Encouraged by their success, the friends devoted themselves zealously to the study of the antiquities abounding in Rome, imitating the works in marble with their chiaro-scuro; and herein they proceeded with so much diligence that there did not remain a column, a tomb, a vase, a statue, or a story in relief, whether entire or broken, which they did not copy and eventually turn to their purposes. The constancy and determination with which they gave their whole mind to this vocation was such, that they both acquired the most perfect facility in copying the manner of the antique, and the labours of the one were so exactly similar to those of the other, that as the minds of both were actuated by one will only, so did the hands of each express precisely the same idea; and although Maturino was not so powerfully endowed by nature as was Polidoro, yet the perpetual imitation of the same style by the former in company with the latter, and their incessantly labouring together, had produced such an effect, that their performances were exactly similar; whichever placed his hand to the work the effect appeared the same, whether as regarded composition, expression, or manner.
On the Piazza di Capranica, as you go into the Colonna,[1] these artists painted a fagade whereon they depicted the Theological Virtues, with a frieze of remarkable invention beneath the windows; this last exhibited, as the most prominent figure, a draped statue of Rome typifying the Faith, holding the chalice and the Host[2] in her hands, and having subjugated all the nations of the earth, whose people are unanimously flocking to offer her tribute; last of all are seen the Turks, who have likewise submitted themselves to the yoke, and are shooting with arrows at the tomb of Mahomet. The whole ending in the fulfilment of the words of Scripture, that “there shall be one fold under one shepherd.” Andofa truth these artists had no equals in richness of invention, whereof we have ample proof in all their works, which exhibit a surprising variety of habiliments and decorations for every part of the person, with the most singular fancies
- ↑ Into the Piazza diColonna namely.
- ↑ This work was engraved by Gio. Battista Cavalieri in 1581, but in this print the figure of Faith has neither Host nor Chalice: Pietro Santi Bartoli and Cherubino Alberti also engraved the same. For details respecting the works of these masters and the engravings made from them, See Bottari’s Annotations to the Homan edition of Vasari.
