finished this work entirely, and then went about among the principal churches of Florence, seeking for a place whereon lie might erect the same, and there construct himself a sepulchre.
In this search he was long unsuccessful, and could not content himself with any site; but at length resolved on choosing a chapel in the church of the Servites, that belonging to the Pazzi family namely;[1] when at the request of the Duchess, the proprietors consented to accord Bandinelli a place, but without divesting themselves of their right to the property, or permitting the arms and devices, which were those of their own house, to be disturbed. They did but allow the sculptor to erect a marble altar in the chapel, that is to say, and thereon to place the above-mentioned statues, constructing his own tomb at the foot of that altar. He had furthermore to make an agreement with the monks of the convent, in respect to all other matters connected with the installation of the same.[2]
Baccio then caused the altar to be erected accordingly, and had the marble pedestal for the reception of the statues duly placed thereon. Now it was his wish to have the bones of his father Michelagnolo, whose remains he had caused to be deposited in that church at his death,—it was his wish, I say, to cause these relics to be placed in that tomb, together with his own mortal spoils, when he should himself depart, and those of his wife. The bones of his father he determined piously to place with his own hands in that final restingplace; but it then happened, that Baccio, either from the sorrow and emotion that he felt in removing those remains of his progenitor, or that he exerted himself too much and endured too heavy a labour in replacing them with his own hands, and in the arrangement of the marbles, or from both these causes acting together, disturbed himself to such a
- ↑ Gaye, Carteggio inedito, vol. iii. p. 17, ha3 given a letter from Lelio Torelli to Cosmo I., in which he remarks that Baccio wishes to remove the tomb of a soldier who had been killed in a duel, and place his Pietà on the site; Torellia dding, that he does not think the place belongs to any man of condition, nor does he know that any such is concerned to prevent the arrangement contemplated by the sculptor.
- ↑ The tomb of Bandinelli, with his owm portrait, and that of his wife, in basso-rilievo, are still to be seen in the above-named chapel.— Ed. Flor. 1832-8.
