Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects/Andrea Verocchio

by Giorgio Vasari

 

ANDREA VERROCCHIO, PAINTER, SCULPTOR, AND ARCHITECT.

[born 1432—died 1488.]

The Florentine, Andrea del Verrocchio, was at once a goldsmith, a master in persjiective, a sculptor, a carver in wood, a painter, and a musician; but it is true that he had a somewhat hard and crude manner in sculpture and painting, as one who had acquired those arts by infinite labour and study, rather than from a gift of nature. Had he possessed the facility arising from natural powers to an equal degree with the diligence and industry wherewith he was gifted, and which he bestowed on the arts he exercised^ Andrea Verrocchio would have been among the most excellent of masters. But these arts require the union of zealous study with natural qualities in their highest perfection, and where either fails, the artist rarely attains to the first rank in his profession. Yet study will conduct him to a certain eminence, and therefore it is that Andrea, who carried this to an extent beyond all other masters, is counted among the distinguished and eminent masters of our arts.^[1]

In his youth Andrea Verrocchio gave considerable attention to science, more especially to geometry. When occupied in goldsmith’s work he executed, among many other things, certain brooches or buttons for the copes used in the church of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, which are still in that cathedral, with several larger works: among these is a vase surrounded by figures of animals, garlands of flowers, and various fantasies, a work known to all goldsmiths, with another of similar kind, on which there is a dance of children, Vv'hich is very graceful and beautiful.^[2] These works affording proof of his competence, Andrea was appointed by the Guild of the Merchants to prepare two historical compositions in relief, for the two ends of the altar of San Giovanni; these works are in silver, and when completed acquired him high praise and a very great name.^[3]

At that time, some of those large figures of the Apostles, in silver, which stand ordinarily on the altar of the Pope’s chapel in Rome, were wanting, with other ornaments, also in silver; wherefore, Andrea being sent for, the commission to prepare all that was required in that matter was given to him with great favour, by Pope Sixtus, when the master conducted the whole work to completion, with remarkable judgment and much diligence.^[4] Meanwhile, Andrea, perceiving that great store was set by the many antique statues and other things of that kind discovered in Rome, seeing too that the Pope commanded the bronze horse^[5] to be placed in San Giovanni Laterano, and that even of such fragments as were daily found—to say nothing of entire works—great account was made; observing all this, I say, he resolved to devote his attention to sculpture, and thereupon, abandoning altogether the calling of the goldsmith, he set himself to cast certain small figures in bronze, which were very much commended: taking courage from this, he soon afterwards began to work in marble also.

Now it happened at this time that the wife of Francesco Tornabuoni^[6] died in child-bed, and her husband, who had greatly loved her while living, desired to do her all the honour in his power after her death; he therefore commissioned Andrea to erect a monument to her memory, and the master thereupon represented the lady herself on the stone which covered her tomb, with the birth of her infant, and her departure to another life;^[7] he added three figures, representing three virtues, which were considered very beautiful, being the first work that he had executed in marble.^[8]

Having then returned to Florence with money, fame, and honour, Andrea Verrocchio was appointed to execute a figure of David in bronze, two braccia and a half high, which, being completed, was placed, to the great ctedit of the master, on the summit of the staircase, where the chain^[9] formerly was. While Andrea was occupied with the statue just described, he likewise made that figure of Our Lady, in marble, which is over the tomb of Messer Leonardo Bruni, of Arezzo, in the church of Santa Croce; this he executed while still young, for the architect and sculptor, Bernardo JRossellino, who erected the whole work, which is in marble, as Ave have before said.^[10] The same artist prepared a mezzorilievo in marble, of Our Lady with the Child in her arms, a half length, which was formerly in the Medici palace, I and is now placed, as being a very beautiful thing, over a door in the apartments of the Duchess of Florence.^[11] The same master also executed two heads in metal, one representing Alexander the Great, taken in profile; the other Darius, portrayed after his own fancy; each forming a separate picture by itself, both in mezzo-rilievo, and varied in the crests, armour, and all other particulars. These were both sent to Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, by the illustrious Lorenzo de’ Medici the elder, with many other things, as will be related in the proper place.

Having by all these works acquired the name of an excellent master, more especially as regarded casting in bronze, wherein he took great delight, Andrea was appointed to execute the monument of Giovanni and Piero, sons of Cosimo de’ Medici, the decorations of which are in bronze, and in full relief. The sarcophagus is of porphyry, supported by four bronze consoles, which are decorated with foliage of great beauty, and finished with the most diligent care. This monument stands between the chapel of the sacrament and the sacristy,^[12] nor would it be possible to discover a more perfectly executed work, whether cast or chiselled; on this occasion the master also gave proof of his skill in architecture. Having erected the tomb in question within the embrasure of a window, five braccia in breadth, and about ten high, and placed the sarcophagus on a basement which divides the above-named chap: 1 of the sacrament from the old sacristy; he then, to clo^- e the aperture from the tomb to the ceiling, constructed a grating in bronze, of an oviform pattern, representing most naturally a net work of ropes, which he adorned at intervals with festoons and other fanciful embellishments, the whole work evincing great powers of invention, extraordinary judgment, and consummate skill.^[13]

Donatello had erected a tabernacle for the Council of Six of the Guild of Merchants (that which is now in the oratory of Or San Michele opposite to St. Michael), and there was likewise to have been made a San Tommaso in bronze, laying his hand on the wound in the side of Christ: but this work was not proceeded with, because among those who had the charge of that matter, were some who would have it done by Donatello, while others would have Lorenzo Ghiberti, and thus the affair had remained while Donato and Lorenzo were living, but the two statues were finally entrusted to Andrea Verrocchio. Having accordingly made the models and moulds, our artist cast the figures, when they came out so firm, complete, and beautiful, that the casting was considered a most admirable one. Andrea then set himself to polish and finish his work, which he brought to the perfection in which we now see it, and than which nothing better can be found. The incredulity of Thomas, and his too great desire to assure himself of the truth of the fact related to him, are clearly perceived in his countenance, but at the same time the love with which he lays his hand most tenderly on the side of Christ is also manifest. In the figure of the Saviour likewise, as he raises his arm with much freedom of attitude, and opening his vesture, disperses the doubts of his incredulous disciple, there is all that grace and divinity, so to speak, which art can give to the form it represents. The manner in which Andrea has clothed these figures also, in beautiful and well arranged draperies, makes it manifest that he was no less intimately acquainted with his art than were Donato, Lorenzo, and the other masters who had preceded him; wherefore this w'ork well deserved to be placed within a tabernacle made by Donato, and to be held, as it ever has been, in the highest estimation.^[14]

The reputation of Andrea could not now attain to any higher degree in this branch of art, and as he was one of those men who are not satisfied with excellence in one thing, but who desire to possess the same distinction in others also, he turned his attention to painting, and by means of study, produced the cartoon of a combat of undraped figures, very well executed with the pen, to be afterwards painted on the fa9ade of a building.^[15] He prepared the cartoons in like manner for other pictures, historical pieces, &c., and afterwards began to put them into execution, but whatever may have been the cause, these v^orks remained unfinished. There are some drawings by this master in our book, which display very great judgment and extraordinary patience; among them are certain female heads, of which the features, expressions, and arrangement of the hair, were constantly imitated, for their exceeding beauty, by Leonardo da Vinci.^[16] We have besides two horses, with the various measurements and the proportions according to which they are to be increased from a smaller to a larger size, all which are correct and free from error. There is also a rilievo in terracotta in my possession; this is the head of a horse copied from the antique, and is a singularly beautiful thing. The venerable Don Vincenzio Borghini has likewise drawings in his book, of which we have already spoken.^[17] Among others, there is the design for a sepulchral monument, erected by Andrea, in Venice, for a doge of that republic, with an Adoration of the Magi and a female head, all depicted on paper with the most finished delicacy.

Andrea Verrocchio executed the figure in bronze of a boy strangling a fish,^[18] on the fountain of the villa at Careggi, for Lorenzo de’ Medici. This the Signor Duke Cosimo has now caused to be placed, as we see, on the fountain in the court of his palace; the boy is a truly admirable figure.^[19]

At a later period, and when the erection of the cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore had been completed, it was resolved, after many discussions, that the copper ball, which, according to the directions left by Filippo Brunelleschi, was to be placed on the summit of that edifice, should be prepared. The order to do this was consequently given to Andrea, who made the ball four braccia high, and fixing it on a disc of proportionate size, he chained and secured it in such a manner that the cross could afterwards be safely erected upon it, which operation being completed, the whole was put up amidst great festivities and with infinite rejoicing of the people. There was without doubt much skill and care required for the execution of this work, and the rather, as it was needful so to contrive that the ball could be entered, as is in fact the case, from below, and also to secure it by various fastenings, in such a. manner that storm and wind should not damage the construction.^[20]

Andrea Verrocchio never gave himself rest; he was perpetually occupied either with painting or sculpture, and sometimes changed from one to the other, to the end that he might not weary himself by too long a continuance at one thing, as many do. And although he did not put the cartoons above described in execution, he nevertheless did paint some pictures; among others, one for the nuns of 8an Domenico, in Florence, a w’ork in which it appeared to him that he had acquitted himself very well; wherefore, no long time after, he painted another in San Salvi, for the monks of Yallombrosa.^[21] The subject of this picture is the Baptism of Christ by St. John, and being assisted in it by Leonardo da Vinci, then a youth and Andrea’s disciple, the former painted therein the figure of an angel, which was much superior to the other parts of the picture.^[22] Perceiving this, Andrea resolved never again to take pencil in hand, since Leonardo, though still so young, had acquitted himself in that art better than he had done. Cosimo de’ Medici, having at this time many antiquities, brought from Rome, in his possession, had caused an exceed ingly beautiful Marsyas, in white marble, fastened to a tree, and on the point of being flayed,^[23] to be placed within the door of his garden or court where it borders on the Via de Ginori. This Lorenzo, his nephew, desired to see accompanied by another Marsyas in pietra rossa (the torso and head of which had come into his hands), a work of high antiquity, and much greater beauty than that first mentioned; but the figure being so extensively mutilated, he could not eflect his purpose, whereupon he gave the torso and head to Andrea Verrocchio, that this master might restore it, and he completed it so perfectly, adding the legs, thighs, and arms that were wanting to that figure, in pieces of red marble, that Lorenzo was highly satisfied, and caused the statue to be placed in face of the other on the opposite side of the door.^[24] The antique torso of this Marsyas was executed with such minute care and thought, that certain slender white veins in the red stone had been turned to account bv the artist, and made to seem like those small nerves discovered in the human form when the skin has been removed, a circumstance that must have given this work a most lifelike appearance when in its original perfection.

The Venetians at this time, desiring to do honour to the distinguished valour of Bartolommeo da Bergamo,^[25] who had obtained for them many great victories, resolved to raise a monument to his name, hoping thereby to encourage other leaders. Having heard the renown of Andrea, they therefore inyited him to Venice, where he was commissioned to execute an equestrian statue of the commander above-named, which was to be placed on the Piazza of SS. Giovanni and Paolo. The master accordingly, having prepared the model, was proceeding to take the necessary measures for casting it in bronze, when, by the favour of certain persons among the Venetian nobles, it was determined that Vellano of Padua should execute the figure of the general, and Andrea Verrocchio that of the horse only; but the latter no sooner heard this, than having first broken the head and legs of his mould, he returned in great anger to Florence without saying a word. His departure being told to the Signoria, they caused him to understand that he should never dare again to enter Venice, for if he did so they would take off his head. To tliis menace the master wrote in reply, that he would take care not to return, seeing that v/hen they had once taken off his head, it would be beyond their power to give him another, nor could they ever get as good a one put on the horse, whose head he had broken, as he would have made for it. Notwithstanding this reply, which did not displease those rulers, Andrea was afterwards induced to return to Venice, when his appointments were doubled. He then restored his first model, and cast it in bronze, but did not entirely finish it, for having taken cold, when he had exposed liimself to much fatigue and heat in casting the work, he died in Venice after a few days’ illness. Nor was this undertaking, which wanted but a little to its completion,^[26] and was placed in its destined position,^[27] the only one he thus left unfinished: there was another also, which he was executing in Pistoja, the tomb of Cardinal Forteguerra namely, adorned with figures of the three Theological Virtues, and that of God the Father above them. This monument was afterwards completed by the Florentine sculptor, Lorenzetto.^[28]

When Andrea Verrocchio died, he had attained to his fiftysixth year; his death caused very great sorrow to his friends and disciples, who were not a few, but more particularly to the sculptor Nanni Grosso, a very eccentric person, and peculiar in the exercise of his art, as well as in his life. It is related of this artist, that he would never undertake any work out of his workshop, more particularly for monks or friars, but on condition that the door of the cellar, or whatever place the wine was kept in, should be === Heading text === left constantly open, that he might go to drink whenever he pleased, without asking leave from any one. It is also said, that having once returned from the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova, perfectly cured of some illness, I know not what, his reply to his friends when they came to visit and congratulate him was, “I am very ill.” “Ill! ” they replied, “nay, you are perfectly cured.” “And that is precisely wherefore I am ill,” rejoined Nanni, “for I am in want of a little fever, that I might remain in the hospital, well attended and at my ease.” When this artist was at the point of death, which happened in the hospital aforesaid, they placed a wooden crucifix before him, which was clumsy and ill executed, when he implored them to take it out of his sight and bring him one by Donato, declaring, that if they did not take that one from before him, he should die despairing, so greatly did the sight of ill-executed works in his own art displease him.

Among the disciples of Andrea Yerrocchio were Piero Perugino and Leonardo da Yinci, of whom we shall speak in the proper place, as was also the Florentine Francesco di Simone,^[29] by whom there is a marble tomb, with numerous small figures, in the church of San Domenico, in Bologna; the manner of this work is so exactly similar to that of Andrea, that it might be taken for his: the monument was erected for the doctor Messer Alessandro Tartaglia of Imola.^[30] Francesco likewise erected another for Messer Pietro Minerbetti, in the church of San Pancrazio,^[31] in Florence; it stands between one of the chapels and the sacristy. Another disciple of Andrea Yerrocchio was Agnolo di Polo, who worked in terra-cotta with great skill. The city is full of figures by his hand, and if he had devoted himself zealously to the study of his art he would have produced admirable works. But more than all his other disciples was Lorenzo di Credi^[32] beloved by his master, whose remains were by him conveyed from Venice, and deposited in the church of Sant’ Ambrogio, in the sepulchre of Ser Michele di Cione, where the following words are engraved above the tombstone.

“Ser Michaelis de Cionis et suorum.”

And near them are the following:—

“Hic osaa jacent Andreae Verrochii qui
Obiit Venetiis, mcccclxxxviii.”^[33]

Andrea took much pleasure in making models of gypsum, from which he might take casts: he made his moulds from a soft stone found in the neighbourhood of Volterra, Siena, and other parts of Italy, v/hich, being burnt in the fire, pounded finely, and kneaded with water, is rendered so soft and smooth, that you may make it into whatever form you please; but afterwards it becomes so close and hard, that entire figures may be cast in moulds formed of it. Andrea, therefore, adopted the practice of casting in moulds thus prepared, such natural objects as he desired to have continually before his eyes, for the better and more convenient imitation of them in his works—hands, feet, the knee, the arm, the torso, &c. Artists afterwards—but in his time—began to make casts of the heads of those who died, a thing they could by this means do at but little cost; whence it is that one sees in every house in Florence vast numbers of these likenesses, over the chimneys, doors, windows, and cornices, many of them so well done and so natural that they seem alive; and from that time forward this custom prevailed, nay, continues to do so, and has been of great value to us, by enabling us to procure the portraits of many, whose figures appear in the historical paintings executed for the palace of Duke Cosimo.^[34] We are indeed greatly indebted for this advantage to the skill of Andrea Verrocchio, who was one of the first to put the practice into execution.^[35]

From this commencement, artists proceeded to execute more perfectly-finished figures for those who required them for the performance of vows, not in Florence only, but in all places wherein men congregate for devotion, and where they offer votive pictures, or, as some call them, miracoU, when they have received any particular favour or benefit. E'er whereas these miracoli were previously made in silver, very small, or, if larger, in coarse pictures only, or made most clumsily in wax, they began in the time of Andrea to make them in a much better manner; wherefore Verrocchio, being the intimate friend of Orsino, a worker in wax, who was considered in Florence to be very skilful in his vocation, undertook to show him how he might render himself eminent. It chanced that an occasion for the display of Orsino’s skill soon presented itself, for on the death of Giuliano de’ Medici,^[36] and the danger incurred by his brother Lorenzo, who was wounded at the same time, in Santa Maria del Fiore, it was ordained by the friends and relations of Lorenzo that many figures of him should be made and set up in various places, by way of thanksgiving to God for his safety. Then Orsino, among others, with the help of Andrea, made three figures in wax, of the size of life, forming the skeleton in wood, as we have before described, and completing it with split reeds. This frame-work was then covered with waxed cloth, folded and arranged with so much beauty and elegance that nothing better or more true to nature could be seen. The head, hands, and feet were afterwards formed in wax of greater thickness, but hollow within; the features were copied from the life, and the whole was painted in oil with such ornaments and additions of the hair and other things as were required, all which being entirely natural and perfectly well done, no longer appeared to be figures of wax, but living men, as may be seen in each of the three here alluded to. One of these is in the church which belongs to the Nuns of Chiarito, in the Via di San Gallo: it stands before the Crucifix by which miracles are performed, and is clothed in the habiliments worn by Lorenzo when, wounded in the throat and with that part bound up, he appeared at the window of his palace to show himself to the people, who had flocked thither to assure themselves whether he were alive, as they desired, or whether he were dead, to the end that in the latter case they might avenge him. The second figure of Lorenzo is attired in the lucco,^[37] which is a dress peculiar to the Florentine citizens, and this is in the church of the Servites, the Nunziata, namely: it stands over the smaller door where the wax lights are sold. The third was sent to Assisi for the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli,^[38] and was placed before the Madonna of that place, where the same Lorenzo de’ Medici, as we have related, had caused the whole road to be paved with bricks all the way from Santa Maria to that gate of Assisi which leads towards San Francesco.^[39] He had likewise restored the fountains which Cosimo, his grandfather, had caused to be constructed there. But to return to the waxen images. All those in the Church of the Servites which have a capital 0 in the base, with the letter E, within it and a cross above,^[40] are by the hand of Crsino, and are all exceedingly beautiful; there are, indeed, very few who have equalled them. This art, although it has maintained its existence to our own times, is nevertheless rather on the decline than otherwise, either because there is less devotion than formerly, or for some other cause.^[41]

We will now return to Verrocchio. In addition to all that we have already enumerated, this master executed crucifixes in wood, with various works in terra-cotta. In this last he was an excellent artist, as may be seen from the models for the reliefs of the altar of San Giovanni, as also from certain very beautiful figures of children and a bust of St. Jerome, which is considered most admirable.^[42] By the hand of the same master is the figure of the boy on the clock of the Mercato Nuovo (New Market), the arm of which is left free, in a manner which permits the figure to raise it for the purpose of striking the hours with the hammer which it holds in the hand. This was in those times considered a beautiful and fanciful work.^[43]

And here shall be the end of the life of the excellent sculptor Andrea Verrocchio. At the same time with Andrea, lived Benedetto Buglioni, who received from his wife, one of the family of Andrea della Bobbia, the secret of glazing or vitrifying terra-cotta, and who subsequently executed many works of that kind in Florence and other places. Among these may be particularized one in the Church of the Servites, near the Chapel of Santa Barbara — Christ rising from the dead namely; with Angels, which, for a work in terra-cotta, is a tolerably good one. In San Brancazio (Pancrazio) he also executed a Dead Christ for one of the chapels, and above the principal door of the Church of San Piero Maggiore, he placed the figures as we now see them. On the death of Benedetto the secret remained with Santi Buglioni,^[44] who is the only person now acquainted with the methods of working in this sort of sculpture.

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1. Vasari does not name the master of Andrea del Verrocchio, butBaldinucci declares him to have studied under Donatello. The reader desirous of further details, may find them in Rumohr, Ital. Forsch., vol. ii. p. 302, et seq.
2. Of these works no authentic account can now be obtained. — Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
3. These reliefs in silver are preserved with other ornaments of the altar, in the house of the cathedral wardens.—See Richa, Chiese Fiorentine, vol. V. p. 31.
4. Bottari informs us that the Apostles, executed by Verrocchio, were stolen towards the middle of the last century, when others were made by Giardoni.
5. The equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, that is to say, afterwards placed on the capitol, by Michael Angelo Buonarotti, at the command of Pope Paul III.— Bottari
6. Vasari must here mean Giovan Francesco, son of Filippo Tornabuoni, whose wife, Elizabetta Alamanni, may have died at this period.— Flor., 1849.
7. The bas-relief here described, is now in the Gallery of the Uffizj.
8. The basso-rilievo placed on the front of the tomb, is also said to be in the Florentine Gallery.
9. This work is likewise in the Uffizj.
10. Still in its place. Cicognara has engraved this monument. — See Slorin, &cc., eerie ii. tav. 23. — See also Gonnelli, Monurnentix Sepolcrali, tav. 2.
11. The present place of this work is not known.
12. Now the Chapel of the Madonna.
13. This tomb is engraved by Gonnelli. Monumenti SepolcraIi della Toscana, tav. 13.
14. This group is still in its place.—Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
15. Nothing is now known of this cartoon. —Ibid.
16. Vasari’s collection of Drawings is unhappily dispersed. The Italian commentators suggest, that many of those now passing under the name of Leonardo da Vinci may, in fact, be by the hand of Verrocchio.
17. The fate of this collection also is unknown. —Masselli.
18. A young dolphin.
19. This admirable work is still in the basin of the fountain: it is im.possible to imagine anything more life-like than the expression and action of the boy as he presses the struggling creature, from whose nostrils water is gushing, to his breast. The beauty of this masterly performance (for a more minute description of which than can here be afforded, see Rumohr, Ital. Forsch.) has been somewhat injured by the removal, effected some years since in the process of clearing, of the fine patina with which time had covered it, a circumstance from which it has now a certain hardness not formerly apparent in the work.
20. The ball was thrown down by lightning, and one somewhat larger erected in its place; the latter still remains.
21. This picture is no longer in the church. There is an engraving of it in the Etruria Fittrice, tav. 14, which, though not a good one, yet proves it to have been a work of merit, and its loss is the more to be regretted, as we have so few well-authenticated paintings of this master.
22. This precious picture is now in the Florentine Academy of the Fine Arts, but is somewhat faded in colour, the figure of the Baptist more particularly. —Ed. Flor., 1832 -8.
23. That namely, which had been restored by Donatello, as has been recorded in his life.
24. This statue is in the w^est corridor of the Gallery of theUfhzj, opposite to that above-mentioned. It is to be observed, that the latest Florentine commentators throw doubt on the assertion, that this is the Marsyas restored by Verrocchio, but their dissent fronr the general opinion respecting it does not appear to be well grounded.
25. Bartolommeo Colleoni, who entered the service at Venice, as general of her armies, in 1467.— See Cicognara, Iscrizioni Veneziane, vol. ii. p. 298.
26. From the will of Verrocchio, cited by Gaye, Carteggio ineditOy &c., vol. i. pp. 367—369, it would appear that the model only had been completed. The casting was afterwards effected by Alessandro Leopardo, although Andrea had requested that the senate would confide it to his favourite pupil and executor, Lorenzo di Credi. — See Selvatico, Sulla Architettura, &c., Venice, 1847.
27. Where it still remains.
28. This tomb is still to be seen in Pistoja.
29. Cicognara considers this sculptor to have been a son of Simone, the brother of Donato.
30. Alessandro Tartaglia, Doctor of Laws. The tomb is declared by Cicognara, to be one of the finest works in Bologna. —See StoriUj «&c., serie ii. tav. 28.
31. Richa, Chiese Florentine, describes this tomb, and gives the inscription placed on it. But in 1808, the church was despoiled of all its most valuable treasures and monuments, nor can the fate of this work now be ascertained.
32. Whose life follows.
33. The precise incription is as follows:—
    “S. Michaelis de Cionis et suorum, et Andre® Verrocchi filii
    Dominici Michaelis qui obiit Venetiis mcccclxxxviii.”
    The S at the beginning has been misinterpreted by Baldinucci, as well as
    Vasari, it does not stand for Ser, but for Sepulcrum. —Bottari.
34. See the Ragionamento Primo, Giornata seconda, of Vasari.
35. He was not the first, although among the first. The custom of moulding heads in the manner here described had prevailed somewhat earlier. In the Uffizj, there is a cast of Fillipo Brunelleschi, taken when Verrocchio could not have been more than fourteen years old.' —Bottari.
36. On the 26th of April, in the year 147B. — See Angelo Poliziano, De Conjuratione Pactiana.—Masselli.
37. A sort of gown or robe.
38. These votive figures have all perished.
39. See the life of Michelozzo Michelozzi, vol. i.
40. The reader will find an interesting collection of the Monograms of painters, engravers, &c., in Bryan’s Dictionary, edition of 1849.
41. The figures in the Servites have also perished. Certain details on this subject may be found in the before-cited MS. of Migliore, in the Magliabecchiana Library, entitled, Riflessioni al Vasari.
42. The head of St, Jerome is lost.— Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
43. Neither the clock oor the Boy is now in existence.—Ed. Flor.y 1846-9.
44. See the life of Luca della Robbia, vol. i.