various plans and designs, deciding at length, that a model in wood should be made, after that one of these plans which had best pleased him, to the end that he might the better arrange all the apartments according to his mind, as also that he might then direct the changes required in the old staircases, which appeared to him inconveniently steep, illcontrived, and very defective, as in truth they were.
To this work, although a difficult undertaking and beyond my powers, I set hand, and to the best of my ability prepared the large model required, which is now in his Excellency’s possession, but rather in obedience to his commands than as having any great hope that I should succeed. Yet, when this model was finished, whether it were his good fortune or mine, or the result of the great desire which I felt to satisfy him, it pleased his Excellency greatly; wherefore, commencing the work accordingly, that fabric has, by little and little, been brought, now doing one thing and now another, to the state in which we at present see it.[1]
While the remainder of the apartments were in course of construction, the first eight rooms completed in the new buildings were decorated with very rich works in stucco of varied compartments; these, comprising saloons, chambers, and a small chapel, all on the level of the Great Hall, were adorned with various pictures, and a large number of portraits, all belonging to history, and commencing with that of Cosimo the Elder; each room, moreover, received its name from some great and renowned person descended from that Signore. In one of these chambers are depicted the principal actions of the above-named Cosimo himself, with the virtues, which were more peculiarly his own; the Portraits of his children, taken from the life, are also there; and he is accompanied by his most distinguished friends and principal servants. In other rooms are the stories of Lorenzo the i Elder, Leo X., Pope Clement, the Signor Don Giovanni, father of our Illustrious Duke, and that of Duke Cosimo himself.[2] In the chapel is a large and very beautiful picture
- ↑ Piacenza, speaking of Vasari’s architectural works, extols more particularly the staircases of this palace, remarking that they are exceedingly commodious, “insomuch, that he who ascends them, attains the highest floor of the building almost without perceiving that he has ascended.”
- ↑ The paintings in question still exist.
