Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/399

Rh the same, and to prove to him, whenever the occasion should offer, the high estimation in which he held the skill and ability which he had displayed. It thus happened that when, after the death of Pope Clement, Paul III. of the house of Farnese, being elected High Pontiff, gave orders that the fountain, or well, of Orvieto, which had remained unfinished, should be entrusted for its completion to San Gallo; it happened, I say, that Antonio took Simone Mosca thither, to the end that the latter might finish the mouth of the well, about which there was some important difficulty, more especially as regarded the framework and decoration of the doors. For the edge of the well, being a circle convex on the outer side and hollow or concave within, the two circles interfered with each other, and rendered it difficult to arrange the rectangular doors, with their framework and decorations of stone, in a fitting and satisfactory manner: the happy genius and resources of Simone prevailed nevertheless, and he brought all to completion with so much grace, that no one could have suspected the existence of any difficulty in the arrangement or execution of the same. The uppermost circle and the outer edge of the wrell are of macigno-stone, filled in with brick; inscriptions on white stone, handsomely prepared and decorated for that purpose, were also added, with other ornaments corresponding with those of the doors.

The master likewise placed the arms, executed in marble, of the above-named Pope Paul of the house of Farnese on that fountain, or rather, where there had previously been the balls for Pope Clement, who had indeed caused the work to be undertaken, Simone was compelled to substitute lilies in relief, which he did admirably well, thus changing the arms of the Medici for those of the Casa Farnese, although Pope Clement VII., as I have said, had been the true author of that most regal and magnificent work; but of him (for so do things go in this world) not a syllable has been added to this, the last, and, to the eyes of the mere spectator, most striking part of the whole.

While Simone was occupied with the completion of this well, the Wardens of Santa Maria, which is the cathedral of Orvieto, desired to have an end put to the marble chapel, which the Veronese architect Michele San Michele had