ut his hand
not only to great things, of which there has been enough said, but also
to the smallest things of art, making the arms of families on the
chimneypieces and on the fronts of the houses of citizens, a most
beautiful example of which may be seen in the house of the Sommai, which
is opposite to that of the baker Della Vacca. For the family of the
Martelli, moreover, he made a coffin in the form of a cradle wrought of
wicker-work, to serve for a tomb; but it is beneath the Church of S.
Lorenzo, because no tombs of any kind are to be seen above, save only
the epitaph of the tomb of Cosimo de' Medici, and even that one has
its entrance below, like the others.

[Illustration: THE ENTOMBMENT

(_After the relief by_ Donatello. _Padua: S. Antonio_)

_Alinari_]

It is said that Simone, the brother of Donato, having wrought the model
for the tomb of Pope Martin V, sent for Donato to the end that he might
see it before it was cast. Going to Rome, therefore, Donato found
himself in that city at the very moment when the Emperor Sigismund was
there to receive the crown from Pope Eugenius IV; wherefore he was
forced, in company with Simone, to occupy himself with making the
magnificent preparations for that festival, whereby he acquired very
great fame and honour.

In the guardaroba of Signor Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino, there is a very
beautiful head of marble by the hand of the same man, and it is believed
that it was given to the ancestors of the said Duke by the Magnificent
Giuliano de' Medici, at the time when he was staying at that Court,
which was full of most cultured gentlemen. In short, the talent of
Donato was such, and he was so admirable in all his actions, that he may
be said to have been one of the first to give light, by his practice,
judgment, and knowledge, to the art of sculpture and of good design
among the moderns; and he deserves all the more commendation, because in
his day, apart from the columns, sarcophagi, and triumphal arches, there
were no antiquities revealed above the earth. And it was through him,
chiefly, that there arose in Cosimo de' Medici the desire to introduce
into Florence the antiquities that were and are in the house of the
Medici; all of which he restored with his own hand. He was most liberal,
gracious, and courteous, and more careful for his friends than for
himself; nor did he give thought to money, but kept his in a basket
suspended by a cord from the ceiling, wherefore all