“Clarissimi viri Cosmas et Laurentius fratres neglectas diu sanctorum reliquias martyrum religioso studio ac fidelissima pietate suis sumptibus aereis loculis condendas colendasque curarunt.”
And on the outer side, where the little church faces towards the road, are the words hereafter recited, also engraved on marble, beneath the arms of the Medici:—
“Hic condita sunt corpora sanctorum Christi Martyrum Prothi et Hyacinthi, et Nemesii. Ann. Dom. 1428.”
This work likewise succeeded perfectly well, and from that circumstance there arose a wish on the part of the wardens of Santa Maria del Fiore to have a sarcophagus and monument of bronze constructed by the same master, for the reception of the body[1] of San Zanobi, bishop of Florence. This tomb is three braccia and a half long and two high; it is decorated with many and varied ornaments, and in the centre of the front Lorenzo has represented San Zanobi restoring to life a child who had been left to his care by the mother, and who had died while she was absent on a pilgrimage. In a second relief is also a child who has been killed by a wagon, with the same saint, who resuscitates one of the two servants or lay-brothers sent to him by Sant’ Ambrogio, and of whom one had died in crossing the Alps. The companion of the dead servant stands before the saint bewailing his loss, when San Zanobi, moved to compassion, consoles him by the words, ‘‘be at peace: he doth but sleep, and thou shalt see him alive again.” On the back of the tomb are six angels, who hold a garland of elm-leaves, within which are certain words to the praise of San Zanobi, and in memory of that saint. To this work also Lorenzo gave the most earnest care, and putting forth the many resources of his art, he finished it most successfully, insomuch that it was greatly celebrated, and considered an extraordinarily beautiful thing.[2]
While the works of Lorenzo, who executed innumerable commissions for various persons in gold and silver, as well as in bronze, were daily increasing his fame, it chanced that there fell into the hands of Giovanni, son of Cosmo de’ Me- .
- ↑ Bottari observes that this should be the head only, and not the body of San Zanobi.
- ↑ See Gaye, i, 543-4, note. The principal group in this work is engraved in Cicognara. See also the Monumenti Sepolcrali della Toscana, published by Gonnelli; and the Metropolitana Fiorentina Illustrata, Florence, 1820, plates 31-2
