the Spaniard either in courage or in judgment; on which
account he won such a name, that, although Giovanni da Nola was held in
Naples to be a marvellous sculptor and better than any other,
nevertheless Girolamo worked in competition with him as long as he
lived, notwithstanding that his rival was now old and had executed a
vast number of works in that city, where it is much the custom to make
chapels and altar-pieces of marble. Competing with Giovanni, then,
Girolamo undertook to execute a chapel in Monte Oliveto at Naples, just
within the door of the church, on the left hand, while Giovanni executed
another opposite to his, on the other side, in the same style. In his
chapel Girolamo made a lifesize Madonna in the round, which is held to
be a very beautiful figure; and since he took infinite pains in
executing the draperies and the hands, and in giving bold relief to the
marble by undercutting, he brought it to such perfection that it was the
general opinion that he had surpassed all those who had handled tools
for working marble at Naples in his time. This Madonna he placed between
a S. John and a S. Peter, figures very well conceived and executed, and
finished in a beautiful manner, as are also some children which are
placed above them.

In addition to these, he made two large and most beautiful statues in
full-relief for the Church of Capella, a seat of the Monks of Monte
Oliveto. He then began a statue of the Emperor Charles V, at the time of
his return from Tunis; but after he had blocked it and carved it with
the pointed chisel, and even in some places with the broad-toothed
chisel, it remained unfinished, because fortune and death, envying the
world such excellence, snatched him from us at the age of thirty-five.
It was confidently expected that Girolamo, if he had lived, even as he
had outstripped all his compatriots in his profession, would also have
surpassed all the craftsmen of his time. Wherefore his death was a
grievous blow to the Neapolitans, and all the more because he had been
endowed by nature not only with a most beautiful genius, but also with
as much modesty, sweetness, and gentleness as could be looked for in
mortal man; so that it is no marvel if all those who knew him are not
able to restrain their tears when they speak of him. His last sculptures
were executed in 1537, in which year he was buried at Naples with most
honourable obsequies.

[Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD, WITH SS. PETER AND