In like manner, the
Madonna is draped with so great grace and dignity that nothing better
can be imagined, the flow of the folds being very beautiful and soft,
while the borders of the draperies are seen following closely the nude
form of the figure, which, with its very covering, reveals every curve
of the limbs; and below this Madonna there is a S. Thomas, who is
receiving the Girdle. In short, this work was executed by Jacopo in
four years with all the possible perfection that he could give to it,
for the reason that, besides the natural desire that he had to do well,
the rivalry of Donato, of Filippo, and of Lorenzo di Bartolo, from whose
hands there had already issued some works that were highly praised,
incited him even more in the doing of what he did; and that was so much
that this work is studied even to-day by modern craftsmen, as something
very rare. On the other side of the Madonna, opposite to S. Thomas,
Jacopo made a bear that is climbing a pear-tree; and with regard to this
caprice, even as many things were said then, so also there could be
others said by me, but I will forbear, wishing to let everyone believe
and think in his own fashion in the matter of this invention.

[Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD

(_After_ Jacopo della Quercia. _Bologna: S. Petronio_)

_Alinari_]

After this, desiring to revisit his own country, Jacopo returned to
Siena, where, on his arrival, there came to him, according to his
desire, an occasion to leave therein some honourable memorial of
himself. For the Signoria of Siena, having resolved to make a very rich
adornment in marble for the waters that Agostino and Agnolo of Siena had
brought into the square in the year 1343, allotted that work to Jacopo,
at the price of 2,200 crowns of gold; wherefore he, having made the
model and collected the marbles, put his hand to the work and finally
completed it so greatly to the satisfaction of his fellow-citizens, that
he was ever afterwards called, not Jacopo della Quercia, but Jacopo
della Fonte. In the middle of this work, then, he carved the Glorious
Virgin Mary, the particular Patroness of that city, a little larger than
the other figures, and in a manner both gracious and singular. Round
her, next, he made the seven Theological Virtues, the heads of which are
delicate, pleasing, beautiful in expression, and wrought with certain
methods which show that he began to discover the good and the secrets of
the arts, and to give grace