Robbia was entombed in the same sepulchre. The latter left two sons, who became monks in San Marco, where they received the cowl from the venerable Fra Girolamo Savonarola, who was ever held in great honour by the della Robbia family; wherefore it is that these artists have depicted him in the manner which we still see on the medallions.[1] Andrea had three sons besides the monks above-mentioned—Giovanni[2] (also an artist, and who had three sons, Marco, Lucantonio, and Simone, all of high promise, but who died of the plague in 1527); Luca and Girolamo, who devoted themselves to sculpture. Of the two last-named, Luca paid infinite attention to works in the glazed terra-cotta; and among many other labours of his performance are the pavements of the papal Loggia, which pope Leo X caused to be constructed in Rome, under the direction of Raphael of Urbino, and those of numerous walls and chambers, wherein Luca represented the arms and insignia of that pontiff. Girolamo, who was the youngest of all, worked in marble and bronze, as well as terra-cotta, and by the emulation existing between himself, Jacopo Sansovino, Baccio Bandinelli, and other masters of his time, he had already become a good artist, when he was induced by certain Florentine merchants to visit France. Here he executed various works for king Francis at Madri,[3] a place not far distant from Paris, more particularly a palace decorated with numerous figures and other ornaments, cut in a kind of stone similar to that which we have ourselves at Volterra, but of a better quality, since it is soft while being
- ↑ These medallions are cast. They have the portrait of Savonarola
in profile, with a circular inscription, as follows: —
“hieronymus sav. fer. vir doctiss. ordinis praedichorum.”
On the reverse is a citjr, with numerous towers, probably Florence, below; and an arm holding a dagger, with the point turned downwards. The inscription is as follows:—
“gladius domini sup. teram (sic) cito et velociter. ”
Schorn, and Ed. Flor. 1846-9. - ↑ Baldinucci enumerates various works of this master. Among others, a magnificent representation of scenes from the life of the Virgin, in the church belonging to the monastery of San Girolamo delle Poverine Ingesuate.
- ↑ A villa built in the Bois do Boulogne, by order of Francis I, in memory of his sojourn as a prisoner in Spain; and therefore called “Madrid”, not “Madri”, nor “Marli”, as Bottari erroneously believes, that last having been erected under Louis XIV. See Lettere Pittoriche, Ticozzi’s edition, vol. iv, No. 210.
