, lying
upon the sarcophagus and portrayed from nature, with a scene, also in
marble, below him, showing his arrival in Rome and the Roman people
going to meet him and to do him homage. Around the tomb, moreover, in
four niches, are four Virtues in marble, Justice, Fortitude, Peace, and
Prudence, all executed with much diligence by the hand of Michelagnolo
after the counsel of Baldassarre. It is true, indeed, that some of the
things that are in this work were wrought by the Florentine sculptor,
Tribolo, then a very young man, and these were considered the best of
all; but Michelagnolo executed the minor details of the work with
supreme diligence and subtlety, and the little figures that are in it
deserve to be extolled more than all the rest. Among other things, there
are some variegated marbles wrought with a high finish, and put
together so well that nothing more could be desired. For these
labours Michelagnolo received a just and honourable reward from the
aforesaid Cardinal, and was treated with much favour by him for the rest
of his life; and, in truth, with right good reason, seeing that this
tomb and the Cardinal's gratitude have done as much to bring fame to him
as did the work to give a name to Michelagnolo in his lifetime and
renown after his death. This work finished, no long time elapsed before
Michelagnolo passed from this life to the next, at about the age of
fifty.

Girolamo Santa Croce of Naples, although he was snatched from us by
death in the very prime of life, at a time when greater things were
looked for from him, yet showed in the works of sculpture that he made
at Naples during his few years, what he would have done if he had lived
longer; for the works that he executed in sculpture at Naples were
wrought and finished with all the lovingness that could be desired in a
young man who wishes to surpass by a great measure those who for many
years before his day have held the sovereignty in some noble profession.
In S. Giovanni Carbonaro at Naples he built the Chapel of the Marchese
di Vico, which is a round temple, partitioned by columns and niches,
with some tombs carved with much diligence. And because the altar-piece
of this chapel, made of marble in half-relief and representing the Magi
bringing their offerings to Christ, is by the hand of a Spaniard,
Girolamo executed in emulation of this work a S. John in a niche, so
beautifully wrought in full-relief, that it showed that he was not
inferior to