Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/161

Rh the portrait of his holiness should be drawn from nature, and sculptured in marble by Andrea. Thereupon he put his hand to the work, and did not rest until lie had completed the statue of the pope, with St. Peter on one side of him and St. Paul on the other, when these three figures were placed on the fa9ade of Santa Maria del Fiore, where they still remain. Andrea next prepared certain small figures of the prophets, in tabernacles or niches, for the central door, when it became obvious that he had effected important ameliorations in the art, and was greatly in advance of all who had laboured for that fabric before him. It was therefore determined that all works of importance should be confided to him, and to no other. He was, accordingly, soon afterwards appointed to execute the four statues of the principal doctors of the Church—St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Gregory; and these figures, being finished, acquired great favour and high reputation for the artist, not only from the superintendents of the work, but from the whole city; and two other statues in marble, of the same size, were entrusted to his care: these were St. Stephen and St. Lawrence, which were also placed on the facade of Santa Maria del Fiore, and stood on the outer angles. The Madonna, of marble, three braccia and a half high, with the Child in her arms, which stands on the altar of the little church belonging to the company of the Misericordia, on the piazza of San Giovanni in Florence, is also by Andrea. This work was highly commended in that day, and more particularly for the two angels, two braccia and a half in height, which stand on each side of the Virgin. The whole has been surrounded in our own days by some very well-executed carvings in wood, from the hand of Maestro Antonio, called II Carota; while the predella beneath is covered with admirable figures, painted in oil, by Ridolfo,