es that all the eminent sculptors of this academy, in
competition man with man, should each of them make one statue, and that
the painters in like manner should exercise their art upon the chapel.
Designs are to be prepared for the arches according to your own project,
including works of painting and of stucco; the other ornaments and the
pavement are to be provided; in short, he intends that the new
academicians shall complete the whole imperfect scheme, in order that
the world may see that, while so many men of genius still exist among
us, the noblest work which was ever yet conceived on earth has not been
left unfinished. He has commissioned me to write to you and unfold his
views, begging you at the same time to favour him by communicating to
himself or to me what your intentions were, or those of the late Pope
Clement, with regard to the name and title of the chapel; moreover, to
inform us what designs you made for the four tabernacles on each side of
the Dukes Lorenzo and Giuliano; also what you projected for the eight
statues above the doors and in the tabernacles of the corners; and,
finally, what your idea was of the paintings to adorn the flat walls and
the semicircular spaces of the chapel. He is particularly anxious that
you should be assured of his determination to alter nothing you have
already done or planned, but, on the contrary, to carry out the whole
work according to your own conception. The academicians too are
unanimous in their hearty desire to abide by this decision. I am
furthermore instructed to tell you, that if you possess sketches,
working cartoons, or drawings made for this purpose, the same would be
of the greatest service in the execution of his project; and he promises
to be a good and faithful administrator, so that honour may ensue. In
case you do not feel inclined to do all this, through the burden of old
age or for any other reason, he begs you at least to communicate with
some one who shall write upon the subject; seeing that he would be
greatly grieved, as indeed would the whole of our academy, to have no
ray of light from your own mind, and possibly to add things to your
masterpiece which were not according to your designs and wishes. We all
of us look forward to being comforted by you, if not with actual work,
at least with words. His Excellency founds this hope upon your former
willingness to complete the edifice by allotting statues to Tribolo,
Montelupo, and the Friar (Giovanni