s, the while that the divine
Michelagnolo Buonarroti, prince and monarch of them all, with the three
circlets in his hand (his ancient device), making signs to Andrea del
Sarto, Leonardo da Vinci, Pontormo, Rosso, Perino del Vaga, Francesco
Salviati, Antonio da San Gallo, and Rustici, who were gathered with
great reverence about him, was pointing out with supreme gladness the
pompous entrance of the noble Lady. The ancient Cimabue, standing in
another part, was doing as it were the same service to certain others,
at whom Giotto appeared to be smiling, having taken from him, as Dante
said so well, the field of painting which he thought to hold; and Giotto
had with him, besides the Gaddi, Buffalmacco and Benozzo, with many
others of that age. In another part, again, placed in another fashion
and all rejoicing as they conversed, were seen those who conferred such
benefits on art, and to whom these new masters owed so much; the great
Donatello, Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Fra Filippo,
the excellent Masaccio, Desiderio, and Verrocchio, with many others,
portrayed from life, whom, since I have spoken of them in the previous
books, I will pass by without saying more about them, thus avoiding the
tedium that might come upon my readers by repetition. Who they were, and
what they were come thither to do, was explained, as with the others, by
four verses written above them:

Non pictura satis, non possunt marmora et aera
Tuscaque non arcus testari ingentia facta,
Atque ea praecipue quae mox ventura trahuntur;
Quis nunc Praxiteles caelet, quis pingat Apelles?

Now in the base of all these six vast and most beautiful canvases was
seen painted a gracious throng of children, each occupying himself in
the profession appropriate to the canvas placed above, who, besides the
adornment, were seen to be demonstrating with great accuracy with what
beginnings one arrived at the perfection of the men painted above; even
as with much judgment and singular art the same canvases were also
divided and adorned by round and very tall columns and by pilasters, and
by various ornaments of trophies all in keeping with the subjects to
which they were near. But, above all, graceful and lovely in appearance
were the ten devices, or, to speak more precisely, the ten reverses (as
it were) of medals, partly long established in the city and partly newly
introduced, which were painted in the compartments over the columns,