Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/50

42 precipitous a descent, that to the spectator below he appears to be on the very point of falling upon him. The face of Icarus is pale as that of a corpse, and the whole composition is so admirably worked out, that it appears to be the reality itself; the effect of the sun’s heat, as it destroys the wings of the unhappy youth, is rendered palpable to sight; the kindling fire is seen to give out smoke, one almost hears the crackling of the burning plumes, and while the agony of death appears upon the face of Icarus; the suffering and grievous sorrow of Dasdalus are written in characters equally legible on his countenance. In our book we have the design of this most beautiful picture by Griulio’s own hand.

In the same place our artist painted stories characteristic of the twelve months of the year, describing in all the occupations in which men most frequently employ themselves during each; a work which is no less remarkable and pleasing for the beautiful and fanciful invention displayed therein than for the judgment and care of its execution. Having passed the great Loggia with its decorations in stucco, the numerous arms and other fanciful ornaments, with which it is adorned, we arrive in apartments so rich in a thousand various fantasies that the mind is overwhelmed and becomes confounded amidst them. Original and ingenious as he was, Griulio desired here to display all his resources; and in a part of the palace which forms an angle corresponding with that wherein is the above-described room of the Psyche, he determined to construct an apartment, of which the masonry should be accommodated to the requirements of the painting, thereby the more effectually to deceive the eye of the spectator. Having first secured this angle, therefore, which was on a marshy soil, by means of double foundations of great depth, he caused a large circular chamber to be erected; giving extraordinary thickness to the walls, to the end that the four external angles of the same might have all the strength required for the support of a double vaulting, which he proposed to make in a round form, like that of an oven or* furnace. This done, he caused the doors, windows, and mantelpiece of the room to be formed in rustic masonry, purposely constructed so much out of square, and set together in so disjointed and distorted a fashion, that they really appeared to be leaning on one* side,