Basilica of the Holy Trinity

The very reverend Don Vincenzo Borghini, director of the hospital of the Innocenti, has a very beautiful little Madonna by the hand of this father, and Bartolomeo Gondi, as devoted a lover of these arts as any gentleman that one could think of, has a large picture, a small one, and a crucifix, all by the same hand.

The pictures that are in the arch over the door of San Domenico are also by the same man, and in the sacristy of Santa Trinità there is a panel containing a deposition from the cross, into which he put so great diligence that it can be numbered among the best works that he ever made.

In San Francesco, without the Porta a San Miniato, there is an Annunciation, and in Santa Maria Novella, besides the works already named, he painted with little scenes the Paschal candle and some reliquaries which are placed on the altar in the most solemn ceremonies.

Over a door of the cloister of the Badia in the same city he painted a St. Benedict, who is making a sign enjoining silence.

Come vide natura dar desiderio ai freddi marmi vita, e poter la scultura agguagliar sua bellezza alma e infinita, si fermò sbigottita e disse, ormai sarà mia gloria scura e piena d'alto sdegno, troncò la vita a così bell'ingegno, ma invan, che se costui die vita eterna ai marmi, e i marmi a lui.

The sculptures of Desiderio date about 1485.

He left unfinished a figure of St. Mary Magdalene in penitence, which was afterwards completed by Benedetto da Maiano and now is in Santa Trinità in Florence, on the right hand as one enters the church, and the beauty of this figure is beyond the power of words to express.

In our book are certain very beautiful pen drawings by Desiderio, and his portrait was obtained from some of his relatives in Settignano.

At the visit of the Emperor Charles the Fifth to Rome, for which Pope Paul the Third prepared a festival worthy of that all-conquering prince, Raffaello made with clay and stucco on the Ponte Sant'Angelo fourteen statues so beautiful that they were judged to be the best that had been made for that festival.

And what is more, he executed them with such rapidity that he was in time to come to Florence, where the Emperor was likewise expected, to make, within the space of five days and no more, on the abutment of the Ponte a Santa Trinita two rivers of clay, each five braccia high, the Rhine to stand for Germany and the Danube for Hungary.

After this, having been summoned to Orvieto, he made in marble, in a chapel wherein the excellent sculptor Mosca had previously executed many most beautiful ornaments, the story of the Magi in half relief, which proved to be a very fine work, on account of the great variety of figures and the good manner with which he executed them.

Then, having returned to Rome, he was appointed by Tiberio Crispo, at the time castellan of the Castello di Sant'Angelo, as architect of that great structure.

The very reverend Don Vincenzo Borghini, director of the hospital of the Innocenti, has a very beautiful little Madonna by the hand of this father, and Bartolomeo Gondi, as devoted a lover of these arts as any gentleman that one could think of, has a large picture, a small one, and a crucifix, all by the same hand.

The pictures that are in the arch over the door of San Domenico are also by the same man, and in the sacristy of Santa Trinità there is a panel containing a deposition from the cross, into which he put so great diligence that it can be numbered among the best works that he ever made.

In San Francesco, without the Porta a San Miniato, there is an Annunciation, and in Santa Maria Novella, besides the works already named, he painted with little scenes the Paschal candle and some reliquaries which are placed on the altar in the most solemn ceremonies.

Over a door of the cloister of the Badia, in the same city, he painted a St. Benedict, who is making a sign enjoining silence.

Come vide natura dar desiderio ai freddi marmi vita, e poter la scultura agguagliar sua bellezza alma e infinita, si fermò sbigottita e disse, ormai sarà mia gloria scura e piena d'alto sdegno, troncò la vita a così bell'ingegno, ma invan, che se costui die vita eterna ai marmi, e i marmi a lui.

The sculptures of Desiderio date about 1485.

He left unfinished a figure of St. Mary Magdalene in penitence, which was afterwards completed by Benedetto da Maiano and now is in Santa Trinità in Florence, on the right hand as one enters the church, and the beauty of this figure is beyond the power of words to express.

In our book are certain very beautiful pen drawings by Desiderio, and his portrait was obtained from some of his relatives in Settignano.

And because the scene was large and the diminutive chapel, which was not longer than ten broccia and not higher than five, would not contain the whole, and above all the assumption of our Lady herself, Spinello, with beautiful judgment, caused it to curve round within the length of the picture onto a part where Christ and the angels are receiving her.

In a chapel in St. Trinita he made in fresco a very beautiful annunciation, and in the church of St. Apostolo, in the panel of the high altar, he made in distemper the Holy Spirit being sent down on the apostles in tongues of fire.

In St. Lucia de Bardi likewise he painted a little panel, and in another in St. Croce, larger, for the chapel of St. Giovanni Battista, which was painted by Giotto.

After these works, being recalled to Arezzo by the sixty citizens who governed that place by reason of the great name that he had acquired while working in Florence, he was made by the commune to paint the story of the Magi in the church of the Duomo Vecchio without the city, and in the chapel of St. Gismondo, St. Donatus, who was slaying a serpent with his benediction.

The very reverend Don Vincenzo Borghini, director of the Hospital of the Innocenti, has a very beautiful little Madonna by the hand of this father, and Bartolomeo Gondi, as devoted a lover of these arts as any gentleman that one could think of, has a large picture, a small one, and a crucifix, all by the same hand.

The pictures that are in the arch over the door of San Domenico are also by the same man, and in the sacristy of Santa Trinita there is a panel containing a deposition from the cross, into which he put so great diligence that it can be numbered among the best works that he ever made.

In San Francesco, without the Porta a San Miniato, there is an Annunciation, and in Santa Maria Novella, besides the works already named, he painted with little scenes the Paschal candle and some reliquaries which are placed on the altar in the most solemn ceremonies.

Over a door of the cloister of the Badia, in the same city, he painted a Saint Benedict, who is making a sign enjoining silence.

This man, while still very young and almost against the wish of his father, who would have liked him to give his attention to commerce, devoted himself to drawing, and in a short time he made so much progress therein that his father was content to allow him to follow the inclination of his nature.

The first work that Alesso executed in fresco was in Santa Maria Nuova on the front wall of the chapel of San Giglio, which was much extolled at that time because, among other things, it contained a San Egidio that was held to be a very beautiful figure.

In like manner, he painted in Santa Trinita the chapel in fresco and the chief panel in distemper for Messer Gerardo and Messer Bongiani Gianfigliazi, most honorable and wealthy gentlemen of Florence.

In this chapel, Alesso painted some scenes from the Old Testament, which he first sketched in fresco and then finished on the dry, tempering his colors with yolk of egg mingled with a liquid varnish prepared over a fire.

At the visit of the Emperor Charles V to Rome, for which Pope Paul III prepared a festival worthy of that all-conquering prince, Raffaello made with clay and stucco on the Ponte Sant'Angelo fourteen statues so beautiful that they were judged to be the best that had been made for that festival.

And what is more, he executed them with such rapidity that he was in time to come to Florence, where the Emperor was likewise expected, to make within the space of five days and no more on the abutment of the Ponte a Santa Trinita two rivers of clay, each five braccia high, the Rhine to stand for Germany and the Danube for Hungary.

After this, having been summoned to Orvieto, he made in marble, in a chapel wherein the excellent sculptor Mosca had previously executed many most beautiful ornaments, the story of the Magi in half relief, which proved to be a very fine work, on account of the great variety of figures and the good manner with which he executed them.

Then, having returned to Rome, he was appointed by Tiberio Crispo, at the time castellan of the Castello di Sant'Angelo, as architect of that great structure.