Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/454

446 all these works would take me too far, but there are some so admirably executed by Baccio that they must not pass without notice. One of these paintings, a figure of the Virgin namely, is in the house of Filippo, son of Averardo Salviati, it is a.singularly beautiful picture, and is highly valued by its possessor: another of them was purchased, no long time since, by Pier Maria of the Wells, a lover of paintings, who found it in a sale of old furniture, but being capable of appreciating its beauty, he would not afterwards part with it, for all the money that could be offered to him. This also is a Madonna, and is executed with extraordinary care Piero del Pugliese had a small Virgin in marble, sculptured by the hand of Donatello in very low relief, a work of exquisite beauty, for which Piero, desiring to do it the utmost honour, had caused a tabernacle in wood to be made, wherein it was enclosed by means of two small doors. This tabernacle he subsequently gave for its ultimate decoration to Baccio della Porta, who painted on the inner side of the door, two historical events from the life of Christ, one of which represents the Nativity, the other the Circumcision of the Saviour. The little figures of these scenes were executed by Baccio after the manner of miniatures, so delicately finished that it would not be possible for anything in oilpainting to exceed them. When the doors are shut, a painting in chiaro-scuro is perceived to decorate the outer side of them; this also represents Our Lady, receiving the Annunciation from the Angel, and is likewise painted in oil. The tabernacle is now in the study or writing-chamber of the Duke Cosimo, a place wherein are kept all the small bronze figures from the antique, with the medals and other rare pictures in miniature, possessed by his most illustrious Excellency; who treasures it as an extraordinary work of art, which in fact it is. Baccio della Porta was much beloved in Florence, not