Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/144

136 horse was placed the statue of the Emperor, arrayed after the manner of the ancients, and with the sword in his hand. Beneath the horse were three colossal figures, as of men vanquished by his might; but these also assisted to support a part of the weight of the horse, which was represented in the act of rearing itself on its hind legs, and with its fore feet in the air; while they presented likewise the allegorical signification of three provinces, which had been conquered and subjugated by the power of that Emperor.

In this work Domenico proved himself to be no less able in. sculpture than in painting; he had fixed the group above described on a platform of wood-work four braccia high, and within this had arranged a series of wheels, which, being worked by men concealed among them, caused the whole to move forward, the design of Domenico being that this horse, having been made to move as we have said, should accompany his Majesty on his entrance into the city, and having attended him even to the portal of the palace of the Signoria, should then halt and remain fixed in the centre of the Piazza. The horse having been thus brought to completion by Domenico, required nothing further than the gilding, but it remained in that unfinished state, for his Majesty did not after all repair at that time to Siena, but having been crowned at Bologna, had then departed from Italy; wherefore the work was left incomplete.

The art and ability of Domenico had nevertheless been rendered fully apparent by this group, the grandeur and excellence of which were much commended by every one. It was placed for that time in the office of works belonging to the cathedral; but when His Majesty, returning victorious from the expedition into Africa, had passed from Messina to Naples and Rome, and finally arrived at Siena, the abovedescribed work of Domenico was fixed on the Piazza of the Cathedral, to his great honour.

The renown of this artist being thus bruited abroad, Prince Doria, who accompanied the Imperial Court, when he had seen all the works by his hand which were then in the city of Siena, proposed to Domenico that he should repair to the Doria Palace in Genoa, there to labour where Perino del