Sannazzaro well forward, and had blocked out the marble for the
Hercules; and he then went with the latter to Florence. There he brought
it with much promptitude and study to such a condition, that it would
have been but little toil for him to finish it completely if he had
continued to work at it. But a rumour having arisen that the marble was
not proving to be by any means as perfect a work as the model, and that
the Frate was likely to find difficulty in fitting together the legs of
the Hercules, which did not correspond with the torso, Messer Pier
Francesco Riccio, the majordomo, who was paying the Frate his
allowance, let himself be swayed by that more than a serious man should
have done, and began to proceed very cautiously with his payments,
trusting too much to Bandinelli, who was leaning with all his weight
against Fra Giovanni Agnolo, in order to avenge himself for the wrong
which it appeared to him that master had done to him by promising that
he would make the statue of Doria when once free of his obligation to
the Duke. It was also thought that the favour of Tribolo, who was
executing the ornaments of Castello, was no advantage to the Frate.
However that may have been, perceiving himself to be badly treated by
Riccio, and being a proud and choleric man, he went off to Genoa. There
he received from Cardinal Doria and from the Prince the commission for
the statue of that Prince, which was to be placed on the Piazza Doria;
to which having set his hand, yet without altogether neglecting the tomb
of Sannazzaro, while Tadda was executing the squared work and the
carvings at Carrara, he finished it to the great satisfaction of the
Prince and the people of Genoa. But, although that statue had been made
to be placed on the Piazza Doria, nevertheless the Genoese made so much
ado, that, to the despair of the Frate, it was placed on the Piazza
della Signoria, notwithstanding that he said that he had fashioned it to
stand by itself on a pedestal, and that therefore it could not look well
or have its proper effect against a wall. And, to tell the truth,
nothing worse can be done than to set up a work made for one place in
some other place, seeing that the craftsman accommodates himself in the
process of his labour, with regard to the lights and view-points, to the
position in which his work, whether sculpture or painting, is to be
placed. After this the Genoese, seeing the scenes and figures made for
the tomb of Sannazzaro, and much liking them, desired that the Frate
should execute a S. John the Evangelist for their Cathedral Church;
which, when finished, pleased them so much that it filled them with
stupefaction.
Finally Fra Giovanni Agnolo departed from Genoa and went to Naples,
where he set up in the place already mentioned the tomb of Sannazzaro,
which is composed in this fashion. At the lower corners are two
pedestals, on each of which are carved the arms of Sannazzaro, and
between them is a slab of one braccio and a half on which is carved the
epitaph that Jacopo wrote for himself, supported by two little boys.
Next, on each of the said pedestals is a seated statue of marble in the
round, four braccia in height, these being Minerva and Apollo; and
between them, set off by two ornamental consoles that are at the sides,
is a scene two braccia and a half square, in which are carved in
low-relief Fauns, Satyrs, Nymphs, and other figures that are playing and
singing, after the manner which that most excellent man has described in
the pastoral verses of his most learned Arcadia. Above this scene is
placed a sarcophagus of a very beautiful shape in the round, all carved
and very ornate, in which are the remains of that poet; and upon it, on
a base in the centre, is his head taken from life, with these words at
the foot--ACTIUS SINCERUS; accompanied by two boys with wings in the
manner of Loves, who have some books about them. And in two niches that
are at the sides, in the other two walls of the chapel, there are on two
bases two upright figures of marble in the round, each of three braccia
or little more; these being S. James the Apostle and S. Nazzaro. When
this work had been built up in the manner that has been described, the
above-mentioned lords, the executors, were completely satisfied with it,
and all Naples likewise.
[Illustration: TOMB OF ANDREA DORIA
(_After =Fra Giovanni Agnolo Montorsoli=. Genoa: S. Matteo_)
_Alinari_]
The Frate then remembering that he had promised Prince Doria that he
would return to Genoa to make his tomb for him in S. Matteo and to adorn
the whole church, he departed straightway from Naples and set out for
Genoa. Having arrived there, he made the models of the work that he was
to execute for that lord, which pleased him vastly; and then he set his
hand to it, with a good allowance of money and a good number of masters.
And thus, dwelling in Genoa, the Frate made many friendships with
noblemen and men of distinction, and in particular with some physicians,
who were of much assistance to him; for, helping one another, they made
anatomical studies of many human bodies, and gave their attention to
architecture and perspective, and so Fra Giovanni Agnolo attained to the
greatest excellence. Besides this, the Prince, going very often to the
place where he was working, and much liking his discourse, conceived a
very great affection for him. At that time, also, of two nephews that he
had left in charge of Maestro Zaccheria, one, called Agnolo, was sent to
him, a young man of beautiful genius and exemplary character; and
shortly afterwards there was sent to him by the same Zaccheria another
young man called Martino, the son of one Bartolommeo, a tailor. Of both
these young men, teaching them as if they were his sons, the Frate
availed himself in the work that he had in hand. And when he had finally
come to the end of it, he built up the chapel, the tomb, and the other
ornaments that he had made for that church, which forms a cross at the
head of the central nave and three crosses down along the length of the
nave, and has the high-altar standing isolated at the head and in the
centre. The chapel, then, is supported at the corners by four large
pilasters, which likewise uphold the great cornice that runs right
round, over which curve four semicircular arches that lie in line with
the pilasters. Of these arches, three are adorned in their central space
with windows of no great size; and over the arches curves a round
cornice that forms four angles between one arch and another at the
corners, while above it rises a vaulting in the form of a basin. After
the Frate, then, had made many ornaments of marble about the altar on
all four sides, he placed upon the altar a very rich and beautiful vase
of marble for the most Holy Sacrament, between two Angels of the size of
life, likewise of marble. Next, around the whole runs a pattern of
different kinds of stone let into the marble with a beautiful and
well-varied arrangement of variegated marbles and rare stones, such as
serpentines, porphyries, and jaspers. And in the principal wall, at the
head of the chapel, he made another pattern from the level of the floor
to the height of the altar, with similar kinds of variegated marble and
stone, which forms a base to four pilasters of marble that enclose three
spaces. In the central space, which is larger than the others, there is
in a tomb the body of I know not what Saint, and in those at the sides
are two statues of marble, representing two Evangelists. Above that
range of pilasters is a cornice, and above the cornice four other
smaller pilasters; and these support another cornice, which is divided
into compartments to hold three little tablets that correspond to the
spaces below. In the central compartment, which rests upon the great
cornice, is a Christ of marble rising from the dead, in full-relief, and
larger than life. On the walls at the sides the same order of columns is
repeated; and above that tomb, in the central space, is a Madonna in
half-relief, with the Dead Christ: which Madonna is between King David
and S. John the Baptist; and on the other side are S. Andrew and
Jeremiah the Prophet. The lunettes of the arches above the great
cornice, wherein are two windows, are in stucco-work, with two children
that appear to be adorning the windows. In the angles below the tribune
are four Sibyls, likewise of stucco, even as the whole vaulting is also
wrought in grotesques of various manners. Beneath this chapel is built a
subterranean chamber, wherein, after descending to it by a marble
staircase, one sees at the head a sarcophagus of marble with two
children upon it, in which was to be placed--as I believe was done after
his death--the body of Signor Andrea Doria himself. And on an altar
opposite to the sarcophagus, within a most beautiful vase of bronze,
which was made and polished divinely well by him who cast it, whoever he
may have been, is a piece of the wood of that most holy Cross upon which
our Blessed Jesus Christ was crucified; which wood was presented to
Prince Doria by the Duke of Savoy. The walls of that tomb are all
encrusted with marble, and the vaulting wrought in stucco and gold, with
many stories of the noble deeds of Doria; and the pavement is all
divided into compartments with different kinds of variegated stone, to
correspond with the vaulting. Next, on the walls of the cross of the
nave, at the head, are two tombs of marble with two tablets in
half-relief; in one is buried Count Filippino Doria, and in the other
Signor Giannettino of the same family. Against the pilasters at the
beginning of the central nave are two very beautiful pulpits of marble,
and at the sides of the aisles there are distributed along the walls in
a fine order of architecture some chapels with columns and many other
ornaments, which make that church a truly rich and magnificent edifice.
The church finished, the same Prince Doria ordained that work should be
begun on his Palace, and that new additions of buildings should be made
to it, with very beautiful gardens. These were executed under the
direction of the Frate, who, having at the last constructed a fish-pond
in front of that Palace, made a sea monster of marble in full-relief,
which pours water in great abundance into that fish-pond; and after the
likeness of that monster he made for those lords another, which was sent
into Spain to Granvela. He also executed a great Neptune in stucco,
which was placed on a pedestal in the garden of the Prince; and he made
in marble two portraits of the same Prince and two of Charles V, which
were taken by Covos to Spain.
Much the friends of the Frate, while he was living in Genoa, were Messer
Cipriano Pallavicino, who, being a man of great judgment in the matters
of our arts, has always associated readily with the most excellent
craftsmen, and has shown them every favour; the Lord Abbot Negro, Messer
Giovanni da Montepulciano, the Lord Prior of S. Matteo, and, in a word,
all the first lords and gentlemen of that city, in which he acquired
both fame and riches.
Having finished the works described above, Fra Giovanni Agnolo departed
from Genoa and went to Rome to visit Buonarroti, whom he had not seen
for many years past, and to try if he could by some means pick up again
the thread of his connection with the Duke of Florence and return to
complete the Hercules that he had left unfinished. But, after arriving
in Rome, where he bought himself the title of Chevalier of S. Pietro, he
heard by letters received from Florence that Bandinelli, pretending to
be in want of marble, and giving out that the above-named Hercules was a
piece of marble spoiled, had broken it up, with the leave of Riccio the
majordomo, and had used it to make cornices for the tomb of Signor
Giovanni, on which he was then at work; and at this he felt such
disdain, that for the time being he would not on any account return to
visit Florence, since it appeared to him that the presumption,
arrogance, and insolence of that man were too easily endured.
[Illustration: FOUNTAIN OF NEPTUNE
(_After =Fra Giovanni Agnolo Montorsoli=. Messina: Piazza del Duomo_)
_Brogi_]
While the Frate was thus passing his time in Rome, the people of
Messina, having determined to erect on the Piazza of their Duomo a
fountain with a very great enrichment of statues, had sent men to Rome
to seek out some excellent sculptor. These men had secured Raffaello da
Montelupo, but he fell ill at the very moment when he was about to
depart with them for Messina, so that they made another choice and took
the Frate, who had sought with all insistence, and even with some
interest, to obtain that work. Having therefore apprenticed as a
carpenter in Rome his nephew Agnolo, who had proved to be less gifted
than he had expected, he set out with Martino, and they arrived in
Messina in the month of September, 1547. There, having been provided
with rooms, he set his hand to making the conduit for the waters, which
come from a distance, and to having marble sent from Carrara; and with
great promptitude, assisted by many stone-cutters and carvers, he
finished that fountain, which is made in the following manner. The
fountain, I say, has eight sides--namely, four large, the principal
sides, and four smaller. The principal sides are divided, and two of
these, projecting outwards, form an angle in the middle, and two,
receding inwards, join a straight face that belongs to the four smaller
sides, so that in all there are eight. The four angular sides, which jut
outwards, making a projection, give space for the four straight sides,
which recede inwards; and in each enclosed space is a basin of some
size, which receives water in great abundance from one of four River
Gods of marble that are placed on the edge of the basin of the whole
fountain, so as to command all the eight sides already described. The
fountain stands on a base of four steps, which form twelve sides; eight
longer sides, which contain the angles, and four smaller sides, where
the basins are, under the four River Gods. The borders of the fountain
are five palms high, and at each of the corners (which in all cover
twenty sides) there is a terminal figure as an ornament. The
circumference of the first basin with eight sides is one hundred and two
palms, and the diameter is thirty-four; and in each of the above-named
twenty sides is a little scene of marble in low-relief, with poetical
subjects appropriate to water and fountains, such as the horse Pegasus
creating the Castalian Fount, Europa passing over the sea, Icarus flying
and falling into the same, Arethusa transformed into a fount, Jason
crossing the sea with the Golden Fleece, Narcissus changed into a fount,
and Diana in the water and transforming Actaeon into a stag, with other
suchlike stories. At the eight angles that divide the projections of the
steps of the fountain, which rises two steps towards the basins and
River Gods, and four towards the angular sides, are eight Sea Monsters,
lying on certain dados, with their front paws resting on some masks that
pour water into some vases. The River Gods which are on the border, and
which rest within the basin on dados so high that they appear as if
sitting in the water, are the Nile with seven little boys, the Tiber
surrounded by an infinite number of palms and trophies, the Ebro with
many victories of Charles V, and the River Cumano, near Messina, from
which the waters for the fountain are taken; with some stories and
Nymphs executed with beautiful conceptions. Up to this level of ten
palms there are sixteen jets of water, very abundant; eight come from
the masks already mentioned, four from the River Gods, and four from
some fishes seven palms high, which, standing upright in the basin, with
their heads out, spout water towards the larger sides. In the centre of
the octagonal basin, on a pedestal four palms high, are Sirens with
wings in place of arms, one at each corner; and above these Sirens,
which are twined together in the centre, are four Tritons eight palms
high, which likewise have their tails twined together, and with their
arms they support a great tazza, into which water is poured by four
masks superbly carved. From the centre of that tazza rises a round shaft
that supports two most hideous masks, representing Scylla and Charybdis,
which are trodden under foot by three nude Nymphs, each six palms high,
above whom is placed the last tazza, which is upheld by them with their
arms. In that tazza four Dolphins, with their heads down and their tails
raised on high, forming a base, support a ball, from the centre of
which, through four heads, there issues water that spouts upwards, and
so also from the Dolphins, upon which are mounted four naked little
boys. On the topmost summit, finally, is a figure in armour representing
the constellation of Orion, which has on the shield the arms of the city
of Messina, of which Orion is said, or rather is fabled, to have been
the founder.
Such, then, is that fountain of Messina, although it is not so easy to
describe it in words as it would be to picture it in drawing. And since
it much pleased the people of Messina, they caused him to make another
on the shore, where the Customs-house is; which also proved to be
beautiful and very rich. Now, although that fountain has in like manner
eight sides, it is nevertheless different from that described above; for
it has four straight sides that rise three steps, and four others,
smaller, that are semicircular, and upon these stands the fountain with
its eight sides. The borders of the great basin on the lowest level have
at each angle a carved pedestal of an equal height, and in the centre of
four of them, on the front face, is another pedestal. On each side where
the steps are semicircular there is an elliptical basin of marble, into
which water pours in great abundance through two masks that are on the
parapet below the carved border. In the centre of the great basin of the
fountain is a pedestal high in proportion, on which are the arms of
Charles V; at each angle of that pedestal is a Sea-horse, which spouts
water on high from between its feet; and in the frieze of the same,
beneath the upper cornice, are eight great masks that pour jets of water
downwards. And on the summit is a Neptune of five braccia, who holds the
trident in his hand, and has the right leg planted beside a Dolphin. At
the sides, also, upon two other pedestals, are Scylla and Charybdis in
the forms of two monsters, fashioned very well, with heads of Dogs and
Furies about them.
That work, likewise, when finished, much pleased the people of Messina,
who, having found a man to their liking, made a beginning, when the
fountains were completed, with the facade of the Duomo, and carried it
to some extent forward. And then they ordained that twelve chapels in
the Corinthian Order should be made in that Duomo, six on either side,
with the twelve Apostles in marble, each of five braccia. Of these
chapels only four were finished by the Frate, who also made with his own
hand a S. Peter and a S. Paul, which were two large and very good
figures. He was also commissioned to make a Christ of marble for the
head of the principal chapel, with a very rich ornament all around, and
a scene in low-relief beneath each of the statues of the Apostles; but
at that time he did nothing more. On the Piazza of the same Duomo he
directed the building of the Temple of S. Lorenzo, in a beautiful manner
of architecture, which won him much praise; and on the shore there was
built under his direction the Beacon-tower. And while these works were
being carried forward, he caused a chapel to be erected for the Captain
Cicala in S. Domenico, for which he made a Madonna of marble as large as
life; and for the chapel of Signor Agnolo Borsa, in the cloister of the
same church, he executed a scene of marble in low-relief, which was held
to be beautiful, and was wrought with much diligence. He also caused
water to be conducted by way of the wall of S. Agnolo for a fountain,
and made for it with his own hand a large boy of marble, which pours
water into a vase that is very ornate and beautifully contrived; which
was held to be a lovely work. At the Wall of the Virgin he made another
fountain, with a Virgin by his own hand, which pours water into a basin;
and for that which is erected at the Palace of Signor Don Filippo
Laroca, he made a boy larger than life, of a kind of stone that is used
at Messina, which boy, surrounded by certain monsters and other products
of the sea, pours water into a vase. And he made a statue in marble of
four braccia, a very beautiful figure of S. Catharine the Martyr, which
was sent to Taormina, a place twenty-four miles distant from Messina.
[Illustration: HIGH ALTAR
(_After =Fra Giovanni Agnolo Montorsoli=. Bologna: S. Maria dei Servi_)
_Alinari_]
Friends of Fra Giovanni Agnolo, while he was living at Messina, were the
above-named Signor Don Filippo Laroca, and Don Francesco of the same
family; Messer Bardo Corsi, Giovan Francesco Scali, and M. Lorenzo
Borghini, all three Florentine gentlemen then in Messina; Serafino da
Fermo, and the Grand Master of Rhodes, which last many times sought to
draw him to Malta and to make him a Knight; but he answered that he did
not wish to confine himself in that island, besides which, feeling that
he was doing ill not to be wearing the habit of his Order, he thought at
times of going back to it. And, in truth, I know that even if he had not
been in a manner forced to do it, he was determined to resume the habit
and to go back to live like a good Churchman. When, therefore, in the
time of Pope Paul IV, in the year 1557, all the apostates, or rather,
friars who had thrown off the habit, were constrained to return to
their Orders under threat of the severest penalties, Fra Giovanni
Agnolo abandoned the works that he had in hand, leaving his disciple
Martino in his place, and went in the month of May from Messina to
Naples, intending to return to his Servite Monastery in Florence.
But before doing any other thing, wishing to devote himself entirely to
God, he set about thinking how he might dispose of his great gains most
suitably. And so, after having given in marriage certain nieces who were
poor girls, and others from his native country and from Montorsoli, he
ordained that a thousand crowns should be given to his nephew Agnolo, of
whom mention has been already made, in Rome, and that a knighthood of
the Lily should be bought for him. To each of two hospitals in Naples he
gave a good sum of money in alms. To his own Servite Convent he left a
thousand crowns to buy a farm, and also that at Montorsoli which had
belonged to his forefathers, on the condition that twenty-five crowns
should be paid to each of two nephews of his own, friars of the same
Order, every year during their lifetime, together with other charges
that will be mentioned later. All these matters being arranged, he
showed himself in Rome and resumed the habit, with much joy to himself
and to his fellow-friars, and particularly to Maestro Zaccheria. Then,
having gone to Florence, he was received and welcomed by his relatives
and friends with incredible pleasure and gladness. But, although the
Frate had determined that he would spend the rest of his life in the
service of our Lord God and the salvation of his soul, and live in peace
and quietness, enjoying a knighthood that he had reserved for himself,
he did not succeed in this so easily. For he was summoned to Bologna
with great insistence by Maestro Giulio Bovio, the uncle of Vascone
Bovio, to the end that he might make the high-altar in the Church of the
Servites, which was to be all of marble and isolated, and in addition a
tomb with figures, richly decorated with variegated stone and
incrustations of marble; and he was not able to refuse him, particularly
because that work was to be executed in a church of his Order. Having
therefore gone to Bologna, he set his hand to the work and executed it
in twenty-eight months, making that altar, which shuts off the choir of
the friars from one pilaster to the other, all of marble both within and
without, with a nude Christ of two braccia and a half in the centre,
and with some other statues at the sides. That work is truly beautiful
in architecture, well designed and distributed, and so well put
together, that nothing better could be done; the pavement, also, wherein
there is the tomb of Bovio on the level of the ground, is wrought in a
beautifully ordered pattern; certain candelabra of marble, with some
little figures and scenes, are passing well contrived; and every part is
rich in carving. But the figures, besides that they are small, on
account of the difficulty that is found in conveying large pieces of
marble to Bologna, are not equal to the architecture, nor much worthy to
be praised.
While Fra Giovanni Agnolo was executing that work in Bologna, he was
ever pondering, as one who was not yet firmly resolved in the matter, in
what place, among those of his Order, he might be able most conveniently
to spend his last years; when Maestro Zaccheria, his very dear friend,
who was then Prior of the Nunziata in Florence, desiring to attract him
to that place and to settle him there, spoke of him to Duke Cosimo,
recalling to his memory the excellence of the Frate, and praying that he
should deign to make use of him. To which the Duke having answered
graciously, saying that he would avail himself of the Frate as soon as
he had returned from Bologna, Maestro Zaccheria wrote to him of the
whole matter, and then sent him a letter of Cardinal Giovanni de'
Medici, in which that lord exhorted him that he should return to his own
country to execute some important work with his own hand. Having
received these letters, the Frate, remembering that Messer Pier
Francesco Riccio, after having been mad many years, had died, and that
Bandinelli also had left the world, which men had seemed to be little
his friends, wrote back that he would not fail to return as soon as he
might be able, in order to serve his most illustrious Excellency, and to
execute under his protection not profane things, but some sacred work,
since he had a mind wholly turned to the service of God and of His
Saints.