from all the figures which Miclielagnolo had executed in marble for the Sacristy of San Lorenzo, the Aurora namely, the Twilight, the Day and the Night.
These works succeeded admirably, and Messer Giovanni Battista Figiovanni, prior of San Lorenzo, to whom Tribolo gave the figure of Night, in requital of his having caused the chapel to be opened to him, thought it so beautiful a thing that he made a present thereof to the Duke Alessandro, by whom it was subsequently given to the above-named Giorgio Vasari, then with his Excellency, to whom his study of such matters was well known. The work is now in the house of Vasari at Arezzo, with other productions of art.[1] Having then made a copy in like manner from the Madonna which Michelagnolo had executed for the same Sacristy, Tribolo presented this to the above-named Messer Ottaviano de’ Medici, who had a very beautiful frame in wood-work, made for the same by Battista del Cinque, who decorated his work with columns, cornices, and other embellishments carved in a very beautiful manner.
Meanwhile, by the favour of this noble, who was the general administrator of his Excellency’s affairs, Tribolo received a commission to execute an Escutcheon of Arms four braccia high, with two nude figures, each to represent the goddess of Victory; this escutcheon, which was one of three that were to be placed, one on each bastion of a Fortress at that time constructing by command of the Duke, was executed by Tribolo (who received his commission for the same from the hands of Bertoldo Corsini the Proveditore for the Fortress which was then in course of erection) with great care and promptitude; he also made an addition thereto of three large masks, which, being placed beneath the arms and the figures, are made to serve as supporters thereof; by this work[2] Tribolo gave so much satisfaction to the Duke that his Excellency conceived a great liking for that artist.
No long time afterwards, Duke Alessandro proceeded to
- ↑ Three of the above mentioned figures are now in the Florentine Academy of the Fine Arts; of the fourth, that of Night namely, subsequently possessed by Vasari, the fate is unknown.—Masselli.
- ↑ For this work, now much injured by time, Tribolo received the sum of 180 crowns, as we learn from a letter written by Nanni Unghero to Sangallo. See Lettere Pittoriche, tomo iii.
