15It is a huge panel, more than three arms[1] high and at least five and a half arms wide. Side-by-side, Botticelli and I complete the last coat of white: a preparation of animal glue and plaster powder dissolved in water and warmed in a bainmarie.
Every so often, Sandro takes a step back from the panel to stare at it, as if already seeing the completed work of drawings engraved in his mind. He is surely preparing a great project. In any case, the preparation alone has been a massive task.
Around ten days ago, the workshop received eight wooden planks of poplar, each of them 3-fingers thick. My nostrils can still smell the caseinate, a mixture of lime and cheese, which we used to stick the planks together before permanently joining them with two pinewood crossbeams nailed across the back
