Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/304

296 art of design, to which he principally devoted his attention, were so distinguished, and he was in that respect of so much excellence as to counterbalance all his defects of nature, and to prove himself a most extraordinary master in that art, so have we not only enumerated Baccio Bandinelli among the greatest of the artists, but have ever paid the utmost respect to his works, and have laboured, not to destroy but to preserve, to complete, and to do them honour; because it does of a truth appear to us that Baccio was indeed one of those who have merited honourable commendations and ever-during fame.

The mention of his family name we have deferred to the last, but now remark that he was not constantly called by one name; he bore various designations on the contrary, now causing himself to be called De’ Branding now De’ Bandinelli. In his earlier day the name De’ Brandini is seen to follow that of Baccio in the inscriptions on his works engraved in copper-plate; but at a later period it pleased him better to use that of De’ Bandinelli, which last he retained to the last, (and still retains) affirming that his ancestors belonged to the Bandinelli of Siena, who removed long ago from Siena to Gaiuole and from Gaiuole to Florence.

At a period long prior to the siege of Florence, the inhabitants of that city had increased to so great a degree, that the extensive suburbs stretching from every gate, with their churches, monasteries, and hospitals, were almost, as it were, another city, inhabited by many persons of good condition, as well as by able artificers of all kinds; although they were for the most part less opulent than those of the city, and dwelt in the suburbs at less expense of taxes, &c.

In one of these suburbs then, that which leads from the gate opening on the road to Faenza namely, was born Giuliano Bugiardini, and there he dwelt, as his forefathers had done, until the year 1529, when all the suburbs were ruined. But at an earlier period, and while Giuliano was yet a boy, the commencement of his studies was made in the