o Sansovino, although his
work, young as he was, was the better. That model, which is a very
beautiful thing, is now in the possession of the heirs of Nanni
Unghero; for which Nanni, being then his friend, Sansovino made some
models of large boys in clay, and the model for a figure of S.
Nicholas of Tolentino, which were all executed of the size of life in
wood, with the assistance of Sansovino, and placed in the Chapel of
that Saint in the Church of S. Spirito.

Becoming known for these reasons to all the craftsmen of Florence, and
being considered a young man of fine parts and excellent character,
Jacopo was invited by Giuliano da San Gallo, architect to Pope Julius
II, to Rome, vastly to his satisfaction; and then, taking
extraordinary pleasure in the ancient statues that are in the
Belvedere, he set himself to draw them. Whereupon Bramante, who was
likewise architect to Pope Julius, holding the first place at that
time and dwelling in the Belvedere, having seen some drawings by this
young man, and a nude recumbent figure of clay in full-relief, holding
a vessel to contain ink, which he had made, liked them so much that he
took him under his protection and ordered him that he should make a
large copy in wax of the Laocoon, which he was having copied also by
others, in order to take a cast in bronze--namely, by Zaccheria Zacchi
of Volterra, the Spaniard Alonzo Berughetta, and Vecchio of Bologna.
These, when all were finished, Bramante caused to be seen by Raffaello
Sanzio of Urbino, in order to learn which of the four had acquitted
himself best; whereupon it was judged by Raffaello that Sansovino,
young as he was, had surpassed the others by a great measure. Then, by
the advice of Cardinal Domenico Grimani, orders were given to Bramante
that he should have Jacopo's copy cast in bronze; and so the mould was
made, and the work, being cast in metal, came out very well. And
afterwards, having been polished, it was given to the Cardinal, who
held it as long as he lived not less dear than if it had been the
antique; and when he came to die, he left it as a very rare thing to
the most Serene Signoria of Venice, which, after having kept it many
years in the press of the Hall of the Council of Ten, finally in the
year 1534 presented it to the Cardinal of Lorraine, who took it to
France.

[Illustration: S. JAMES

(_After =Jacopo Sansovino=. Florence: Duomo_)

_Alinari_]

While Sansovino was acquiring greater fame every d