the corner of the garden attached to the Palace of the Pucci in
Florence; which was the escutcheon of Pope Leo X, with two children
supporting it, executed in a beautiful and masterly manner. He made a
Hercules for Pier Francesco de' Medici; and from the Guild of Porta
Santa Maria he received the commission for a statue of S. John the
Evangelist, to be executed in bronze, in securing which he had many
difficulties, since a number of masters made models in competition with
him. This figure was afterwards placed on the corner of S. Michele in
Orto, opposite to the Ufficio; and the work was finished by him with
supreme diligence. It is said that when he had made the figure in clay,
all who saw the arrangement of the armatures, and the moulds laid upon
them, held it to be a beautiful piece of work, recognizing the rare
ingenuity of Baccio in such an enterprise; and when they had seen it
cast with the utmost facility, they gave Baccio credit for having shown
supreme mastery, and having made a solid and beautiful casting. These
labours endured in that profession, brought him the name of a good and
even excellent master; and that figure is esteemed more than ever at the
present day by all craftsmen, who hold it to be most beautiful.

Setting himself also to work in wood, he carved lifesize Crucifixes, of
which he made an endless number for all parts of Italy, and among them
one that is over the door of the choir of the Monks of S. Marco at
Florence. These are all excellent and full of grace, but there are some
that are much more perfect than the rest, such as the one of the Murate
in Florence, and another, no less famous than the first, in S. Pietro
Maggiore; and for the Monks of SS. Fiora e Lucilla he made a similar
one, which they placed over the high-altar of their abbey at Arezzo, and
which is held to be much the most beautiful of them all. For the visit
of Pope Leo X to Florence, Baccio erected between the Palace of the
Podesta and the Badia a very beautiful triumphal arch of wood and clay;
with many little works, which have either disappeared or been dispersed
among the houses of citizens.

Having grown weary, however, of living in Florence, he went off to
Lucca, where he executed some works in sculpture, and even more in
architecture, in the service of that city, and, in particular, the
beautiful and well-designed Temple of S. Paulino, the Patron Saint of
the people of Lucca, built with proofs of a fine and well-traine