Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/431

Rh For Giovanni Vespucci, whose house, which now belongs to Fiero Salviati, was then opposite to the church of St. Michael, in the Via de’ Servi, this master painted certain bacchanalian representations, which are disposed around one of the rooms: in these pictures are the most singular figures of fawns, satyrs, and sylvan deities of various kinds, with children and bacchanals, the diversity of whose habiliments, with the grace and truth of the deer, goats, and other animals depicted in this work, is a marvel to behold. In one of the stories here exhibited we have Silenus mounted on his ass, and surrounded by a troop of children, some of whom support him, while others give him to chink. There is a joyous spirit of mirth and gladness manifest throughout all this company, which cannot but be admitted to prove extraordinary talent; and beyond all doubt Piero di Cosimo has given evidence in his works of the richest and most varied power of invention, with indubitable originality and a certain subtlety in the investigation of difficulties, which have rarely been exceeded. Flis inquiries into the more recondite properties of Nature, in her external forms, were conducted with a zeal that rendered him regardless of the amount of time or labour bestowed on whatever might be the matter in hand. While seeking to penetrate the secrets of his art, no effort was too severe; he would endure any hardship for the mere love which he bore to the pursuit, and in the hope of obtaining an advantage for the vocation of his choice, Piero di Cosimo was indeed so earnestly devoted to the interests of art as to become totally regardless of himself and Ids personal convenience, insomuch that he would allow himself no better food than hard eggs, and, to save firing, he cooked these only when he had prepared a fire to boil his glues, varnishes, &c.; nor would he cook them even thus by six or eight at a time, but boiled them by fifties; he would then set them apart in a basket, and ate them at any moment when he felt the necessity for food. This mode of existence suited him perfectly, so that all