Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/349

Rh Nature, which had endowed him with infinite grace, and an extraordinary fertility of genius, he brought the whole to> completion with remarkable promptitude, and to such perfection, that an old and experienced master, though one of great excellence, could hardly have done it better.

Taking courage from this successful experiment, and thinking he could produce a still better picture, Jacopo formed the resolution, but without saying a word to any one, of destroying all that he had done, and recommencing the work anew, after another design which he had in his thoughts. But the monks, meanwhile, seeing that the work was finished, and that Jacopo came to it no more, repaired to Andrea di Cosimo and urged him so pressingly, that he determined to have the painting uncovered.

Going to seek Jacopo, therefore, with the purpose of enquiring whether there were anything more that he proposed to do to it, but not finding him, because, absorbed in his new design, he had shut himself up, and would not reply to or be seen by any one, Andrea caused the enclosure, with its roof, to be removed, and gave the painting to view. But that same evening Jacopo left his house with the intention of repairing to the Servites and throwing down all that he had done, so soon as it should be night, intending then to begin the new work, when he found the scaffolding removed, the painting discovered, and a large crowd of people engaged in the examination thereof.

Much displeased, Jacopo sought out Andrea, and complained of his having permitted the work to be given to view without first asking his consent, describing at the same time what he had intended to do. To this Andrea replied, laughing, “You have but little cause to complain, Jacopo, since what you have done is so good that it could not, I am firmly persuaded, have been made better had you changed it as you proposed. Keep your design, therefore, for some other occasion, since it is certain that you will not want commissions.”

The work was indeed very beautiful, nay is, as may be seen: it was found to be new in manner moreover, and those two female heads exhibited so much softness and beauty,