DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61479#0078
34
LUGANO.
the gallery of the Vatican, and labour, till their task—that of modelling
the Apollo Belvidere—was completed.
Proudly did they then bear to Donati’s dwelling their achieve-
ments. With the first streak of day, Marco and Lorenzo Vesari
entered their master’s studio, and each proceeded to place his model in
the most favourable light. At length Donati’s foot was heard upon the
stairs ;—the door of the workshop opened, and with his only child Bianca
the sculptor approached, and placed himself in front of the figures.
The students stood in silence with folded arms, awaiting his decision,
whilst the beautiful Bianca watched the group with the eye of a
young gazelle, but with an anxious and beating heart.
The master fixed his searching glance, first on the model of Marco,
his elder pupil. Gifted as he was in his art, it occupied him but a few
moments to scan its proportions ; they seemed irregular and ungraceful ;
and in a tone of disapprobation he turned towards the student, point-
ing out the defects ; Marco heard him, but answered not—and from that
moment he hated Donati.
The sculptor next passed to Lorenzo’s figure; it was correct and
beautiful; and in the excitement of the moment, the delighted master
lavished a thousand praises on his younger pupil. Did Marco remain
to hear them? No; he had already, without disclosing his purpose to
any one, left the studio, and Donati’s roof.
Night came, but it brought not back the mortified pupil, whose
affectionate brother retired to his chamber with a heavy heart. On the
following morning Donati left home in search of the fugitive. He
paced every street, he explored every probable retreat in Rome, to no
effect. The youth had in fact left the city, and was far on his way
towards his home in the vale of the Arno. There, however, he remained
LUGANO.
the gallery of the Vatican, and labour, till their task—that of modelling
the Apollo Belvidere—was completed.
Proudly did they then bear to Donati’s dwelling their achieve-
ments. With the first streak of day, Marco and Lorenzo Vesari
entered their master’s studio, and each proceeded to place his model in
the most favourable light. At length Donati’s foot was heard upon the
stairs ;—the door of the workshop opened, and with his only child Bianca
the sculptor approached, and placed himself in front of the figures.
The students stood in silence with folded arms, awaiting his decision,
whilst the beautiful Bianca watched the group with the eye of a
young gazelle, but with an anxious and beating heart.
The master fixed his searching glance, first on the model of Marco,
his elder pupil. Gifted as he was in his art, it occupied him but a few
moments to scan its proportions ; they seemed irregular and ungraceful ;
and in a tone of disapprobation he turned towards the student, point-
ing out the defects ; Marco heard him, but answered not—and from that
moment he hated Donati.
The sculptor next passed to Lorenzo’s figure; it was correct and
beautiful; and in the excitement of the moment, the delighted master
lavished a thousand praises on his younger pupil. Did Marco remain
to hear them? No; he had already, without disclosing his purpose to
any one, left the studio, and Donati’s roof.
Night came, but it brought not back the mortified pupil, whose
affectionate brother retired to his chamber with a heavy heart. On the
following morning Donati left home in search of the fugitive. He
paced every street, he explored every probable retreat in Rome, to no
effect. The youth had in fact left the city, and was far on his way
towards his home in the vale of the Arno. There, however, he remained