many, since the difficulty lies not
in merely having drawings and copies of beautiful things, but in
accommodating them to the purpose which they have to serve, with
grace, true measurement, proportion, and fitness. But just as much
as this cornice of Cronaca's was and always will be extolled, so was
that one censured which was made for the Palace of the Bartolini in
the same city by Baccio d' Agnolo, who, seeking to imitate Cronaca,
placed over a small facade, delicate in detail, a great ancient
cornice copied with the exact measurements from the frontispiece of
Monte Cavallo; which resulted in such ugliness, from his not having
known how to adapt it with judgment, that it could not look worse,
for it seems like an enormous cap on a small head. It is not enough
for craftsmen, when they have executed their works, to excuse
themselves, as many do, by saying that they were taken with exact
measurements from the antique and copied from good masters, seeing
that good judgment and the eye play a greater part in all such
matters than measuring with compasses. Cronaca, then, executed half
of the said cornice with great art right round that palace, together
with dentils and ovoli, and finished it completely on two sides,
counterpoising the stones in such a way, in order that they might
turn out well bound and balanced, that there is no better masonry to
be seen, nor any carried to perfection with more diligence. In like
manner, all the other stones are so well put together, and with so
high a finish, that the whole does not appear to be of masonry, but
rather all of one piece. And to the end that everything might be in
keeping, he caused beautiful pieces of iron-work to be made for all
parts of the palace, as adornments for it, and the lanterns that are
at the corners, which were all executed with supreme diligence by
Niccolo Grosso, called Il Caparra, a smith of Florence. In those
marvellous lanterns may be seen cornices, columns, capitals, and
brackets of iron, fixed together with wonderful craftsmanship; nor
has any modern ever executed in iron works so large and so
difficult, and with such knowledge and mastery.

[Illustration: IRON LINK-HOLDER

(_After_ Niccolo Grosso. _Florence: Palazzo Strozzi_)

_Alinari_]

Niccolo Grosso was an eccentric and self-willed person, claiming
justice for himself and giving it to others, and never covetous of
what was not his own. He would never give anyone credit in the
payment of his