haps the
highest point reached by Florentine intarsia is shown by the stalls of
S. Maria Novella, made by Baccio d'Agnolo from Filippino Lippi's
designs. There are 40 stalls and 30 different ornamental fillings; the
capitals, pilasters, and frieze are inlaid, the rest carved; the
execution of figures, scrolls, leaves, and ornamental forms is as near
perfection as may be.

Baccio, or Bartolommeo d'Agnolo Baglioni, was born May 19, 1462. "In his
youth he did very fine intarsia in the choir of S. Maria Novella, in
which are a very fine S. John Baptist and S. Laurence, and also carved
the ornaments in the same place and the organ case"--so says Vasari. The
organ case is no longer there, having been sold in England, but the
stalls still remain. After carving the surroundings of the altar at S.
S. Annunziata, which no longer exist, he went to Rome and studied
architecture, of which Vasari remarks, "the science of which has not
been exercised, for several years back, except by carvers and deceitful
persons, who made profession of understanding perspective without
knowing even the terminology and the first principles" (!) When he
returned to Florence he made triumphal arches of carpentry for the entry
of Leo X. But he still stuck to his shop, in which, especially in the
winter, fine discourses and discussions on art matters were held,
attended at different times by Raffaello, then quite young; by Andrea
Sansovino, il Maiano, il Cronaca, Antonio and Giuliano San Gallo, il
Granaccio, and sometimes, by chance, by Michel Agnolo, and many young
men, both Florentines and strangers. He did a great deal of work for the
great hall of the Palazzo Vecchio in conjunction with others, and the
staircase of the Sala del Dugento. After this he did many architectural
works, palaces and additions to churches, some of which are still
existing. The design of Brunelleschi for the gallery to surround the
dome of the Cathedral having been lost, Baccio was commissioned to make
a fresh one, and a piece of it was put up; but when Michael Angelo came
back from Rome he said it was not large enough in style for the dome; in
fact, he called it a cage for grasshoppers (grilli), and made a design
to replace it himself; as, however, the authorities could not make up
their minds to accept it, and Baccio's work was much blamed, it went no
farther, and was never finished. He died on May 6, 1543, at the age of
83, being still in full possession of his faculties, a