which seemed on the point of falling, and he therefore put it into the hands of Michelozzo; whereupon the latter, according to what Michael Angelo Buonarotti formerly told me, caused a column to be constructed secretly, and when he had also prepared a number of props and supports, he concealed the whole in a boat, into which he entered himself, with several builders, when, in one night, he securely propped the house and replaced the column. Emboldened by this experience therefore, Michelozzo repaired the injury received by the palace of the Signoria, to his own honour as well as to the credit of those by the favour of whom such a charge had been committed to him. He refounded and reconstructed the columns, placing them in the condition wherein we now see them. Having first constructed a massive framework of thick beams and very strong uprights, to strengthen the centres of the arches, which were formed of nut-wood, and which he now caused to assist in the support of the weight formerly borne up by the columns alone, he then removed such portions of the latter as were defective, by little and little, replacing the decayed parts by new pieces, prepared with great care; and this he effected in such a manner that the building did not suffer in any way, nor has it ever since sunk a hair’s breadth. And to the end that his columns might be known from the others, Michelozzo constructed some with eight sides, and having capitals carved in foliage, after the modern fashion; others he made round, but all are most; easily distinguished from those previously erected by Arnolfo.[1] When this had been accomplished, it was determined in pursuance of the advice of Michelozzo, by those who then governed the city, that the weight pressing on the arches of those columns should be diminished, and that the walls of that part should be reconstructed to that end. The buildings surrounding the court, from the arches upwards, were consequently altered; windows being made after the modern fashion, and similar to those which the master had constructed in the palace of the Medici; cavities were moreover hewn in
- ↑ The columns, as well as the walls and ceilings of the gallery, were decorated with pictures and ornaments in stucco, for the marriage of Francis de’ Medici (afterwards second Grand Duke) with Joanna of Austria, which took place in the year 1565. These decorations still remain. — Masselli.
