Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/500

486 the rather as it is surrounded by historical representations in miniature by Fra Bartolommeo, which are admirable, as will be further shown in its due place. Our lord the duke has also a most beautiful, or rather wonderful, crucifix in bronze, from the hand of Donato, in his study, where there are innumerable antiquities of rare value, with very fine medals. In the before-mentioned treasury (guardaroba), moreover, there is a basso-rilievo in bronze, representing the Crucifixion of our Lord, which contains a great number of figures, with another crucifixion also in bronze. In the house now belonging to the heirs of Jacopo Capponi, who was an excellent citizen and true gentlemen, is a figure in marble of the Virgin, in half relief, which is esteemed to be a most extraordinary work. Messer Antonio de’ Nobili also, who was administrator of his excellency the duke, had a work in marble by the hand of Donato in his house, and in this is a half-length figure of Our Lady, which is so beautiful, that Messer Antonio prized it as much as all his wealth: nor is it less valued by Giulio his son, a young man of singular excellence and judgment, the friend of artists and of all distinguished men. In the house of Giovan Battista d’Agnol Doni, a Florentine gentleman, there is moreover a Mercury in metal by Donato, the height one braccio and a half; it is in full relief, and is clothed in a somewhat fanciful manner; the execution of this work is truly beautiful, and it is no less remarkable than the other rarities which adorn his most beautiful house. Bar-