Sansovino; that the latter, in consideration of these delays, was ordered meanwhile to execute one of the large figures of the Apostles in marble, which were to be placed in the Church of Santa Maria del Fiore. He therefore made the model of a San Jacopo (of which, when it was finished, Messer Bindo Altoviti took possession;) and, working with all diligence, he conducted the Statue very successfully to completion. An admirable figure it is, sliowing in every part the patient study with which it has been executed; the arms and hands are clearly and finely detached; the draperies are well arranged, and the whole is finished with so much art, and exhibits such perfect grace, that no better work in marble can be seen.[1] And here Sansovino showed the method in which draperies should be executed, in such a manner as to detach them clearly from the figure, having treated these with so much delicacy, and rendered them so natural, that in some parts he has brought the marble to the subtlety of texture usual in the folds, edges, and hems of the real vestment, a work of great difficulty, and demanding much time, skill, and patience, if the attempt be to succeed in such sort as to exhibit the perfection of art. This Statue remained in the House of Works, from the time when it was finished to the end of the year 1565, when it was placed in the Church of Santa Maria della Fiore, to do honour to the arrival of the Queen Joanna of Austria, wife of Don Francesco de’ Medici, Prince of Florence and Siena. It is considered to be a work of extraordinary merit, as are the figures of the other Apostles, executed by different masters for that place, as we have related in their Lives.
At the same time Sansovino executed for Messer Giovanni Gaddi, a Venus on a Shell, in marble; this was a most beautiful figure, as was the model for the same, which was in the house of Messer Francesco Montevarchi, but was destroyed in the flood of 1558. Sansovino executed a Boy also for Giovanni Gaddi, with a Swan, which was as beautiful a work as could be made of marble; he did many other things for the same person, who still has these productions in his house.
- ↑ This admirable statue has been accused of a defect in the right leg, “but this,” remarks Bottari, “is an accident caused by the fracture of the rich drapery, which originally descended to the foot of the statue, but was accidentally broken. See also the Riposo of Borghini, who has successfully defended iSansovino against his critics.
