Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/257

Rh now in the Guardaroba of Duke Cosimo, arid is held in very high estimation by his Excellency. The artists also consider it an extraordinary work. Bandinelli, meanwhile, was despatched to Carrara to examine the marble, and orders were given to the Superintendents of Works at Santa Maria del Fiore, to the intent that they should have it brought by water up to Signa; along the Arno that is to say. The block was thus conveyed accordingly to within eight miles of Florence, when, as they were about to remove it from the river and transport it to the city by land, the water being too low for its conveyance from Signa to Florence, the marble was suffered to fall into the Arno, when the immensity of its weight caused it to sink so deeply in the mud, that the Superintendents,with all the machines which they brought to bear upon it, could find no means for getting it out. But the Pope now commanded that the marble should be recovered by some means; whereupon Pietro Rosselli, an old builder of much ingenuity, received orders from the Superintendents to that effect, when he proceeded in such sort accordingly, that having first turned the course of the stream, and then levelled the bank of the river at that point, he drew the stone from the Arno with levers and windlass, and finally succeeded in placing it on the land, for which he received great commendation. This accident to the marble gave occasion to many wits for the composition of verses, both in Latin and Italian, wherein they very ingeniously turned Baccio to derision, he being detested for his boastful prating, his perpetual evil speaking of others, and his hatred of Michelagnolo. One among the writers, who took this subject for his verse, declared that the stone, having been destined to the art of Michelagnolo, and then finding that it was to be blundered over and botched by the hands of Baccio, had thrown itself into the Arno in despair, and to avoid so disgraceful a fate.

While the marble was thus being drawn from the water, and the work was delayed by the difficulty of the operation,