work; and having to be carried to a great distance, was executed in a light and delicate manner. This commission had been procured for Donatello by the intervention of Cosimo; but when the bust was finished, and the merchant came to pay for it, the master appeared to him to demand too much for his work: thereupon the merchant was referred to Cosimo, who, having caused the bust to be taken to the upper court of the palace, had it placed between the battlements which overlook the road, to the end that it might be seen the better. When Cosimo therefore sought to arrange the difference, he found the offer of the merchant to be very far from the demand of Donatello; and, turning towards him, observed that he offered too little: but the merchant, thinking it too much, replied that Donato could have made it in a month, or something better, and would thus be gaining more than half a florin per day. Donato then turned about in great anger, this remark having offended him highly; and, telling the merchant that he had found means in the hundredth part of an hour to spoil the whole labour and cares of a year, he gave a blow to the bust, which fell to the street below, and was dashed in pieces, at the same time observing to the merchant that it was easy to see he was better versed in bargaining for horse-beans than in purchasing statues. Regretting what had happened, the merchant would then have paid him double the sum demanded, on condition of his reconstructing the bust; but this Donato could not be persuaded to do, by all his promises; nor would he consent even at the request of Cosimo. In the houses of the Martelli,[1] are several statues, in marble and bronze, by this master; among others, a David,[2] three braccia high, with many other works executed by him, and freely presented to that family, in proof of the love and devotion which he bore them. Among these works is more particularly to be specified a San Giovanni, of marble, in full relief, and three braccia high; a most rare thing;[3] now possessed
- ↑ These were in the street which takes its name from that family, which now resides in the Via della Forca.— Masselli.
- ↑ An unfinished statue in marble, still to be seen, with other works of Donatello to be mentioned hereafter, in the residence of the Martelli family, in the Via della Forca. — Ibid.
- ↑ Cicognara speaks at length of this statue, comparing it, entirely to the advantage of Donatello, with other figures of the saint, by the most famous painters; he also gives a drawing of the work.
