Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 5.djvu/368

356 eight braccia high, eleven long, and nine broad, the whole surmounted by a figure of Fame. On the basement of the Catafalque, and at two braccia from the floor, on that side which looks towards the principal door of the Church, were two Eiver-gods, the Arno and the Tiber. The first bore a cornucopia with its flowers and fruits, to signify that the labours of our vocations in the city of Florence are such and so rich in fruits as to All the world, but more especially adorning Eome with their beauties; a thought well carried out by the attitude of the other river, for the Tiber, extending one arm, had the hand full of the flowers and fruits poured forth from the horn of the Arno, which lay beside and opposite to the Tiber. The enjoyment by this last of the Arno’s fruits also implied that Michelagnolo had spent much of his life in Rome, and there produced those works which astonish the world. The Arno had a Lion beside him as his device, and the Tiber a Wolf, with the infants Romulus and Remus; both the River-gods being colossal figures of extraordinary beauty and excellence, and having the appearance of marble. The artist who executed the Tiber was Giovanni di Benedetto of Castello, a disciple of Baccio Bandinelli; the Arno was from the hand of Battista di Benedetto, a disciple of Ammannato, both young men of much promise.

From the basement there rose a structure five braccia high, having a cornice at the upper and lower parts as well as at the angles; space for the reception of pictures was left in the centre of each side. The picture on the part where the River gods were, and which, like all the others, was in chiaro-scuro, represented the Magnificent Lorenzo, in his garden, an old man receiving Michelagnolo as a child, having seen certain indications of his genius, which may be said to have intimated, in the manner of flowers, the rich fruits afterwards so largely produced by the grandeur and force of that genius. This story was painted by Mirabello, and by Girolamo del Crocifissaio, as they were called, and who, being companions and friends, undertook to do it together. The attitude of Lorenzo, whose figure was a portrait from the life, exhibited great animation; his