time; and since
he first introduced it, in the ages after his and in our own it appears
a marvel.

[Illustration: TOMB OF LEONARDO BRUNI

(_After =Bernardo Rossellino=. Florence: S. Croce_)

_Brogi_]

DESIDERIO DA SETTIGNANO

LIFE OF DESIDERIO DA SETTIGNANO

SCULPTOR

Very great is the obligation that is owed to Heaven and to Nature by
those who bring their works to birth without effort and with a certain
grace which others cannot give to their creations, either by study or by
imitation. It is a truly celestial gift, which pours down on these works
in such a manner, that they ever have about them a loveliness and a
charm which attract not only those who are versed in that calling, but
also many others who do not belong to the profession. And this springs
from facility in the production of the good, which presents no crudeness
or harshness to the eye, such as is often shown by works wrought with
labour and difficulty; and this grace and simplicity, which give
universal pleasure and are recognized by all, are seen in all the works
made by Desiderio.

Of this man, some say that he came from Settignano, a place two miles
distant from Florence, while certain others hold him to be a Florentine;
but this matters nothing, the distance between the one place and the
other being so small. He was an imitator of the manner of Donato,
although he had a natural gift of imparting very great grace and
loveliness to his heads; and in the expressions of his women and
children there is seen a delicate, sweet, and charming manner, produced
as much by nature, which had inclined him to this, as by the zeal with
which he had practised his intelligence in the art. In his youth he
wrought the base of Donato's David, which is in the Duke's Palace in
Florence, making on it in marble certain very beautiful harpies, and
some vine-tendrils in bronze, very graceful and well conceived. On the
facade of the house of the Gianfigliazzi he made a large and very
beautiful coat of arms, with a lion; besides other works in stone, which
are in the same city. For the Chapel of the Brancacci in the Carmine he
made an angel of wood; and he finished with marble the Chapel of the
Sacrament in S. Lorenzo, carrying it to complete perfection with much
diligence. There was in it a child of marble in the round, which was
removed and is now set up on the altar at the festivals of the Nativity
of Christ, as an admirable work; and in place of this