prepared
the niche, it was with great difficulty that he could get even three of
them into it, for he had made some of them in attitudes with the arms
outstretched; and that he besought Donato, in grief and despair, to
consent with his counsel to repair his own misfortune and lack of
foresight. And Donato, laughing over the mischance, answered: "If thou
wilt promise to pay for a supper for me and all my apprentices, I will
undertake to get the saints into the niche without any trouble." This
Nanni promised to do right willingly, and Donato sent him to Prato, to
take certain measurements and to do some other business that would take
him some days. Whereupon, Nanni having departed, Donato, with all his
disciples and apprentices, set to work and cut some of the statues down
in the shoulders and some in the arms, in such wise that he contrived to
group them close together, each making place for the other, while he
made a hand appear over the shoulders of one of them. And thus the
judgment of Donato, having joined them harmoniously together, concealed
the error of Nanni so well that they still show, in that place where
they were fixed, most manifest signs of concord and brotherhood; and
anyone who does not know the circumstance sees nothing of the error.
Nanni, finding on his return that Donato had corrected everything and
put all his disorder to rights, rendered him infinite thanks, and with
great goodwill paid for the supper for him and his pupils. Under the
feet of these four saints, in the ornament of the shrine, there is a
scene in marble and in half-relief, wherein a sculptor is carving a boy
with great animation, and a master is building, with two men assisting
him; and all these little figures are seen to be very well grouped and
intent on what they are doing.

[Illustration: MADONNA DELLA CINTOLA

(_After_ Nanni d'Antonio di Banco. _Florence: Duomo_)

_Brogi_]

In the facade of S. Maria del Fiore, on the left side as one enters the
church by the central door, there is an Evangelist by the hand of the
same man, which is a passing good figure for those times. It is also
reputed that the S. Lo which is without the said Oratory of
Orsanmichele, and which was made for the Guild of Farriers, is by the
hand of the same Nanni, and likewise the marble shrine, in the base of
which, at the foot, there is a scene wherein S. Lo, the Farrier, is
shoeing a frenzied horse, so well made that Nanni deserved much praise
for it; a