Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/252

244 Having finally returned to Florence, he constructed for Pietro Mellini, a Florentine citizen, and at that time a very rich merchant, the pulpit of marble which is still to be seen in the church of Santa Croce, a work considered to be one of the rarest excellence, and more beautiful than any other ever executed in that manner. The events from the life of St. Francis, which are there represented, are greatly extolled, and are, indeed, finished with so much skill and care, that nothing better in marble could possibly be desired, Benedetto having with consummate art sculptured rocks, trees, buildings, and various objects in perspective, with other things, brought out with marvellotis freedom. There is besides a repetition of these decorations on a sepulchral stone beneath the pulpit, and this is executed with so much ability that it would not be possible to praise it sufficiently. It is affirmed that in the progress of this work Benedetto had considerable difficulty with the wardens of the works in Santa Croce; the cause whereof was, that he proposed to erect his pulpit against one of the columns which support some of the arches that sustain the roof, and intended to perforate the same in order to make a place for his staircase, and the entrance to the pulpit. But the wardens refused their consent, fearing that he might so greatly weaken the column by the cavity required for the stairs, as to cause the weight above to press too heavily upon it, thereby endangering the safety of that part of the church; Mellini, however, having given a guarantee that the work should be completed without injury of any kind to the building, they finally agreed. Benedetto then first of all caused the column to be secured externally by strong bands of bronze, all that part, that is to say, which from the pulpit downwards is covered with granite {pietra forte); he then constructed the steps for ascending to the pulpit, and in proportion as he excavated the column within, did he add to it externally the granite above-mentioned, in the manner that we now see. He thus conducted this work to perfection, to the astonishment of all who beheld it, displaying in every