The sentiment is particularly appropriate to the character of the man whose memory is honored here. The Florentine writer Vespasiano Bisticci described him as being "of a most amiable nature, a pattern of humanity, and an abundant fountain of good, through God, to the poor.... He lived in the flesh as if he were free from it, rather the life of an angel than a man, and his death was holy as his life."[52]
Allowing something for the extravagance of speech which was the fashion of that time, we may still believe that the Cardinal of Portugal was a man whose character was singularly pure in an age when good men were none too common. Of the sculptor Rossellino also fair words are spoken. Vasari declared that he "was venerated almost as a saint for the admirable virtues which he added to his knowledge of art."
The custom of erecting elaborate marble tombs was an interesting feature of the Renaissance art in Italy. Such monuments formed an important part of the interior decoration of churches. Church dignitaries took great pride in the thought that their names would be immortalized in these works of art. Some had their tombs made while still living, that they might make sure of a satisfactory design. [53] Others gave directions on the subject with their dying breath, as in Browning's poem, "The Bishop Orders his Tomb at St. Praxed's." Of the many fine tombs in the churches of Tuscany, this monument of the Cardinal of Portugal is counted one of the three best.[54]
[51] 2 Timothy, chapter iv., verse 8; St. James, chapter i., verse 12; 1 Peter, chapter v., verse 4. The symbolism of the crown is explained in Mrs. Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art, page 28.
[52] In Vite di Uomini Illustri del Secolo XV.
[53}] As Bishop Salutati, whose tomb is mentioned in Chapter IV.
[54] By C. C. Perkins in Tuscan Sculptors.