A rich Genoese merchant commissioned Donatello to execute his bust in
bronze, of life size. When the work was completed, it was pronounced a
capital performance, and Cosmo de' Medici, who was the friend of both
parties, caused it to be placed in the upper court of the palace,
between the battlements which overlook the street, that it might be seen
by the citizens. When the merchant, unacquainted with the value of such
works, came to pay for it, the price demanded appeared to him so
exorbitant that he refused to take it, whereupon the mutter was referred
to Cosmo. When the latter sought to settle the difference, he found the
offer of the merchant to be very far from the just demand of Donatello,
and turning towards him, observed that he offered too small
compensation. The merchant replied that Donatello could have made it in
a month, and would thus be gaining half a florin a day (about one
dollar). Donatello, disgusted and stung with rage, told the merchant
that he had found means in the hundredth part of an hour to destroy the
whole labor and cures of a year, and knocked the bust out of the window,
which was dashed to pieces on the pavement below, observing, at the same
time, that "it was evident he was better versed in bargaining for
horse-beans than in purchasing statues." The merchant now ashamed of his
conduct, and regretting what had happened, offered him double his price
if he would reconstruct the bust,--but Donatello, though poor, flatly
refused to do it on any terms, even at the request of Cosmo himself.