Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/381

Rh which was placed a head; and all the decorations by which the stories of every compartment were to be surrounded. After having prepared and dried the mould with infinite care and exactitude in a workshop that he had procured opposite to, where the Weavers’ Hospital now stands, and which was called the threshing-floor, he built an immense furnace, which I well remember to have seen, and there cast the portion he had prepared, in metal. But it pleased the fates that this should not succeed; yet Lorenzo, perceiving in what point he had failed, did not lose courage, nor permit himself to despond; but having promptly prepared another mould, without making the occurrence known to any one, he cast the piece again, when it succeeded perfectly. In this manner the artist continued the whole work, casting each story himself; and when he had completed and polished it, he fixed it in its place. The arrangement of the stories is similar to that adopted by Andrea Pisano in constructing the first door, which had been designed for him by Giotto. The number of them is twenty; the subjects being taken from the New Testament: beneath these stories, in eight similar compartments, are figures of the four Evangelists, two on each leaf or fold of the door, with the four Doctors of the Church in like manner. All these figures are varied in their attitudes, vestments, and other particulars: one is reading, another writing; some are in deep meditation, and differing thus one from another, all, whether acting or reflecting, are equally lifelike. The framework which encloses each picture is enriched with ornaments of ivy leaves and foliage of other kinds, with mouldings between them, and on each angle is a male or female head in full relief, purporting to represent the Prophets and Sybils. They are very beautiful, and their variety serves to prove the fertility of invention possessed by the master. Above the Doctors and Evangelists here described, and on the side towards Santa Maria del Eiore, is the first, or commencing story, which represents the Annunciation of Our Lady: Lorenzo has given to the Virgin an expression of terror and sudden alarm; as the angel appears, she turns from him in an attitude of infinite grace. Beside this representation is one exhibiting the Birth of Christ; where Our Lady is reposing in a recumbent position, with Joseph, earnestly regarding the shepherds,