them, exhorted him to proceed, advising him to continue his studies in relief, and recommending to him above all, the careful consideration of Donato’s works; saying furthermore, that Baccio would do well to commence the execution of some work in marble; heads for example, or a basso-rilievo.
Much influenced by the counsels of Leonardo, and excited by the encouragement thus received, Baccio set himself to copy an antique head of a woman in marble, the model for which he had made from one in the house of Medici. For a first work, this was accomplished in a sufficiently praiseworthy manner, and was held in much esteem by Andrea Carneseschi, to whom the father of Baccio presented it, and who placed it over the door which leads from the court to the garden of his house in the Yia Larga.
Finding that Baccio still continued to make models in clay for various figures in full relief, his father would not suffer him to want any assistance that might promote the due study of his art; he therefore ordered some pieces of marble to be brought from Carrara, and caused a room to be built for his son at the end of his house in Pinti: this apartment looked on the road to Fiesole, and the windows thereof were carefully arranged for the purposes of his labour. Here Baccio set himself to sketch in those marbles, the outlines of different figures, and among others was one of Hercules, with the dead body of Cacus beneath his feet, which he executed in a piece two braccia and a half high, and brought considerably forward. All these sketches remain in that place, as a memorial of the artist.
It was about this time that the cartoon of Michelagnolo Buonarotti, executed, as we have said elsewhere, for Piero Soderini, who destined it for the Hall of the Grand Council, and which presented a vast number of nude figures, was given to public view, when all the artists hastened to copy this work on account of its excellence. Among the rest came Baccio, nor did any long time elapse before he surpassed all his fellow labourers; the outlines of his copies, as well as the shading and finishing, were superior to those of the other students, and he proved himself to be much better acquainted with the nude form than were those who worked there with him, although Jacopo Sansovino, Andrea del Sarto, II Rosso (but he was then very young), with the
