orentine
goldsmith and an intimate friend of Donato, who wrought upon him so
strongly both with words and in other ways, either for some business of
his own or for some other reason, that he brought him back to Florence;
wherefore that work remained unfinished, nay, not begun. There only
remained in the Office of Works of the Duomo in that city a S. John the
Baptist in bronze by his hand, with the right arm missing from the elbow
downwards; and this Donato is said to have done because he had not been
paid in full.

[Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD

(_After the bronze by_ Donatello. _Padua: S. Antonio_)

_Anderson_]

Having returned to Florence, therefore, he wrought the Sacristy of S.
Lorenzo in stucco for Cosimo de' Medici, making four medallions on the
pendentives of the vault containing stories of the Evangelists, with
grounds in perspective, partly painted and partly in low-relief. And in
the said place he made two very beautiful little doors of bronze in
low-relief, with the Apostles, Martyrs, and Confessors; and above these
he made some flat niches, one containing a S. Laurence and a S. Stephen,
and the other S. Cosimo and S. Damiano. In the transept of the church he
executed four saints in stucco, each five braccia high, which are
wrought in a masterly manner. He also designed the bronze pulpits that
contain the Passion of Christ, a work displaying design, force,
invention, and an abundance of figures and buildings; but these his old
age prevented him from executing, and his pupil Bertoldo finished them
and brought them to the utmost perfection. For S. Maria del Fiore he
made two colossal figures of brick and stucco, which are placed by way
of ornament without the church, at the corners of the chapels. Over the
door of S. Croce there is still to be seen a S. Louis wrought by him in
bronze, five braccia high; for this someone criticized him, saying that
it was stupid and perhaps the least excellent work that he had ever
made, and he answered that he had made it so of set purpose, seeing that
the Saint had been stupid to give up his throne and become a monk. The
same man made the head of the wife of the said Cosimo de' Medici in
bronze, and this head is preserved in the guardaroba of the Lord Duke
Cosimo, wherein there are many other works in bronze and marble by the
hand of Donato; among others, a Madonna with the Child in her arms, sunk
in the marble in flat-relief, which is the most beautiful work that it
i