est of the work, after the models of
Michelagnolo and with his assistance, with the greatest possible
speed, to the end that, having finished the sacristy, they might all
together be able, thanks to the proficience made under the discipline
of so great a man, also to finish the facade of S. Lorenzo. And in
order that there might be no manner of delay in doing this, the Pope
sent Michelagnolo back to Florence, and with him Fra Giovanni Angelo
de' Servi, who had executed some works in the Belvedere, to the end
that he might assist him in carving the marbles and might make some
statues, according as he should receive orders from Michelagnolo, who
caused him to make a S. Cosimo, which was to stand on one side of the
Madonna, with a S. Damiano, allotted to Montelupo, on the other.

These commissions given, Michelagnolo desired that Tribolo should make
two nude statues, which were to be one on either side of that of Duke
Giuliano, which he himself had already made; one was to be a figure of
Earth crowned with cypress, weeping with bowed head and with the arms
outstretched, and lamenting the death of Duke Giuliano, and the other
a figure of Heaven with the arms uplifted, all smiling and joyful, and
showing her gladness at the adornment and splendour that the soul and
spirit of that lord conferred upon her. But Tribolo's evil fortune
crossed him at the very moment when he was about to begin to work on
the statue of Earth; for, whether it was the change of air, or his
feeble constitution, or because he had been irregular in his way of
living, he fell ill of a grievous sickness, which, ending in a
quartan fever, hung about him many months, to his infinite vexation,
since he was tormented no less by his grief at having had to abandon
the work, and at seeing that the friar and Raffaello had taken
possession of the field, than by the illness itself. However, wishing
to conquer that illness, in order not to be left behind by his rivals,
whose name he heard celebrated more and more every day, feeble as he
was, he made a large model of clay for the statue of Earth, and, when
he had finished it, began to execute the work in marble, with such
diligence and assiduity, that the statue could be seen already all cut
out in front, when Fortune, who is always ready to oppose herself to
any fair beginning, by the death of Clement at a moment when nothing
seemed less likely, cut short the aspirations of all those excellent
masters who were hopin