heirs to Piero
Salviati. Jacopo was buried in the first cloister of the Church of the
Servite Friars, beneath the scene of the Visitation that he had
formerly painted there; and he was followed to the grave by an
honourable company of the painters, sculptors, and architects.

Jacopo was a frugal and sober man, and in his dress and manner of life
he was rather miserly than moderate; and he lived almost always by
himself, without desiring that anyone should serve him or cook for
him. In his last years, indeed, he kept in his house, as it were to
bring him up, Battista Naldini, a young man of fine spirit, who took
such care of Jacopo's life as Jacopo would allow him to take; and
under his master's discipline he made no little proficiency in design,
and became such, indeed, that a very happy result is looked for from
him. Among Pontormo's friends, particularly in this last period of his
life, were Pier Francesco Vernacci and Don Vincenzio Borghini, with
whom he took his recreation, sometimes eating with them, but rarely.
But above all others, and always supremely beloved by him, was
Bronzino, who loved him as dearly, being grateful and thankful for the
benefits that he had received from him.

Pontormo had very beautiful manners, and he was so afraid of death,
that he would not even hear it spoken of, and avoided having to meet
dead bodies. He never went to festivals or to any other places where
people gathered together, so as not to be caught in the press; and he
was solitary beyond all belief. At times, going out to work, he set
himself to think so profoundly on what he was to do, that he went away
without having done any other thing all day but stand thinking. And
that this happened to him times without number in the work of S.
Lorenzo may readily be believed, for the reason that when he was
determined, like an able and well-practised craftsman, he had no
difficulty in doing what he desired and had resolved to put into
execution.

SIMONE MOSCA

LIFE OF SIMONE MOSCA

SCULPTOR AND ARCHITECT

From the times of the ancient Greek and Roman sculptors to our own, no
modern carver has equalled the beautiful and difficult works that they
executed in their bases, capitals, friezes, cornices, festoons,
trophies, masks, candelabra, birds, grotesques, or other carved
cornice-work, save only Simone Mosca of Settignano, who in our own
days has worked in such a manner in those kinds of labour, that he has
made it