It is without doubt a remarkable thing to see the whole history of the Crucifixion exhibited on so small a surface as that presented by the stone of a peach, comprising too, as do those executed by Properzia, a vast number of figures, besides those of the executioners and the apostles, and, what is more than all, exhibiting the most delicate treatment of each figure, with a truly admirable arrangement of all.[1]
Encouraged by her success in these attempts, Properzia resolved to apply to the superintendent of works to the cathedral for a portion of the labours to be executed, when the three doors of the principal façade of San Petronio were to be decorated with figures in marble. This she did through the medium of her husband, and to that application the superintendents returned a favourable reply, declaring themselves willing to entrust her with a portion of the work, but first requiring to see some specimen in marble of what she could perform.[2] Properzia thereupon immediately commenced a bust in the finest marble for the Count Alessandro de’ Pepoli; this represented the father of that noble, Count Guido Pepoli; it was taken from the life, and gave infinite satisfaction, not only to the Pepoli family, but also to the whole city.[3] The Sculptress consequently received a commission from the superintendents, who immediately
- ↑ Of these complicated and therefore remarkable works, no example now remains; the carved peach-stones still preserved in the Casa Grassi, in Bologna, being all of the simplest workmanship. —(See Saffi, Discorso, &c.) There is a cherry-stone in the Cabinet of Gems, belonging to the Florentine gallery, on which a “Gloria of Saints” is carved with astonishing exactitude, and wherein there have been counted no fewer than sixty heads of extreme minuteness. If this be, as is reported, a work by Properzia de’ Rossi, it must needs be accounted among the most complicated and minute of her performances, as known to us. But there was also a certain Ottaviano Janella of Escola, who obtained celebrity in this sort of work during the seventeenth century, and the work here in question may be by him.—Ed. Flor. 1832 -8.
- ↑ We are here to understand heads or figures in marble, since Properzia had previously given many fine proofs of her ability in other departments of the art, as was formerly to be seen in the principal chapel of Santa Maria del Baracano, where there were numerous arabesques, animals, and other fanciful ornaments, sculptured in stone by her hands. — Saffi, ut supra.
- ↑ The bust of Coimt Guido Pepoli is still preserved in the church or San Petronio, over a door in the interior of the building that is to say.— Ibid.
