evident by his genius and art that all the diligence and study
of the modern carvers who had come before him had not enabled them up
to that time to imitate the best work of those ancients or to adopt
the good method in their carvings, for the reason that their works
incline to dryness, and the turn of their foliage to spikiness and
crudeness. He, on the other hand, has executed foliage with great
boldness, rich and abundant in new curves, the leaves being carved in
various manners with beautiful indentations and with the most lovely
flowers, seeds and creepers that there are to be seen, not to speak of
the birds that he has contrived to carve so gracefully in various
forms among his foliage and festoons, insomuch that it may be affirmed
that Simone alone--be it said without offence to the others--has been
able to remove from the marble that hardness which craftsmen are wont
very often to leave in their sculptures, and has brought his works by
his handling of the chisel to such a point that they have the
appearance of things real to the touch, and the same may be said of
the cornices and other suchlike labours, executed by him with most
beautiful grace and judgment.

This Simone, having given his attention to design in his childhood
with much profit, and having then become well-practised in carving,
was taken by Maestro Antonio da San Gallo, who recognized his genius
and noble spirit, to Rome, where he caused him to execute, as his
first works, some capitals and bases and several friezes of foliage
for the Church of S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini, and some works for the
Palace of Alessandro, the first Cardinal Farnese. Simone meanwhile
devoting himself, particularly on feast-days, and whenever he could
snatch the time, to drawing the antiquities of that city, no long time
passed before he was drawing and tracing ground-plans with more grace
and neatness than did Antonio himself, insomuch that, having applied
himself heart and soul to the study of designing foliage in the
ancient manner, of giving a bold turn to the leaves, and of
perforating his works in such a way as to make them perfect, taking
the best from the best examples, one thing from one and one from
another, in a few years he formed a manner of composition so beautiful
and so catholic, that afterwards he did everything well, whether in
company or by himself. This may be seen in some coats of arms that
were to be placed in the above-named Church of S. Giovanni in