Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/274

266 one to be afraid of him. He proposed to Duke Cosimo that the monument of Signor Giovanni should be constructed in the church of San Lorenzo, and in the chapel of the Neroni, a narrow, confined, and mean place; not being capable of conceiving, or not choosing to propose, that a chapel should be constructed expressly for that monument, as would best have befitted so great a prince. Baccio also managed to persuade the Duke that he should demand from Michelagnolo certain pieces of marble which the latter had in Florence, when he in his turn obtained them from the Duke; now among these marbles were some which Michelagnolo had sketched, and a statue which he had brought to a considerable degree of forwardness; but of all these Baccio took possession, portioning out and cutting up all he could find, believing that in this manner he was avenging himself on Michelagnolo, and doing him displeasure.

In the same apartment of San Lorenzo, wherein Michelangelo was accustomed to labour, Bandinelli moreover found a block wherein two statues were partly executed by the sculptor Fra Giovanagnolo, to whom the Duke had confided that group, the subject whereof was Hercules strangling Antaeus; and Fra Giovan Agnolo had made considerable progress with the same. But Baccio now persuaded Duke Cosimo that the Frate was spoiling the piece of marble, which Baccio therefore broke into several pieces.

But to return to the sepulchral monument. Bandinelli ultimately constructed the basement of the tomb, to which he gave the form of a square, of about four braccia on every side, making it entirely isolated. The lowermost part is a socle, with the mouldings usual to a basement, and with a cornice to the upper part, such as is ordinarily seen on pedestals; above this is an ornament after the manner of an inverted frieze, the height whereof is three quarters of a braccia, and on this are carved the skulls of horses bound one to another by draperies: then follows a smaller dado, whereon there is a seated statue four braccia and a half high, armed in the ancient fashion, and holding the baton of a commander in the hand, which last was to represent the person of the invincible Giovanni de’ Medici. This statue was commenced by Bandinelli in a block of marble, and was