Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 3.djvu/306

298 which are most admirable; in one of these is the story of Ancus Martins, and in the other are the Feasts of the Saturnalia, which were wont to be celebrated in that place. The chariots, some with two, others with four horses, which are here seen to be careering around the obelisks, are justly considered to be worthy of the highest commendation, seeing that they are executed in such a manner, whether as regards design or execution, that they place the spectacles they are intended to represent in all their reality before the eyes of the spectator. At the corner of the Chiavica, on that side Avhich leads to the Corte Savella, there is a façade by Polidoro and Maturino, which is divinely beautiful; insomuch, that among all the admirable works for which we are indebted to these artists, this is adjudged to be the most admirable. The principal part of the representation consists of young girls passing the Tiber; but beneath this and nearer to the gate, is a Sacrifice, which gives evidence of the most extraordinary patience and the most admirable knowledge of art: every kind of instrument and utensil proper to the due performance of those ancient customs is here depicted most faithfully, with every particular of the solemnities which it was customary to observe on these occasions.

On a façade near to the Popolo, and beneath San Jacopo degl’ Incurabili, are stories from the life of Alexander the Great by Polidoro and Maturino; these also are considered to be very fine, and among them our artists depicted those antique statues of the Nile and Tiber which are in the Belvidere. They also painted the façade of the Gaddi Palace, at San Simeone, which is a work well calculated to awaken astonishment, by the number and variety of the ancient vestments, arms, and ornaments represented therein; the antique helmets, tunics, and buskins of different forms; the beaks of varied shapes and character, and the profusion as well as grace of the rich ornaments dispersed over every part of the picture is such, that only the most fanciful and inventive imagination could even conceive them: the memory is loaded with the vast amount of admirable objects here presented to the eyes; the statues of sages, the forms of beautiful women, the numerous circumstances attendant on the celebration of the ancient sacrifices, are all presented