Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 5.djvu/427

Rh figure being fully detached and raised in the air, while a Tazza, cut from the same piece of marble, is held aloft in the hand, or rather, so delicate and subtle is the work, by the fingers, whereon it is so lightly poised, that they scarcely appear to touch it. The attitude of the figure is, besides, so well calculated for effect, as seen on all sides, it is so nicely balanced, and so admirably arranged; the form is so well proportioned, the limbs are so finely attached to the trunk, and the whole statue is so exquisitely finished, that while looking at, or even touching it, one would be more disposed to believe it the living flesh than a mere piece of stone. At a word, the renown this work has obtained is not in any way more than, or even equal to, its due; it was visited while Giovanni lived, with the utmost admiration, alike by natives and strangers; but Giovanni being dead, his brother Gherardo gave it to the Duke Cosimo, who keeps it in his apartments with other beautiful statues. For the same Giovanni, Sansovino made a Crucifix in wood, which is now in the house of the Bartolini family, with many works by the ancients and by Michelagnolo.

In the year 1514 rich preparations were to be made in Florence for the arrival of Leo X. in that city, when the Signoria and Giuliano de’ Medici gave orders for triumphal arches of wood, which were to be constructed in various parts of the city. For many of these Sansovino made the designs; and, in company with Andrea del Sarto, he undertook to adorn the whole façade of Santa Maria del Fiore; this they decorated with statues, stories, and architectural ornaments in wood, after a manner which it would be well if we could have retained, instead of that in the Teutonic manner which we now have. I say nothing of the canopies in cloth, with which, on the festivals of San Giovanni and other solemnities, it has been customary to cover the Piazza of Santa Maria del Fiore and that of San Giovanni, having spoken of them sufficiently elsewhere, but confine myself to the remark, that beneath this canopy Sansovino decorated the fa9ade with a triumphal arch of the Corinthian Order,