RENCE

(_After =Benedetto da Maiano=. Florence_)

_Alinari_]

In S. Maria Novella at Florence, where Filippino painted the chapel,
Benedetto afterwards made a tomb of black marble, with a Madonna and
certain angels in a medallion, with much diligence, for the elder
Filippo Strozzi, whose portrait, which he made there in marble, is now
in the Strozzi Palace. The same Benedetto was commissioned by the elder
Lorenzo de' Medici to make in S. Maria del Fiore a portrait of the
Florentine painter Giotto, which he placed over the epitaph, of which
enough has been said above in the Life of Giotto himself. This piece of
marble sculpture is held to be passing good. Having afterwards gone to
Naples by reason of the death of his uncle Giuliano, whose heir he was,
Benedetto, besides certain works that he executed for that King, made a
marble panel for the Count of Terranuova in the Monastery of the Monks
of Monte Oliveto, containing an Annunciation with certain saints, and
surrounded by very beautiful boys, who are supporting some festoons; and
in the predella of the said work he made many low-reliefs in a good
manner. In Faenza he made a very beautiful tomb of marble for the body
of S. Savino, and on this he wrought six scenes in low-relief from the
life of that Saint, with much invention and design both in the buildings
and in the figures; insomuch that both from this work and from others by
his hand he was recognized as a man excellent in sculpture. Wherefore,
before he left Romagna, he was commissioned to make a portrait of
Galeotto Malatesta. He also made one, I know not whether before this or
after, of Henry VII, King of England, after a drawing on paper that he
had received from some Florentine merchants. The studies for these two
portraits, together with many other things, were found in his house
after his death.

Having finally returned to Florence, he made in S. Croce, for Pietro
Mellini, a citizen of Florence and a very rich merchant at that time,
the marble pulpit that is seen there, which is held to be a very rare
thing and more beautiful than any other that has ever been executed in
that manner, since the marble figures that are to be seen therein, in
the stories of S. Francis, are wrought with so great excellence and
diligence that nothing more could be looked for in marble. For with
great art Benedetto carved there trees, rocks, houses, views in
perspective, and certain things in marvellously bold relief; not to