ornaments, made with the greatest mastery. The
scenes that are in the said door are from the Old Testament; and in the
first is the Creation of Adam, and of Eve, his wife, who are executed
most perfectly, it being evident that Lorenzo strove to make their limbs
as beautiful as he was able to do, wishing to show that, even as these
figures by the hand of God were the most beautiful that were ever made,
so these by his own hand should surpass all the others that had been
made by him in his other works--truly a very grand intention. In the
same scene, likewise, he made them eating the apple, and also being
driven out of Paradise; and in these actions the figures express the
effect, first of their sin, recognizing their nakedness and covering it
with their hands, and then of repentance, when they are made by the
Angel to go forth out of Paradise. In the second square are figures of
Adam and Eve, with Cain and Abel as little children, born from them; and
there, also, is Abel making a sacrifice of his firstlings, with Cain
making one not so good, while in the expression of Cain there is shown
envy against his brother, and in Abel love towards God. And what is
singularly beautiful is to see Cain ploughing the earth with a pair of
oxen, which, with their labouring to pull at the yoke of the plough,
appear real and natural; and the same is shown in Abel, who is watching
his flocks, and Cain puts him to death, when he is seen, in a most
impious and cruel attitude, slaughtering his brother with a club, in
such a manner that the very bronze shows the limpness of the dead limbs
in the most beautiful person of Abel; and in the distance, likewise,
there is God asking Cain what he has done with Abel. Each square
contains the representation of four stories. In the third square Lorenzo
made Noah issuing from the Ark, with his wife, his sons and daughters,
and his sons' wives, together with all the animals, both of the air and
of the earth, which, each in its kind, are wrought with the greatest
perfection wherewith art is able to imitate nature; the Ark is seen
open, with the poles in perspective, in very low-relief, insomuch that
their grace cannot be expressed; besides that, the figures of Noah and
of his kindred could not be more lively or more vivacious, while, as he
is offering sacrifice, there is seen the rainbow, a sign of peace
between God and Noah. But much more excellent than all the others are
the scenes where he is planting the