Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/337

Rh and who bring forth tench, pike, eels, and mullet from those depths. Beside the Lake there stands a nude figure representing Perugia; she holds a dog in her hand, which she is showing to a figure intended to represent Florence, and which is placed opposite to her, but on the other side of the door. Florence is accompanied by the River Arno, by whom she is embraced and caressed.

Beneath this figure follows the story of Contemplative Life, or Life as passed in Contemplation; the niche which corresponds to that of Leah being occupied by Rachel her sister, and, like herself, the daughter of Laban, who is intended to represent Life in Contemplation: in the story are exhibited numerous Philosophers and Astrologers, who are studying the Heavens, and appear to be engaged in casting the Nativity of the Duke.

The last story and that which concludes the whole invention, is a figure of Death, mounted on a meagre horse and placed between two niches; the scythe is in his hand, and with him are Famine, War, and Pestilence, by whose aid he is rushing upon and hunting down people of every age and condition. Tn one of the niches beside him is the god Pluto, beneath whom is Cerberus the dog of hell; the other niche is occupied by a large figure, who is seen to rise from a sepulchre, the time here prefigured being the last day.

In addition to all these things, Cristofano furthermore depicted nude figures holding the various devices of his Excellency; in the pediments of the grated windows and over the portal were placed the ducal arms, the six balls whereof were borne aloft in the air by nude figures of children, their forms intertwined as they hover about in attitudes of exceeding grace. Last of all, and in the basement beneath all the above-described stories, Cristofano painted the arms of Messer Sforza himself, triangular obelisks or needles namely, placed on three balls, with a motto around formed of the word.

The work being completed was largely commended by his Excellency, as -well as by Messer Sforza himself, who, courteous and amiable as he was, intended to mark his sense of the painter’s merits by the addition of a handsome present: but Cristofano would not hear of it, declaring that he was amply repaid, and but too well content to have obtained the favour