first made a little model of
clay, and then executed the work with so much grace, that Tribolo and
the others ventured the opinion that he would become one of those who
are counted as rare in that art. Tribolo then gave him a Ducal
Mazzocchio[3] to make in stone, to be placed over an escutcheon with
the Medici balls, for Messer Pier Francesco Riccio, the major-domo of
the Duke; and he made it with two children with their legs intertwined
together, who are holding the Mazzocchio in their hands and placing it
upon the escutcheon, which is fixed over the door of a house that the
major-domo then occupied, opposite to S. Giuliano, near the Priests of
S. Antonio. When this work was seen, all the craftsmen of Florence
formed the same judgment that Tribolo had pronounced before.

[Footnote 3: See note on p. 132, Vol. II.]

After this, he carved a boy squeezing a fish that is pouring water
from its mouth, for the fountains of Castello. And then, Tribolo
having given him a larger piece of marble, Piero made from it two
children who are embracing each other and squeezing fishes, causing
water to spout from their mouths. These children were so graceful in
the heads and in their whole persons, and executed with so beautiful a
manner in the legs, arms, and hair, that already it could be seen that
he would have been able to execute the most difficult work to
perfection. Taking heart, therefore, and buying a piece of grey-stone,
two braccia and a half in length, which he took to his house on the
Canto alla Briga, Piero began to work at it in the evenings, after
returning from his labours, at night, and on feast-days, insomuch that
little by little he brought it to completion. This was a figure of
Bacchus, who had a Satyr at his feet, and with one hand was holding a
cup, while in the other he had a bunch of grapes, and his head was
girt with a crown of grapes; all after a model made by himself in
clay. In this and in his other early works Piero showed a marvellous
facility, which never offends the eye, nor is it in any respect
disturbing to him who beholds it. This Bacchus, when finished, was
bought by Bongianni Capponi, and his nephew Lodovico Capponi now has
it in a courtyard in his house.

The while that Piero was executing these works, few persons as yet
knew that he was the nephew of Leonardo da Vinci; but his labours
making him well known and renowned, by this means his parentage and
his birth were likewise revealed. W