he
Magnificent Piero di Cosimo de' Medici, and it is now in the collection
of the most Illustrious Lord Duke Cosimo. And in truth, since he put
himself to so great pains, the book might be commended in some sort, if
he had at least made some records of the masters of his day and of
their works; but as there are few to be found therein, and those few are
scattered throughout the book without method and in the least suitable
places, he has toiled only to beggar himself, as the saying goes, and to
be thought a man of little judgment for meddling with something that he
did not understand.

But I have said quite enough about Filarete, and it is now time to turn
to Simone, the brother of Donato. This man, after the work of the door,
made the bronze tomb of Pope Martin. He likewise made some castings that
were sent to France, of many of which the fate is not known. For the
Church of the Ermini, in the Canto alla Macine in Florence, he wrought a
life-size Crucifix for carrying in processions, and to render it the
lighter he made it of cork. In S. Felicita he made a terra-cotta figure
of S. Mary Magdalene in Penitence, three braccia and a half in height
and beautifully proportioned, and revealing the muscles in such a manner
as to show that he had a very good knowledge of anatomy. He also wrought
a marble tombstone for the Company of the Nunziata in the Church of the
Servi, inlaying it with a figure in grey and white marble in the manner
of a painting (which was much extolled), like the work already mentioned
as having been done by the Sienese Duccio in the Duomo of Siena. At
Prato he made the bronze grille for the Chapel of the Girdle. At Forli,
over the door of the Canon's house, he wrought a Madonna with two angels
in low-relief; and he adorned the Chapel of the Trinita in S. Francesco
with work in half-relief for Messer Giovanni da Riolo. In the Church of
S. Francesco at Rimini, for Sigismondo Malatesti, he built the Chapel of
S. Sigismondo, wherein there are many elephants, the device of that
lord, carved in marble. To Messer Bartolommeo Scamisci, Canon of the
Pieve of Arezzo, he sent a Madonna with the Child in her arms, made of
terra-cotta, with certain angels in half-relief, very well executed;
which Madonna is now in the said Pieve, set up against a column. For the
baptismal font of the Vescovado of Arezzo, likewise, he wrought, in some
scenes in low-relief, a Christ being baptized by S. John. In the Church
of the Nunzi