Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/29

Rh subject to Pope Paul III., who thereupon commissioned Antonio Sangallo to repair to the place, and do his best for the termination of the contest. It was then resolved, by the advice of the architect, that an outlet should be made for the lake on the side whereon the wall is situated, and Antonio caused it to be cut through at that part, but not without extreme difficulty. The heat also was very great, and this, with other inconveniences, Antonio being now old and weakly, caused him to fall sick of a fever at Terni, when he soon after gave up the ghost.

The death of Antonio was the occasion of infinite grief to his friends and kindred, many buildings also were much delayed by this event, more particularly the palace of the Farnese family, near the Campo di Fiore. Pope Paul III., while he was still Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, had already brought that fabric to a considerable height, the first floor in the principal front was in process of construction, the inner hall and one side of the court-yard were likewise erected, but the building had not proceeded to such extent as to display the perfection of its details, when the Cardinal, being elected. Pontiff, Antonio changed the whole plan, since it appeared to him that he had no longer to erect the palace of a Cardinal, but of a Pope. Having demolished certain of the old houses that stood around it, therefore, and taken down the staircase, which he rebuilt in a more commodious form, he extended the court and the entire palace, enlarged the halls, added to the number of the rooms, and enriched the whole with elaborately-carved ceilings, and many other decorations.

Antonio had thus completed the principal front to the second floor, and nothing was now wanting than that the cornice, which was to surround the whole, should be added to the fabric; but as the Pope, who was a man of an aspiring mind and possessed very good judgment, desired to have a cornice more beautiful and richer than had ever been seen in any other palace whatever, he determined that, in addition to the designs prepared by Antonio, all the best architects of Pome should prepare one, each after his own manner, from