his ability in a tomb, principally of metal, erected by Guglielmo for the Bishop of Sulisse, at the Botteghe Scure. This work, adorned with many graceful figures and stories in bassi-rilievi, that of the Bishop himself namely, with those of the Cardinal Virtues, and others, was ultimately sent to Salamanca in Spain.
While Guglielmo was restoring the antiquities of the Casa Farnese, which are now in the Loggia before the Upper Hall, it chanced that FraBastiano, who held the office of the Leaden Seal, departed this life, when Guglielmo contrived in such sort, by means of Michelagnolo and others, that he obtained the office in question, with the commission for erecting the Sepulchre of Pope Paul IIL, which was to be placed in San Pietro. For this tomb he used the models of the Cardinal and Theological Virtues, which he had prepared for that of the Bishop of Sulisse,[1] but with improved design, placing four Children, with inscriptions, at the four angles, and adding the seated statue of the Pontiff, in the act of giving the benediction: this last figure, which is seventeen palms high, is in bronze. Fearing that the mass of the metal might get cold, and so endanger the success of his casting, Guglielmo kept it in the lower furnace constantly heated, and caused it to be brought gradually into the mould above; this unusual mode of proceeding turned out so well, that the work came forth clean and equal, as wax, so that the very surface was suffered to remain as it came from the fire, having no need of polishing. This figure may be now seen under the first arches of the Tribune in the New San Pietro.
To this Sepulchre, which according to the design of Guglielmo was to be entirely isolated, there were to be added four figures in marble, which he had himself prepared with admirable inventions, as he had been directed to do by Annibale Caro, who had received the care of the same from the Pope and Cardinal Farnese. One of these represents Justice, a nude figure, recumbent amidst beautiful draperies, and with the cincture of the sword across the breast, the sword itself being concealed: in one hand are the fasces of Con-
- ↑ Or, according to a letter from Annibale Caro, to Elio da Capo d’Istria, Bishop of Pola, relating to this tomb, the Bishop Del Solis. See the Sienese Edition of our author, where this letter was published for the first time, in a note, by the Padre Della Valle.
