"And this I will give as a sufficient proof (as your Excellencies well
know), that in the books we find Phidias and Praxiteles called painters,
whilst it is certain that they were sculptors in marble, seeing that the
statues from their hands in stone are here near us, on this hill, the
horses which they made, which King Teridade sent to Nero as a present, for
which reason in recent times this place is called Monte Cavallo. And
should this not be enough, I will add how Donatello (who, with the
permission of Master Michael, was one of the first modern ones who in
sculpture merited fame and name in Italy) never said anything else to his
pupils, when teaching them, but draw, telling them in a single word of
doctrine: 'Pupils, I give you the whole art of sculpture when I tell
you--_draw!_' And so Pomponio Gaurico, sculptor, also affirms in the book
he wrote 'De Re Statuaria.' But why do I seek examples and proofs afar,
when perchance they are near me? And so as not to speak of myself, I say
the great draughtsman, M. Angelo, who is here, also sculptures in marble,
which is not his art, and better even (if one may say it) than he paints
with the brush on a panel, and he himself has told me sometimes that he
finds the sculpture of stone less difficult than the using of colours, and
that he deems it to be a very much greater thing to make a masterly stroke
with the brush than with the chisel. And even a famous draughtsman, if he
so desires, will by himself sculpture and carve in hard marble, in bronze
and in silver, exceedingly large statues in full relief (which is a great
thing), without ever having taken a chisel in his hand; and this is owing
to the great virtue and power of drawing.
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