ely to make
progress in that art, brought him forward and set him to work on his own
figures in marble, in which he sought with very great attention to
reproduce the model before him. Nor did he continue long at this before
he became passing skilful in that calling; at which Desiderio was
greatly pleased, and still more pleased was Mino by the loving-kindness
of his master, seeing that Desiderio was ever ready to teach him how to
avoid the errors that can be committed in that art. Now, while he was on
the way to becoming excellent in his profession, his ill luck would have
it that Desiderio should pass to a better life, and this loss was a very
great blow to Mino, who departed from Florence, almost in despair, and
went to Rome. There, assisting masters who were then executing works in
marble, such as tombs of Cardinals, which were placed in S. Pietro,
although they have since been thrown to the ground in the building of
the new church, he became known as a very experienced and capable
master; and he was commissioned by Cardinal Guglielmo Destovilla, who
was pleased with his manner, to make the marble altar where lies the
body of S. Jerome, in the Church of S. Maria Maggiore, together with
scenes in low-relief from his life, which he executed to perfection,
with a portrait of that Cardinal.

[Illustration: TOMB OF MARGRAVE HUGO

(_After =Mino da Fiesole=. Florence: Badia_)

_Alinari_]

Afterwards, when Pope Paul II, the Venetian, was erecting his Palace of
S. Marco, Mino was employed thereon in making certain coats of arms.
After the death of that Pope, Mino was commissioned to make his tomb,
which he delivered finished and erected in S. Pietro in the space of two
years. This tomb was then held to be the richest, both in ornaments and
in figures, that had ever been made for any Pontiff; but it was thrown
to the ground by Bramante in the demolition of S. Pietro, and remained
there buried among the rubbish for some years, until 1547, when certain
Venetians had it rebuilt in the old S. Pietro, against a wall near the
Chapel of Pope Innocent. And although some believe that this tomb is by
the hand of Mino del Reame, yet, notwithstanding that these two masters
lived almost at the same time, it is without doubt by the hand of Mino
da Fiesole. It is true, indeed, that the said Mino del Reame made some
little figures on the base, which can be recognized; if in truth his
name was Mino, and not, as some maintain, Dino.

But