Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 3.djvu/208

200 tirely covered with historical representations, before the gate of San Pietro Gattolini; another was erected at San Felicein-Piazza, by Giuliano del Tasso, who also prepared certain statues for Santa Trinità, with a half-length figure of Romulus, and the Column of Trajan for the Nuova Mercato; while Antonio, the brother of Giuliano da San Gallo, erected an Octangular Temple on the Piazza de’ Signori, and Baccio Bandinelli made a colossal figure for the Loggia. Between the Abbey and the Palace of the Podesta, an arch of triumph was constructed by Granaccio and Aristotele da San Gallo; and at the corner of the Bischeri, another was erected by II Rosso, whose work was much admired for the beauty of its order and the variety of the figures wherewith it was decorated.

But that which was esteemed the most beautiful of all, was the fagade erected before the Cathedral Church of Santa Maria del Fiore; this was of wood, so beautifully decorated in chiaro-scufo, by Andrea del Sarto, that nothing more admirable could possibly be desired; and as the architecture of this work was by Jacopo Sansovino, as were likewise certain historical representations in basso-rilievo, with numerous figures of sculpture in full relief, it was declared by the Pope to be so fine, that the edifice could not have been more beautiful, had it been in marble. The decoration here described had been invented while he yet lived, by Lorenzo de’ Medici, the father of Pope Leo X. The same Jacopo also prepared the figure of a Horse, on the Piazza Novella. It was in imitation of that in Rome, and was considered exceedingly beautiful. An immense variety of ornaments were likewise added to the Hall of the Pope, in the Via della Scala, and