after the original design followed
in the beginning by Baccio. Thus that imperfect work has now been
carried with the help of God to completion, and is enriched on its
side faces by the addition of niches and pilasters, and statues set in
their places. Moreover, since it was laid out awry and out of square,
we have taken pains to make it even in so far as has been possible,
and have raised it considerably with a corridor of Tuscan columns at
the top; and as for the statue of Leo begun by Baccio, his pupil
Vincenzio de' Rossi has finished it. Besides this, that work has been
adorned with friezes full of stucco-work, with many figures large and
small, and with devices and other ornaments of various kinds, and
under the niches and in the partitions of the vaulting have been made
many and various designs in stucco and many beautiful inventions in
carving; all which things have enriched the work in such a manner,
that it has changed its form and has gained not a little in beauty and
grace. For whereas, according to the first design, the ceiling of the
Hall being twenty-one braccia above the floor, the audience-chamber
did not rise higher than eighteen braccia, so that between it and the
old ceiling there was a space of only three braccia; now, after our
design, the ceiling of the Hall has been raised so much that it has
risen twelve braccia above the old ceiling and fifteen above the
audience-chamber of Baccio and Giuliano, so that the ceiling is now
thirty-three braccia above the floor of the Hall. And it certainly
showed great spirit in his Excellency, that he should resolve to cause
to be finished in the space of five months for the above-named
nuptials the whole of a work of which more than a third still remained
to do, although it had taken more than fifteen years to arrive at the
condition in which it was at that time; so eager was he to carry it to
completion. But it was not only Baccio's work that his Excellency
caused to be completely finished, but also all the rest of what
Giorgio Vasari had designed; beginning again from the base that runs
over the whole of that work, with a border of balusters in the open
spaces, which forms a corridor that passes above the work in the Hall,
and commands a view on the outer side of the Piazza and on the inner
side of the whole Hall. Thus the Princes and other lords will be able
to see, without being seen, all the festivals that may be held there,
with much pleasure and convenience