Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/267

Rh di Credi beloved by his master, whose remains were by him conveyed from Venice, and deposited in the church of Sant’ Ambrogio, in the sepulchre of Ser Michele di Cione, where the following words are engraved above the tombstone.

And near them are the following:— “Hic osaa jacent Andreae Verrochii qui Obiit Venetiis, .” Andrea took much pleasure in making models of gypsum, from which he might take casts: he made his moulds from a soft stone found in the neighbourhood of Volterra, Siena, and other parts of Italy, v/hich, being burnt in the fire, pounded finely, and kneaded with water, is rendered so soft and smooth, that you may make it into whatever form you please; but afterwards it becomes so close and hard, that entire figures may be cast in moulds formed of it. Andrea, therefore, adopted the practice of casting in moulds thus prepared, such natural objects as he desired to have continually before his eyes, for the better and more convenient imitation of them in his works—hands, feet, the knee, the arm, the torso, &c. Artists afterwards—but in his time—began to make casts of the heads of those who died, a thing they could by this means do at but little cost; whence it is that one sees in every house in Florence vast numbers of these likenesses, over the chimneys, doors, windows, and cornices, many of them so well done and so natural that they seem alive; and from that time forward this custom prevailed, nay, continues to do so, and has been of great value to us, by enabling us to procure the portraits of many, whose figures appear in the historical paintings executed for the palace of Duke Cosimo. We are indeed greatly indebted for this advantage to the skill of Andrea Verrocchio, who was one of the first to put the practice into execution.