Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/502

488 chral monument of Pope Martin V, sent for Donato, to the end that he might see it before it should be cast, whereupon that master, proceeding to Rome accordingly, chanced to be there exactly at the time when the Emperor Sigismond was in the city, for the purpose of receiving the crown from Pope Eugenius IV; wherefore he found himself compelled to give his attention to the sumptuous preparations made for that festival, which he did in company with his brother Simone, acquiring therefrom much renown and very great honour.

In the guardaroba of the Signor Guidobaldo, duke of Urbino, is a most beautiful head of marble, from the hand of Donatello, and it is believed that this work was presented to the ancestors of the signor Duke, by the magnificent Giuliano de’ Medici, during the time of his stay at the court of Urbino, where were assembled a large number of distinguished men. In effect, Donato was a master of such merit, and so admirable in all he did, that we may safely declare him to have been the first, who, by his knowledge, judgment, and practice, rendered the art of sculpture and of good design illustrious among the people of modern times. And he is all the more worthy of commendation, because in his day the antiquities now brought to light—the columns, triumphal arches, and vases—had not been discovered, and excavated from the earth. Donato was, moreover, the principal cause of the determination taken by Cosimo de’ Medici to bring the antiquities now in the Palazzo Medici to Florence: and all of which he restored with his own hand. He was most liberal, friendly, and courteous to all, being ever more careful for his friends than for himself; he attached little value to his gains, but kept what money he had in a basket, suspended by a cord