Bologna has hitherto produced fine works, still finer may we expect from him in the future, seeing that the Signor Prince, after giving him rooms in the Palace, has lately commissioned him to execute a Statue, of five braccia high, representing the Goddess of Victory, with a Captive;[1] and this work, which is to be placed in the Hall, opposite to one by Michelagnolo, being accomplished, Giovanni will be employed in many other great and important undertakings for the same Prince, thus obtaining a wide field for the display of his powers.
Beautiful models by the hand of Giovanni Bologna are now in the possession of the Florentine gentlemen, Messer Bernardo Vecchietti, and of Maestro Bernardo the son of Mona Mattea, the Duke’s master builder, who has erected, with great ability, all the edifices designed by Vasari. Nor less remarkable, for his fine genius, than Giovanni and his friends, is Vincenzio Danti of Perugia,[2] a youth who, under the protection of Duke Cosimo, has adopted Florence as his country. Vincenzio first gave his attention to the art of the goldsmith, in which calling he produced works of incredible excellence; and having afterwards taken to casting figures in metal, he had the courage, in his twentieth year, to undertake the Statue of Pope Julius III., four braccia high: the Pontiff is seated in the act of giving the Benediction, and the Statue, which is very fairly executed, is now on the Piazza in Perugia.
Having subsequently come to Florence and entered the service of Duke Cosimo, Vincenzio made a beautiful model in wax, somewhat larger than life, which
- ↑ This group, which is erroneously ascribed to Vincenzio Danti, by Cinelli, who has been followed by Cicognara and others, is in the Hall of the Palazzo Vecchio. Baldinucci, speaking of Bologna, tells us that “he made a model of Victory with a Captive, to the excellence of which the completed work is not, of a truth, fully equal.” This model may be seen in the Court of the Florentine Academy.
- ↑ For details respecting this distinguished sculptor and military architect, who was besides no mean poet, let the reader consult Baglioni, as before cited, p. 56. See also Pascoli, Vite de piu celebri Pittori del Secolo, XVII., vol. iii. p. 137.
Villa Medici, and which all now admire in the Florentine Gallery, to be a replica, yet this is by no means probable (for reasons into Avhich our narrow space does not here permit us to enter), and the less so, as no trace whatever can be found of that which, supposing this to be a replica, was sent to the Emperor. The Mercury of the Florentine Gallery is without doubt the original work.
