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Niccolo Tribolo (1500-1558)

Vasari's Lives of the Artists










	RAFFAELLO the carpenter, surnamed Il Riccio de'
Pericoli, who lived near the Canto a Monteloro in Florence, had born to
him in the year 1500, as he used to tell me himself, a male child, whom he
was pleased to call at baptism, like his own father, Niccolo; and having
perceived that the boy had a quick and ready intelligence and a lofty
spirit, he determined, although he was but a poor artisan, that he should
begin straight-way by learning to read and write well and cast
accounts. Sending him to school, therefore, it came about, since the child
was very vivacious and so high-spirited in his every action, that he was
always cramped for room and was a very devil both among the other boys at
school and everywhere else, always teasing and tormenting both himself and
others, that he lost his own name of Niccolo and acquired that of Tribolo
to such purpose, that he was called that ever afterwards by everyone.


	Now, Tribolo growing, his father, in order both to
make use of him and to curb the boy's exuberance, took him into his
workshop and taught him his own trade; but having seen in a few months
that he was ill suited for such a calling, being somewhat delicate, thin,
and feeble in health, he came to the conclusion that if he wished to keep
him alive, he must release him from the heavier labors of his craft and
set him to woodcarving.  Having heard that without design, the father of
all the arts, the boy could not become an excellent master therein,
Raffaello resolved that he should begin by devoting all his time to
design, and therefore made him draw now cornices, foliage, and grotesques,
and now other things necessary to such a profession. And having seen that
in doing this the boy was well served both by his head and by his hand,
and reflecting, like a man of judgment, that with him Niccolo could at
best learn nothing else but to work by the square, Raffaello first spoke
of this with the carpenter Ciappino, who was the very familiar friend of
Nanni Unghero; and with his advice and assistance, he placed Niccolo for
three years with the said Nanni, in whose workshop, where both joiner's
work and carving were done, there were constantly to be found the sculptor
Jacopo Sansovino, the painter Andrea del Sarto, and others, who afterwards
became such able masters.  


	Now Nanni, who had in those days a passing good
reputation for excellence, was executing many works both in joinery and in
carving for the villa of Zanobi Bartolini at Rovezzano, without the Porta
alla Croce, for the palace of the Bartolini, which Giovanni, the brother
of that Zanobi, was having built at that time on the Piazza di Santa
Trinita, and for the house and garden of the same man in Gualfonda; and
Tribolo, who was made to work by Nanni without discretion, always having
to handle saws, planes, and other common tools, and not being capable, by
reason of the feebleness of his body, of such exertions, began to feel
dissatisfied and to say to Riccio, when he asked for the cause of his
discontent, that he did not think that he could remain with Nanni in that
craft, and that therefore Raffaello should see to placing him with Andrea
del Sarto or Jacopo Sansovino, whom he had come to know in Unghero's
workshop, for the reason that with one or the other of them he hoped to do
better and to be sounder in health.  Moved by these reasons, then, and
again with the advice and assistance of Ciappino, Riccio placed Tribolo
with Jacopo Sansovino, who took him willingly, because he had known him in
the workshop of Nanni Unghero, and had seen that he worked well in design
and even better in relief.


	Jacopo Sansovino, when Tribolo, now restored to
health, went to work under him , was executing in the Office of Works of
Santa Maria del Fiore, in competition with Benedetto da Rovezzano, Andrea
da Fiesole, and Baccio Bandinelli, the marble statue of S. James the
Apostle which is still to be seen at the present day at that place
together with the others.  And thus Tribolo, with these opportunities of
learning, by working in clay and drawing with great diligence, contrived
to make such proficience in that art, for which he felt a natural
inclination, that Jacopo, growing to love him more and more every day,
began to encourage him and to bring him forward by making him execute now
one thing and now another.  Whereupon, although Sansovino had in his
workshop at that time Solosmeo da Settignano and Pippo del Fabro, young
men of great promise, seeing that Tribolo, having added skill in the use
of chisels to his good knowledge get working in clay and in wax, not only
equaled them but surpassed them by a great measure, he began to make much
use of him in his works. And after finishing the Apostle and a Bacchus
that he made for the house of Giovanni Bartolini in Gualfonda, and
undertaking to make for M. Giovanni Gaddi, his intimate friend, a
chimney-piece and a waterbasin of hard sandstone for his house on the
Piazza di Madonna, he caused some large figures of boys in clay, which
were to go above the great cornice, to be made by Tribolo, who executed
them so extraordinarily well, that M. Giovanni, having seen the beautiful
manner and the genius of the young man, commissioned him to execute two
medallions of marble, which, finished with great excellence, were
afterwards placed over certain doors in the same house.


	Meanwhile there was a commission to be given for a
tomb, a work of great magnitude, for the King of Portugal; and since
Jacopo had been the disciple of Andrea Contucci of Monte Sansovino , and
had the reputation  not only of having equaled his master, a man of great
renown, but of having a manner even more beautiful, that work, through the
good offices of the Bartolini , was allotted to him. Whereupon Jacopo made
a most superb model of wood, all covered with scenes and figures of wax,
which were executed for the most part by Tribolo; and these proving to be
very beautiful, the young man's fame so increased that Matteo di Lorenzo
Strozzi,Tribolo having now left Sansovino, thinking that he was by that
time able to work by himself,commissioned him to make some children of
stone, and shortly afterwards, being much pleased with them, two of marble
that are holding a dolphin which pours water into a fish-pond, a work that
is now to be seen at San Casciano, a place eight miles distant from
Florence, in the villa of that M. Matteo.


	While these works were being executed by Tribolo
in Florence, M. Bartolommeo Barbazzi, a Bolognese gentleman who had gone
there on some business, remembered that a search was being made in Bologna
for a young man who could work well, to the end that he might be set to
making figures and scenes of marble for the facade of San Petronio, the
principal church of that city. Wherefore he spoke to Tribolo, and having
seen some of his works, which pleased him, as also did the young man s
ways and other qualities, he took him to Bologna, where Tribolo, with
great diligence and with much credit to himself, in a short time made the
two Sibyls of marble that were afterwards placed in the ornament of that
door of San Petronio which leads to the Della Morte Hospital. These works
finished, arrangements were being made to give him greater things to do,
and he was receiving many proofs of love and affection from
M. Bartolommeo, when the plague of the year 1525 began in Bologna and
throughout all Lombardy; whereupon Tribolo, in order to avoid that plague,
made his way to Florence. 


	After living there during all the time that this
contagious and pestilential sickness lasted, he departed as soon as it had
ceased, and returned, in obedience to a summons, to Bologna, where
M. Bartolommeo, not allowing him to set his hand to any work for the
facade, resolved, seeing that many of his friends and relatives had died,
to have a tomb made for himself and for them.  And so Tribolo, after
finishing the model, which M. Bartolommeo insisted on seeing completed
before he did anything else, went in person to Carrara to have the marbles
excavated, intending to rough-hew them on the spot and to lighten them in
such a manner, that they might not only be easier to transport, as indeed
they were, but also that the figures might come out larger.  In that
place, in order not to waste his time, he blocked out two large children
of marble, which were taken to Bologna with beasts of burden, unfinished
as they were, together with the rest of the work; and after the death of
M. Bartolommeo, which caused such grief to Tribolo that he returned to
Tuscany, they were placed, with the other marbles, in a chapel in San
Petronio, where they still are.


	Having thus departed from Carrara, Tribolo, on his
way back to Florence, stayed in Pisa to visit the sculptor Maestro Stagio
da Pietrasanta, his very dear friend, who was executing in the Office of
Works of the Duomo in that city two columns with capitals of marble all in
open work, which were to stand one on either side of the high-altar and
the Tabernacle of the Sacrament; and each of these was to have upon the
capital an Angel of marble one braccio and three quarters in height, with
a candelabrum in the hand.  At the invitation of the said Stagio, having
nothing else to do at that time, he undertook to make one of those
Angels: which being finished with all the perfection that could be given
to a delicate work of that size in marble, proved to be such that nothing
more could have been desired, for the reason that the Angel, with the
movement of his person, has the appearance of having stayed his flight in
order to uphold that light, and the nude form has about it some delicate
draperies which are so graceful in their effect, and look so well on every
side and from every point of view, that words could not express their
beauty.  But, having consumed much time in executing this work, since he
cared for nothing but his delight in art, and not having received for it
from the Warden the payment that he expected, he resolved that he would
not make the other Angel, and returned to Florence. 


	There he met with Giovan Battista della Palla, who
at that time was not only causing all the sculptures and pictures that he
could to be executed for sending to King Francis I in France, but was also
buying antiques of all sorts and pictures of every kind, provided only
that they were by the hands of good masters; and every day he was packing
them up and sending them off.  Now, at the very moment when Tribolo
returned, Giovan Battista had an ancient vase of granite, of a very
beautiful shape, which he wished to arrange in such a manner that it might
serve for a fountain for that King.  He therefore declared his mind to
Tribolo, and what he proposed to have done; and he, setting to work, made
him a Goddess of Nature, who, raising one arm, holds that vase, the foot
of which she has upon her head, with the hands, the first row of breasts
being adorned with some boys standing out entirely detached from the
marble, who are in various most beautiful attitudes, holding certain
festoons in their hands, while the next range of breasts is covered with
quadrupeds, and at her feet are many different kinds of fishes.  That
figure was finished with such diligence and such perfection, that it well
deserved, after being sent to France together with other works, to be held
very dear by the King, and to be placed, as a rare thing, in Fontainebleau.


	Afterwards, in the year 1529, when preparations
were being made for the war against Florence and the siege, Pope Clement
VII, wishing to study the exact site of the city and to consider in what
manner and in what places his forces could be distributed to the best
advantage, ordained that a plan of the city should be made secretly, with
all the country for a mile around it,the hills, mountains, rivers, rocks,
houses, churches, and other things, and also the squares and streets
within, together with the walls and bastions surrounding it, and the other
de fences.  The charge of all this was given to Benvenuto di Lorenzo della
Volpaia, an able maker of clocks and quadrants and a very fine astrologer,
but above all a most excellent master in taking ground-plans. This
Benvenuto chose Tribolo as his companion, and that with great judgment,
for the reason that it was Tribolo who suggested that this plan, for the
better consideration of the height of the mountains, the depth of the
low-lying parts, and all other particulars, should be made in relief; the
doing of which was not without much labor and danger, in that, staying out
all night to measure the roads and to mark the number of braccia between
one place and another, and also to measure the height of the summits of
the belfries and towers, drawing intersecting lines in every direction by
means of the compass, and going beyond the walls to completion. pare the
height of the hills with that of the cupola, which they had marked as
their center, they did not execute such a work save after many months; but
they used great diligence, for they made it of cork, for the sake of
lightness, and limited the whole plan to the space of four braccia, and
measured everything to scale.  Having then been finished in this manner ,
and being made in pieces, that plan was packed up secretly and smuggled
out of Florence in some bales of wool that were going to Perugia, being
consigned to one who had orders to send it to the Pope, who made use of it
continually during the siege of Florence, keeping it in his chamber, and
seeing from one day to another, from letters and dispatches, where and how
the army was quartered, where skirmishes took place, and, in short, all
the incidents, arguments, and discussions that occurred during that
siege; all greatly to his satisfaction, for it was in truth a rare and
marvelous work.


	The war finished, during the progress of which
Tribolo executed some works in clay for his friends, and for Andrea del
Sarto, his dearest friend, three figures of wax in the round, of which
Andrea availed himself in painting in fresco, on the Piazza, near the
Condotta, portraits from nature of three captains who had fled with the
pay-chests, depicted as hanging by one foot.   Benvenuto, summoned by the
Pope, went to Rome to kiss the feet of his Holiness, and was placed by him
in charge of the Belvedere, with an honorable salary. In that office,
having often conversations with the Pope, Benvenuto, when the occasion
arose, did not fail to extol Tribolo as an excellent sculptor and to
recommend him warmly; insomuch that, the siege finished, Clement made use
of him.  For, designing to give completion to the Chapel of Our Lady at
Loreto, which had been begun by Leo and then abandoned on account of the
death of Andrea Contucci of Monte Sansovino, he ordained that Antonio da
San Gallo, who had the charge of executing that fabric, should summon
Tribolo and set him to complete some of those scenes that Maestro Andrea
had left unfinished. 


	Tribolo, then, thus summoned by San Gallo by order
of Clement, went with all his family to Loreto, whither there likewise
went Simone, called Mosca, a very rare carver of marble, Raffaello da
Montelupo, Francesco da San Gabo the younger, Girolamo Ferrarese the
sculptor, a disciple of Maestro Andrea, Simone Cioli, Ranieri da
Pietrasanta, and Francesco del Tadda, all invited in order to finish that
work. And to Tribolo, in the distribution of the labors, there fell, as
the work of the greatest importance, a scene in which Maestro Andrea had
represented the Marriage of Our Lady. Thereupon Tribolo made an addition
to that scene, and had the notion of placing among the many figures that
are standing watching the Marriage of the Virgin, one who in great fury is
breaking his rod, because it had not blossomed; and in this he succeeded
so well, that the suitor could not display with greater animation the rage
that he feels at not having had the good fortune that he desired. Which
work finished, and also that of the others, with great perfection, Tribolo
had already made many models of wax with a view to executing some of those
Prophets that were to go in the niches of that chapel, which was now built
and completely finished, when Pope Clement, after seeing those works and
praising them much, and particularly that of Tribolo, determined that they
should all return without loss of time to Florence, in order to finish
under the discipline of Michelangelo Buonarroti all those figures that
were wanting in the sacristy and library of San Lorenzo, and the rest of
the work, after the models of Michelangelo and with his assistance, with
the greatest possible speed, to the end that, having finished the
sacristy, they might all together be able, thanks to the proficience made
under the discipline of so great a man, also to finish the facade of San
Lorenzo. 



	And in order that there might be no manner of
delay in doing this, the Pope sent Michelangelo back to Florence, and with
him Fra Giovanni Angelo de' Servi, who had executed some works in the
Belvedere, to the end that he might assist him in carving the marbles and
might make some statues, according as he should receive orders from
Michelangelo , who caused him to make a San Cosimo, which was to stand on
one side of the Madonna , with a San Damiano, allotted to Montelupo, on
the other.  These commissions given, Michelangelo desired that Tribolo
should make two nude statues, which were to be one on either side of that
of Duke Giuliano, which he himself had already made; one was to be a
figure of Earth crowned with cypress, weeping with bowed head and with the
arms outstretched, and lamenting the death of Duke Giuliano, and the other
a figure of Heaven with the arms uplifted, all smiling and joyful, and
showing her gladness at the adornment and splendor that the soul and
spirit of that lord conferred upon her.  But Tribolo's evil fortune
crossed him at the very moment when he was about to begin work on the
statue of Earth; for, whether it was the change of air, or his feeble
constitution, or because he had been irregular in his way of living, he
fell ill of a grievous sickness, which, ending in a quartan fever, hung
about him many months, to his infinite vexation, since he was tormented no
less by his grief at having to abandon the work, and at seeing that the
friar and Raffaello had taken possession of the field, than by the illness
itself.




	However , wishing to conquer that illness, in
order not to be left behind by his rivals, whose name he heard celebrated
more and more every day, feeble as he was, he made a large model of clay
for the statue of Earth, and, when he had finished it, began to execute
the work in marble, with such diligence and assiduity, that the statue
could be seen already all cut out in front, when Fortune, who is always
ready to oppose herself to any fair beginning, by the death of Clement at
a moment , when nothing seemed less likely, cut short the aspirations of
all those excellent masters who were hoping to acquire under Michelangelo,
besides boundless profits, immortal renown and everlasting
fame.  Stupified by this misfortune and robbed of all his spirit, and
being also ill,  Tribolo was living in utter despair, seeming not to be
able either in Florence or abroad to hit upon anything that might be to
his advantage; but Giorgio Vasari, who was always his friend and loved him
from his heart, and helped him all that he could, consoled him, saying
that he should not lose heart, because he would so contrive that Duke
Alessandro would give him something to do, by means of the favor of the
Magnificent Ottaviano de' Medici, into whose service Giorgio had
introduced him on terms of no little intimacy. Wherefore Tribolo, having
regained a little courage, occupied himself, while measures were being
taken to assist him, with copying in clay all the figures of marble in the
Sacristy of San Lorenzo which Michelangelo had executed, namely, Dawn,
Twilight, Day, and Night.  


	And he succeeded in doing them so well, that
M. Giovan Battista Figiovanni, the Prior of San Lorenzo, to whom he
presented the Night in return for having the sacristy opened for him,
judging it to be a rare work, presented it to Duke Alessandro, who
afterwards gave it to Giorgio Vasari,  who was living with his Excellency,
knowing that Giorgio gave his attention to such studies; which figure is
now in his house at Arezzo, with other works of art.  Having afterwards
copied, likewise in clay, the Madonna made by Michelangelo for the same
sacristy, Tribolo presented it to the above-named M. Ottaviano de' Medici,
who had a most beautiful ornament in squared work made for it by Battista
del Cinque, with columns, cornices, brackets, and other carvings very well
executed.


	Meanwhile, by the favor of him who was Treasurer
to his Excellency, and at the commission of Bertoldo Corsini, the
proveditor for the fortress which was being built at that time, out of
three escutcheons that were to be made by order of the Duke for placing on
the bastions, one on each, one four braccia in height was given to Tribolo
to execute, with two nude figures representing Victories; which
escutcheon, finished by him with great diligence and promptitude, with the
addition of three great masks that support the escutcheon and the figures,
so pleased the Duke, that he conceived a very great love for Tribolo.  Now
shortly afterwards the Duke went to Naples to defend himself before the
Emperor Charles V, who had just returned from Tunis, against many
calumnies that had been laid upon him by some of his citizens; and, having
not only defended himself, but also obtained from his Majesty his daughter
Signora Margherita of Austria for wife, he wrote to Florence that four men
should be appointed who might cause vast and splendid decorations to be
prepared throughout the city, in order to receive the Emperor, who was
coming to Florence, with proper magnificence. And I, having to distribute
the various works at the commission of his Excellency,who ordained that I
should act in company with the said four men, who were Giovanni Corsi,
Luigi Guicciardini, Palla Rucellai, and Alessandro Corsini,gave the
greatest and most difficult labors for that festival to Tribolo to
execute, which were four large statues.  The first was a Hercules that has
just killed the Hydra, six braccia in height, in the round and overlaid
with silver, which was placed at that corner of the Piazza di San Felice
that is at the end of the Via Maggio, with the following inscription  in
letters of silver on the base: UT HERCULES LABORE ET AERUMNIS MONSTRA
EDOMUIT , ITA CAESAR VIRTUTE ET CLEMENTIA, HOSTIBUS VICTIS SEU PLACATIS,
PACEM ORBI TERRARUM ET QUIETEM RESTITUIT. 


	Two others were colossal figures eight braccia
high, one representing the River Bagrada, which was resting upon the skin
of the serpent that was brought to Rome, and the other representing the
Ebro, with the horn of Amaltheia in one hand and in the other the helm of
a ship; both colored in imitation of bronze, with inscriptions on the
bases; below the Ebro, HIBERUS EX HISPANIA, and below the other, BAGRADAS
EX AFRICA.  The fourth was a statue five braccia in height, on the Canto
de' Medici, representing Peace, who had in one hand an olive branch and in
the other a lighted torch, with which she was setting fire to a pile of
arms heaped up on the base on which she was placed; with the following
words: FIAT PAX IN VIRTUTE TUA.  He did not finish, as he had hoped to do,
the horse seven braccia in length that was set up on the Piazza di
S. Trinita, upon which was to be placed the statue of the Emperor in
armor, because Tasso the woodcarver, who was much his friend, did not show
any promptitude in executing the base and the other things in the way of
wood-carving that were to be included in the work, being a man who let
time slip through his fingers in arguing and jesting; and there was only
just time to cover the horse alone with tin-foil laid upon the still fresh
clay.  On the base were to be read the following words:


IMPERATORI CAROLO AUGUSTO VICTORIOSISSIMO POST DEVICTOS
HOSTES, ITALIAE PACE RESTITUTA ET SALUTATO FERDIN.
 FRATRE, EXPULSIS ITERUM TURCIS AFRICAQUE PERDOMITA, 
ALEXANDER MED. DUX FLORENTIAE, D.D.






	His Majesty having departed from Florence, a
beginning was made with the preparations for the nuptials, in expectation
of his daughter, and to the end that she and the Vice-Queen of Naples, who
was in her company, might be commodiously lodged according to the orders
of his Excellency in the house of M. Ottaviano de' Medici, an addition was
made to his old house in four weeks, to the astonishment of everyone; and
Tribolo, the painter Andrea di Cosimo , and I, in ten days, with the help
of about ninety sculptors and painters of the city, what with masters and
assistants, completed the preparations for the wedding in so far as
appertained to the house and its decorations, painting the loggie, court
yards, and other spaces in a manner suitable for nuptials of such
importance.  Among these decorations, Tribolo made, besides other things,
two Victories in half-relief that were one on either side of the principal
door , supported by two large terminal figures, which also upheld the
escutcheon of the Emperor, pendent from the neck of a very beautiful eagle
in the round.  The same master also made certain boys, likewise in the
round, and large in size, which were placed on either side of some heads
over the pediments of various doors; and these were much extolled.


	Meanwhile, as the nuptials were in progress,
Tribolo received letters from Bologna, in which Messer Pietro del Magno,
his devoted friend, besought him that he should consent to go to Bologna,
in order to make for the Madonna di Galliera, where a most beautiful
ornament of marble was already prepared, a scene likewise of marble three
braccia and a half in extent.  Whereupon Tribolo, happening to have
nothing else to do at that time, went thither, and after making a model of
a Madonna ascending into Heaven, with the Apostles below in various
attitudes, which, being very beautiful, gave great satisfaction, he set
his hand to executing it; but with little pleasure for himself, since the
marble that he was carving was that Milanese marble, saline, full of
emery, and bad in quality; and it seemed to him that he was wasting his
time, without feeling a particle of that delight that men find in working
those marbles which are a pleasure to carve, and which in the end, when
brought to completion, show a surface that has the appearance of the
living flesh itself.  However, he did so much that it was already almost
finished, when I, having persuaded Duke Alessandro to recall Michelangelo
from Rome, and also the other masters, in order to finish the work of the
sacristy begun by Clement, was arranging to give him something to do in
Florence; and I would have succeeded, but in the meantime, by reason of
the death of Alessandro, who was murdered by Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de'
Medici , not only was this design frustrated, but the greatness and
prosperity of art were thrown into utter ruin.


	Having heard of the Duke's death, Tribolo condoled
with me in his letters, beseeching me, after he had exhorted me to bear
with resignation the death of that great Prince, my gracious master, that
if I went to Rome, as he had heard that I, being wholly determined to
abandon Courts and to pursue my studies, was intending to do, I should
obtain some completion. mission for him, for the reason that, if assisted
by my friends, he would do whatever I told him.  But it so chanced that it
became in no way necessary for him to seek commissions in Rome. For Signor
Cosimo de'Medici, having been created Duke of Florence, as soon as he had
freed himself from the troubles that he had in the first year of his rule
by routing his enemies at Monte Murlo, began to take some diversion, and
in particular to frequent not a little the villa of Castello, which is
little more than two miles distant from Florence.   There he began to do
some building, in order that he might be able to live there comfortably
with his Court, and little by little,being encouraged in this by Maestro
Pietro da San Casciano, who was held to be a passing good master in those
days, and was much in the service of Signora Maria, the mother of the
Duke, and had also always been the master-builder and the former servant
of Signor Giovanni,he resolved to conduct to that place certain waters
that he had desired long before to bring thither. 


	Whereupon a beginning was made with building an
aqueduct that was to receive all the waters from the hill of Castellina,
which was at a distance of a quarter of a mile or more from Castello; and
the work was pursued vigorously with a good number of men.  But the Duke
recognizing that Maestro Pietro had neither invention nor power of design
enough to make in that place a beginning that might afterwards in time
receive that ornamentation which the site and the waters required, one day
that his Excellency was on the spot, speaking of this with such men as
Messer Ottaviano de' Medici and Cristofano Rinieri, the friend of Tribolo
and the old servant of Signora Maria and of the Duke, they extolled
Tribolo in such a manner, as a man endowed with all those parts that were
requisite in the head of such a fabric, that the Duke gave Cristofano a
commission to make him come from Bologna.  Which having been straightway
done by Rinieri, Tribolo, who could not have received any better news than
that he was to serve Duke Cosimo, set out immediately for Florence, and,
arriving there, was taken to Castello, where his most illustrious
Excellency, having heard from him what he thought should be done in the
way of decorative fountains, gave him a commission to make the
models.  Whereupon he set his hand to these, and was engaged upon them,
while Maestro Pietro da San Casciano was executing the aqueduct and
bringing the waters to the place, when the Duke, who meanwhile had begun,
for the security of the city, to surround with a very strong wall the
bastions erected on the hill of San Miniato at the time of the siege after
the designs of Michelangelo, ordained that Tribolo should make an
escutcheon of hard stone, with two Victories, for an angle of the summit
of a bastion that faces Florence. But Tribolo had scarcely finished the
escutcheon, which was very large, and one of those Victories, a figure
four braccia high, which was held to be a very beautiful thing, when he
was obliged to leave that work incomplete, for the reason that, Maestro
Pietro having carried well on the making of the aqueduct and the bringing
of the waters, to the full satisfaction of the Duke, his Excellency wished
that Tribolo should begin to put into execution, for the adornment of that
place, the designs and models that he had already shown to him, ordaining
him for the time being a salary of eight crowns a month, the same that was
paid to San Casciano.


	Now, in order that I may not become confused in
describing the intricacies of the aqueducts and of the ornaments of the
fountains, it may be well to say briefly some few words about the site and
position of Castello. The villa of Castello stands at the roots of Monte
Morello, below the Villa della Topaia, which is halfway up the slope; it
has before it a plain that descends little by little, for the space of a
mile and a half, down to the River Arno, and exactly where the ascent of
the mountain begins stands the palace, which was built in past times by
Pier Francesco de' Medici, after a very good design.  The principal front
faces straight towards the south, overlooking a vast lawn with two very
large fish-ponds full of running water, which comes from an ancient
aqueduct made by the Romans in order to conduct water from Valdimarina to
Florence, and provided with a vaulted cistern under the ground; and so it
has a very beautiful and very pleasing view. The fish-ponds in front are
divided in the middle by a bridge twelve braccia wide, which leads to an
avenue of the same width, bounded at the sides and covered above by an
unbroken vault of ten braccia in height, thus making a covered avenue
three hundred braccia in length, delightful for its shade, which opens on
to the high road to Prato by a gate placed between two fountains that
serve to give water to travelers and animals.  


	On the eastern side the same palace has a very
beautiful pile of stable-buildings, and on the western side a private
garden into which one goes from the courtyard of the stables, passing
straight through the ground-floor of the palace by way of the loggie,
halls, and chambers on the level of the ground; from which private garden
one can enter by a door on the west side into another garden, very large
and all filled with fruit-trees, and bounded by a forest of fir-trees that
conceals the houses of the laborers and others who live there, engaged in
the service of the palace and of the gardens.  Next, that part of the
palace which faces north, towards the mountain, has in front of it a lawn
as long as the palace, the stables, and the private garden altogether, and
from this lawn one climbs by steps to the principal garden, a place
enclosed by ordinary walls, which, rising in a gentle slope, stretches so
well clear of the palace as it rises, that the mid-day sun searches it out
and bathes it all with its rays, as if there were no palace in front; and
at the upper end it stands so high that it commands a view not only of the
whole palace, but also of the plain that is in front and around it, and
likewise about the city. 


	In the middle of this garden is a forest of very
tall and thickly-planted cypresses, laurels, and myrtles, which, laid out
in a circular shape, have the form of a labyrinth , all surrounded by
box-hedges two braccia and a half in height, so even and grown with such
beautiful order that they have the appearance of a painting done with the
brush; in the center of which labyrinth, at the desire of the Duke,
Tribolo, as will be described below, made a very beautiful fountain of
marble.   At the principal entrance, where there is the first-mentioned
lawn with the two fish-ponds and the avenue covered with mulberry-trees,
Tribolo wished that the avenue should be so extended tended that it might
stretch for a distance of more than a mile, covered and shaped in like
manner, and might reach as far as the River Arno, and that the waters
which ran away from all the fountains, flowing gently in pleasant channels
at the sides of the avenue, and filled with various kinds of fishes and
crayfish, might accompany it down to that river.


	As for the palace,to describe what has still to be
done as well as that which has been finished,he wished to make a loggia in
front of it, which, passing by an open courtyard, was to have on the side
where the stables are another palace as large as the old one, with the
same pro portion of apartments, loggie, private garden, and the
rest; which addition  would have made it a vast palace, with a most
beautiful facade.  After passing the court from which one enters into the
large garden of the labyrinth, at the main entrance, where there is a vast
lawn, after climbing the steps that lead to that labyrinth, there came a
level space thirty braccia square, on which there was to be, and has since
been made, a very large fountain of white marble, which was to spout up
wards above ornaments fourteen braccia in height, while from the mouth of
a statue at the highest point was to issue a jet of water rising to the
height of six braccia.   At either end of the lawn was to be a loggia, one
opposite to the other, each thirty braccia in length and fifteen in
breadth; and in the middle of each loggia was to be placed a marble table
twelve braccia in length , and on the outside a basin of eight braccia,
which was to receive the water from a vase held by two figures.  In the
middle of the above-mentioned labyrinth Tribolo had thought to achieve the
most decorative effect with water by means of jets and a very beautiful
seat round the fountain, the marble basin of which was to be, even as it
was afterwards made, much smaller than that of the large principal
fountain; and at the summit it was to have a figure of bronze spouting
water.  At the end of this garden, in the center, there was to be a gate
with some children of marble on both sides spouting water, with a fountain
on either side, and in the corners double niches in which statues were to
be placed, as in the others that are in the walls at the sides, at the
opposite ends of the avenues that cross the garden, which are all covered
with greenery distributed in various ways.


	Through the above-mentioned gate, which is at the
upper end of this garden, above some steps, one enters into another
garden, as wide as the first, but of no great depth in the direct line, in
comparison with the mountain beyond.  In this garden were to be two other
loggie, one on either side, and in the wall opposite to the gate, which
supports the soil of the mountain, there was to be in the center a grotto
with three basins, with water playing into them in imitation of rain.  The
grotto was to be between two fountains placed in the same wall, and
opposite to these, in the lower wall of the garden, were to be two others,
one on either side of the gate; so that the fountains of this garden would
have been equal in number to those of the other, which is below it, and
receives its water from the first, which is higher.  And this garden was
to be all full of orange-trees, which would have had,and will have,
whenever that may be, a most favorable situation, being defended by the
walls and by the mountain from the north wind and other harmful winds.


	From this garden one climbs by two staircases of
flint, one on either side, to a forest of cypresses, fir-trees, holm-oaks,
laurels, and other ever green trees, distributed with beautiful order, in
the middle of which, according to Tribolo's design, there was to be a most
lovely fish-pond, which has since been made.  And because this part ,
gradually narrowing, forms an angle, that angle, to the end that it might
be made flat, was to be blunted by the breadth of a loggia, from which,
after climbing some steps, might be seen in front the palace, the gardens,
the fountains, and all the plain below and about them, as far as the Ducal
Villa of Poggio a Caiano, Florence, Prato, Siena, and all that is around
for many miles.


	Now the above-named Maestro Pietro da San
Casciano, having carried his work of the aqueduct as far as Castello, and
having turned into it all the waters of Castellina, was overtaken by a
violent fever, and died in a few days.  Whereupon Tribolo, undertaking the
charge of directing all the building by himself, perceived that, although
the waters brought to Castello were in great abundance, nevertheless they
were not sufficient for all that he had made up his mind to do; not to
mention that, coming from Castellina, they did not rise to the height that
he required for his purposes.  Having therefore obtained from the Lord
Duke a commission to conduct thither the waters of Petraia, a place more
than one hundred and fifty braccia above Castello, which are good and very
abundant, he caused a conduit to be made, similar to the other, and so
high that one can enter into it, to the end that thus those waters of
Petraia might come to the fish-pond through another aqueduct with enough
fall for the fish-pond and the great fountain.


	This done, Tribolo began to build the
above-mentioned grotto, pro posing to make it with three niches, in a
beautiful architectural design, and likewise the two fountains that were
one on either side of it. In one of these there was to be a large statue
of stone, representing Monte Asinaio, which, pressing its beard, was to
pour water from its mouth into a basin that was to be in front of it; from
which basin the water, issuing by a hidden channel, and passing under the
wall, was to flow to the fountain that there is at the present day behind
the wall, at the end of the slope of the garden of the labyrinth, pouring
into the vase on the shoulder of the figure of the River Mugnone, which is
in a large niche of greystone decorated with most beautiful ornaments, and
all covered with sponge-stone.  This work if it had been finished in all
its perfection , even as it is in part, would have had great similarity to
the reality, since the Mugnone rises from Monte Asinaio.


	For the Mugnone, then, to describe that which has
been done, Tribolo made a figure of greystone, four braccia in length, and
reclining in a very beautiful attitude, which has upon one shoulder a vase
that pours water into a basin, and rests the other on the ground, leaning
upon it, with the left leg crossed over the right. And behind this river
is a woman representing Fiesole, wholly naked, issuing from among the
sponge-stones and rocks in the middle of the niche, and holding in the
hand a moon which is the ancient emblem of the people of Fiesole.  Below
this niche is a very large basin supported by two great Capricorns, which
are one of the devices of the Duke; from which Capricorns hang some
festoons and masks of great beauty, and from their lips issues the water
from that basin, which is convex in the middle, and has outlets at the
sides; and all the water that overflows pours away from the sides through
the mouths of the Capricorns, and then, after falling into the hollow base
of the vase, flows through the herb-beds that are round the walls of the
garden of the labyrinth, where there are fountains between the niches, and
between the fountains espaliers of oranges and pomegranates.


	In the second garden described above, where
Tribolo had intended that there should be made the Monte Asinaio that was
to supply water to the Mugnone, there was to be on the other side, beyond
the gate, a similar figure of the Monte della Falterona; and even as this
mountain is the source of the River Arno, so the statue representing that
river in the garden of the labyrinth, opposite to the Mugnone, was to
receive the water from the Falterona.  But since neither the figure of
that mountain nor its fountain has ever been finished, let us speak of the
fountain and figure of the River Arno, which were completed by Tribolo to
perfection.  This river, then, holds its vase upon one thigh, lying down
and leaning with one arm on a lion, which holds a lily in its paw, and the
vase receives its water through the perforated wall, behind which there
was to be the Falterona, exactly in the manner in which, as has been
described, the statue of the River Mugnone also receives its water; and
since the long basin is in every way similar to that of the Mugnone, I
shall say no more about it, save this, that it is a pity that the art and
excellence of these works, which are truly most beautiful, are not
embodied in marble.


	Then, continuing the work of the conduit, Tribolo
caused the water from the grotto to pass under the orange-garden and then
under the next garden, and thus brought it into the labyrinth, where,
forming a circle round all the middle of the labyrinth, in a good
circumference round the center, he laid down the central pipe, through
which the fountain  was to spout water.  After which, taking the waters
from the Arno and the Mugnone, and bringing them together under the level
of the labyrinth by means of certain bronze pipes that were distributed in
beautiful order throughout that space, he filled that whole pavement with
very fine jets, in such a manner that it was possible by turning a key to
drench all those who came near to see the fountain. Nor is one able to
escape either quickly or with ease, because Tribolo made round the
fountain and the pavement, in which are the jets, a seat of grey stone
supported by lion's paws, between which are sea monsters in low-
relief; which was a difficult thing to do, because he chose, since the
place was sloping and the square lay on the slant, to make it level, and
the same with the seat.


	Having then set his hand to the fountain of the
labyrinth, he made on 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
water-works 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 equaled 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 marvelous 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 center 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.



	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 center 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 encourage ment 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 honor
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. LIBERALITY.
TONGUES. WISDOM.
SCIENCES. NOBILITY.
ARMS. VALOR.
PEACE. COMPASSION.
LAWS. 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 San 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 competi  with one that had been executed by Raffaello da
Montelupo, who had the favor 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 Michelangelo'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 Ghirlandaio, and
Michele, his disciple.  Now the principal figure that Tribolo made for
this work, which was placed at the highest point in the center 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 him self 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 San Marco, also, upon a vast
pedestal ten braccia in height (in which Bronzino had painted two very
beautiful scenes of the color of bronze on the socle that was above the
cornices), Tribolo erected a horse of twelve braccia, with the forelegs 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 forever 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 marvelous 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 San Giovanni in Florence a very magnificent
decoration which was to be marvelous 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 center, 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
St. 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 St. 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 majordomo 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 Ghirlandaio, Bronzino, and
many others.  Now at this time Giorgio Vasari, having returned from
Bologna, was executing for Messer Bindo Altoviti the altarpiece of his
chapel in SantU 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 favors 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 favor,
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.


	For the Villa of Cristofano Rinieri at Castello,
while he was occupied with the fountains of the Duke, Tribolo made for a
niche over a fish pond which is at the head of a fowling-place, a
river-god of greystone, of the size of life, which pours water into a very
large basin of the same stone; which figure is made of pieces, and put
together with such diligence  and art, that it appears to be all of one
block.  Tribolo then set his hand, at the command of his Excellency, to
attempting to finish the staircase of the library of San Lorenzo,that,
namely, which is in the vestibule before the door; but after he had placed
four steps in position, not finding either the plan or the measurements of
Michelangelo, by order of the Duke he went to Rome, not only to hear the
opinion of Michelangelo  with regard to that staircase, but also to make
an effort to bring him to Florence. But he did not succeed either in the
one object or in the other, for Michelangelo, not wishing to leave Rome,
excused himself in a handsome manner, and as for the staircase he declared
that he remembered neither the measurements nor anything else. Tribolo,
there fore, ore, having returned to Florence, and not being able to
continue the work of that staircase, set himself to make the pavement of
the said library with white and red bricks, after the manner of some
pavements that he had seen in Rome; but he added a filling of red clay to
the white clay mixed with bole, in order to produce various effects of
carving in those bricks; and thus he made in that pavement a copy of the
ceiling and coffered work above,a notion that was highly extolled. He then
began, but did not finish, a work that was to be placed on the main tower
of the defenses of the Porta a Faenza, for Don Giovanni di Luna, the
castellan at that time, namely, an escutcheon of greystone, and a large
eagle in full relief with two heads, which he made in wax to the end that
it might be cast in bronze, but nothing more was done with it, and of the
escutcheon only the shield was finished.


	Now it was the custom in the city of Florence to
have almost every year on the principal piazza, on the evening of the
festival of St. John the Baptist, towards nightfall, a girandola,that is,
a contrivance full of fire-trumpets, rockets, and other fireworks; which
girandola had the form now of a temple, now of a ship, sometimes of rocks,
and at times of a city or of an inferno, according as it pleased the
designer; and one year the charge of making one was given to Tribolo, who,
as will be described below, made it very beautifully.  Of the various
manners of these fireworks, and particularly of pet pieces, Vannoccio of
Siena and others an account, and on this subject I shall enlarge no
further; but I say something as to the nature of these girandole.  The
whole structure, then, is of wood, with broad compartments radiating
outwards from the foot, to the end that the rockets, when they have been
lighted, may not set fire to the other fireworks, but may rise in due
order from their separate places, one after another, filling the heavens
in proper succession--with the fire that blazes in the girandola both
above and below.  They are distributed, I say, at wide intervals, to the
end that they may not burn all at once, and may produce a beautiful
effect; and the same do the mortars, which are bound to the firm parts of
the girandola, and make the most beautiful and joyous noises.  


	The fire-trumpets, likewise, are fitted in among
the ornaments, and are generally contrived so as to discharge through the
mouths of masks and other suchlike things.  But the most important point
is to arrange the girandola in such a manner that the lights that burn in
certain vases may last the whole night, and illuminate the
piazza; wherefore the whole work is connected together by a simple match
of tow steeped in a mixture of powder full of sulfur and aquavitae, which
creeps little by little with its fire to every part which it has to set
alight, one after another, until it has kindled the whole.  Now, as I have
said, the things represented are various, but all must have something to
do with fire, and must be subject to its action; and long before this
there had been counterfeited the city of Sodom, with Lot and his daughters
flying from it, at another time Geryon, with Virgil and Dante on his back,
according as Dante himself relates in the Inferno, and even earlier
Orpheus bringing Eurydice with him from those infernal regions, with many
other inventions.  And his Excellency ordained that the work should not be
given to any of the puppet-painters, who for many years past had made a
thousand absurdities in the girandole, but that an excellent master should
produce a work that might have in it something of the good; wherefore the
charge of this was given to Tribolo, who, with the ingenuity and art
wherewith he had executed all his other works, made one in the form of a
very beautiful octagonal temple, rising with its ornaments to the total
height of twenty braccia.


	This temple he represented as the Temple of Peace,
placing on the summit an image of Peace, who was setting fire to a great
pile of arms which she had at her feet; and these arms, the statue of
Peace, and all the other figures that made this structure one of great
beauty, were made of paste board, clay, and cloth steeped in glue, put
together with extraordinary art.  They were, I say, of these materials, to
the end that the whole work might be the lighter, since it was to be
suspended at a great height from the ground by a double rope that crossed
the Piazza high in the air.  It is true, indeed, that the fireworks having
been placed in it too thickly, and the fuses of tow being too near one to
another, when they were set alight, such was the fury of the conflagration
, and so great and so violent the blaze, that everything caught fire all
at once. and was burned in a flash, whereas it should have continued to
burn for an hour at least; and what was worse, the fire seizing on the
woodwork and on all that should have been preserved, the ropes and every
other thing were consumed in a moment, which was no small loss, and gave
little pleasure to the people.  But with regard to workmanship, it was
more beautiful than any other girandola that had ever been made up to that
time.


	The Duke, then, resolving to erect the Loggia of
the Mercato Nuovo for the convenience of his citizens and merchants, did
not wish to lay a greater burden than he could bear on Tribolo, who, as
chief engineer to the Capitani di Parte and the commissioners of the
rivers and the sewers of the city, was always riding through the
Florentine dominions, engaged in bringing back to their proper beds many
rivers that did damage by breaking away from them, in repairing bridges,
and in other suchlike works; and he gave the charge of this enterprise to
Tasso, at the advice of the above-mentioned Messer Pier Francesco, his
majordomo, in order to change that Tasso from a carpenter into an
architect.  This was certainly  against the wishes of Tribolo, although he
did not show it, and even acted as the close friend of Tasso; and a proof
that this is true is that Tribolo perceived many errors in Tasso's model,
but, so it is believed, would by no means tell him of them.  Such an
error, for example, was that of the capitals of the columns that are
beside the pilasters, whereby, the columns not leaving enough space, when
everything had been drawn up, and the capitals had to be set into
position, the corona above those capitals would not go in, so that it was
found necessary to cut away so much that the order of the architecture was
ruined; besides many other errors, of which there is no need to speak. 


	For the above-named Messer Pier Francesco the same
Tasso executed the door of the Church of San Romolo, and a window with
knee-shaped brackets on the Piazza del Duca, in an order of his own,
substituting capitals for bases, and doing so many other things without
measure or order, that it might have been said that the German Order had
begun to return to life in Tuscany by means of this man: to say nothing of
the works that he did in the Palace in the way of staircases and
apartments, which the Duke has been obliged to have destroyed, because
they had no sort of order, measure, or pro portion, and were, on the
contrary, all shapeless, out of square, and without the least convenience
or grace. All these things were not done without some responsibility
falling on Tribolo, who, having considerable knowledge in such matters,
should not, so it seemed, have allowed his Prince to throw away his money
and to do him such an affront to his face; and, what was even more
serious, he should not have permitted such things to Tasso, who was his
friend.  Well did men of judgment recognize the presumption and madness of
the one in seeking to exercise an art of which he knew nothing, and the
dissimulation of the other, who declared that he was pleased with that
which he certainly knew to be bad; and of this a proof may be found in the
works that Giorgio Vasari has had to pull down in the Palace, to the loss
of the Duke and the great shame of those men.


	But the same thing happened to Tribolo as to
Tasso, in that, even as Tasso abandoned wood-carving, a craft in which he
had no equal, but never became a good architect, and thus won little honor
by desert ing an art in which he was very able, and applying himself to
another of which he knew not one scrap, so Tribolo, abandoning sculpture,
in which it may be said with truth that he was most excellent and caused
everyone to marvel, and setting himself to attempt to straighten out
rivers, ceased to win honor by pursuing the one, while the other brought
him blame and loss rather than honor and profit.  For he did not succeed
in his tinkering with rivers, and he made many enemies, particularly  in
the district of Prato, on account of the Bisenzio, and in many places in
the Val di Nievole.  Duke Cosimo having then bought the Palace of the
Pitti, of which there has been an account in another place, and his
Excellency desiring to adorn it with gardens, groves, fountains,
fish-ponds, and other such like things, Tribolo executed all the
distribution of the hill in the manner in which it still remains,
accommodating everything in its proper place with beautiful judgment,
although various things in many parts of the garden have since been
changed. Of this Pitti Palace, which is the most beautiful in Europe,
mention will be made in another place with a more suitable occasion.


	After these things, Tribolo was sent by his
Excellency to the island of Elba, not only that he might see the city and
port that the Duke had caused to be built there, but also that he might
make arrangements for the transport of a round piece of granite, twelve
braccia in diameter, from which was to be made a tazza for the great lawn
of the Pitti Palace, which might receive the water of the principal
fountain.  Tribolo, therefore, went thither and caused a boat to be made
on purpose pose for transporting the tazza, and then, after giving the
stone-cutters directions for the transportation, he returned to
Florence; where he had no sooner arrived, than he found the whole country
full of murmurings and maledictions against him, since about that time
floods and inunda  had done infinite havoc in the neighborhood of those
rivers that he had patched up, although it was, perhaps, not altogether
through his fault that this had happened.  However that may have been,
whether it was the malignity of some of his assistants, or perchance envy,
or that the accusation was indeed true, the blame for all that damage was
laid on Tribolo, who, being a man of no great spirit, and rather wanting
in resolution than otherwise, and doubting that the malice of some enemy
might make him lose the favor of the Duke, was in a state of great
despondency, when, being of a feeble habit of body, on the 20th of August
in the year 1550, there came upon him a most violent fever.  At that time
Giorgio Vasari was in Florence, for the purpose of having sent to Rome the
marbles for the tombs that Pope Julius III caused to be erected in San
Pietro a Montorio; and he, as one who sincerely esteemed the talents of
Tribolo, visited and comforted him, beseeching him that he should think of
nothing save his health, and that, when cured, he should return to finish
the work of Castello, letting the rivers go their own way, for they were
more likely to drown his fame than to bring him any profit or honor.  


	This, which he promised to attempt to do, he
would, I believe, have done at all costs, if he had not been prevented by
death, which closed his eyes on the 7th of September in the same
year.  And so the works of Castello, begun and carried well forward by
him, remained unfinished: for although some work has been done there since
his day now in one part and now in another, nevertheless they have never
been pursued with the diligence and resolution that were shown when
Tribolo was alive and when the Lord Duke was hot in the undertaking.  Of a
truth, he who does not press great works forward while those who are
having them done are spending money willingly and devoting their best
attention to them, brings it about that those works are put on one side
and left unfinished, which zeal and solicitude could have carried to
perfection.  And thus, by the negligence of the workers, the world is left
without its adornment, and they without their honor and fame, for the
reason that it rarely happens, as it did to this work of Castello, that on
the death of the first master he who succeeds to his place is willing to
finish it according to his design and model with that modesty with which
Giorgio Vasari, at the commission of the Duke, has caused the great
fish-pond of Castello to be finished after the directions of Tribolo, even
as he will do with the other things according as his Excellency may desire
from time to time to have them done.


	Tribolo lived sixty-five years, and was interred
by the Company of the Scalzo in their place of burial. He left behind him
a son called Raffaello, who has not taken up art, and two daughters, one
of whom is the wife of David, Tribolo's assistant in building all the
works at Castello, who, being a man of judgment and capable in such
matters, is now employed on the aqueducts of Florence, Pisa, and all the
other places in the dominion, according as it may please his Excellency.









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