the shaft, in marble, an interwoven design of sea monsters cut out in
full relief, with tails intertwined so well, that nothing better of
that kind could be done. And this finished, he executed the tazza
with a piece of marble brought long before to Castello, together with
a large table, also of marble, from the Villa dell'Antella, which M.
Ottaviano de' Medici formerly bought from Giuliano Salviati. By reason
of this opportunity, then, Tribolo made that tazza sooner than he
might otherwise have done, fashioning round it a dance of little
children attached to the moulding which is beside the lip of the
tazza; which children are holding festoons of products of the sea, cut
out of the marble with beautiful art. And so also the shaft which he
made over the tazza, he executed with much grace, with some very
beautiful children and masks to spout water. Upon that shaft it was
the intention of Tribolo to place a bronze statue three braccia high,
representing Florence, in order to signify that from the above-named
Mounts Asinaio and Falterona the waters of the Arno and Mugnone come
to Florence; of which figure he had made a most beautiful model which,
pressing the hair with the hands, caused water to pour forth. Then,
having brought the water as far as the space thirty braccia square,
below the labyrinth, he made a beginning with the great fountain,
which, made with eight sides, was to receive all the above-mentioned
waters into its lowest basin--namely, those from the waterworks of the
labyrinth, and likewise those of the great conduit. Each of these
eight sides, then, rises above a step one-fifth of a braccio in
height, and each angle of the eight sides has a projection, as have
also the steps, which, thus projecting, rise at each angle in a great
step of two-fifths of a braccio, in such a way that the central face
of the steps withdraws into the projections, and their straight line
is thus broken, which produces a bizarre effect, and makes the ascent
very easy. The edges of the fountain have the shape of a vase, and the
body of the fountain--that is, the inner part where the water
is--curves in the form of a circle. The shaft begins with eight sides,
and continues with eight seats almost up to the base of the tazza,
upon which are seated eight children of the size of life, all in the
round and in various attitudes, who, linked together with the legs and
arms, make a rich adornment and a most beautiful effect. And since the
tazza, which is round, projects to the extent of six braccia, the
water of the whole fountain, pouring equally over the edge on every
side, sends a very beautiful rain, like the drippings from a roof,
into the octagonal basin mentioned above, and those children that are
on the shaft of the tazza are not wetted, and they appear to be there
in order not to be wetted by the rain, almost like real children, full
of delight and playing as they shelter under the lip of the tazza,
which could not be equalled in its simplicity and beauty. Opposite to
the four paths that intersect the garden are four children of bronze
lying at play in various attitudes, which are after the designs of
Tribolo, although they were executed afterwards by others. Above this
tazza begins another shaft, which has at the foot, on some
projections, four children of marble in the round, who are pressing
the necks of some geese that spout water from their mouths; and this
water is that of the principal conduit coming from the labyrinth, and
rises exactly to this height. Above these children is the rest of the
shaft of this pedestal, which is made with certain cartouches which
spurt forth water in a most bizarre manner; and then, regaining a
quadrangular form, it rises over some masks that are very well made.
Above this, then, is a smaller tazza, on the lip of which, on all four
sides, are fixed by the horns four heads of Capricorns, making a
square, which spout water through their mouths into the large tazza,
together with the children, in order to make the rain which falls, as
has been told, into the first basin, which has eight sides. Still
higher there follows another shaft, adorned with other ornaments and
with some children in half-relief, who, projecting outwards, form at
the top a round space that serves as base to the figure of a Hercules
who is crushing Antaeus, which was designed by Tribolo and executed
afterwards by others, as will be related in the proper place. From the
mouth of this Antaeus he intended that, instead of his spirit, there
should gush out through a pipe water in great abundance, as indeed it
does; which water is that of the great conduit of Petraia, which comes
with much force, and rises sixteen braccia above the level where the
steps are, and makes a marvellous effect in falling back into the
greater tazza. In that same aqueduct, then, come not only those waters
from Petraia, but also those that go to the fish-pond and the grotto,
and these, uniting with those from Castellina, go to the fountains of
the Falterona and Monte Asinaio, and thence to the fountains of the
Arno and Mugnone, as has been related; after which, being reunited at
the fountain of the labyrinth, they go to the centre of the great
fountain, where are the children with the geese. From there, according
to the design of Tribolo, they were to flow through two distinct and
separate conduits into the basins of the loggie, where the tables are,
and then each into a separate private garden. The first of these
gardens--that towards the west--is all filled with rare and medicinal
plants; wherefore at the highest level of that water, in that garden
of simples, in the niche of the fountain, and behind a basin of
marble, there was to be a statue of AEsculapius.
The principal fountain described above, then, was completely finished
in marble by Tribolo, and carried to the finest and greatest
perfection that could be desired in a work of this kind. Wherefore I
believe that it may be said with truth that it is the most beautiful
fountain, the richest, the best proportioned, and the most pleasing
that has ever been made, for the reason that in the figures, in the
vases, in the tazze, and, in short, throughout the whole work, are
proofs of extraordinary diligence and industry. After this, having
made the model of the above-mentioned statue of AEsculapius, Tribolo
began to execute it in marble, but, being hindered by other things, he
did not finish that figure, which was completed afterwards by the
sculptor Antonio di Gino, his disciple.
[Illustration: THE HERCULES FOUNTAIN
(_After =Niccolo [Tribolo]=. Florence: Villa Reale di Castello_)]
On the side towards the east, in a little lawn without the garden,
Tribolo arranged an oak in a most ingenious manner, for, besides the
circumstance that it is so thickly covered both above and all around
with ivy intertwined among the branches, that it has the appearance of
a very dense grove, one can climb up it by a convenient staircase of
wood similarly covered with ivy, at the top of which, in the middle of
the oak, there is a square chamber surrounded by seats, the backs of
which are all of living verdure, and in the centre is a little table
of marble with a vase of variegated marble in the middle, from which,
through a pipe, there flows and spurts into the air a strong jet of
water, which, after falling, runs away through another pipe. These
pipes mount upwards from the foot of the oak so well hidden by the
ivy, that nothing is seen of them, and the water can be turned on or
off at pleasure by means of certain keys; nor is it possible to
describe in full in how many ways that water of the oak can be turned
on, in order to drench anyone at pleasure with various instruments of
copper, not to mention that with the same instruments one can cause
the water to produce various sounds and whistlings.
Finally, all these waters, after having served so many different
purposes, and supplied so many fountains, are collected together, and
flow into the two fish-ponds that are without the palace, at the
beginning of the avenue, and thence to other uses of the villa.
Nor will I omit to tell what was the intention of Tribolo with regard
to the statues that were to be as ornaments in the great garden of the
labyrinth, in the niches that may be seen regularly distributed there
in various spaces. He proposed, then--acting in this on the judicious
advice of M. Benedetto Varchi, who has been in our times most
excellent as poet, orator, and philosopher--that at the upper and
lower ends there should be placed the four Seasons of the
year--Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter--and that each should be set
up in that part where its particular season is most felt. At the
entrance, on the right hand, beside the Winter, and in that part of
the wall which stretches upwards, were to go six figures that were to
demonstrate the greatness and goodness of the house of Medici, and to
denote that all the virtues are to be found in Duke Cosimo; and these
were Justice, Compassion, Valour, Nobility, Wisdom, and Liberality,
which have always dwelt in the house of Medici, and are all united
together at the present day in the most excellent Lord Duke, in that
he is just, compassionate, valorous, noble, wise, and liberal. And
because these qualities have made the city of Florence, as they still
do, strong in laws, peace, arms, science, wisdom, tongues, and arts,
and also because the said Lord Duke is just in the laws, compassionate
in peace, valorous in arms, noble through the sciences, wise in his
encouragement of tongues and other culture, and liberal to the arts,
Tribolo wished that on the other side from the Justice, Compassion,
Valour, Nobility, Wisdom, and Liberality, on the left hand, as will be
seen below, there should be these other figures: Laws, Peace, Arms,
Sciences, Tongues, and Arts. And it was most appropriately arranged
that in this manner these statues and images should be placed, as
they would have been, above the Arno and Mugnone, in order to signify
that they do honour to Florence. It was also proposed that in the
pediments there should be placed portrait-busts of men of the house of
Medici, one in each--over Justice, for example, the portrait of his
Excellency, that being his particular virtue, over Compassion that of
the Magnificent Giuliano, over Valour Signor Giovanni, over Nobility
the elder Lorenzo, over Wisdom the elder Cosimo or Clement VII, and
over Liberality Pope Leo. And in the pediments on the other side it
was suggested that there might be placed other heads from the house of
Medici, or of persons of the city connected with that house. But since
these names make the matter somewhat confused, they have been placed
here in the following order:
SUMMER. THE MUGNONE. GATE. THE ARNO. SPRING.
ARTS. L L LIBERALITY.
TONGUES. O O WISDOM.
SCIENCES. G G NOBILITY.
ARMS. G G VALOUR.
PEACE. I I COMPASSION.
LAWS. A A JUSTICE.
AUTUMN. GATE. LOGGIA. GATE. WINTER.
All these ornaments would have made this in truth the richest, the
most magnificent, and the most ornate garden in Europe; but these
works were not carried to completion, for the reason that Tribolo was
not able to take measures to have them finished while the Duke was in
the mind to continue them, as he might have done in a short time,
having men in abundance and the Duke ready to spend money, and not
suffering from those hindrances that afterwards stopped him. The Duke,
indeed, not being contented at that time with the great quantity of
water that is to be seen there, was thinking of trying to obtain the
water of Valcenni, which is very abundant, in order to join it with
the rest, and then to conduct it from Castello by an aqueduct similar
to the one which he had made to the Piazza in front of his Palace in
Florence. And of a truth, if this work had been pressed forward by a
man with greater energy and more desire of glory, it would have been
carried at least well on; but since Tribolo, besides that he was much
occupied with various affairs of the Duke's, had not much energy,
nothing more was done. And in all the time that he worked at Castello,
he did not execute with his own hand anything save the two fountains,
with the two rivers, the Arno and the Mugnone, and the statue of
Fiesole; this arising from no other cause, so far as one can see, but
his being too much occupied, as has been related, with the many
affairs of the Duke.
Among other things, the Duke caused him to make a bridge over the
River Mugnone on the high road that goes to Bologna, without the Porta
a S. Gallo. This bridge, since the river crosses the road obliquely,
Tribolo caused to be built with an arch likewise oblique, in
accordance with its oblique line across the river, which was a new
thing, and much extolled, above all because he had the arch put
together of stones cut on the slant on every side in such a manner
that it proved to be very strong and very graceful; in short, this
bridge was a very beautiful work.
Not long before, the Duke had been seized with a desire to make a tomb
for Signor Giovanni de' Medici, his father, and Tribolo, being eager
to have the commission, made a very beautiful model for it, in
competition with one that had been executed by Raffaello da Montelupo,
who had the favour of Francesco di Sandro, the master of arms to his
Excellency. And then, the Duke having resolved that the one to be put
into execution should be Tribolo's, he went off to have the marble
quarried at Carrara, where he also caused to be quarried the two
basins for the loggie at Castello, a table, and many other blocks of
marble. Meanwhile, Messer Giovan Battista da Ricasoli, now Bishop of
Pistoia, being in Rome on business of the Lord Duke's, he was sought
out by Baccio Bandinelli, who had just finished the tombs of Pope Leo
X and Clement VII in the Minerva; and he was asked by Baccio to
recommend him to his Excellency. Whereupon Messer Giovan Battista
wrote to the Duke that Bandinelli desired to serve him, and his
Excellency wrote in reply that on his return he should bring him in
his company. And Bandinelli, having therefore arrived in Florence, so
haunted the Duke in his audacity, making promises and showing him
designs and models, that the tomb of the above-named Signor Giovanni,
which was to have been made by Tribolo, was allotted to him; and so,
taking some pieces of marble of Michelagnolo's, which were in the Via
Mozza in Florence, he hacked them about without scruple and began the
work. Wherefore Tribolo, on returning from Carrara, found that in
consequence of his being too leisurely and good-natured, the
commission had been taken away from him.
In the year when bonds of kinship were formed between the Lord Duke
Cosimo and the Lord Don Pedro di Toledo, Marquis of Villafranca, at
that time Viceroy of Naples, the Lord Duke taking Don Pedro's
daughter, Signora Leonora, to wife, preparations were made in Florence
for the nuptials, and Tribolo was given the charge of constructing a
triumphal arch at the Porta al Prato, through which the bride, coming
from Poggio, was to enter; which arch he made a thing of beauty, very
ornate with columns, pilasters, architraves, great cornices, and
pediments. That arch was to be all covered with figures and scenes, in
addition to the statues by the hand of Tribolo; and all those
paintings were executed by Battista Franco of Venice, Ridolfo
Ghirlandajo, and Michele, his disciple. Now the principal figure that
Tribolo made for this work, which was placed at the highest point in
the centre of the pediment, on a dado wrought in relief, was a woman
five braccia high, representing Fecundity, with five little boys,
three clinging to her legs, one on her lap, and another in her arms;
and beside her, where the pediment sloped away, were two figures of
the same size, one on either side. Of these figures, which were lying
down, one was Security, leaning on a column with a light wand in her
hand, and the other was Eternity, with a globe in her arms, and below
her feet a white-haired old man representing Time, and holding in his
arms the Sun and Moon. I shall say nothing as to the works of painting
that were on that arch, because everyone may read about them for
himself in the description of the festive preparations for those
nuptials. And since Tribolo had particular charge of all decorations
for the Palace of the Medici, he caused many devices to be executed in
the lunettes of the vaulting of the court, with mottoes appropriate to
the nuptials, and all those of the most illustrious members of the
house of Medici. Besides this, he had a most sumptuous decoration made
in the great open court, all full of stories; on one side of the
Greeks and Romans, and on the other sides of deeds done by illustrious
men of that house of Medici, which were all executed under the
direction of Tribolo by the most excellent young painters that there
were in Florence at that time--Bronzino, Pier Francesco di Sandro,
Francesco Il Bacchiacca, Domenico Conti, Antonio di Domenico, and
Battista Franco of Venice.
On the Piazza di S. Marco, also, upon a vast pedestal ten braccia in
height (in which Bronzino had painted two very beautiful scenes of the
colour of bronze on the socle that was above the cornices), Tribolo
erected a horse of twelve braccia, with the fore-legs in the air, and
upon it an armed figure, large in proportion; and this figure, which
had below it men dead and wounded, represented the most valorous
Signor Giovanni de' Medici, the father of his Excellency. This work
was executed by Tribolo with so much art and judgment, that it was
admired by all who saw it, and what caused even greater marvel was the
speed with which he finished it; among his assistants being the
sculptor Santi Buglioni, who was crippled for ever in one leg by a
fall, and came very near dying.
Under the direction of Tribolo, likewise, for the comedy that was
performed, Aristotile da San Gallo executed marvellous scenery, being
truly most excellent in such things, as will be told in his Life; and
for the costumes in the interludes, which were the work of Giovan
Battista Strozzi, who had charge of the whole comedy, Tribolo himself
made the most pleasing and beautiful inventions that it is possible to
imagine in the way of vestments, buskins, head-dresses, and other
wearing apparel. These things were the reason that the Duke afterwards
availed himself of Tribolo's ingenuity in many fantastic masquerades,
as in that of the bears, in a race of buffaloes, in the masquerade of
the ravens, and in others.
In like manner, in the year when there was born to the said Lord Duke
his eldest son, the Lord Don Francesco, there was to be made in the
Temple of S. Giovanni in Florence a very magnificent decoration which
was to be marvellous in its grandeur, and capable of accommodating one
hundred most noble young maidens, who were to accompany the Prince
from the Palace as far as the said temple, where he was to receive
baptism. The charge of this was given to Tribolo, who, in company with
Tasso, adapting himself to the place, brought it about that the
temple, which in itself is ancient and very beautiful, had the
appearance of a new temple designed very well in the modern manner,
with seats all round it richly adorned with pictures and gilding. In
the centre, beneath the lantern, he made a great vase of carved
woodwork with eight sides, the base of which rested on four steps, and
at the corners of the eight sides were some large caulicoles, which,
springing from the ground, where there were some lions' paws, had at
the top of them certain children of large size in various attitudes,
who were holding with their hands the lip of the vase, and supporting
with their shoulders some festoons which hung like a garland right
round the space in the middle. Besides this, Tribolo had made in the
middle of the vase a pedestal of wood with beautiful things of fancy
round it, upon which, to crown the work, he placed the S. John the
Baptist of marble, three braccia high, by the hand of Donatello, which
was left by him in the house of Gismondo Martelli, as has been related
in the Life of Donatello himself. In short, this temple was adorned
both within and without as well as could possibly be imagined, and the
only part neglected was the principal chapel, where there is an old
tabernacle with those figures in relief that Andrea Pisano made long
ago; by reason of which it appeared that, every other part being made
new, that old chapel spoilt all the grace that the other things
together displayed. Wherefore the Duke, going one day to see those
decorations, after praising everything like a man of judgment, and
recognizing how well Tribolo had adapted himself to the situation and
to every other feature of the place, censured one thing only, but that
severely--that no thought had been given to the principal chapel. And
then he ordained on the spot, like a person of resolute character and
beautiful judgment, that all that part should be covered with a vast
canvas painted in chiaroscuro, with S. John the Baptist baptizing
Christ, and the people standing all around to see them or to be
baptized, some taking off their clothes, and others putting them on
again, in various attitudes; and above this was to be a God the Father
sending down the Holy Spirit, with two fountains in the guise of
river-gods, representing the Jor and the Dan, which, pouring forth
water, were to form the Jordan. Jacopo da Pontormo was requested to
execute this work by Messer Pier Francesco Riccio, at that time
major-domo to the Duke, and by Tribolo, but he would not do it, on the
ground that he did not think that the time given, which was only six
days, would be enough for him; and the same refusal was made by
Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, Bronzino, and many others. Now at this time
Giorgio Vasari, having returned from Bologna, was executing for Messer
Bindo Altoviti the altar-piece of his chapel in S. Apostolo at
Florence, but he was not held in much consideration, although he had
friendship with Tribolo and Tasso, because certain persons had formed
a faction under the protection of the above-named Messer Pier
Francesco Riccio, and whoever was not of that faction had no share in
the favours of the Court, although he might be able and deserving.
This was the reason that many who, with the aid of so great a Prince,
would have become excellent, found themselves neglected, none being
employed save those chosen by Tasso, who, being a gay person, got
Riccio so well under his thumb with his jokes, that in certain affairs
he neither proposed nor did anything save what was suggested by Tasso,
who was architect to the Palace and did all the work. These men, then,
having a sort of suspicion of Giorgio, who laughed at their vanities
and follies, and sought to make a position for himself rather by means
of the studies of art than by favour, gave no thought to his claims;
but he was commissioned by the Lord Duke to execute that canvas, with
the subject described above. This work he executed in chiaroscuro, in
six days, and delivered it finished in the manner known to those who
saw what grace and adornment it conferred on the whole decoration, and
how much it enlivened that part of the temple that stood most in need
of it, amid the magnificence of that festival. Tribolo, then (to
return to the point whence, I know not how, I digressed), acquitted
himself so well, that he rightly won the highest praise; and the Duke
commanded that a great part of the ornaments that he placed between
the columns should be left there, where they still are, and
deservedly.