ory (No. 35), to the left of the door, by
Jacopo Sansovino, a rival of Michelangelo, which is most admirable,
and at the case of bronze animals by Pietro Tacca, John of Bologna's
pupil, who made the famous boar (a copy of an ancient marble) at
the Mercato Nuovo and the reliefs for the pediment of the statue of
Cosimo I (by his master) in the Piazza della Signoria. But I believe
that the most beautiful thing in this room is the bronze figure for
the tomb of Mariano Sozzino by Lorenzo di Pietro.

Before we look at the della Robbias, which are in the two large rooms
upstairs, let us finish with the marble and terra-cotta statuary in
the two smaller rooms to the left as one passes through the first
della Robbia room. In the first of them, corresponding to the room
with Verrocchio's David downstairs, we find Verrocchio again, with
a bust of Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici (whom Botticelli painted in
the Uffizi holding a medal in his hand) and a most exquisite Madonna
and Child in terra-cotta from S. Maria Nuova. (This is on a hinge,
for better light, but the official skies will fall if you touch
it.) Here also is the bust of a young warrior by Antonio Pollaiuolo
(1429-1498) who was Verrocchio's closest rival and one of Ghiberti's
assistants for the second Baptistery doors. His greatest work is at
Rome, but this bust is indescribably charming, and the softness of the
boy's contours is almost of life. It is sometimes called Giuliano de'
Medici. Other beautiful objects in the room are the terra-cotta Madonna
and Child by Andrea Sansovino (1460-1529), Pollaiuolo's pupil, which
is as radiant although not so domestically lovely as Verrocchio's;
the bust by Benedetto da Maiano (1442-1497) of Pietro Mellini, that
shrewd and wrinkled patron of the Church who presented to S. Croce
the famous pulpit by this sculptor; an ancient lady, by the door,
in coloured terra-cotta, who is thought to represent Monna Tessa, the
nurse of Dante's Beatrice; and certain other works by that delightful
and prolific person Ignoto Fiorentino, who here, and in the next room,
which we now enter, is at his best.

This next priceless room is chiefly memorable for Verrocchio and
Mino da Fiesole. We come to Verrocchio at once, on the left, where
his relief of the death of Francesca Pitti Tornabuoni (on a tiny
bed only half as long as herself) may be seen. This poor lady, who
died in childbirth, was the wife of Giovanni Tornabuoni, and he it
was who employed Ghirla