Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 3.djvu/307

Rh here, with the embarkation of armaments, the struggle of the combatants, the infinite variety of armour and wmrlike implements, every part and each object being depicted with such perfect grace and finished with so much skill, that the eves and mind are alike dazzled and confounded amidst the crowd of rich inventions presented to them.

Opposite to this is a smaller fa9ade by the same masters, but one that for beauty and variety could not possibly be improved; here in the frieze we have the story of Niobe; she is first seen when commanding the adoration of the people, and receiving tribute and homage from vast crowds who are approaching her with vases and gifts of various kinds: every circumstance in this story is depicted with a novelty, grace, ingenuity, force of relief, and knowledge of art, which Avould take us too far were we to attempt describing them. Afterwards follows the anger of Latona, and the fearful vengeance which she takes on the children of the too proud Niobe, whose sons are slain by Phoebus, and whose daughters fall by the arrows of Diana. A large number of figures, in imitation of bronze, are admired in this portion of the works, and truly do they merit admiration, since they do not seem to be merely painted, but really appear to be the metal statues which they represent.

Above these pictures are others, wherein there are vases of gold imitated with infinite exactitude, and other fanciful decorations of such extraordinary ingenuity, that mortal thought could not conceive nor could mortal eye behold any thing more singular or more beautiful; among them are Etruscan helmets, but, at a word, the memory becomes confused amidst the vast abundance and varied character of these original and fanciful delineations, which have been copied and imitated by a large number of those who make this branch of art their study. The court-yard and the