f from the
life of S. Donatus, and the crown of the whole work are certain
tabernacles full of marble figures in the round, wrought with much
subtlety. On the breast of the said Madonna is a bezel-shaped setting of
gold, wherein, so it is said, were jewels of much value, which have been
carried away in the wars, so it is thought, by soldiers, who have no
respect, very often, even for the most holy Sacrament, together with
some little figures in the round that were on the top of and around that
work; on which the Aretines spent altogether, according to what is found
in certain records, 30,000 florins of gold. Nor does this seem anything
great, seeing that at that time it was something as precious and rare as
it could well be; wherefore Frederick Barbarossa, returning from Rome,
where he had been crowned, and passing through Arezzo, many years after
it had been made, praised it, nay, admired it infinitely; and in truth
with great reason, seeing that, besides everything else, the joinings of
this work, made of innumerable pieces, are cemented and put together so
well that the whole work is easily judged, by anyone who has not much
practice in the matters of the art, to be all of one piece. In the same
church Giovanni made the Chapel of the Ubertini, a most noble family,
and lords of castles, as they still are to-day and were formerly even
more; with many ornaments of marble, which to-day have been covered over
with other ornaments of grey-stone, many and fine, which were set up in
that place with the design of Giorgio Vasari in the year 1535, for
the supporting of an organ of extraordinary excellence and beauty that
stands thereon.

[Illustration: _Lombardi_

A SYBIL

(_Detail, after_ Giovanni Pisano, _from the facade of the Duomo,
Siena_)]

Giovanni Pisano likewise made the design of the Church of S. Maria de'
Servi, which to-day has been destroyed, together with many palaces of
the most noble families of the city, for the reasons mentioned above. I
will not forbear to say that Giovanni made use, in working on the said
marble altar, of certain Germans who had apprenticed themselves to him
rather for learning than for gain; and under his teaching they became
such that, having gone after this work to Rome, they served Boniface
VIII in many works of sculpture for S. Pietro, and in architecture when
he made Civita Castellana. Besides this, they were sent by the same man
to S. Maria in Orvieto, where, for its facade, they