cans, as our Leon
Batista Alberti testifies, whereof we have clear enough proof in the
marvellous tomb of Porsena at Chiusi, where, no long time since, there
were discovered underground, between the walls of the Labyrinth, some
terracotta tiles with figures on them in half-relief, so excellent and
in so beautiful a manner that it can be easily recognized that the art
was not begun precisely at that time, nay rather, by reason of the
perfection of these works, that it was much nearer its height than its
beginning. To this, moreover, witness is likewise borne by our seeing
every day many pieces of those red and black vases of Arezzo, made, as
may be judged from the manner, about those times, with the most delicate
carvings and small figures and scenes in low-relief, and many small
round masks wrought with great subtlety by masters of that age, men most
experienced, as is shown by the effect, and most excellent in that art.
It may be seen, moreover, by reason of the statues found at Viterbo at
the beginning of the pontificate of Alexander VI, that sculpture was in
great esteem and in no small perfection among the Etruscans; and
although it is not known precisely at what time they were made, it may
be reasonably conjectured, both from the manner of the figures and from
the style of the tombs and of the buildings, no less than from the
inscriptions in those Etruscan letters, that they are most ancient and
were made at a time when the affairs of this country were in a good and
prosperous state. But what clearer proof of this can be sought? seeing
that in our own day--that is, in the year 1554--there has been found a
bronze figure of the Chimaera of Bellerophon, in making the ditches,
fortifications, and walls of Arezzo, from which figure it is recognized
that the perfection of that art existed in ancient times among the
Etruscans, as may be seen from the Etruscan manner and still more from
the letters carved on a paw, about which--since they are but few and
there is no one now who understands the Etruscan tongue--it is
conjectured that they may represent the name of the master as well as
that of the figure itself, and perchance also the date, according to the
use of those times. This figure, by reason of its beauty and antiquity,
has been placed in our day by the Lord Duke Cosimo in the hall of the
new rooms in his Palace, wherein there have been painted by me the acts
of Pope Leo X. And besides this there were found in the sam