and all the nobility of the city; on which occasion an immense Catalfalco, emblematic of his character and life, was erected in the body of the church, consisting of sculpture and painting by the hands of his disciples, and of which a very particular account is given by Vasari. This temporary monument, after being suffered to remain a short period for public inspection, was intirely destroyed. It is, therefore, with pleasure I lay before the public a copy of the original sketch for the principal front of this temporary structure, which varies in some respects from the description of Vasari, as a first sketch might be expected to do, but sufficiently agrees in the most important particulars, and especially in the principal subject, where Lorenzo de' Medici is represented as introducing Michelagnolo to the study of sculpture in his gardens at Florence. The Tiber, with a view of St. Peter's, and the Arno, with a view of the Laurentian library, form the base of the structure; and the piece is terminated by the figure of fame blowing three trumpets, in allusion to his threefold merits as a painter, sculptor, and architect. The statue of the Tiber, of colossal size, was by Giovanni da Castello; and that of the Arno by Battista da Benedetto; the picture of Lorenzo and Michelagnolo was painted in chiaro scuro by Mirabello and Girolamo del Crocifissajo. |