Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/205

Rh Capricorns, into the hollow basement of the reservoir, whence it proceeds into and through the kitchen-gardens, which are close to the walls of the garden of the labyrinth, where there are fountains between all the niches, with espaliers of oranges and pomegranates between the fountains.

In the upper garden, where Tribolo had proposed to place the Mount Asinaio, which was to give water to the Mugnone, as above-described, there was to be a similar figure representing the Mount of the Falterona, which was to be placed on the side of the wall opposite to that occupied by the Mugnone, and immediately after having passed the door; and as the river Arno has its rise in the last-named mountain, so the statue designed to represent that river in the garden of the labyrinth, and opposite to that of the Mugnone, was intended to receive its waters from the before-mentioned Falterona. But as neither the figure of the Mountain nor its fount has ever been brought to completion, we will confine ourselves to speaking of the fountain and river-god of the Arno, which were finished by Tribolo.

This figure, then, supports himself in a half-recumbent position on a Lion, which holds a Lily in its paw, while he bears his vase on one of his sides, the latter receiving its water from the perforated rock, behind which was to be the figure representing the Mount Falterona, exactly in the manner in which, as we have said, the Mugnone received its water: the basin, too, which has an oblong form, is in all respects similar to that of the Mugnone, for which reason I will say nothing more thereof, excepting only this, that it is much to be regretted that the beauty and excellence of these works are not exhibited in marble; seeing that they are indeed most truly admirable.

Still continuing the labours of the aqueduct, Tribolo then caused the water of the grotto first to pass beneath the garden, next beneath the lower garden, even into the labyrinth, where he formed a circle around the centre of the latter, enclosing a tolerably large space, and then laid the middlemost tube, through which the fountain was to cast its waters. This done, the master took the waters of the Arno and the Mugnone, and having brought them together beneath the surface of the labyrinth, by means of bronze tubes j udi-