Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/138

124 passed all his con-disciples in correctness of design and in grace of manner, insomuch that he was said by all to be the right eye of his master. And as all men desire what they hold to be best for those they love, so Agostino, prizing excellence above all other gifts, whether of nature, character, or fortune, and deeming this alone to render men great, noble, and happy, in this life and in the other, desired that his younger brother should profit by the instructions of Giovanni, and induced him to enter on the same course of study. Nor was this a difficult task to effect, since the intercourse of Agnolo with Agostino and other sculptors had already convinced him of the honour and profit to be derived from that art, and had kindled in his breast the wish to devote himself to it. Nay, Agnolo had even made certain attempts in secret, before Agostino had named the subject. The latter, therefore, finding himself employed with Giovanni in the execution of for the, to which we have before alluded, contrived to bring his brother into the same work, when Agnolo acquitted himself in such a manner that, at the conclusion of the undertaking, he was found to have made equal proficiency in art with Agostino himself. Perceiving this, Giovanni Pisano afterwards employed both the brothers in many other of his works executed for Pistoja, Pisa, and other places. And as they gave their attention to architecture as well as to sculpture, no long time elapsed before Agostino was employed by, who then ruled in Siena, to prepare the designs for their , which was commenced in the year 1308. By this work he acquired so great a name in his native city, that when the brothers returned to Siena after the death of Giovanni, they were both appointed architects to the state, and in the year 1317 was built under their directions. In the year 1321, the was commenced from the designs of the same architects, and this gate was finished in the year 1326, after the manner that we now see it, being in the first instance called the gate of St. Martin. They also rebuilt, formerly called the gate of St. Agata all’ Arco. In the same year, the were commenced from the designs of the same artists, when the cardinal of Gaeta, apostolic legate, was present, and