, but whether
the tombs were still detached from the wall does not appear. Standing
inside the sacristy, it seems impossible that six statue-portraits and
six river-gods on anything like a grand scale could have been crowded
into the space, especially when we remember that there was to be an
altar, with other objects described as ornaments--"gli altri
ornamenti." Probably the Madonna and Child, with SS. Cosimo and
Damiano, now extant in the chapel, formed an integral part of the
successive schemes.

One thing is certain, that the notion of placing the tombs in the
middle of the sacristy was soon abandoned. All the marble panelling,
pilasters, niches, and so forth, which at present clothe the walls and
dominate the architectural effect, are clearly planned for mural
monuments. A rude sketch preserved in the Uffizi throws some light
upon the intermediate stages of the scheme. It is incomplete, and was
not finally adopted; but we see in it one of the four sides of the
chapel, divided vertically above into three compartments, the middle
being occupied by a Madonna, the two at the sides filled in with
bas-reliefs. At the base, on sarcophagi or _cassoni_, recline two nude
male figures. The space between these and the upper compartments seems
to have been reserved for allegorical figures, since a colossal naked
boy, ludicrously out of scale with the architecture and the recumbent
figures, has been hastily sketched in. In architectural proportion and
sculpturesque conception this design is very poor. It has the merit,
however, of indicating a moment in the evolution of the project when
the mural scheme had been adopted. The decorative details which
surmount the composition confirm the feeling every one must have,
that, in their present state, the architecture of the Medicean
monuments remains imperfect.

In this process of endeavouring to trace the development of
Michelangelo's ideas for the sacristy, seven original drawings at the
British Museum are of the greatest importance. They may be divided
into three groups. One sketch seems to belong to the period when the
tombs were meant to be placed in the centre of the chapel. It shows a
single facet of the monument, with two sarcophagi placed side by side
and seated figures at the angles. Five are variations upon the mural
scheme, which was eventually adopted. They differ considerably in
details, proving what trouble the designer took to combine a large
number of figures in a s