rding
to the shape of the tribune; wherefore, when the said arches of the
chapels are looked at from the side, it appears that they are falling
backwards, and that they are clumsy, as indeed they are, although the
proportions are correct, and the difficulties of the method must be
remembered. Truly it would have been better if Leon Batista had avoided
this method, for, although there is some credit for the difficulty of
its execution, it is clumsy both in great things and in small, and it
cannot have a good result. And that this is true of great things is
proved by the great arch in front, which forms the entrance to the said
tribune; for, although it is very beautiful on the outer side, on the
inner side, where it has to follow the curve of the chapel, which is
round, it appears to be falling backwards and to be extremely clumsy.
This Leon Batista would perhaps not have done, if, in addition to
science and theory, he had possessed practical experience in working;
for another man would have avoided this difficulty, and would have
rather aimed at grace and greater beauty for the edifice. The whole work
is otherwise in itself very beautiful, bizarre, and difficult; and
nothing save great courage could have enabled Leon Batista to vault that
tribune in those times in the manner that he did. Being then summoned by
the same Marquis Lodovico to Mantua, Leon Batista made for him the
models of the Church of S. Andrea and of some other works; and on the
road leading from Mantua to Padua there may be seen certain temples
built after his manner. Many of the designs and models of Leon Batista
were carried into execution by Salvestro Fancelli, a passing good
architect and sculptor of Florence, who, according to the desire of the
said Leon Batista, executed with judgment and extraordinary diligence
all the works that he undertook in Florence. For those in Mantua he
employed one Luca, a Florentine, who, living ever afterwards in that
city and dying there, left his name--so Filarete tells us--to the
family of the Luchi, which is still there to-day. It was no small
good-fortune for him to have friends who understood him and were able
and willing to serve him, because architects cannot be always standing
over their work, and it is of the greatest use to them to have a
faithful and loving assistant; and if any man ever knew it, I know it
very well by long experience.

In painting Leon Batista did not do great or very beautiful works, for