Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/227

Rh of that size, as well for the workmanship as the material, and therefore confided the charge of the whole to Orgagna, as being the most excellent artist of that age; and he prepared so many designs for the edifice, that one was at length found to please those who ruled in the matter, and they declared it better than all the others. Thereupon, resigning the undertaking to Orgagna’s hands, they referred the whole to his judgment and opinion * wherefore, employing various masters in sculpture, selected from different countries, to execute all other parts of the work, he devoted his own attention, with that of his brother Bernardo, to the figures; and having finished them all, he caused the several parts to be most ingeniously and carefully put together, without cement, but with fastenings of lead and copper, to the end that no spot or blemish should lessen the beauty of the polished and shining marbles. In all this he proceeded with the most perfect success, completing the whole, to his own great honour, as well as to the benefit of the artists who succeeded him; for this work, which, in consequence of the mode of junction discovered by Orgagna, makes the spectator believe the entire chapel to be formed of one block of marble, must have served many succeeding artists as a useful model. And although this chapel is in the Teutonic manner, it has nevertheless so much grace, and is so beautifully proportioned, according to that style, as to hold the first place among the works of the period. The composition consists principally of large and small figures, in mezzo-rilievo, representing angels and prophets surrounding the Madonna, and all most beautifully executed. Wonderful, also, is the casting of the bronze girders and supports, which are all carefully polished: the whole building is clasped around, and upheld, in such sort by these bronze fastenings, that the strength of the work is no less remarkable than its beauty, which last is admirable in all parts of the chapel. But how earnestly Andrea laboured to display the mastery of his genius before the eyes of that rude age, is made more than ever manifest in the large historical piece, executed in mezzorilievo, on the back part of this tabernacle, where he has placed the twelve apostles—figures which are each a braccia and a half high; they look up towards the Madonna, who is ascending to heaven in an oviform Gloria, surrounded by