BANDINELLI, Bartolommeo or Baccio, a Florentine sculptor, was born in 1487, and died 1559. His father was an eminent goldsmith, distinguished for his exquisite designs in chasing gold and silver ornaments; and in this domestic school Bandinelli obtained the first elements of drawing. Showing a strong inclination for the fine arts, he was early placed under Rustici, a sculptor, and a friend of Leonardo da Vinci, with whom he made rapid progress. The ruling motive in his life seems to have been jealousy of Michel Angelo, one of whose cartoons he is said to have torn up and destroyed. Vasari, who gives a very full history of his life, manifests the greatest dislike for his moral character, but at the same time gives him the highest praise as an artist. He is regarded by some as inferior in sculpture only to his great rival, Michel Angelo; at all events, his productions entitle him to a very high place among Italian sculptors. His best works are the marble colossal group of Hercules and Cacus in the Piazza del Gran Duco; his group of Adam and Eve; his exquisite bassFrilievi in the choir of the cathedral of Florence; his copy of the Laocoon; and the figures of Christ and Nicodemus on his own tomb. (See Vasari, Lives, iii. 232-296.) »