me ambassador to the
Florentines, and made the journey to Spoleto, in order to demand from
that community the body of Fra Filippo, to the end that it might be laid
in S. Maria del Fiore in Florence; but their answer to him was that they
were lacking in ornaments, and above all in distinguished men, for which
reason they demanded Filippo from him as a favour in order to honour
themselves, adding that since there was a vast number of famous men in
Florence, nay, almost a superfluity, he should consent to do without
this one; and more than this he could not obtain. It is true, indeed,
that afterwards, having determined to do honour to him in the best way
that he could, he sent his son Filippino to Rome to paint a chapel for
the Cardinal of Naples; and Filippino, passing through Spoleto, caused a
tomb of marble to be erected for him at the commission of Lorenzo,
beneath the organ and over the sacristy, on which he spent one hundred
ducats of gold, which were paid by Nofri Tornabuoni, master of the bank
of the Medici; and Lorenzo also caused Messer Angelo Poliziano to write
the following epigram, which is carved on the said tomb in antique
lettering:

CONDITUS HIC EGO SUM PICTURAE FAMA PHILIPPUS;
NULLI IGNOTA MEAE EST GRATIA MIRA MANUS.
ARTIFICES POTUI DIGITIS ANIMARE COLORES,
SPERATAQUE ANIMOS FALLERE VOCE DIU.
IPSA MEIS STUPUIT NATURA EXPRESSA FIGURIS,
MEQUE SUIS FASSA EST ARTIBUS ESSE PAREM.
MARMOREO TUMULO MEDICES LAURENTIUS HIC ME
CONDIDIT; ANTE HUMILI PULVERE TECTUS ERAM.

Fra Filippo was a very good draughtsman, as may be seen in our book of
drawings by the most famous painters, particularly in some wherein the
panel of S. Spirito is drawn, with others showing the chapel in Prato.

FOOTNOTES:

[12] See note on p. 57, Vol. I.

PAOLO ROMANO, MAESTRO MINO, AND CHIMENTI CAMICIA

LIVES OF PAOLO ROMANO AND MAESTRO MINO, SCULPTORS

[_MINO DEL REGNO, OR MINO DEL REAME_]

AND CHIMENTI CAMICIA, ARCHITECT

We have now to speak of Paolo Romano and Mino del Regno, who were
contemporaries and of the same profession, but very different in
character and in knowledge of art, for Paolo was modest and quite able,
and Mino much less able, but so presumptuous and arrogant, that he was
not only overbearing in his actions, but also with his speech exalted
his own works beyond all due measure. When Pope Pius II gave a
commission for a figure to the Roman sculptor Paolo, Mino tormente