Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 3.djvu/140

132 this monument was dedicated to the memory of Piero Soderini, who had formerly been Gonfaloniere of the Florentine republic; it was executed by Benedetto with indescribable assiduity and care. The carvings of foliage, the various attributes of death, and the different figures, are all of great merit, and there is a canopy in basso-rilievo carved in the stone called paragone, and representing a drapery of black cloth, which is executed in a manner so graceful, and exhibits so much lustre as well as elegance, that the material of which it is composed might rather be taken for rich black satin than for the stone of which in fact it is formed: to say all in one word, the whole work, as executed by the hand of Benedetto, is such, that no praise can be bestowed on it which is not beneath its deserts.

This artist gave his attention to architecture also, and it was after his design that the house of Messer Oddo Altoviti, near the church of Sant’ Apostolo in Florence, of which the above-named Messer Oddo was the patron and prior, was entirely rebuilt and restored. The principal door, which is in marble, was likewise executed by the hand of Benedetto, and over this door are the arms of the Altoviti in macigno stone, also by the same master: in this work the gaunt and meagre wolf is so freely carved that it appears to be almost wholly separated from the shield; 'there are besides certain pendant ornaments on this coat of arms which are so delicately treated, and seem to flutter so lightly, that they look more like the finest paper than heavy stone. In the same church, and over the two chapels of Messer Bindo Altoviti, wherein Giorgio Vasari of Arezzo depicted the story of the Conception in oil, Benedetto executed the sepulchral monument of Messer Oddo above-named, this he surrounded with foliage of the most exquisite workmanship, the sarcophagus itself being also exceedingly beautiful.

In company with Jacopo Sansovino and Baccio Bandinelli