Giuliano, and it was by him that the conduits for the waters of Poggio Reale were completed. Benedetto devoted himself to sculpture; he surpassed his uncle[1] Giuliano in excellence, as will be related hereafter, and in his youth was the rival of a sculptor of Modena, who worked in terra-cotta, and was called Modanino.[2] This last-named artist executed a Pietà,[3] for the above-mentioned king Alfonso; it comprised a large number of figures in full relief, formed of terra-cotta coloured; they have extraordinary animation, and the work was placed by the king in the church of Monte Oliveto at Naples, a monastery very highly honoured in that city.[4] Among these figures is the portrait of king Alfonso in a kneeling position, and this appears to be really alive, wherefore Modanino was very richly rewarded by the monarch. But when the king had died, as we have said, Polito and Benedetto returned to Florence, where, no long time after, Polito followed Giuliano to another life. The works of these masters were executed about[5] the year 1447.
LIFE OF THE PAINTER, PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA, OF
BORGO SAN SEPOLCRO.
[Born in the first years of the fifteenth century,—was still living in 1494.
Unhappy, of a truth, are those who, devoting themselves to laborious studies, in the hope of benefiting others and acquiring fame for themselves, are impeded by infirmities or prevented by death from carrying the works they have commenced to their ultimate perfection. For it sometimes happens, that leaving their labours when all but completed, or in a fair way for the attainment of perfection, the credit
- ↑ His brother.
- ↑ This is Guido Mazzoni, whom Pomponius Gauricus calls Guidus Mazon Mutinensis, and who w’as called Modanino by his countrymen, from the place of his birth.
- ↑ The dead Christ in the lap of the Virgin, is so called in Italian art.
- ↑ This work is still at the Monte Oliveto; it is described by Cicognara, who gives a plate containing two of the figures.
- ↑ Neither the works of Maiano, nor those of the brothers Pietro and Ippolito del Donzello should be assigned to a date about 1447. The Neapolitan painters were working after 1481.—Ed. Flor. 1849.
