Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/55

Rh cult: nor can we deny that Leon Batista displayed great courage in venturing at that time to construct the tribune as he did. The architect was then invited to Mantua by the above-named Marchese Ludovico, where he made the model of the church of Sant’ Andrea, for that noble, with some few other works, and on the road leading from Mantua to Padua, there are certain churches which were erected after the manner of this architect. The Florentine Salvestro Fancelli, a tolerably good architect and sculptor, was the person who carried Leon Batista’s designs for the city of Florence into execution, according to the desire of that master, and this he did with extraordinary judgment and diligence. The works designed by Alberti for Mantua were executed by a certain Luca, also a Florentine, who, continuing ever after to dwell in that city, there died, leaving the name, as we are told by Filarete, to the family of the Luchi, which is still settled there. And the good fortune of Leon Batista was not small in thus having friends, who, comprehending his desires, were both able and willing to serve him, for as architects cannot always be at the work, it is of the utmost advantage to them to have a faithful and friendly assistant, and if no other ever knew this, I know well, and that by long experience.

In painting, Leon Batista did not perform any great work, or execute pictures of much beauty; those remaining to us from his hand, and they are but very few, do not display a high degree of perfection, seeing that he was more earnestly devoted to study than to design. Yet he knew perfectly well how to give expression to his thoughts with the pencil, as may be seen in certain drawings by his hand in our book. In these are depicted the bridge of St. Angelo, with the sort of roof or covering in the manner of a Loggia, constructed over it after his design, as a shelter from the sun in summer, and from the rain and wind in winter. This work he