nd bundles of
brushwood, as is generally done, but with a stout base of chestnut,
oak, and other good materials interwoven, and in place of sods he took
unbaked bricks made with tow and the dung of cattle, squared with very
great diligence. And for this reason he was sent by the Signoria of
Florence to Ferrara, to inspect the fortifications of Duke Alfonso I,
and so also his artillery and munitions; where he received many
courtesies from that lord, who besought him that he should do
something for him with his own hand at his leisure, and Michelagnolo
promised that he would. After his return, he was continually engaged
in fortifying the city, but, although he was thus occupied,
nevertheless he kept working at a picture of a Leda for that Duke,
painted with his own hand in distemper-colours, which was a divine
thing, as will be related in the proper place; also continuing the
statues for the tombs of S. Lorenzo, but in secret. At this time
Michelagnolo spent some six months on the hill of San Miniato in order
to press on the fortification of that hill, because if the enemy
became master of it, the city was lost; and so he pursued these
undertakings with the utmost diligence.

[Illustration: TOMB OF GIULIANO DE' MEDICI

(_After =Michelagnolo=. Florence: New Sacristy of S. Lorenzo_)

_Anderson_]

At this same time he continued the work in the above-mentioned
sacristy, in which were seven statues that were left partly finished
and partly not. With these, and with the architectural inventions of
the tombs, it must be confessed that he surpassed every man in these
three professions; to which testimony is borne by the statues of
marble, blocked out and finished by him, which are to be seen in that
place. One is Our Lady, who is in a sitting attitude, with the right
leg crossed over the left and one knee placed upon the other, and the
Child, with the thighs astride the leg that is uppermost, turns in a
most beautiful attitude towards His Mother, hungry for her milk, and
she, while holding Him with one hand and supporting herself with the
other, bends forward to give it to Him; and although the figure is not
equal in every part, and it was left rough and showing the marks of
the gradine, yet with all its imperfections there may be recognized in
it the full perfection of the work. Even more did he cause everyone to
marvel by the circumstance that in making the tombs of Duke Giuliano
and Duke Lorenzo de' Medici he considered t