in the eyes of the Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici,[1] and caused that Prelate to give Giovan-Francesco a commission for a statue of Mercury in bronze, about one braccio high: this figure, which was entirely nude, was intended to be placed on the summit of the Fountain in the principal court of the Medici Palace; it stands on a ball, and is in the act of taking flight.[2] In the hands of the statue Giovan-Francesco placed an instrument, which was made to turn round by the water which the figure poured down upon it, and the matter was managed on this wise: the leg and torso of the Mercury were perforated for the admission of a tube, and this being carried up to the mouth, the water rising through the same, fell on the above-mentioned instrument, which was balanced very nicely, and had exceedingly thin plates of metal in the form of a butterfly’s wings attached to it, the water falling on it then, as I have said, caused the same to turn about; and this, for a small work, obtained considerable praise.
No long time after having completed the Mercury, Giovan-Francesco made the model of a figure to be cast in bronze for the same Cardinal: this was to have been a David, similar to that which Donato had executed for the Illustrious Cosimo the Elder, as we have said; the work of Kustici being destined for the first court of the Medici Palace, whence that of Donato had been removed. The model gave much satisfaction, but a certain dilatoriness in the mode of proceeding of Giovan-Francesco, caused this work to fail of being cast in bronze, and the Orpheus in marble of Baccio Bandinelli was erected in its stead; the David made in clay by Pustici, which was an admirable thing, came eventually to an evil end therefore, and that was a great pity.
Giovan-Francesco executed an Annunciation in mezzorilievo, with a perspective view of extraordinary beauty, in a very large medallion; in this work he was assisted by the painter Raffaello Belli, and by Niccolò Soggi; when it was
- ↑ This member of the Medici family was also subsequently elected supreme pontiff, as our readers will remember, and took the name of Clement VII.
- ↑ Bottari has confounded this figure with that of Giovanni Bologna, an error into which we must by no means fall, although we cannot ascertain the fate of the work in question.— Ed. Flor., 1832-8,
