since it is almost impossible to copy hair and feathers with the chisel. There are, besides, several Children and Angels, executed in a manner which is truly beautiful and animated. The figure of the Dead, a portrait from nature, extended on the tomb, is of the utmost excellence; and on a medallion is the efiigy of Our Lady in basso-tilievo, treated after the manner of Donato, and finished with great judgment as well as extraordinary grace.[1] These qualities are likewise to be remarked in many other bassi-rilievi in marble by Desiderio, some of which are in the guardaroha of the lord Duke Cosimo, more particularly a medallion with the head of Jesus Christ, and that of John the Baptist, as a child.[2] At the foot of Messer Carlo’s tomb, Desiderio laid a large stone to the memory of Messer Giorgio, a renowned doctor and legist, who was secretary to the Signoria of Florence,[3] with a basso-rilievo, which is very beautiful, and wherein is the portrait of Messer Giorgio, clothed in the robes of a doctor, according to the fashion of that time.
Had not death so prematurely deprived the world of that powerful mind which thus laboured with such admirable effect, Desiderio would, without doubt, have profited to such extent by the experience of the future, as to have surpassed all others, as much in knowledge of art as he did in grace. But the thread of his life was cut short at the age of twentyeight,[4] to the deep grief of all those who had hoped to behold the perfection, to which such a genius would have attained in its maturity, and who were more than dismayed by so great a loss. He was followed by his relations and numerous friends to the church of the Servites; and on his tomb there
- ↑ See Gonnelli, Monumenti Sepolcrali della Toscana. For engravings of this tomb, see also Cicognara, Storia, &c., who justly remarks, that while the sepulchral monuments, executed at this time, surpass those of earlier masters in beauty of workmanship and decoration, they carefully retain the Christian symbols so appropriate to the occasion, and so ill-replaced by tlae classical ornaments, frequently far-fetched allegorical representations, of a later period.
- ↑ The fate of this work is not known.
- ↑ Still to be seen, but the relief is much injured by the feet of the passers; the inscription is now illegible; but from Richa, who copied it, we find that this Marsuppini was called Gregorio, not Giorgio, and was secretary, not to the Signoria of Florence, but to the king of France.
- ↑ There are good reasons for believing that Desiderio lived to a more advanced age than is here assigned to him.
