Nero, to whom he straitly recommended him, although
+Piero was very unwilling to remain in Genoa. But Vinci, feeling
+himself growing worse every day, resolved to have himself removed from
+Genoa; and, having caused an assistant of his own, called Tiberio
+Cavalieri, to come from Pisa, with his help he had himself carried to
+Livorno by water, and from Livorno to Pisa in a litter. Arriving in
+Pisa at the twenty-second hour in the evening, all exhausted and
+broken by the journey, the sea-voyage, and the fever, during the night
+he had no repose, and the next morning, at the break of day, he passed
+to the other life, not having yet reached the age of twenty-three.
+
+The death of Vinci was a great grief to all his friends, and to Luca
+Martini beyond measure; and it grieved all those who had hoped to see
+from his hands such works as are not often seen. And Messer Benedetto
+Varchi, who was much the friend of his abilities and of those of every
+master, afterwards wrote the following sonnet in memory of his fame:
+
+  Come potro da me, se tu non presti
+    O forza, o tregua al mio gran duolo interno,
+    Soffrirlo in pace mai, Signor superno,
+    Che fin qui nuova ognor pena mi desti?
+  Dunque de' miei piu cari or quegli, or questi,
+    Verde sen voli all'alto Asilo eterno,
+    Ed io canuto in questo basso inferno
+    A pianger sempre e lamentarmi resti?
+  Sciolgami almen tua gran bontade quinci,
+    Or che reo fato nostro, o sua ventura,
+    Ch' era ben degno d' altra vita, e gente,
+  Per far piu ricco il cielo, e la scultura
+    Men bella, e me col buon Martin dolente,
+    N' ha privi, o pieta, del secondo Vinci.
+
+
+
+
+BACCIO BANDINELLI
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF BACCIO BANDINELLI
+
+SCULPTOR OF FLORENCE
+
+
+In the days when the arts of design flourished in Florence by the
+favour and assistance of the elder Lorenzo de' Medici the Magnificent,
+there lived in the city a goldsmith called Michelagnolo di Viviano of
+Gaiuole, who worked excellently well at chasing and incavo for enamels
+and niello, and was very skilful in every sort of work in gold and
+silver plate. This Michelagnolo had a great knowledge of jewels, and
+set them very well; and on account of his talents and his versatility
+all the foreign masters of his art used to have recourse to him, and
+he gave them hospitality, as well as to the young men of the city,
+insomuch that his workshop was held to be, as it was, the first in
+Florence. Of him the Magnificent Lorenzo and all the house of Medici
+availed themselves; and for the tourney that Giuliano, the brother of
+that Magnificent Lorenzo, held on the Piazza di S. Croce, he executed
+with subtle craftsmanship all the ornaments of helmets, crests, and
+devices. Wherefore he acquired a great name and much intimacy with the
+sons of the Magnificent Lorenzo, to whom his work was ever afterwards
+very dear, and no less useful to him their acquaintance and
+friendship, by reason of which, and also by the many works that he
+executed throughout the whole city and dominion, he became a man of
+substance as well as one of much repute in his art. To this
+Michelagnolo the Medici, on their departure from Florence in the year
+1494, entrusted much plate in silver and gold, which was all kept in
+safe hiding by him and faithfully preserved until their return, when
+he was much extolled by them for his fidelity, and afterwards
+recompensed with rewards.
+
+In the year 1487 there was born to Michelagnolo a son, whom he called
+Bartolommeo, but afterwards, according to the Florentine custom, he
+was called by everyone Baccio. Michelagnolo, desiring to leave his son
+heir to his art and connection, took him into his own workshop in
+company with other young men who were learning to draw; for that was
+the custom in those times, and no one was held to be a good goldsmith
+who was not a good draughtsman and able to work well in relief.
+Baccio, then, in his first years, gave his attention to design
+according to the teaching of his father, being assisted no less to
+make proficience by the competition of the other lads, among whom he
+chose as his particular companion one called Piloto, who afterwards
+became an able goldsmith; and with him he often went about the
+churches drawing the works of the good painters, but also mingling
+work in relief with his drawing, and counterfeiting in wax certain
+sculptures of Donato and Verrocchio, besides executing some works in
+clay, in the round.
+
+While still a boy in age, Baccio frequented at times the workshop of
+Girolamo del Buda, a commonplace painter, on the Piazza di S.
+Pulinari. There, at one time during the winter, a great quantity of
+snow had fallen, which had been thrown afterwards by the people into a
+heap in that piazza; and Girolamo, turning to Baccio, said to him
+jestingly: "Baccio, if this snow were marble, could we not carve a
+fine giant out of it, such as a Marforio lying down?" "We could so,"
+answered Baccio, "and I suggest that we should act as if it were
+marble." And immediately, throwing off his cloak, he set his hands to
+the snow, and, assisted by other boys, taking away the snow where
+there was too much, and adding some in other places, he made a rough
+figure of Marforio lying down, eight braccia in length. Whereupon the
+painter and all the others stood marvelling, not so much at what he
+had done as at the spirit with which he had set his hand to a work so
+vast, and he so young and so small.
+
+Baccio, indeed, having more love for sculpture than for goldsmith's
+work, gave many proofs of this; and when he went to Pinzirimonte, a
+villa bought by his father, he would often plant himself before the
+naked labourers and draw them with great eagerness, and he did the
+same with the cattle on the farm. At this time he continued for many
+days to go in the morning to Prato, which was near the villa, where he
+stayed the whole day drawing in the Chapel of the Pieve from the work
+of Fra Filippo Lippi, and he did not cease until he had drawn it all,
+imitating the draperies of that master, who did them very well. And
+already he handled with great skill the style and the pen, and also
+chalk both red and black, which last is a soft stone that comes from
+the mountains of France, and with it, when cut to a point, drawings
+can be executed with great delicacy.
+
+These things making clear to Michelagnolo the mind and inclination of
+his son, he also changed his intention, like the boy himself, and,
+being likewise advised by his friends, placed him under the care of
+Giovan Francesco Rustici, one of the best sculptors in the city, whose
+workshop was still constantly frequented by Leonardo da Vinci.
+Leonardo, seeing the drawings of Baccio and being pleased with them,
+exhorted him to persevere and to take to working in relief; and he
+recommended strongly to him the works of Donato, saying also that he
+should execute something in marble, such as a head or a low-relief.
+Baccio, encouraged by the comforting advice of Leonardo, set himself
+to copy in marble an antique head of a woman, of which he had shaped a
+model from one that is in the house of the Medici. This, for his first
+work, he executed passing well, and it was held very dear by Andrea
+Carnesecchi, who received it as a present from Baccio's father and
+placed it in his house in the Via Larga, over that door in the centre
+of the court which leads into the garden. Now, Baccio continuing to
+make other models of figures in clay in the round, his father, wishing
+not to fail in his duty towards the praiseworthy zeal of his son, sent
+for some blocks of marble from Carrara, and caused to be built for
+him, at the end of his house at Pinti, a room with lights arranged for
+working, which looked out upon the Via Fiesolana. Whereupon he set
+himself to block out various figures in those marbles, and one, among
+others, he carried well on from a piece of marble of two braccia and a
+half, which was a Hercules that is holding the dead Cacus beneath him,
+between his legs. These sketches were left in the same place in memory
+of him.
+
+At this time was thrown open to view the cartoon of Michelagnolo
+Buonarroti, full of nude figures, which Michelagnolo had executed at
+the commission of Piero Soderini for the Great Council Chamber, and,
+as has been related in another place, all the craftsmen flocked
+together to draw it on account of its excellence. Among these came
+Baccio, and no long time passed before he outstripped them all, for
+the reason that he understood nudes, and outlined, shaded, and
+finished them, better than any of the other draughtsmen, among whom
+were Jacopo Sansovino, Andrea del Sarto, Il Rosso, who was then very
+young, and Alfonso Berughetta the Spaniard, together with many other
+famous craftsmen. Baccio frequented the place more than any of the
+others, and had a counterfeit key; and it happened that, Piero
+Soderini having been deposed from the government about this time, in
+the year 1512, and the house of Medici having been restored to power,
+during the confusion caused in the Palace by the change of government,
+Baccio entered in secret, all by himself, and tore the cartoon into
+many pieces. Of which not knowing the reason, some said that Baccio
+had torn it up in order to have some pieces of the cartoon in his
+possession for his own convenience, some declared that he wished to
+deprive the other young men of that advantage, so that they might not
+be able to profit by it and make themselves a name in art, others said
+that he was moved to do this by his affection for Leonardo da Vinci,
+from whom Michelagnolo's cartoon had taken much of his reputation, and
+others, again, perhaps interpreting his action better, attributed it
+to the hatred which he felt against Michelagnolo and afterwards
+demonstrated as long as he lived. The loss of the cartoon was no light
+one for the city, and very heavy the blame that was rightly laid upon
+Baccio by everyone, as an envious and malicious person.
+
+Baccio then executed some pieces of cartoon with lead-white and
+charcoal, among which was a very beautiful one of a nude Cleopatra,
+which he presented to the goldsmith Piloto. Having already acquired a
+name as a great draughtsman, he was desirous of learning to paint in
+colours, having a firm belief that he would not only equal Buonarroti,
+but even greatly surpass him in both fields of art. Now he had
+executed a cartoon of a Leda, in which Castor and Pollux were issuing
+from the egg of the swan embraced by her, and he wished to colour it
+in oils, in such a way as to make it appear that the methods of
+handling the colours and mixing them together in order to make the
+various tints, with the lights and shades, had not been taught to him
+by others, but that he had found them by himself, and, after pondering
+how he could do this, he thought of the following expedient. He
+besought Andrea del Sarto, who was much his friend, that he should
+paint a portrait of him in oils, flattering himself that he would
+thereby gain two advantages in accordance with his purpose; one was
+that he would see the method of mixing the colours, and the other was
+that the painted picture would remain in his hands, which, having seen
+it executed and understanding it, would assist him and serve him as a
+pattern. But Andrea perceived Baccio's intention as he made his
+request, and was angry at his want of confidence and astuteness, for
+he would have been willing to show him what he desired, if Baccio had
+asked him as a friend; wherefore, without making any sign that he had
+found him out, and refraining from mixing the colours into tints, he
+placed every sort of colour on his palette and mingled them together
+with the brush, and, taking some now from one and now from another
+with great dexterity of hand, counterfeited in this way the vivid
+colouring of Baccio's face. The latter, both through the artfulness of
+Andrea and because he had to sit still where he was if he wished to be
+painted, was never able to see or learn anything that he wished: and
+it was a fine notion of Andrea's, thus at the same time to punish the
+deceitfulness of his friend and to display with this method of
+painting, like a well-practised master, even greater ability and
+experience in art.
+
+For all this, however, Baccio did not abandon his determination, in
+which he was assisted by the painter Rosso, whom he afterwards asked
+more openly for the help that he desired. Having thus learned the
+methods of colouring, he painted a picture in oils of the Holy Fathers
+delivered from the Limbo of Hell by the Saviour, and also a larger
+picture of Noah drunk with wine and revealing his nakedness in the
+presence of his sons. He tried his hand at painting on the wall, on
+fresh plaster, and executed on the walls of his house heads, arms,
+legs, and torsi, coloured in various ways; but, perceiving that this
+involved him in greater difficulties than he had expected, through
+the drying of the plaster, he returned to his former study of working
+in relief. He made a figure of marble, three braccia in height, of a
+young Mercury with a flute in his hand, with which he took great
+pains, and it was extolled and held to be a rare work; and afterwards,
+in the year 1530, it was bought by Giovan Battista della Palla and
+sent to France to King Francis, who held it in great estimation.
+
+Baccio devoted himself with great study and solicitude to examining
+and reproducing the most minute details of anatomy, persevering in
+this for many months and even years. And certainly one can praise
+highly in this man his desire for honour and excellence in art, and
+for working well therein; spurred by which desire, and by the most
+fiery ardour, with which, rather than with aptitude or dexterity in
+art, he had been endowed by nature from his earliest years, Baccio
+spared himself no fatigue, never relaxed his efforts for a moment, was
+always intent either on preparing for work or on working, always
+occupied, and never to be found idle, thinking that by continual work
+he would surpass all others who had ever practised his art, and
+promising this result to himself as the reward of his incessant study
+and endless labour. Continuing, therefore, his zealous study, he not
+only produced a great number of sheets drawn in various ways with his
+own hand, but also contrived to get Agostino Viniziano, the engraver
+of prints, to engrave for him a nude Cleopatra and a larger plate
+filled with various anatomical studies, in order to see whether this
+would be successful; and the latter plate brought him great praise.
+
+He then set himself to make in wax, in full-relief, a figure one braccio
+and a half in height of S. Jerome in Penitence, lean beyond belief,
+which showed on the bones the muscles all withered, a great part of the
+nerves, and the skin dry and wrinkled; and with such diligence was this
+work executed by him, that all the craftsmen, and particularly Leonardo
+da Vinci, pronounced the opinion that there had never been seen a better
+thing of its kind, nor one wrought with greater art. This figure Baccio
+carried to Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici and to his brother the
+Magnificent Giuliano, and by its means he made himself known to them as
+the son of the goldsmith Michelagnolo; and they, besides praising the
+work, showed him many other favours. This was in the year 1512, when
+they had returned to their house and their government. At this same time
+there were being executed in the Office of Works of S. Maria del Fiore
+certain Apostles of marble, which were to be set up within the marble
+tabernacles in those very places in that church where there are the
+Apostles painted by the painter Lorenzo di Bicci. At the instance of the
+Magnificent Giuliano there was allotted to Baccio a S. Peter, four
+braccia and a half in height, which after a long time he brought to
+completion; and, although it has not the highest perfection of
+sculpture, nevertheless good design may be seen in it. This Apostle
+remained in the Office of Works from the year 1513 down to 1565, in
+which year Duke Cosimo, in honour of the marriage of Queen Joanna of
+Austria, his daughter-in-law, was pleased to have the interior of S.
+Maria del Fiore whitewashed, which church had never been touched from
+the time of its erection down to that day, and to have four Apostles set
+up in their places, among which was the S. Peter mentioned above.
+
+Now in the year 1515, Pope Leo X passing through Florence on his way
+to Bologna, the city, in order to do him honour, ordained, among many
+other ornaments and festive preparations, that there should be made a
+colossal figure of nine braccia and a half, which was to be placed
+under an arch of the Loggia in the Piazza near the Palace; and this
+was given to Baccio. This colossal figure was a Hercules, and from the
+premature words of Baccio men expected that it would surpass the David
+of Buonarroti, which stood there near it; but the act did not
+correspond to the word, nor the work to the boast, and it robbed
+Baccio of much of the estimation in which he had previously been held
+by the craftsmen and by the whole city.
+
+Pope Leo had allotted the work of the ornamentation in marble that
+surrounds the Chamber of Our Lady at Loreto, with the statues and
+scenes, to Maestro Andrea Contucci of Monte Sansovino, who had already
+executed some of these with great credit to himself, and was then
+engaged on others. Now at this time Baccio took to Rome, for the Pope,
+a very beautiful model of a nude David who was holding Goliath under
+him and was cutting off his head; which model he intended to execute
+in bronze or in marble for that very spot in the court of the house of
+the Medici in Florence where there once stood the David of Donato,
+which, at the spoiling of the Medici Palace, was taken to the Palace
+that then belonged to the Signori. The Pope, having praised Baccio,
+but not thinking that the time had come to execute the David, sent him
+to Loreto to Maestro Andrea, to the end that Andrea might give him one
+of those scenes to do. Having arrived in Loreto, he was received
+lovingly by Maestro Andrea and shown much kindness, both on account of
+his fame and because the Pope had recommended him, and a piece of
+marble was assigned to him from which he should carve the Nativity of
+Our Lady. Baccio, after making the model, began the work; but, being a
+person who was not able to endure a colleague or an equal, and had
+little praise for the works of others, he also began to speak hardly
+before the other sculptors who were there of the works of Maestro
+Andrea, saying that he had no design, and he said the same of the
+others, insomuch that in a short time he made himself disliked by them
+all. Whereupon, all that Baccio had said of Maestro Andrea having come
+to his ears, he, like a wise man, answered him lovingly, saying that
+works are done with the hands and not with the tongue, that good
+design is to be looked for not in drawings but in the perfection of
+the work finished in stone, and, finally, that in future Baccio should
+speak of him in a different tone. But Baccio answering him arrogantly
+with many abusive words, Maestro Andrea could endure no more, and
+rushed upon him in order to kill him; but Bandinelli was torn away
+from him by some who intervened between them. Being therefore forced
+to depart from Loreto, Baccio had his scene carried to Ancona; but he
+grew weary of it, although it was near completion, and he went away
+leaving it unfinished. This work was finished afterwards by Raffaello
+da Montelupo, and placed together with the others of Maestro Andrea;
+but it is by no means equal to them in excellence, although even so it
+is worthy of praise.
+
+Baccio, having returned to Rome, obtained a promise from the Pope,
+through the favour of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, always ready to
+assist the arts and their followers, that he should be commissioned to
+execute some statue for the court of the Medici Palace in Florence.
+Having therefore come to Florence, he made an Orpheus of marble, who
+with his playing and his singing is charming Cerberus, and moving Hell
+itself to compassion. He imitated in this work the Apollo of the
+Belvedere at Rome, and it was very highly praised, and rightly,
+because, although the Orpheus of Baccio is not in the attitude of the
+Apollo Belvedere, nevertheless it reproduces very successfully the
+manner of the torso and of all the members. The statue, when finished,
+was carried by order of Cardinal Giulio, while he was governing
+Florence, into the above-mentioned court, and placed on a carved base
+executed by the sculptor Benedetto da Rovezzano. But since Baccio
+never paid any attention to the art of architecture, he took no heed
+of the genius of Donatello, who had made for the David that was there
+before a simple column on which rested a cleft base in open-work, to
+the end that one entering from without might see from the street-door
+the inner door, that of the other court, opposite to him; and, not
+having such foresight, he caused his statue to be placed on a broad
+and wholly solid base, of such a kind that it blocks the view of him
+who enters and covers the opening of the inner door, so that in
+passing through the first door one does not see whether the palace
+extends farther inwards or finishes in the first court.
+
+Cardinal Giulio had caused a most beautiful villa to be erected below
+Monte Mario at Rome, and wished to set up two giants in this villa;
+and he had them executed in stucco by Baccio, who was always delighted
+to make giants. These figures, eight braccia in height, stand one on
+either side of the gate that leads into the wood, and they were held
+to be reasonably beautiful. While Baccio was engaged on these works,
+never abandoning his practice of drawing, he caused Marco da Ravenna
+and Agostino Viniziano, the engravers of prints, to engrave a scene
+drawn by him on a very large sheet, in which was the Slaughter of the
+Innocents, so cruelly done to death by Herod. This scene, which was
+filled by him with a quantity of nudes, both male and female, children
+living and dead, and women and soldiers in various attitudes, made
+known the fine draughtsmanship that he showed in figures and his
+knowledge of muscles and of all the members, and it won him great
+fame over all Europe. He also made a most beautiful model of wood,
+with the figures in wax, of a tomb for the King of England, which in
+the end was not carried out by Baccio, but was given to the sculptor
+Benedetto da Rovezzano, who executed it in metal.
+
+[Illustration: THE MARTYRDOM OF S. LORENZO
+
+(_After the painting by =Baccio Bandinelli=. Hereford: W. J. Davies'
+Collection_)
+
+_M.S._]
+
+There had recently returned from France Cardinal Bernardo Divizio of
+Bibbiena, who, perceiving that King Francis possessed not a single
+work in marble, whether ancient or modern, although he much delighted
+in such things, had promised his Majesty that he would prevail on the
+Pope to send him some beautiful work. After this Cardinal there came
+to the Pope two Ambassadors from King Francis, and they, having seen
+the statues of the Belvedere, lavished all the praise at their command
+on the Laocoon. Cardinals de' Medici and Bibbiena, who were with them,
+asked them whether the King would be glad to have a work of that kind;
+and they answered that it would be too great a gift. Then the Cardinal
+said to them: "There shall be sent to his Majesty either this one or
+one so like it that there shall be no difference." And, having
+resolved to have another made in imitation of it, he remembered
+Baccio, whom he sent for and asked whether he had the courage to make
+a Laocoon equal to the original. Baccio answered that he was confident
+that he could make one not merely equal to it, but even surpassing it
+in perfection. The Cardinal then resolved that the work should be
+begun, and Baccio, while waiting for the marble to come, made one in
+wax, which was much extolled, and also executed a cartoon in
+lead-white and charcoal of the same size as the one in marble. After
+the marble had come and Baccio had caused an enclosure with a roof for
+working in to be erected for himself in the Belvedere, he made a
+beginning with one of the boys of the Laocoon, the larger one, and
+executed this in such a manner that the Pope and all those who were
+good judges were satisfied, because between his work and the ancient
+there was scarcely any difference to be seen. But after setting his
+hand to the other boy and to the statue of the father, which is in the
+middle, he had not gone far when the Pope died. Adrian VI being then
+elected, he returned with the Cardinal to Florence, where he occupied
+himself with his studies in design. After the death of Adrian and
+the election of Clement VII, Baccio went post-haste to Rome in order
+to be in time for his coronation, for which he made statues and scenes
+in half-relief by order of his Holiness. Then, having been provided by
+the Pope with rooms and an allowance, he returned to his Laocoon, a
+work which was executed by him in the space of two years with the
+greatest excellence that he ever achieved. He also restored the right
+arm of the ancient Laocoon, which had been broken off and never found,
+and Baccio made one of the full size in wax, which so resembled the
+ancient work in the muscles, in force, and in manner, and harmonized
+with it so well, that it showed how Baccio understood his art; and
+this model served him as a pattern for making the whole arm of his own
+Laocoon. This work seemed to his Holiness to be so good, that he
+changed his mind and resolved to send other ancient statues to the
+King, and this one to Florence; and to Cardinal Silvio Passerino of
+Cortona, his Legate in Florence, who was then governing the city, he
+sent orders that he should place the Laocoon at the head of the second
+court in the Palace of the Medici. This was in the year 1525.
+
+This work brought great fame to Baccio, who, after finishing the
+Laocoon, set himself to draw a scene on a sheet of royal folio laid
+open, in order to carry out a design of the Pope, who wished to have
+the Martyrdom of S. Cosimo and S. Damiano painted on one wall of the
+principal chapel of S. Lorenzo in Florence, and on the other that of
+S. Laurence, when he was put to death by Decius on the gridiron.
+Baccio then drew with great subtlety the story of S. Laurence, in
+which he counterfeited with much judgment and art figures both clothed
+and nude, different attitudes and gestures in the bodies and limbs,
+and various movements in those who are standing about S. Laurence,
+engaged in their dreadful office, and in particular the cruel Decius,
+who with threatening brow is urging on the fiery death of the innocent
+Martyr, who, raising one arm to Heaven, recommends his spirit to God.
+With this scene Baccio so satisfied the Pope, that he took steps to
+have it engraved on copper by Marc'Antonio Bolognese, which was done
+by Marc'Antonio with great diligence; and his Holiness created Baccio,
+in order to do honour to his talents, a Chevalier of S. Pietro.
+
+After these things Baccio returned to Florence, where he found that
+Giovan Francesco Rustici, his first master, was painting a scene of
+the Conversion of S. Paul; for which reason he undertook to make in a
+cartoon, in competition with his master, a nude figure of a young S.
+John in the desert, who is holding a lamb with the left arm and
+raising the right to Heaven. Then, having caused a panel to be
+prepared, he set himself to colour it, and when it was finished he
+exposed it to view in the workshop of his father Michelagnolo,
+opposite to the descent that leads from Orsanmichele to the Mercato
+Nuovo. The design was praised by the craftsmen, but not so much the
+colouring, because it was somewhat crude and painted in no beautiful
+manner. But Baccio sent it as a present to Pope Clement, who had it
+placed in his guardaroba, where it may still be found.
+
+As far back as the time of Leo X there had been quarried at Carrara,
+together with the marbles for the facade of S. Lorenzo in Florence,
+another block of marble nine braccia and a half high and five braccia
+wide at the foot. With this block of marble Michelagnolo Buonarroti
+had thought of making a giant in the person of Hercules slaying Cacus,
+intending to place it in the Piazza beside the colossal figure of
+David formerly made by him, since both the one and the other, David
+and Hercules, were emblems of the Palace. He had made several designs
+and various models for it, and had sought to gain the favour of Pope
+Leo and of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, saying that the David had many
+defects caused by the sculptor Maestro Andrea, who had first blocked
+it out and spoiled it. But by reason of the death of Leo the facade of
+S. Lorenzo was for a time abandoned, and also this block of marble.
+Now afterwards, Pope Clement having conceived a desire to avail
+himself of Michelagnolo for the tombs of the heroes of the house of
+Medici, which he wished to have constructed in the Sacristy of S.
+Lorenzo, it became once more necessary to quarry marbles; and the head
+of these works, keeping the accounts of the expenses, was Domenico
+Buoninsegni. This man tried to tempt Michelagnolo to make a secret
+partnership with him in the matter of the stone-work for the facade of
+S. Lorenzo; but Michelagnolo refused, not consenting that his genius
+should be employed in defrauding the Pope, and Domenico conceived such
+hatred against him that he went about ever afterwards opposing his
+undertakings, in order to annoy and humiliate him, but this he did
+covertly. He thus contrived to have the facade discontinued and the
+sacristy pushed forward, which two works, he said, were enough to keep
+Michelagnolo occupied for many years. And as for the marble for the
+making of the giant, he urged the Pope that it should be given to
+Baccio, who at that time had nothing to do; saying that through the
+emulation of two men so eminent his Holiness would be served better
+and with more diligence and promptitude, rivalry stimulating both the
+one and the other in his work. The counsel of Domenico pleased the
+Pope, and he acted in accordance with it. Baccio, having obtained the
+marble, made a great model in wax, which was a Hercules who, having
+fixed the head of Cacus between two stones with one knee, was
+constraining him with great force with the left arm, holding him
+crouching under his legs in a distorted attitude, wherein Cacus
+revealed his suffering and the strain of the weight of Hercules upon
+him, which was rending asunder every least muscle in his whole body.
+Hercules, likewise, with his head bent down close against his enemy,
+grinding and gnashing his teeth, was raising the right arm and with
+great vehemence giving him another blow with his club, in order to
+dash his head to pieces.
+
+Michelagnolo, as soon as he had heard that the marble had been given
+to Baccio, was very much displeased; but, for all the efforts that he
+made in this matter, he was never able to turn the Pope from his
+purpose, so completely had he been satisfied by Baccio's model; to
+which reason were added his promises and boasts, for he boasted that
+he would surpass the David of Michelagnolo, and he was also assisted
+by Buoninsegni, who said that Michelagnolo desired everything for
+himself. Thus was the city deprived of a rare ornament, such as that
+marble would undoubtedly have been when shaped by the hand of
+Buonarroti. The above-mentioned model of Baccio is now to be found in
+the guardaroba of Duke Cosimo, by whom it is held very dear, and by
+the craftsmen as a rare work.
+
+Baccio was sent to Carrara to see this marble, and the Overseers of
+the Works of S. Maria del Fiore were commissioned to transport it by
+water, along the River Arno, as far as Signa. The marble having been
+conveyed there, within a distance of eight miles from Florence, when
+they set about removing it from the river in order to transport it by
+land, the river being too low from Signa to Florence, it fell into the
+water, and on account of its great size sank so deep into the sand,
+that the Overseers, with all the contrivances that they used, were not
+able to drag it out. For which reason, the Pope wishing that the
+marble should be recovered at all costs, by order of the Wardens of
+Works Pietro Rosselli, an old builder of great ingenuity, went to work
+in such a manner that, having diverted the course of the water into
+another channel and cut away the bank of the river, with levers and
+windlasses he moved it, dragged it out of the Arno, and brought it to
+solid ground, for which he was greatly extolled. Tempted by this
+accident to the marble, certain persons wrote verses, both Tuscan and
+Latin, ingeniously ridiculing Baccio, who was detested for his
+loquacity and his evil-speaking against Michelagnolo and all the other
+craftsmen. One among them took for his verses the following subject,
+saying that the marble, after having been approved by the genius of
+Michelagnolo, learning that it was to be mangled by the hands of
+Baccio, had thrown itself into the river out of despair at such an
+evil fate.
+
+While the marble was being drawn out of the water, a difficult process
+which took time, Baccio found, on measuring it, that it was neither
+high enough nor wide enough to enable him to carve the figures of his
+first model. Whereupon he went to Rome, taking the measurements with
+him, and made known to the Pope how he was constrained by necessity to
+abandon his first design and make another. He then made several
+models, and out of their number the Pope was most pleased with one in
+which Hercules had Cacus between his legs, and, grasping his hair, was
+holding him down after the manner of a prisoner; and this one they
+resolved to adopt and to carry into execution. On returning to
+Florence, Baccio found that the marble had been conveyed into the
+Office of Works of S. Maria del Fiore by Pietro Rosselli, who had
+first placed on the ground some planks of walnut-wood planed square,
+and laid lengthways, which he kept changing according as the marble
+moved forward, under which and upon those planks he placed some round
+rollers well shod with iron, so that by pulling the marble with three
+windlasses, to which he had attached it, little by little he brought
+it with ease into the Office of Works. The block having been set up
+there, Baccio began a model in clay as large as the marble and shaped
+according to the last one which he had made previously in Rome; and he
+finished it, working with great diligence, in a few months. But with
+all this it appeared to many craftsmen that there was not in this
+model that spirited vivacity that the action required, nor that which
+he had given to his first model. Afterwards, beginning to work at the
+marble, Baccio cut it away all round as far as the navel, laying bare
+the limbs in front, and taking care all the time to carve the figures
+in such a way that they might be exactly like those of the large model
+in clay.
+
+At this same time Baccio had undertaken to execute in painting an
+altar-piece of considerable size for the Church of Cestello, and for
+this he had made a very beautiful cartoon containing a Dead Christ
+surrounded by the Maries, with Nicodemus and other figures; but, for a
+reason that we shall give below, he did not paint the altar-piece. He
+also made at this time, in order to paint a picture, a cartoon in
+which was Christ taken down from the Cross and held in the arms of
+Nicodemus, with His Mother, who was standing, weeping for Him, and an
+Angel who was holding in his hands the Nails and the Crown of Thorns.
+Setting himself straightway to colour it, he finished it quickly and
+placed it on exhibition in the workshop of his friend Giovanni di
+Goro, the goldsmith, in the Mercato Nuovo, in order to hear the
+opinions of men and particularly what Michelagnolo said of it.
+Michelagnolo was taken by the goldsmith Piloto to see it, and, after
+he had examined every part, he said that he marvelled that so good a
+draughtsman as Baccio should allow a picture so crude and wanting in
+grace to leave his hands, that he had seen the most feeble painters
+executing their works in a better manner, and that this was no art for
+Baccio. Piloto reported Michelagnolo's judgment to Baccio, who, for
+all the hatred that he felt against him, recognized that he spoke the
+truth. Certainly Baccio's drawings were very beautiful, but in colours
+he executed them badly and without grace, and he therefore resolved to
+paint no more with his own hand; but he took into his service one who
+handled colours passing well, a young man called Agnolo, the brother
+of the excellent painter Franciabigio, who had died a few years
+before. To this Agnolo he desired to entrust the execution of the
+altar-piece for Cestello, but it remained unfinished, the reason of
+which was the change of government in Florence, which took place in
+the year 1527, when the Medici left Florence after the sack of Rome.
+For Baccio did not think himself safe, having a private feud with a
+neighbour at his villa of Pinzirimonte, who was of the popular party;
+and after he had buried at that villa some cameos and little antique
+figures of bronze, which belonged to the Medici, he went off to live
+in Lucca. There he remained until the time when the Emperor Charles V
+came to receive his crown at Bologna; whereupon he presented himself
+before the Pope and then went with him to Rome, where he was given
+rooms in the Belvedere, as before.
+
+While Baccio was living there, his Holiness resolved to fulfil a vow
+that he had made when he was shut up in the Castello di S. Angelo;
+which vow was that he would place on the summit of the great round
+tower of marble, which is in front of the Ponte di Castello, seven
+large figures of bronze, each six braccia in length, and all lying
+down in different attitudes, as it were vanquished by an Angel that he
+wished to have set up on the centre of the tower, upon a column of
+variegated marble, the Angel being of bronze with a sword in the hand.
+By this figure of the Angel he wished to represent the Angel Michael,
+the guardian and protector of the Castle, whose favour and assistance
+had delivered him and brought him out of that prison; and the seven
+recumbent figures were to personify the seven Mortal Sins,
+demonstrating that with the help of the victorious Angel he had
+conquered and thrown to the ground his enemies, evil and impious men,
+who were represented by those seven figures of the seven Mortal Sins.
+For this work his Holiness caused a model to be made; which having
+pleased him, he ordained that Baccio should begin to make the figures
+in clay of the size that they were to be, in order to have them cast
+afterwards in bronze. Baccio began the work, and finished in one of
+the apartments in the Belvedere one of those figures in clay, which
+was much extolled. At the same time, also, in order to divert himself,
+and wishing to see how he would succeed in casting, he made many
+little figures in the round, two-thirds of a braccio in height, as of
+Hercules, Venus, Apollo, Leda, and other fantasies of his own, which
+he caused to be cast in bronze by Maestro Jacopo della Barba of
+Florence; and they succeeded excellently well. He presented them
+afterwards to his Holiness and to many lords; and some of them are now
+in the study of Duke Cosimo, among a collection of more than a hundred
+antique figures, all very choice, and others that are modern.
+
+At this same time Baccio had made a scene of the Deposition from the
+Cross with little figures in low-relief and half-relief, which was a
+rare work; and he had it cast with great diligence in bronze. When
+finished, he presented it in Genoa to Charles V, who held it very
+dear; and a sign of this was that his Majesty gave Baccio a Commandery
+of S. Jago, and made him a Chevalier. From Prince Doria, also, he
+received many courtesies; and from the Republic of Genoa he had the
+commission for a statue of marble six braccia high, which was to be a
+Neptune in the likeness of Prince Doria, to be set up on the Piazza in
+memory of the virtues of that Prince and of the extraordinary benefits
+that his native country of Genoa had received from him. This statue
+was allotted to Baccio at the price of a thousand florins, of which he
+received five hundred at that time; and he went straightway to Carrara
+to block it out at the quarry of Polvaccio.
+
+While the popular government was ruling Florence, after the departure
+of the Medici, Michelagnolo Buonarroti was employed on the
+fortifications of the city; and there was shown to him the marble that
+Baccio had blocked out, together with the model of the Hercules and
+Cacus, the intention being that if the marble had not been cut away
+too much Michelagnolo should take it and carve from it two figures
+after his own design. Michelagnolo, having examined the block, thought
+of a different subject; and, abandoning the Hercules and Cacus, he
+chose the subject of Samson holding beneath him two Philistines whom
+he had cast down, one being already dead, and the other still alive,
+against whom he was aiming a blow with the jawbone of an ass, seeking
+to kill him. But even as it often happens that the minds of men
+promise themselves at times certain things the opposite of which is
+determined by the wisdom of God, so it came to pass then, for, war
+having arisen against the city of Florence, Michelagnolo had other
+things to think about than polishing marble, and was obliged from fear
+of the citizens to withdraw from the city. Afterwards, the war being
+finished and peace made, Pope Clement caused Michelagnolo to return to
+Florence in order to finish the Sacristy of S. Lorenzo, and sent
+Baccio to see to the completion of the giant. Baccio, while engaged in
+this, took up his abode in the Palace of the Medici; and, writing
+almost every week to his Holiness in order to make a show of devotion,
+he entered, besides dealing with matters of art, into particulars
+relating to the citizens and those who were administering the
+government, with an odious officiousness likely to bring upon him even
+more ill-will than he had awakened before. Whereupon, when Duke
+Alessandro returned from the Court of his Majesty to Florence, the
+citizens made known to him the sinister policy that Baccio was
+pursuing against them; from which it followed that his work of the
+giant was hindered and retarded by the citizens by every means in
+their power.
+
+[Illustration: HERCULES AND CACUS
+
+(_After the marble by =Baccio Bandinelli=. Florence: Piazza della
+Signoria_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+At this time, after the war of Hungary, Pope Clement and the Emperor
+Charles held a conference at Bologna, whither there went Cardinal
+Ippolito de' Medici and Duke Alessandro; and it occurred to Baccio to
+go and kiss the feet of his Holiness. He took with him a panel, one
+braccio high and one and a half wide, of Christ being scourged at the
+Column by two nude figures, which was in half-relief and very well
+executed; and he gave this panel to the Pope, together with a
+portrait-medal of his Holiness, which he had caused to be made by
+Francesco dal Prato, his familiar friend, the reverse of the medal
+being the Flagellation of Christ. This gift was very acceptable to his
+Holiness, to whom Baccio described the annoyances and impediments that
+he had experienced in the execution of his Hercules, praying him that
+he should prevail upon the Duke to give him the means to carry it to
+completion. He added that he was envied and hated in that city; and,
+being a very devil with his wit and his tongue, he persuaded the Pope
+to induce the Duke to see that his work should be brought to
+completion and set up in its place in the Piazza.
+
+Death had now snatched away the goldsmith Michelagnolo, the father of
+Baccio, who during his lifetime had undertaken to make for the Wardens
+of Works of S. Maria del Fiore, by order of the Pope, a very large
+cross of silver, all covered with scenes in low-relief of the Passion
+of Christ. This cross, for which Baccio had made the figures and
+scenes in wax, to be afterwards cast in silver, Michelagnolo had left
+unfinished at his death; and Baccio, having the work in his hands,
+together with many libbre of silver, sought to persuade his Holiness
+to have it finished by Francesco dal Prato, who had gone with him to
+Bologna. But the Pope, perceiving that Baccio wished not only to
+withdraw from his father's engagements, but also to make something out
+of the labours of Francesco, gave Baccio orders that the silver and
+the scenes, those merely begun as well as those finished, should be
+given to the Wardens of Works, that the account should be settled, and
+that the Wardens should melt all the silver of that cross, in order to
+make use of it for the necessities of the church, which had been
+stripped of its ornaments at the time of the siege; and to Baccio he
+caused one hundred florins of gold and letters of recommendation to be
+given, to the end that he might return to Florence and finish the work
+of the giant.
+
+While Baccio was at Bologna, Cardinal Doria, having heard that he was
+about to depart, went to the pains of seeking him out, and threatened
+him with many reproaches and abusive words, for the reason that he had
+broken his pledge and failed in his duty by neglecting to finish the
+statue of Prince Doria and leaving it only blocked out at Carrara,
+after taking five hundred crowns in payment; on which account, said
+the Cardinal, if Andrea could get Baccio into his hands, he would make
+him pay for it at the galleys. Baccio defended himself humbly and with
+soft words, saying that he had been delayed by a sufficient hindrance,
+but that he had in Florence a block of marble of the same height, from
+which he had intended to carve that figure, and that when he had
+carved and finished it he would send it to Genoa. And so well did he
+contrive to speak and to excuse himself that he succeeded in escaping
+from the presence of the Cardinal. After this he returned to Florence,
+and caused the base for the giant to be taken in hand; and, himself
+working continuously at the figure, in the year 1534 he finished it
+completely. But Duke Alessandro, on account of the hostile reports of
+the citizens, did not take steps to have it set up in the Piazza.
+
+The Pope had returned to Rome many months before this, and desired to
+erect two tombs of marble in the Minerva, one for Pope Leo and one for
+himself; and Baccio, seizing this occasion, went to Rome. Thereupon
+the Pope resolved that Baccio should make those tombs after he had
+succeeded in setting up the giant on the Piazza; and his Holiness
+wrote to the Duke that he should give Baccio every convenience for
+placing his Hercules in position there. Whereupon, after an enclosure
+of planks had been made all round, the base was built of marble, and
+at the foot of it they placed a stone with letters in memory of Pope
+Clement VII, and a good number of medals with the heads of his
+Holiness and of Duke Alessandro. The giant was then taken from the
+Office of Works, where it had been executed; and in order to convey it
+with greater ease, without damaging it, they made round it a
+scaffolding of wood, with ropes passing under the legs and cords
+supporting it under the arms and at every other part; and thus,
+suspended in the air between the beams in such a way that it did not
+touch the wood, little by little, by means of compound pulleys and
+windlasses and ten pairs of oxen, it was drawn as far as the Piazza.
+Great assistance was rendered by two thick, semi-cylindrical beams,
+which were fixed lengthways along the foot of the scaffolding, in the
+manner of a base, and rested on other similar beams smeared with soap,
+which were withdrawn and replaced by workmen in succession, according
+as the structure moved forward; and with these ingenious contrivances
+the giant was conveyed safely and without much labour to the Piazza.
+The charge of all this was given to Baccio d'Agnolo and the elder
+Antonio da San Gallo, the architects to the Office of Works, who
+afterwards with other beams and a double system of compound pulleys
+set the statue securely on its base.
+
+It would not be easy to describe the concourse and multitude that for
+two days occupied the whole Piazza, flocking to see the giant as soon
+as it was uncovered; and various judgments and opinions were heard
+from all kinds of men, every one censuring the work and the master.
+There were also attached round the base many verses, both Latin and
+Tuscan, in which it was pleasing to see the wit, the ingenious
+conceits, and the sharp sayings of the writers; but they overstepped
+all decent limits with their evil-speaking and their biting and
+satirical compositions, and Duke Alessandro, considering that, the
+work being a public one, the indignity was his, was forced to put in
+prison some who went so far as to attach sonnets openly and without
+scruple to the statue; which proceeding soon stopped the mouths of the
+critics.
+
+When Baccio examined his work in position, it seemed to him that the
+open air was little favourable to it, making the muscles appear too
+delicate. Having therefore caused a new enclosure of planks to be made
+around it, he attacked it again with his chisels, and, strengthening
+the muscles in many places, gave the figures stronger relief than they
+had before. Finally, the work was uncovered for good; and by everyone
+able to judge it has always been held to be not only a triumph over
+difficulties, but also very well studied, with every part carefully
+considered, and the figure of Cacus excellently adapted to its
+position. It is true that the David of Michelagnolo, which is beside
+Baccio's Hercules, takes away not a little of its glory, being the
+most beautiful colossal figure that has ever been made; for in it is
+all grace and excellence, whereas the manner of Baccio is entirely
+different. But in truth, considering Baccio's Hercules by itself, one
+cannot but praise it highly, and all the more because it is known that
+many sculptors have since tried to make colossal statues, and not one
+has attained to the standard of Baccio, who, if he had received as
+much grace and facility from nature as he took pains and trouble by
+himself, would have been absolutely perfect in the art of sculpture.
+
+Desiring to know what was being said of his work, he sent to the
+Piazza a pedagogue whom he kept in his house, telling him that he
+should not fail to report to him the truth of what he might hear said.
+The pedagogue, hearing nothing but censure, returned sadly to the
+house, and, when questioned by Baccio, answered that all with one
+voice were abusing the giants, and that they pleased no one. "And
+you," asked Baccio, "what do you say of them?" "I speak well of them,"
+he replied, "and say, may it please you, that they please me." "I will
+not have them please you," said Baccio, "and you, also, must speak ill
+of them, for, as you may remember, I never speak well of anyone; and
+so we are quits." Thus Baccio concealed his vexation, and it was
+always his custom to act thus, pretending not to care for the censure
+that any man laid on his works. Nevertheless, it is likely enough that
+his resentment was considerable, because when a man labours for
+honour, and then obtains nothing but censure, one cannot but believe,
+although that censure may be unjust and undeserved, that it afflicts
+him secretly in his heart and torments him continually. He was
+consoled in his displeasure by an estate, which was given to him in
+addition to his payment, by order of Pope Clement. This gift was
+doubly dear to him, first because it was useful for its revenue and
+was near his villa of Pinzirimonte, and then because it had previously
+belonged to Rignadori, his mortal enemy, who had just been declared an
+outlaw, and with whom he had always been at strife on account of the
+boundary of this property.
+
+At this time a letter was written to Duke Alessandro by Prince Doria,
+asking that he should prevail upon Baccio to finish his statue, now
+that the giant was completely finished, and saying that he was ready
+to revenge himself on Baccio if he did not do his duty; at which
+Baccio was so frightened that he would not trust himself to go to
+Carrara. However, having been reassured by Cardinal Cibo and Duke
+Alessandro, he went there, and, working with some assistants,
+proceeded to carry the statue forward. The Prince had himself informed
+every day as to how much Baccio was doing; wherefore, receiving a
+report that the statue was not of that excellence which had been
+promised, he gave Baccio to understand that, if he did not serve him
+well, he would make him smart for it. Baccio, hearing this, spoke very
+ill of the Prince; which having come to the Prince's ears, he
+determined to get him into his hands at all costs, and to take
+vengeance upon him by putting him in wholesome fear of the galleys.
+Whereupon Baccio, seeing certain persons spying and keeping a watch
+upon him, became suspicious, and, being a shrewd and resolute man,
+left the work as it was and returned to Florence.
+
+About this time a son was born to Baccio from a woman whom he kept in
+his house, and to this son, Pope Clement having died in those days, he
+gave the name of Clemente, in memory of that Pontiff, who had always
+loved and favoured him. After the death of Pope Clement, he heard that
+Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici, Cardinal Innocenzio Cibo, Cardinal
+Giovanni Salviati, and Cardinal Niccolo Ridolfi, together with Messer
+Baldassarre Turini da Pescia, being the executors of the Pope's will,
+had commissions to give for the two marble tombs of Leo and Clement,
+which were to be placed in the Minerva. For these tombs Baccio in the
+past had already made the models; but the work had been promised
+recently to the Ferrarese sculptor Alfonso Lombardi through the favour
+of Cardinal de' Medici, whose servant he was. This Alfonso, by the
+advice of Michelagnolo, had changed the design of the tombs, and he
+had already made the models for them, but without any contract for the
+commission, relying wholly on promises, and expecting every day to
+have to go to Carrara to quarry the marble. While the time was
+slipping away in this manner, it happened that Cardinal Ippolito died
+of poison on his way to meet Charles V. Baccio, hearing this, went
+without wasting any time to Rome, where he was first received by the
+sister of Pope Leo, Madonna Lucrezia Salviati de' Medici, to whom he
+strove to prove that no one could do greater honour to the remains of
+those great Pontiffs than himself, with his ability in art, adding
+that Alfonso was a sculptor without power of design and without skill
+and judgment in the handling of marble, and that he was not able to
+execute so honourable an undertaking save only with the help of
+others. He also used many other devices, and so went to work in
+various ways and by various means that he succeeded in changing the
+purpose of those lords, who finally entrusted to Cardinal Salviati the
+charge of making an agreement with Baccio.
+
+At this time the Emperor Charles V had arrived in Naples, and in Rome
+Filippo Strozzi, Anton Francesco degli Albizzi, and the other exiles
+were seeking to arrange with Cardinal Salviati to go and set his
+Majesty against Duke Alessandro; and they were with the Cardinal at
+all hours. Baccio was also all day long in Salviati's halls and
+apartments, waiting to have the contract made for the tombs, but not
+able to bring matters to a head, because of the Cardinal's
+preoccupation with the affairs of the exiles; and they, seeing Baccio
+in those rooms morning and evening, grew suspicious of this, and,
+fearing lest he might be there to spy upon their movements and give
+information to the Duke, some of the young men among them agreed to
+follow him secretly one evening and put him out of the way. But
+Fortune, coming to his aid in time, brought it about that the two
+other Cardinals, with Messer Baldassarre da Pescia, undertook to
+finish Baccio's business. Knowing that Baccio was worth little as an
+architect, they had caused a design to be made by Antonio da San
+Gallo, which pleased them, and had ordained that all the mason's work
+to be done in marble should be executed under the direction of the
+sculptor Lorenzetto, and that the marble statues and scenes should be
+allotted to Baccio. Having arranged the matter in this way, they
+finally made the contract with Baccio, who therefore appeared no more
+about the house of Cardinal Salviati, withdrawing himself just in
+time; and the exiles, the occasion having passed by, thought nothing
+more about him.
+
+After these things Baccio made two models of wood, with the statues
+and scenes in wax. These models had the bases solid, without
+projections, and on each base were four fluted Ionic columns, which
+divided the space into three compartments, a large one in the middle,
+where in each there was a Pope in full pontificals seated upon a
+pedestal, who was giving the benediction, and smaller spaces, each
+with a niche containing a figure in the round and standing upright,
+four braccia high; which figures, representing Saints, stood on either
+side of those Popes. The order of the composition had the form of a
+triumphal arch, and above the columns that supported the cornice was a
+marble tablet three braccia in height and four braccia and a half in
+width, in which was a scene in half-relief. In the scene above the
+statue of Pope Leo, which statue had on either side of it in the
+niches S. Peter and S. Paul, was his Conference with King Francis at
+Bologna, and this story of Leo in the middle, above the columns, was
+accompanied by two smaller scenes, in one of which, that above S.
+Peter, was the Saint restoring a dead man to life, and in the other,
+that above S. Paul, that Saint preaching to the people. In the scene
+above Pope Clement, which corresponded to that mentioned above, was
+that Pontiff crowning the Emperor Charles at Bologna, and on either
+side of it are two smaller scenes, in one of which is S. John the
+Baptist preaching to the people, and in the other S. John the
+Evangelist raising Drusiana from the dead; and these have below them
+in the niches the same Saints, four braccia high, standing on either
+side of the statue of Pope Clement, as with that of Leo.
+
+In this structure Baccio showed either too little religion or too much
+adulation, or both together, in that he thought fit that the first
+founders--after Christ--of our religion, men deified and most dear to
+God, should give way to our Popes, and placed them in positions
+unworthy of them and inferior to those of Leo and Clement. Certain it
+is that this design of his, even as it was displeasing to God and to
+the Saints, so likewise gave no pleasure to the Popes or to any other
+man, for the reason, it appears to me, that religion--and I mean our
+own, the true religion--should be placed by mankind before all other
+interests and considerations. And, on the other hand, he who wishes to
+exalt and honour any other person, should, I think, be temperate and
+restrained, and confine himself within certain limits, so that his
+praise and honour may not become another thing--I mean senseless
+adulation, which first disgraces the praiser, and also gives no
+pleasure to the person praised, if he has any proper feeling, but does
+quite the contrary. Baccio, in doing what I have described, made known
+to everyone that he had much goodwill and affection indeed towards the
+Popes, but little judgment in exalting and honouring them in their
+sepulchres.
+
+The models described above were taken by Baccio to the garden of
+Cardinal Ridolfi at S. Agata on Monte Cavallo, where his lordship was
+entertaining Cibo, Salviati, and Messer Baldassarre da Pescia to
+dinner, they having assembled together there in order to settle all
+that was necessary in the matter of the tombs. While they were at
+table, then, there arrived the sculptor Solosmeo, an amusing and
+outspoken person, who was always ready to speak ill of anyone, and
+little the friend of Baccio. When the message was brought to those
+lords that Solosmeo was seeking admittance, Ridolfi ordered that he
+should be ushered in, and then, turning to Baccio, said to him: "I
+wish that we should hear what Solosmeo says of our bestowal of these
+tombs. Raise that door-curtain, Baccio, and stand behind it." Baccio
+immediately obeyed, and, when Solosmeo had entered and had been
+invited to drink, they then turned to the subject of the tombs
+allotted to Baccio; whereupon Solosmeo reproached the Cardinals for
+having made a bad choice, and went on to speak all manner of evil
+against Baccio, taxing him with ignorance of art, avarice, and
+arrogance, and going into many particulars in his criticisms. Baccio,
+who stood hidden behind the door-curtain, was not able to contain
+himself until Solosmeo should have finished, and, bursting out
+scowling and full of rage, said to Solosmeo: "What have I done to you,
+that you should speak of me with such scant respect?" Dumbfounded at
+the appearance of Baccio, Solosmeo turned to Ridolfi and said: "What
+tricks are these, my lord? I want nothing more to do with priests!"
+and took himself off. The Cardinals had a hearty laugh both at the one
+and at the other; and Salviati said to Baccio: "You hear the opinion
+of your brothers in art. Go and give them the lie with your work."
+
+[Illustration: STATUE OF GIOVANNI DELLE BANDE NERE
+
+(_After the marble by =Baccio Bandinelli=. Florence: Piazza di S.
+Lorenzo_)
+
+_Brogi_]
+
+Baccio then began the work of the statues and scenes, but his
+performances by no means corresponded to his promises and his duty
+towards those Pontiffs, for he used little diligence in the figures
+and scenes, and left them badly finished and full of defects, being
+more solicitous about drawing his money than about working at the
+marble. Now his patrons became aware of Baccio's procedure, and
+repented of what they had done; but the two largest pieces of marble
+remained, those for the two statues that were still to be executed,
+one of Leo seated and the other of Clement, and these they ordered him
+to finish, beseeching him that he should do better in them. But
+Baccio, having already drawn all the money, entered into negotiations
+with Messer Giovan Battista da Ricasoli, Bishop of Cortona, who was in
+Rome on business of Duke Cosimo's, to depart from Rome and go to
+Florence in order to serve Cosimo in the matter of the fountains of
+his villa of Castello and the tomb of his father, Signor Giovanni.
+The Duke having answered that Baccio should come, he set off for
+Florence without a word, leaving the work of the tombs unfinished and
+the statues in the hands of two assistants. The Cardinals, hearing of
+this, allotted those two statues of the Popes, which still remained to
+be finished, to two sculptors, one of whom was Raffaello da Montelupo,
+who received the statue of Pope Leo, and the other Giovanni di Baccio,
+to whom was given the statue of Clement. They then gave orders that
+the masonry and all that was prepared should be put together, and the
+work was erected; but the statues and scenes were in many parts
+neither pumiced nor polished, so that they brought Baccio more
+discredit than fame.
+
+Arriving in Florence, Baccio found that the Duke had sent the sculptor
+Tribolo to Carrara to quarry the marble for the fountains of Castello
+and the tomb of Signor Giovanni; and he so wrought upon the Duke that
+he wrested the tomb of Signor Giovanni from the hands of Tribolo,
+demonstrating to his Excellency that the marbles for such a work were
+already in great measure in Florence. Thus, little by little, he
+penetrated into the confidence of the Duke, insomuch that both for
+this reason and for his arrogance everyone was afraid of him. He then
+proposed to the Duke that the tomb of Signor Giovanni should be
+erected in the Chapel of the Neroni, a narrow, confined, and mean
+place, in S. Lorenzo, being too ignorant or not wishing to suggest
+that for so great a Prince it was proper that a new chapel should be
+built on purpose. He also prevailed on the Duke to demand from
+Michelagnolo, on Baccio's behalf, many pieces of marble that he had in
+Florence; and when the Duke had obtained them from Michelagnolo, and
+Baccio from the Duke, among those marbles being some blocked out
+figures and a statue carried well on towards completion by
+Michelagnolo, Bandinelli, taking them all over, hacked and broke to
+pieces everything that he could find, thinking that by so doing he was
+avenging himself on Michelagnolo and causing him displeasure. He
+found, moreover, in the same room in S. Lorenzo wherein Michelagnolo
+worked, two statues in one block of marble, representing Hercules
+crushing Antaeus, which the Duke was having executed by the sculptor
+Fra Giovanni Agnolo. These were well advanced; but Baccio, saying to
+the Duke that the friar had spoilt that marble, broke it into many
+pieces.
+
+In the end, he constructed all the base of the tomb, which is an
+isolated pedestal about four braccia on every side, and has at the
+foot a socle with a moulding in the manner of a base, which goes right
+round, and with a fillet at the top, such as is generally made for
+pedestals; and above this a cyma three-quarters of a braccio in
+height, which goes inwards in a concave curve, inverted, after the
+manner of a frieze, on which are carved some horse's skulls bound one
+to another with draperies; and above the whole was to be a smaller
+pedestal, with a seated statue of four braccia and a half, armed in
+the ancient fashion, and holding in the hand the baton of a
+condottiere captain of armies, which was to represent the person of
+the invincible Signor Giovanni de' Medici. This statue was begun by
+him from a block of marble, and carried well on, but never finished or
+placed on the base built for it. It is true that on the front of that
+base he finished entirely a scene of marble in half-relief, with
+figures about two braccia high, in which he represented Signor
+Giovanni seated, to whom are being brought many prisoners, soldiers,
+women with dishevelled hair, and nude figures, but all without
+invention and without revealing any feeling. At the end of the scene,
+indeed, there is a figure with a pig on the shoulder, which is said to
+have been made by Baccio to represent Messer Baldassarre da Pescia, in
+derision; for Baccio looked upon him as his enemy, since about this
+time Messer Baldassarre, as has been related above, had allotted the
+two statues of Leo and Clement to other sculptors, and, moreover, had
+so gone to work in Rome that Baccio had perforce to restore at great
+inconvenience the money that he had received beyond his due for those
+statues and figures.
+
+During this time Baccio had given his attention to nothing else but
+demonstrating to Duke Cosimo how much the glory of the ancients had
+lived through their statues and buildings, saying that his Excellency
+should seek to obtain in the same way immortality for himself and his
+actions in the ages to come. Then, after he had brought the tomb of
+Signor Giovanni near completion, he set about planning to make the
+Duke begin some great and costly work, which might take a very long
+time. Duke Cosimo had ceased to inhabit the Palace of the Medici, and
+had returned with his Court to live in the Palace in the Piazza, which
+was formerly occupied by the Signoria; and this he was daily
+rearranging and adorning. Now he had said to Baccio that he had a
+desire to make a public audience-chamber, both for the foreign
+Ambassadors and for his citizens and the subjects of the State; and
+Baccio, with Giuliano di Baccio d'Agnolo, went about thinking how to
+suggest to him that he should erect an ornamental work of Fossato
+stone and marble, thirty-eight braccia in width and eighteen in
+height. This ornamental work, they proposed, should serve as the
+audience-chamber, and should be in the Great Hall of the Palace, at
+that end which looks towards the north. The audience-chamber was to
+have a space of fourteen braccia in depth, the ascent to which was to
+be by seven great steps; and it was to be closed in front by a
+balustrade, excepting the entrance in the middle. At the end of the
+hall were to be three great arches, two of which were to serve for
+windows, being divided up by columns, four to each, two of Fossato
+stone and two of marble; and above this was to curve a round arch with
+a frieze of brackets, which were to form on the outer side the
+ornament of the facade of the Palace, and on the inner side to adorn
+in the same manner the facade of the hall. The arch in the middle,
+forming not a window, but a niche, was to be accompanied by two other
+similar niches, which were to be at the ends of the audience-chamber,
+one on the east and the other on the west, and adorned with four round
+Corinthian columns, which were to be ten braccia high and to form a
+projection at the ends. In the central facade were to be four
+pilasters, which were to serve as supports between one arch and
+another to the architrave, frieze, and cornice running right round
+both above the arches and above the columns. These pilasters were to
+have between one and another a space of about three braccia, and in
+each of these spaces was to be a niche four braccia and a half in
+height, to contain statues, by way of accompaniment to the great niche
+in the middle of the facade and the two at the sides; in each of which
+niches Baccio wished to place three statues.
+
+Baccio and Giuliano had in mind, in addition to the ornament of the
+inner facade, another larger ornament of extraordinary cost and
+grandeur for the outer facade. The hall being awry and out of square,
+this ornament was to reduce that outer side to a square form; and
+there was to be a projection of six braccia right round the walls of
+the Palazzo Vecchio, with a range of columns fourteen braccia high
+supporting other columns, between which were to be arches, forming a
+loggia below, right round the Palace, where there are the Ringhiera
+and the Giants. Above this, again, was to be another range of
+pilasters, with arches between them in the same manner, running all
+the way round the windows of the Palazzo Vecchio, so as to make a
+facade right round the Palace; and above these pilasters was to be yet
+another range of arches and pilasters, after the manner of a theatre,
+with the battlements of that Palace, finally, forming a cornice to the
+whole structure.
+
+Knowing that this was a work of vast expense, Baccio and Giuliano
+consulted together that they should not reveal their conception to the
+Duke, save only with regard to the ornament of the audience-chamber
+within the hall, and that of the facade of Fossato stone on the side
+towards the Piazza, stretching to the length of twenty-four braccia,
+which is the breadth of the hall. Designs and plans of this work were
+made by Giuliano, and with these in his hand Baccio spoke to the Duke,
+to whom he pointed out that in the large niches at the sides he wished
+to place statues of marble four braccia high, seated on
+pedestals--namely, Leo X in the act of restoring peace to Italy, and
+Clement VII crowning Charles V, with two statues in smaller niches
+within the large ones, on either side of the Popes, which should
+represent the virtues practised and put into action by them. For the
+niches four braccia high between the pilasters, in the central facade,
+he wished to make upright statues of Signor Giovanni, Duke Alessandro,
+and Duke Cosimo, together with many decorations of various fantasies
+in carving, and a pavement all of variegated marbles of different
+colours.
+
+This ornament much pleased the Duke, thinking that with this
+opportunity it should be possible in time to bring to completion, as
+has since been done, the body of that hall, with the rest of the
+decorations and the ceiling, in order to make it the most beautiful
+hall in Italy. And so great was his Excellency's desire that this work
+should be done, that he assigned for its execution such a sum of money
+as Baccio wished and demanded every week. A beginning was made with
+the quarrying and cutting of the Fossato stone, in order to make the
+ornamentation in the form of the base, columns, and cornices; and
+Baccio required that all should be done and carried to completion by
+the stone-cutters of the Office of Works of S. Maria del Fiore. This
+work was certainly executed by those masters with great diligence; and
+if Baccio and Giuliano had urged it on, they would have finished and
+built in all the ornaments of stone very quickly. But Baccio gave his
+attention to nothing save to having the statues blocked out, finishing
+few of them entirely, and to drawing his salary, which the Duke gave
+him every month, besides paying for his assistants and meeting every
+sort of expense that he incurred in the work, and giving him five
+hundred crowns for one of the statues finished by him in marble;
+wherefore the end of this work was never in sight.
+
+Even so, if Baccio and Giuliano, being engaged on a work of such
+importance, had brought the head of that hall into square, as they
+could have done, instead of putting right only half of the eight
+braccia by which it was awry, and leaving several parts badly
+proportioned, such as the central niche and the two large ones at the
+sides, which are squat, and the members of the cornices, which are too
+slight for so great a body; if, as they might have done, they had gone
+higher with the columns, thus giving greater grandeur, a better
+manner, and more invention to that work; and if, also, they had
+brought the uppermost cornice into touch with the level of the
+original old ceiling above, they would have shown more art and
+judgment, nor would all that labour have been spent in vain and wasted
+so thoughtlessly, as has since been evident to those to whom, as will
+be related, it has fallen to put it right and finish it. For, in spite
+of all the pains and thought afterwards devoted to it, there are many
+defects and errors in the door of entrance and in the relation of the
+niches in the side-walls, in which it has since been seen to be
+necessary to change the form of many parts, although it has never yet
+been found possible, without demolishing the whole, to correct the
+divergence from the square or to prevent this from being revealed in
+the pavement and the ceiling. It is true that in the manner in which
+they arranged it, even as it now stands, there is proof of great
+craftsmanship and pains, and it deserves no little praise for the many
+stones worked with the bevel-square, which slant away obliquely by
+reason of the hall being awry; and as for diligence and excellence in
+the working, laying, and joining together of the stones, nothing
+better could be seen or done. But the whole work would have succeeded
+much better if Baccio, who never held architecture in any account, had
+availed himself of some judgment more able than that of Giuliano, who,
+although he was a good master in wood and had some knowledge of
+architecture, was yet not the sort of man to be suitable for such a
+work as that was, as experience has proved. For this reason the work
+was pursued over a period of many years, without much more than half
+being built. Baccio finished and placed in the smaller niches the
+statue of Signor Giovanni and that of Duke Alessandro, both in the
+principal facade, and on a pedestal of bricks in the great niche the
+statue of Pope Clement; and he also brought to completion the statue
+of Duke Cosimo. In the last he took no little pains with the head, but
+for all this the Duke and the gentlemen of the Court said that it did
+not resemble him in the least. Wherefore Baccio, having already made
+one of marble, which is now in one of the upper apartments in the same
+Palace, and which looked very well and was the best head that he ever
+made, defended himself and sought to cover up the defects and
+worthlessness of the new head with the excellence of the old. However,
+hearing that head censured by everyone, one day in a rage he knocked
+it off, with the intention of making another and fixing it in its
+place; but in the end he never made it at all. It was a custom of
+Baccio's to add pieces of marble both small and large to the statues
+that he executed, feeling no annoyance in doing this, and making light
+of it. He did this with one of the heads of Cerberus in the group of
+Orpheus; in the S. Peter that is in S. Maria del Fiore he let in a
+piece of drapery; in the case of the Giant of the Piazza, as may be
+seen, he joined two pieces--a shoulder and a leg--to the Cacus, and
+in many other works he did the same, holding to such ways as generally
+damn a sculptor completely.
+
+Having finished these statues, he set his hand to the statue of Pope
+Leo for this work, and carried it well forward. Then, perceiving that
+the work was proving very long, that he was now never likely to attain
+to the completion of his original design for the facades right round
+the Palace, that a great sum of money had been spent and much time
+consumed, and that for all this the work was not half finished and
+gained little approval from the people, he set about thinking of some
+new fantasy, and began to attempt to remove from the Duke's mind the
+thought of the Palace, believing that his Excellency also was weary of
+that work. Thus, then, having made enemies of the proveditors and of
+all the stone-cutters in the Office of Works of S. Maria del Fiore,
+which was under his authority, while the statues that were destined
+for the audience-chamber were, after his fashion, some only blocked
+out and others finished and placed in position, and the ornamentation
+in great part built up, wishing to conceal the many defects that were
+in the work and little by little to abandon it, he suggested to the
+Duke that the Wardens of Works of S. Maria del Fiore were throwing
+away his money and no longer doing anything of any importance. He said
+that he had therefore thought that his Excellency would do well to
+divert all that useless expenditure of the Office of Works into making
+the octagonal choir of the church and the ornaments of the altar, the
+steps, the daises of the Duke and the magistrates, and the stalls in
+the choir for the canons, chaplains, and clerks, according as was
+proper for so honourable a church. Of this choir Filippo di Ser
+Brunellesco had left the model in that simple framework of wood which
+previously served as the choir in the church, intending in time to
+have it executed in marble, in the same form, but more ornate. Baccio
+reflected, besides the considerations mentioned above, that in this
+choir he would have occasion to make many statues and scenes in marble
+and in bronze for the high-altar and all around the choir, and also
+for two pulpits of marble that were to be in the choir, and that the
+base of the outer side of the eight faces might be adorned with many
+scenes in bronze let into the marble ornamentation. Above this he
+thought to place a range of columns and pilasters to support the
+cornice right round, and four arches distributed according to the
+cross of the church; of which arches one was to form the principal
+entrance, opposite to another rising above the high-altar, and the two
+others were to be at the sides, one on the right hand and another on
+the left, and below these last two were to be placed the pulpits. Over
+the cornice was to be a range of balusters, curving right round above
+the eight sides, and over the balusters a garland of candelabra, in
+order, as it were, to crown the choir with lights according to the
+seasons, as had always been the custom while the wooden model of
+Brunelleschi was there.
+
+[Illustration: RELIEFS FROM THE CHOIR SCREEN
+
+(_After =Baccio Bandinelli=. Florence: Duomo_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+Pointing out all this to the Duke, Baccio said that his Excellency,
+with the revenues of the Office of Works--namely, of S. Maria del
+Fiore and of its Wardens--and with that which his liberality might
+add, in a short time could adorn that temple and give great grandeur
+and magnificence to the same, and consequently to the whole city, of
+which it was the principal temple, and would leave an everlasting and
+honourable memorial of himself in such a structure; and besides all
+this, he said, his Excellency would be giving him an opportunity of
+exerting his powers and of making many good and beautiful works, and
+also, by displaying his ability, of acquiring for himself name and
+fame with posterity, which should be pleasing to his Excellency, since
+he was his servant and had been brought up by the house of the Medici.
+With these designs and these words Baccio so moved the Duke, that,
+consenting that such a structure should be erected, his Excellency
+commissioned him to make a model of the whole choir. Departing from
+the Duke, then, Baccio went to his architect, Giuliano di Baccio
+d'Agnolo, and discussed the whole matter with him; and, after they had
+gone to the place and examined everything with diligence, they
+resolved not to depart from the form of Filippo's model, but to follow
+it, adding only other ornaments in the shape of columns and
+projections, and enriching it as much as they could while preserving
+the original design and form. But it is not the number of parts and
+ornaments that renders a fabric rich and beautiful, but their
+excellence, however few they may be, provided also that they are set
+in their proper places and arranged together with due proportion; it
+is these that give pleasure and are admired, and, having been executed
+with judgment by the craftsman, afterwards receive praise from all
+others. This Giuliano and Baccio do not seem to have considered or
+observed, for they chose a subject involving much labour and endless
+pains, but wanting in grace, as experience has proved.
+
+The design of Giuliano, as may be seen, was to place at the corners of
+all the eight sides pilasters bent round the angles, the whole work
+being composed in the Ionic Order; and these pilasters, since in the
+ground-plan they were made, with all the rest of the work, to diminish
+towards the centre of the choir and were not even, necessarily had to
+be broad on the outer side and narrow on the inner, which is a breach
+of proportionate measurement. And since each pilaster was bent
+according to the inner angles of the eight sides, the extension-lines
+towards the centre so diminished it that the two columns that were one
+on either side of the pilaster at the corner caused it to appear too
+slender, and produced an ungraceful effect both in it and in the whole
+work, both on the outer side and likewise on the inner, although the
+measurements there are correct. Giuliano also made the model of the
+whole altar, which stood at a distance of one braccio and a half from
+the ornament of the choir. For the upper part of this Baccio
+afterwards made in wax a Christ lying dead, with two Angels, one of
+whom was holding His right arm and supporting His head on one knee,
+and the other was holding the Mysteries of the Passion; which statue
+of Christ occupied almost the whole altar, so that there would
+scarcely have been room to celebrate Mass, and Baccio proposed to make
+this statue about four braccia and a half in length. He made, also, a
+projection in the form of a pedestal behind the altar, attached to it
+in the centre, with a seat upon which he afterwards placed a seated
+figure of God the Father, six braccia high and giving the benediction,
+and accompanied by two other Angels, each four braccia high, kneeling
+at the extreme corners of the predella of the altar, on the level on
+which rested the feet of God the Father. This predella was more than a
+braccio in height, and on it were many stories of the Passion of Jesus
+Christ, which were all to be in bronze, and on the corners of the
+predella were the Angels mentioned above, both kneeling and each
+holding in the hands a candelabrum; which candelabra of the Angels
+served to accompany eight large candelabra placed between the Angels,
+and three braccia and a half in height, which adorned that altar; and
+God the Father was in the midst of them all. Behind God the Father was
+left a space of half a braccio, in order that there might be room to
+ascend to kindle the lights.
+
+Under the arch that stood opposite to the principal entrance of the
+choir, on the base that ran right round, on the outer side, Baccio had
+placed, directly under the centre of that arch, the Tree of the Fall,
+round the trunk of which was wound the Ancient Serpent with a human
+face, and two nude figures were about the Tree, one being Adam and the
+other Eve. On the outer side of the choir, to which those figures had
+their faces turned, there ran lengthways along the base a space about
+three braccia long, which was to contain the story of their Creation,
+either in marble or in bronze; and this was to be pursued along the
+faces of the base of the whole work, to the number of twenty-one
+stories, all from the Old Testament. And for the further enrichment of
+this base he had made for each of the socles upon which stood the
+columns and pilasters, a figure of some Prophet, either draped or
+nude, to be afterwards executed in marble--a great work, truly, and a
+marvellous opportunity, likely to reveal all the art and genius of a
+perfect master, whose memory should never be extinguished by any lapse
+of time. This model was shown to the Duke, and also a double series of
+designs made by Baccio, which, both from their variety and their
+number, and likewise from their beauty--for the reason that Baccio
+worked boldly in wax and drew very well--pleased his Excellency, and
+he ordained that the masonry-work should be straightway taken in hand,
+devoting to it all the expenditure administered by the Office of
+Works, and giving orders that a great quantity of marble should be
+brought from Carrara.
+
+Baccio, on his part, also set to work to make a beginning with the
+statues; and among the first was an Adam who was raising one arm, and
+was about four braccia in height. This figure was finished by Baccio,
+but, since it proved to be narrow in the flanks and somewhat defective
+in other parts, he changed it into a Bacchus, and afterwards gave it
+to the Duke, who kept it in his Palace many years, in his chamber; and
+not long ago it was placed in a niche in the ground-floor apartments
+which his Excellency occupies in summer. He had also made a seated
+figure of Eve of the same size, which he had half finished: but it was
+abandoned on account of the Adam, which it was to have accompanied.
+For, having made a beginning with another Adam, in a different form
+and attitude, it became necessary for him to change also the Eve, and
+the original seated figure was converted by him into a Ceres, which he
+gave to the most illustrious Duchess Leonora, together with an Apollo,
+which was another nude that he had executed; and her Excellency had
+them placed in the ornament in front of the fish-pond, the design and
+architecture of which are by Giorgio Vasari, in the gardens of the
+Pitti Palace. Baccio worked at these two figures with very great zeal,
+thinking to satisfy the craftsmen and all the world as well as he had
+satisfied himself; and he finished and polished them with all the
+diligence and lovingness that were in him. He then set up these
+figures of Adam and Eve in their place, but, when uncovered, they
+experienced the same fate as his other works, and were torn to pieces
+with savage bitterness in sonnets and Latin verses, one going to the
+length of suggesting that even as Adam and Eve, having defiled
+Paradise by their disobedience, deserved to be driven out, so these
+figures, defiling the earth, deserved to be expelled from the church.
+Nevertheless the statues are well-proportioned, and beautiful in many
+parts; and although there is not in them that grace which has been
+spoken of in other places, and which he was not able to give to his
+works, yet they display so much art and design, that they deserve no
+little praise. A lady who had set herself to examine these statues,
+being asked by some gentlemen what she thought of these naked bodies,
+answered, "About the man I can give no judgment;" and, being pressed
+to give her opinion of the woman, she replied that in the Eve there
+were two good points, worthy of considerable praise, in that she was
+white and firm; whereby she contrived ingeniously, while seeming to
+praise, covertly to deal a shrewd blow to the craftsman and his art,
+giving to the statue the praise proper to the female body, which it is
+also necessary to apply to the marble, the material, and which is
+true of it, but not of the work or of the craftsmanship, for by such
+praise the craftsmanship is not praised. Thus, then, that shrewd lady
+hinted that in her opinion nothing could be praised in that statue
+save the marble.
+
+Baccio afterwards set his hand to the statue of the Dead Christ, which
+likewise not succeeding as he had expected, he abandoned it when it
+was already well advanced, and, taking another block of marble, began
+another Christ in an attitude different from the first, and together
+with that the Angel who supports the head of Christ on one leg and
+with one hand His arm; and he did not rest until he had finished
+entirely both the one figure and the other. When arrangements were
+made to set it up on the altar, it proved to be so large that it
+occupied too much space, and there was no room left for the
+ministrations of the priest; and although this statue was passing
+good, and even one of Baccio's best, nevertheless the people--the
+ordinary citizens no less than the priests--could never have their
+fill of speaking ill of it and picking it to pieces. Recognizing that
+to uncover unfinished works injures the reputation of a craftsman in
+the eyes of all those who are not of the profession, or have no
+knowledge of art, or have not seen the models, Baccio resolved, in
+order to accompany the statue of Christ and to complete the altar, to
+make the statue of God the Father, for which a very beautiful block of
+marble had come from Carrara. And he had already carried it well
+forward, making it half nude after the manner of a Jove, when, since
+it did not please the Duke and appeared to Baccio himself to have
+certain defects, he left it as it was, and even so it is still to be
+found in the Office of Works.
+
+Baccio cared nothing for the words of others, but gave his attention
+to making himself rich and buying property. He bought a most beautiful
+farm, called Lo Spinello, on the heights of Fiesole, and another with
+a very beautiful house called Il Cantone, in the plain above San
+Salvi, on the River Affrico, and a great house in the Via de' Ginori,
+which he was enabled to acquire by the moneys and favours of the Duke.
+Having thus secured his own position, Baccio thenceforward cared
+little to work or to exert himself; and although the tomb of Signor
+Giovanni was unfinished, the audience-chamber of the Great Hall only
+begun, and the choir and altar behindhand, he paid little attention
+to the words of others or to the censure that was laid upon him on
+that account. However, having erected the altar and set into position
+the marble base upon which was to stand the statue of God the Father,
+he made a model for this and finally began it, and, employing
+stone-cutters, proceeded to carry it slowly forward.
+
+There came from France in those days Benvenuto Cellini, who had served
+King Francis in the matter of goldsmith's work, of which he was the
+most famous master of his day; and he had also executed some castings
+in bronze for that King. Benvenuto was introduced to Duke Cosimo, who,
+desiring to adorn the city, showed also to him much favour and
+affection, and commissioned him to make a statue of bronze about five
+braccia high, of a nude Perseus standing over a nude woman
+representing Medusa, whose head he had cut off; which work was to be
+placed under one of the arches of the Loggia in the Piazza. While he
+was executing the Perseus, Benvenuto also did other things for the
+Duke. Now, even as it happens that the potter is always the jealous
+enemy of the potter, and the sculptor of the sculptor, Baccio was not
+able to endure the various favours shown to Benvenuto. It appeared to
+him a strange thing, also, that Benvenuto should have thus changed in
+a moment from a goldsmith into a sculptor, nor was he able to grasp in
+his mind how a man who was used to making medals and little things,
+could now execute colossal figures and giants. Baccio could not
+conceal his thoughts, but expressed them freely, and he found a man
+able to answer him; for, Baccio saying many of his biting words to
+Benvenuto in the presence of the Duke, Benvenuto, who was no less
+proud than himself, took pains to be even with him. And thus, arguing
+often on the matters of art and their own works, and pointing out each
+other's defects, they would utter the most slanderous words of one
+another in the presence of the Duke, who, because he took pleasure in
+this and recognized true genius and acuteness in their biting phrases,
+had given them full liberty and licence to say whatever they pleased
+about one another before him, provided that they did not remember
+their quarrel elsewhere.
+
+This rivalry, or rather, enmity, was the reason that Baccio pressed
+forward his statue of God the Father; but he was no longer receiving
+from the Duke those favours to which he had been accustomed, and he
+consoled himself for this by paying court and doing service to the
+Duchess. One day, among others, that they were railing at one another
+as usual and laying bare many of each others' actions, Benvenuto,
+glaring at Baccio and threatening him, said: "Prepare yourself for
+another world, Baccio, for I mean to send you out of this one." And
+Baccio answered: "Let me know a day beforehand, so that I may confess
+and make my will, and may not die like the sort of beast that you
+are." By reason of which the Duke, who for many months had found
+amusement in their quarrels, bade them be silent, fearing some evil
+ending, and caused them to make a portrait-bust of himself from the
+girdle upwards, both to be cast in bronze, to the end that he who
+should succeed best should carry off the honours.
+
+Amid this rivalry and contention Baccio finished his figure of God the
+Father, which he arranged to have placed in the church on the base
+beside the altar. This figure was clothed and six braccia high, and he
+erected and completely finished it. But, in order not to leave it
+unaccompanied, he summoned from Rome the sculptor Vincenzio de' Rossi,
+his pupil, wishing to execute in clay for the altar all that remained
+to be done in marble; and he caused Vincenzio to assist him in
+finishing the two Angels who are holding the candelabra at the
+corners, and the greater part of the scenes on the predella and the
+base. Having then set everything upon the altar, in order to see how
+his work, when finished, was to stand, he strove to prevail on the
+Duke to come and see it, before he should uncover it. But the Duke
+would never go, and, although entreated by the Duchess, who favoured
+Baccio in this matter, he would never let himself be shaken, and did
+not go to see it, being angered because among so many works Baccio had
+never finished one, even after his Excellency had made him rich and
+had won odium among the citizens by honouring him highly and doing him
+many favours. For all this his Excellency was disposed to assist
+Clemente, the natural son of Baccio--a young man of ability, who had
+made considerable proficience in design--because it was likely to fall
+to him in time to finish his father's works.
+
+At this same time, which was in the year 1554, there came from Rome,
+where he had been working for Pope Julius III, Giorgio Vasari of
+Arezzo, in order to serve his Excellency in many works that he was
+intending to execute, and in particular to decorate the Palace on the
+Piazza, and to renovate it with new constructions, and to finish the
+Great Hall, as he was afterwards seen to do. In the following year
+Giorgio Vasari summoned from Rome and engaged in the Duke's service
+the sculptor Bartolommeo Ammanati, to the end that he might execute
+the other facade in the above-named Hall, opposite to the
+audience-chamber begun by Baccio, and a fountain in the centre of that
+facade; and a beginning was straightway made with executing a part of
+the statues that were to go into that work. Baccio, perceiving that
+the Duke was employing others, recognized that he did not wish to use
+his services any longer; at which, feeling great displeasure and
+vexation, he had become so strange and so irritable that no one could
+have any dealings with him either in his house or out of it, and to
+his son Clemente he behaved very strangely, keeping him in want of
+everything. For this reason Clemente, who had made a large head of his
+Excellency in clay, in order to execute it in marble for the statue of
+the audience-chamber, sought leave of the Duke to depart and go to
+Rome, on account of his father's strangeness; and the Duke said that
+he would not fail him. Baccio, at the departure of Clemente, who had
+asked leave of him, would not give him anything, although the young
+man had been a great help to him in Florence, and, indeed, Baccio's
+right hand in every matter; nevertheless, he thought nothing of
+getting rid of him. The young man, having arrived in Rome at an
+unfavourable season, died in the same year both from over-study and
+from wild living, leaving in Florence an example of his handiwork in
+an almost finished head of Duke Cosimo in marble, which is very
+beautiful, and was afterwards placed by Baccio over the principal door
+of his house in the Via de' Ginori. Clemente also left well advanced a
+Dead Christ who is supported by Nicodemus, which Nicodemus is a
+portrait from life of Baccio; and these statues, which are passing
+good, Baccio set up in the Church of the Servites, as we shall relate
+in the proper place. The death of Clemente was a very great loss to
+Baccio and to art, and Bandinelli recognized this after he was dead.
+
+Baccio uncovered the altar of S. Maria del Fiore, and the statue of
+God the Father was criticized. The altar has remained as was described
+above, nor has anything more been done to it since; but the work of
+the choir has been continued.
+
+Many years before, there had been quarried at Carrara a great block of
+marble ten braccia and a half in height and five braccia in width, of
+which having received notice, Baccio rode to Carrara and made a
+contract for it with him to whom it belonged, giving him fifty crowns
+as earnest-money. He then returned to Florence and so pestered the
+Duke, that, by the favour of the Duchess, he obtained the commission
+to make from it a giant, which was to be placed in the Piazza, at the
+corner where the Lion was; on which spot was to be made a great
+fountain to spout water, in the middle of which was to be a Neptune in
+his chariot, drawn by sea-horses, and this figure was to be carved out
+of the above-mentioned block of marble. For this figure Baccio made
+more than one model, and showed them to his Excellency; but the matter
+stood thus, without anything more being done, until the year 1559, at
+which time the owner of the marble, having come from Carrara, asked to
+be paid the rest of the money, saying that otherwise he would give
+back the fifty crowns and break it into several pieces, in order to
+sell it, since he had received many offers. Orders were given by the
+Duke to Giorgio Vasari that he should have the marble paid for; which
+having been heard throughout the world of art, and also that the Duke
+had not yet made a free gift of the marble to Baccio, Benvenuto, and
+likewise Ammanati, bestirring themselves, each besought the Duke that
+he should be allowed to make a model in competition with Baccio, and
+that his Excellency should deign to give the marble to him who had
+shown the greatest ability in his model. The Duke did not deny to
+either of them the right to make a model, or deprive them of the hope
+that he who should acquit himself the best might be chosen to execute
+the statue. His Excellency knew that in ability, judgment, and design
+Baccio was still better than any of the sculptors who were in his
+service, if only he would consent to take pains, and he welcomed this
+competition, in order to incite Baccio to acquit himself better and
+to do the most that he could. Bandinelli, having seen this competition
+on his shoulders, was greatly troubled by it, fearing the loss of the
+Duke's favour more than any other thing, and once more he set himself
+to making models. He was most assiduous in waiting on the Duchess, and
+so wrought upon her, that he obtained leave to go to Carrara in order
+to make arrangements for having the marble brought to Florence. Having
+arrived in Carrara, he had the marble so reduced in size--as he had
+planned to do--that he made it a sorry thing, and robbed both himself
+and the others of a noble opportunity and of the hope of ever making
+from it a beautiful and magnificent work. On returning to Florence,
+there was a long contention between Benvenuto and him, Benvenuto
+saying to the Duke that Baccio had spoilt the marble before it had
+been assigned to him. Finally the Duchess so went to work that the
+marble became Baccio's; and orders were given that it should be taken
+from Carrara to the sea-shore, and a boat was made ready with the
+proper appliances, which was to convey it up the Arno as far as Signa.
+Baccio also caused a room to be built up in the Loggia of the Piazza,
+wherein to work at the marble.
+
+In the meantime he had set his hand to executing cartoons, in order to
+have some pictures painted which were to adorn the apartments of the
+Pitti Palace. These pictures were painted by a young man called Andrea
+del Minga, who handled colour passing well. The stories painted in the
+pictures were the Creation of Adam and Eve, and their Expulsion from
+Paradise by the Angel, a Noah, and a Moses with the Tables; which
+finished, he then presented them to the Duchess, seeking to obtain her
+favour in his difficulties and contentions. And, in truth, if it had
+not been for that lady, who loved him for his abilities and held him
+on his feet, Baccio would have fallen headlong down and would have
+lost completely the favour of the Duke. The Duchess also made much use
+of Baccio in the Pitti garden, where she had caused to be constructed
+a grotto full of tufa and sponge-stone formed by the action of water,
+and containing a fountain; and for this Baccio had caused his pupil,
+Giovanni Fancelli, to execute in marble a large basin and some goats
+of the size of life, which spout forth water, and likewise, for a
+fish-pond, after a model made by himself, a countryman who is
+emptying a barrel full of water. For these reasons the Duchess was
+constantly helping and favouring Baccio with the Duke, who finally
+gave him leave to begin the great model of the Neptune; on which
+account he once more sent to Rome for Vincenzio de' Rossi, who had
+previously departed from Florence, with the intention of making him
+help to execute it.
+
+While these preparations were in progress, Baccio was seized with a
+desire to finish the statue of the Dead Christ supported by Nicodemus,
+which his son Clemente had carried well forward; for he had heard that
+Buonarroti was finishing one in Rome that he had begun to carve from a
+large block of marble, containing five figures, which was to be placed
+on his tomb in S. Maria Maggiore. Out of emulation with him Baccio set
+to work on his group with the greatest assiduity, with assistants,
+until he had finished it. And meanwhile he was going about among the
+principal churches of Florence, seeking for a place where he might set
+up that work and also make a tomb for himself; but for long he found
+no place for the tomb that could content him, until he resolved on a
+chapel in the Church of the Servites which belongs to the family of
+the Pazzi. The owners of this chapel, at the request of the Duchess,
+granted the place to Baccio, without divesting themselves of the
+rights of ownership and of the devices of their house that were there;
+and they granted him only this, that he should erect an altar of
+marble and place upon it the statues mentioned above, and make his
+tomb at the foot of it. Afterwards, also, he came to an agreement with
+the friars of that convent with regard to the other matters
+appertaining to the celebration of Mass. During this time, then,
+Baccio was causing the altar and the marble base to be built, in order
+to place upon it the above-named statues; and, when he had finished
+it, he proposed to lay in that tomb, in which he wished to be laid
+himself together with his wife, the bones of his father Michelagnolo,
+which, at his death, he had caused to be placed in a vault in the same
+church. These bones of his father he chose to lay piously in that tomb
+with his own hands; whereupon it happened that either because he felt
+sorrow and a shock to his mind in handling his father's bones, or
+because he exerted himself too much in transferring those bones with
+his own hands and in rearranging the marbles, or from both reasons
+together, he was so overcome that he felt ill and had to go home, and,
+his malady growing daily worse, in eight days he died, at the age of
+seventy-two, having been up to that time robust and vigorous, and
+without having ever suffered much illness during the whole of his
+life. He was buried with honourable obsequies, and laid beside his
+father's bones in the above-mentioned tomb constructed by himself, on
+which is this epitaph:--
+
+             D. O. M.
+  BACCIUS BANDINELL. DIVI JACOBI EQUES
+    SUB HAC SERVATORIS IMAGINE,
+  A SE EXPRESSA, CUM JACOBA DONIA
+    UXORE QUIESCIT, AN. S. MDLIX.
+
+He left behind him both sons and daughters, who were the heirs to his
+many possessions in lands, houses, and money, which he bequeathed to
+them; and to the world he left the works in sculpture described by us,
+and designs in great numbers, which are in the possession of his
+family, and in our book there are some executed with the pen and with
+chalk, than which it is certain that nothing better could be done.
+
+The marble for the giant was left more in dispute than ever, because
+Benvenuto was always about the Duke, and wished, in virtue of a little
+model that he had made, that the Duke should give it to him. On the
+other hand, Ammanati, being a sculptor of marbles and more experienced
+in such works than Benvenuto, considered for many reasons that this
+work belonged to him. Now it happened that Giorgio Vasari had to go to
+Rome with the Cardinal, the son of the Duke, when he went to receive
+his hat, and Ammanati gave to Vasari a little model of wax showing the
+shape in which he desired to carve that figure from the marble, and a
+piece of wood reproducing the exact proportions--the length, breadth,
+thickness, and inclination from the straight--of the marble, to the
+end that Giorgio might show them in Rome to Michelagnolo Buonarroti
+and persuade him to declare his opinion in the matter, and so move the
+Duke to give him the marble. All this Giorgio did most willingly, and
+it was the reason that the Duke gave orders that an arch should be
+partitioned off in the Loggia of the Piazza, and that Ammanati should
+make a great model as large as the giant was to be. Having heard this.
+Benvenuto rode in a great fury to Pisa, where the Duke was, and said
+to him that he could not suffer that his genius should be trampled
+underfoot by one who was inferior to himself, and that he desired to
+make a great model in competition with Ammanati, in the same place;
+and the Duke, wishing to pacify him, granted him leave to have another
+arch of the Loggia partitioned off, and caused to be given to him
+materials for making, as he desired, a large model in competition with
+Ammanati.
+
+While these masters were engaged in making their models, after having
+made fast their enclosures in such a manner that neither the one nor
+the other could see what his rival was doing, although these
+enclosures were attached to each other, there rose up the Flemish
+sculptor Maestro Giovan Bologna, a young man not inferior in ability
+or in spirit to either of the others. This master, being in the
+service of the Lord Don Francesco, Prince of Florence, asked his
+Excellency to enable him to make a giant which might serve as a model,
+of the same size as the marble; and the Prince granted him this
+favour. Maestro Giovan Bologna had as yet no thought of having the
+giant to execute in marble, but he wished at least to display his
+ability and to make himself known for what he was worth; and, having
+received permission from the Prince, he, also, began a model in the
+Convent of S. Croce. Nor was Vincenzio Danti, the sculptor of Perugia,
+a younger man than any of the others, willing to fail to compete with
+these three masters, not in the hope of obtaining the marble, but in
+order to demonstrate his spirit and genius. And so, having set to work
+on his own account in the house of Messer Alessandro, the son of M.
+Ottaviano de' Medici, he executed a model good in many parts and as
+large as the others.
+
+The models finished, the Duke went to see those of Ammanati and of
+Benvenuto; and, being more pleased with that of Ammanati than with
+that of Benvenuto, he resolved that Ammanati should have the marble
+and make the giant, because he was younger than Benvenuto and more
+practised in marble. The disposition of the Duke was strengthened by
+Giorgio Vasari, who did many good offices with his Excellency for
+Ammanati, having perceived that, in addition to his knowledge, he was
+ready to endure any labour, and hoping that from his hands there would
+issue an excellent work finished in a short time. The Duke would not
+at that time see the model of Maestro Giovan Bologna, because, not
+having seen any work by him in marble, it did not seem to him that he
+could entrust to that master, as his first work, so great an
+undertaking, although he heard from many craftsmen and other men of
+judgment that Giovan Bologna's model was in many parts better than the
+others. But if Baccio had been alive, there would not have been all
+that contention among those masters, because without a doubt it would
+have fallen to him to make the model of clay and the giant of marble.
+This work, then, was snatched from Baccio by death, but the same
+circumstance brought him no little glory, in that it revealed by means
+of those four models--the reason of the making of which was that
+Baccio was not alive--how much better were the design, judgment and
+ability of him who placed on the Piazza the Hercules and Cacus, as it
+were living in the marble; the excellence of which work has been made
+evident and brought to light even more by the works that have been
+executed since Baccio's death by those others, who, although they have
+acquitted themselves in a manner worthy of praise, have yet not been
+able to attain to the beauty and excellence that he placed in his
+work.
+
+Afterwards Duke Cosimo, for the marriage of Queen Joanna of Austria,
+his daughter-in-law, seven years after the death of Baccio, caused the
+audience-chamber in the Great Hall, begun by Baccio, of which we have
+spoken above, to be finished; and he chose that the head of this work
+of completion should be Giorgio Vasari, who has sought with all
+diligence to put right the many defects that would have been in it if
+it had been continued and finished after the original design followed
+in the beginning by Baccio. Thus that imperfect work has now been
+carried with the help of God to completion, and is enriched on its
+side faces by the addition of niches and pilasters, and statues set in
+their places. Moreover, since it was laid out awry and out of square,
+we have taken pains to make it even in so far as has been possible,
+and have raised it considerably with a corridor of Tuscan columns at
+the top; and as for the statue of Leo begun by Baccio, his pupil
+Vincenzio de' Rossi has finished it. Besides this, that work has been
+adorned with friezes full of stucco-work, with many figures large and
+small, and with devices and other ornaments of various kinds, and
+under the niches and in the partitions of the vaulting have been made
+many and various designs in stucco and many beautiful inventions in
+carving; all which things have enriched the work in such a manner,
+that it has changed its form and has gained not a little in beauty and
+grace. For whereas, according to the first design, the ceiling of the
+Hall being twenty-one braccia above the floor, the audience-chamber
+did not rise higher than eighteen braccia, so that between it and the
+old ceiling there was a space of only three braccia; now, after our
+design, the ceiling of the Hall has been raised so much that it has
+risen twelve braccia above the old ceiling and fifteen above the
+audience-chamber of Baccio and Giuliano, so that the ceiling is now
+thirty-three braccia above the floor of the Hall. And it certainly
+showed great spirit in his Excellency, that he should resolve to cause
+to be finished in the space of five months for the above-named
+nuptials the whole of a work of which more than a third still remained
+to do, although it had taken more than fifteen years to arrive at the
+condition in which it was at that time; so eager was he to carry it to
+completion. But it was not only Baccio's work that his Excellency
+caused to be completely finished, but also all the rest of what
+Giorgio Vasari had designed; beginning again from the base that runs
+over the whole of that work, with a border of balusters in the open
+spaces, which forms a corridor that passes above the work in the Hall,
+and commands a view on the outer side of the Piazza and on the inner
+side of the whole Hall. Thus the Princes and other lords will be able
+to see, without being seen, all the festivals that may be held there,
+with much pleasure and convenience for themselves, and then to retire
+to their apartments, passing by the private and public staircases
+through all the rooms in the Palace. Nevertheless, to many it has
+caused dissatisfaction that in a work of such beauty and grandeur that
+structure was not made square, and many would have liked to have it
+pulled down and then rebuilt true to square. But it has been judged to
+be better to continue the work in that way, in order not to appear
+presumptuous and malign towards Baccio, and also because otherwise we
+would have seemed not to have the power to correct the errors and
+defects found by us but committed by others.
+
+But, returning to Baccio, we must say that his abilities were always
+recognized during his lifetime, yet will be recognized and regretted
+much more now that he is dead. And even more would he have been
+acknowledged for what he was, when alive, and beloved, if he had been
+so favoured by nature as to be more amiable and more courteous,
+because his being the contrary, and very rough with his tongue, robbed
+him of the goodwill of other persons, obscured his talents, and
+brought it about that his works were regarded with ill will and a
+prejudiced eye, and therefore could never please anyone. And although
+he served one nobleman after another, and was enabled by his talent to
+serve them well, nevertheless he rendered his services with such bad
+grace, that there was no one who felt grateful to him for them.
+Moreover, his always decrying and maligning the works of others
+brought it about that no one could endure him, and, whenever another
+was able to pay him back in his own coin, it was returned to him with
+interest; and before the magistrates he spoke all manner of evil
+without scruple about the other citizens, and received from them as
+good as he gave. He brought suits and went to law about everything
+with the greatest readiness, living in one long succession of
+law-suits, and appearing to triumph in them. But since his drawing, to
+which it is evident that he gave his attention more than to any other
+thing, was of such a kind and of such excellence that it atones for
+his every natural defect and makes him known as a rare master of our
+art, we therefore not only count him among the greatest craftsmen, but
+also have always paid respect to his works, and have sought not to
+destroy but to finish them and do them honour, for the reason that it
+appears to us that Baccio was in truth one of those who deserve
+honourable praise and everlasting fame.
+
+We have deferred to the end the mention of his family name, because it
+was not always the same, but varied, Baccio having himself called now
+De' Brandini, and now De' Bandinelli. In his early prints the name De'
+Brandini may be seen engraved after that of Baccio; but afterwards he
+preferred the name De' Bandinelli, which he retained to the end and
+still retains, and he used to say that his ancestors were of the
+Bandinelli of Siena, who once removed to Gaiuole, and from Gaiuole to
+Florence.
+
+
+
+
+GIULIANO BUGIARDINI
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: GIULIANO BUGIARDINI: PORTRAIT OF A LADY
+
+(_Florence: Pitti, 140. Panel_)]
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF GIULIANO BUGIARDINI
+
+PAINTER OF FLORENCE
+
+
+Before the siege of Florence the population had multiplied in such
+great numbers that the widespread suburbs which lay without every
+gate, together with the churches, monasteries, and hospitals, formed
+as it were another city, inhabited by many honourable persons and by
+good craftsmen of every kind, although for the most part they were
+less wealthy than those of the city, and lived there with less expense
+in the way of customs-dues and the like. In one of these suburbs,
+then, without the Porta a Faenza, was born Giuliano Bugiardini, who
+lived there, even as his ancestors had done, until the year 1529, when
+all the suburbs were pulled down. But before that, when still a mere
+lad, he began his studies in the garden of the Medici on the Piazza di
+S. Marco, in which, attending to the study of art under the sculptor
+Bertoldo, he formed such strait friendship and intimacy with
+Michelagnolo Buonarroti, that he was much beloved by Buonarroti ever
+afterwards; which Michelagnolo did not so much because of any depth
+that he saw in Giuliano's manner of drawing, as on account of the
+extraordinary diligence and love that he showed towards art. There was
+in Giuliano, besides this, a certain natural goodness and a sort of
+simplicity in his mode of living, free from all envy and malice, which
+vastly pleased Buonarroti; nor was there any notable defect in him
+save this, that he loved too well the works of his own hand. For,
+although all men are wont to err in this respect, Giuliano in truth
+passed all due bounds, whatever may have been the reason--either the
+great pains and diligence that he put into executing them, or some
+other cause. Wherefore Michelagnolo used to call him blessed, since
+he appeared to be content with what he knew, and himself unhappy, in
+that no work of his ever fully satisfied him.
+
+After Giuliano had studied design for some time in the above-named
+garden, he worked, together with Buonarroti and Granacci, under
+Domenico Ghirlandajo, at the time when he was painting the chapel in
+S. Maria Novella. Then, having made his growth and become a passing
+good master, he betook himself to work in company with Mariotto
+Albertinelli in Gualfonda; in which place he finished a panel-picture
+that is now at the door of entrance of S. Maria Maggiore in Florence,
+containing S. Alberto, a Carmelite friar, who has under his feet the
+Devil in the form of a woman, a work that was much extolled.
+
+It was the custom in Florence before the siege of 1530, at the burial
+of dead persons of good family and noble blood, to carry in front of
+the bier a string of pennons fixed round a panel that a porter bore on
+his head; which pennons were afterwards left in the church in memory
+of the deceased and of his family. Now, when the elder Cosimo Rucellai
+died, Bernardo and Palla, his sons, in order to have something new,
+thought of having not pennons, but in place of them a quadrangular
+banner four braccia wide and five braccia high, with some pennons at
+the foot containing the arms of the Rucellai. These men therefore
+giving this work to Giuliano to execute, he painted on the body of the
+said banner four great figures, executed very well--namely, S. Cosimo,
+S. Damiano, S. Peter, and S. Paul, which were truly most beautiful
+paintings, and done with more diligence than had ever been shown in
+any other work on cloth.
+
+These and other works of Giuliano's having been seen by Mariotto
+Albertinelli, he recognized how careful Giuliano was in following the
+designs that were put before him, without departing from them by a
+hair's breadth, and, since he was preparing in those days to abandon
+art, he gave him to finish a panel-picture that Fra Bartolommeo di San
+Marco, his friend and companion, had formerly left only designed and
+shaded with water-colours on the gesso of the panel, as was his
+custom. Giuliano, then, setting his hand to this work, executed it
+with supreme diligence and labour, and it was placed at that time in
+the Church of S. Gallo, without the gate of that name. The church and
+convent were afterwards pulled down on account of the siege, and the
+picture was carried into the city and placed in the Priests' Hospital
+in the Via di S. Gallo, and then from there into the Convent of S.
+Marco, and finally into S. Jacopo tra Fossi on the Canto degli
+Alberti, where it stands at the present day on the high-altar. In this
+picture is the Dead Christ, with the Magdalene, who is embracing His
+feet, and S. John the Evangelist, who is holding His head and
+supporting it on one knee. There, likewise, are S. Peter, who is
+weeping, and S. Paul, who, stretching out his arms, is contemplating
+his Dead Master; and, to tell the truth, Giuliano executed this
+picture with so much lovingness and so much consideration and
+judgment, that he will be always very highly extolled for it, even as
+he was at that time, and that rightly. And after this he finished for
+Cristofano Rinieri a picture with the Rape of Dina that had been
+likewise left incomplete by the same Fra Bartolommeo; and he painted
+another picture like it, which was sent to France.
+
+Not long afterwards, having been drawn to Bologna by certain friends,
+he executed some portraits from life, and, for a chapel in the new
+choir of S. Francesco, an altar-piece in oils containing Our Lady and
+two Saints, which was held at that time in Bologna, from there not
+being many masters there, to be a good work and worthy of praise.
+Then, having returned to Florence, he painted for I know not what
+person five pictures of the life of Our Lady, which are now in the
+house of Maestro Andrea Pasquali, physician to his Excellency and a
+man of great distinction.
+
+Messer Palla Rucellai having commissioned him to execute an
+altar-piece that was to be placed on his altar in S. Maria Novella,
+Giuliano began to paint in it the Martyrdom of S. Catharine the
+Virgin. Mountains in labour! He had it in hand for twelve years, but
+never carried it to completion after all that time, because he had no
+invention and knew not how to paint the many various things that had a
+part in that martyrdom; and, although he was always racking his brain
+as to how those wheels should be made, and how he should paint the
+lightning and the fire that consumed them, constantly changing one
+day what he had done the day before, in all that time he was never
+able to finish it. It is true that in the meantime he executed many
+works, and among others, for Messer Francesco Guicciardini--who had
+returned from Bologna and was then living in his villa at Montici,
+writing his history--a portrait of him, which was a passing good
+likeness and pleased him much. He took the portrait, likewise, of
+Signora Angela de' Rossi, the sister of the Count of Sansecondo, for
+Signor Alessandro Vitelli, her husband, who was then on garrison-duty
+in Florence. For Messer Ottaviano de' Medici he painted in a large
+picture, copied from one by Fra Sebastiano del Piombo, two full-length
+portraits, Pope Clement seated and Fra Niccolo della Magna standing;
+and in another picture, likewise, with incredible pains and patience,
+he portrayed Pope Clement seated, and before him Bartolommeo Valori,
+who is kneeling and speaking to him.
+
+[Illustration: THE MARTYRDOM OF S. CATHARINE
+
+(_After the painting by =Giuliano Bugiardini=. Florence: S. Maria
+Novella, Rucellai Chapel_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+Next, the above-named Messer Ottaviano de' Medici having besought
+Giuliano privately that he should take for him the portrait of
+Michelagnolo Buonarroti, he set his hand to it; and, after he had kept
+Michelagnolo, who used to take pleasure in his conversation, sitting
+for two hours, Giuliano said to him: "Michelagnolo, if you wish to see
+yourself, get up and look, for I have now fixed the expression of the
+face." Michelagnolo, having risen and looked at the portrait, said to
+Giuliano, laughing: "What the devil have you been doing? You have
+painted me with one of my eyes up in the temple. Give a little thought
+to what you are doing." Hearing this, Giuliano, after standing pensive
+for a while and looking many times from the portrait to the living
+model, answered in serious earnest: "To me it does not seem so, but
+sit you down again, and I shall see a little better from the life
+whether it be true." Buonarroti, who knew whence the defect arose and
+how small was the judgment of Bugiardini, straightway resumed his
+seat, grinning. And Giuliano looked many times now at Michelagnolo and
+now at the picture, and then finally, rising to his feet, declared:
+"To me it seems that the thing is just as I have drawn it, and that
+the life is in no way different." "Well, then," answered Buonarroti,
+"it is a natural deformity. Go on, and spare neither brush nor art."
+And so Giuliano finished the picture and gave it to Messer
+Ottaviano, together with the portrait of Pope Clement by the hand of
+Fra Sebastiano, as Buonarroti desired, who had sent to Rome for it.
+
+Giuliano afterwards made for Cardinal Innocenzio Cibo a copy of the
+picture in which Raffaello da Urbino had formerly painted portraits of
+Pope Leo, Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, and Cardinal de' Rossi; but in
+place of Cardinal de' Rossi he painted the head of Cardinal Cibo, in
+which he acquitted himself very well, and he executed the whole
+picture with great diligence and labour. At that time, likewise, he
+took the portrait of Cencio Guasconi, who was then a very beautiful
+youth. And after this he painted at the villa of Baccio Valori, at
+Olmo a Castello, a tabernacle in fresco, which, although it had not
+much design, was well and very carefully executed.
+
+Meanwhile Palla Rucellai was pressing him to finish his altar-piece,
+of which mention has been made above, and Giuliano resolved to take
+Michelagnolo one day to see it. And so, after he had brought him to
+the place where he kept it, and had described to him with what pains
+he had executed the lightning-flash, which, coming down from Heaven,
+shivers the wheels and kills those who are turning them, and also a
+sun, which, bursting from a cloud, delivers S. Catharine from death,
+he frankly besought Michelagnolo, who could not keep from laughing as
+he heard poor Bugiardini's lamentations, that he should tell him how
+to make eight or ten principal figures of soldiers in the foreground
+of this altar-piece, drawn up in line after the manner of a guard, and
+in the act of flight, some being prostrate, some wounded, and others
+dead; for, said Giuliano, he did not know for himself how to
+foreshorten them in such a manner that there might be room for them
+all in so narrow a space, in the fashion that he had imagined, in
+line. Buonarroti, then, having compassion on the poor man and wishing
+to oblige him, went up to the picture with a piece of charcoal and
+outlined with a few strokes, lightly sketched in, a line of marvellous
+nude figures, which, foreshortened in different attitudes, were
+falling in various ways, some backward and others forward, with some
+wounded or dead, and all executed with that judgment and excellence
+that were peculiar to Michelagnolo. This done, he went away with the
+thanks of Giuliano, who not long afterwards took Tribolo, his dearest
+friend, to see what Buonarroti had done, telling him the whole story.
+But since, as has been related, Buonarroti had drawn his figures only
+in outline, Bugiardini was not able to put them into execution,
+because there were neither shadows in them nor any other help;
+whereupon Tribolo resolved to assist him, and thus made some
+sketch-models in clay, which he executed excellently well, giving them
+that boldness of manner that Michelagnolo had put into the drawing,
+and working them over with the gradine, which is a toothed instrument
+of iron, to the end that they might be somewhat rough and might have
+greater force; and, thus finished, he gave them to Giuliano. However,
+since that manner did not please the smooth fancy of Bugiardini, no
+sooner had Tribolo departed than he took a brush and, dipping it from
+time to time in water, so smoothed them that he took away the
+gradine-marks and polished them all over, insomuch that, whereas the
+lights should have served as contrasts to make the shadows stronger,
+he contrived to destroy all the excellence that made the work perfect.
+Which having afterwards heard from Giuliano himself, Tribolo laughed
+at the foolish simplicity of the man; and Giuliano finally delivered
+the work finished in such a manner that there is nothing in it to show
+that Michelagnolo ever looked at it.
+
+In the end, being old and poor, and having very few works to do,
+Giuliano applied himself with extraordinary and even incredible pains
+to make a Pieta in a tabernacle that was to go to Spain, with figures
+of no great size, and executed it with such diligence, that it seems a
+strange thing to think of an old man of his age having the patience to
+do such a work for the love that he bore to art. On the doors of that
+tabernacle, in order to depict the darkness that fell at the death of
+the Saviour, he painted a Night on a black ground, copied from the one
+by the hand of Michelagnolo which is in the Sacristy of S. Lorenzo.
+But since that statue has no other sign than an owl, Giuliano, amusing
+himself over his picture of Night by giving rein to his fancy, painted
+there a net for catching thrushes by night, with the lantern, and one
+of those little vessels holding a candle, or rather, a candle-end,
+that are carried about at night, with other suchlike things that have
+something to do with darkness and gloom, such as night-caps, coifs,
+pillows, and bats; wherefore Buonarroti was like to dislocate his jaw
+with laughing when he saw this work and considered with what strange
+caprices Bugiardini had enriched his Night.
+
+Finally, after having always been that kind of man, Giuliano died at
+the age of seventy-five, and was buried in the Church of S. Marco at
+Florence, in the year 1556.
+
+Giuliano once relating to Bronzino how he had seen a very beautiful
+woman, after he had praised her to the skies, Bronzino said, "Do you
+know her?" "No," answered Giuliano, "but she is a miracle of beauty.
+Just imagine that she is a picture by my hand, and there you have
+her."
+
+
+
+
+CRISTOFANO GHERARDI, CALLED DOCENO
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF CRISTOFANO GHERARDI [CALLED DOCENO] OF BORGO SAN SEPOLCRO
+
+PAINTER
+
+
+While Raffaello dal Colle of Borgo San Sepolcro, who was a disciple of
+Giulio Romano and helped him to paint in fresco the Hall of
+Constantine in the Papal Palace at Rome, and the apartments of the Te
+in Mantua, was painting, after his return to the Borgo, the
+altar-piece of the Chapel of SS. Gilio e Arcanio (in which, imitating
+Giulio and Raffaello da Urbino, he depicted the Resurrection of
+Christ, a work that was much extolled), with another altar-piece of
+the Assumption for the Frati de' Zoccoli without the Borgo, and some
+other works for the Servite Friars at Citta di Castello; while, I say,
+Raffaello was executing these and other works in the Borgo, his native
+place, acquiring riches and fame, a young man sixteen years of age,
+called Cristofano, and by way of by-name, Doceno, the son of Guido
+Gherardi, a man of honourable family in that city, was attending from
+a natural inclination and with much profit to painting, drawing and
+colouring so well and with such grace, that it was a marvel. Wherefore
+the above-named Raffaello, having seen some animals by the hand of
+this Cristofano, such as dogs, wolves, hares, and various kinds of
+birds and fishes, executed very well, and perceiving that he was most
+agreeable in his conversation and very witty and amusing, although he
+lived a life apart, almost like a philosopher, was well pleased to
+form a friendship with him and to have him frequent his workshop in
+order to learn.
+
+Now, after Cristofano had spent some time drawing under the discipline
+of Raffaello, there arrived in the Borgo the painter Rosso, with whom
+he contracted a friendship, and received some of his drawings; and
+these Doceno studied with great diligence, considering, as one who had
+seen no others but those by the hand of Raffaello, that they were very
+beautiful, as indeed they were. But these studies were broken off by
+him, for, when Giovanni de' Turrini of the Borgo, at that time Captain
+of the Florentines, went with a band of soldiers from the Borgo and
+from Citta di Castello to the defence of Florence, which was besieged
+by the armies of the Emperor and of Pope Clement, Cristofano went
+thither among the other soldiers, having been led away by his many
+friends. It is true that he did this no less in the hope of having
+some occasion to study the works in Florence than with the intention
+of fighting; but in this he failed, for his captain, Giovanni, had to
+guard not a place within the city, but the bastions on the hill
+without. That war finished, and the guard of Florence being commanded
+not long afterwards by Signor Alessandro Vitelli of Citta di Castello,
+Cristofano, drawn by his friends and by his desire to see the pictures
+and sculptures of the city, enlisted as a soldier in that guard. And
+while he was in that service, Signor Alessandro, having heard from
+Battista della Bilia, a painter and soldier from Citta di Castello,
+that Cristofano gave his attention to painting, and having obtained a
+beautiful picture by his hand, determined to send him with that same
+Battista della Bilia and with another Battista, likewise of Citta di
+Castello, to decorate with sgraffiti and paintings a garden and loggia
+that he had begun at Citta di Castello. But the one Battista having
+died while that garden was being built up, and the other Battista
+having taken his place, for the time being, whatever may have been the
+reason, nothing more was done.
+
+Meanwhile Giorgio Vasari had returned from Rome, and was passing his
+time with Duke Alessandro in Florence, until his patron Cardinal
+Ippolito should return from Hungary; and he had received rooms in the
+Convent of the Servites, that he might make a beginning with the
+execution of certain scenes in fresco from the life of Caesar in the
+chamber at the corner of the Medici Palace, where Giovanni da Udine
+had decorated the ceiling with stucco-work and pictures. Now
+Cristofano, having made Giorgio's acquaintance at the Borgo in the
+year 1528, when he went to see Rosso in that place, where he had
+shown him much kindness, resolved that he would attach himself to
+Vasari and thus find much more opportunity for giving attention to art
+than he had done in the past. Giorgio, then, after a year's
+intercourse with him as his companion, finding that he was likely to
+make an able master, and that he was pleasant and gentle in manners
+and a man after his own heart, conceived an extraordinary affection
+for him. Wherefore, having to go not long afterwards, at the
+commission of Duke Alessandro, to Citta di Castello, in company with
+Antonio da San Gallo and Pier Francesco da Viterbo (who had been in
+Florence to build the castle, or rather, citadel, and on their return
+were taking the road by Citta di Castello), in order to repair the
+walls of the above-mentioned garden of Vitelli, which were threatening
+to fall, he took Cristofano with him, to the end that after Vasari
+himself had designed and distributed in their due order the friezes
+that were to be executed in certain apartments, and likewise the
+scenes and compartments of a bath-room, and other sketches for the
+walls of the loggia, Gherardi and the above-named Battista might carry
+the whole to completion. All this they did so well and with such
+grace, and particularly Cristofano, that a past master in art, well
+practised in his work, could not have done so much; and, what is more,
+experimenting in that work, he became facile and able to a marvel in
+drawing and colouring.
+
+Then, in the year 1536, the Emperor Charles V coming to Italy and to
+Florence, as has been related in other places, the most magnificent
+festive preparations were ordained, among which Vasari, by order of
+Duke Alessandro, received the charge of the decorations of the Porta a
+S. Piero Gattolini, of the facade at S. Felice in Piazza, at the head
+of the Via Maggio, and of the pediment that was erected over the door
+of S. Maria del Fiore; and, in addition, of a standard of cloth for
+the castle, fifteen braccia in depth and forty in length, into the
+gilding of which there went fifty thousand leaves of gold. Now the
+Florentine painters and others who were employed in these
+preparations, thinking that Vasari was too much in favour with Duke
+Alessandro, and wishing to leave him disgraced in that part of the
+decorations--a part truly great and laborious--which had fallen to
+him, so went to work that he was not able to enlist the services of
+any master of architectural painting, whether young or old, among all
+those that were in the city, to assist him in any single thing. Of
+which having become aware, Vasari sent for Cristofano, Raffaello dal
+Colle, and Stefano Veltroni of Monte Sansovino, his kinsman; and with
+their assistance and that of other painters from Arezzo and other
+places, he executed the works mentioned above, in which Cristofano
+acquitted himself in such a manner, that he caused everyone to marvel,
+doing honour to himself and also to Vasari, who was much extolled for
+those works. After they were finished, Cristofano remained many days
+in Florence, assisting the same Vasari in the preparations that were
+made in the Palace of Messer Ottaviano de' Medici for the nuptials of
+Duke Alessandro; wherein, among other things, Cristofano executed the
+coat of arms of the Duchess Margherita of Austria, with the balls,
+upheld by a most beautiful eagle, with some boys, very well done.
+
+Not long afterwards, when Duke Alessandro had been assassinated, a
+compact was made in the Borgo to hand over one of the gates of the
+city to Piero Strozzi, when he came to Sestino, and letters were
+therefore written to Cristofano by some soldiers exiled from the
+Borgo, entreating him that he should consent to help them in this:
+which letters received, although Cristofano did not grant their
+request, yet, in order not to do a mischief to the soldiers, he chose
+rather to tear them up, as he did, than to lay them, as according to
+the laws and edicts he should have done, before Gherardo Gherardi, who
+was then Commissioner for the Lord Duke Cosimo in the Borgo. When the
+troubles were over and the matter became known, many citizens of the
+Borgo were exiled as rebels, and among them Doceno; and Signor
+Alessandro Vitelli, who knew the truth of this affair and could have
+helped him, did not do so, to the end that Cristofano might be as it
+were forced to serve him in the work of his garden at Citta di
+Castello, of which we have spoken above.
+
+After having consumed much time in this service, without any profit or
+advantage, Cristofano finally took refuge, almost in despair, with
+other exiles, in the village of S. Giustino in the States of the
+Church, a mile and a half distant from the Borgo and very near the
+Florentine frontier. In that place, although he stayed there at his
+peril, he painted for Abbot Bufolini of Citta di Castello, who has
+most beautiful and commodious apartments there, a chamber in a tower,
+with a pattern of little boys and figures very well foreshortened to
+be seen from below, and with grotesques, festoons, and masks, the most
+lovely and the most bizarre that could be imagined. This chamber, when
+finished, so pleased the Abbot that he caused him to do another, in
+which, desiring to make some ornaments of stucco, and not having
+marble to grind into powder for mixing it, for this purpose he found a
+very good substitute in some stones from a river-bed, veined with
+white, the powder from which took a good and very firm hold. And
+within these ornaments of stucco Cristofano then painted some scenes
+from Roman history, executing them so well in fresco that it was a
+marvel.
+
+At that time Giorgio Vasari was painting in fresco the upper part of
+the tramezzo[4] of the Abbey of Camaldoli, and two panel-pictures for
+the lower part; and, wishing to make about these last an ornament in
+fresco full of scenes, he would have liked to have Cristofano with
+him, no less to restore him to the favour of the Duke than to make use
+of him. But, although Messer Ottaviano de' Medici pleaded strongly
+with the Duke, it proved impossible to bend him, so ugly was the
+information that had been given to him about the behaviour of
+Cristofano. Not having succeeded in this, therefore, Vasari, as one
+who loved Cristofano, set himself to contrive to remove him at least
+from S. Giustino, where he, with other exiles, was living in the
+greatest peril. In the year 1539, then, having to execute for the
+Monks of Monte Oliveto, for the head of a great refectory in the
+Monastery of S. Michele in Bosco without Bologna, three panel-pictures
+in oils with three scenes each four braccia in length, and a frieze in
+fresco three braccia high all round with twenty stories of the
+Apocalypse in little figures, and all the monasteries of that Order
+copied from the reality, with partitions of grotesques, and round each
+window fourteen braccia of festoons with fruits copied from nature,
+Giorgio wrote straightway to Cristofano that he should go from S.
+Giustino to Bologna, together with Battista Cungi of the Borgo, his
+compatriot, who had also served Vasari for seven years. These men,
+therefore, having gone to Bologna, where Giorgio had not yet
+arrived--for he was still at Camaldoli, where, having finished the
+tramezzo, he was drawing the cartoon for a Deposition from the Cross,
+which was afterwards executed by him and set up on the high-altar in
+that same place--set themselves to prime the said three panels with
+gesso and to lay on the ground, until such time as Giorgio should
+arrive.
+
+         [Footnote 4: See note on p. 57, Vol. I.]
+
+Now Vasari had given a commission to Dattero, a Jew, the friend of
+Messer Ottaviano de' Medici, who was then a banker in Bologna, that he
+should provide Cristofano and Battista with everything that they
+required. And since this Dattero was very obliging and most courteous,
+he did them a thousand favours and courtesies; wherefore those two at
+times went about Bologna in his company in very familiar fashion, and,
+Battista having prominent eyes and Cristofano a great speck in one of
+his, they were thus taken for Jews, as Dattero was in fact. One
+morning, therefore, a shoemaker, who had to bring a pair of new shoes
+at the commission of the above-named Jew to Cristofano, arriving at
+the monastery, said to Cristofano himself, who was standing at the
+gate looking on at the distribution of alms, "Sir, could you show me
+the rooms of those two Jew painters who are working in there?" "Jews
+or no Jews," said Cristofano, "what have you to do with them?" "I have
+to give these shoes," he answered, "to one of them called Cristofano."
+"I am he," replied Cristofano, "an honest man and a better Christian
+than you are." "You may be what you please," answered the shoemaker.
+"I called you Jews, because, besides that you are held and known as
+Jews by everyone, that look of yours, which is not of our country,
+convinced me of it." "Enough," said Cristofano, "you shall see that we
+do the work of Christians."
+
+[Illustration: THE SUPPER OF S. GREGORY THE GREAT
+
+(_After the panel by =Giorgio Vasari=, with details by =Cristofano
+Gherardi [Doceno]=. Bologna: Accademia, 198_)
+
+_Poppi_]
+
+But to return to the work: Vasari having arrived in Bologna, not a
+month had passed before, Giorgio designing, and Cristofano and
+Battista laying in the panels in colour, all three were completely
+laid in, with great credit to Cristofano, who acquitted himself in
+this excellently well. The laying in of the panels being finished,
+work was begun on the frieze, in which Cristofano had a companion,
+although he was to have executed it all by himself; for there came
+from Camaldoli to Bologna the cousin of Vasari, Stefano Veltroni of
+Monte Sansovino, who had laid in the panel-picture of the Deposition,
+and the two executed that work together, and that so well, that it
+proved a marvel. Cristofano painted grotesques so well, that there was
+nothing better to be seen, but he did not give them that particular
+finish that would have made them perfect; and Stefano, on the
+contrary, was wanting in resolution and grace, for the reason that his
+brush-strokes did not fix his subjects in their places at one sweep,
+but, since he was very patient, in the end, although he endured
+greater labour, he used to execute his grotesques with more neatness
+and delicacy. Labouring in competition, then, at the work of this
+frieze, these two took such pains, both the one and the other, that
+Cristofano learned to finish from Stefano, and Stefano learned from
+Cristofano to be more resolute and to work like a master.
+
+Work being then begun on the broad festoons that were to run in
+clusters round the windows, Vasari made one with his own hand, keeping
+real fruits in front of him, that he might copy them from nature. This
+done, he ordained that Cristofano and Stefano should go on with the
+rest, holding to the same design, one on one side of the window, and
+the other on the other side, and should thus, one by one, proceed to
+finish them all; promising to him who might prove at the end of the
+work to have acquitted himself best a pair of scarlet hose. And so,
+competing lovingly for both honour and profit, they set themselves to
+copy everything, from the large things down to the most minute, such
+as millet-seed, hemp-seed, bunches of fennel, and the like, in such a
+manner that those festoons proved to be very beautiful; and both of
+them received from Vasari the prize of the scarlet hose.
+
+Giorgio took great pains to persuade Cristofano to execute by himself
+part of the designs for the scenes that were to go into the frieze,
+but he would never do it. Wherefore, the while that Giorgio was
+drawing them himself, Gherardi executed the buildings in two of the
+panel-pictures, with much grace and beauty of manner, and such
+perfection, that a master of great judgment, even if he had had the
+cartoons before him, could not have done what Cristofano did. And, in
+truth, there never was a painter who could do by himself, and without
+study, the things that he contrived to do. After having finished the
+execution of the buildings in the two panel-pictures, the while that
+Vasari was carrying to completion the twenty stories from the
+Apocalypse for the above-mentioned frieze, Cristofano, taking in hand
+the panel-picture in which S. Gregory (whose head is a portrait of
+Pope Clement VII) is eating with his twelve poor men, executed the
+whole service of the table, all very lifelike and most natural. Then,
+a beginning having been made with the third panel-picture, while
+Stefano was occupied with the gilding of the ornamental frames of the
+other two, a staging was erected upon two trestles of wood, from
+which, while Vasari was painting on one side, in a glory of sunlight,
+the three Angels that appeared to Abraham in the Valley of Mamre,
+Cristofano painted some buildings on the other side. But he was always
+making some contraption with stools and tables, and at times with
+basins and pans upside down, on which he would climb, like the casual
+creature that he was; and once it happened that, seeking to draw back
+in order to look at what he had done, one of his feet gave way under
+him, the whole contraption turned topsy-turvy, and he fell from a
+height of five braccia, bruising himself so grievously that he had to
+be bled and properly nursed, or he would have died. And, what was
+worse, being the sort of careless fellow that he was, one night there
+slipped off the bandages that were on the arm from which the blood had
+been drawn, to the great danger of his life, so that, if Stefano, who
+was sleeping with him, had not noticed this, it would have been all up
+with him; and even so Stefano had something to do to revive him, for
+the bed was a lake of blood, and he himself was reduced almost to his
+last gasp. Vasari, therefore, taking him under his own particular
+charge, as if he had been his brother, had him tended with the
+greatest possible care, than which, indeed, nothing less would have
+sufficed; and with all this he was not restored until that work was
+completely finished. After that, returning to S. Giustino, Cristofano
+completed some of the apartments of the Abbot there, which had been
+left unfinished, and then executed at Citta di Castello, all with his
+own hand, an altar-piece that had been allotted to Battista, his
+dearest friend, and a lunette that is over the side-door of S.
+Fiorido, containing three figures in fresco.
+
+Giorgio being afterwards summoned to Venice at the instance of Messer
+Pietro Aretino, in order to arrange and execute for the nobles and
+gentlemen of the Company of the Calza the setting for a most sumptuous
+and magnificent festival, and the scenery of a comedy written by that
+same Messer Pietro Aretino for those gentlemen, Giorgio, I say,
+knowing that he was not able to carry out so great a work by himself
+alone, sent for Cristofano and the above-mentioned Battista Cungi. And
+they, having finally arrived in Venice after being carried by the
+chances of the sea to Sclavonia, found that Vasari not only had
+arrived there before them, but had already designed everything, so
+that there was nothing for them to do but to set hand to painting. Now
+the said gentlemen of the Calza had taken at the end of the Canareio a
+large house which was not finished--it had nothing, indeed, save the
+main walls and the roof--and in a space forming an apartment seventy
+braccia long and sixteen braccia wide, Giorgio caused to be made two
+ranges of wooden steps, four braccia in height from the floor, on
+which the ladies were to be seated. The walls at the sides he divided
+each into four square spaces of ten braccia, separated by niches each
+four braccia in breadth, within which were figures, and these niches
+had each on either side a terminal figure in relief, nine braccia
+high; insomuch that the niches on either side were five and the
+terminal figures ten, and in the whole apartment there were altogether
+ten niches, twenty terminal figures, and eight square pictures with
+scenes. In the first of these pictures (which were all in
+chiaroscuro), that on the right hand, next the stage, there was,
+representing Venice, a most beautiful figure of Adria depicted as
+seated upon a rock in the midst of the sea, with a branch of coral in
+the hand. Around her stood Neptune, Thetis, Proteus, Nereus, Glaucus,
+Palaemon, and other sea gods and nymphs, who were presenting to her
+jewels, pearls, gold, and other riches of the sea; and besides this
+there were some Loves that were shooting arrows, and others that were
+flying through the air and scattering flowers, and the rest of the
+field of the picture was all most beautiful palms. In the second
+picture were the Rivers Drava and Sava naked, with their vases. In the
+third was the Po, conceived as large and corpulent, with seven sons,
+representing the seven branches which, issuing from the Po, pour into
+the sea as if each of them were a kingly river. In the fourth was the
+Brenta, with other rivers of Friuli. On the other wall, opposite to
+the Adria, was the Island of Candia, wherein was to be seen Jove being
+suckled by the Goat, with many Nymphs around. Beside this, and
+opposite to the Drava, were the River Tagliamento and the Mountains of
+Cadore. Beyond this, opposite to the Po, were Lake Benacus and the
+Mincio, which were pouring their waters into the Po; and beside them,
+opposite to the Brenta, were the Adige and the Tesino, falling into
+the sea. The pictures on the right-hand side were divided by these
+Virtues, placed in the niches--Liberality, Concord, Compassion, Peace,
+and Religion; and opposite to these, on the other wall, were
+Fortitude, Civic Wisdom, Justice, a Victory with War beneath her, and,
+lastly, a Charity. Above all, then, were a large cornice and
+architrave, and a frieze full of lights and of glass globes filled
+with distilled waters, to the end that these, having lights behind
+them, might illuminate the whole apartment. Next, the ceiling was
+divided into four quadrangular compartments, each ten braccia wide in
+one direction and eight braccia in the other; and, with a width equal
+to that of the niches of four braccia, there was a frieze which ran
+right round the cornice, while in a line with the niches there came in
+the middle of all the spaces a compartment three braccia square. These
+compartments were in all twenty-three, without counting one of double
+size that was above the stage, which brought the number up to
+twenty-four; and in them were the Hours, twelve of the night, namely,
+and twelve of the day. In the first of the compartments ten braccia in
+length, which was above the stage, was Time, who was arranging the
+Hours in their places, accompanied by AEolus, God of the Winds, by
+Juno, and by Iris. In another compartment, at the door of entrance,
+was the Car of Aurora, who, rising from the arms of Tithonus, was
+scattering roses, while the Car itself was being drawn by some Cocks.
+In the third was the Chariot of the Sun; and in the fourth was the
+Chariot of Night, drawn by Owls, and Night had the Moon upon her head,
+some Bats in front of her, and all around her darkness.
+
+Of these pictures Cristofano executed the greater part, and he
+acquitted himself so well, that everyone stood marvelling at them:
+particularly in the Chariot of Night, wherein he did in the way of
+oil-sketches that which was, in a manner of speaking, not possible.
+And in the picture of Adria, likewise, he painted those monsters of
+the sea with such beauty and variety, that whoever looked at them was
+struck with astonishment that a craftsman of his rank should have
+shown such knowledge. In short, in all this work he bore himself
+beyond all expectation like an able and well-practised painter, and
+particularly in the foliage and grotesques.
+
+After finishing the preparations for that festival, Vasari and
+Cristofano stayed some months in Venice, painting for the Magnificent
+Messer Giovanni Cornaro the ceiling, or rather, soffit, of an
+apartment, into which there went nine large pictures in oils. Vasari
+being then entreated by the Veronese architect, Michele San Michele,
+to stay in Venice, he might perhaps have consented to remain there for
+a year or two; but Cristofano always dissuaded him from it, saying
+that it was not a good thing to stay in Venice, where no account was
+taken of design, nor did the painters in that city make any use of it,
+not to mention that those painters themselves were the reason that no
+attention was paid there to the labours of the arts; and he declared
+that it would be better to return to Rome, the true school of noble
+arts, where ability was recognized much more than in Venice. The
+dissuasions of Cristofano being thus added to the little desire that
+Vasari had to stay there, they went off together. But, since
+Cristofano, being an exile from the State of Florence, was not able to
+follow Giorgio, he returned to S. Giustino, where he did not remain
+long, doing some work all the time for the above-mentioned Abbot,
+before he went to Perugia on the first occasion when Pope Paul III
+went there after the war waged with the people of that city. There, in
+the festive preparations that were made to receive his Holiness, he
+acquitted himself very well in several works, and particularly in the
+portal called after Frate Rinieri, where, at the wish of Monsignore
+della Barba, who was then governor there, Cristofano executed a large
+Jove in Anger and another Pacified, which are two most beautiful
+figures, and on the other side he painted an Atlas with the world on
+his back, between two women, one of whom had a sword and the other a
+pair of scales. These works, with many others that Cristofano executed
+for those festivities, were the reason that afterwards, when the
+citadel had been built in Perugia by order of the same Pontiff, Messer
+Tiberio Crispo, who was governor and castellan at that time, when
+causing many of the rooms to be painted, desired that Cristofano, in
+addition to that which Lattanzio, a painter of the March, had executed
+in them up to that time, should also work there. Whereupon Cristofano
+not only assisted the above-named Lattanzio, but afterwards executed
+with his own hand the greater part of the best works that are painted
+in the apartments of that fortress, in which there also worked
+Raffaello dal Colle and Adone Doni of Assisi, an able and
+well-practised painter, who has executed many things in his native
+city and in other places. Tommaso Papacello also worked there; but the
+best that there was among them, and the one who gained most praise
+there, was Cristofano, on which account he was recommended by
+Lattanzio to the favour of the said Crispo, and was ever afterwards
+much employed by him.
+
+Meanwhile, that same Crispo having built in Perugia a new little
+church known as S. Maria del Popolo, but first called Del Mercato,
+Lattanzio had begun for it an altar-piece in oils, and in this
+Cristofano painted with his own hand all the upper part, which is
+indeed most beautiful and worthy of great praise. Then, Lattanzio
+having been changed from a painter into the Constable of Perugia,
+Cristofano returned to S. Giustino, where he stayed many months, again
+working for the above-named Lord Abbot Bufolini.
+
+After this, in the year 1543, Giorgio Vasari, having to execute a
+panel-picture in oils for the Great Cancelleria by order of the most
+illustrious Cardinal Farnese, and another for the Church of S.
+Agostino at the commission of Galeotto da Girone, sent for Cristofano,
+who went very willingly, as one who had a desire to see Rome. There he
+stayed many months, doing little else but go about seeing everything;
+but nevertheless he thus gained so much, that, after returning once
+more to S. Giustino, he painted in a hall some figures after his own
+fancy which were so beautiful, that it appeared that he must have
+studied at them twenty years. Then, in the year 1545, Vasari had to go
+to Naples to paint for the Monks of Monte Oliveto a refectory
+involving much more work than that of S. Michele in Bosco at Bologna,
+and he sent for Cristofano, Raffaello dal Colle, and Stefano, already
+mentioned as his friends and pupils; and they all came together at the
+appointed time in Naples, excepting Cristofano, who remained behind
+because he was ill. However, being pressed by Vasari, he made his way
+to Rome on his journey to Naples; but he was detained by his brother
+Borgognone, who was likewise an exile, and who wished to take him to
+France to enter the service of the Colonel Giovanni da Turrino, and so
+that occasion was lost. But when Vasari returned from Naples to Rome
+in the year 1546, in order to execute twenty-four pictures that were
+afterwards sent to Naples and placed in the Sacristy of S. Giovanni
+Carbonaro, in which he painted stories from the Old Testament, and
+also from the life of S. John the Baptist, with figures of one braccio
+or little more, and also in order to paint the doors of the organ of
+the Piscopio, which were six braccia in height, he availed himself of
+Cristofano, who was of great assistance to him and executed figures
+and landscapes in those works excellently well. Giorgio had also
+proposed to make use of him in the Hall of the Cancelleria, which was
+painted after cartoons by his hand, and entirely finished in a hundred
+days, for Cardinal Farnese, but in this he did not succeed, for
+Cristofano fell ill and returned to S. Giustino as soon as he had
+begun to mend. And Vasari finished the Hall without him, assisted by
+Raffaello dal Colle, the Bolognese Giovan Battista Bagnacavallo, the
+Spaniards Roviale and Bizzerra, and many others of his friends and
+pupils.
+
+After returning from Rome to Florence and setting out from that city
+to go to Rimini, to paint a chapel in fresco and an altar-piece in the
+Church of the Monks of Monte Oliveto for Abbot Gian Matteo Faettani,
+Giorgio passed through S. Giustino, in order to take Cristofano with
+him: but Abbot Bufolini, for whom he was painting a hall, would not
+let him go for the time being, although he promised Giorgio that he
+should send Cristofano to him soon all the way to Romagna. But,
+notwithstanding such a promise, the Abbot delayed so long to send
+him, that Cristofano, when he did go, found that Vasari had not only
+finished all the work for the other Abbot, but had also executed an
+altar-piece for the high-altar of S. Francesco at Rimini, for Messer
+Niccolo Marcheselli, and another altar-piece in the Church of Classi,
+belonging to the Monks of Camaldoli, at Ravenna, for Don Romualdo da
+Verona, the Abbot of that abbey.
+
+In the year 1550, not long before this, Giorgio had just executed the
+story of the Marriage of Esther in the Black Friars' Abbey of S.
+Fiore, that is, in the refectory, at Arezzo, and also, at Florence,
+for the Chapel of the Martelli in the Church of S. Lorenzo, the
+altar-piece of S. Gismondo, when, Julius III having been elected Pope,
+he was summoned to Rome to enter the service of his Holiness.
+Thereupon he thought for certain that by means of Cardinal Farnese,
+who went at that time to stay in Florence, he would be able to
+reinstate Cristofano in his country and restore him to the favour of
+Duke Cosimo. But this proved to be impossible, so that poor Cristofano
+had to stay as he was until 1554, at which time, Vasari having been
+invited into the service of Duke Cosimo, there came to him an
+opportunity of delivering Cristofano. Bishop da' Ricasoli, who knew
+that he would be doing a thing pleasing to his Excellency, had set to
+work to have the three facades of his palace, which stands on the
+abutment of the Ponte alla Carraja, painted in chiaroscuro, when
+Messer Sforza Almeni, Cup-bearer as well as first and favourite
+Chamberlain to the Duke, resolved that he also would have his house in
+the Via de' Servi painted in chiaroscuro, in emulation of the Bishop.
+But, not having found in Florence any painters according to his fancy,
+he wrote to Giorgio Vasari, who had not then arrived in Florence, that
+he should think out the inventions and send him designs of all that it
+might seem to him best to paint on that facade of his. Whereupon
+Giorgio, who was much his friend, for they had known each other from
+the time when they were both in the service of Duke Alessandro, having
+thought out the whole according to the measurements of the facade,
+sent him a design of most beautiful invention, which embellished the
+windows and joined them together with a well-varied decoration in a
+straight line from top to bottom, and filled all the spaces in the
+facade with rich scenes. This design, I say, which contained, to put
+it briefly, the whole life of man from birth to death, was sent by
+Vasari to Messer Sforza; and it so pleased him, and likewise the Duke,
+that, in order that it might have all its perfection, they resolved
+that they would not have it taken in hand until such time as Vasari
+himself should have arrived in Florence. Which Vasari having at last
+come and having been received by his most illustrious Excellency and
+by the above-named Messer Sforza with great friendliness, they began
+to discuss who might be the right man to execute that facade.
+Whereupon Giorgio, not allowing the occasion to slip by, said to
+Messer Sforza that no one was better able to carry out that work than
+Cristofano, and that neither in that nor in the works that were to be
+executed in the Palace, could he do without Cristofano's aid. And so,
+Messer Sforza having spoken of this to the Duke, after many inquiries
+it was found that Cristofano's crime was not so black as it had been
+painted, and the poor fellow was at last pardoned by his Excellency.
+Which news having been received by Vasari, who was at Arezzo,
+revisiting his native place and his friends, he sent a messenger
+expressly to Cristofano, who knew nothing of the matter, to give him
+that good news; and when he heard it, he was like to faint with joy.
+All rejoicing, therefore, and confessing that no one had ever been a
+better friend to him than Vasari, he went off next morning from Citta
+di Castello to the Borgo, where, after presenting his letters of
+deliverance to the Commissioner, he made his way to his father's
+house, where his mother and also his brother, who had been recalled
+from exile long before, were struck with astonishment. Then, after
+passing two days there, he went off to Arezzo, where he was received
+by Giorgio with more rejoicing than if he had been his own brother,
+and recognized that he was so beloved by Vasari that he resolved that
+he would spend the rest of his life with him.
+
+They then went from Arezzo to Florence together, and Cristofano went
+to kiss the hands of the Duke, who received him readily and was struck
+with amazement, for the reason that, whereas he had thought to see
+some great bravo, he saw the best little man in the world. Cristofano
+was likewise made much of by Messer Sforza, who conceived a very great
+affection for him; and he then set his hand to the above-mentioned
+facade. In that work, Giorgio, because it was not yet possible to
+work in the Palace, assisted him, at his own request, to execute some
+designs for the scenes in the facade, also designing at times during
+the progress of the work, on the plaster, some of the figures that are
+there. But, although there are in it many things retouched by Vasari,
+nevertheless the whole facade, with the greater part of the figures
+and all the ornaments, festoons, and large ovals, is by the hand of
+Cristofano, who in truth, as may be seen, was so able in handling
+colours in fresco, that it may be said--and Vasari confesses it--that
+he knew more about it than Giorgio himself. And if Cristofano, when he
+was a lad, had exercised himself continuously in the studies of
+art--for he never did a drawing save when he had afterwards to carry
+it into execution--and had pursued the practice of art with spirit, he
+would have had no equal, seeing that his facility, judgment and memory
+enabled him to execute his works in such a way, without any further
+study, that he used to surpass many who in fact knew more than he. Nor
+could anyone believe with what facility and resolution he executed his
+labours, for, when he set himself to work, no matter how long a time
+it might take, he so delighted in it that he would never lift his eyes
+off his painting; wherefore his friends might well expect the greatest
+things from him. Besides this, he was so gracious in his conversation
+and his jesting as he worked, that Vasari would at times stay working
+in his company from morning till night, without ever growing weary.
+
+Cristofano executed this facade in a few months, not to mention that
+he sometimes stayed away some weeks without working there, going to
+the Borgo to see and enjoy his home. Now I do not wish to grudge the
+labour of describing the distribution and the figures of this work,
+which, from its being in the open air and much exposed to the vagaries
+of the weather, may not have a very long life; scarcely, indeed, was
+it finished, when it was much injured by a terrible rain and a very
+heavy hail-storm, and in some places the wall was stripped of plaster.
+In this facade, then, there are three compartments. The first, to
+begin at the foot, is where the principal door and the two windows
+are; the second is from the sill of those windows to that of the
+second range of windows; and the third is from those last windows to
+the cornice of the roof. There are, besides this, six windows in each
+range, which give seven spaces; and the whole work was divided
+according to this plan in straight lines from the cornice of the roof
+down to the ground. Next to the cornice of the roof, then, there is in
+perspective a great cornice, with brackets that project over a frieze
+of little boys, six of whom stand upright along the breadth of the
+facade--namely, one above the centre of the arch of each window; and
+these support with their shoulders most beautiful festoons of fruits,
+leaves, and flowers, which run from one to another. Those fruits and
+flowers are arranged in due succession according to the seasons,
+symbolizing the periods of our life, which is there depicted; and on
+the middle of the festoons, likewise, where they hang down, are other
+little boys in various attitudes. This frieze finished, between the
+upper windows, in the spaces that are there, there were painted the
+seven Planets, with the seven celestial Signs above them as a crown
+and an ornament. Beneath the sill of these windows, on the parapet, is
+a frieze of Virtues, who, two by two, are holding seven great ovals;
+in which ovals are seven distinct stories representing the Seven Ages
+of Man, and each Age is accompanied by two Virtues appropriate to her,
+and beneath the ovals in the spaces between the lower windows there
+are the three Theological and the four Moral Virtues. Below this, in
+the frieze that is above the door and the windows supported by
+knee-shaped brackets, are the seven Liberal Arts, each of which is in
+a line with the oval in which is the particular story of the Life of
+Man appropriate to it; and in the same straight lines, continued
+upwards, are the Moral Virtues, Planets, Signs, and other
+corresponding symbols. Next, between the windows with knee-shaped
+brackets, there is Life, both the active and the contemplative, with
+scenes and statues, continued down to Death, Hell, and our final
+Resurrection.
+
+In brief, Cristofano executed almost all by himself the whole cornice,
+the festoons, the little boys, and the seven Signs of the Planets.
+Then, beginning on one side, he painted first the Moon, and
+represented her by a Diana who has her lap full of flowers, after the
+manner of Proserpine, with a moon upon her head and the Sign of Cancer
+above her. Below, in the oval wherein is the story of Infancy, there
+are present at the Birth of Man some nurses who are suckling infants,
+and newly-delivered women in bed, executed by Cristofano with much
+grace; and this oval is supported by Will alone, who is a half-nude
+young woman, fair and beautiful, and she is sustained by Charity, who
+is also suckling infants. And beneath the oval, on the parapet, is
+Grammar, who is teaching some little boys to read.
+
+Beginning over again, there follows Mercury with the Caduceus and with
+his Sign, who has below him in the oval some little boys, some of whom
+are going to school and some playing. This oval is supported by Truth,
+who is a nude little girl all pure and simple, who has on one side a
+male figure representing Falsehood, with a variety of girt-up garments
+and a most beautiful countenance, but with the eyes much sunken.
+Beneath the oval of the windows is Faith, who with the right hand is
+baptizing a child in a conch full of water, and with the left hand is
+holding a cross; and below her, on the parapet, is Logic covered by a
+veil, with a serpent.
+
+Next follows the Sun, represented by an Apollo who has the lyre in his
+hand, with his Sign in the ornament above. In the oval is Adolescence,
+represented by two boys of equal age, one of whom, holding a branch of
+olive, is ascending a mountain illumined by the sun, and the other,
+halting halfway up to admire the beauties that Fraud displays from the
+middle upwards, without perceiving that her hideous countenance is
+concealed behind a smooth and beautiful mask, is caused by her and her
+wiles to fall over a precipice. This oval is supported by Sloth, a
+gross and corpulent man, who stands all sleepy and nude in the guise
+of a Silenus; and also by Toil, in the person of a robust and
+hard-working peasant, who has around him the implements for tilling
+the earth. These are supported by that part of the ornament that is
+between the windows, where Hope is, who has the anchors at her feet;
+and on the parapet below is Music, with various musical instruments
+about her.
+
+There follows in due order Venus, who has clasped Love to her bosom,
+and is kissing him; and she, also, has her Sign above her. In the oval
+that she has beneath her is the story of Youth; that is, in the centre
+a young man seated, with books, instruments for measuring, and other
+things appertaining to design, and in addition maps of the world and
+cosmographical globes and spheres; and behind him is a loggia, in
+which are young men who are merrily passing the time away with
+singing, dancing, and playing, and also a banquet of young people all
+given over to enjoyment. On one side this oval is supported by
+Self-knowledge, who has about her compasses, armillary spheres,
+quadrants, and books, and is gazing at herself in a mirror; and, on
+the other side, by Fraud, a hideous old hag, lean and toothless, who
+is mocking at Self-knowledge, and in the act of covering her face with
+a smooth and beautiful mask. Below the oval is Temperance, with a
+horse's bridle in her hand, and beneath her, on the parapet, is
+Rhetoric, who is in a line with the other similar figures.
+
+Next to these comes Mars in armour, with many trophies about him, and
+with the Sign of the Lion above him. In his oval, which is below him,
+is Virility, represented by a full-grown man, standing between Memory
+and Will, who are holding before him a basin of gold containing a pair
+of wings, and are pointing out to him the path of deliverance in the
+direction of a mountain; and this oval is supported by Innocence, who
+is a maiden with a lamb at her side, and by Hilarity, who, all smiling
+and merry, reveals herself as what she really is. Beneath the oval,
+between the windows, is Prudence, who is making herself beautiful
+before a mirror; and she has below her, on the parapet, a figure of
+Philosophy.
+
+Next there follows Jove, with his thunderbolt and his bird, the Eagle,
+and with his Sign above him. In the oval is Old Age, who is
+represented by an old man clothed as a priest and kneeling before an
+altar, upon which he is placing the basin of gold with the two wings;
+and this oval is supported by Compassion, who is covering some naked
+little boys, and by Religion, enveloped in sacerdotal vestments. Below
+these is a Fortitude in armour, who, planting one of her legs in a
+spirited attitude on a fragment of a column, is placing some balls in
+the mouth of a lion; and beneath her, on the parapet, she has a figure
+of Astrology.
+
+The last of the seven Planets is Saturn, depicted as an old man heavy
+with melancholy, who is devouring his own children, with a great
+serpent that is seizing its own tail with its teeth; which Saturn has
+above him the Sign of Capricorn. In the oval is Decrepitude, and here
+is depicted Jove in Heaven receiving a naked and decrepit old man,
+kneeling, who is watched over by Felicity and Immortality, who are
+casting his garments into the world. This oval is supported by
+Beatitude, who is upheld by a figure of Justice in the ornament below,
+who is seated and has in her hand the sceptre and upon her shoulders
+the stork, with arms and laws around her; and on the parapet below is
+Geometry.
+
+In the lowest part at the foot, which is about the windows with
+knee-shaped brackets and the door, is Leah in a niche, representing
+the Active Life, and on the other side of the same place is Industry,
+who has a Cornucopia and two goads in her hands. Near the door is a
+scene in which many masters in wood and stone, architects, and
+stone-cutters have before them the gate of Cosmopolis, a city built by
+the Lord Duke Cosimo in the island of Elba, with a representation of
+Porto-Ferrajo. Between this scene and the frieze in which are the
+Liberal Arts, is Lake Trasimene, round which are Nymphs who are
+issuing from the water with tench, pike, eels, and roach, and beside
+the lake is Perugia, a nude figure holding with her hands a dog, which
+she is showing to a figure of Florence corresponding to her, who
+stands on the other side, with a figure of Arno beside her who is
+embracing and fondling her. And below this is the Contemplative Life
+in another scene, in which many philosophers and astrologers are
+measuring the heavens, appearing to be casting the horoscope of the
+Duke; and beside this, in the niche corresponding to that of Leah, is
+her sister Rachel, the daughter of Laban, representing the
+Contemplative Life. The last scene, which is likewise between two
+niches and forms the conclusion of the whole invention, is Death, who,
+mounted on a lean horse and holding the scythe, and accompanied by
+War, Pestilence, and Famine, is riding over persons of every kind. In
+one niche is the God Pluto, and beneath him Cerberus, the Hound of
+Hell; and in the other is a large figure rising again from a sepulchre
+on the last day. After all these things Cristofano executed on the
+pediments of the windows with knee-shaped brackets some nude figures
+that are holding the devices of his Excellency, and over the door a
+Ducal coat of arms, the six balls of which are upheld by some naked
+little boys, who twine in and out between each other as they fly
+through the air. And last of all, in the bases at the foot, beneath
+all the scenes, the same Cristofano painted the device of M. Sforza;
+that is, some obelisks, or rather triangular pyramids, which rest upon
+three balls, with a motto around that reads--Immobilis.
+
+This work, when finished, was vastly extolled by his Excellency and by
+Messer Sforza himself, who, like the courteous gentleman that he was,
+wished to reward with a considerable present the art and industry of
+Cristofano; but he would have none of it, being contented and fully
+repaid by the goodwill of that lord, who loved him ever afterwards
+more than I could say. While the work was being executed, Vasari had
+Cristofano with him, as he had always done in the past, in the house
+of Signor Bernardetto de' Medici, who much delighted in painting;
+which having perceived, Cristofano painted two scenes in chiaroscuro
+in a corner of his garden. One was the Rape of Proserpine, and in the
+other were Vertumnus and Pomona, the deities of agriculture; and
+besides this Cristofano painted in this work some ornaments of
+terminal figures and children of such variety and beauty, that there
+is nothing better to be seen.
+
+Meanwhile arrangements had been made for beginning to paint in the
+Palace, and the first thing that was taken in hand was a hall in the
+new apartments, which, being twenty braccia wide, and having a height,
+according as Tasso had constructed it, of not more than nine braccia,
+was raised three braccia with beautiful ingenuity by Vasari, that is,
+to a total height of twelve braccia, without moving the roof, which
+was half a pavilion roof.
+
+But because in doing this, before it could become possible to paint,
+much time had to be devoted to reconstructing the ceilings and to
+other works in that apartment and in others, Vasari himself obtained
+leave to go to Arezzo to spend two months there together with
+Cristofano. However, he did not succeed in being able to rest during
+that time, for the reason that he could not refuse to go in those days
+to Cortona, where he painted in fresco the vaulting and the walls of
+the Company of Jesus with the assistance of Cristofano, who acquitted
+himself very well, and particularly in the twelve different sacrifices
+from the Old Testament which they executed in the lunettes between the
+spandrels of the vaulting. Indeed, to speak more exactly, almost the
+whole of this work was by the hand of Cristofano, Vasari having done
+nothing therein beyond making certain sketches, designing some parts
+on the plaster, and then retouching it at times in various places,
+according as it was necessary.
+
+This work finished, which is not otherwise than grand, worthy of
+praise, and very well executed, by reason of the great variety of
+things that are in it, they both returned to Florence in the month of
+January of the year 1555. There, having taken in hand the Hall of the
+Elements, while Vasari was painting the pictures of the ceiling,
+Cristofano executed some devices that bind together the friezes of the
+beams in perpendicular lines, in which are heads of capricorns and
+tortoises with the sail, devices of his Excellency. But the works in
+which he showed himself most marvellous were some festoons of fruits
+that are in the friezes of the beams on the under side, which are so
+beautiful that there is nothing better coloured or more natural to be
+seen, particularly because they are separated one from another by
+certain masks, that hold in their mouths the ligatures of the
+festoons, than which one would not be able to find any more varied or
+more bizarre; in which manner of work it may be said that Cristofano
+was superior to any other who has ever made it his principal and
+particular profession. This done, he painted some large figures on
+that part of the walls where there is the Birth of Venus, but after
+the cartoons of Vasari, and many little figures in a landscape, which
+were executed very well. In like manner, on the wall where there are
+the Loves as tiny little children, fashioning the arrows of Cupid, he
+painted the three Cyclopes forging thunderbolts for Jove. Over six
+doors he executed in fresco six large ovals with ornaments in
+chiaroscuro and containing scenes in the colour of bronze, which were
+very beautiful; and in the same hall, between the windows, he painted
+in colours a Mercury and a Pluto, which are likewise very beautiful.
+
+Work being then begun in the Chamber of the Goddess Ops, which is
+next to that described above, he painted the four Seasons in fresco on
+the ceiling, and, in addition to the figures, some festoons that were
+marvellous in their variety and beauty, for the reason that, even as
+those of Spring were filled with a thousand kinds of flowers, so those
+of Summer were painted with an infinite number of fruits and cereals,
+those of Autumn were of leaves and bunches of the grape, and those of
+Winter were of onions, turnips, radishes, carrots, parsnips, and dried
+leaves, not to mention that in the central picture, in which is the
+Car of Ops, he coloured so beautifully in oils four lions that are
+drawing the Car, that nothing better could be done; and, in truth, in
+painting animals he had no equal.
+
+Then in the Chamber of Ceres, which is beside the last-named, he
+executed in certain angles some little boys and festoons that are
+beautiful to a marvel. And in the central picture, where Vasari had
+painted Ceres seeking for Proserpine with a lighted pine torch, upon a
+car drawn by two serpents, Cristofano carried many things to
+completion with his own hand, because Vasari was ill at that time and
+had left that picture, among other things, unfinished.
+
+Finally, when it came to decorating a terrace that is beyond the
+Chamber of Jove and beside that of Ops, it was decided that all the
+history of Juno should be painted there; and so, after all the
+ornamentation in stucco had been finished, with very rich carvings and
+various compositions of figures, wrought after the cartoons of Vasari,
+the same Vasari ordained that Cristofano should execute that work by
+himself in fresco, desiring, since it was a work to be seen from near,
+and of figures not higher than one braccio, that Gherardi should do
+something beautiful in this, which was his peculiar profession.
+Cristofano, then, executed in an oval on the vaulting a Marriage with
+Juno in the sky, and in a picture on one side Hebe, Goddess of Youth,
+and on the other Iris, who is pointing to the rainbow in the heavens.
+On the same vaulting he painted three other quadrangular pictures, two
+to match the others, and a larger one in a line with the oval in which
+is the Marriage, and in the last-named picture is Juno seated in a car
+drawn by peacocks. In one of the other two, which are on either side
+of that one, is the Goddess of Power, and in the other Abundance with
+the Cornucopia at her feet. And in two other pictures on the walls
+below, over the openings of two doors, are two other stories of
+Juno--the Transformation of Io, the daughter of the River Inachus,
+into a Cow, and of Callisto into a Bear.
+
+During the execution of that work his Excellency conceived a very
+great affection for Cristofano, seeing him zealous and diligent in no
+ordinary manner at his work; for the morning had scarcely broken into
+day when Cristofano would appear at his labour, of which he had such a
+love, and it so delighted him, that very often he would not finish
+dressing before setting out. And at times, nay, frequently, it
+happened that in his haste he put on a pair of shoes--all such things
+he kept under his bed--that were not fellows, but of two kinds; and
+more often than not he had his cloak wrong side out, with the hood on
+the inside. One morning, therefore, appearing at an early hour at his
+work, where the Lord Duke and the Lady Duchess were standing looking
+at it, while preparations were being made to set out for the chase,
+and the ladies and others of the Court were making themselves ready,
+they noticed that Cristofano had as usual his cloak wrong side out and
+the hood inside. At which both laughing, the Duke said: "What is your
+idea in always wearing your cloak inside out?" "I know not, my Lord,"
+answered Cristofano, "but I mean to find some day a kind of cloak that
+shall have neither right side nor wrong side, and shall be the same on
+both sides, for I have not the patience to think of wearing it in any
+other way, since in the morning I generally dress and go out of the
+house in the dark, besides that I have one eye so feeble that I can
+see nothing with it. But let your Excellency look at what I paint, and
+not at my manner of dressing." The Duke said nothing in answer, but
+within a few days he caused to be made for him a cloak of the finest
+cloth, with the pieces sewn and drawn together in such a manner that
+there was no difference to be seen between outside and inside, and the
+collar worked with braid in the same manner both inside and out, and
+so also the trimming that it had round the edges. This being finished,
+he sent it to Cristofano by a lackey, commanding the man that he
+should give it to him on the part of the Duke. Having therefore
+received the cloak very early one morning, Cristofano, without making
+any further ceremony, tried it on and then said to the lackey: "The
+Duke is a man of sense. Tell him that it suits me well."
+
+Now, since Cristofano was thus careless of his person and hated
+nothing more than to have to put on new clothes or to go about too
+tightly constrained and confined in them, Vasari, who knew this humour
+of his, whenever he observed that he was in need of any new clothes,
+used to have them made for him in secret, and then, early one morning,
+used to place these in his chamber and take away the old ones; and so
+Cristofano was forced to put on those that he found. But it was
+marvellous sport to stand and hear him raging with fury as he dressed
+himself in the new clothes. "Look here," he would say, "what
+devilments are these? Devil take it, can a man not live in his own way
+in this world, without the enemies of comfort giving themselves all
+this trouble?" One morning among others, Cristofano having put on a
+pair of white hose, the painter Domenico Benci, who was also working
+in the Palace with Vasari, contrived to persuade him to go with
+himself, in company with other young men, to the Madonna
+dell'Impruneta. There they walked, danced, and enjoyed themselves all
+day, and in the evening, after supper, they returned home. Then
+Cristofano, who was tired, went off straightway to his room to sleep;
+but, when he set himself to take off his hose, what with their being
+new and his having sweated, he was not able to pull off more than one
+of them. Now Vasari, having gone in the evening to see how he was,
+found that he had fallen asleep with one leg covered and the other
+bare; whereupon, one servant holding his leg and the other pulling at
+the stocking, they contrived to draw it off, while he lay cursing
+clothes, Giorgio, and him who invented such fashions as--so he
+said--kept men bound in chains like slaves. Nay, he grumbled that he
+would take leave of them all and by hook or by crook return to S.
+Giustino, where he was allowed to live in his own way and had not all
+these restraints; and it was the devil's own business to pacify him.
+
+It pleased him to talk seldom, and he loved that others also should
+be brief in speaking, insomuch that he would have gone so far as to
+have men's proper names very short, like that of a slave belonging to
+M. Sforza, who was called "M." "These," said Cristofano, "are fine
+names, and not your Giovan Francesco and Giovanni Antonio, which take
+an hour's work to pronounce;" and since he was a good fellow at heart,
+and said these things in his own jargon of the Borgo, it would have
+made the Doleful Knight himself laugh. He delighted to go on
+feast-days to the places where legends and printed pictures were sold,
+and he would stay there the whole day; and if he bought some, more
+often than not, while he went about looking at the others, he would
+leave them at some place where he had been leaning. And never, unless
+he was forced, would he go on horseback, although he was born from a
+noble family in his native place and was rich enough.
+
+Finally, his brother Borgognone having died, he had to go to the
+Borgo; and Vasari, who had drawn much of the money of his salary and
+had kept it for him, said to him: "See, I have all this money of
+yours, it is right that you should take it with you and make use of it
+in your requirements." "I want no money," answered Cristofano, "take
+it for yourself. For me it is enough to have the luck to stay with you
+and to live and die in your company." "It is not my custom," replied
+Vasari, "to profit by the labour of others. If you will not have it, I
+shall send it to your father Guido." "That you must not do," said
+Cristofano, "for he would only waste it, as he always does." In the
+end, he took the money and went off to the Borgo, but in poor health
+and with little contentment of mind; and after arriving there, what
+with his sorrow at the death of his brother, whom he had loved very
+dearly, and a cruel flux of the reins, he died in a few days, after
+receiving the full sacraments of the Church and distributing to his
+family and to many poor persons the money that he had brought. He
+declared a little before his death that it grieved him for no other
+reason save that he was leaving Vasari too much embarrassed by the
+great labours to which he had set his hand in the Palace of the Duke.
+Not long afterwards, his Excellency having heard of the death of
+Cristofano, and that with true regret, he caused a head of him to be
+made in marble and sent it with the underwritten epitaph from Florence
+to the Borgo, where it was placed in S. Francesco:
+
+                D. O. M.
+     CHRISTOPHORO GHERARDO BURGENSI
+        PINGENDI ARTE PRAESTANTISS.
+  QUOD GEORGIUS VASARIUS ARETINUS HUJUS
+          ARTIS FACILE PRINCEPS
+              IN EXORNANDO
+      COSMI FLORENTIN. DUCIS PALATIO
+        ILLIUS OPERAM QUAM MAXIME
+                PROBAVERIT,
+        PICTORES HETRUSCI POSUERE.
+             OBIIT A.D. MDLVI.
+       VIXIT AN. LVI, M. III, D. VI.
+
+
+
+
+JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI
+
+(_After the painting by =Jacopo da Pontormo=. Siena: S. Agostino_)
+
+_Anderson_]
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF JACOPO DA PONTORMO
+
+PAINTER OF FLORENCE
+
+
+The ancestors--or rather, the elders of Bartolommeo di Jacopo di
+Martino, the father of Jacopo da Pontormo, whose Life we are now about
+to write--had their origin, so some declare, in Ancisa, a township in
+the Upper Valdarno, famous enough because from it the ancestors of
+Messer Francesco Petrarca likewise derived their origin. But, whether
+it was from there or from some other place that his elders came, the
+above-named Bartolommeo, who was a Florentine, and, so I have been
+told, of the family of the Carrucci, is said to have been a disciple
+of Domenico Ghirlandajo, and, after executing many works in the
+Valdarno, as a painter passing able for those times, to have finally
+made his way to Empoli to carry out certain labours, living there and
+in the neighbouring places, and taking to wife at Pontormo a most
+virtuous girl of good condition, called Alessandra, the daughter of
+Pasquale di Zanobi and of his wife Monna Brigida. To this Bartolommeo,
+then, there was born in the year 1493 our Jacopo. But the father
+having died in the year 1499, the mother in the year 1504, and the
+grandfather in the year 1506, Jacopo was left to the care of his
+grandmother, Monna Brigida, who kept him for several years at
+Pontormo, and had him taught reading, writing, and the first rudiments
+of Latin grammar; and finally, at the age of thirteen, he was taken by
+the same guardian to Florence, and placed with the Pupilli, to the end
+that his small property might be safeguarded and preserved by that
+board, as is the custom. And after settling the boy himself in the
+house of one Battista, a shoemaker distantly related to him, Monna
+Brigida returned to Pontormo, taking with her a sister of Jacopo's.
+But not long after that, Monna Brigida herself having died, Jacopo
+was forced to bring that sister to Florence, and to place her in the
+house of a kinsman called Niccolaio, who lived in the Via de' Servi;
+and the girl, also, following the rest of her family, died in the year
+1512, before ever she was married.
+
+But to return to Jacopo; he had not been many months in Florence when
+he was placed by Bernardo Vettori with Leonardo da Vinci, and shortly
+afterwards with Mariotto Albertinelli, then with Piero di Cosimo, and
+finally, in the year 1512, with Andrea del Sarto, with whom, likewise,
+he did not stay long, for the reason that, after Jacopo had executed
+the cartoons of the little arch for the Servites, of which there will
+be an account below, it appears that Andrea never again looked
+favourably upon him, whatever may have been the reason. The first
+work, then, that Jacopo executed at that time was a little
+Annunciation for one his friend, a tailor; but the tailor having died
+before the work was finished, it remained in the hands of Jacopo, who
+was at that time with Mariotto, and Mariotto took pride in it, and
+showed it as a rare work to all who entered his workshop. Now
+Raffaello da Urbino, coming in those days to Florence, saw with
+infinite marvel the work and the lad who had done it, and prophesied
+of Jacopo that which was afterwards seen to come true. Not long
+afterwards, Mariotto having departed from Florence and gone to Viterbo
+to execute the panel-picture that Fra Bartolommeo had begun there,
+Jacopo, who was young, solitary, and melancholy, being thus left
+without a master, went by himself to work under Andrea del Sarto, at
+the very moment when Andrea had finished the stories of S. Filippo in
+the court of the Servites, which pleased Jacopo vastly, as did all his
+other works and his whole manner and design. Jacopo having then set
+himself to make every effort to imitate him, no long time passed
+before it was seen that he had made marvellous progress in drawing and
+colouring, insomuch that from his facility it seemed as if he had been
+many years in art.
+
+Now Andrea had finished in those days a panel-picture of the
+Annunciation for the Church of the Friars of S. Gallo, which is now
+destroyed, as has been related in his Life; and he gave the predella
+of that panel-picture to Jacopo to execute in oils. Jacopo painted in
+it a Dead Christ, with two little Angels who are weeping over Him and
+illuminating Him with two torches, and, in two round pictures at the
+sides, two Prophets, which were executed by him so ably, that they
+have the appearance of having been painted not by a mere lad but by a
+practised master; but it may also be, as Bronzino says, that he
+remembers having heard from Jacopo da Pontormo himself that Rosso
+likewise worked on this predella. And even as Andrea was assisted by
+Jacopo in executing the predella, so also was he aided by him in
+finishing the many pictures and works that Andrea continually had in
+hand.
+
+In the meantime, Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici having been elected
+Supreme Pontiff under the title of Leo X, there were being made all
+over Florence by the friends and adherents of that house many
+escutcheons of the Pontiff, in stone, in marble, on canvas, and in
+fresco. Wherefore the Servite Friars, wishing to give some sign of
+their service and devotion to that house and Pontiff, caused the arms
+of Leo to be made in stone, and placed in the centre of the arch in
+the first portico of the Nunziata, which is on the piazza; and shortly
+afterwards they arranged that it should be overlaid with gold by the
+painter Andrea di Cosimo, and adorned with grotesques, of which he was
+an excellent master, and with the devices of the house of Medici, and
+that, in addition, on either side of it there should be painted a
+Faith and a Charity. But Andrea di Cosimo, knowing that he was not
+able to execute all these things by himself, thought of giving the two
+figures to some other to do; and so, having sent for Jacopo, who was
+then not more than nineteen years of age, he gave him those two
+figures to execute, although he had no little trouble to persuade him
+to undertake to do it, seeing that, being a mere lad, he did not wish
+to expose himself at the outset to such a risk, or to work in a place
+of so much importance. However, having taken heart, although he was
+not as well practised in fresco as in oil-painting, Jacopo undertook
+to paint those two figures. And, withdrawing--for he was still working
+with Andrea del Sarto--to draw the cartoons at S. Antonio by the Porta
+a Faenza, where he lived, in a short time he carried them to
+completion; which done, one day he took his master Andrea to see
+them. Andrea, after seeing them with infinite marvel and amazement,
+praised them vastly; but afterwards, as has been related, whether it
+was from envy or from some other reason, he never again looked with a
+kindly eye on Jacopo; nay, Jacopo going several times to his workshop,
+either the door was not opened to him or he was mocked at by the
+assistants, insomuch that he retired altogether by himself, beginning
+to live on the least that he could, for he was very poor, and to study
+with the greatest assiduity.
+
+[Illustration: DUKE COSIMO I. DE' MEDICI
+
+(_After the painting by =Jacopo da Pontormo=. Florence: Uffizi, 1270_)
+
+_Anderson_]
+
+When Andrea di Cosimo, then, had finished gilding the escutcheon and
+all the eaves, Jacopo set to work all by himself to finish the rest;
+and being carried away by the desire to make a name, by his joy in
+working, and by nature, which had endowed him with extraordinary grace
+and fertility of genius, he executed that work with incredible
+rapidity and with such perfection as could not have been surpassed by
+an old, well-practised, and excellent master. Wherefore, growing in
+courage through this experience, and thinking that he could do a much
+better work, he took it into his head that he would throw to the
+ground all that he had done, without saying a word to anyone, and
+paint it all over again after another design that he had in his brain.
+But in the meantime the friars, having seen that the work was finished
+and that Jacopo came no more to his labour, sought out Andrea, and so
+pestered him that he resolved to uncover it. Having therefore looked
+for Jacopo, in order to ask him whether he wished to do any more to
+the work, and not finding him, for the reason that he stayed shut up
+over his new design and would not answer to anyone, Andrea had the
+screen and scaffolding removed and the work uncovered. The same
+evening Jacopo, having issued from his house in order to go to the
+Servite convent, and, when it should be night, to throw to the ground
+the work that he had done, and to put into execution the new design,
+found the scaffolding taken away and everything uncovered, and a
+multitude of people all around gazing at the work. Whereupon, full of
+fury, he sought out Andrea, and complained of his having uncovered it
+without his consent, going on to describe what he had in mind to do.
+To which Andrea answered, laughing: "You are wrong to complain,
+because the work that you have done is so good that, if you had it
+to do again, you may take my word for it that you would not be able
+to do it better. You will not want for work, so keep these designs for
+another occasion." That work, as may be seen, was of such a kind and
+so beautiful, what with the novelty of the manner, the sweetness in
+the heads of those two women, and the loveliness of the graceful and
+lifelike children, that it was the most beautiful work in fresco that
+had ever been seen up to that time; and, besides the children with the
+Charity, there are two others in the air holding a piece of drapery
+over the escutcheon of the Pope, who are so beautiful that nothing
+better could be done, not to mention that all the figures have very
+strong relief and are so executed in colouring and in every other
+respect that one is not able to praise them enough. And Michelagnolo
+Buonarroti, seeing the work one day, and reflecting that a youth of
+nineteen had done it, said: "This young man, judging from what may be
+seen here, will become such that, if he lives and perseveres, he will
+exalt this art to the heavens." This renown and fame being heard by
+the men of Pontormo, they sent for Jacopo, and commissioned him to
+execute in their stronghold, over a gate placed on the main road, an
+escutcheon of Pope Leo with two little boys, which was very beautiful;
+but already it has been little less than ruined by rain.
+
+[Illustration: THE VISITATION
+
+(_After the fresco by =Jacopo da Pontormo=. Florence: SS. Annunziata,
+Cloister_)
+
+_Anderson_]
+
+At the Carnival in the same year, all Florence being gay and full of
+rejoicing at the election of the above-named Leo X, many festive
+spectacles were ordained, and among them two of great beauty and
+extraordinary cost, which were given by two companies of noblemen and
+gentlemen of the city. One of these, which was called the Diamante,[5]
+had for its head the brother of the Pope, Signor Giuliano de' Medici,
+who had given it that name because the diamond had been a device of
+his father, the elder Lorenzo; and the head of the other, which had as
+name and device the Broncone,[6] was Signor Lorenzo, the son of Piero
+de' Medici, who had for his device a Broncone--that is, a dried trunk
+of laurel growing green again with leaves, as it were to signify that
+he was reviving and restoring the name of his grandfather.
+
+         [Footnote 5: Diamond.]
+
+         [Footnote 6: Trunk or branch.]
+
+By the Company of the Diamante, then, a commission was given to M.
+Andrea Dazzi, who was then lecturing on Greek and Latin Letters at the
+Studio in Florence, to look to the invention of a triumphal
+procession; whereupon he arranged one similar to those that the Romans
+used to have for their triumphs, with three very beautiful cars
+wrought in wood, and painted with rich and beautiful art. In the first
+was Boyhood, with a most beautiful array of boys. In the second was
+Manhood, with many persons who had done great things in their manly
+prime. And in the third was Old Age, with many famous men who had
+performed great achievements in their last years. All these persons
+were very richly apparelled, insomuch that it was thought that nothing
+better could be done. The architects of these cars were Raffaello
+delle Vivole, Il Carota the wood-carver, the painter Andrea di Cosimo,
+and Andrea del Sarto; those who arranged and prepared the dresses of
+the figures were Ser Piero da Vinci, the father of Leonardo, and
+Bernardino di Giordano, both men of beautiful ingenuity; and to Jacopo
+da Pontormo alone it fell to paint all the three cars, wherein he
+executed various scenes in chiaroscuro of the Transformations of the
+Gods into different forms, which are now in the possession of Pietro
+Paolo Galeotto, an excellent goldsmith. The first car bore, written in
+very clear characters, the word "Erimus," the second "Sumus," and the
+third "Fuimus"--that is, "We shall be," "We are," and "We have been."
+The song began, "The years fly on...."
+
+Having seen these triumphal cars, Signor Lorenzo, the head of the
+Company of the Broncone, desiring that they should be surpassed, gave
+the charge of the whole work to Jacopo Nardi, a noble and most learned
+gentleman, to whom, for what he afterwards became, his native city of
+Florence is much indebted. This Jacopo prepared six triumphal cars, in
+order to double the number of those executed by the Diamante. The
+first, drawn by a pair of oxen decked with herbage, represented the
+Age of Saturn and Janus, called the Age of Gold; and on the summit of
+the car were Saturn with the Scythe, and Janus with the two heads and
+with the key of the Temple of Peace in the hand, and at his feet a
+figure of Fury bound, with a vast number of things around appertaining
+to Saturn, all executed most beautifully in different colours by the
+genius of Pontormo. Accompanying this car were six couples of
+Shepherds, naked but for certain parts covered by skins of marten and
+sable, with footwear of various kinds after the ancient manner, and
+with their wallets, and on their heads garlands of many kinds of
+leaves. The horses on which these Shepherds sat were without saddles,
+but covered with skins of lions, tigers, and lynxes, the paws of
+which, overlaid with gold, hung at their sides with much grace and
+beauty. The ornaments of their croups and of the grooms were of gold
+cord, the stirrups were heads of rams, dogs, and other suchlike
+animals, and the bridles and reins made with silver cord and various
+kinds of verdure. Each Shepherd had four grooms in the garb of
+shepherd-boys, dressed more simply in other skins, with torches
+fashioned in the form of dry trunks and branches of pine, which made a
+most beautiful sight.
+
+Upon the second car, drawn by two pairs of oxen draped in the richest
+cloth, with garlands on their heads and great paternosters hanging
+from their gilded horns, was Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome,
+with the books of religion and all the sacerdotal instruments and the
+things appertaining to sacrifices, for the reason that he was the
+originator and first founder of religion and sacrifices among the
+Romans. This car was accompanied by six priests on most beautiful
+she-mules, their heads covered with hoods of linen embroidered with
+silver and gold in a masterly pattern of ivy-leaves; and on their
+bodies they had sacerdotal vestments in the ancient fashion, with
+borders and fringes of gold all round, and in the hands one had a
+thurible, another a vase of gold, and the rest other similar things.
+At their stirrups they had attendants in the guise of Levites, and the
+torches that these had in their hands were after the manner of ancient
+candelabra, and wrought with beautiful artistry.
+
+The third car represented the Consulate of Titus Manlius Torquatus,
+who was Consul after the end of the first Carthaginian war, and
+governed in such a manner, that in his time there flourished in Rome
+every virtue and every blessing. That car, upon which was Titus
+himself, with many ornaments executed by Pontormo, was drawn by eight
+most beautiful horses, and before it went six couples of Senators clad
+in the toga, on horses covered with cloth of gold, accompanied by a
+great number of grooms representing Lictors, with the fasces, axes,
+and other things appertaining to the administration of justice.
+
+The fourth car, drawn by four buffaloes disguised as elephants,
+represented Julius Caesar in Triumph for the victory gained over
+Cleopatra, the car being all painted by Pontormo with his most famous
+deeds. That car was accompanied by six couples of men-at-arms clad in
+rich and brightly shining armour all bordered with gold, with their
+lances on their hips; and the torches that the half-armed grooms
+carried had the form of trophies, designed in various ways.
+
+The fifth car, drawn by winged horses that had the form of gryphons,
+bore upon it Caesar Augustus, the Lord of the Universe, accompanied by
+six couples of Poets on horseback, all crowned, as was also Caesar,
+with laurel, and dressed in costumes varying according to their
+provinces; and these were there because poets were always much
+favoured by Caesar Augustus, whom they exalted with their works to the
+heavens. And to the end that they might be recognized, each of them
+had across his forehead a scroll after the manner of a fillet, on
+which was his name.
+
+On the sixth car, drawn by four pairs of heifers richly draped, was
+Trajan, that just Emperor, before whom, as he sat on the car, which
+was painted very well by Pontormo, there rode upon beautiful and
+finely caparisoned horses six couples of Doctors of Law, with togas
+reaching to their feet and with capes of miniver, such as it was the
+ancient custom for Doctors to wear. The grooms who carried their
+torches, a great number, were scriveners, copyists, and notaries, with
+books and writings in their hands.
+
+After these six came the car, or rather, triumphal chariot, of the Age
+or Era of Gold, wrought with the richest and most beautiful artistry,
+with many figures in relief executed by Baccio Bandinelli, and very
+beautiful paintings by the hand of Pontormo; among those in relief the
+four Cardinal Virtues being highly extolled. From the centre of the
+car rose a great sphere in the form of a globe of the world, upon
+which there lay prostrate on his face, as if dead, a man clad in
+armour all eaten with rust, who had the back open and cleft, and from
+the fissure there issued a child all naked and gilded, who
+represented the new birth of the age of gold and the end of the age of
+iron, from which he was coming forth into that new birth by reason of
+the election of that Pontiff; and this same significance had the dry
+trunk putting forth new leaves, although some said that the matter of
+that dry trunk was an allusion to the Lorenzo de' Medici who became
+Duke of Urbino. I should mention that the gilded boy, who was the son
+of a baker, died shortly afterwards through the sufferings that he
+endured in order to gain ten crowns.
+
+The chant that was sung in that masquerade, as is the custom, was
+composed by the above-named Jacopo Nardi, and the first stanza ran
+thus:
+
+  Colui che da le leggi alla Natura
+  E i varii stati e secoli dispone,
+  D'ogni bene e cagione;
+  E il mal, quanto permette, al Mondo dura;
+  Onde questa figura
+  Contemplando si vede,
+  Come con certo piede
+  L'un secol dopo l'altro al Mondo viene
+  E muta il bene in male, e 'l male in bene.
+
+From the works that he executed for this festival Pontormo gained,
+besides the profit, so much praise, that probably few young men of his
+age ever gained as much in that city; wherefore, Pope Leo himself
+afterwards coming to Florence, he was much employed in the festive
+preparations that were made, for he had attached himself to Baccio da
+Montelupo, a sculptor advanced in years, who made an arch of wood at
+the head of the Via del Palagio, at the steps of the Badia, and
+Pontormo painted it all with very beautiful scenes, which afterwards
+came to an evil end through the scant diligence of those who had
+charge of them. Only one remained, that in which Pallas is tuning an
+instrument into accord with the lyre of Apollo, with great grace and
+beauty; from which scene one is able to judge what excellence and
+perfection were in the other works and figures. For the same
+festivities Ridolfo Ghirlandajo had received the task of fitting up
+and embellishing the Sala del Papa, which is attached to the Convent
+of S. Maria Novella, and was formerly the residence of the Pontiffs in
+the city of Florence; but being pressed for time, he was forced to
+avail himself in some things of the work of others, and thus, after
+having adorned all the other rooms, he laid on Jacopo da Pontormo the
+charge of executing some pictures in fresco in the chapel where his
+Holiness was to hear Mass every morning. Whereupon, setting his hand
+to the work, Jacopo painted there a God the Father with many little
+Angels, and a Veronica who had the Sudarium with the image of Jesus
+Christ; which work, thus executed by Jacopo in so short a time, was
+much extolled.
+
+He then painted in fresco, in a chapel of the Church of S. Ruffillo,
+behind the Archbishop's Palace in Florence, Our Lady with her Son in
+her arms between S. Michelagnolo and S. Lucia, and two other Saints
+kneeling; and, in the lunette of the chapel, a God the Father with
+some Seraphim about Him. Next, having been commissioned by Maestro
+Jacopo, a Servite friar, as he had greatly desired, to paint a part of
+the court of the Servites, because Andrea del Sarto had gone off to
+France and left the work of that court unfinished, he set himself with
+much study to make the cartoons. But since he was poorly provided with
+the things of this world, and was obliged, while studying in order to
+win honour, to have something to live upon, he executed over the door
+of the Hospital for Women--behind the Church of the Priest's Hospital,
+between the Piazza di S. Marco and the Via di S. Gallo, and exactly
+opposite to the wall of the Sisters of S. Catharine of Siena--two most
+beautiful figures in chiaroscuro, with Christ in the guise of a
+pilgrim awaiting certain women in order to give them hospitality and
+lodging; which work was deservedly much extolled in those days, as it
+still is, by all good judges. At this same time he painted some
+pictures and little scenes in oils for the Masters of the Mint, on the
+Carro della Moneta, which goes every year in the procession of S.
+John; the workmanship of which car was by the hand of Marco del Tasso.
+And over the door of the Company of Cecilia, on the heights of
+Fiesole, he painted a S. Cecilia with some roses in her hand, coloured
+in fresco, and so beautiful and so well suited to that place, that,
+for a work of that kind, it is one of the best paintings in fresco
+that there are to be seen.
+
+These works having been seen by the above-named Servite friar, Maestro
+Jacopo, he became even more ardent in his desire, and he determined at
+all costs to cause Jacopo to finish the work in that court of the
+Servites, thinking that in emulation of the other masters who had
+worked there he would execute something of extraordinary beauty in the
+part that remained to be painted. Having therefore set his hand to it,
+from a desire no less of glory and honour than of gain, Jacopo painted
+the scene of the Visitation of the Madonna, in a manner a little freer
+and more lively than had been his wont up to that time; which
+circumstance gave an infinite excellence to the work, in addition to
+its other extraordinary beauties, in that the women, little boys,
+youths, and old men are executed in fresco with such softness and such
+harmony of colouring, that it is a thing to marvel at, and the
+flesh-colours of a little boy who is seated on some steps, and,
+indeed, those likewise of all the other figures, are such that they
+could not be done better or with more softness in fresco. This work,
+then, after the others that Jacopo had executed, gave a sure earnest
+of his future perfection to the craftsmen, comparing them with those
+of Andrea del Sarto and Franciabigio. Jacopo delivered the work
+finished in the year 1516, and received in payment sixteen crowns and
+no more.
+
+Having then been allotted by Francesco Pucci, if I remember rightly,
+the altar-piece of a chapel that he had caused to be built in S.
+Michele Bisdomini in the Via de' Servi, Jacopo executed the work in so
+beautiful a manner, and with a colouring so vivid, that it seems
+almost impossible to credit it. In this altar-piece Our Lady, who is
+seated, is handing the Infant Jesus to S. Joseph, in whose countenance
+there is a smile so animated and so lifelike that it is a marvel; and
+very beautiful, likewise, is a little boy painted to represent S. John
+the Baptist, and also two other little children, naked, who are
+upholding a canopy. There may be seen also a S. John the Evangelist, a
+most beautiful old man, and a S. Francis kneeling, who is absolutely
+alive, for, with the fingers of one hand interlocked with those of the
+other, and wholly intent in contemplating fixedly with his eyes and
+his mind the Virgin and her Son, he appears really to be breathing.
+And no less beautiful is the S. James who may be seen beside the
+others. Wherefore it is no marvel that this is the most beautiful
+altar-piece that was ever executed by this truly rare painter.
+
+I used to believe that it was after this work, and not before, that
+the same Jacopo had painted in fresco the two most lovely and graceful
+little boys who are supporting a coat of arms over a door within a
+passage on the Lungarno, between the Ponte S. Trinita and the Ponte
+alla Carraja, for Bartolommeo Lanfredini; but since Bronzino, who may
+be supposed to know the truth about these matters, declares that they
+were among the first works that Jacopo executed, we must believe that
+this is so without a doubt, and praise Pontormo for them all the more,
+seeing that they are so beautiful that they cannot be matched, and yet
+were among the earliest works that he did.
+
+But to resume the order of our story: after these works, Jacopo
+executed for the men of Pontormo an altar-piece wherein are S.
+Michelagnolo and S. John the Evangelist, which was placed in the
+Chapel of the Madonna in S. Agnolo, their principal church. At this
+time one of two young men who were working under Jacopo--that is,
+Giovan Maria Pichi of Borgo a S. Sepolcro, who was acquitting himself
+passing well, and who afterwards became a Servite friar, and executed
+some works in the Borgo and in the Pieve a S. Stefano--while still
+working, I say, under Jacopo, painted in a large picture a nude S.
+Quentin in martyrdom, in order to send it to the Borgo. But since
+Jacopo, like a loving master to his disciple, desired that Giovan
+Maria should win honour and praise, he set himself to retouch it, and
+so, not being able to take his hands off it, and retouching one day
+the head, the next day the arms, and the day after the body, the
+retouching became such that it may almost be said that the work is
+entirely by his hand. Wherefore it is no marvel that this picture,
+which is now in the Church of the Observantine Friars of S. Francis in
+the Borgo, is most beautiful.
+
+[Illustration: JOSEPH AND HIS KINDRED IN EGYPT
+
+(_After the painting by =Jacopo da Pontormo=. London: National Gallery,
+1131_)
+
+_Hanfstaengl_]
+
+The second of the two young men, who was Giovanni Antonio Lappoli of
+Arezzo, of whom there has been an account in another place, like a
+vain fellow had taken a portrait of himself with a mirror, also while
+he was working under Jacopo. But his master, thinking that the
+portrait was a poor likeness, took it in hand himself, and executed
+a portrait that is so good that it has the appearance of life; which
+portrait is now at Arezzo, in the house of the heirs of that Giovanni
+Antonio.
+
+Pontormo also portrayed in one and the same picture two of his dearest
+friends--one the son-in-law of Beccuccio Bicchieraio, and another,
+whose name likewise I do not know; it is enough that the portraits are
+by the hand of Pontormo. He then executed for Bartolommeo Ginori, in
+anticipation of his death, a string of pennons, according to the
+custom of the Florentines; and in the upper part of all these, on the
+white taffeta, he painted a Madonna with the Child, and on the
+coloured fringe below he painted the arms of that family, as is the
+custom. For the centre of the string, which was of twenty-four
+pennons, he made two all of white taffeta without any fringe, on which
+he painted two figures of S. Bartholomew, each two braccia high. The
+size of all these pennons and their almost novel manner caused all the
+others that had been made up to that time to appear poor and mean; and
+this was the reason that they began to be made of the size that they
+are at the present day, with great grace and much less expense for
+gold.
+
+At the head of the garden and vineyard of the Friars of S. Gallo,
+without the gate that is called after that Saint, in a chapel that is
+in a line with the central entrance, he painted a Dead Christ, a
+Madonna weeping, and two little Angels in the air, one of whom was
+holding the Chalice of the Passion in his hands, and the other was
+supporting the fallen head of Christ. On one side was S. John the
+Evangelist, all tearful, with the arms stretched out, and on the other
+S. Augustine in episcopal robes, who, leaning with the left hand on
+the pastoral staff, stood in an attitude truly full of sorrow,
+contemplating the Dead Saviour. And for Messer Spina, the familiar
+friend of Giovanni Salviati, he executed in a courtyard, opposite to
+the principal door of his house, the coat of arms of that Giovanni
+(who had been made a Cardinal in those days by Pope Leo), with the red
+hat above and two little boys standing--works in fresco which are very
+beautiful, and much esteemed by Messer Filippo Spina, as being by the
+hand of Pontormo.
+
+Jacopo also worked, in competition with other masters, on the
+ornamentation in wood that was formerly executed in a magnificent
+manner, as has been related elsewhere, in some apartments of Pier
+Francesco Borgherini; and, in particular, he painted there with his
+own hand on two coffers some stories from the life of Joseph in little
+figures, which were truly most beautiful. And whoever wishes to see
+the best work that he ever did in all his life, in order to consider
+how able and masterly was Jacopo in giving liveliness to heads, in
+grouping figures, in varying attitudes, and in beauty of invention,
+let him look at a scene of some size, likewise in little figures, in
+the corner on the left hand as one enters through the door, in the
+chamber of Borgherini, who was a nobleman of Florence; in which scene
+is Joseph in Egypt, as it were a Prince or a King, in the act of
+receiving his father Jacob with all his brethren, the sons of that
+Jacob, with extraordinary affection. Among these figures he portrayed
+at the foot of the scene, seated upon some steps, Il Bronzino, who was
+then a boy and his disciple--a figure with a basket, which is lifelike
+and beautiful to a marvel. And if this scene were on a greater scale,
+on a large panel or a wall, instead of being small, I would venture to
+say that it would not be possible to find another picture executed
+with the grace, excellence, and even perfection wherewith this one was
+painted by Jacopo; wherefore it was rightly regarded by all craftsmen
+as the most beautiful picture that Pontormo ever executed. Nor is it
+to be wondered at that Borgherini should have prized it as he did, and
+should have been besought to sell it by great persons as a present for
+mighty lords and princes.
+
+[Illustration: VERTUMNUS FRESCO (DETAIL)
+
+(_After =Jacopo da Pontormo=. Poggio a Caiano: Villa Reale_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+On account of the siege of Florence Pier Francesco retired to Lucca,
+and Giovan Battista della Palla, who desired to obtain, together with
+other things that he was transporting into France, the decorations of
+this chamber, so that they might be presented to King Francis in the
+name of the Signoria, received such favours, and went to work so
+effectively with both words and deeds, that the Gonfalonier granted a
+commission that they should be taken away after payment to the wife of
+Pier Francesco. Whereupon some others went with Giovan Battista to
+execute the will of the Signori; but, when they arrived at the house
+of Pier Francesco, his wife, who was in the house, poured on Giovan
+Battista the greatest abuse that was ever spoken to any man. "So you
+make bold, Giovan Battista," said she, "you vile slop-dealer, you
+little twopenny pedlar, to strip the ornaments from the chambers of
+noblemen and despoil our city of her richest and most honoured
+treasures, as you have done and are always doing, in order to
+embellish with them the countries of foreigners, our enemies! At you I
+do not marvel, you, a base plebeian and the enemy of your country, but
+at the magistrates of this city, who aid and abet you in these
+shameful rascalities. This bed, which you would seize for your own
+private interest and for greed of gain, although you keep your evil
+purpose cloaked with a veil of righteousness, this is the bed of my
+nuptials, in honour of which my husband's father, Salvi, made all
+these magnificent and regal decorations, which I revere in memory of
+him and from love for my husband, and mean to defend with my very
+blood and with life itself. Out of this house with these your
+cut-throats, Giovan Battista, and go to those who sent you with orders
+that these things should be removed from their places, for I am not
+the woman to suffer a single thing to be moved from here. If they who
+believe in you, a vile creature of no account, wish to make presents
+to King Francis of France, let them go and strip their own houses, and
+take the ornaments and beds from their own chambers, and send them to
+him. And you, if you are ever again so bold as to come to this house
+on such an errand, I will make you smart sorely for it, and teach you
+what respect should be paid by such as you to the houses of noblemen."
+Thus spoke Madonna Margherita, the wife of Pier Francesco Borgherini,
+and the daughter of Ruberto Acciaiuoli, a most noble and wise citizen;
+and she, a truly courageous woman and a worthy daughter of such a
+father, with her noble ardour and spirit, was the reason that those
+gems are still preserved in that house.
+
+Giovan Maria Benintendi, about this same time, had adorned an
+antechamber in his house with many pictures by the hands of various
+able men; and after the work executed for Borgherini, incited by
+hearing Jacopo da Pontormo very highly praised, he caused a picture to
+be painted by him with the Adoration of the Magi, who went to
+Bethlehem to see Christ; which work, since Jacopo devoted to it much
+study and diligence, proved to be well varied and beautiful in the
+heads and in every other part, and to be truly worthy of all praise.
+Afterwards he executed for Messer Goro da Pistoia, then Secretary to
+the Medici, a picture with the portrait of the Magnificent Cosimo de'
+Medici, the elder, from the knees upwards, which is indeed worthy to
+be extolled; and this portrait is now in the house of Messer Ottaviano
+de' Medici, in the possession of his son, Messer Alessandro, a young
+man--besides the distinction and nobility of his blood--of most
+upright character, well lettered, and the worthy son of the
+Magnificent Ottaviano and of Madonna Francesca, the daughter of Jacopo
+Salviati and the maternal aunt of the Lord Duke Cosimo.
+
+By means of this work, and particularly this head of Cosimo, Pontormo
+became the friend of Messer Ottaviano; and the Great Hall at Poggio a
+Caiano having then to be painted, there were given to him to paint the
+two ends where the round openings are that give light--that is, the
+windows--from the vaulting down to the floor. Whereupon, desiring to
+do himself honour even beyond his wont, both from regard for the place
+and from emulation of the other painters who were working there, he
+set himself to study with such diligence, that he overshot the mark,
+for the reason that, destroying and doing over again every day what he
+had done the day before, he racked his brains in such a manner that it
+was a tragedy; but all the time he was always making new discoveries,
+which brought credit to himself and beauty to the work. Thus, having
+to execute a Vertumnus with his husbandmen, he painted a peasant
+seated with a vine-pruner in his hand, which is so beautiful and so
+well done that it is a very rare thing, even as certain children that
+are there are lifelike and natural beyond all belief. On the other
+side he painted Pomona and Diana, with other Goddesses, enveloping
+them perhaps too abundantly with draperies. However, the work as a
+whole is beautiful and much extolled; but while it was being executed
+Leo was overtaken by death, and so it remained unfinished, like many
+other similar works at Rome, Florence, Loreto, and other places; nay,
+the whole world was left poor, being robbed of the true Maecenas of men
+of talent.
+
+[Illustration: VERTUMNUS FRESCO (DETAIL)
+
+(_After =Jacopo da Pontormo=. Poggio a Caiano: Villa Reale_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+Having returned to Florence, Jacopo painted in a picture a seated
+figure of S. Augustine as a Bishop, who is giving the benediction,
+with two little nude Angels flying through the air, who are very
+beautiful; which picture is over an altar in the little Church of the
+Sisters of S. Clemente in the Via di S. Gallo. He carried to
+completion, likewise, a picture of a Pieta with certain nude Angels,
+which was a very beautiful work, and held very dear by certain
+merchants of Ragusa, for whom he painted it; but most beautiful of all
+in this picture was a landscape taken for the most part from an
+engraving by Albrecht Duerer. He also painted a picture of Our Lady
+with the Child in her arms, and some little Angels about her, which is
+now in the house of Alessandro Neroni; and for certain Spaniards he
+executed another like it--that is, of the Madonna--but different from
+the one described above and in another manner, which picture, being
+for sale in a second-hand dealer's shop many years after, was bought
+by Bartolommeo Panciatichi at the suggestion of Bronzino.
+
+Then, in the year 1522, there being a slight outbreak of plague in
+Florence, and many persons therefore departing in order to avoid that
+most infectious sickness and to save themselves, an occasion presented
+itself to Jacopo of flying the city and removing himself to some
+distance, for a certain Prior of the Certosa, a place built by the
+Acciaiuoli three miles away from Florence, had to have some pictures
+painted in fresco at the corners of a very large and beautiful
+cloister that surrounds a lawn, and Jacopo was brought to his notice;
+whereupon the Prior had him sought out, and he, having accepted the
+work very willingly at such a time, went off to Certosa, taking with
+him only Bronzino. There, after a trial of that mode of life, that
+quiet, that silence, and that solitude--all things after the taste and
+nature of Jacopo--he thought with such an occasion to make a special
+effort in the matters of art, and to show to the world that he had
+acquired greater perfection and a different manner since those works
+that he had executed before. Now not long before there had come from
+Germany to Florence many sheets printed from engravings done with
+great subtlety with the burin by Albrecht Duerer, a most excellent
+German painter and a rare engraver of plates on copper and on wood;
+and, among others, many scenes, both large and small, of the Passion
+of Jesus Christ, in which was all the perfection and excellence of
+engraving with the burin that could ever be achieved, what with the
+beauty and variety of the vestments and the invention. Jacopo, having
+to paint at the corners of those cloisters scenes from the Passion of
+the Saviour, thought to avail himself of the above-named inventions of
+Albrecht Duerer, in the firm belief that he would satisfy not only
+himself but also the greater part of the craftsmen of Florence, who
+were all proclaiming with one voice and with common consent and
+agreement the beauty of those engravings and the excellence of
+Albrecht. Setting himself therefore to imitate that manner, and
+seeking to give to the expressions of the heads of his figures that
+liveliness and variety which Albrecht had given to his, he caught it
+so thoroughly, that the charm of his own early manner, which had been
+given to him by nature, all full of sweetness and grace, suffered a
+great change from that new study and labour, and was so impaired
+through his stumbling on that German manner, that in all these works,
+although they are all beautiful, there is but a sorry remnant to be
+seen of that excellence and grace that he had given up to that time to
+all his figures.
+
+At the entrance to the cloister, then, in one corner, he painted
+Christ in the Garden, counterfeiting so well the darkness of night
+illumined by the light of the moon, that it appears almost like
+daylight; and while Christ is praying, not far distant are Peter,
+James, and John sleeping, executed in a manner so similar to that of
+Duerer, that it is a marvel. Not far away is Judas leading the Jews,
+likewise with a countenance so strange, even as the features of all
+those soldiers are depicted in the German manner with bizarre
+expressions, that it moves him who beholds it to pity for the
+simplicity of the man, who sought with such patience to learn that
+which others avoid and seek to lose, and all to lose the manner that
+surpassed all others in excellence and gave infinite pleasure to
+everyone. Did not Pontormo know, then, that the Germans and Flemings
+came to these parts to learn the Italian manner, which he with such
+effort sought to abandon as if it were bad?
+
+Beside this scene is one in which is Christ led by the Jews before
+Pilate, and in the Saviour he painted all the humility that could
+possibly be imagined in the Person of Innocence betrayed by the sins
+of men, and in the wife of Pilate that pity and dread for themselves
+which those have who fear the divine judgment; which woman, while she
+pleads the cause of Christ before her husband, gazes into His
+countenance with pitying wonder. Round Pilate are some soldiers so
+characteristic in the expressions of the faces and in the German
+garments, that one who knew not by whose hand was that work would
+believe it to have been executed in reality by ultramontanes. It is
+true, indeed, that in the distance in this scene there is a cup-bearer
+of Pilate's that is descending some steps with a basin and a ewer in
+his hands, carrying to his master the means to wash the hands, who is
+lifelike and very beautiful, having in him something of the old manner
+of Jacopo.
+
+Having next to paint the Resurrection of Christ in one of the other
+corners, the fancy came to Jacopo, as to one who had no steadfastness
+in his brain and was always cogitating new things, to change his
+colouring; and so he executed that work with a colouring in fresco so
+soft and so good, that, if he had done the work in another manner than
+that same German, it would certainly have been very beautiful, for in
+the heads of those soldiers, who are in various attitudes, heavy with
+sleep, and as it were dead, there may be seen such excellence, that
+one cannot believe that it is possible to do better.
+
+Then, continuing the stories of the Passion in another of the corners,
+he painted Christ going with the Cross upon His shoulder to Mount
+Calvary, and behind Him the people of Jerusalem, accompanying Him; and
+in front are the two Thieves, naked, between the ministers of justice,
+who are partly on foot and partly on horseback, with the ladders, the
+inscription for the Cross, hammers, nails, cords, and other suchlike
+instruments. And in the highest part, behind a little hill, is the
+Madonna with the Maries, who, weeping, are awaiting Christ, who has
+fallen to the ground in the middle of the scene, and has about Him
+many Jews that are smiting Him, while Veronica is offering to Him the
+Sudarium, accompanied by some women both young and old, all weeping at
+the outrage that they see being done to the Saviour. This scene,
+either because he was warned by his friends, or perhaps because Jacopo
+himself at last became aware, although tardily, of the harm that had
+been done to his own sweet manner by the study of the German, proved
+to be much better than the others executed in the same place, for the
+reason that certain naked Jews and some heads of old men are so well
+painted in fresco, that it would not be possible to do more, although
+the same German manner may be seen constantly maintained in the work
+as a whole.
+
+After these he was to have gone on with the Crucifixion and the
+Deposition from the Cross in the other corners; but, putting them
+aside for a time, with the intention of executing them last, he
+painted in their stead Christ taken down from the Cross, keeping to
+the same manner, but with great harmony of colouring. In this scene,
+besides that the Magdalene, who is kissing the feet of Christ, is most
+beautiful, there are two old men, representing Joseph of Arimathaea and
+Nicodemus, who, although they are in the German manner, have the most
+beautiful expressions and heads of old men, with beards feathery and
+coloured with marvellous softness, that there are to be seen.
+
+Now Jacopo, besides being generally slow over his works, was pleased
+with the solitude of the Certosa, and he therefore spent several years
+on these labours; and, after the plague had finished and he had
+returned to Florence, he did not for that reason cease to frequent
+that place constantly, and was always going and coming between the
+Certosa and the city. Proceeding thus, he satisfied those fathers in
+many things, and, among others, he painted in their church, over one
+of the doors that lead into the chapels, in a figure from the waist
+upwards, the portrait of a lay-brother of that monastery, who was
+alive at that time and one hundred and twenty years old, executing it
+so well and with such finish, such vivacity, and such animation, that
+through it alone Pontormo deserves to be excused for the strange and
+fantastic new manner with which he was saddled by that solitude and by
+living far from the commerce of men.
+
+Besides this, he painted for the Prior of that place a picture of the
+Nativity of Christ, representing Joseph as giving light to Jesus
+Christ in the darkness of the night with a lantern, and this in
+pursuit of the same notions and caprices which the German engravings
+put into his head. Now let no one believe that Jacopo is to blame
+because he imitated Albrecht Duerer in his inventions, for the reason
+that this is no error, and many painters have done it and are
+continually doing it; but only because he adopted the unmixed German
+manner in everything, in the draperies, in the expressions of the
+heads, and in the attitudes, which he should have avoided, availing
+himself only of the inventions, since he had the modern manner in all
+the fullness of its beauty and grace. For the Stranger's Apartment of
+the same monks he painted a large picture on canvas and in
+oil-colours, without straining himself at all or forcing his natural
+powers, of Christ at table with Cleophas and Luke, figures of the size
+of life; and since in this work he followed the bent of his own
+genius, it proved to be truly marvellous, particularly because he
+portrayed among those who are serving at that table some lay-brothers
+of the convent, whom I myself have known, in such a manner that they
+could not be either more lifelike or more animated than they are.
+
+Bronzino, meanwhile (that is, while his master was executing the works
+described above in the Certosa), pursuing with great spirit the
+studies of painting, and encouraged all the time by Pontormo, who was
+very loving with his disciples, executed on the inner side over an
+arch above the door of the cloister that leads into the church,
+without having ever seen the process of painting in oil-colours on the
+wall, a nude S. Laurence on the gridiron, which was so beautiful that
+there began to be seen some indication of that excellence to which he
+has since attained, as will be related in the proper place; which
+circumstance gave infinite satisfaction to Jacopo, who already saw
+whither that genius would arrive.
+
+Not long afterwards there returned from Rome Lodovico di Gino Capponi,
+who had bought that chapel in S. Felicita, on the right hand of the
+entrance into the church, which the Barbadori had formerly caused to
+be built by Filippo di Ser Brunellesco; and he resolved to have all
+the vaulting painted, and then to have an altar-piece executed for it,
+with a rich ornament. Having therefore consulted in the matter with M.
+Niccolo Vespucci, knight of Rhodes, who was much his friend, the
+knight, who was also much the friend of Jacopo, and knew, into the
+bargain, the talent and worth of that able man, did and said so much
+that Lodovico allotted that work to Pontormo. And so, having erected
+an enclosure, which kept that chapel closed for three years, he set
+his hand to the work. On the vaulted ceiling he painted a God the
+Father, who has about Him four very beautiful Patriarchs; and in the
+four medallions at the angles he depicted the four Evangelists, or
+rather, he executed three of them with his own hand, and Bronzino one
+all by himself. And with this occasion I must mention that Pontormo
+used scarcely ever to allow himself to be helped by his assistants, or
+to suffer them to lay a hand on that which he intended to execute with
+his own hand; and when he did wish to avail himself of one of them,
+chiefly in order that they might learn, he allowed them to do the
+whole work by themselves, as he allowed Bronzino to do here.
+
+In the works that Jacopo executed in the said chapel up to this point,
+it seemed almost as if he had returned to his first manner; but he did
+not follow the same method in painting the altar-piece, for, thinking
+always of new things, he executed it without shadows, and with a
+colouring so bright and so uniform, that one can scarcely distinguish
+the lights from the middle tints, and the middle tints from the darks.
+In this altar-piece is a Dead Christ taken down from the Cross and
+being carried to the Sepulchre. There is the Madonna who is swooning,
+and the Maries, all executed in a fashion so different from his first
+work, that it is clearly evident that his brain was always busy
+investigating new conceptions and fantastic methods of painting, not
+being content with, and not fixing on, any single method. In a word,
+the composition of this altar-piece is altogether different from the
+figures on the vaulting, and likewise the colouring; and the four
+Evangelists, which are in the medallions on the spandrels of the
+vaulting, are much better and in a different manner.
+
+[Illustration: THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS
+
+(_After the painting by =Jacopo da Pontormo=. Florence: S. Felicita_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+On the wall where the window is are two figures in fresco, on one side
+the Virgin, and on the other the Angel, who is bringing her the
+Annunciation, but so distorted, both the one and the other, that it is
+evident that, as I have said, that bizarre and fantastic brain was
+never content with anything. And in order to be able to do as he
+pleased in this, and to avoid having his attention distracted by
+anyone, all the time that he was executing this work he would never
+allow even the owner of the chapel himself to see it, insomuch that,
+having painted it after his own fancy, without any of his friends
+having been able to give him a single hint, when it was finally
+uncovered and seen, it amazed all Florence. For the same Lodovico he
+executed a picture of Our Lady in that same manner for his chamber,
+and in the head of a S. Mary Magdalene he made the portrait of a
+daughter of Lodovico, who was a very beautiful young woman.
+
+Near the Monastery of Boldrone, on the road that goes from there to
+Castello, and at the corner of another that climbs the hill and goes
+to Cercina (that is, at a distance of two miles from Florence), he
+painted in fresco in a shrine Christ Crucified, Our Lady weeping, S.
+John the Evangelist, S. Augustine, and S. Giuliano; all which figures,
+his caprice not being yet satisfied, and the German manner still
+pleasing him, are not very different from those that he executed at
+the Certosa. He did the same, also, in an altar-piece that he painted
+for the Nuns of S. Anna, at the Porta a S. Friano, in which
+altar-piece is Our Lady with the Child in her arms, and S. Anne behind
+her, with S. Peter, S. Benedict, and other Saints, and in the predella
+is a small scene with little figures, which represent the Signoria of
+Florence as it used to go in procession with trumpeters, pipers,
+mace-bearers, messengers, and ushers, with the rest of the household;
+and this he did because the commission for that altar-piece was given
+to him by the Captain and the household of the Palace.
+
+The while that Jacopo was executing this work, Alessandro and Ippolito
+de' Medici, who were both very young, having been sent to Florence by
+Pope Clement VII under the care of the Legate, Silvio Passerini,
+Bishop of Cortona, the Magnificent Ottaviano, to whom the Pope had
+straitly recommended them, had the portraits of both of them taken by
+Pontormo, who served him very well, and made them very good
+likenesses, although he did not much depart from the manner that he
+had learned from the Germans. In the portrait of Ippolito he also
+painted a favourite dog of that lord, called Rodon, and made it so
+characteristic and so natural, that it might be alive. He took the
+portrait, likewise, of Bishop Ardinghelli, who afterwards became a
+Cardinal; and for Filippo del Migliore, who was much his friend, he
+painted in fresco in his house on the Via Larga, in a niche opposite
+to the principal door, a woman representing Pomona, from which it
+appeared that he was beginning to seek to abandon in part his German
+manner.
+
+Now Giovan Battista della Palla perceived that by reason of many works
+the name of Jacopo was becoming every day more celebrated; and, since
+he had not succeeded in sending to King Francis the pictures executed
+by that same master and by others for Borgherini, he resolved, knowing
+that the King had a desire for them, at all costs to send him
+something by the hand of Pontormo. Whereupon he so went to work that
+he persuaded Jacopo to execute a most beautiful picture of the Raising
+of Lazarus, which proved to be one of the best works that he ever
+painted and that was ever sent by Giovan Battista, among the vast
+number that he sent, to King Francis of France. For, besides that the
+heads were most beautiful, the figure of Lazarus, whose spirit as he
+returned to life was re-entering his dead flesh, could not have been
+more marvellous, for about the eyes he still had the hue of
+corruption, and the flesh cold and dead at the extremities of the
+hands and feet, where the spirit had not yet come.
+
+[Illustration: THE MARTYRDOM OF THE FORTY SAINTS
+
+(_After the panel by =Jacopo da Pontormo=. Florence: Pitti, 182_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+In a picture of one braccio and a half he painted for the Sisters of
+the Hospital of the Innocenti, with an infinite number of little
+figures, the story of the eleven thousand Martyrs who were condemned
+to death by Diocletian and all crucified in a wood. In this Jacopo
+represented a battle of horsemen and nude figures, very beautiful, and
+some most lovely little Angels flying through the air, who are
+shooting arrows at the ministers of the crucifixion; and in like
+manner, about the Emperor, who is pronouncing the condemnation, are
+some most beautiful nude figures who are going to their death. This
+picture, which in every part is worthy to be praised, is now held in
+great price by Don Vincenzio Borghini, the Director of that Hospital,
+who once was much the friend of Jacopo. Another picture similar to
+that described above he painted for Carlo Neroni, but only with the
+Battle of the Martyrs and the Angel baptizing them; and then the
+portrait of Carlo himself. He also executed a portrait, at the time
+of the siege of Florence, of Francesco Guardi in the habit of a
+soldier, which was a very beautiful work; and on the cover of this
+picture Bronzino afterwards painted Pygmalion praying to Venus that
+his statue, receiving breath, might spring to life and become--as,
+according to the fables of the poets, it did--flesh and blood. At this
+time, after much labour, there came to Jacopo the fulfilment of a
+desire that he had long had, in that, having always felt a wish to
+have a house that might be his own, so that he should no longer live
+in the house of another, but might occupy his own and live as pleased
+himself, finally he bought one in the Via della Colonna, opposite to
+the Nuns of S. Maria degli Angeli.
+
+The siege finished, Pope Clement commanded Messer Ottaviano de' Medici
+that he should cause the hall of Poggio a Caiano to be finished.
+Whereupon, Franciabigio and Andrea del Sarto being dead, the whole
+charge of this was given to Pontormo, who, after having the staging
+and the screens made, began to execute the cartoons; but, for the
+reason that he went off into fantasies and cogitations, beyond that he
+never set a hand to the work. This, perchance, would not have happened
+if Bronzino had been in those parts, who was then working at the
+Imperiale, a place belonging to the Duke of Urbino, near Pesaro; which
+Bronzino, although he was sent for every day by Jacopo, nevertheless
+was not able to depart at his own pleasure, for the reason that, after
+he had executed a very beautiful naked Cupid on the spandrel of a
+vault in the Imperiale, and the cartoons for the others, Prince
+Guidobaldo, having recognized the young man's genius, ordained that
+his own portrait should be taken by him, and, seeing that he wished to
+be portrayed in some armour that he was expecting from Lombardy,
+Bronzino was forced to stay with that Prince longer than he could have
+wished. During that time he painted the case of a harpsichord, which
+much pleased the Prince, and finally Bronzino executed his portrait,
+which was very beautiful, and the Prince was well satisfied with it.
+
+Jacopo, then, wrote so many times, and employed so many means, that in
+the end he brought Bronzino back; but for all that the man could never
+be induced to do any other part of this work than the cartoons,
+although he was urged to it by the Magnificent Ottaviano and by Duke
+Alessandro. In one of these cartoons, which are now for the most part
+in the house of Lodovico Capponi, is a Hercules who is crushing
+Antaeus, in another a Venus and Adonis, and in yet another drawing a
+scene of nude figures playing football.
+
+In the meantime Signor Alfonso Davalos, Marchese del Vasto, having
+obtained from Michelagnolo Buonarroti by means of Fra Niccolo della
+Magna a cartoon of Christ appearing to the Magdalene in the garden,
+moved heaven and earth to have it executed for him in painting by
+Pontormo, Buonarroti having told him that no one could serve him
+better than that master. Jacopo then executed that work to perfection,
+and it was accounted a rare painting by reason both of the grandeur of
+Michelagnolo's design and of Jacopo's colouring. Wherefore Signor
+Alessandro Vitelli, who was at that time Captain of the garrison of
+soldiers in Florence, having seen it, had a picture painted for
+himself from the same cartoon by Jacopo, which he sent to Citta di
+Castello and caused to be placed in his house. It thus became evident
+in what estimation Michelagnolo held Pontormo, and with what diligence
+Pontormo carried to completion and executed excellently well the
+designs and cartoons of Michelagnolo, and Bartolommeo Bettini so went
+to work that Buonarroti, who was much his friend, made for him a
+cartoon of a nude Venus with a Cupid who is kissing her, in order that
+he might have it executed in painting by Pontormo and place it in the
+centre of a chamber of his own, in the lunettes of which he had begun
+to have painted by Bronzino figures of Dante, Petrarca, and Boccaccio,
+with the intention of having there all the other poets who have sung
+of love in Tuscan prose and verse. Jacopo, then, having received this
+cartoon, executed it to perfection at his leisure, as will be related,
+in the manner that all the world knows without my saying another word
+in praise of it. These designs of Michelagnolo's were the reason that
+Pontormo, considering the manner of that most noble craftsman, took
+heart of grace, and resolved that by hook or by crook he would imitate
+and follow it to the best of his ability. And then it was that Jacopo
+recognized how ill he had done to allow the work of Poggio a Caiano to
+slip through his hands, although he put the blame in great measure on
+a long and very troublesome illness that he had suffered, and finally
+on the death of Pope Clement, which brought that undertaking
+completely to an end.
+
+Jacopo having executed after the works described above a picture with
+the portrait from life of Amerigo Antinori, a young man much beloved
+in Florence at that time, and that portrait being much extolled by
+everyone, Duke Alessandro had him informed that he wished to have his
+portrait taken by him in a large picture. And Jacopo, for the sake of
+convenience, executed his portrait for the time being in a little
+picture of the size of a sheet of half-folio, and with such diligence
+and care, that the works of the miniaturists do not in any way come up
+to it; for the reason that, besides its being a very good likeness,
+there is in that head all that could be desired in the rarest of
+paintings. From that little picture, which is now in the guardaroba of
+Duke Cosimo, Jacopo afterwards made a portrait of the same Duke in a
+large picture, with a style in the hand, drawing the head of a woman;
+which larger portrait Duke Alessandro afterwards presented to Signora
+Taddea Malespina, the sister of the Marchesa di Massa. Desiring at all
+costs to reward liberally the genius of Jacopo for these works, the
+Duke sent him a message by Niccolo da Montaguto, his servant, that he
+should ask whatever he wished, and it would be granted to him. But
+such was the poor spirit or the excessive respect and modesty of the
+man, I know not which to call it, that he asked for nothing save as
+much money as would suffice him to redeem a cloak that he had pledged;
+which having heard, the Duke, not without laughing at the character of
+the man, commanded that fifty gold crowns should be given and a salary
+offered to him; and even then Niccolo had much ado to make him accept
+it.
+
+Meanwhile Jacopo had finished painting the Venus from the cartoon
+belonging to Bettini, which proved to be a marvellous thing, but it
+was not given to Bettini at the price for which Jacopo had promised it
+to him, for certain tuft-hunters, in order to do Bettini an injury,
+took it almost by force from the hands of Jacopo and gave it to Duke
+Alessandro, restoring the cartoon to Bettini. Which having heard,
+Michelagnolo felt much displeasure for love of the friend for whom he
+had drawn the cartoon, and he bore a grudge against Jacopo, who,
+although he received fifty crowns for it from the Duke, nevertheless
+cannot be said to have defrauded Bettini, seeing that he gave up the
+Venus at the command of him who was his lord. But of all this some say
+that Bettini himself was in great measure the cause, from his asking
+too much.
+
+[Illustration: JACOPO DA PONTORMO: PORTRAIT OF AN ENGRAVER
+
+(_Paris: Louvre, 1241. Panel_)]
+
+The occasion having thus presented itself to Pontormo, by means of
+these moneys, to set his hand to the fitting up of his house, he made
+a beginning with his building, but did nothing of much importance.
+Indeed, although some persons declare that he had it in mind to spend
+largely, according to his position, and to make a commodious dwelling
+and one that might have some design, it is nevertheless evident that
+what he did, whether this came from his not having the means to spend
+or from some other reason, has rather the appearance of a building
+erected by an eccentric and solitary creature than of a well-ordered
+habitation, for the reason that to the room where he used to sleep and
+at times to work, he had to climb by a wooden ladder, which, after he
+had gone in, he would draw up with a pulley, to the end that no one
+might go up to him without his wish or knowledge. But that which most
+displeased other men in him was that he would not work save when and
+for whom he pleased, and after his own fancy; wherefore on many
+occasions, being sought out by noblemen who desired to have some of
+his work, and once in particular by the Magnificent Ottaviano de'
+Medici, he would not serve them; and then he would set himself to do
+anything in the world for some low and common fellow, at a miserable
+price. Thus the mason Rossino, a person of no small ingenuity
+considering his calling, by playing the simpleton, received from him
+in payment for having paved certain rooms with bricks, and for having
+done other mason's work, a most beautiful picture of Our Lady, in
+executing which Jacopo toiled and laboured as much as the mason did in
+his building. And so well did the good Rossino contrive to manage his
+business, that, in addition to the above-named picture, he got from
+the hands of Jacopo a most beautiful portrait of Cardinal Giulio de'
+Medici, copied from one by the hand of Raffaello, and, into the
+bargain, a very beautiful little picture of a Christ Crucified, which,
+although the above-mentioned Magnificent Ottaviano bought it from
+the mason Rossino as a work by the hand of Jacopo, nevertheless is
+known for certain to be by the hand of Bronzino, who executed it all
+by himself while he was working with Jacopo at the Certosa, although
+it afterwards remained, I know not why, in the possession of Pontormo.
+All these three pictures, won by the industry of the mason from the
+hands of Jacopo, are now in the house of M. Alessandro de' Medici, the
+son of the above-named Ottaviano.
+
+Now, although this procedure of Jacopo's and his living solitary and
+after his own fashion were not much commended, that does not mean that
+if anyone wished to excuse him he would not be able, for the reason
+that for those works that he did we should acknowledge our obligation
+to him, and for those that he did not choose to do we should not blame
+or censure him. No craftsman is obliged to work save when and for whom
+he pleases; and, if he suffered thereby, the loss was his. As for
+solitude, I have always heard say that it is the greatest friend of
+study; and, even if it were not so, I do not believe that much blame
+is due to him who lives in his own fashion without offence to God or
+to his neighbour, dwelling and employing his time as best suits his
+nature.
+
+But to return, leaving these matters on one side, to the works of
+Jacopo: Duke Alessandro had caused to be restored in some parts the
+Villa of Careggi, formerly built by the elder Cosimo de' Medici, at a
+distance of two miles from Florence, and had carried out the
+ornamentation of the fountain and the labyrinth, which wound through
+the centre of an open court, into which there opened two loggie, and
+his Excellency ordained that those loggie should be painted by Jacopo,
+but that company should be given him, to the end that he might finish
+them the quicker, and that conversation with others, keeping him
+cheerful, might be a means of making him work without straying so much
+into vagaries and distilling away his brains. Nay, the Duke himself
+sent for Jacopo and besought him that he should strive to deliver that
+work completely finished as soon as possible. Jacopo, therefore,
+having summoned Bronzino, caused him to paint a figure on each of five
+spandrels of the vaulting, these being Fortune, Justice, Victory,
+Peace, and Fame; and on the other spandrel, for they are in all six,
+Jacopo with his own hand painted a Love. Then, having made the design
+for some little boys that were going in the oval space of the
+vaulting, with various animals in their hands, and all foreshortened
+to be seen from below, he caused them all, with the exception of one,
+to be executed in colour by Bronzino, who acquitted himself very well.
+And since, while Jacopo and Bronzino were painting these figures, the
+ornaments all around were executed by Jacone, Pier Francesco di
+Jacopo, and others, the whole of that work was finished in a short
+time, to the great satisfaction of the Lord Duke. His Excellency
+wished to have the other loggia painted, but he was not in time, for
+the reason that the above-named work having been finished on the 13th
+of December in the year 1536, on the 6th of the January following that
+most illustrious lord was assassinated by his kinsman Lorenzino; and
+so this work and others remained without their completion.
+
+The Lord Duke Cosimo having then been elected, and the affair of
+Montemurlo having passed off happily, a beginning was made with the
+works of Castello, according as has been related in the Life of
+Tribolo, and his most illustrious Excellency, in order to gratify
+Signora Donna Maria, his mother, ordained that Jacopo should paint the
+first loggia, which one finds on the left hand in entering the Palace
+of Castello. Whereupon, setting to work, Jacopo first designed all the
+ornaments that were to be painted there, and had them executed for the
+most part by Bronzino and the masters who had executed those of
+Careggi. Then, shutting himself up alone, he proceeded with that work
+after his own fancy and wholly at his leisure, studying with all
+diligence, to the end that it might be much better than that of
+Careggi, which he had not executed entirely with his own hand. This he
+was able to do very conveniently, having eight crowns a month for it
+from his Excellency, whom he portrayed, young as he was, in the
+beginning of that work, and likewise Signora Donna Maria, his mother.
+Finally, after that loggia had been closed for five years, no one
+being able to have even a glance at what Jacopo had done, one day the
+above-named lady became enraged against him, and commanded that the
+staging and the screen should be thrown to the ground. But Jacopo,
+having begged for grace and having obtained leave to keep it covered
+for a few days more, first retouched it where it seemed to him to be
+necessary, and then caused a cloth of his own contriving to be made,
+which should keep that loggia covered when those lords were not there,
+to the end that the weather might not, as it had done at Careggi, eat
+away those pictures, which were executed in oils on the dry plaster;
+and at last he uncovered it, amid the lively expectation of everyone,
+all thinking that in that work Jacopo must have surpassed himself and
+done something altogether stupendous. But the effect did not
+correspond completely to the expectations, for the reason that,
+although many parts of the work are good, the general proportion of
+the figures appears very poor in form, and certain distorted attitudes
+that are there seem to be wanting in measure and very strange. But
+Jacopo excused himself by saying that he had never worked very
+willingly in that place, for the reason that, being without the city,
+it seemed much exposed to the fury of the soldiery and to other
+suchlike dangers; but there was no need for him to be afraid of that,
+seeing that time and the weather, from the work having been executed
+in the manner already described, are eating it away little by little.
+
+In the centre of the vaulting, then, he painted a Saturn with the Sign
+of Capricorn, and a Hermaphrodite Mars in the Sign of the Lion and of
+the Virgin, and some little Angels who are flying through the air,
+like those of Careggi. He then painted in certain gigantic women,
+almost entirely nude, Philosophy, Astrology, Geometry, Music,
+Arithmetic, and a Ceres; with some little scenes in medallions,
+executed with various tints of colour and appropriate to the figures.
+Although this work, so fatiguing and so laboured, did not give much
+satisfaction, or, if a certain measure of satisfaction, much less than
+was expected, yet his Excellency declared that it pleased him, and
+availed himself of Jacopo on every occasion, chiefly because that
+painter was held in great veneration by the people on account of the
+very good and beautiful works that he had executed in the past.
+
+The Lord Duke then brought to Florence the Flemings, Maestro Giovanni
+Rosso and Maestro Niccolo, excellent masters in arras-tapestries, to
+the end that the art might be learned and practised by the
+Florentines, and he ordained that tapestries in silk and gold should
+be executed for the Council Hall of the Two Hundred at a cost of
+60,000 crowns, and that Jacopo and Bronzino should make the cartoons
+with the stories of Joseph. But, when Jacopo had made two of them, in
+one of which is the scene when the death of Joseph is announced to
+Jacob and the bloody garments are shown to him, and in the other the
+Flight of Joseph from the wife of Potiphar, leaving his garment
+behind, they did not please either the Duke or those masters who had
+to put them into execution, for they appeared to them to be strange
+things and not likely to be successful when executed in woven
+tapestries. And so Jacopo did not go on to make any more cartoons, but
+returned to his usual labours and painted a picture of Our Lady, which
+was presented by the Duke to Signor Don ..., who took it to Spain.
+
+Now his Excellency, following in the footsteps of his ancestors, has
+always sought to embellish and adorn his city; and he resolved, the
+necessity having come to his notice, to cause to be painted all the
+principal chapel of the magnificent Temple of S. Lorenzo, formerly
+built by the great Cosimo de' Medici, the elder. Whereupon he gave the
+charge of this to Jacopo da Pontormo, either of his own accord, or, as
+was said, at the instance of Messer Pier Francesco Ricci, his
+major-domo; and Jacopo was very glad of that favour, for the reason
+that, although the greatness of the work, he being well advanced in
+years, gave him food for thought and perhaps dismayed him, on the
+other hand he reflected how, in a work of such magnitude, he had a
+fair field to show his ability and worth. Some say that Jacopo,
+finding that the work had been allotted to him notwithstanding that
+Francesco Salviati, a painter of great fame, was in Florence and had
+brought to a happy conclusion the painting of that hall in the Palace
+which was once the audience-chamber of the Signoria, must needs
+declare that he would show the world how to draw and paint, and how to
+work in fresco, and, besides this, that the other painters were but
+ordinary hacks, with other words equally insolent and overbearing. But
+I myself always knew Jacopo as a modest person, who spoke of everyone
+honourably and in a manner proper to an orderly and virtuous
+craftsman, such as he was, and I believe that these words were
+imputed to him falsely, and that he never let slip from his mouth any
+such boastings, which are for the most part the marks of vain men who
+presume too much upon their merits, in which manner of men there is no
+place for virtue or good breeding. And, although I might have kept
+silent about these matters, I have not chosen to do so, because to
+proceed as I have done appears to me the office of a faithful and
+veracious historian; it is enough that, although these rumours went
+around, and particularly among our craftsmen, nevertheless I have a
+firm belief that they were the words of malicious persons, Jacopo
+having always been in the experience of everyone modest and
+well-behaved in his every action.
+
+Having then closed up that chapel with walls, screens of planks, and
+curtains, and having given himself over to complete solitude, he kept
+it for a period of eleven years so well sealed up, that excepting
+himself not a living soul entered it, neither friend nor any other. It
+is true, indeed, that certain lads who were drawing in the sacristy of
+Michelagnolo, as young men will do, climbed by its spiral staircase on
+to the roof of the church, and, removing some tiles and the plank of
+one of the gilded rosettes that are there, saw everything. Of which
+having heard, Jacopo took it very ill, but took no further notice
+beyond closing up everything with greater care; although some say that
+he persecuted those young men sorely, and sought to make them regret
+it.
+
+Imagining, then, that in this work he would surpass all other
+painters, and perchance, so it was said, even Michelagnolo, he painted
+in the upper part, in a number of scenes, the Creation of Adam and
+Eve, the Eating of the Forbidden Fruit, their Expulsion from Paradise,
+the Tilling of the Earth, the Sacrifice of Abel, the Death of Cain,
+the Blessing of the Seed of Noah, and the same Noah designing the plan
+and the measurements of the Ark. Next, on one of the lower walls, each
+of which is fifteen braccia in each direction, he painted the
+inundation of the Deluge, in which is a mass of dead and drowned
+bodies, and Noah speaking with God. On the other wall is painted the
+Universal Resurrection of the Dead, which has to take place on the
+last and final day; with such variety and confusion, that the real
+resurrection will perhaps not be more confused, or more full of
+movement, in a manner of speaking, than Pontormo painted it. Opposite
+to the altar and between the windows--that is, on the central
+wall--there is on either side a row of nude figures, who, clinging to
+each other's bodies with hands and legs, form a ladder wherewith to
+ascend to Paradise, rising from the earth, where there are many dead
+in company with them, and at the end, on either side, are two dead
+bodies clothed with the exception of the legs and also the arms, with
+which they are holding two lighted torches. At the top, in the centre
+of the wall, above the windows, he painted in the middle Christ on
+high in His Majesty, who, surrounded by many Angels all nude, is
+raising those dead in order to judge them.
+
+But I have never been able to understand the significance of this
+scene, although I know that Jacopo had wit enough for himself, and
+also associated with learned and lettered persons; I mean, what he
+could have intended to signify in that part where there is Christ on
+high, raising the dead, and below His feet is God the Father, who is
+creating Adam and Eve. Besides this, in one of the corners, where are
+the four Evangelists, nude, with books in their hands, it does not
+seem to me that in a single place did he give a thought to any order
+of composition, or measurement, or time, or variety in the heads, or
+diversity in the flesh-colours, or, in a word, to any rule,
+proportion, or law of perspective; for the whole work is full of nude
+figures with an order, design, invention, composition, colouring, and
+painting contrived after his own fashion, and with such melancholy and
+so little satisfaction for him who beholds the work, that I am
+determined, since I myself do not understand it, although I am a
+painter, to leave all who may see it to form their own judgment, for
+the reason that I believe that I would drive myself mad with it and
+would bury myself alive, even as it appears to me that Jacopo in the
+period of eleven years that he spent upon it sought to bury himself
+and all who might see the painting, among all those extraordinary
+figures. And although there may be seen in this work some bit of a
+torso with the back turned or facing to the front and some attachments
+of flanks, executed with marvellous care and great labour by Jacopo,
+who made finished models of clay in the round for almost all the
+figures, nevertheless the work as a whole is foreign to his manner,
+and, as it appears to almost every man, without proportion, the torsi
+for the most part being large and the legs and arms small, to say
+nothing of the heads, in which there is not a trace to be seen of that
+singular excellence and grace that he used to give to them, so greatly
+to the satisfaction of those who examine his other pictures. Wherefore
+it appears that in this work he paid no attention to anything save
+certain parts, and of the other more important parts he took no
+account whatever. In a word, whereas he had thought in this work to
+surpass all the paintings in the world of art, he failed by a great
+measure to equal his own works that he had executed in the past;
+whence it is evident that he who seeks to strive beyond his strength
+and, as it were, to force nature, ruins the good qualities with which
+he may have been liberally endowed by her. But what can we or ought we
+to do save have compassion upon him, seeing that the men of our arts
+are as much liable to error as others? And the good Homer, so it is
+said, even he sometimes nods; nor shall it ever be said that there is
+a single work of Jacopo's, however he may have striven to force his
+nature, in which there is not something good and worthy of praise.
+
+He died shortly before finishing the work, and some therefore declare
+that he died of grief, ending his life very much dissatisfied with
+himself; but the truth is that, being old and much exhausted by making
+portraits and models in clay and labouring so much in fresco, he sank
+into a dropsy, which finally killed him at the age of sixty-five.
+After his death there were found in his house many designs, cartoons,
+and models in clay, all very beautiful, and a picture of Our Lady
+executed by him excellently well and in a lovely manner, to all
+appearance many years before, which was sold by his heirs to Piero
+Salviati. Jacopo was buried in the first cloister of the Church of the
+Servite Friars, beneath the scene of the Visitation that he had
+formerly painted there; and he was followed to the grave by an
+honourable company of the painters, sculptors, and architects.
+
+Jacopo was a frugal and sober man, and in his dress and manner of life
+he was rather miserly than moderate; and he lived almost always by
+himself, without desiring that anyone should serve him or cook for
+him. In his last years, indeed, he kept in his house, as it were to
+bring him up, Battista Naldini, a young man of fine spirit, who took
+such care of Jacopo's life as Jacopo would allow him to take; and
+under his master's discipline he made no little proficiency in design,
+and became such, indeed, that a very happy result is looked for from
+him. Among Pontormo's friends, particularly in this last period of his
+life, were Pier Francesco Vernacci and Don Vincenzio Borghini, with
+whom he took his recreation, sometimes eating with them, but rarely.
+But above all others, and always supremely beloved by him, was
+Bronzino, who loved him as dearly, being grateful and thankful for the
+benefits that he had received from him.
+
+Pontormo had very beautiful manners, and he was so afraid of death,
+that he would not even hear it spoken of, and avoided having to meet
+dead bodies. He never went to festivals or to any other places where
+people gathered together, so as not to be caught in the press; and he
+was solitary beyond all belief. At times, going out to work, he set
+himself to think so profoundly on what he was to do, that he went away
+without having done any other thing all day but stand thinking. And
+that this happened to him times without number in the work of S.
+Lorenzo may readily be believed, for the reason that when he was
+determined, like an able and well-practised craftsman, he had no
+difficulty in doing what he desired and had resolved to put into
+execution.
+
+
+
+
+SIMONE MOSCA
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF SIMONE MOSCA
+
+SCULPTOR AND ARCHITECT
+
+
+From the times of the ancient Greek and Roman sculptors to our own, no
+modern carver has equalled the beautiful and difficult works that they
+executed in their bases, capitals, friezes, cornices, festoons,
+trophies, masks, candelabra, birds, grotesques, or other carved
+cornice-work, save only Simone Mosca of Settignano, who in our own
+days has worked in such a manner in those kinds of labour, that he has
+made it evident by his genius and art that all the diligence and study
+of the modern carvers who had come before him had not enabled them up
+to that time to imitate the best work of those ancients or to adopt
+the good method in their carvings, for the reason that their works
+incline to dryness, and the turn of their foliage to spikiness and
+crudeness. He, on the other hand, has executed foliage with great
+boldness, rich and abundant in new curves, the leaves being carved in
+various manners with beautiful indentations and with the most lovely
+flowers, seeds and creepers that there are to be seen, not to speak of
+the birds that he has contrived to carve so gracefully in various
+forms among his foliage and festoons, insomuch that it may be affirmed
+that Simone alone--be it said without offence to the others--has been
+able to remove from the marble that hardness which craftsmen are wont
+very often to leave in their sculptures, and has brought his works by
+his handling of the chisel to such a point that they have the
+appearance of things real to the touch, and the same may be said of
+the cornices and other suchlike labours, executed by him with most
+beautiful grace and judgment.
+
+This Simone, having given his attention to design in his childhood
+with much profit, and having then become well-practised in carving,
+was taken by Maestro Antonio da San Gallo, who recognized his genius
+and noble spirit, to Rome, where he caused him to execute, as his
+first works, some capitals and bases and several friezes of foliage
+for the Church of S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini, and some works for the
+Palace of Alessandro, the first Cardinal Farnese. Simone meanwhile
+devoting himself, particularly on feast-days, and whenever he could
+snatch the time, to drawing the antiquities of that city, no long time
+passed before he was drawing and tracing ground-plans with more grace
+and neatness than did Antonio himself, insomuch that, having applied
+himself heart and soul to the study of designing foliage in the
+ancient manner, of giving a bold turn to the leaves, and of
+perforating his works in such a way as to make them perfect, taking
+the best from the best examples, one thing from one and one from
+another, in a few years he formed a manner of composition so beautiful
+and so catholic, that afterwards he did everything well, whether in
+company or by himself. This may be seen in some coats of arms that
+were to be placed in the above-named Church of S. Giovanni in the
+Strada Giulia; in one of which coats of arms, making a great lily, the
+ancient emblem of the Commune of Florence, he carved upon it some
+curves of foliage with creepers and seeds executed so well that they
+made everyone gasp with wonder. Nor had any long time passed when
+Antonio da San Gallo--who was directing for Messer Agnolo Cesis the
+execution of the marble ornaments of a chapel and tomb for himself and
+his family, which were afterwards erected in the year 1550 in the
+Church of S. Maria della Pace--caused part of certain pilasters and
+socles covered with friezes, which were going into that work, to be
+wrought by Simone, who executed them so well and with such beauty,
+that they make themselves known among the others, without my saying
+which they are, by their grace and perfection; nor is it possible to
+see any altars for the offering of sacrifices after the ancient use
+more beautiful and fanciful than those that he made on the base of
+that work. Afterwards the same San Gallo, who was superintending the
+execution of the mouth of the well in the cloister of S. Pietro in
+Vincula, caused Mosca to make the borders with some large masks of
+great beauty.
+
+Not long afterwards he returned one summer to Florence, having a good
+name among craftsmen, and Baccio Bandinelli, who was making the
+Orpheus of marble that was placed in the court of the Medici Palace,
+after having the base for that work carried out by Benedetto da
+Rovezzano, caused Simone to execute the festoons and other carvings
+therein, which are very beautiful, although one festoon is unfinished
+and only worked over with the gradine. Having then done many works in
+grey sandstone, of which there is no need to make record, he was
+planning to return to Rome, when in the meantime the sack took place,
+and he did not go after all. But, having taken a wife, he was living
+in Florence with little to do: wherefore, being obliged to support his
+family, and having no income, he was occupying himself with any work
+that he could obtain. Now in those days there arrived in Florence one
+Pietro di Subisso, a master-mason of Arezzo, who always had under him
+a good number of workmen, for the reason that all the building in
+Arezzo passed through his hands; and he took Simone, with many others,
+to Arezzo. There he set Simone to making a chimney-piece of grey
+sandstone and a water-basin of no great cost, for a hall in the house
+of the heirs of Pellegrino da Fossombrone, a citizen of Arezzo; which
+house had been formerly erected by M. Piero Geri, an excellent
+astrologer, after the design of Andrea Sansovino, and had been sold by
+his nephews. Setting to work, therefore, and beginning with the
+chimney-piece, Simone placed it upon two pilasters, making two niches
+in the thickness of the wall, in the direction of the fire, and laying
+upon those pilasters architrave, frieze, and great cornice, and over
+all a pediment with festoons and with the arms of that family. And
+thus, proceeding with it, he executed it with carvings of such a kind
+and so well varied, and with such subtle craftsmanship, that, although
+that work was of grey sandstone, under his hands it became more
+beautiful than if it had been of marble, and more astounding; which,
+indeed, came to pass the more readily because that stone is not as
+hard as marble and, if anything, rather sandy. Putting extraordinary
+diligence, therefore, into the work, he executed on the pilasters
+trophies in half-relief and low-relief, than which nothing more
+bizarre or more beautiful could be done, with helmets, buskins,
+shields, quivers, and various other arms; and he likewise made there
+masks, sea monsters, and other graceful fantasies, all so well figured
+and cut out that they have the appearance of silver. The frieze that
+is between the architrave and the great cornice, he made with a most
+beautiful turn of foliage, all pierced through and full of birds that
+are executed so well, that they seem to be flying through the air; and
+it is a marvellous thing to see their little legs, no larger than
+life, and yet completely in the round and detached from the stone in
+such a way as one cannot believe to be possible; and, in truth, the
+work seems rather a miracle than a product of human art. Besides all
+this, he made there in a festoon some leaves and fruits so well cut
+out, and wrought with such delicacy and care, that in a certain sense
+they surpass the reality. Lastly, the work is finished off by some
+great masks and candelabra, which are truly most beautiful. Although
+Simone need not have given such care to a work of that kind, for which
+he was to be but poorly paid by those patrons, who could not afford
+much, yet, drawn by the love that he bore to art and by the pleasure
+that a man feels in working well, he chose to do so; but he did not do
+the same with the water-basin for the same patrons, for he made it
+beautiful enough, but simple.
+
+At the same time he assisted Pietro di Subisso, who did not know much,
+to make many designs of buildings and plans of houses, doors, windows,
+and other things appertaining to that profession. On the Canto degli
+Albergotti, below the school and university of the Commune, there is a
+window of considerable beauty constructed after his design; and there
+are two of them in the house of Ser Bernardino Serragli in the
+Pelliceria. On the corner of the Palazzo de' Priori there is a large
+escutcheon of Pope Clement VII in grey sandstone, by the hand of the
+same master; and under his direction, and partly by his hand, was
+executed for Bernardino di Cristofano da Giuovi a chapel of grey
+sandstone in the Corinthian Order, which was erected in the Abbey of
+S. Fiore, a passing handsome monastery of Black Friars in Arezzo. For
+this chapel the patron wished to have the altar-piece painted by
+Andrea del Sarto, and then by Rosso, but in this he never succeeded,
+seeing that, being hindered now by one thing and now by another, they
+were not able to serve him. Finally Bernardino turned to Giorgio
+Vasari, but with him also he had difficulties, and there was much
+trouble in finding a way of arranging the matter, for the reason that,
+the chapel being dedicated to S. James and S. Christopher, he wished
+to have in the picture Our Lady with the Child in her arms, and also
+the giant S. Christopher with another little Christ on his shoulder;
+which composition, besides that it appeared monstrous, could not be
+accommodated, nor was it possible to paint a giant of six braccia in
+an altar-piece of four braccia. Giorgio, then, being desirous to serve
+Bernardino, made him a design in this manner: he placed Our Lady upon
+some clouds, with a sun behind her back, and on the ground he painted
+S. Christopher kneeling on one side of the picture, with one leg in
+the water, and with the other in the act of moving in order to rise,
+while Our Lady is placing upon his shoulders the Infant Christ with
+the globe of the world in His hands. In the rest of the altar-piece,
+also, were to be S. James and the other Saints, accommodated in such a
+manner that they would not have been in the way; and this design,
+pleasing Bernardino, would have been put into execution, but
+Bernardino in the meantime died, and the chapel was left in that
+condition to his heirs, who have not done anything more.
+
+Now, while Simone was labouring at that chapel, there passed through
+Arezzo Antonio da San Gallo, who was returning from the work of
+fortifying Parma and was going to Loreto to finish the work of the
+Chapel of the Madonna, to which he had sent Tribolo, Raffaello da
+Montelupo, the young Francesco da San Gallo, Girolamo da Ferrara,
+Simone Cioli, and other carvers, masons, and stone-cutters, in order
+to finish that which Andrea Sansovino at his death had left
+incomplete; and he contrived to take Simone to work there. He ordained
+that Simone should have charge not only of the carvings, but also of
+the architecture and of the other ornaments of that work; in which
+commissions Mosca acquitted himself very well, and, what is more,
+executed many things perfectly with his own hands, particularly some
+little boys of marble in the round, which are on the pediments of the
+doors; and although there are also some by the hand of Simone Cioli,
+the best--and rare indeed they are--are all by Mosca. He made,
+likewise, all the festoons of marble that are around all that work,
+with most beautiful artistry and carvings full of grace and worthy of
+all praise; wherefore it is no marvel that these works are so esteemed
+and admired, that many craftsmen from distant parts have set off in
+order to go to see them.
+
+Antonio da San Gallo, then, recognizing how much Mosca was worth, made
+use of him in any undertaking of importance, with the intention of
+remunerating him some day when the occasion might present itself, and
+of giving him to know how much he loved him for his abilities. When,
+therefore, after the death of Pope Clement, a new Supreme Pontiff had
+been elected in Paul III of the Farnese family, who ordained that, the
+mouth of the well at Orvieto having remained unfinished, Antonio
+should have charge of it, Antonio took Mosca thither, to the end that
+he might carry that work to completion, which presented some
+difficulties, and particularly in the ornamentation of the doors, for
+the reason that, the curve of the mouth being round, convex without
+and concave within, those two circles conflicted with each other and
+caused a difficulty in accommodating the squared doors with the
+ornaments of stone. But the virtue of that singular genius of Simone's
+solved every difficulty, and executed the whole work with such grace
+and perfection, that no one could see that there had ever been any
+difficulty. He finished off the mouth and border of the well in grey
+sandstone, filled in with bricks, together with some very beautiful
+inscriptions on white stone and other ornaments, making the doors
+correspond with one another. He also made there in marble the arms of
+the above-named Pope Paul Farnese, or rather, where they had
+previously been made of balls for Pope Clement, who had carried out
+that work, Mosca was forced--and he succeeded excellently well--to
+make lilies out of the balls in relief, and thus to change the arms of
+the Medici into those of the house of Farnese; notwithstanding, as I
+have said (for so do things go in this world), that the author of that
+vast, regal, and magnificent work was Pope Clement VII, of whom in
+this last and most imposing part no mention whatever was made.
+
+[Illustration: THE ALTAR OF THE THREE KINGS
+
+(_After =Simone Mosca= and =Michele San Michele=. Orvieto: Duomo_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+While Simone was engaged in finishing this well, the Wardens of Works
+of S. Maria, the Duomo of Orvieto, desiring to give completion to
+the chapel of marble that had been carried as far as the socle under
+the direction of Michele San Michele of Verona, with some carvings,
+besought Simone, whom they had come to know as a master of true
+excellence, that he should attend to it. Whereupon they came to terms,
+and Simone, liking the society of the people of Orvieto, brought his
+family thither, in order to live in greater comfort; and then he set
+himself to work with a quiet and composed mind, being greatly honoured
+by everyone in that place. When, therefore, as it were by way of
+sample, he had made a beginning with some pilasters and friezes, the
+excellence and ability of Simone were recognized by those men, and
+there was assigned to him a salary of two hundred crowns of gold a
+year, and with this, continuing to labour, he carried that work well
+forward. Now in the centre, to fill up the ornaments, there was to go
+a scene of marble in half-relief, representing the Adoration of the
+Magi; and there was summoned at the suggestion of Simone his very dear
+friend Raffaello da Montelupo, the Florentine sculptor, who, as has
+been related, executed half of that scene in a very beautiful manner.
+In the ornamentation of this chapel, then, are certain socles, each
+two and a half braccia in breadth, which are on either side of the
+altar, and upon these are pilasters five braccia high, two on either
+side, between which is the story of the Magi; and on the pilasters
+next to the story, of which two of the faces are seen, are carved some
+candelabra, with friezes of grotesques, masks, little figures, and
+foliage, which are things divine. In the predella at the foot, which
+runs right over the altar from pilaster to pilaster, is a little
+half-length Angel who is holding an inscription with his hands, with
+festoons over all, between the capitals of the pilasters, where the
+architrave, frieze and great cornice project to the extent of the
+depth of the pilasters. Above those in the centre, in a space equal to
+their breadth, curves an arch that serves as an ornament to the
+above-named story of the Magi, and in this, namely, in the lunette,
+are many Angels; and above the arch is a cornice, which runs from one
+pilaster to another, that is, from those on the outside, which form a
+frontispiece to the whole work. In this part is a God the Father in
+half-relief; and at the sides, where the arch rises over the
+pilasters, are two Victories in half-relief. All this work, then, is
+so well composed, and executed with such a wealth of carvings, that
+one cannot have enough of examining the minute details of the
+perforations and the excellence of all the things that are in the
+capitals, cornices, masks, festoons, and candelabra in the round,
+which form the completion of a work truly worthy to be admired as
+something rare.
+
+Simone Mosca thus dwelling in Orvieto, a son of his called Francesco,
+and as a bye-name Il Moschino, a boy fifteen years of age, who had
+been produced by nature with chisels in his hand, as it were, and with
+so beautiful a genius, that he did with supreme grace whatsoever thing
+he desired to do, executed in this work under the discipline of his
+father, miraculously, so to speak, the Angels that are holding the
+inscriptions between the pilasters, then the God the Father in the
+pediment, as well as the Angels that are in the lunette of that work,
+above the Adoration of the Magi executed by Raffaello da Montelupo,
+and finally the Victories at the sides of the lunette; by which works
+he caused everyone to wonder and marvel. All this was the reason that,
+when the chapel was finished, Simone was commissioned by the Wardens
+of Works of the Duomo to make another similar to it, on the other
+side, to the end that the space of the Chapel of the High-Altar might
+be suitably set off, on the understanding that the figures should be
+varied without varying the architecture, and that in the centre there
+should be the Visitation of Our Lady, which was allotted to the
+above-named Moschino. Then, having made an agreement about every
+matter, the father and son set their hands to the work; and, while
+they were engaged upon it, Mosca was very helpful and useful to that
+city, making for many citizens architectural designs of houses and
+many other edifices. Among other things, he executed in that city the
+ground-plan and facade of the house of Messer Raffaello Gualtieri,
+father of the Bishop of Viterbo, and of Messer Felice, both noblemen
+and lords of great excellence and reputation; and likewise the
+ground-plans of some houses for the honourable Counts della Cervara.
+He did the same in many places near Orvieto, and made, in particular,
+the models of many structures and buildings for Signor Pirro Colonna
+da Stripicciano.
+
+[Illustration: THE SALUTATION
+
+(_After =Simone Mosca=. Orvieto: Duomo_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+The Pope then causing the fortress to be built in Perugia where
+there had stood the houses of the Baglioni, Antonio da San Gallo,
+having sent for Mosca, gave him the charge of making the ornaments;
+where there were executed after his designs all the doors, windows,
+chimney-pieces, and other suchlike things, and in particular two large
+and very beautiful escutcheons of his Holiness. In that work Simone
+formed a connection with M. Tiberio Crispo, who was Castellan there;
+and he was sent by M. Tiberio to Bolsena, where, on the highest point
+of that stronghold, overlooking the lake, he arranged a large and
+beautiful habitation, partly on the old structure and partly founding
+anew, with a very handsome flight of steps and many ornaments of
+stone. Nor did any long time pass before Messer Tiberio, having been
+made Castellan of the Castello di S. Angelo, caused Mosca to go to
+Rome, where he made use of him in many matters in renovating the
+apartments of that castle; and, among other things, he caused him to
+make over the arches that rise over the new loggia, which faces
+towards the meadows, two escutcheons of the above-named Pope in
+marble, which are so well wrought and perforated in the mitre, or
+rather, triple crown, in the keys, and in certain festoons and little
+masks, that they are marvellous.
+
+Having then returned to Orvieto in order to finish the work of the
+chapel, he laboured there continuously all the time that Pope Paul was
+alive, executing it in such a manner that it proved to be, as may be
+seen, no less excellent than the first, and perhaps even better. For
+Mosca, as has been said, bore such love to art, and took such pleasure
+in working, that he could never have enough of it, almost striving
+after the impossible, and that rather from a desire for glory than
+from any wish to accumulate gold, for he was more pleased to work well
+at his profession than to acquire property.
+
+Finally, Julius III having been elected Pope in the year 1550, and all
+men thinking that work would be begun in earnest on the building of S.
+Pietro, Mosca went off to Rome and sought to obtain at a fixed price
+from the superintendents of that building the commission for some
+capitals of marble, but more to accommodate Gian Domenico, his
+son-in-law, than for any other reason. Now Giorgio Vasari, who always
+bore love to Mosca, found him in Rome, whither he also had been
+summoned to the service of the Pope, and he thought that without fail
+he would have some work to offer him, for the reason that the old
+Cardinal dal Monte, when he died, had left directions with his heirs
+that a tomb of marble should be built for him in S. Pietro a Montorio,
+and the above-named Pope Julius, his nephew and heir, had ordained
+that this should be done, and had given the charge of the matter to
+Vasari; and Giorgio wished that in that tomb Mosca should execute some
+extraordinary work in carving. But, after Giorgio had made some models
+for that tomb, the Pope discussed the whole matter with Michelagnolo
+Buonarroti before he would make up his mind; whereupon Michelagnolo
+told his Holiness that he should not involve himself with carvings,
+saying that, although they enrich a work, they confuse the figures,
+whereas squared work, when it is well done, is much more beautiful
+than carving and is a better accompaniment for the figures, for the
+reason that figures do not brook other carvings about them: and even
+so did his Holiness order the work to be done. Wherefore Vasari was
+not able to give Mosca anything to do in that work, and he was
+dismissed; and the tomb was finished without any carvings, which made
+it much better than it would have been with them.
+
+Simone having then returned to Orvieto, arrangements were made to
+erect after his designs, in the cross at the head of the church, two
+great tabernacles of marble, works truly graceful, beautiful, and
+well-proportioned, for one of which Raffaello da Montelupo made in
+marble a nude Christ with the Cross on His shoulder in a niche, and
+for the other Moschino made a S. Sebastian, likewise nude. Work being
+then continued on the execution of the Apostles for the church,
+Moschino made a S. Peter and a S. Paul of the same size, which were
+held to be creditable statues. Meanwhile the work of the
+above-mentioned Chapel of the Visitation was not abandoned, and it was
+carried so far forward during the lifetime of Mosca, that there was
+nothing left to do save two birds, and even these would not have been
+wanting, had not M. Bastiano Gualtieri, Bishop of Viterbo, as has been
+related, kept Simone occupied with an ornament of marble in four
+pieces, which, when finished, he sent to France to the Cardinal of
+Lorraine, who held it very dear, for it was beautiful to a marvel, all
+full of foliage and wrought with such diligence, that it is believed
+to have been one of the best that Simone ever executed.
+
+Not long after he had finished that work, in the year 1554, Simone
+died, at the age of fifty-eight, to the no small loss of that church
+of Orvieto, in which he was buried with honour.
+
+Francesco Moschino was then elected to his father's place by the
+Wardens of Works of that same Duomo, but, thinking nothing of it, he
+left it to Raffaello da Montelupo, and went to Rome, where he finished
+for M. Ruberto Strozzi two very graceful figures in marble, the Mars
+and Venus, namely, which are in the court of his house in the Banchi.
+Afterwards he executed a scene with little figures, almost in
+full-relief, in which is Diana bathing with her Nymphs, who changes
+Actaeon into a stag, and he is devoured by his own hounds; and then
+Francesco came to Florence, and gave the work to the Lord Duke Cosimo,
+whom he much desired to serve. Whereupon his Excellency, having
+accepted and much commended it, did not disappoint the desire of
+Moschino, even as he has never disappointed anyone who has sought to
+work valiantly in any calling. For he was attached to the Works of the
+Duomo at Pisa, and has laboured up to the present day with great
+credit to himself in the Chapel of the Nunziata, formerly built by
+Stagio da Pietrasanta, executing the Angel and the Madonna in figures
+of four braccia, together with the carvings and every other thing; in
+the centre, Adam and Eve, who have the apple-tree between them; and a
+large God the Father with certain little boys on the vaulting of that
+chapel, which is all of marble, as are also the two statues, which
+have gained for Moschino no little fame and honour. And since that
+chapel is little less than finished, his Excellency has given orders
+that the chapel opposite to it should be taken in hand, which is
+called the Chapel of the Incoronata and stands immediately at the
+entrance of the church, on the left hand. The same Moschino, in
+connection with the nuptial festivities of her most serene Majesty
+Queen Joanna and the most illustrious Prince of Florence, has
+acquitted himself very well in those works that were given him to do.
+
+
+
+
+GIROLAMO AND BARTOLOMMEO GENGA, AND GIOVAN BATTISTA SAN MARINO,
+SON-IN-LAW OF GIROLAMO
+
+
+
+
+LIVES OF GIROLAMO AND BARTOLOMMEO GENGA, AND OF GIOVAN BATTISTA SAN
+MARINO, SON-IN-LAW OF GIROLAMO
+
+
+Girolamo Genga, who was of Urbino, was apprenticed by his father at
+the age of ten to the wool trade, but he followed it with the greatest
+ill-will, and, according as he could find time and place, he was for
+ever drawing in secret with charcoal or an ordinary pen. Which
+circumstance being observed by some friends of his father, they
+exhorted him to remove the boy from that trade and to set him to
+painting; wherefore he placed Girolamo with certain masters of little
+reputation in Urbino. But, having seen his beautiful manner, and that
+he was like to make proficience, when the boy was fifteen years of age
+the father apprenticed him to Maestro Luca Signorelli of Cortona, an
+excellent master in painting of that time; with whom he stayed many
+years, following him to the March of Ancona, to Cortona, and to many
+other places where he executed works, and in particular to Orvieto, in
+the Duomo of which city, as has been related, Luca painted a chapel of
+Our Lady with an infinite number of figures. At this our Girolamo
+worked continually, and he was always one of the best disciples that
+Luca had.
+
+Then, having parted from Signorelli, he placed himself with Pietro
+Perugino, a much esteemed painter, with whom he stayed about three
+years, giving considerable attention to perspective, which was so well
+grasped and understood by him, that it may be said that he became very
+excellent therein, even as is evident from his works in painting and
+architecture. This was at the same time that there was with Pietro the
+divine Raffaello da Urbino, who was much the friend of Girolamo.
+
+After leaving Pietro, he went off to live in Florence, where he
+studied for some considerable time. Then, having gone to Siena, he
+stayed there for months and even years with Pandolfo Petrucci, in
+whose house he painted many rooms, which, from their being very well
+designed and coloured in a pleasing manner, were rightly admired and
+praised by all the people of Siena, and particularly by the
+above-named Pandolfo, by whom he was always looked upon with great
+favour and cherished most dearly. Pandolfo having died, he then
+returned to Urbino, where Guidobaldo, the second Duke, retained him
+for a considerable time, causing him to paint horse's caparisons, such
+as were used in those times, in company with Timoteo da Urbino, a
+painter of passing good name and much experience, together with whom
+he painted a chapel of S. Martino in the Vescovado for Messer Giovan
+Piero Arrivabene of Mantua, then Bishop of Urbino. In this, both the
+one and the other of them gave proof of very beautiful genius, as the
+work itself demonstrates, in which is a portrait of the above-named
+Bishop, which has all the appearance of life. Genga was also
+particularly employed by the same Duke to execute scenery and settings
+for comedies, which, since he had a very good understanding of
+perspective and was well-grounded in architecture, he made
+marvellously beautiful.
+
+He then departed from Urbino and went to Rome, where he executed in
+painting, in S. Caterina da Siena on the Strada Giulia, a Resurrection
+of Christ, wherein he made himself known as a rare and excellent
+master, having done it with good design and with figures foreshortened
+in beautiful attitudes and well coloured, to which those who are of
+the profession and have seen it are able to bear ample testimony.
+While living in Rome, he gave much attention to measuring the
+antiquities there, as is proved by writings in the possession of his
+heirs.
+
+[Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINTS
+
+(_After the painting by =Girolamo Genga=. Milan: Brera, 202_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+At this time, Duke Guido having died, and having been succeeded by
+Francesco Maria, third Duke of Urbino, Girolamo was recalled from Rome
+by Francesco Maria, and constrained to return to Urbino at the time when
+the above-named Duke took to wife and brought into his dominions Leonora
+Gonzaga, the daughter of the Marquis of Mantua; and he was employed by
+his Excellency in making triumphal arches, festive preparations, and
+scenery for comedies, which were all so well arranged and carried into
+execution by him, that Urbino could be likened to a Rome in triumph;
+from which he gained very great fame and honour. Afterwards, in due
+course, the Duke was expelled from his state for the last time, when he
+went to Mantua, and Girolamo followed him, even as he had already done
+in his other periods of exile, always sharing one and the same fortune
+with him; and he retired with his family to Cesena. There he painted for
+the high-altar of S. Agostino an altar-piece in oils, at the top of
+which is an Annunciation, and below that a God the Father, and still
+lower down a Madonna with the Child in her arms, between the four
+Doctors of the Church--a work truly beautiful and worthy to be esteemed.
+He then painted in fresco a chapel on the right hand in S. Francesco at
+Forli, containing the Assumption of the Madonna, with many Angels and
+other figures--Prophets, namely, and Apostles--around; in this, also, it
+is evident how admirable was his genius, and the work was judged to be
+very beautiful. He also painted there the story of the Holy Spirit,
+which he finished in the year 1512, for Messer Francesco Lombardi, a
+physician; and other works throughout Romagna, for all which he gained
+honour and rewards.
+
+The Duke having then returned to his state, Girolamo also returned,
+and was retained by him and employed as architect in restoring an old
+palace on the Monte dell'Imperiale, above Pesaro, and adding to it
+another tower. That palace was adorned with scenes in painting from
+the actions of the Duke, after the directions and designs of Girolamo,
+by Francesco da Forli and Raffaello dal Borgo, painters of good
+repute, and by Camillo Mantovano, a very rare master in painting
+landscapes and verdure; and the young Florentine Bronzino also worked
+there, among others, as has been related in the Life of Pontormo.
+Thither, likewise, were summoned the Dossi of Ferrara, and a room was
+assigned to them to paint; but since, when they had finished that
+room, it did not please the Duke, he had it thrown down and repainted
+by the masters mentioned above. Girolamo then erected the tower there,
+one hundred and twenty feet in height, with thirteen flights of wooden
+steps whereby to ascend to the top, so well fitted and concealed in
+the walls, that they can be withdrawn with ease from story to story,
+which renders that tower very strong and marvellous. A desire
+afterwards came to the Duke to fortify Pesaro, and he caused Pier
+Francesco da Viterbo, a most excellent architect, to be sent for; and
+Girolamo always taking part in the discussions that arose about the
+fortifications, his discourse and his opinions were held to be good
+and full of judgment. Wherefore, if I may be allowed to say it, the
+design of that fortress came rather from Girolamo than from any other,
+although that sort of architecture was always little esteemed by him,
+appearing to him to be of small value and dignity.
+
+The Duke, then, perceiving how rare a genius he had at his command,
+determined to build on the above-named Monte dell'Imperiale, near the
+old palace, a new palace; and so he built that to be seen there at the
+present day, which being a very beautiful and well-planned fabric, and
+full of apartments, colonnades, courts, loggie, fountains, and most
+delightful gardens, there is no Prince passes that way that does not
+go to see it. Wherefore it was right fitting that Pope Paul III, on
+his way to Bologna with all his Court, should go to see it and find it
+entirely to his satisfaction. From the design of this same master, the
+Duke caused the Palace at Pesaro to be restored, and also the little
+park, making within it a house representing a ruin, which is a very
+beautiful thing to see. Among other things, there is a staircase
+similar to that of the Belvedere in Rome, which is very handsome. By
+means of him the Duke had the fortress of Gradara restored, and
+likewise the Palace at Castel Durante, insomuch that all that is good
+in those works came from that admirable genius. Girolamo also built
+the corridor of the Palace at Urbino, above the garden, and he
+enclosed a courtyard on one side with perforated stone-work executed
+with great diligence.
+
+From the design of the same master, likewise, were begun the Convent
+of the Frati Zoccolanti at Monte Baroccio and S. Maria delle Grazie at
+Sinigaglia, which in the end remained unfinished by reason of the
+death of the Duke. And about the same time was begun after his
+directions and design the Vescovado of Sinigaglia, of which the model,
+made by him, is still to be seen. He also executed some works in
+sculpture and figures of clay and wax in the round, beautiful enough,
+which are in the house of his family at Urbino. For the Imperiale he
+made some Angels in clay, which he afterwards caused to be cast in
+bronze and placed over the doors of the rooms decorated with
+stucco-work in the new palace; and these are very beautiful. For the
+Bishop of Sinigaglia he executed some fantasies in wax in the form of
+drinking-cups, which were afterwards to be made in silver; and with
+greater diligence he made some others, most beautiful, for the Duke's
+credence. He showed fine invention in masquerades and costumes, as was
+seen in the time of the above-named Duke, by whom he was passing well
+rewarded, as he deserved, for his rare parts and good qualities.
+
+His son, Guidobaldo, who reigns at the present day, having then
+succeeded him as Duke, caused a beginning to be made by the
+above-named Genga with the Church of S. Giovan Battista at Pesaro,
+which, having been carried out according to the model of Girolamo by
+his son Bartolommeo, is of very beautiful architecture in every part,
+for he imitated the antique considerably, and made it in such a manner
+that it is the most beautiful temple that there is in those parts, as
+the work itself clearly demonstrates, being able to challenge
+comparison with the most famous buildings in Rome. After his designs
+and directions, likewise, there was executed in S. Chiara at Urbino by
+the Florentine sculptor Bartolommeo Ammanati, who was then very young,
+the tomb of Duke Francesco Maria, which, for a simple work of little
+cost, proved to be very beautiful. In like manner, the Venetian
+painter Battista Franco was summoned by him to paint the great chapel
+of the Duomo at Urbino, at the time when there was being made after
+his design the ornament of the organ of that Duomo, which is not yet
+finished.
+
+Shortly afterwards, the Cardinal of Mantua having written to the Duke
+that he should send him Girolamo, because he wished to restore the
+Vescovado of that city, Girolamo went thither and fitted it up very
+well with lights and with all that the above-named lord desired.
+Besides this, the Cardinal, wishing to make a beautiful facade for the
+Duomo, caused him to prepare a model for it, which was executed by him
+in such a manner, that it may be said that it surpassed all the
+architectural works of his time, for the reason that in it may be seen
+grandeur, proportion, grace, and great beauty of composition.
+
+Having then returned from Mantua, now an old man, he went to live at a
+villa of his own, called Le Valle, in the territory of Urbino, in
+order to rest and enjoy the fruits of his labours; in which place, not
+wishing to remain idle, he executed in chalk a Conversion of S. Paul
+with figures and horses of considerable size and in very beautiful
+attitudes, which was finished by him with such patience and diligence,
+that no greater could be either described or seen, as is evident from
+the work itself, now in the possession of his heirs, by whom it is
+treasured as a very dear and precious thing. There, while living with
+a tranquil mind, he was attacked by a terrible fever, and, after he
+had received all the Sacraments of the Church, finished the course of
+his life, to the infinite grief of his wife and children, on the 11th
+of July in the year 1551, at the age of about seventy-five. Having
+been carried from that place to Urbino, he was buried with honour in
+the Vescovado, in front of the Chapel of S. Martino formerly painted
+by him; and his death caused extraordinary sorrow to his relatives and
+to all the citizens.
+
+Girolamo was always an excellent man, insomuch that nothing was ever
+heard of any bad action committed by him. He was not only a painter,
+sculptor, and architect, but also a good musician and a fine talker,
+and his society was very agreeable. He was full of courtesy and
+lovingness towards his relatives and friends; and, what entitles him
+to no little praise, he laid the foundation of the house of Genga at
+Urbino with his good name and property. He left two sons, one of whom
+followed in his footsteps and gave his attention to architecture, in
+which, if he had not been hindered by death, he was like to become
+most excellent, as his beginnings demonstrate; and the other, who
+devoted himself to the cares of the family, is still alive at the
+present day.
+
+A disciple of Girolamo, as has been related, was Francesco Menzochi of
+Forli, who first began to draw by himself when still a child,
+imitating and copying an altar-piece in the Duomo of Forli, by the
+hand of Marco Parmigiano[7] of Forli, containing a Madonna, S. Jerome,
+and other Saints, and held at that time to be the best of the modern
+pictures; and he occupied himself likewise with imitating the works
+of Rondinino[8] da Ravenna, a painter more excellent than Marco, who a
+little time before had placed on the high-altar of the above-named
+Duomo a most beautiful altar-piece, in which was painted Christ giving
+the Communion to the Apostles, and in a lunette above it a Dead
+Christ, and in the predella of that altar-piece very graceful scenes
+with little figures from the life of S. Helen. These works brought him
+forward in such a manner, that, when Girolamo Genga went, as we have
+said, to paint the chapel in S. Francesco at Forli for M. Bartolommeo
+Lombardino, Francesco at that time went to live with Genga, seizing
+that opportunity of learning, and did not cease to serve him as long
+as he lived. There, and also at Urbino and in the work of the
+Imperiale at Pesaro, he laboured continually, as has been related,
+esteemed and beloved by Genga, because he acquitted himself very well,
+as many altar-pieces by his hand bear witness that are dispersed
+throughout the city of Forli, and particularly three of them which are
+in S. Francesco, besides that there are some scenes of his in fresco
+in the hall of the Palace.
+
+         [Footnote 7: Palmezzani.]
+
+         [Footnote 8: Rondinello.]
+
+He painted many works throughout Romagna; and at Venice, also, for the
+very reverend Patriarch Grimani, he executed four large pictures in
+oils that were placed in the ceiling of a little hall in his house,
+round an octagon that Francesco Salviati painted; in which pictures
+are the stories of Psyche, held to be very beautiful. But the place
+where he strove to do his utmost and to put forth all his powers, was
+the Chapel of the most holy Sacrament in the Church of Loreto, in
+which he painted some Angels round a tabernacle of marble wherein
+rests the Body of Christ, and two scenes on the walls of that chapel,
+one of Melchizedek and the other of the Manna raining down, both
+executed in fresco; and over the vaulting he distributed fifteen
+little scenes of the Passion of Jesus Christ, nine of which he
+executed in painting, and six in half-relief. This was a rich work and
+well conceived, and he won for it such honour, that he was not
+suffered to depart until he had decorated another chapel of equal size
+in the same place, opposite to the first, and called the Chapel of the
+Conception, with the vaulting all wrought with rich and very beautiful
+stucco-work; in which he taught the art of stucco-work to his son
+Pietro Paolo, who has since done him honour and has become a
+well-practised master in that field. Francesco, then, painted in
+fresco on the walls the Nativity and the Presentation of Our Lady, and
+over the altar he painted S. Anne and the Virgin with the Child in her
+arms, and two Angels that are crowning her. And, in truth, his works
+are much extolled by the craftsmen, and likewise his ways and his
+life, which was that of a true Christian; and he lived in peace,
+enjoying that which he had gained with his labours.
+
+A pupil of Genga, also, was Baldassarre Lancia of Urbino, who, having
+given his attention to many ingenious matters, has since practised his
+hand in fortifications, at which he worked on a salary for the
+Signoria of Lucca, in which place he stayed for some time. He then
+attached himself to the most illustrious Duke Cosimo de' Medici, whom
+he came to serve in the fortifications of the states of Florence and
+Siena; and the Duke has employed and still employs him in many
+ingenious works, in which Baldassarre has laboured valiantly and with
+honour, winning remunerations from that grateful lord.
+
+Many others also served Girolamo Genga, of whom, from their not having
+attained to any great excellence, there is no need to speak.
+
+To the above-named Girolamo, at Cesena, in the year 1518, the while
+that he was accompanying the Duke his master in exile, there was born
+a son called Bartolommeo, who was brought up by him very decently, and
+then, when he was well grown, placed to learn grammar, in which he
+made more than ordinary proficience. Afterwards, when he was eighteen
+years of age, the father, perceiving that he was inclined more to
+design than to letters, caused him to study design under his own
+discipline for about two years: which finished, he sent him to study
+design and painting in Florence, where he knew that the true study of
+that art was to be found, on account of the innumerable works by
+excellent masters that are there, both ancient and modern. Living in
+that place, and attending to design and to architecture, Bartolommeo
+formed a friendship with Giorgio Vasari, the painter and architect of
+Arezzo, and with the sculptor Bartolommeo Ammanati, from whom he
+learned many things appertaining to art. Finally, after having been
+three years in Florence, he returned to his father, who was then
+attending to the building of S. Giovanni Battista at Pesaro.
+Whereupon, the father having seen the designs of Bartolommeo, it
+appeared to him that he acquitted himself much better in architecture,
+for which he had a very good inclination, than in painting; wherefore,
+keeping him under his own care some months, he taught him the methods
+of perspective. And afterwards he sent him to Rome, to the end that he
+might see the marvellous buildings, both ancient and modern, that are
+there, of which, in the four years that he stayed there, he took the
+measurements, and made therein very great proficience. Then, on his
+way back to Urbino, passing through Florence in order to see
+Francesco[9] San Marino, his brother-in-law, who was living there as
+engineer to the Lord Duke Cosimo, Signor Stefano Colonna da
+Palestrina, at that time general to that lord, having heard of his
+ability, sought to engage him with himself, with a good salary. But
+he, being much indebted to the Duke of Urbino, would not attach
+himself to others, and returned to Urbino, where he was received by
+that Duke into his service, and ever afterwards held very dear.
+
+         [Footnote 9: Giovan Battista.]
+
+Not long afterwards, the Duke taking to wife Signora Vittoria Farnese,
+Bartolommeo received from the Duke the charge of executing the festive
+preparations for those nuptials, which he did in a truly honourable
+and magnificent manner. Among other things, he made a triumphal arch
+in the Borgo di Valbuona, so beautiful and so well wrought, that there
+is none larger or more beautiful to be seen; whence it became evident
+how much knowledge of architecture he had acquired at Rome. Then the
+Duke, having to go into Lombardy, as General to the Signoria of
+Venice, to inspect the fortresses of that dominion, took with him
+Bartolommeo, of whom he availed himself much in preparing designs and
+sites of fortresses, and in particular at the Porta S. Felice in
+Verona. Now, while Bartolommeo was in Lombardy, the King of Bohemia,
+who was returning from Spain to his kingdom, passed through that
+province and was received with honour by the Duke at Verona; and he
+saw those fortresses. And, since they pleased him, after he had become
+acquainted with Bartolommeo, he wished to take him to his kingdom, in
+order to make use of him in fortifying his territories, with a good
+salary; but the Duke would not give him leave, and the matter went no
+further.
+
+When they had returned to Urbino, no long time passed before Girolamo,
+the father, came to his death; whereupon Bartolommeo was set by the
+Duke in the place of his father over all the buildings of the state,
+and sent to Pesaro, where he continued the building of S. Giovanni
+Battista, after the model of Girolamo. During that time he built in
+the Palace of Pesaro, over the Strada de' Mercanti, a suite of rooms
+which the Duke now occupies; a fine work, with most beautiful
+ornaments in the form of doors, staircases, and chimney-pieces, of
+which things he was an excellent architect. Which having seen, the
+Duke desired that in the Palace of Urbino as well he should make
+another suite of apartments, almost entirely on the facade that faces
+towards S. Domenico; and this, when finished, proved to be the most
+beautiful suite in that court, or rather, palace, and the most ornate
+that is there. Not long afterwards, the Signori of Bologna having
+asked for him for some days from the Duke, his Excellency granted him
+to them very readily; and he, having gone, served them in what they
+desired in such a manner, that they remained very well satisfied and
+showed him innumerable courtesies.
+
+He then made for the Duke, who desired to construct a sea-port at
+Pesaro, a very beautiful model; and this was taken to Venice, to the
+house of Count Giovan Giacomo Leonardi, at that time the Duke's
+Ambassador in that place, to the end that it might be seen by many of
+the profession who often assembled, with other choice spirits, to hold
+discussions and disputations on various matters in the house of the
+above-named Count, who was a truly remarkable man. There, then, after
+that model had been seen and the fine discourse of Genga had been
+heard, the model was held by all without exception to be masterly and
+beautiful, and the master who had made it a man of the rarest genius.
+But, when he had returned to Pesaro, the model after all was not
+carried into execution, because new circumstances of great importance
+drove that project out of the Duke's mind.
+
+About that time Genga made the design of the Church of Monte
+L'Abbate, and also that of the Church of S. Piero in Mondavio, which
+was carried into execution by Don Pier Antonio Genga in such a manner,
+that, for a small work, I do not believe that there is anything better
+to be seen.
+
+These works finished, no long time passed before, Pope Julius III
+having been elected, and the Duke of Urbino having been created by him
+Captain General of Holy Church, his Excellency went to Rome, and Genga
+with him. There, his Holiness wishing to fortify the Borgo, at the
+request of the Duke Genga made some very beautiful designs, which,
+with a number of others, are in the collection of his Excellency at
+Urbino. For these reasons the fame of Bartolommeo spread abroad, and
+the Genoese, while he was living with the Duke in Rome, asked for him
+from his Excellency, in order to make use of him in some
+fortifications of their own; but the Duke would not grant him to them,
+either at that time or on another occasion when they again asked for
+him, after his return to Urbino.
+
+In the end, when he was near the close of his life, there were sent to
+Pesaro by the Grand Master of Rhodes two knights of that Order of
+Jerusalem, to beseech his Excellency that he should deign to lend them
+Bartolommeo, to the end that they might take him to the Island of
+Malta, in which they wished to construct not only very large
+fortifications wherewith to defend themselves against the Turks, but
+also two cities, so as to unite many villages that were there into one
+or two places. Whereupon the Duke, whom the above-named knights in two
+months had not been able to induce to grant them Bartolommeo, although
+they had availed themselves of the good services of the Duchess and
+others, finally complied with their request for a fixed period, at the
+entreaty of a good Capuchin father, to whom his Excellency bore a very
+great affection, and refused nothing that he asked; and the artifice
+that was used by that holy man, who made it a matter of conscience
+with the Duke, saying that it was in the interest of the Christian
+Republic, was not otherwise than highly commendable and worthy of
+praise. And thus Bartolommeo, who had never received any favour
+greater than this, departed with the above-named knights from Pesaro
+on the 20th of January, 1558; but they lingered in Sicily, being
+delayed by the fortune of the sea, and they did not reach Malta, where
+they were received with rejoicing by the Grand Master, until the 11th
+of March. Having then been shown what he was to do, he acquitted
+himself so well in those fortifications, that it could not be
+expressed in words; insomuch that to the Grand Master and all those
+noble knights it appeared that they had found another Archimedes, and
+this they proved by making him most honourable presents and holding
+him, as a rare master, in supreme veneration. Then, after having made
+the models of a city, of some churches, and of the palace and
+residence of the same Grand Master, with most beautiful invention and
+design, he fell sick of his last illness, for, having set himself one
+day in the month of July, the heat in that island being very great,
+between two doors to refresh himself, he had not been there long when
+he was assailed by insufferable pains of the body and by a cruel flux,
+which killed him in seventeen days, to the infinite sorrow of the
+Grand Master and all those most honourable and valiant knights, to
+whom it appeared that they had found a man after their own hearts,
+when he was snatched from them by death. The Lord Duke of Urbino,
+having been advised of this sad news, felt indescribable sorrow, and
+bewailed the death of poor Genga; and then, having resolved to
+demonstrate to the five children whom he had left behind him the love
+that he bore to him, he took them under his particular and loving
+protection.
+
+Bartolommeo showed beautiful invention in masquerades, and was a rare
+master in making scenic settings for comedies. He delighted to write
+sonnets and other compositions in verse and prose, and in none was he
+better than in the ottava rima, in which manner of writing he was an
+author of passing good renown. He died at the age of forty, in the
+year 1558.
+
+Giovan Battista Bellucci of San Marino having been the son-in-law of
+Girolamo Genga, I have judged that it would not be well to withhold
+what I have to say of him, after the Lives of Girolamo and Bartolommeo
+Genga, and particularly in order to show that men of fine intellect,
+if only they be willing, succeed in everything, even if they set
+themselves late in life to difficult and honourable enterprises; for
+study, when added to natural inclination, has often been seen to
+accomplish marvellous things. Giovan Battista, then, was born in San
+Marino on the 27th of September, 1506, to Bartolommeo Bellucci, a
+person of passing good family in that place; and after he had learned
+the first rudiments of the humanities, when eighteen years of age, he
+was sent by that same Bartolommeo, his father, to Bologna, to attend
+to the pursuit of commerce under Bastiano di Ronco, a merchant of the
+Guild of Wool. Having been there about two years, he returned to San
+Marino sick of a quartan fever, which hung upon him two years; of
+which being finally cured, he set up a wool business of his own, with
+which he continued up to the year 1535, at which time his father,
+perceiving that Giovan Battista was in good circumstances, gave him
+for a wife in Cagli a daughter of Guido Peruzzi, a person of
+considerable standing in that city. But she died not long afterwards,
+and Giovan Battista went to Rome to seek out Domenico Peruzzi, his
+brother-in-law, who was equerry to Signor Ascanio Colonna; and by
+means of him Giovan Battista lived for two years with that lord as a
+gentleman. He then returned home; and it came about that, as he
+frequented Pesaro, Girolamo Genga, having come to know him as an
+excellent and well-behaved young man, gave him a daughter of his own
+for wife and took him into his house. Whereupon Giovan Battista, being
+much inclined to architecture, and giving his attention with much
+diligence to the architectural works that his wife's father was
+executing, began to gain a very good grasp of the various manners of
+building, and to study Vitruvius; and thus, what with that which he
+acquired by himself and that which Genga taught him, he became a good
+architect, and particularly in the matter of fortifications and other
+things relating to war.
+
+Then, in the year 1541, his wife died, leaving him two boys; and he
+remained until 1543 without coming to any further resolution about his
+life. At that time, in the month of September, there appeared in San
+Marino one Signor Gustamante, a Spaniard, sent by his Imperial Majesty
+to that Republic on some affairs. Giovan Battista was recognized by
+him as an excellent architect, and at his instance he entered not
+long afterwards into the service of the most illustrious Lord Duke
+Cosimo, as engineer. And thus, having arrived in Florence, his
+Excellency made use of him for all the fortifications of his dominion,
+according to the necessities that arose every day; and, among other
+things, the fortress of the city of Pistoia having been begun many
+years before, San Marino, by the desire of the Duke, completely
+finished it, with great credit to himself, although it is no great
+work. Then, under the direction of the same architect, a very strong
+bastion was built at Pisa. Wherefore, his method of work pleasing the
+Duke, his Excellency caused him to construct--where, as has been
+related, there had been built on the hill of S. Miniato, without
+Florence, the wall that curves from the Porta S. Niccolo to the Porta
+S. Miniato--the fortification that encloses a gate by means of two
+bastions, and guards the Church and Monastery of S. Miniato; making on
+the summit of that hill a fortress that dominates the whole city and
+looks on the outer side towards the east and the south, a work that
+was vastly extolled. The same Giovan Battista made many designs and
+ground-plans of various fortifications for places in the states of his
+Excellency, and also various rough models in clay, which are in the
+possession of the Lord Duke. And since San Marino was a man of fine
+genius and very studious, he wrote a little book on the methods of
+fortifications; which work, a beautiful and useful one, is now in the
+possession of Messer Bernardo Puccini, a gentleman of Florence, who
+learned many things with regard to the matters of architecture and
+fortification from San Marino, who was much his friend.
+
+Giovan Battista, after having designed in the year 1554 many bastions
+that were to be built round the walls of the city of Florence, some of
+which were begun in earth, went with the most illustrious lord, Don
+Garzia di Toledo, to Monte Alcino, where, having made some trenches,
+he mined under a bastion and so shattered it, that he threw down the
+breastwork; but as it was falling to the ground a harquebus-ball
+struck San Marino in the thigh. Not long afterwards, his wound being
+healed, he went secretly to Siena and took the ground-plan of that
+city, and of the earthworks that the people of Siena had made at the
+Porta Camollia; which plan of fortifications he then showed to the
+Lord Duke and to the Marchese di Marignano, making it clear to them
+that the work was not difficult to capture or to secure afterwards on
+the side towards Siena. That this was true was proved by the fact, the
+night that it was taken by the above-named Marquis, with whom Giovan
+Battista had gone by order and commission of the Duke. On that
+account, then, the Marquis, having conceived an affection for him and
+knowing that he had need of his judgment and ability in the field
+(that is, in the war against Siena), so went to work with the Duke,
+that his Excellency sent Giovan Battista off as captain of a strong
+company of foot-soldiers; whereupon he served from that day onward in
+the field, as a valiant soldier and an ingenious architect. Finally,
+having been sent by the Marquis to Aiuola, a fortress in the Chianti,
+while disposing the artillery he was wounded in the head by a
+harquebus-ball; wherefore he was taken by his soldiers to the Pieve di
+S. Paolo, which belongs to Bishop da Ricasoli, and died in a few days,
+and was carried to San Marino, where he received honourable burial
+from his children.
+
+Giovan Battista deserves to be highly extolled, for the reason that,
+besides having been excellent in his profession, it is a marvellous
+thing that, having set himself to give attention to it late in life,
+at the age of thirty-five, he should have made in it the proficience
+that he did make; and it may be believed that if he had begun younger,
+he would have become a very rare master. Giovan Battista was something
+obstinate, so that it was a serious undertaking to move him from any
+opinion. He took extraordinary pleasure in reading stories, and turned
+them to very great advantage, writing down with great pains the most
+notable things in them. His death much grieved the Duke and his
+innumerable friends; wherefore his son Gian Andrea, coming to kiss his
+Excellency's hands, was received kindly by him and welcomed most
+warmly with very generous offers, on account of the ability and
+fidelity of the father, who died at the age of forty-eight.
+
+
+
+
+MICHELE SAN MICHELE
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: PAOLO VERONESE: INDUSTRY
+
+(_Venice: Doges' Palace, Sala Anticollegio. Ceiling Painting_)]
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF MICHELE SAN MICHELE
+
+ARCHITECT OF VERONA
+
+
+Michele San Michele, who was born at Verona in the year 1484, and
+learned the first principles of architecture from his father Giovanni
+and his uncle Bartolommeo, both excellent architects, went off at
+sixteen years of age to Rome, leaving his father and two brothers of
+fine parts, one of whom, called Jacopo, devoted himself to letters,
+and the other, named Don Camillo, was a Canon Regular and General of
+that Order. Having arrived there, he studied the ancient remains of
+architecture in such a manner, and with such diligence, observing and
+measuring everything minutely, that in a short time he became renowned
+and famous not only in Rome, but throughout all the places that are
+around that city. Moved by his fame, the people of Orvieto summoned
+him as architect to their celebrated temple, with an honourable
+salary; and while he was employed in their service, he was summoned
+for the same reason to Monte Fiascone, as architect for the building
+of their principal temple; and thus, serving both the one and the
+other of these places, he executed all that there is to be seen in
+these two cities in the way of good architecture. Among other works, a
+most beautiful tomb was built after his design in S. Domenico at Monte
+Fiascone--I believe, for one of the Petrucci, a nobleman of
+Siena--which cost a great sum of money, and proved to be marvellous.
+Besides all this, he made an infinite number of designs for private
+houses in those places, and made himself known as a man of great
+judgment and excellence.
+
+Thereupon Pope Clement VII, proposing to make use of him in the most
+important operations of the wars that were stirring at that time
+throughout all Italy, gave him as a companion to Antonio da San
+Gallo, with a very good salary, to the end that they might go together
+to inspect all the places of greatest importance in the States of the
+Church, and, wherever necessary, might see to the construction of
+fortifications; above all, at Parma and Piacenza, because those two
+cities were most distant from Rome, and nearest and most exposed to
+the perils of war. Which duty having been executed by Michele and
+Antonio to the full satisfaction of the Pontiff, there came to Michele
+a desire, after all those years, to revisit his native city and his
+relatives and friends, and even more to see the fortresses of the
+Venetians. Wherefore, after he had been a few days in Verona, he went
+to Treviso to see the fortress there, and then to Padua for the same
+purpose; but the Signori of Venice, having been warned of this, became
+suspicious that San Michele might be going about inspecting those
+fortresses with a hostile intent. Having therefore been arrested at
+Padua at their command and thrown into prison, he was examined at
+great length; but, when it was found that he was an honest man, he was
+not only liberated by them, but also entreated that he should consent
+to enter the service of those same Signori of Venice, with honourable
+rank and salary. He excused himself by saying that he was not able to
+do that for the present, being engaged to his Holiness; but he gave
+them fair promises, and then took his leave of them. Now he had not
+been away long, when he was forced to depart from Rome--to such
+purpose did those Signori go to work in order to secure him--and to
+go, with the gracious leave of the Pope, whom he first satisfied in
+full, to serve those most illustrious noblemen, his natural lords.
+Abiding with them, he gave soon enough a proof of his judgment and
+knowledge by making at Verona (after many difficulties which the work
+appeared to present) a very strong and beautiful bastion, which gave
+infinite satisfaction to those Signori and to the Lord Duke of Urbino,
+their Captain General. After these things, the same Signori, having
+determined to fortify Legnago and Porto, places most important to
+their dominion, and situated upon the River Adige, one on one side and
+the other on the opposite side, but joined by a bridge, commissioned
+San Michele to show them by means of a model how it appeared to him
+that those places could and should be fortified. Which having been
+done by him, his design gave infinite satisfaction to the Signori and
+to the Duke of Urbino. Whereupon, arrangements having been made for
+all that had to be done, San Michele executed the fortifications of
+those two places in such a manner, that among works of that kind there
+is nothing better to be seen, or more beautiful, or more carefully
+considered, or stronger, as whoever has seen them well knows.
+
+This done, he fortified in the Bresciano, almost from the foundations,
+Orzinuovo, a fortress and port similar to Legnago. San Michele being
+then sought for with great insistence by Signor Francesco Sforza, last
+Duke of Milan, the Signori consented to grant him leave, but for three
+months only. Having therefore gone to Milan, he inspected all the
+fortresses of that State, and gave directions in every place for all
+that it seemed to him necessary to do, and that with such credit and
+so much to the satisfaction of the Duke, that his Excellency, besides
+thanking the Signori of Venice, presented five hundred crowns to San
+Michele. And with this occasion, before returning to Venice, Michele
+went to Casale di Monferrato, in order to see that very strong and
+beautiful fortress and city, the architecture of which was the work of
+Matteo San Michele, an excellent architect, his cousin; and also an
+honoured and very beautiful tomb of marble erected in S. Francesco in
+the same city, likewise under the direction of Matteo.
+
+Having then returned home, he had no sooner arrived than he was sent
+with the above-named Duke of Urbino to inspect La Chiusa, a fortress
+and pass of much importance, above Verona, and then all the places in
+Friuli, Bergamo, Vicenza, Peschiera, and others, of all which, and of
+what seemed to him to be required, he gave minute information in
+writing to the Signori. Having next been sent by the same Signori to
+Dalmatia, to fortify the cities and other places of that province, he
+inspected everything, and carried out restorations with great
+diligence wherever he saw the necessity to be greatest; and, since he
+could not himself despatch all the work, he left there Gian Girolamo,
+his kinsman, who, after fortifying Zara excellently well, erected from
+the foundations the marvellous fortress of S. Niccolo, over the mouth
+of the harbour of Sebenico.
+
+Meanwhile Michele was sent in great haste to Corfu, and restored the
+fortress there in many parts; and he did the same in all the places in
+Cyprus and Candia. Even so, not long afterwards--on account of a fear
+that the island might be lost, by reason of the war with the Turks,
+which was imminent--he was forced to return there, after having
+inspected the fortresses of the Venetian dominion in Italy, to
+fortify, with incredible rapidity, Canea, Candia, Retimo, and Settia,
+but particularly Canea and Candia, which he rebuilt from the
+foundations and made impregnable. Napoli di Romania being then
+besieged by the Turks, what with the diligence of S. Michele in
+fortifying it and furnishing it with bastions, and the valour of
+Agostino Chisoni of Verona, a very valiant captain, in defending it
+with arms, it was not after all taken by the enemy or forced to
+surrender.
+
+These wars finished, San Michele went with the Magnificent M. Tommaso
+Mozzenigo, Captain General of the Fleet, to fortify Corfu once again;
+and they then returned to Sebenico, where the diligence of Gian
+Girolamo, shown by him in constructing the above-mentioned fortress of
+S. Niccolo, was much commended. San Michele having then returned to
+Venice, where he was much extolled for the works executed in the
+Levant in the service of that Republic, the Signori resolved to build
+a fortress on the Lido, at the mouth of the port of Venice. Wherefore,
+giving the charge of this to San Michele, they said to him that, if he
+had done such great things far away from Venice, he should think how
+much it was his duty to do in a work of such importance, which was to
+lie for ever under the eyes of the Senate and of so many great lords;
+and that in addition, besides beauty and strength in the work, there
+was expected of him particular industry in founding truly and well in
+a marshy spot, which was surrounded on all sides by the sea and
+exposed to the ebb and flow of the tide, a pile of such importance.
+San Michele having therefore not only made a very beautiful and solid
+model, but also considered the method of laying the foundations and
+carrying it into effect, orders were given to him that he should set
+his hand to the work without delay. Whereupon, after receiving from
+those Signori all that was required, he prepared the materials for
+filling in the foundations, and, besides this, caused great numbers of
+piles to be sunk in double rows, and then, with a vast number of
+persons well acquainted with those waters, he set himself to make the
+excavations, and to contrive by means of pumps and other instruments
+to keep the water pumped out, which was seen continually rising from
+below, because the site was in the sea. One morning, finally,
+resolving to make a supreme effort to begin the foundations, and
+assembling as many men fit for the purpose as could be obtained, with
+all the porters of Venice, and many of the Signori being present, in a
+moment, with incredible assiduity and promptitude, the waters were
+mastered for a little to such purpose, that the first stones of the
+foundations were thrown instantly upon the piles already driven in;
+which stones, being very large, took up much space and made an
+excellent foundation. And so, continuing to keep the water pumped out
+without losing any time, almost in a flash those foundations were
+laid, contrary to the expectation of many who had looked upon that
+work as absolutely impossible. The foundations, when finished, were
+allowed sufficient time to settle, and then Michele erected upon them
+a mighty and marvellous fortress, building it on the outer side all in
+rustic work, with very large stones from Istria, which are of an
+extreme hardness and able to withstand wind, frost, and the worst of
+weather. Wherefore that fortress, besides being marvellous with regard
+to the site on which it is built, is also, from the beauty of the
+masonry and from its incredible cost, one of the most stupendous that
+there are in Europe at the present day, rivalling the grandeur and
+majesty of the most famous edifices erected by the greatness of the
+Romans; for, besides other things, it appears as if made all from one
+block, and as though a mountain of living rock had been carved and
+given that form, so large are the blocks of which it is built, and so
+well joined and united together, not to speak of the ornaments and
+other things that are there, seeing that one would never be able to
+say enough to do them justice. Within it Michele afterwards made a
+piazza, divided by pilasters and arches of the Rustic Order, which
+would have proved to be a very rare work, if it had not been left
+unfinished.
+
+This vast pile having been carried to the condition that has been
+described, some malign and envious persons said to the Signoria that,
+although it was very beautiful and built with every possible
+consideration, nevertheless it would be useless for any purpose, and
+perhaps even dangerous, for the reason that on discharging the
+artillery--on account of the great quantity and weight of artillery
+that the place required--it was almost inevitable that the edifice
+should split open and fall to the ground. It therefore appeared to
+those prudent Signori that it would be well to make certain of this,
+the matter being one of great importance; and they caused to be taken
+there a vast quantity of artillery, the heaviest that could be found
+in the Arsenal. Then, all the embrasures both above and below having
+been filled with cannon, and the cannon charged more heavily than was
+usual, they were all fired off together; whereupon such were the
+noise, the thunder, and the earthquake that resulted, that it seemed
+as if the world had burst to pieces, and the fortress, with all those
+flaming cannon, had the appearance of a volcano and of Hell itself.
+But for all that the building stood firm in its former strength and
+solidity, whereby the Senate was convinced of the great worth of San
+Michele, and the evil-speakers were put to scorn as men of little
+judgment, although they had put such terror into everyone, that the
+ladies then pregnant, fearing some great disaster, had withdrawn from
+Venice.
+
+Not long afterwards a place of no little importance on the coast near
+Venice, called Marano, having returned under the dominion of the
+Venetians, was restored and fortified with promptitude and diligence
+under the direction of San Michele. And about the same time, the fame
+of Michele and of his kinsman, Gian Girolamo, spreading ever more
+widely, they were requested many times, both the one and the other, to
+go to live with the Emperor Charles V and with King Francis of France;
+but, although they were invited under most honourable conditions, they
+would not leave their own masters to enter into the service of
+foreigners. Indeed, continuing in their offices, they went about
+inspecting and restoring every year, wherever it was necessary, all
+the cities and fortresses of the State of Venice.
+
+[Illustration: PORTA DEL PALIO
+
+(_After =Michele San Michele=. Verona_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+But more than all the rest did Michele fortify and adorn his native
+city of Verona, making there, besides other things, those most
+beautiful gates of the city, which have no equal in any other place.
+One was the Porta Nuova, all in the Dorico-rustic Order, which in
+its solidity and massive firmness corresponds to the strength of the
+site, being all built of tufa and pietra viva,[10] and having within
+it rooms for the soldiers who mount guard there, and many other
+conveniences, never before added to that kind of building. That
+edifice, which is quadrangular and open above, serving with its
+embrasures as a cavalier, defends two great bastions, or rather,
+towers, which stand one on either side of the gate at proper
+distances; and all is done with so much judgment, cost, and
+magnificence, that no one thought that for the future there could be
+executed any work of greater grandeur or better design, even as none
+such had been seen in the past. But a few years afterwards the same
+San Michele founded and carried upwards the gate commonly called the
+Porta dal Palio, which is in no way inferior to that described above,
+but equally beautiful, grand, and magnificent, or even more so, and
+designed excellently well. And, in truth, in these two gates the
+Signori of Venice may be seen to have equalled, by means of the genius
+of this architect, the edifices and fabrics of the ancient Romans.
+
+         [Footnote 10: Any kind of stone that is easily split.]
+
+This last gate, then, is on the outer side of the Doric Order, with
+immense projecting columns, all fluted according to the manner of that
+Order; and these columns, which are eight in all, are placed in pairs.
+Four serve to enclose the gate, with the arms of the Rectors of the
+city, between one and another, on either side, and the other four,
+likewise in pairs, make a finish to the angles of the gate, the facade
+of which is very wide and all of bosses, or rather, blocks, not rough,
+but made smooth, with very beautiful ornamentation; and the opening,
+or rather passage, through the gate, is left quadrangular, but of an
+architecture that is new, bizarre, and most beautiful. Above it is a
+great and very rich Doric cornice, with all its appurtenances, over
+which, as may be seen from the model, was to go a fronton with all its
+ornaments, forming a parapet for the artillery, since this gate, like
+the other, was to serve as a cavalier. Within the gate are very large
+rooms for the soldiers, with other apartments and conveniences. On the
+front that faces towards the city, San Michele made a most beautiful
+loggia, all of the Dorico-rustic Order on the outer side, and on the
+inner all in rustic work, with very large piers. that have as
+ornaments columns round on the outside and on the inside square and
+projecting to the half of their thickness, and all made of pieces in
+rustic masonry, with Doric capitals without bases; and at the top is a
+great cornice, likewise Doric, and carved, passing along the whole
+loggia, which is of great length, both within and without. In a word,
+this work is marvellous; wherefore it was well and truly spoken by the
+most illustrious Signor Sforza Pallavicino, Captain General of the
+Venetian forces, when he said that there was not to be found in all
+Europe any structure that could in any way compare with it. This was
+the last of Michele's marvels, for the reason that he had scarcely
+erected the whole of the first range described above, when he finished
+the course of his life. Wherefore the work remained unfinished, nor
+will it ever be finished at all, for there are not wanting certain
+malignant persons--as always happens with great works--who censure it,
+striving to diminish the glory of others by their malignity and
+evil-speaking, since they fail by a great measure to achieve similar
+things with their own powers.
+
+The same master built another gate at Verona, called the Porta di S.
+Zeno, which is very beautiful; in any other place, indeed, it would be
+marvellous, but in Verona its beauty and artistry are obscured by the
+two others described above. A work of Michele's, likewise, is the
+bastion, or rather rampart, that is near this gate, and also another
+that is lower down, opposite to S. Bernardino, and another between
+them, called Dell'Acquaio, which is opposite to the Campo Marzio; and
+also that surpassing all the others in size, which is placed by the
+Chain, where the Adige enters the city.
+
+[Illustration: CAPPELLA DE' PELLEGRINI
+
+(_After =Michele San Michele=. Verona: S. Bernardino_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+At Padua he built the bastion called the Cornaro, and likewise that of
+S. Croce, which are both of marvellous size, and constructed in the
+modern manner, according to the order invented by Michele himself. For
+the method of making bastions with angles was the invention of
+Michele, and before his day they were made round; and whereas that
+kind of bastion was very difficult to defend, at the present day,
+having an obtuse angle on the outer side, they can be defended with
+ease, either from the cavalier erected between the two bastions and
+near to them, or, indeed, from the other bastion, provided that it
+be near the one attacked and the ditch wide. His invention, also, was
+the method of making bastions with three platforms, whereby the two at
+the sides guard and defend the ditch and the curtains, with their open
+embrasures, and the merlon in the centre defends itself and attacks
+the enemy in front. This method of fortification has since been
+imitated by everyone, causing the abandonment of the ancient fashion
+of subterranean embrasures, called casemates, in which, on account of
+the smoke and other impediments, the artillery could not be well
+handled; not to mention that they often weakened the foundations of
+the towers and walls.
+
+The same Michele built two very beautiful gates at Legnago. He
+directed at Peschiera the work of the first foundation of that
+fortress, and likewise many works at Brescia; and he always did
+everything with such diligence and such good foundations, that not one
+of his buildings ever showed a crack. Finally, he restored the
+fortress of La Chiusa above Verona, making it possible for persons to
+pass by without entering the fortress, but yet in such a manner that,
+on the raising of a bridge by those who are within, no one can pass by
+against their will, or even show himself on the road, which is very
+narrow and cut out of the rock. He also built at Verona, just after he
+had returned from Rome, the very beautiful bridge over the Adige,
+called the Ponte Nuovo, doing this at the commission of Messer
+Giovanni Emo, at that time Podesta of that city; which bridge was on
+account of its strength, as it still is, a marvellous thing.
+
+Michele was excellent not only in fortifications, but also in private
+buildings and in temples, churches, and monasteries, as may be seen
+from many buildings at Verona and other places, and particularly from
+the most ornate and beautiful Chapel of the Guareschi in S.
+Bernardino, which is round after the manner of a temple, and in the
+Corinthian Order, with all the ornaments which that manner admits.
+That chapel, I say, he built all of that white pietra viva, which,
+from the sound that it makes when it is being worked, is called in
+that city "Bronzo"; and, in truth, that kind of stone, after fine
+marble, is the most beautiful that has been found down to our own
+times, being absolutely solid and without holes or spots that might
+spoil it. Since that chapel, then, is built on the inside all of that
+most beautiful stone, and wrought by excellent masters of carving, and
+put together very well, it is considered that among works of that kind
+there is at the present day no other more beautiful in all Italy. For
+Michele made the whole work curve in a circle in such a manner, that
+three altars which are in it, with their pediments and cornices, and
+likewise the space of the door, all turn in a perfect round, almost
+after the likeness of the entrances that Filippo Brunelleschi made in
+the Chapels of the Temple of the Angeli in Florence; which is a very
+difficult thing to do. Michele then made therein a gallery over the
+first range of columns, which circles right round the chapel, and
+there are to be seen most beautiful carvings in the form of columns,
+capitals, foliage, grotesques, little pilasters, and other things,
+carved with incredible diligence. The door of that chapel he made
+quadrangular on the outer side, of the Corinthian Order and very
+beautiful, and similar to an ancient door that he saw, so he used to
+say, in some place at Rome. It is true, indeed, that this work, after
+having been left unfinished by Michele, I know not for what reason,
+was given, either from avarice or from lack of judgment, to certain
+others to be finished, who spoiled it, to the infinite vexation of
+Michele, who in his lifetime saw it ruined before his very eyes,
+without being able to prevent it; wherefore he used to complain at
+times to his friends, but only on this account, that he had not
+thousands of ducats wherewith to buy it from the avaricious hands of a
+woman who, by spending less than she was able, was shamefully spoiling
+it.
+
+A work of Michele's was the design of the round Temple of the Madonna
+di Campagna, near Verona, which was very beautiful, although the
+parsimony, weakness, and little judgment of the Wardens of that
+building have since disfigured it in many parts; and even worse would
+they have done, if Bernardino Brugnuoli, a kinsman of Michele, had not
+had charge of it and made a complete model, after which the building
+of that temple, as well as of many others, is now being carried
+forward. For the Friars of S. Maria in Organo, or rather, the Monks of
+Monte Oliveto in Verona, he made a design of the Corinthian Order,
+which was most beautiful, for the facade of their church. This
+facade, after being carried to a certain height by Paolo San Michele,
+was left not long since in that condition, on account of many expenses
+that were incurred by those monks in other matters, but even more by
+reason of the death of him who had begun it, Don Cipriano of Verona, a
+man of saintly life and of much authority in that Order, of which he
+was twice General. At S. Giorgio in Verona, a convent of the Regular
+Priests of S. Giorgio in Alega, the same Michele directed the building
+of the cupola of that church, which was a very beautiful work, and
+succeeded against the expectations of many who did not think that the
+structure would ever remain standing, on account of the weakness of
+its supports; but these were then so strengthened by Michele, that
+there is no longer anything to fear. In the same convent he made the
+design and laid the foundations of a very beautiful campanile of hewn
+stone, partly tufa and partly pietra viva, which was carried well
+forward by him, and is now being continued by the above-mentioned
+Bernardino, his nephew, who is employed in carrying it to completion.
+
+Monsignor Luigi Lippomani, Bishop of Verona, having resolved to carry
+to completion the campanile of his church, which had been begun a
+hundred years before, caused a design for this to be made by Michele,
+who did it very beautifully, taking into consideration the preserving
+of the old part and the expense that the Bishop was able to incur. But
+a certain Messer Domenico Porzio, a Roman, and his vicar, a person
+with little knowledge of building, although otherwise a worthy man,
+allowed himself to be imposed upon by one who also knew little about
+it, and gave him the charge of carrying on that fabric. Whereupon that
+person built it of unprepared stone from the mountains, and made the
+stairs in the thickness of the walls, doing all this in such a manner,
+that everyone who was even slightly conversant with architecture
+foretold that which afterwards happened--namely, that the structure
+would not remain standing. And, among others, the very reverend Fra
+Marco de' Medici of Verona, who, in addition to his other more serious
+studies, has always delighted in architecture, as he still does,
+predicted what would happen to such a building; but he was answered
+thus: "Fra Marco counts for much in his own profession of letters,
+philosophy, and theology, wherein he is public lecturer, but in
+architecture he does not fish so deeply as to command belief."
+Finally, that campanile, having risen to the level where the bells
+were to be, opened out in four parts in such a manner, that, after
+having spent many thousands of crowns in building it, they had to give
+three hundred crowns to the builders to throw it to the ground, lest
+it should fall by itself, as it would have done in a few days, and
+destroy everything all around. And it is only right that this should
+happen to those who desert good and eminent masters, and mix
+themselves up with bunglers. The above-named Monsignor Luigi having
+afterwards been chosen Bishop of Bergamo, Monsignor Agostino Lippomani
+was made Bishop of Verona in his place, and he commissioned Michele to
+reconstruct almost anew the model of that campanile, and to set to
+work. And after him, according to the same model, Monsignor Girolamo
+Trivisani, a friar of S. Dominic, who succeeded the last-named
+Lippomani in the bishopric, has caused that work to be continued,
+which is now progressing passing slowly. The model is very beautiful,
+and the stairs are being accommodated within the tower in such a
+manner, that the fabric remains stable and very strong.
+
+For the noble Counts della Torre of Verona, Michele built a very
+beautiful chapel in the manner of a round temple, with the altar in
+the centre, at their villa of Fumane. And in the Church of the Santo,
+at Padua, a very handsome tomb was built under his direction for
+Messer Alessandro Contarini, Procurator of S. Mark, who had been
+Proveditor to the Venetian forces; in which tomb it would seem that
+Michele sought to show in what manner such works should be done,
+departing from a kind of commonplace method which, in his opinion, had
+in it more of the altar or chapel than of the tomb. This work, which
+is very rich in ornamentation, solid in composition, and warlike in
+character, has as ornaments a Thetis and two prisoners by the hand of
+Alessandro Vittoria, which are held to be good figures, and a head, or
+rather, effigy from life of the above-named lord, with armour on the
+breast, executed in marble by Danese da Carrara. There are, in
+addition, other ornaments in abundance; prisoners, trophies, spoils of
+war, and others, of which there is no need to make mention.
+
+In Venice he made the model of the Convent of the Nuns of S. Biagio
+Catoldo, which was much extolled. It was then resolved at Verona to
+rebuild the Lazzaretto, a dwelling, or rather, hospital, which serves
+for the sick in times of plague, the old one having been destroyed
+together with other edifices that had been in the suburbs; and Michele
+was commissioned to make a design for this (which proved to be
+beautiful beyond all expectations), to the end that it might be put
+into execution on a spot near the river, at some distance from the
+city and beyond the esplanade. But this design, truly most beautiful
+and excellently well considered in every part, which is now in the
+possession of the heirs of Luigi Brugnuoli, Michele's nephew, was not
+carried completely into execution by certain persons, by reason of
+their little judgment and poverty of spirit, but much restricted,
+curtailed, and reduced to mean proportions by those persons, who used
+the authority that they had received in the matter from the public in
+disfiguring the work, in consequence of the untimely death of some
+gentlemen who were in charge of it at the beginning, and who had a
+greatness of spirit equal to their nobility of blood.
+
+A work of Michele's, likewise, was the very beautiful palace that the
+noble Counts of Canossa have at Verona, which was built at the
+commission of the very reverend Monsignor di Bajus, who once was Count
+Lodovico Canossa, a man so much celebrated by all the writers of his
+time. For the same Monsignor Michele built another magnificent palace
+in the Villa of Grezzano, in the Veronese territory. Under the
+direction of the same architect the facade of the Counts Bevilacqua
+was reconstructed, and all the apartments were restored in the castle
+of those lords, called La Bevilacqua. And at Verona, likewise, he
+built the house and facade of the Lavezzoli, which were much extolled.
+
+In Venice he built from the foundations the very rich and magnificent
+palace of the Cornaro family, near S. Polo, and restored another
+palace, also of the Cornaro family, which is by S. Benedetto
+all'Albore, for M. Giovanni Cornaro, of whom Michele was much the
+friend; and this led to Giorgio Vasari painting nine pictures in oils
+for the ceiling of a magnificent apartment, all adorned with woodwork
+carved and richly overlaid with gold, in that palace. In like manner,
+he restored the house of the Bragadini, opposite to S. Marina, and
+made it very commodious and ornate. And in the same city he founded
+and raised above the ground after a model of his own, at incredible
+cost, the marvellous palace of the most noble M. Girolamo Grimani,
+near S. Luca, on the Grand Canal; but Michele, being overtaken by
+death, was not able to carry it to completion himself, and the other
+architects chosen in his stead by that nobleman altered his design and
+model in many parts.
+
+Near Castelfranco, on the borders of the territories of Padua and
+Treviso, there was built under the direction of the same Michele the
+most famous Palace of the Soranzi, called by that family La Soranza;
+which palace is held to be, for a country residence, the most
+beautiful and the most commodious that had been built in those parts
+up to that time. He also built the Casa Cornara at Piombino, in that
+territory, and so many other private houses, that it would make too
+long a story to attempt to speak of them all; let it be enough to have
+made mention of the most important. I will not, indeed, refrain from
+recording that he made most beautiful gates for two palaces, one of
+which was that of the Rectors and of the Captain, and the other that
+of the Palazzo del Podesta, both in Verona and worthy of the highest
+praise, although the latter, which is in the Ionic Order, with double
+columns and very ornate intercolumniations, and some Victories at the
+angles, has a somewhat dwarfed appearance by reason of the lowness of
+the site where it stands, particularly because it is without pedestals
+and very wide on account of the double columns; but such was the wish
+of Messer Giovanni Delfini, who had it made.
+
+While Michele was enjoying a tranquil ease in his native place, and
+the reputation and renown that his honourable labours had brought him,
+there came to him a piece of news that so afflicted him, that it
+finished the course of his life. But to the end that the whole may be
+better understood, and that all the beautiful works of the San Michele
+family may be made known in this Life, I shall say something of Gian
+Girolamo, the kinsman of Michele.
+
+[Illustration: PALAZZO GRIMANI
+
+(_After =Michele San Michele=. Venice_)
+
+_Anderson_]
+
+This Gian Girolamo, then, was the son of Paolo, the cousin of
+Michele, and, being a young man of very beautiful genius, was
+instructed with such diligence by Michele in the matters of
+architecture, and so beloved by him, that he would always have the
+young man with him in all undertakings of importance, and particularly
+in fortifications. Having therefore become in a short time so
+excellent, with the help of such a master, that the most difficult
+work of fortification could be entrusted to him, in which manner of
+architecture he took particular delight, his ability was recognized by
+the Signori of Venice, and he was placed with a good salary among the
+number of their architects, although he was very young, and then sent
+now to one place and now to another, to inspect and restore the
+fortresses of their dominion, and at times to carry into execution the
+designs of his kinsman Michele. And, among other places, he took part
+with much judgment and labour in the fortification of Zara, and in the
+marvellous fortress of S. Niccolo at Sebenico, placed, as has been
+mentioned, at the mouth of the port; which fortress, erected by him
+from the very foundations, is held to be, for a private fortress, one
+of the strongest and best designed that there are to be seen. He also
+reconstructed after his own designs, with the advice of his kinsman,
+the great fortress of Corfu, which is considered the key of Italy on
+that side. In this fortress, I say, Gian Girolamo rebuilt the two
+great towers that face towards the land, making them much larger and
+stronger than they were before, with open embrasures and platforms
+that flank the ditch in the modern manner, after the invention of his
+kinsman. He then caused the ditches to be made much wider than they
+were before, and had a hill levelled, which, being near the fortress,
+appeared to command it. But, besides the many other works that he did
+there with great consideration, what gave most satisfaction was that
+in one corner of the fortress he made a place of great size and
+strength, in which in time of siege the people of that island can stay
+in safety without any danger of being captured by the enemy.
+
+On account of these works Gian Girolamo came into such credit with the
+above-named Signori, that they ordained him a salary equal to that of
+his kinsman, judging him to be not inferior to Michele, and even
+superior in that work of fortification: which gave the greatest
+contentment to San Michele, who saw his own art advancing in the
+person of his relative in proportion as old age was taking away from
+himself the power to go further. Gian Girolamo, besides his great
+judgment in recognizing the nature of different sites, showed much
+industry in having them represented by designs and models in relief,
+insomuch that he enabled his patrons to see even the most minute
+details of his fortifications in very beautiful models of wood that he
+would cause to be made; which diligence pleased them vastly, for
+without leaving Venice they saw every day how matters were proceeding
+in the most distant parts of their State. In order that they might be
+the more readily seen by everyone, these models were kept in the
+Palazzo del Principe, in a place where the Signori could examine them
+at their convenience; and to the end that Gian Girolamo might continue
+to pursue that course, they not only reimbursed him the expenses that
+he incurred in making the above-mentioned models, but also showed him
+many other courtesies.
+
+Gian Girolamo could have gone to serve many lords, with large
+salaries, but he would never leave his Venetian Signori; nay, at the
+advice of his father and his kinsman Michele, he took a wife in
+Verona, a noble young woman of the Fracastoro family, with the
+intention of always living in those parts. But he had been not more
+than a few days with his beloved bride, who was called Madonna
+Ortensia, when he was summoned by his patrons to Venice, and thence
+sent in great haste to Cyprus to inspect every place in that island,
+orders having been given to all the officials that they should provide
+him with all that he might require for any purpose. Having then
+arrived in that island, in three months Gian Girolamo went all round
+it and diligently inspected everything, putting every detail into
+writing and drawing, in order to be able to give an account of the
+whole to his masters. But, while he was attending with too much care
+and solicitude to his office, paying little regard to his own life, in
+the burning heat which prevailed at that time in the island he fell
+sick of a pestilential fever, which robbed him of life in six days;
+although some said that he had been poisoned. However that may have
+been, he died content in being in the service of his masters and
+employed by them in works of importance, knowing that they had trusted
+more in his fidelity and his skill in fortification than in those of
+any other man. The moment that he fell sick, knowing that he was
+dying, he gave all the drawings and writings that he had prepared on
+the works in that island into the hands of the architect Luigi
+Brugnuoli, his kinsman by marriage (who was then engaged in the
+fortification of Famagosta, which is the key of that kingdom), to the
+end that he might carry them to his masters.
+
+When the news of Gian Girolamo's death arrived in Venice, there was
+not one of the Senate who did not feel indescribable sorrow at the
+loss of such a man, who had been so devoted to that Republic. Gian
+Girolamo died at the age of forty-five, and received honourable burial
+from his above-named kinsman in S. Niccolo at Famagosta. Then, having
+returned to Venice, Brugnuoli presented Gian Girolamo's drawings and
+writings; which done, he was sent to give completion to the
+fortifications of Legnago, where he had spent many years in executing
+the designs and models of his uncle. But he had not been long in that
+place when he died, leaving two sons, who are men of passing good
+ability in design and in the practice of architecture. Bernardino, the
+elder, has now many undertakings on his hands, such as the building of
+the campanile of the Duomo, that of S. Giorgio, and that of the church
+called the Madonna di Campagna, in which and other works that he is
+directing at Verona and other places, he is succeeding excellently
+well; and particularly in the ornamental work of the principal chapel
+of S. Giorgio at Verona, which is of the composite order, and such
+that in size, design, and workmanship, the people of Verona declare
+that they do not believe that there is one equal to it to be found in
+Italy. This work, which follows the curve of the recess, is of the
+Corinthian Order, with composite capitals and double columns in full
+relief, and pilasters behind. In like manner, the frontispiece which
+surmounts the whole also curves in very masterly fashion according to
+the shape of the recess, and has all the ornaments which that Order
+embraces. Wherefore Monsignor Barbaro, Patriarch-elect of Aquileia, a
+man with a great knowledge of the profession, who has written of it,
+on his return from the Council of Trent saw not without marvel all
+that had been done in that work, and that which was being done every
+day; and, after considering it several times, he had to say that he
+had never seen the like, and that nothing better could be done. And
+let this suffice as a proof of what may be expected from the genius of
+Bernardino, who was born on the mother's side from the San Michele
+family.
+
+But let us return to Michele, from whom we digressed, not without
+reason, some little time back. He was struck by such grief at the
+death of Gian Girolamo, in whom he saw the house of San Michele become
+extinct, since his kinsman left no children, that, although he strove
+to conquer or conceal it, in a few days he was overcome by a malignant
+fever, to the inconsolable sorrow of his country and of his most
+illustrious patrons. Michele died in the year 1559, and was buried in
+S. Tommaso, a church of Carmelite Friars, where there is the ancient
+burial-place of his forefathers; and at the present day Messer Niccolo
+San Michele, a physician, has set his hand to erecting him an
+honourable tomb, which is even now being carried into execution.
+
+Michele was a man of most upright life, and most honourable in his
+every action. He was a cheerful person, yet with an admixture of
+seriousness. He feared God, and was very religious, insomuch that he
+would never set himself to do anything in the morning without having
+first heard Mass devoutly and said his prayers; and at the beginning
+of any undertaking of importance, in the morning, before doing any
+other thing, he would always have the Mass of the Holy Spirit or of
+the Madonna solemnly chanted. He was very liberal, and so courteous
+with his friends, that they were as much masters of his possessions as
+he was himself. And I will not withhold a proof of his great loyalty
+and goodness, which I believe few others know besides myself. When
+Giorgio Vasari, of whom, as has been told, he was much the friend,
+parted from him for the last time in Venice, Michele said to him: "I
+would have you know, Messer Giorgio, that, when I was in my youth at
+Monte Fiascone, I became enamoured, as fortune would have it, of the
+wife of a stone-cutter, and received from her complaisance all that I
+desired; but no one ever heard of it from me. Now, having heard that
+the poor woman has been left a widow, with a daughter ready for a
+husband, whom she says she conceived by me, I wish--although it may
+well be that this is not true, and such is my belief--that you should
+take to her these fifty crowns of gold and give them to her on my
+part, for the love of God, to the end that she may use them for her
+advantage and settle her daughter according to her station." Giorgio,
+therefore, going to Rome, and arriving at Monte Fiascone, although the
+good woman freely confessed to him that the girl was not the daughter
+of Michele, insisted, in obedience to Michele's command, on paying her
+the fifty crowns, which were as welcome to that poor woman as five
+hundred would have been to another.
+
+Michele, then, was courteous beyond the courtesy of any other man,
+insomuch that he no sooner heard of the needs and desires of his
+friends, than he sought to gratify them, even to the spending of his
+life; nor did any person ever do him a service that was not repaid
+many times over. Giorgio Vasari once made for him in Venice, with the
+greatest diligence at his command, a large drawing in which the proud
+Lucifer and his followers, vanquished by the Angel Michael, could be
+seen raining headlong down from Heaven into the horrible depths of
+Hell; and at that time Michele did not do anything but thank Giorgio
+for it when he took leave of him. But not many days after, returning
+to Arezzo, Giorgio found that San Michele had sent long before to his
+mother, who lived at Arezzo, a quantity of presents beautiful and
+honourable enough to be the gifts of a very rich nobleman, with a
+letter in which he did her great honour for love of her son.
+
+Many times the Signori of Venice offered to increase his salary, but
+he refused, always praying that they should increase his kinsmen's
+salaries instead of his own. In short, Michele was in his every action
+so gentle, courteous, and loving, that he made himself rightly beloved
+by innumerable lords; by Cardinal de' Medici, who became Pope Clement
+VII, while he was in Rome; by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, who became
+Paul III; by the divine Michelagnolo Buonarroti; by Signor Francesco
+Maria, Duke of Urbino; and by a vast number of noblemen and senators
+of Venice. At Verona he was much the friend of Fra Marco de' Medici, a
+man of great learning and infinite goodness, and of many others of
+whom there is no need at present to make mention.
+
+Now, in order not to have to turn back in a short time to speak of the
+Veronese, taking the opportunity presented by the masters mentioned
+above, I shall make mention in this place of some painters from that
+country, who are still alive and worthy to be named, and by no means
+to be passed over in silence. The first of these is Domenico del
+Riccio, who has painted in fresco, mostly in chiaroscuro and partly in
+colour, three facades of the house of Fiorio della Seta at Verona, on
+the Ponte Nuovo--that is, the three that do not look out upon the
+bridge, the house standing by itself. In one, over the river, are
+battles of sea-monsters, in another the battles of the Centaurs and
+many rivers, and in the third two pictures in colour. In the first of
+these, which is over the door, is the Table of the Gods, and in the
+other, over the river, is the fable of the nuptials between the
+Benacus, called the Lake of Garda, and the Nymph Caris, in the person
+of Garda, from whom is born the River Mincio, which in fact issues
+from that lake. In the same house is a large frieze wherein are some
+Triumphs in colour, executed in a beautiful and masterly manner. In
+the house of Messer Pellegrino Ridolfi, also at Verona, the same
+master painted the Coronation of the Emperor Charles V, and the scene
+when, after being crowned in Bologna, he rides with the Pope through
+the city in great pomp. In oils he has painted the principal
+altar-piece of the church that the Duke of Mantua has built recently
+near the Castello, in which is the Beheading and Martyrdom of S.
+Barbara, painted with much diligence and judgment. And what moved the
+Duke to have that altar-piece executed by Domenico was his having seen
+and much liked his manner in an altar-piece that Domenico had painted
+long before for the Chapel of S. Margherita in the Duomo of Mantua, in
+competition with Paolino,[11] who painted that of S. Antonio, with
+Paolo Farinato, who executed that of S. Martino, and with Battista del
+Moro, who painted that of the Magdalene; all which four Veronese had
+been summoned thither by Cardinal Ercole of Mantua, in order to adorn
+that church, which had been reconstructed by him after the design of
+Giulio Romano. Other works has Domenico executed in Verona, Vicenza,
+and Venice, but it must suffice to have spoken of those named. He is
+an honest and excellent craftsman, and, in addition to his painting,
+he is a very fine musician, and one of the first in the most noble
+Philharmonic Academy of Verona.
+
+         [Footnote 11: Paolo Caliari or Veronese.]
+
+Not inferior to him will be his son Felice, who, although still young,
+has proved himself a painter out of the ordinary in an altar-piece
+that he has executed for the Church of the Trinita, in which are the
+Madonna and six other Saints, all of the size of life. Nor is this any
+marvel, for the young man learned his art in Florence, living in the
+house of Bernardo Canigiani, a Florentine gentleman and a crony of his
+father Domenico.
+
+In the same Verona, also, lives Bernardino, called L'India, who,
+besides many other works, has painted the Fable of Psyche in most
+beautiful figures on the ceiling of a chamber in the house of Count
+Marc'Antonio del Tiene. And he has painted another chamber, with
+beautiful inventions and a lovely manner of painting, for Count
+Girolamo of Canossa.
+
+A much extolled painter, also, is Eliodoro Forbicini, a young man of
+most beautiful genius and of considerable skill in every manner of
+painting, but particularly in making grotesques, as may be seen in the
+two chambers mentioned above and in other places where he has worked.
+
+In like manner Battista da Verona, who is called thus, and not
+otherwise, out of his own country, after having learned the first
+rudiments of painting from an uncle at Verona, placed himself with the
+excellent Tiziano in Venice, under whom he has become a very good
+painter. When a young man, this Battista painted in company with
+Paolino a hall in the Palace of the Paymaster and Assessor Portesco at
+Tiene in the territory of Vicenza; where they executed a vast number
+of figures, which acquired credit and repute for both the one and the
+other. With the same Paolino he executed many works in fresco in the
+Palace of the Soranza at Castelfranco, both having been sent to work
+there by Michele San Michele, who loved them as his sons. And with
+him, also, he painted the facade of the house of M. Antonio Cappello,
+which is on the Grand Canal in Venice; and then, still together, they
+painted the ceiling, or rather, soffit in the Hall of the Council of
+Ten, dividing the pictures between them. Not long afterwards, having
+been summoned to Vicenza, Battista executed many works there, both
+within and around the city; and recently he has painted the facade of
+the Monte della Pieta, wherein he has executed an infinite number of
+nude figures in various attitudes, larger than life, with very good
+design, and all in so few months, that it has been a marvel. And if he
+has done so much at so early an age (for he is not yet past thirty),
+everyone may imagine what may be expected of him in the course of his
+life.
+
+A Veronese, likewise, is one Paolino, a painter who is in very good
+repute in Venice at the present day, in that, although he is not yet
+more than thirty years of age, he has executed many works worthy of
+praise. This master, who was born at Verona to a stone-cutter, or, as
+they say in those parts, a stone-hewer, after having learned the
+rudiments of painting from Giovanni Caroto of Verona, painted in
+fresco, in company with the above-named Battista, the hall of the
+Paymaster and Assessor Portesco at Tiene, in the Vicentino; and
+afterwards at the Soranza, with the same companion, many works
+executed with good design and judgment and a beautiful manner. At
+Masiera, near Asolo in the Trevisano, he has painted the very
+beautiful house of Signor Daniello Barbaro, Patriarch-elect of
+Aquileia. At Verona, for the Refectory of S. Nazzaro, a monastery of
+Black Friars, he has painted in a large picture on canvas the supper
+that Simon the Leper gave to Our Lord, when the woman of sin threw
+herself at His feet, with many figures, portraits from life, and very
+rare perspective-views; and under the table are two dogs so beautiful
+that they appear real and alive, and further away certain cripples
+executed excellently well.
+
+[Illustration: THE FEAST IN THE HOUSE OF LEVI
+
+(_After the painting by =Paolo Veronese [Paolino _or_ Caliari]=. Venice:
+Accademia, 203_)
+
+_Anderson_]
+
+By the hand of Paolino, in the Hall of the Council of Ten at Venice,
+in an oval that is larger than certain others that are there, placed,
+as the principal one, in the centre of the ceiling, is a Jove who is
+driving away the Vices, in order to signify that that supreme and
+absolute tribunal drives away vice and chastises wicked and vicious
+men. The same master painted the soffit, or rather, ceiling of the
+Church of S. Sebastiano, which is a very rare work, and the
+altar-piece of the principal chapel, together with some pictures that
+serve to adorn it, and likewise the doors of the organ; which are all
+pictures truly worthy of the highest praise. In the Hall of the Grand
+Council he painted a large picture of Frederick Barbarossa presenting
+himself to the Pope, with a good number of figures varied in their
+costumes and vestments, all most beautiful and representing worthily
+the Court of a Pope and an Emperor, and also a Venetian Senate, with
+many noblemen and Senators of that Republic, portrayed from life. In
+short, this work is such in its grandeur and design, and in the beauty
+and variety of the attitudes, that it is rightly extolled by everyone.
+After this scene, Paolino painted the ceilings of certain chambers,
+which are used by that Council of Ten, with figures in oils, which are
+much foreshortened and very rare.
+
+In like manner, he painted in fresco the facade of the house of a
+merchant, which was a very beautiful work, on the road from S.
+Maurizio to S. Moise; but the wind from the sea is little by little
+destroying it. For Camillo Trevisani, at Murano, he painted a loggia
+and an apartment in fresco, which were much extolled. And in S.
+Giorgio Maggiore at Venice, at the head of a large apartment, he
+painted in oils the Marriage of Cana in Galilee, which was a
+marvellous work for its grandeur, the number of figures, the variety
+of costumes, and the invention; and, if I remember right, there are to
+be seen in it more than one hundred and fifty heads, all varied and
+executed with great diligence.
+
+The same Paolino was commissioned by the Procurators of S. Mark to
+paint certain angular medallions that are in the ceiling of the Nicene
+Library, which was left to the Signoria by Cardinal Bessarion, with a
+vast treasure of Greek books. Now the above-named lords, when they had
+the painting of that library begun, promised a prize of honour, in
+addition to the ordinary payment, to him who should acquit himself
+best in painting it; and the pictures were divided among the best
+painters that there were at that time in Venice. When the work was
+finished and the pictures painted had been very well considered, a
+chain of gold was placed round the neck of Paolino, he being the man
+who was judged to have done better than all the others. The picture
+that gave him the victory and the prize of honour was that wherein he
+painted Music, in which are depicted three very beautiful young women,
+one of whom, the most beautiful, is playing a great bass-viol, looking
+down at the fingerboard of the instrument, the attitude of her person
+showing that her ear and her voice are fixed intently on the sound;
+and of the other two, one is playing a lute, and the other singing
+from a book. Near these women is a Cupid without wings, who is playing
+a harpsichord, signifying that Love is born from Music, or rather,
+that Love is always in company with Music; and, because he never parts
+from her, Paolino made him without wings. In the same picture he
+painted Pan, the God, according to the poets, of shepherds, with
+certain pipes made of the bark of trees, as it were consecrated to him
+as votive offerings by shepherds who have been victorious in playing
+them. Two other pictures Paolino painted in the same place; in one is
+Arithmetic, with certain Philosophers dressed in the ancient manner,
+and in the other is Honour, seated on a throne, to whom sacrifices are
+being offered and royal crowns presented. But, seeing that this young
+man is at this very moment at the height of his activity and not yet
+in his thirty-second year, I shall say nothing more of him for the
+present.
+
+[Illustration: VENICE ENTHRONED, WITH JUSTICE AND PEACE
+
+(_After the painting by =Paolo Veronese [Paolino _or_ Caliari]=. Venice:
+Ducal Palace_)
+
+_Anderson_]
+
+Likewise a Veronese is Paolo Farinato, an able painter, who, after
+having been a disciple of Niccolo Ursino,[12] has executed many works
+at Verona. The most important are a hall in the house of the
+Fumanelli, which he filled with various scenes in fresco-colours at
+the desire of Messer Antonio, a gentleman of that family, most famous
+as physician over all Europe, and two very large pictures in the
+principal chapel of S. Maria in Organo. In one of these is the story
+of the Innocents, and in the other is the scene when the Emperor
+Constantine causes a number of children to be brought before him,
+intending to kill them and to bathe in their blood, in order to cure
+himself of his leprosy. Then in the recess of that chapel are two
+pictures, large, but smaller than the others, in one of which is
+Christ receiving S. Peter, who is walking towards Him on the water,
+and in the other the dinner that S. Gregory gives to certain poor men.
+In all these works, which are much to be extolled, is a vast number
+of figures, executed with good design, study, and diligence. By the
+hand of the same master is an altar-picture of S. Martino that was
+placed in the Duomo of Mantua, which he executed in competition with
+others his compatriots, as has just been related.
+
+         [Footnote 12: Giolfino.]
+
+And let this be the end of the Lives of the excellent Michele San
+Michele and of those other able men of Verona, so truly worthy of all
+praise on account of their excellence in the arts and their great
+talents.
+
+
+
+
+GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI, CALLED IL SODOMA
+
+
+
+[Illustration: GIOVANNI ANTONIO (IL SODOMA): THE VISION OF S.
+CATHARINE
+
+(_Siena: S. Domenico. Fresco_)]
+
+
+
+
+LIFE OF GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI, CALLED IL SODOMA
+
+PAINTER OF VERCELLI
+
+
+If men were to recognize their position when Fortune presents to them
+the opportunity to become rich, obtaining for them the favour of great
+persons, and were to exert themselves in their youth to make their
+merit equal to their good fortune, marvellous results would be seen to
+issue from their actions; whereas very often the contrary is seen to
+happen, for the reason that, even as it is true that he who trusts
+only in Fortune generally finds himself deceived, so it is very clear,
+as experience teaches us every day, that merit alone, likewise, if not
+accompanied by Fortune, does not do great things. If Giovanni Antonio
+of Vercelli, even as he had good fortune, had possessed an equal dower
+of merit, as he could have done if he had studied, he would not have
+been reduced to madness and miserable want in old age at the end of
+his life, which was always eccentric and beastly.
+
+Now Giovanni Antonio was taken to Siena by some merchants, agents of
+the Spannocchi family, and his good fortune, or perhaps his bad
+fortune, would have it that, not finding any competition for a time in
+that city, he should work there alone; which, although it was some
+advantage to him, was in the end injurious, for the reason that he
+went to sleep, as it were, and never studied, but did most of his work
+by rule of thumb. And, if he did study a little, it was only in
+drawing the works of Jacopo della Fonte, which were much esteemed, and
+in little else. In the beginning he executed many portraits from life
+with that glowing manner of colouring which he had brought from
+Lombardy, and he thus made many friendships in Siena, more because
+that people is very kindly disposed towards strangers than because he
+was a good painter; and, besides this, he was a gay and licentious
+man, keeping others entertained and amused with his manner of living,
+which was far from creditable. In which life, since he always had
+about him boys and beardless youths, whom he loved more than was
+decent, he acquired the by-name of Sodoma; and in this name, far from
+taking umbrage or offence, he used to glory, writing about it songs
+and verses in terza rima, and singing them to the lute with no little
+facility. He delighted, in addition, to have about the house many
+kinds of extraordinary animals; badgers, squirrels, apes, marmosets,
+dwarf asses, horses, barbs for running races, little horses from Elba,
+jays, dwarf fowls, Indian turtle-doves, and other suchlike animals, as
+many as he could lay his hands on. But, besides all these beasts, he
+had a raven, which had learned from him to speak so well, that in some
+things it imitated exactly the voice of Giovanni Antonio, and
+particularly in answering to anyone who knocked at the door, doing
+this so excellently that it seemed like Giovanni Antonio himself, as
+all the people of Siena know very well. In like manner, the other
+animals were so tame that they always flocked round anybody in the
+house, playing the strangest pranks and the maddest tricks in the
+world, insomuch that the man's house looked like a real Noah's Ark.
+
+[Illustration: SCENE FROM THE LIFE OF S. BENEDICT
+
+(_After the fresco by =Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma]=. Monte
+Oliveto Maggiore_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+Now this manner of living and his eccentric ways, with his works and
+pictures, wherein he did indeed achieve something of the good, caused
+him to have such a name among the people of Siena--that is, among the
+populace and the common herd, for the people of quality knew him
+better--that he was held by many to be a great man. Whereupon, Fra
+Domenico da Lecco, a Lombard, having been made General of the Monks of
+Monte Oliveto, Sodoma went to visit him at Monte Oliveto di Chiusuri,
+the principal seat of that Order, distant fifteen miles from Siena;
+and he so contrived with his persuasive words, that he was
+commissioned to finish the stories of the life of S. Benedict, part of
+which had been executed on a wall by Luca Signorelli of Cortona. This
+work he finished for a small enough price, besides the expenses that
+he incurred, and those of certain lads and colour-grinders who
+assisted him; nor would it be possible to describe the amusement
+that he gave while he was labouring at that place to those fathers,
+who called him Il Mattaccio,[13] in the mad pranks that he played.
+
+         [Footnote 13: Madcap or buffoon.]
+
+[Illustration: SCENE FROM THE LIFE OF S. BENEDICT
+
+(_After the fresco by =Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma]=. Monte
+Oliveto Maggiore_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+But to return to the work. Having executed there certain scenes, which
+he hurried over mechanically and without diligence, and the General
+complaining of this, Mattaccio said that he worked as he felt
+inclined, and that his brush danced to the tune of money, so that, if
+the General consented to spend more, he was confident that he could do
+much better. The General having therefore promised that he would pay
+him better for the future, Giovanni Antonio painted three scenes,
+which still remained to be executed in the corners, with so much more
+study and diligence than he had shown in the others, that they proved
+to be much finer. In one of these is S. Benedict departing from Norcia
+and from his father and mother, in order to go to study in Rome; in
+the second, S. Mauro and S. Placido as children, presented to him and
+offered to God by their fathers; and in the third, the Goths burning
+Monte Cassino. For the last, in order to do despite to the General and
+the Monks, he painted the story of the priest Fiorenzo, the enemy of
+S. Benedict, bringing many loose women to dance and sing around the
+monastery of that holy man, in order to tempt the purity of those
+fathers. In this scene Sodoma, who was as shameless in his painting as
+in his other actions, painted a dance of nude women, altogether lewd
+and shameful; and, since he would not have been allowed to do it, as
+long as he was at work he would never let any of the monks see it.
+Wherefore, when the scene was uncovered, the General wished by hook or
+by crook to throw it to the ground and utterly destroy it; but
+Mattaccio, after much foolish talk, seeing that father in anger,
+clothed all the naked women in that work, which is one of the best
+that are there. Under each of these scenes he painted two medallions,
+and in each medallion a friar, to represent all the Generals who had
+ruled that congregation. And, since he had not their portraits from
+life, Mattaccio did most of the heads from fancy, and in some he
+portrayed old friars who were in the monastery at that time, and in
+the end he came to paint the head of the above-named Fra Domenico da
+Lecco, who was their General in those days, as has been related, and
+was causing him to execute that work. But, after some of those heads
+had lost the eyes, and others had been damaged, Fra Antonio
+Bentivogli, the Bolognese, caused them all to be removed, for good
+reasons.
+
+Now, while Mattaccio was executing these scenes, there had gone
+thither, to assume the habit of a monk, a Milanese nobleman, who had a
+yellow cloak trimmed with black cords, such as was worn at that time;
+and, after he had put on the monk's habit, the General gave that cloak
+to Mattaccio, who, by means of a mirror, painted a portrait of himself
+with it on his back in one of the scenes, wherein S. Benedict, still
+almost a child, miraculously puts together and mends the corn-measure,
+or rather, tub, of his nurse, which she had broken. At the feet of the
+portrait he painted a raven, an ape, and others of his animals. This
+work finished, he painted the story of the five loaves and two fishes,
+with other figures, in the Refectory of the Monastery of S. Anna, a
+seat of the same Order, distant five miles from Monte Oliveto; which
+work completed, he returned to Siena. There, at the Postierla, he
+painted in fresco the facade of the house of M. Agostino de' Bardi of
+Siena, in which were some things worthy of praise, but for the most
+part they have been consumed by time and the weather.
+
+[Illustration: THE MARRIAGE OF ALEXANDER AND ROXANA
+
+(_Detail, after the fresco by =Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma]=.
+Rome: Villa Farnesina_)
+
+_Braun_]
+
+During this time there arrived in Siena Agostino Chigi, a very rich
+and famous merchant of that city, and he became acquainted with
+Giovanni Antonio, both on account of his follies and because he had
+the name of a good painter. Wherefore he took him in his company to
+Rome, where Pope Julius II was then causing the Papal apartments in
+the Palace of the Vatican, which Pope Nicholas V had formerly erected,
+to be painted; and Chigi so went to work with the Pope, that some
+painting was given also to Sodoma. Now Pietro Perugino, who was
+painting the ceiling of an apartment that is beside the Borgia Tower,
+was working at his ease, like the old man that he was, and was not
+able to set his hand to anything else, as he had been at first
+commanded to do: and there was given to Giovanni Antonio to paint
+another apartment, which is beside the one that Perugino was painting.
+Having therefore set his hand to it, he made the ornamentation of that
+ceiling with cornices, foliage, and friezes; and then, in some large
+medallions, he executed certain passing good scenes in fresco. But
+this animal, devoting his attention to his beasts and his follies,
+would not press the work forward; and therefore, after Raffaello da
+Urbino had been brought to Rome by the architect Bramante, and it had
+become known to the Pope how much he surpassed the others, his
+Holiness ordained that neither Perugino nor Giovanni Antonio should
+work any more in the above-named apartments; indeed, that everything
+should be thrown to the ground. But Raffaello, who was goodness and
+modesty in person, left standing all that had been done by Perugino,
+who had once been his master; and of Mattaccio's he destroyed nothing
+save the inner work and the figures of the medallions and scenes,
+leaving the friezes and the other ornaments, which are still round the
+figures that Raffaello painted there, which were Justice, Universal
+Knowledge, Poetry, and Theology.
+
+But Agostino, who was a gentleman, without paying any attention to the
+affront that Giovanni Antonio had received, commissioned him to paint
+in one of his principal apartments, which opens into the great hall in
+his Palace in the Trastevere, the story of Alexander going to sleep
+with Roxana. In that work, besides other figures, he painted a good
+number of Loves, some of whom are unfastening Alexander's cuirass,
+some are drawing off his boots, or rather, buskins, some are removing
+his helmet and dress, and putting them away; others scattering flowers
+over the bed, and others, again, doing other suchlike offices. Near
+the chimney-piece he painted a Vulcan forging arrows, which was held
+at that time to be a passing good and praiseworthy work; and if
+Mattaccio, who had beautiful gifts and was much assisted by Nature,
+had given his attention, after that reversal of fortune, to his
+studies, as any other man would have done, he would have made very
+great proficience. But he had his mind always set on his amusements,
+and he worked by caprice, caring for nothing so earnestly as for
+dressing in pompous fashion, wearing doublets of brocade, cloaks all
+adorned with cloth of gold, the richest caps, necklaces, and other
+suchlike fripperies only fit for clowns and charlatans; in which
+things Agostino, who liked the man's humour, found the greatest
+amusement in the world.
+
+Julius II having then come to his death, and Leo X having been
+elected, who took pleasure in eccentric and light-headed figures of
+fun such as our painter was, Mattaccio felt the greatest possible joy,
+particularly because he had an ill-will against Julius, who had done
+him that affront, wherefore, having set to work in order to make
+himself known to the new Pontiff, he painted in a picture the Roman
+Lucrece, nude, who was stabbing herself with a dagger; and, since
+Fortune takes care of madmen and sometimes aids the thoughtless, he
+succeeded in executing a most beautiful female body, and a head that
+was breathing. Which work finished, at the instance of Agostino Chigi,
+who was on terms of strait service with the Pope, he presented it to
+his Holiness, by whom he was made a Chevalier and rewarded for so
+beautiful a picture. Whereupon Giovanni Antonio, believing that he had
+become a great man, began to be disinclined to work any more, save
+when he was driven by necessity. But, after Agostino had gone on some
+business to Siena, taking Giovanni Antonio with him, while staying
+there he was forced, being a Chevalier without an income, to set
+himself to painting; and so he painted an altar-piece containing a
+Christ taken down from the Cross, on the ground Our Lady in a swoon,
+and a man in armour who, having his back turned, shows his front
+reflected in a helmet that is on the ground, bright as a mirror. This
+work, which was held to be, as it is, one of the best that he ever
+executed, was placed in S. Francesco, on the right hand as one enters
+the church. Then in the cloister that is beside the above-named
+church, he painted in fresco Christ scourged at the Column, with many
+Jews around Pilate, and with a range of columns drawn in perspective
+after the manner of wing-walls; in which work Giovanni Antonio made a
+portrait of himself without any beard--that is, shaven--and with the
+hair long, as it was worn at that time.
+
+Not long afterwards he executed some pictures for Signor Jacopo VI of
+Piombino, and, while living with him at that place, some other works
+on canvas. Wherefore by his means, besides many courtesies and
+presents that he received from him, Giovanni Antonio obtained from his
+island of Elba many little animals such as that island produces, all
+of which he took to Siena.
+
+[Illustration: S. SEBASTIAN
+
+(_After the painting by =Giovanni Antonio [Il Sodoma]=. Florence:
+Uffizi, 1279_)
+
+_Anderson_]
+
+Arriving next in Florence, a monk of the Brandolini family, Abbot of
+the Monastery of Monte Oliveto, which is without the Porta a S.
+Friano, caused him to paint some pictures in fresco on the wall of the
+refectory; but since, like a careless fellow, he did them without
+study, they proved to be such that he was derided and mocked at for
+his follies by those who were expecting that he would do some
+extraordinary work. Now, while he was engaged on that work, having
+taken a Barbary horse with him to Florence, he set it to run in the
+race of S. Barnaba; and, as fortune would have it, the horse ran so
+much better than the others, that it won. Whereupon, the boys having,
+as is the custom, to call out the name or by-name of the owner of the
+horse that had won, after the running of the race and the fanfare of
+trumpets, Giovanni Antonio was asked what name they were to call out;
+and, after he had replied, "Sodoma, Sodoma," the boys called out that
+name. But some honest old men, having heard that filthy name, began to
+protest against it and to say, "What filthy thing is this, and what
+ribaldry, that so vile a name should be cried through our city?"
+Insomuch that, a clamour arising, poor Sodoma came within an ace of
+being stoned by the boys and the populace, with his horse and the ape
+that he had with him on the crupper. Having in the space of many years
+got together many prizes, won in the same way by his horses, he took
+the greatest pride in the world in them, and showed them to all who
+came into his house; and very often he made a show of them at his
+windows.
+
+But to return to his works: he painted for the Company of S. Bastiano
+in Camollia, beyond the Church of the Umiliati, on a banner of cloth
+which is carried in processions, in oils, a nude S. Sebastian, bound
+to a tree, who is standing on the right leg, with the left in
+foreshortening, and raises the head towards an Angel who is placing a
+crown upon it. This work is truly beautiful, and much to be praised.
+On the reverse side is Our Lady with the Child in her arms, and below
+her are S. Gismondo, S. Rocco, and some Flagellants kneeling on the
+ground. It is said that some merchants of Lucca offered to give three
+hundred crowns of gold to the men of that Company for that picture,
+but did not obtain it, because the others did not wish to deprive
+their Company and the city of so rare a painting. And, in truth, in
+certain works--whether it was study, or good fortune, or
+chance--Sodoma acquitted himself very well; but of such he did very
+few. In the Sacristy of the Friars of the Carmine is a picture by the
+hand of the same master, wherein is a very beautiful Nativity of Our
+Lady, with some nurses; and on the corner near the Piazza de' Tolomei
+he painted in fresco, for the Guild of Shoemakers, a Madonna with the
+Child in her arms, S. John, S. Francis, S. Rocco, and S. Crispino, the
+Patron Saint of the men of that Guild, who has a shoe in his hand. In
+the heads of these figures, and in all the rest, Giovanni Antonio
+acquitted himself very well.
+
+In the Company of S. Bernardino of Siena, beside the Church of S.
+Francesco, he executed some scenes in fresco in competition with
+Girolamo del Pacchia, a Sienese painter, and Domenico Beccafumi--namely,
+the Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple, when she goes to visit S.
+Elizabeth, her Assumption, and when she is crowned in Heaven. In the
+angles of the same Company he painted a Saint in episcopal robes, S.
+Louis, and S. Anthony of Padua; but the best figure of all is a S.
+Francis, who, standing on his feet and raising his head, is gazing at a
+little Angel, who appears to be in the act of speaking to him; the head
+of which S. Francis is truly marvellous. In the Palazzo de' Signori at
+Siena, likewise, in a hall, he painted some little tabernacles full of
+columns and little children, with other ornaments; and within these
+tabernacles are various figures. In one is S. Vittorio armed in the
+ancient fashion, with the sword in his hand; near him, in the same
+manner, is S. Ansano, who is baptizing certain persons; in another is S.
+Benedict; and all are very beautiful. In the lower part of that Palace,
+where salt is sold, he painted a Christ who is returning to life, with
+some soldiers about the Sepulchre, and two little Angels, held to be
+passing beautiful in the heads. Farther on, over a door, is a Madonna
+with the Child in her arms, painted by him in fresco, and two Saints.
+
+[Illustration: S. ANSANO
+
+(_After the fresco by =Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma]=. Siena:
+Palazzo Pubblico_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+In S. Spirito he painted the Chapel of S. Jacopo, which he did at the
+commission of the men of the Spanish colony, who have their place of
+burial there; depicting there an image of the Madonna after the
+ancient manner, with S. Nicholas of Tolentino on the right hand, and,
+on the left, the Archangel S. Michael, who is slaying Lucifer. Above
+these, in a lunette, he painted Our Lady placing the sacerdotal
+habit upon a Saint, with some Angels around. Over all these figures,
+which are in oils on panel, there is painted in fresco, in the
+semicircle of the vaulting, a S. James in armour on a galloping horse,
+who has grasped his sword with a fiery gesture, and below him are many
+Turks, dead and wounded. Below all this, on the sides of the altar,
+are painted in fresco S. Anthony the Abbot and a nude S. Sebastian at
+the Column, which are held to be passing good works.
+
+[Illustration: S. FRANCIS
+
+(_After the fresco by =Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma]=. Siena: S.
+Bernardino, Oratory_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+In the Duomo of the same city, on the right hand as one enters the
+church, there is upon an altar a picture in oils by his hand, in which
+there are Our Lady with the Child on her knee, S. Joseph on one side,
+and S. Calixtus on the other; which work is likewise held to be very
+beautiful, because it is evident that in colouring it Sodoma showed
+much more diligence than he used to devote to his works. He also
+painted for the Company of the Trinity a bier for carrying the dead to
+burial, which was very beautiful; and he executed another for the
+Company of Death, which is held to be the most beautiful in Siena; and
+I believe that the latter is the finest that there is to be seen, for,
+besides that it is indeed much to be extolled, it is very seldom that
+such works are executed at much cost or with much diligence. In the
+Church of S. Domenico, in the Chapel of S. Caterina da Siena, where
+there is in a tabernacle the head of that Saint, enclosed in one of
+silver, Giovanni Antonio painted two scenes, which are one on either
+side of that tabernacle. In one, on the right hand, is that Saint
+when, having received the Stigmata from Jesus Christ, who is in the
+air, she lies half-dead in the arms of two of her sisters, who are
+supporting her; of which work Baldassarre Peruzzi, the painter of
+Siena, after considering it, said that he had never seen anyone
+represent better the expression of persons fainting and half-dead, or
+with more similitude to the reality, than Giovanni Antonio had
+contrived to do. And in truth it is so, as may be seen, apart from the
+work itself, from the design by Sodoma's own hand which I have in my
+book of drawings. On the left hand, in the other picture, is the scene
+when the Angel of God carries to the same Saint the Host of the most
+Holy Communion, and she, raising her head to Heaven, sees Jesus
+Christ and Mary the Virgin, while two of her sisters, her companions,
+stand behind her. In another scene, which is on the wall on the right
+hand, is painted the story of a criminal, who, going to be beheaded,
+would not be converted or commend himself to God, despairing of His
+mercy; when, the above-named Saint praying for him on her knees, her
+prayers were so acceptable to the goodness of God, that, when the
+felon's head was cut off, his soul was seen ascending to Heaven; such
+power with the mercy of God have the prayers of those saintly persons
+who are in His grace. In this scene is a very great number of figures,
+as to which no one should marvel if they are not of the highest
+perfection, for the reason that I have heard as a fact that Giovanni
+Antonio had sunk to such a pitch in his negligence and slothfulness,
+that he would make neither designs nor cartoons when he had any work
+of that kind to execute, but would attack the work by designing it
+with the brush directly on the plaster, which was a strange thing; in
+which method it is evident that this scene was executed by him. The
+same master also painted the arch in front of that chapel, making
+therein a God the Father. The other scenes in that chapel were not
+finished by him, partly from his own fault, he not choosing to work
+save by caprice, and partly because he had not been paid by him who
+was having the chapel painted. Below this is a God the Father, who has
+beneath Him a Virgin in the ancient manner, on panel, with S. Dominic,
+S. Gismondo, S. Sebastian, and S. Catharine.
+
+[Illustration: THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI
+
+(_After the painting by =Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma]=. Siena: S.
+Agostino_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+For S. Agostino, in an altar-piece that is on the right hand at the
+entrance into the church, he painted the Adoration of the Magi, which
+was held to be, and is, a good work, for the reason that, besides the
+Madonna, which is much extolled, the first of the three Magi, and
+certain horses, there is a head of a shepherd between two trees which
+has all the appearance of life. Over a gate of the city, called the
+Porta di S. Viene, he painted in fresco, in a large tabernacle, the
+Nativity of Jesus Christ, with some Angels in the air; and on the arch
+of that gate a child in foreshortening, very beautiful and in strong
+relief, which is intended to signify that the Word has been made
+Flesh. In this work Sodoma made a portrait of himself, with a beard,
+being now old, and with a brush in his hand, which is pointing to a
+scroll that says "Feci."
+
+He painted likewise in fresco the Chapel of the Commune at the foot of
+the Palace, in the Piazza, representing there Our Lady with the Child
+in her arms, upheld by some little Angels, S. Ansano, S. Vittorio, S.
+Augustine, and S. James; and above this, in a triangular lunette, he
+painted a God the Father with some Angels about Him. From this work it
+is evident that when he executed it he was beginning, as it were, to
+have no more love for art, having lost that certain quality of
+excellence that he used to have in his better days, by means of which
+he gave a certain air of beauty to his heads, which made them graceful
+and lovely. And this is manifestly true, for some works that he
+executed long before this one have quite another grace and another
+manner, as may be seen above the Postierla, from a wall in fresco over
+the door of the Captain Lorenzo Mariscotti, where there is a Dead
+Christ in the lap of His Mother, who has a marvellous divinity and
+grace. In like manner, a picture in oils of Our Lady, which he painted
+for Messer Enea Savini della Costerella, is much extolled, and also a
+canvas that he executed for Assuero Rettori of S. Martino, in which is
+the Roman Lucrece stabbing herself, while she is held by her father
+and her husband, all painted with much beauty of attitude and
+marvellous grace in the heads.
+
+Finally, perceiving that the devotion of the people of Siena was all
+turned to the talents and excellent works of Domenico Beccafumi, and
+possessing neither house nor revenues in Siena, and having by that
+time consumed almost all his property and become old and poor,
+Giovanni Antonio departed from Siena almost in despair and went off to
+Volterra. And there, as his good fortune would have it, chancing upon
+Messer Lorenzo di Galeotto de' Medici, a rich and honoured nobleman,
+he proceeded to live under his protection, with the intention of
+staying there a long time. And so, dwelling in the house of that
+nobleman, he painted for him on a canvas the Chariot of the Sun,
+which, having been badly guided by Phaethon, is falling into the Po;
+but it is easy to see that he did that work to pass the time, and
+hurried through it by rule of thumb, without giving any thought to it,
+so entirely commonplace is it and so ill-considered. Then, having
+grown weary of living at Volterra and in the house of that nobleman,
+as one who was accustomed to being free, he departed and went off to
+Pisa, where, at the instance of Battista del Cervelliera, he executed
+two pictures for Messer Bastiano della Seta, the Warden of Works of
+the Duomo, which were placed in the recess behind the high-altar of
+that Duomo, beside those of Sogliani and Beccafumi. In one is the Dead
+Christ with Our Lady and the other Maries, and in the other Abraham
+sacrificing his son Isaac; but since these pictures did not succeed
+very well, the Warden, who had intended to make him paint some
+altar-pieces for the church, dismissed him, knowing that men who do
+not study, once they have lost in old age the quality of excellence
+that they had in their youth from nature, are left with a kind of
+facility of manner that is generally little to be praised. At that
+same time Giovanni Antonio finished an altar-piece that he had
+previously begun in oils for S. Maria della Spina, painting in it Our
+Lady with the Child in her arms, with S. Mary Magdalene and S.
+Catharine kneeling before her, and S. John, S. Sebastian, and S.
+Joseph standing at the sides; in all which figures he acquitted
+himself much better than in the two pictures for the Duomo.
+
+Then, having nothing more to do at Pisa, he made his way to Lucca,
+where, at S. Ponziano, a seat of the Monks of Monte Oliveto, an Abbot
+of his acquaintance caused him to paint a Madonna on the ascent of a
+staircase that leads to the dormitory. That work finished, he returned
+weary, old, and poor to Siena, where he did not live much longer; for
+he fell ill, through not having anyone to look after him or any means
+of sustenance, and went off to the Great Hospital, and there in a few
+weeks he finished the course of his life.
+
+[Illustration: THE SACRIFICE OF ISAAC
+
+(_After the painting by =Giovanni Antonio Bazzi [Il Sodoma]=. Pisa:
+Duomo_)
+
+_Alinari_]
+
+Giovanni Antonio, when young and in good repute, took for his wife in
+Siena a girl born of a very good family, and had by her in the first
+year a daughter. But after that, having grown weary of her, because he
+was a beast, he would never see her more; and she, therefore,
+withdrawing by herself, lived always on her own earnings and on the
+interest of her dowry, bearing with great and endless patience the
+beastliness and the follies of that husband of hers, who was truly
+worthy of the name of Mattaccio which, as has been related, the Monks
+of Monte Oliveto gave him.
+
+Riccio of Siena, the disciple of Giovanni Antonio, a passing able and
+well-practised painter, having taken as his wife his master's
+daughter, who had been very well and decently brought up by her
+mother, became the heir to all the possessions connected with art of
+his wife's father. This Riccio, I say, has executed many beautiful and
+praiseworthy works at Siena and elsewhere, and has decorated with
+stucco and pictures in fresco a chapel in the Duomo of the above-named
+city, on the left hand as one enters the church; and he now lives at
+Lucca, where he has done, as he still continues to do, many beautiful
+works worthy to be extolled.
+
+A pupil of Giovanni Antonio, likewise, was a young man who was called
+Giomo del Sodoma; but, since he died young, and was not able to give
+more than a small proof of his genius and knowledge, there is no need
+to say more about him.
+
+Sodoma lived seventy-five years, and died in the year 1554.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX OF NAMES
+
+OF THE CRAFTSMEN MENTIONED IN VOLUME VII
+
+
+  Adone Doni, 128
+
+  Agnolo, Baccio d', 74
+
+  Agnolo, Battista d' (Battista del Moro), 236
+
+  Agnolo Bronzino, 29, 31, 113, 149, 158, 160, 163, 167, 168, 171, 172,
+    175, 176, 178, 182, 201
+
+  Agnolo di Cristofano, 70
+
+  Agnolo, Giuliano di Baccio d', 83-86, 88, 89, 102
+
+  Agostino Viniziano, 60, 63
+
+  Albertinelli, Mariotto, 108, 148
+
+  Albrecht Duerer, 163, 164, 166
+
+  Alessandro Vittoria, 228
+
+  Alfonso Berughetta (Alonzo Spagnuolo), 58
+
+  Alfonso Lombardi, 77
+
+  Alonzo Spagnuolo (Alfonso Berughetta), 58
+
+  Ammanati, Bartolommeo, 95, 96, 99, 100, 203, 206
+
+  Andrea, Maestro, 66
+
+  Andrea Contucci (Andrea Sansovino), 5, 9, 61, 62, 187, 189
+
+  Andrea da Fiesole (Andrea Ferrucci), 4
+
+  Andrea del Minga, 97
+
+  Andrea del Sarto, 4, 58, 59, 148-150, 152, 156, 157, 171, 188
+
+  Andrea di Cosimo Feltrini, 13, 149-152
+
+  Andrea Ferrucci (Andrea da Fiesole), 4
+
+  Andrea Pisano, 30
+
+  Andrea Sansovino (Andrea Contucci), 5, 9, 61, 62, 187, 189
+
+  Andrea Verrocchio, 56
+
+  Antonio da San Gallo (the elder), 74
+
+  Antonio da San Gallo (the younger), 9, 78, 119, 186, 189, 190, 193,
+    217, 218
+
+  Antonio di Domenico (Antonio di Donnino Mazzieri), 29
+
+  Antonio di Gino Lorenzi, 24
+
+  Antonio di Giovanni (Solosmeo da Settignano), 5, 79, 80
+
+  Antonio di Marco di Giano (Il Carota), 152
+
+  Aristotile (Bastiano) da San Gallo, 29
+
+
+  Bacchiacca, Il (Francesco Ubertini), 29
+
+  Baccio, Giovanni di (Nanni di Baccio Bigio), 81
+
+  Baccio Bandinelli (Baccio de' Brandini), _Life_, 55-103. 4, 27, 28,
+    42, 43, 55-103, 154, 187
+
+  Baccio d'Agnolo, 74
+
+  Baccio da Montelupo, 155
+
+  Baccio de' Brandini (Baccio Bandinelli), _Life_, 55-103. 4, 27, 28,
+    42, 43, 55-103, 154, 187
+
+  Bagnacavallo, Giovan Battista, 129
+
+  Baldassarre Lancia, 206
+
+  Baldassarre Peruzzi, 253
+
+  Bandinelli, Baccio (Baccio de' Brandini), _Life_, 55-103. 4, 27, 28,
+    42, 43, 55-103, 154, 187
+
+  Bandinelli, Clemente, 77, 94, 95, 98
+
+  Barba, Jacopo della, 71
+
+  Bartolommeo Ammanati, 95, 96, 99, 100, 203, 206
+
+  Bartolommeo di Jacopo di Martino, 147
+
+  Bartolommeo di San Marco, Fra, 108, 109, 148
+
+  Bartolommeo Genga, _Life_, 206-210. 203, 204
+
+  Bartolommeo Neroni (Riccio), 257
+
+  Bartolommeo San Michele, 217
+
+  Bastiano (Aristotile) da San Gallo, 29
+
+  Battista Cungi, 121, 122, 124, 125
+
+  Battista d'Agnolo (Battista del Moro), 236
+
+  Battista da Verona (Battista Farinati), 237, 238
+
+  Battista del Cervelliera, 256
+
+  Battista del Cinque, 12
+
+  Battista del Moro (Battista d'Agnolo), 236
+
+  Battista del Tasso, 13, 30, 31, 34, 35, 137
+
+  Battista della Bilia, 118
+
+  Battista Dossi, 201
+
+  Battista Farinati (Battista da Verona), 237, 238
+
+  Battista Franco, 28, 29, 203
+
+  Battista Naldini, 181, 182
+
+  Battista of Citta di Castello, 118, 119
+
+  Bazzi, Giovanni Antonio (Il Sodoma), _Life_, 245-257
+
+  Beccafumi, Domenico, 252, 255, 256
+
+  Beceri, Domenico (Domenico Benci), 141
+
+  Bellucci, Giovan Battista (Giovan Battista San Marino),
+    _Life_, 210-213. 207
+
+  Benci, Domenico (Domenico Beceri), 141
+
+  Benedetto da Rovezzano, 4, 63, 64, 187
+
+  Benvenuto Cellini, 93, 94, 96, 97, 99, 100
+
+  Bernardino Brugnuoli, 226, 227, 233, 234
+
+  Bernardino India, 237
+
+  Bersuglia, Gian Domenico, 193
+
+  Bertoldo, 107
+
+  Berughetta, Alfonso (Alonzo Spagnuolo), 58
+
+  Bicci, Lorenzo di, 61
+
+  Bigio, Nanni di Baccio (Giovanni di Baccio), 81
+
+  Bilia, Battista della, 118
+
+  Bizzerra, 129
+
+  Bologna, Giovan, 100, 101
+
+  Bolognese, Marc'Antonio, 65
+
+  Borgo, Raffaello dal (Raffaello dal Colle), 117, 118, 120, 128, 129,
+    201
+
+  Bramante da Urbino, 249
+
+  Brandini, Baccio de' (Baccio Bandinelli), _Life_, 55-103. 4, 27, 28,
+    42, 43, 55-103, 154, 187
+
+  Bronzino, Agnolo, 29, 31, 113, 149, 158, 160, 163, 167, 168, 171,
+    172, 175, 176, 178, 182, 201
+
+  Brugnuoli, Bernardino, 226, 227, 233, 234
+
+  Brugnuoli, Luigi, 229, 233
+
+  Brunelleschi, Filippo, 87, 88, 167, 226
+
+  Brusciasorzi, Domenico (Domenico del Riccio), 236, 237
+
+  Brusciasorzi, Felice (Felice del Riccio), 237
+
+  Buda, Girolamo del, 56
+
+  Bugiardini, Giuliano, _Life_, 107-113
+
+  Buglioni, Santi, 29
+
+  Buonarroti, Michelagnolo, 10, 11, 14, 16, 28, 32, 44, 46, 48, 49, 57,
+    58, 61, 66-68, 71, 72, 75, 77, 81, 98, 99, 107, 108, 110-113, 151,
+    172, 173, 179, 194, 235
+
+
+  Cadore, Tiziano da (Tiziano Vecelli), 237
+
+  Caliari, Paolino or Paolo (Paolo Veronese), 236-240
+
+  Camillo Mantovano, 201
+
+  Carota, Il (Antonio di Marco di Giano), 152
+
+  Caroto, Giovanni, 238
+
+  Carrara, Danese da (Danese Cattaneo), 228
+
+  Carrucci, Jacopo (Jacopo da Pontormo), _Life_, 147-182. 31, 201
+
+  Cattaneo, Danese (Danese da Carrara), 228
+
+  Cavalieri, Tiberio, 50
+
+  Cellini, Benvenuto, 93, 94, 96, 97, 99, 100
+
+  Cervelliera, Battista del, 256
+
+  Cinque, Battista del, 12
+
+  Cioli, Simone, 9, 10, 189
+
+  Clemente Bandinelli, 77, 94, 95, 98
+
+  Colle, Raffaello dal (Raffaello dal Borgo), 117, 118, 120, 128, 129,
+    201
+
+  Conti, Domenico, 29
+
+  Contucci, Andrea (Andrea Sansovino), 5, 9, 61, 62, 187, 189
+
+  Cosimo, Piero di, 148
+
+  Cristofano, Agnolo di, 70
+
+  Cristofano Gherardi (Doceno), _Life_, 117-143
+
+  Cungi, Battista, 121, 122, 124, 125
+
+
+  Danese da Carrara (Danese Cattaneo), 228
+
+  Danti, Vincenzio, 100
+
+  David Fortini, 37
+
+  Doceno (Cristofano Gherardi), _Life_, 117-143
+
+  Domenico, Antonio di (Antonio di Donnino Mazzieri), 29
+
+  Domenico Beccafumi, 252, 255, 256
+
+  Domenico Beceri (Domenico Benci), 141
+
+  Domenico Brusciasorzi (Domenico del Riccio), 236, 237
+
+  Domenico Conti, 29
+
+  Domenico del Riccio (Domenico Brusciasorzi), 236, 237
+
+  Domenico Ghirlandajo, 108, 147
+
+  Donato (Donatello), 30, 56, 57, 62
+
+  Doni, Adone, 128
+
+  Dossi, Battista, 201
+
+  Dossi, Dosso, 201
+
+  Duerer, Albrecht, 163, 164, 166
+
+
+  Eliodoro Forbicini, 237
+
+
+  Fabro, Pippo del, 5
+
+  Fancelli, Giovanni, 97
+
+  Farinati, Battista (Battista da Verona), 237, 238
+
+  Farinato, Paolo, 236, 240, 241
+
+  Felice del Riccio (Felice Brusciasorzi), 237
+
+  Feltrini, Andrea di Cosimo, 13, 149-152
+
+  Ferrarese, Girolamo (Girolamo da Ferrara), 9, 10, 189
+
+  Fiesole, Andrea da (Andrea Ferrucci), 4
+
+  Filippo Brunelleschi, 87, 88, 167, 226
+
+  Filippo Lippi, Fra, 57
+
+  Fonte, Jacopo della (Jacopo della Quercia), 245
+
+  Forbicini, Eliodoro, 237
+
+  Forli, Francesco da (Francesco Menzochi), 201, 204-206
+
+  Fortini, David, 37
+
+  Fra Bartolommeo di San Marco, 108, 109, 148
+
+  Fra Filippo Lippi, 57
+
+  Fra Giovanni Agnolo Montorsoli, 10, 11, 81, 82
+
+  Fra Sebastiano Viniziano del Piombo, 110, 111
+
+  Francesco da Forli (Francesco Menzochi), 201, 204-206
+
+  Francesco da San Gallo (the younger), 9, 10, 189
+
+  Francesco de' Rossi (Francesco Salviati), 178, 205
+
+  Francesco del Tadda, 9, 10, 49
+
+  Francesco di Girolamo dal Prato, 72, 73
+
+  Francesco Granacci, 108
+
+  Francesco Menzochi (Francesco da Forli), 201, 204-206
+
+  Francesco Moschino, 192, 194, 195
+
+  Francesco Salviati (Francesco de' Rossi), 178, 205
+
+  Francesco Ubertini (Il Bacchiacca), 29
+
+  Franciabigio, 70, 157, 171
+
+  Franco, Battista, 28, 29, 203
+
+
+  Galeotto, Pietro Paolo, 152
+
+  Genga, Bartolommeo, _Life_, 206-210. 203, 204
+
+  Genga, Girolamo, _Life_, 199-206. 207, 208, 210, 211
+
+  Gherardi, Cristofano (Doceno), _Life_, 117-143
+
+  Ghirlandajo, Domenico, 108, 147
+
+  Ghirlandajo, Michele di Ridolfo, 28
+
+  Ghirlandajo, Ridolfo, 28, 31, 155, 156
+
+  Gian Domenico Bersuglia, 193
+
+  Gian Girolamo San Michele, 219, 220, 222, 230-234
+
+  Giano, Antonio di Marco di (Il Carota), 152
+
+  Giolfino, Niccolo (Niccolo Ursino), 240
+
+  Giomo del Sodoma, 257
+
+  Giorgio Vasari. See Vasari (Giorgio)
+
+  Giovan Battista Bagnacavallo, 129
+
+  Giovan Battista Bellucci (Giovan Battista San Marino),
+    _Life_, 210-213. 207
+
+  Giovan Battista de' Rossi (Il Rosso), 58, 59, 117, 118, 149, 188
+
+  Giovan Battista San Marino (Giovan Battista Bellucci),
+    _Life_, 210-213. 207
+
+  Giovan Bologna, 100, 101
+
+  Giovan Francesco Rustici, 57, 66
+
+  Giovan Maria Pichi, 158
+
+  Giovanni, Antonio di (Solosmeo da Settignano), 5, 79, 80
+
+  Giovanni Agnolo Montorsoli, Fra, 10, 11, 81, 82
+
+  Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (Il Sodoma), _Life_, 245-257
+
+  Giovanni Antonio Lappoli, 158, 159
+
+  Giovanni Antonio Sogliani, 256
+
+  Giovanni Caroto, 238
+
+  Giovanni da Udine, 118
+
+  Giovanni di Baccio (Nanni di Baccio Bigio), 81
+
+  Giovanni di Goro, 69
+
+  Giovanni Fancelli, 97
+
+  Giovanni Rosso (or Rosto), Maestro, 177
+
+  Giovanni San Michele, 217
+
+  Girolamo da Ferrara (Girolamo Ferrarese), 9, 10, 189
+
+  Girolamo del Buda, 56
+
+  Girolamo del Pacchia, 252
+
+  Girolamo Ferrarese (Girolamo da Ferrara), 9, 10, 189
+
+  Girolamo Genga, _Life_, 199-206. 207, 208, 210, 211
+
+  Giuliano Bugiardini, _Life_, 107-113
+
+  Giuliano di Baccio d'Agnolo, 83-86, 88, 89, 102
+
+  Giulio Romano, 117, 236
+
+  Goro, Giovanni di, 69
+
+  Granacci, Francesco, 108
+
+
+  Il Bacchiacca (Francesco Ubertini), 29
+
+  Il Carota (Antonio di Marco di Giano), 152
+
+  Il Rosso (Giovan Battista de' Rossi), 58, 59, 117, 118, 149, 188
+
+  Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi), _Life_, 245-257
+
+  India, Bernardino, 237
+
+
+  Jacone (Jacopo), 176
+
+  Jacopo da Pontormo (Jacopo Carrucci), _Life_, 147-182. 31, 201
+
+  Jacopo della Barba, 71
+
+  Jacopo della Fonte (Jacopo della Quercia), 245
+
+  Jacopo Sansovino, 4, 5, 58
+
+
+  Lancia, Baldassarre, 206
+
+  Lappoli, Giovanni Antonio, 158, 159
+
+  Lastricati, Zanobi, 45
+
+  Lattanzio di Vincenzio Pagani, 128
+
+  Leonardo da Vinci, 41-44, 57, 58, 60, 148, 152
+
+  Lippi, Fra Filippo, 57
+
+  Lombardi, Alfonso, 77
+
+  Lorenzetto, 78
+
+  Lorenzi, Antonio di Gino, 24
+
+  Lorenzo di Bicci, 61
+
+  Lorenzo Marignolli, 46
+
+  Luca Signorelli, 199, 246
+
+  Luigi Brugnuoli, 229, 233
+
+
+  Maestro Andrea, 66
+
+  Maestro Giovanni Rosso (or Rosto), 177
+
+  Maestro Niccolo, 177
+
+  Mantovano, Camillo, 201
+
+  Marc'Antonio Bolognese, 65
+
+  Marco da Ravenna, 63
+
+  Marco del Tasso, 156
+
+  Marco Palmezzani (Marco Parmigiano), 204, 205
+
+  Marignolli, Lorenzo, 46
+
+  Mariotto Albertinelli, 108, 148
+
+  Martino, Bartolommeo di Jacopo di, 147
+
+  Matteo San Michele, 219
+
+  Mazzieri, Antonio di Donnino (Antonio di Domenico), 29
+
+  Menzochi, Francesco (Francesco da Forli), 201, 204-206
+
+  Menzochi, Pietro Paolo, 205, 206
+
+  Michelagnolo Buonarroti, 10, 11, 14, 16, 28, 32, 44, 46, 48, 49, 57,
+    58, 61, 66-68, 71, 72, 75, 77, 81, 98, 99, 107, 108, 110-113, 151,
+    172, 173, 179, 194, 235
+
+  Michelagnolo di Viviano, 55-57, 60, 66, 73, 98, 99
+
+  Michele di Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, 28
+
+  Michele San Michele, _Life_, 217-235. 127, 191, 217-235, 237, 241
+
+  Minga, Andrea del, 97
+
+  Montelupo, Baccio da, 155
+
+  Montelupo, Raffaello da, 9-11, 27, 62, 81, 189, 191, 192, 194, 195
+
+  Montorsoli, Fra Giovanni Agnolo, 10, 11, 81, 82
+
+  Moro, Battista del (Battista d'Agnolo), 236
+
+  Mosca, Simone, _Life_, 185-195. 9, 10
+
+  Moschino, Francesco, 192, 194, 195
+
+
+  Naldini, Battista, 181, 182
+
+  Nanni di Baccio Bigio (Giovanni di Baccio), 81
+
+  Nanni Unghero, 4
+
+  Neroni, Bartolommeo (Riccio), 257
+
+  Niccolo, Maestro, 177
+
+  Niccolo (called Tribolo), _Life_, 3-37. 43-45, 81, 112, 176, 189
+
+  Niccolo Giolfino (Niccolo Ursino), 240
+
+  Niccolo Rondinello (Rondinino da Ravenna), 204, 205
+
+  Niccolo Ursino (Niccolo Giolfino), 240
+
+
+  Pacchia, Girolamo del, 252
+
+  Pagani, Lattanzio di Vincenzio, 128
+
+  Palmezzani, Marco (Marco Parmigiano), 204, 205
+
+  Paolino or Paolo Caliari (Paolo Veronese), 236-240
+
+  Paolo Farinato, 236, 240, 241
+
+  Paolo San Michele, 227, 230, 232
+
+  Paolo Veronese (Paolino or Paolo Caliari), 236-240
+
+  Papacello, Tommaso, 128
+
+  Parmigiano, Marco (Marco Palmezzani), 204, 205
+
+  Perugino, Pietro, 199, 248, 249
+
+  Peruzzi, Baldassarre, 253
+
+  Pichi, Giovan Maria, 158
+
+  Pier Francesco da Viterbo, 119, 202
+
+  Pier Francesco di Jacopo di Sandro, 29, 176
+
+  Pierino (Piero) da Vinci, _Life_, 41-51
+
+  Piero di Cosimo, 148
+
+  Pietrasanta, Ranieri da, 9, 10
+
+  Pietrasanta, Stagio da, 7, 195
+
+  Pietro da San Casciano, 15, 16, 19
+
+  Pietro di Subisso, 187, 188
+
+  Pietro Paolo Galeotto, 152
+
+  Pietro Paolo Menzochi, 205, 206
+
+  Pietro Perugino, 199, 248, 249
+
+  Pietro Rosselli, 68, 69
+
+  Piloto, 56, 58, 69
+
+  Piombo, Fra Sebastiano Viniziano del, 110, 111
+
+  Pippo del Fabro, 5
+
+  Pisano, Andrea, 30
+
+  Pontormo, Jacopo da (Jacopo Carrucci), _Life_, 147-182. 31, 201
+
+  Prato, Francesco di Girolamo dal, 72, 73
+
+
+  Quercia, Jacopo della (Jacopo della Fonte), 245
+
+
+  Raffaello da Montelupo, 9-11, 27, 62, 81, 189, 191, 192, 194, 195
+
+  Raffaello da Urbino (Raffaello Sanzio), 111, 117, 148, 174, 199, 249
+
+  Raffaello dal Colle (Raffaello dal Borgo), 117, 118, 120, 128, 129,
+    201
+
+  Raffaello delle Vivole, 152
+
+  Raffaello Sanzio (Raffaello da Urbino), 111, 117, 148, 174, 199, 249
+
+  Ranieri da Pietrasanta, 9, 10
+
+  Ravenna, Marco da, 63
+
+  Ravenna, Rondinino da (Niccolo Rondinello), 204, 205
+
+  Riccio (Bartolommeo Neroni), 257
+
+  Riccio, Domenico del (Domenico Brusciasorzi), 236, 237
+
+  Riccio, Felice del (Felice Brusciasorzi), 237
+
+  Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, 28, 31, 155, 156
+
+  Romano, Giulio, 117, 236
+
+  Rondinino da Ravenna (Niccolo Rondinello), 204, 205
+
+  Rosselli, Pietro, 68, 69
+
+  Rossi, Francesco de' (Francesco Salviati), 178, 205
+
+  Rossi, Giovan Battista de' (Il Rosso), 58, 59, 117, 118, 149, 188
+
+  Rossi, Vincenzio de', 94, 98, 101
+
+  Rosso, Il (Giovan Battista de' Rossi), 58, 59, 117, 118, 149, 188
+
+  Rosto (or Rosso), Maestro Giovanni, 177
+
+  Rovezzano, Benedetto da, 4, 63, 64, 187
+
+  Roviale, 129
+
+  Rustici, Giovan Francesco, 57, 66
+
+
+  Salviati, Francesco (Francesco de' Rossi), 178, 205
+
+  San Casciano, Pietro da, 15, 16, 19
+
+  San Gallo, Antonio da (the elder), 74
+
+  San Gallo, Antonio da (the younger), 9, 78, 119, 186, 189, 190, 193,
+    217, 218
+
+  San Gallo, Bastiano (Aristotile) da, 29
+
+  San Gallo, Francesco da (the younger), 9, 10, 189
+
+  San Marco, Fra Bartolommeo di, 108, 109, 148
+
+  San Marino, Giovan Battista (Giovan Battista Bellucci),
+    _Life_, 210-213. 207
+
+  San Michele, Bartolommeo, 217
+
+  San Michele, Gian Girolamo, 219, 220, 222, 230-234
+
+  San Michele, Giovanni, 217
+
+  San Michele, Matteo, 219
+
+  San Michele, Michele, _Life_, 217-235. 127, 191, 217-235, 237, 241
+
+  San Michele, Paolo, 227, 230, 232
+
+  Sandro, Pier Francesco di Jacopo di, 29, 176
+
+  Sansovino, Andrea (Andrea Contucci), 5, 9, 61, 62, 187, 189
+
+  Sansovino, Jacopo, 4, 5, 58
+
+  Santi Buglioni, 29
+
+  Sanzio, Raffaello (Raffaello da Urbino), 111, 117, 148, 174, 199, 249
+
+  Sarto, Andrea del, 4, 58, 59, 148-150, 152, 156, 157, 171, 188
+
+  Sebastiano Viniziano del Piombo, Fra, 110, 111
+
+  Settignano, Solosmeo da (Antonio di Giovanni), 5, 79, 80
+
+  Signorelli, Luca, 199, 246
+
+  Simone Cioli, 9, 10, 189
+
+  Simone Mosca, _Life_, 185-195. 9, 10
+
+  Sodoma, Giomo del, 257
+
+  Sodoma, Il (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi), _Life_, 245-257
+
+  Sogliani, Giovanni Antonio, 256
+
+  Solosmeo da Settignano (Antonio di Giovanni), 5, 79, 80
+
+  Spagnuolo, Alonzo (Alfonso Berughetta), 58
+
+  Stagio da Pietrasanta, 7, 195
+
+  Stefano Veltroni, 120, 123, 124, 129
+
+  Subisso, Pietro di, 187, 188
+
+
+  Tadda, Francesco del, 9, 10, 49
+
+  Tasso, Battista del, 13, 30, 31, 34, 35, 137
+
+  Tasso, Marco del, 156
+
+  Tiberio Cavalieri, 50
+
+  Timoteo da Urbino (Timoteo della Vite), 200
+
+  Tiziano Vecelli (Tiziano da Cadore), 237
+
+  Tommaso Papacello, 128
+
+  Tribolo (Niccolo), _Life_, 3-37. 43-45, 81, 112, 176, 189
+
+
+  Ubertini, Francesco (Il Bacchiacca), 29
+
+  Udine, Giovanni da, 118
+
+  Unghero, Nanni, 4
+
+  Urbino, Bramante da, 249
+
+  Urbino, Raffaello da (Raffaello Sanzio), 111, 117, 148, 174, 199, 249
+
+  Urbino, Timoteo da (Timoteo della Vite), 200
+
+  Ursino, Niccolo (Niccolo Giolfino), 240
+
+
+  Vasari, Giorgio--
+    as art-collector, 11, 99, 253
+    as author, 3, 11, 12, 14, 16, 21, 24, 25, 28, 31, 33, 34, 36, 37,
+      41, 79, 95, 96, 99-101, 103, 109, 117-125, 127-132, 137-139, 141,
+      142, 147, 155, 157-160, 167, 168, 172, 173, 175, 178-180, 186,
+      190, 202, 209, 210, 217, 225, 226, 230, 231, 234-236, 239, 240,
+      253, 254, 257
+    as painter, 13, 31, 95, 118-132, 137-139, 141-143, 188, 189, 206,
+      229, 230, 235
+    as architect, 35, 37, 85, 91, 95, 101, 102, 119, 137, 193, 194,
+      206
+
+  Vecelli, Tiziano (Tiziano da Cadore), 237
+
+  Veltroni, Stefano, 120, 123, 124, 129
+
+  Verona, Battista da (Battista Farinati), 237, 238
+
+  Veronese, Paolo (Paolino or Paolo Caliari), 236-240
+
+  Verrocchio, Andrea, 56
+
+  Vincenzio Danti, 100
+
+  Vincenzio de' Rossi, 94, 98, 101
+
+  Vinci, Leonardo da, 41-44, 57, 58, 60, 148, 152
+
+  Vinci, Pierino (Piero) da, _Life_, 41-51
+
+  Viniziano, Agostino, 60, 63
+
+  Vite, Timoteo della (Timoteo da Urbino), 200
+
+  Viterbo, Pier Francesco da, 119, 202
+
+  Vitruvius, 211
+
+  Vittoria, Alessandro, 228
+
+  Viviano, Michelagnolo di, 55-57, 60, 66, 73, 98, 99
+
+  Vivole, Raffaello delle, 152
+
+
+  Zanobi Lastricati, 45
+
+
+END OF VOL. VII.
+
+
+  PRINTED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF CHAS. T. JACOBI
+  OF THE CHISWICK PRESS, LONDON. THE COLOURED
+  REPRODUCTIONS ENGRAVED AND PRINTED BY
+  HENRY STONE AND SON, LTD., BANBURY
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lives of the most Eminent Painters
+Sculptors and Architects, by Giorgio Vasari
+
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