heir own judgment, for
the reason that I believe that I would drive myself mad with it and
would bury myself alive, even as it appears to me that Jacopo in the
period of eleven years that he spent upon it sought to bury himself
and all who might see the painting, among all those extraordinary
figures. And although there may be seen in this work some bit of a
torso with the back turned or facing to the front and some attachments
of flanks, executed with marvellous care and great labour by Jacopo,
who made finished models of clay in the round for almost all the
figures, nevertheless the work as a whole is foreign to his manner,
and, as it appears to almost every man, without proportion, the torsi
for the most part being large and the legs and arms small, to say
nothing of the heads, in which there is not a trace to be seen of that
singular excellence and grace that he used to give to them, so greatly
to the satisfaction of those who examine his other pictures. Wherefore
it appears that in this work he paid no attention to anything save
certain parts, and of the other more important parts he took no
account whatever. In a word, whereas he had thought in this work to
surpass all the paintings in the world of art, he failed by a great
measure to equal his own works that he had executed in the past;
whence it is evident that he who seeks to strive beyond his strength
and, as it were, to force nature, ruins the good qualities with which
he may have been liberally endowed by her. But what can we or ought we
to do save have compassion upon him, seeing that the men of our arts
are as much liable to error as others? And the good Homer, so it is
said, even he sometimes nods; nor shall it ever be said that there is
a single work of Jacopo's, however he may have striven to force his
nature, in which there is not something good and worthy of praise.

He died shortly before finishing the work, and some therefore declare
that he died of grief, ending his life very much dissatisfied with
himself; but the truth is that, being old and much exhausted by making
portraits and models in clay and labouring so much in fresco, he sank
into a dropsy, which finally killed him at the age of sixty-five.
After his death there were found in his house many designs, cartoons,
and models in clay, all very beautiful, and a picture of Our Lady
executed by him excellently well and in a lovely manner, to all
appearance many years before, which was sold by his