Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 5.djvu/186

174 soon as he, Daniello, should have fulfilled his engagements in Rome, he might present himself anew, and should be instantly received.

For the remainder of that summer Daniello remained in Florence, where he had been lodged by Giorgio in the house of Simon Botti, the intimate friend of Vasari. It was at this time that Dllo anie cast in plaster, nearly all those marble figures, from the hand of Michelagnolo, which are in the new Sacristy of San Lorenzo; he also made a beautiful figure of Leda, for the Fleming, Michael Fugger: our artist then repaired to Carrara, whence he despatched the marbles required for his future purposes to Rome; and, that done, he returned to Florence. Now Daniello, when he had first come to Florence, had brought with him from Rome a young disciple of his, called Orazio Pianeti, an amiable and very clever youth, but this Orazio—whatever may have been the reason thereof—had no sooner arrived in Florence than he died, a circumstance which caused his master, who loved him greatly, very heavy sorrow. Having now returned to Florence, therefore, and being able to do nothing more for this poor boy, he executed a bust of him in marble, having taken an admirable portrait of his face, from a cast formed after death, and this being finished, he placed it with an epitaph in the Church of Santa Michele Bertelli, on the Piazza degli’ Antinori. In this action Daniello proved himself to be a man of rare goodness, and much more the friend of his friend, than it is usual to find people now-a-days, seeing that there are but few who value anything in friendship beyond their own convenience and profit therein.

After these things, and considering that it was now a long time since he had visited his native place of Yolterra, Daniello repaired thither, and this he did before returning to Rome. In Volterra, he was most amicably received by his kindred and friends; and being requested to leave some memorial of himself to his native city, he executed the story of the Innocents in small figures, and this picture he placed in the Church of San Piero.f Subsequently, and believing that he should never more return to Volterra, he sold what little of his paternal estate he possessed there, to his nephew Lionardo Ricciarelli, who having been with him

t This work is now in the Gallery of the Uffizj, in Florence.