words written on the walls:—“Vela fole Maria”[1] I say out of vengeance, because that Queen had done nearly the same thing to Henry, some years previously However this may be, the gallery made no progress, and the Statues are now partly in the Palace of the Catholic King at Madrid, and partly in Alicant, a sea-port whence her Majesty intended to ship them to Granada, where all the Spanish Kings are buried. On his return from Spain, Lione brought with him two thousand ducats in money, besides the many gifts and favours which he had received from that Court.
For the Duke of Alva, Lione Lioni has executed a bust of himself, with one of Charles V., and another representing King Philip. For the most reverend D’Arras, now called the Grand Cardinal Granvella, he has executed numerous pieces in bronze, of an oval form, each of two braccia, and divided into compartments, with half-length figures in them. One of these exhibits Charles V.; another. King Philip; and a third, the Cardinal himself; all portraits from the life, and each placed on a basement adorned with little figures of infinite grace. For the Signor Yespasiano Gonzaga, Lione has made the portrait of Alva, in a large bust of bronze, which Yespasiano now has in his house; and for the Signore Cesare Gonzaga, he has executed a Statue four braccia high, also in bronze, and having a figure beneath him, around which is entwined a Hydra. This group is intended to signify the bravery and excellence of Ferrante, the father of Cesare, who had overcome the wickedness and envy which had sought to bring him into disgrace with Charles Y., in regard to the affairs of the government of Milan. This Statue wears the Toga, it is armed partly in the ancient and partly in the modern manner, and is to be taken to Guastalla, as a memorial of that Don Ferrante, who was indeed a most valiant Captain.
The same artist, as we have related elsewhere, constructed the Tomb of the Signor Giovan-Jacopo de’ Medici, Marquis of Marignano, and brother of Pope Pius IV.; this Tomb is in
- ↑ Bottari tells us that Mariette explained to him these obscure words in the following story. “In the year 1533 Queen Mary set fire to the Chateau of Folembrai; and in the year following Henry, to avenge himself for this, attacked and burnt a small fortress in Upper Hainault, which had been built by the Queen; on the ruined walls of the fort he then attached the words, “Voilà pour Folembrai,” out of which Vasari, his copyist, or Imprinter, has made the “Vela fole Maria” of the text.
