Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 5.djvu/423

Rh infinite delight, was taken to Rome by Giuliano da San Gallo, architect of Pope Julius II., when the statues of the Belvedere attracting him beyond measure, he set himself to copy the same. Now Bramante, who was also architect to Pope Julius, holding the first place, and having rooms in the Belvedere, chanced to see the designs of Jacopo, with a nude figure of clay, in a recumbent attitude, holding a vase for ink, which he had also made; and these things pleased him so much that he began to favour the youth, and ordered him to make a large copy in wax, of the Laocoon, which he was also having copied by other artists, intending to cast it in bronze. These artists were Zaccheria Zacchi, of Volterra, the Spaniard, Alonzo Berughetta, and Vecchio, of Bologna. When all had completed their work, Bramante showed the models to RaSaello Sanzio of Urbino, inquiring of him which he thought the best. It was then judged by Raffaello that Sansovino had greatly surpassed the others; wherefore, by the advice of Domenico, Cardinal Grimani, Bramante was commanded to have the model of Jacopo cast in bronze. The mould was prepared accordingly, and the metal, being cast, succeeded to perfection; being then polished, the group was given to the Cardinal, who valued it all his life no less than the antique, and at his death he bequeathed it as a work of great importance to the most Serene Signoria of Venice, by whom, after it had been kept for some years in the Hall of the Council of Ten, it was finally given to the Cardinal of Lorraine, who took it to France, in the year 1534. While Sansovino was thus daily acquiring reputation in Rome, Giuliano da Sangallo, who had kept him in his own house in the Borgo Vecchio, fell ill, and leaving Rome, was taken in a litter to Florence, for change of air. Thereupon Bramante found a dwelling for Jacopo, still in the Borgo Vecchio; but in the Palace of Domenico della Rovere, Cardinal of San Clemente, where Pietro Perugino was at that time lodging, he being engaged with the painting of a ceiling, for Pope Julius, in a room of the Torre Borgia.

There, Pietro having remarked the fine manner of Sansovino, caused him to prepare numerous models in wax for his use; among the rest a Deposition from the Cross, in full relief, with many figures, the ladders used for the depo-