Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 5.djvu/76

64 in the eyes of the Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici, and caused that Prelate to give Giovan-Francesco a commission for a statue of Mercury in bronze, about one braccio high: this figure, which was entirely nude, was intended to be placed on the summit of the Fountain in the principal court of the Medici Palace; it stands on a ball, and is in the act of taking flight. In the hands of the statue Giovan-Francesco placed an instrument, which was made to turn round by the water which the figure poured down upon it, and the matter was managed on this wise: the leg and torso of the Mercury were perforated for the admission of a tube, and this being carried up to the mouth, the water rising through the same, fell on the above-mentioned instrument, which was balanced very nicely, and had exceedingly thin plates of metal in the form of a butterfly’s wings attached to it, the water falling on it then, as I have said, caused the same to turn about; and this, for a small work, obtained considerable praise.

No long time after having completed the Mercury, Giovan-Francesco made the model of a figure to be cast in bronze for the same Cardinal: this was to have been a David, similar to that which Donato had executed for the Illustrious Cosimo the Elder, as we have said; the work of Kustici being destined for the first court of the Medici Palace, whence that of Donato had been removed. The model gave much satisfaction, but a certain dilatoriness in the mode of proceeding of Giovan-Francesco, caused this work to fail of being cast in bronze, and the Orpheus in marble of Baccio Bandinelli was erected in its stead; the David made in clay by Pustici, which was an admirable thing, came eventually to an evil end therefore, and that was a great pity.

Giovan-Francesco executed an Annunciation in mezzorilievo, with a perspective view of extraordinary beauty, in a very large medallion; in this work he was assisted by the painter Raffaello Belli, and by Niccolò Soggi; when it was