Donato,
which, at the spoiling of the Medici Palace, was taken to the Palace
that then belonged to the Signori. The Pope, having praised Baccio,
but not thinking that the time had come to execute the David, sent him
to Loreto to Maestro Andrea, to the end that Andrea might give him one
of those scenes to do. Having arrived in Loreto, he was received
lovingly by Maestro Andrea and shown much kindness, both on account of
his fame and because the Pope had recommended him, and a piece of
marble was assigned to him from which he should carve the Nativity of
Our Lady. Baccio, after making the model, began the work; but, being a
person who was not able to endure a colleague or an equal, and had
little praise for the works of others, he also began to speak hardly
before the other sculptors who were there of the works of Maestro
Andrea, saying that he had no design, and he said the same of the
others, insomuch that in a short time he made himself disliked by them
all. Whereupon, all that Baccio had said of Maestro Andrea having come
to his ears, he, like a wise man, answered him lovingly, saying that
works are done with the hands and not with the tongue, that good
design is to be looked for not in drawings but in the perfection of
the work finished in stone, and, finally, that in future Baccio should
speak of him in a different tone. But Baccio answering him arrogantly
with many abusive words, Maestro Andrea could endure no more, and
rushed upon him in order to kill him; but Bandinelli was torn away
from him by some who intervened between them. Being therefore forced
to depart from Loreto, Baccio had his scene carried to Ancona; but he
grew weary of it, although it was near completion, and he went away
leaving it unfinished. This work was finished afterwards by Raffaello
da Montelupo, and placed together with the others of Maestro Andrea;
but it is by no means equal to them in excellence, although even so it
is worthy of praise.

Baccio, having returned to Rome, obtained a promise from the Pope,
through the favour of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, always ready to
assist the arts and their followers, that he should be commissioned to
execute some statue for the court of the Medici Palace in Florence.
Having therefore come to Florence, he made an Orpheus of marble, who
with his playing and his singing is charming Cerberus, and moving Hell
itself to compassion. He imitated in this work the Apollo of the
Belvedere at Rome, and it was