stains and the agreeable half-light in which it has the good fortune to be 

 placed, it gives far more pleasure than much of the work one sees which 

 is correct in every detail. 



Vasari tells us that " for the villa of Cristofano Rinieri at Castello, 

 Tribolo executed the statue of a River God, the size of life, in grey 

 stone; this he did while occupied with the fountains of the duke, 

 and placed it in a niche at the head of the peschiera^ which extends 

 beyond the aviary of the villa. The statue pours water into a very large 

 basin of the same stone, and that figure, though made of several pieces, 

 has every part conjoined with so much care that it appears to be formed 

 entirely of one piece." This fountain no longer exists, but the " large 

 basin" is possibly the one used for the fountain in the bosco already 

 mentioned. 



In another place Vasari makes reference to this villa. Pierino, a 

 nephew of Leonardo da Vinci, was placed as a youngster under Tribolo, 

 who was so pleased with his progress <^hat, " remarking the zeal dis- 

 played, and having at that time just made a large basin in stone for 

 Cristofano Rinieri, Tribolo gave to Piero a small piece of marble, that he 

 might make the figure of a boy thereof, which figure the master intended 

 to be that which was to throw water into the above-named basin. Piero 

 received the marble with great rejoicing, and having first made a little 

 model of clay, he afterwards completed his work in a manner so graceful, 

 that Tribolo, and all those who saw the same, felt persuaded that he would 

 eventually prove to be one of those masters who become distinguished 

 in their art." Unfortunately Piero died when only twenty-three years 

 of age, and Vasari laments the death of so promising a young sculptor. 



As is usual in these Tuscan villas, there is no dividing line between 

 the podere and the garden ; you may wander by grassy walks among 

 the ripening grain, or beneath the purple clusters of grape, to some quiet 

 corner of the farm, where, within the shade of some wide-spreading pine, 

 mossy seats invite you to pause awhile. 



' Laid upon the ground in the bosco, the writer found a row of some 

 dozen deities, brought, so the gardener said, from the Palazzo Corsini in 

 the Lungarno where they had formed part of the decorations of the 

 parapet. Doubtless ere this they have been set up in the garden, thereby 

 adding not a little to its gaiety and interest. 



98 



