that I turn to Simone,[1] the brother of Donato. This master, after completing the door of San Pietro as above-said, constructed the bronze monument of Pope Martin,[2] also in bronze: he likewise executed some castings which were sent to France, with many others, the fate of which is not known. For the church of the Armenians, beside the mills in the city of Florence, Simone likewise constructed a crucifix of the size of life to be carried in the processions, and this he made of cork-tree, to render it the lighter. In Santa Felicita, Simone executed a figure of the penitent Mary Magdalen, in terra-cotta,[3] the height is three braccia and a half, the proportions are beautiful, and the muscular development is displayed in a manner which proves this master to have been well acquainted with anatomy.[4] He also executed a monumental stone in the church of the Servites for the brotherhood of the Annunciation, inlaying the same with a figure in grey and white marble, in the manner of a painting, as we have before said was done by the Sienese Duccio in the Duomo of Siena. This work was highly praised.[5]| The bronze grating for the chapel of the girdle[6] in Prato was also by Simone, as was a basso-rilievo placed over the door of the canonicate, and representing the Virgin with two angels. He decorated the chapel of the Trinity in San Francesco in mezzo-rilievo for Messer Giovanni da Riolo;
- ↑ In the life of Brunellesco, Vasari speaks of a Simoiie as the scholar of that master, but does not there call him the brother of Donato: from this and other causes the commentators incline to believe that there were two Florentine sculptors of this name, one of whom they suppose to be the son of Nanni da Fiesole, and a scholar of Ghiberti.
- ↑ Pope Martin V. who died in 1431. The bronze monument here alluded to is in the middle aisle of San Giovanni Laterano; and is but slightly raised above the pavement of the church.
- ↑ The church of St. Basil, belonging to the Armenian monks, having been secularized, the crucifix fell into private hands; it is now on the high altar of the Basilica of San Lorenzo.
- ↑ The fate of this work is not known.
- ↑ No trace of this work is to be found at the “Nunziata,” which is now called San Pierino and is in the Via San Sebastiano.
- ↑ The documents discovered and published by the author of the Descrizione della Cattedrale di Prato, (Prato, 1846, 8vo,) give various details respecting this fine work, but the name of Simone does not appear among those of the masters enumerated in them. See further, Delle Pitture che adornano la capella del S. Cingolo di M. Virgine alia Cattedrale di Prato. Prato, 1831.
