are Signs of His Passion, and between the columns that are on
the right side there stands upon a pedestal a statue in the round
representing Signor Jano Fregoso, fully armed after the antique save
that he shows the arms and legs nude, and he has the left hand upon
the pommel of the sword at his girdle, and with the right hand he
holds the general's baton; having behind him as a pendant, within the
space between the columns, a Minerva in half-relief, who, poised in
the air, holds with one hand a Ducal staff, such as that of the Doges
of Venice, and with the other a banner containing the device of S.
Mark. Between the two other columns, as the other pendant, is Military
Valour in armour, on her head the helmet-crest with the house-leek
upon it, and on her cuirass the device of an ermine that stands upon a
rock surrounded by mire, with letters that run--"Potius mori quam
foedari," and with the device of the Fregosi; and above is a Victory,
with a garland of laurel and a palm in the hands. Above the columns,
architrave, frieze and cornice, is another range of pilasters, upon
the crowns of which stand two figures of marble in the round, and two
trophies likewise in the round and of the same size as the figures. Of
these two statues, one is Fame in the act of taking flight, pointing
with the right hand to Heaven, and with a trumpet that she is
sounding; and this figure has light and most beautiful draperies about
the body, and all the rest nude. The other, representing Eternity, is
clothed in heavier vestments, and stands in majesty, holding in the
left hand a round on which she is gazing, and with the right hand she
grasps a hem of her garment wherein are globes that signify the
various ages, with the celestial sphere encircled by the serpent that
seizes the tail in the mouth. In the central space above the great
cornice, which forms and separates those two other spaces, are three
steps upon which are seated two large nude boys, who hold a great
shield with the helmet above it, containing the devices of the
Fregosi; and below those steps is an epitaph of basanite with large
gilded letters. That whole work is truly worthy to be extolled, for
Danese executed it with great diligence, and gave beautiful proportion
and grace to the composition, and made each figure with great study.
And Danese is not only, as has been described, an excellent sculptor,
but also a good and much extolled poet, as his works clearly
demonstrate, on wh