Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 5.djvu/446

434 Galeotti. These represent Pisa restored bj the Duke almost to her pristine condition, he having drained the marshes around the city and effected other improvements; the Aqueducts whereby Florence has been supplied with water brought from divers places; the magnificent and beautiful edifice erected for the magistrates; the Union of the States of Florence and Siena; the erection of a City and two Fortresses in the Island of Elba; the Column brought to Florence from Home, and set up in the Piazza della Trinit'a; that work of public utility, the preservation, enlargement, and completion of the Library of San Lorenzo; the institution of the Knights of San Stefano; the resignation of the government to the Prince; the fortification of the State; the Militia, or armed bands of the country; and finally, the Palace of the Pitti, with its magnificent and royal gardens, fountains, and other decorations. Of these works I do not now propose to give the legends, or their explication, intending to speak of these elsewhere,* but they are all very beautiful, and are executed with much care, in a very graceful manner; as is the head of Duke Cosimo, which is a work of perfect beauty. Medals and other works in stucco are also made in the present day, with the utmost perfection, as I have said before. The Anconitan, Mario Capocaccia, for example, has just completed busts and portraits in coloured stuccoes, enclosed within small cases, which are of the most perfect beauty. Among them is one of Pope Pius V., which I saw no long time since, and another of the Cardinal Alessandrino. I have likewise seen very fine portraits of similar character by the sons of the Perugian painter, Polidoro.

But to return to Milan. About a year since I was again looking over the works of the sculptor Gobbo, of whom we have spoken before, but I saw nothing beyond the common, with the exception of an Eve, a Judith, and a Sant’ Elena, in marble, which are placed around the Cathedral, with two other statues representing the dead bodies of Lodovico il Moro, and of Beatrice his wife, which are to be placed on the tomb by Giovan-Jacomo dalla Porta, sculptor and architect to the Duomo of Milan. This Giovan Jacomo pro-