Maria Novella, Desiderio constructed the marble sepulchre of the Beata Villana,[1] a work wherein there are certain little angels which are very graceful, as is the portrait of the Beata herself, taken from the life. She does not seem to be dead, but merely asleep. For the Nuns of the Murate likewise he executed a small figure of the Virgin, to stand on a column in a tabernacle, which is also in a very pleasing and graceful manner, insomuch that both these works were always held in the utmost esteem, and are still very highly prized.[2] Desiderio executed the marble tabernacle of the Sacrament in the church of San Pietro Maggiore, with his accustomed diligence; and although there are no figures in this work, it gives evidence, nevertheless, of a very fine manner, and has infinite grace, like all the other works by his hand.ì[3] This artist sculptured the portrait of Marietta degli Strozzi, likewise in marble, and taken from the life, and, as the Lady was exceedingly beautiful, the bust is a very admirable one.[4]
The tomb of Messer Carlo Marsuppini, of Arezzo, in the church of Santa Croce, was also erected by this master, and the work not only caused amazement in the artists and other well-informed persons, who then examined it, but continues to surprise all who see it in the present day: Desiderio having executed foliage on the sarcophagus, which, although somewhat hard and dry, yet, as but few antiquities had at that time been discovered, was then considered a very beautiful thing. Again, among other particulars of this work, are certain wings which form part of the ornaments of the sarcophagus, and seem rather to be of actual feathers than of stone, a thing very difficult to produce in marble,
- ↑ That the tomb of the Beata Villana is by Bernardo Gamberelli, the brother of Antonio Rossellino (Gamberelli), and not by Desiderio, has already been stated.—Ed. Flor., 1832-8. See ante, p. 130, note.
- ↑ This figure, which stood in the Dispensary of the Nuns, was cast down by the flood of 1557, and was broken to pieces. It was afterwards restored and placed in a small oratory, dedicated to St. Mary of the Snows, and is still preserved; but its merits are no longer perceptible, the figure having been coarsely covered over with oil-paint.
- ↑ On the ruin of the church, in 1784, the ciborium, or tabernacle, was removed to the shop of a marble-worker in the Piazza Madonna (Florence), where it is still preservEd. Flor.ntine Editions of 1838 and 1849.
- ↑ Now in the garden of the Strozzi Palace.— Ibidem.
