of the Vigna, with their appropriate ornaments from his designs. The 

 lower Fountain, however, is after my own design, and was executed by 

 Ammannato, who subsequently remained to construct the Loggia, which 

 is above the Fountain. That artist could, nevertheless, not show what 

 he was capable of, nor do anything in its due order in that place, because 

 the Pope was daily taking into his head some new fancy, which had then 

 to be instantly put into execution, under the orders, given daily, of 

 Messer Pier Giovanni AHotti, Bishop of Forli." 



Thus we see that architects, even in those halcyon days, did not 

 sleep on beds of roses. 



Percier and Fontaine seem, however, disposed to dispute Vasari's 

 claim. That more architects than one were employed upon the 

 villa there can be no doubt, for the evidence on the spot is quite 

 conclusive. 



The villa has somewhat fallen from its ancient splendour : the 

 statues that once adorned it have almost without exception been trans- 

 ferred long since to the Vatican gallery, and the gardens with which 

 it was once beautified have been absorbed into the neighbouring vine- 

 yards ; yet even now, in spite of long years of neglect, it is one of the 

 most graceful and interesting of the villas in the environs of Rome. 



Passing through the vestibule, we reach an open gallery or loggia 

 which extends the whole width of the casino and opens into the grand 

 cortile. This court is enclosed by an architectural screen which is made 

 a pretext for the display of the most versatile and charming scheme of 

 decoration. The Ionic order is adopted as a framework, both pilasters 

 and three-quarter columns being used, within and around which is 

 wrought with much naivete and grace a scheme of interlacing ribbon- 

 work, garlands and swags of fruit, honeysuckle, and other ornament, 

 with dancing nymphs and fauns, centaurs and mythological subjects, in 

 marble-framed panels. 



In order to understand the kind of work to be found here, and at 

 the Villa Pia, it is necessary to compare it with the delicious stucco- 

 work of the ancients, as shown in the tombs on the Via Latina and 

 elsewhere. We then see how closely the best of these cinquecento 

 artists were in touch with the ancient art, and how they had saturated 



36 



