Thus the Marquis of Mantua, among others, desiring to secure the services of Filippo, wrote with very earnest instances respecting him to the Signoria of Florence, by whom the master was accordingly sent to the marquis in that city, where, in the year 1445, he prepared designs for the construction of dams on the Po, with other works, according to the wish of that prince, who caressed him infinitely, being wont to say that Florence was as worthy to number Filippo among her citizens as he to have so noble and beautiful a city for his birthplace. At Pisa, in like manner, Filippo gave proof of his pre-eminence to the Count Francesco Sforza and Niccolo da Pisa, whom he had surpassed in the construction of certain fortifications, and who commended him in his presence, saying, that if every state possessed a man like Filippo,[1] all might live in peace, without the use of arms. In Florence, also, Filippo gave the design for the Barbadori
- ↑ Vasari has forgotten to mention certain hydraulic operations attempted by Filippo, in the years 1429-30, when the war of the Florentines against Lucca wras at its height. Brunellesco having been sent thither by the republic, with Michellozzo, Donatello, Dominico di Matteo, and (adds Baldinucci) Lorenzo Ghiberti, for his assistants, conceived the thought of turning the city of Lucca into an island, by digging around and enclosing it within trenches, when, a part of the river Serchio being turned for that purpose, the city might be laid under water; but the effect was contrary to his intentions, for, by means of these operations, the city of Lucca became a fortress which the enemy could not approach, and vast numbers of men died at the works, whilst many others became sick; so that the mad inundation, as Giovanni Cavalcanti calls it in his Storie Florentine (yol. i, pp. 327-32). had an unhappy result, and its author obtained no praise, but rather much blame. Gaye (Carteggio Inedito, etc.), has published the letter of the Florentine republic to Binaldo degli Albizzi, which mentions Brunellesco being sent to Lucca for this purpose; and Moreni, in the notes to the Due Vite di Brunellesco, confirms the fact by documents, and by a passage taken from a contemporary author, who was, however, neither Francesco di Rinaldo di Papero nor Lodovico di Papero Cavalcanti, but the above cited Giovanni Cavalcanti himself. See his Storie Florentine, published by Molini in 1838, with learned and elaborate notes, historical and philological, by Signor Filippo Luigi Polidori. —Ed. Flor. 1846-9.
letter, his Holiness cast a glance at Filippo, and seeing him, as he was, so small and insignificant in appearance, he said with a pleasant manner, “This is the man whose courage would suffice to turn the world about.” Whereupon Filippo replied, “Let your holiness only give me the point whereon I can fix my lever, and I will then show what I can do.” Bocchi subsequently adds, that Filippo returned to Florence loaded with honours and rich rewards.
