288

LIVES OF THE ARTISTS.

finished this work entirely, and then went about among the
principal churches of Florence, seeking for a place whereon
he might erect the same, and there construct himself a
sepulchre.
In this search he was long unsuccessful, and could not
content himself with any site ; but at length resolved on
choosing a chapel in the church of the Servites, that be-
longing to the Pazzi family namely;* when at the request of
the Duchess, the proprietors consented to accord Bandinelli a
place, but without divesting themselves of their right to the
property, or permitting the arms and devices, which were
those of their own house, to be disturbed. They did but
allow the sculptor to erect a marble altar in the chapel, that
is to say, and thereon to place the above-mentioned statues,
constructing his own tomb at the foot of that altar. He had
furthermore to make an agreement with the monks of the
convent, in respect to all other matters connected with the
installation of the same.f
Baccio then caused the altar to be erected accordingly,
and had the marble pedestal for the reception of the statues
duly placed thereon. Now it was his wish to have the bones
of his father Michelagnolo, whose remains he had caused to
be deposited in that church at his death,—it was his wish, I
say, to cause these relics to be placed in that tomb, together
with his own mortal spoils, when he should himself depart,
and those of his wife. The bones of his father he determined
piously to place with his own hands in that final resting-
place; but it then happened, that Baccio, either from the
sorrow and emotion that he felt in removing those remains
of his progenitor, or that he exerted himself too much and
endured too heavy a labour in replacing them with his own
hands, and in the arrangement of the marbles, or from both
these causes acting together, disturbed himself to such a
* Gaye, Carteggio inedito, vol. iii. p. 17, has given a letter from Lelio >
Torelli to Cosmo I., in which he remarks that Baccio wishes to remove
the tomb of a soldier who had been killed in a duel, and place his Field
on the site ; Torellia dding, that he does not think the place belongs to any
man of condition, nor does he know that any such is concerned to prevent
the arrangement contemplated by the sculptor.
f The tomb of Bandinelli, with his own portrait, and that of his wife,
in basso -rilievo, are still to be seen in the above-named chapel.—Ed. Flor.
1832-8.