est and most sumptuous to be seen in any
place, with its wealth of the richest and finest ornaments that can be
imagined, and the great abundance of waters that will be there, flowing
without fail at every season.

Also an Academician, and much in favour with our Princes for his
talents, is Giovan Bologna of Douai, a Flemish sculptor and a young man
truly of the rarest, who has executed with most beautiful ornaments of
metal the fountain that has been made recently on the Piazza di S.
Petronio in Bologna, opposite to the Palazzo de' Signori, in which there
are, besides other ornaments, four very beautiful Sirens at the corners,
with various children all around, and masks bizarre and extraordinary.
But the most notable thing is a figure that he has made and placed over
the centre of that fountain, a Neptune of six braccia, which is a most
beautiful casting and a statue studied and wrought to perfection. The
same master--not to speak at present of all the works that he has
executed in clay, terracotta, wax, and other mixtures--has made a very
beautiful Venus in marble, and has carried almost to completion for the
Lord Prince a Samson large as life, who is combating on foot with two
Philistines. And in bronze he has made a statue of Bacchus, larger than
life and in the round, and a Mercury in the act of flying, a very
ingenious figure, the whole weight resting on one leg and on the point
of the foot, which has been sent to the Emperor Maximilian, as a thing
that is indeed most rare. But if up to the present he has executed many
works, he will do many more in the future, and most beautiful, for
recently the Lord Prince has had him provided with rooms in the Palace,
and has commissioned him to make a statue of a Victory of five braccia,
with a captive, which is going into the Great Hall, opposite another by
the hand of Michelagnolo; and he will execute for that Prince large and
important works, in which he will have an ample field to show his worth.
Many works by his hand, and very beautiful models of various things, are
in the possession of M. Bernardo Vecchietti, a gentleman of Florence,
and Maestro Bernardo di Mona Mattea, builder to the Duke, who has
constructed with great excellence all the fabrics designed by Vasari.

[Illustration: MERCURY

(_After the bronze by =Giovanni Bologna=. Florence: Museo Nazionale_)

_Anderson_]

Not less than this Giovan Bologna and his friends and other sculptors of
our Academy, Vince