Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/253

Rh and the corresponding one in the original group. But having commenced the other Boy, and also the statue of the Father which is between the two, he continued the figures no further at that time, nor had he proceeded far in that part of his work when the Pope died. Adrian YI. being then elected, Baccio returned with the Cardinal to Florence, where he occupied himself with his studies in design.

But Adrian being also dead, and Pope Clement VII. succeeding him, Baccio hurried in all haste to Rome, where he desired to arrive for the coronation of the Pontiff, from whom he received a commission to prepare statues and historical representations in relief, for that occasion. Being subsequently furnished by his Holiness with apartments and paid a stipend, Baccio returned to his Laocoon, a work which he completed in the space of two years, executing the same with a degree of perfection never previously seen in any work from his hand. He also restored the arm of the antique Laocoon; for the right arm of that figure having been broken and not being found, Baccio made one of the proper size in wax, which so closely resembled that of the antique statue in the muscular development, the force, and the manner of the work, uniting with the ancient part moreover to such perfect nicety, that it served to show how well Baccio was acquainted with his art. After this model it was that he executed the arm of his own Laocoon.

When the last-named group was completed, it appeared to the Pontiff to be so excellent a production, that his Holiness changed his previous intention respecting it, and resolved to send a couple of antique statues to the King of France, but to have the Laocoon placed in the Palazzo de’ Medici at Florence, commanding the Cardinal Legate, Silvio Passerino of Cortona, who then governed the city, to see it duly fixed at the upper end of the second court, and this was done in the year 1525. This work of the Laocoon obtained a great increase of fame for Bandinelli, who, after the completion thereof, set himself to design a story on a sheet of royal folio paper, and in compliance with the wishes of the Pope, who desired to have the Martyrdom of S. S. Cosimo