aking a scene in wax more
than a braccio in height and three-quarters in breadth, to be cast in
bronze, in which he represented two of the Count's sons already dead,
one in the act of expiring, and the fourth overcome by hunger and near
his end, but not yet reduced to the last breath; with the father in a
pitiful and miserable attitude, blind and heavy with grief, and
groping over the wretched bodies of his sons stretched upon the
ground. In this work Vinci displayed the excellence of design no less
than did Dante the perfection of poetry in his verses, for no less
compassion is stirred by the attitudes shaped in wax by the sculptor
in him who beholds them, than is roused in him who listens to the
words and accents imprinted on the living page by the poet. And in
order to mark the place where the event happened, he made at the foot
of the scene the River Arno, which occupies its whole width, for the
above-named tower is not far distant from the river in Pisa; while
upon that tower he placed an old woman, naked, withered, and fearsome,
representing Hunger, much after the manner wherein Ovid describes her.
The wax model finished, he cast the scene in bronze, and it gave
consummate satisfaction, being held by the Court and by everyone to be
no ordinary work.

Duke Cosimo was then intent on enriching and beautifying the city of
Pisa, and he had already caused the Piazza del Mercato to be built
anew, with a great number of shops around it, and had placed in the
centre a column ten braccia high, upon which, according to the design
of Luca, was to stand a statue representing Abundance. Martini,
therefore, having spoken to the Duke and presented Vinci to his
notice, easily obtained for him from his Excellency the commission for
that statue, the Duke being always eager to assist men of talent and
to bring fine intellects forward. Vinci executed a statue of
travertine, three braccia and a half in height, which was much
extolled by everyone; for at the feet of the figure he placed a little
child, who assists her to support the Cornucopia, carved with much
softness and facility, although the stone is rough and difficult to
work.

[Illustration: UGOLINO DELLA GHERARDESCA AND HIS SONS IN THE TOWER OF
FAMINE

(_After the wax relief by =Pierino [Piero] da Vinci=. Oxford: Ashmolean
Museum_)

_Reproduced by permission of the Visitors of the Ashmolean Museum._]

Luca afterwards sent to Carrara to have a block of marble quarried
fi