THE FIRST piece I cast in bronze was that great bust, the portrait of
his Excellency, which I had modelled in the goldsmith’s workroom while
suffering from those pains in my back. [1] It gave much pleasure when it
was completed, though my sole object in making it was to obtain
experience of clays suitable for bronze-casting. I was of course aware
that the admirable sculptor Donatello had cast his bronzes with the clay
of Florence; yet it seemed to me that he had met with enormous
difficulties in their execution. As I thought that this was due to some
fault in the earth, I wanted to make these first experiments before I
undertook my Perseus. From them I learned that the clay was good enough,
but had not been well understood by Donatello, inasmuch as I could see
that his pieces had been cast with the very greatest trouble.
Accordingly, as I have described above, I prepared the earth by
artificial methods, and found it serve me well, and with it I cast the
bust; but since I had not yet constructed my own furnace, I employed
that of Maestro Zanobi di Pagno, a bell-founder.
When I saw that this bust came out sharp and clean, I set at once to
construct a little furnace in the workshop erected for me by the Duke,
after my own plans and design, in the house which the Duke had given me.
No sooner was the furnace ready than I went to work with all diligence
upon the casting of Medusa, that is, the woman twisted in a heap beneath
the feet of Perseus. It was an extremely difficult task, and I was
anxious to observe all the niceties of art which I had learned, so as
not to lapse into some error. The first cast I took in my furnace
succeeded in the superlative degree, and was so clean that my friends
thought I should not need to retouch it. It is true that certain Germans
and Frenchmen, who vaunt the possession of marvellous secrets, pretend
that they can cast bronzes without retouching them; but this is really
nonsense, because the bronze, when it has first been cast, ought to be
worked over and beaten in with hammers and chisels, according to the
manner of the ancients and also to that of the moderns--I mean such
moderns as have known how to work in bronze.
The result of this casting greatly pleased his Excellency, who often
came to my house to inspect it, encouraging me by the interest he showed
to do my best. The furious envy of Bandinello, however, who kept always
whispering in the Duke’s ears, had such effect that he made him believe
my first successes with a single figure or two proved nothing; I should
never be able to put the whole large piece together, since I was new to
the craft, and his Excellency ought to take good heed he did not throw
his money away. These insinuations operated so efficiently upon the
Duke’s illustrious ears, that part of my allowance for workpeople was
withdrawn. I felt compelled to complain pretty sharply to his
Excellency; and having gone to wait on him one morning in the Via de’
Servi, I spoke as follows: “My lord, I do not now receive the monies
necessary for my task, which makes me fear that your Excellency has lost
confidence in me. Once more then I tell you that I feel quite able to
execute this statue three times better than the model, as I have before
engaged my word.”