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Title: Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 04
(of 10)

Author: Giorgio Vasari

Translator: Gaston du C. De Vere

Release date: March 27, 2009 [eBook #28420]

Language: English

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Credits: Produced by Mark C. Orton, Christine P. Travers and the
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE
MOST EMINENT PAINTERS SCULPTORS AND ARCHITECTS, VOL.
04 (OF 10) ***

LIVES OF THE MOST EMINENT
PAINTERS SCULPTORS &
ARCHITECTS

BY

GIORGIO VASARI:

VOLUME IV.
FILIPPINO LIPPI TO DOMENICO PULIGO
1913
NEWLY TRANSLATED BY GASTON Du C. DE VERE. WITH FIVE
HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS: IN TEN VOLUMES

PHILIP LEE WARNER,
PUBLISHER TO THE MEDICI SOCIETY, LIMITED
7 GRAFTON ST. LONDON, W. 1912-14

CONTENTS OF VOLUME IV
PAGE
Filippo Lippi, called Filippino 1
Bernardino Pinturicchio 11
Francesco Francia 21
Pietro Perugino [Pietro Vannucci, or Pietro da Castel
31
della Pieve]
Vittore Scarpaccia [Carpaccio], and other Venetian
49
and Lombard Painters
Jacopo, called L'Indaco 63
Luca Signorelli [Luca da Cortona] 69
The Author's Preface to the Third Part 77
Leonardo da Vinci 87
Giorgione da Castelfranco 107
Antonio da Correggio 115
Piero di Cosimo 123
Bramante da Urbino 135
Fra Bartolommeo di San Marco [Baccio della Porta] 149
Mariotto Albertinelli 163
Raffaellino del Garbo 173
Torrigiano 181
Giuliano and Antonio da San Gallo 189
Raffaello da Urbino [Raffaello Sanzio] 207
Guglielmo da Marcilla [Guillaume de Marcillac] 251
Simone, called Il Cronaca [Simone del Pollaiuolo] 263
Domenico Puligo 277
Index of Names 285

ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME IV
PLATES IN COLOUR

Filippo Lippi Florence: Church
The Vision of S. Bernard 2
(Filippino) of the Badia
Bernardino San Gimignano:
The Madonna in Glory 14
Pinturicchio Palazzo Pubblico
Benedetto Madonna, Child, and Three Perugia:
18
Buonfiglio Angels Pinacoteca
Francesco Francia Pietà London: N.G., 180 26
Paris: Louvre,
Pietro Perugino Apollo and Marsyas 34
1509
Triptych: The Madonna
Pietro Perugino adoring, with the Archangels London: N.G., 288 42
Michael, Raphael, and Tobit
Vittore Scarpaccia Venice:
The Vision of S. Ursula 56
(Carpaccio) Accademia, 578
Vincenzio Catena S. Jerome in his Study London: N.G., 694 58
Giovan Battista da Venice:
Detail: Tobit and the Angel 58
Conigliano (Cima) Accademia, 592
Berlin: Kaiser
Luca Signorelli Pan Friedrich Museum, 72
79A
Florence:
Andrea Verrocchio The Baptism in Jordan 92
Accademia, 71
(formerly) Paris:
Leonardo da Vinci Monna Lisa 102
Louvre, 1601
Venice: Prince
Giorgione da
Figures in a Landscape Giovanelli's 110
Castelfranco
Collection
Antonio da Paris: Louvre,
Antiope 118
Correggio 1118

Antonio da
The Adoration of the Magi Milan: Brera, 427 122
Correggio
Piero di Cosimo The Death of Procris London: N.G., 698 126
Fra Bartolommeo di The Deposition from the
Florence: Pitti, 64 152
San Marco Cross
Mariotto Florence: Uffizi,
The Salutation 168
Albertinelli 1259
Raffaello da S. Petersburg:
S. George and the Dragon 210
Urbino Hermitage, 39
Raffaello da
Angelo Doni Florence: Pitti, 61 214
Urbino
Raffaello da
The Three Graces Chantilly, 38 242
Urbino
Raffaello da Paris: Louvre,
Baldassare Gastiglione 248
Urbino 1505

PLATES IN MONOCHROME

Filippo Lippi Florence: S. Maria Del
The Liberation of S. Peter 6
(Filippino) Carmine
S. John the Evangelist Florence: S. Maria
Filippo Lippi
Raising Drusiana from the Novella, Strozzi 8
(Filippino)
Dead Chapel
Filippo Lippi
The Adoration of the Magi Florence: Uffizi, 1257 10
(Filippino)
Bernardino Frederick III Crowning the Siena: Sala
16
Pinturicchio Poet Æneas Sylvius Piccolominea
Bernardino Pope Alexander VI Adoring Rome: the Vatican,
16
Pinturicchio the Risen Christ Borgia Apartments
Francesco
London: British
Francia and a Medals 22
Museum
Pupil
Bologna: S. Giacomo
Francesco Madonna and Child, With
Maggiore, Bentivoglio 24
Francia Saints
Chapel

Pietro Perugino The Deposition Florence: Pitti, 164 38
Christ Giving the Keys to S.
Pietro Perugino Rome: Sistine Chapel 40
Peter
Fortitude and Temperance, Perugia: Collegio Del
Pietro Perugino 40
with Warriors Cambio
Giovanni (Lo Madonna and Child, with
Assisi: Lower Church 46
Spagna) Saints
Stefano da The Madonna and Child
Verona (da with S. Catharine in a Rose Verona: Gallery, 559 52
Zevio) Garden
Presentation to the Madonna
Aldigieri da Zevio
of Three Knights of the Verona: S. Anastasia 54
(Altichiero)
Cavalli Family
Vittore
Venice: S. Giorgio
Scarpaccia S. George and the Dragon 56
Degli Schiavoni
(Carpaccio)
Marco Bassiti Christ on the Mount of
Venice: Accademia, 69 60
(Basaiti) Olives
Giovanni Vicenza: Pinacoteca,
Pietà 60
Buonconsigli 22
Luca Signorelli Detail: The Last Judgment Orvieto: Duomo 74
Leonardo da
The Adoration of the Magi Florence: Uffizi, 1252 94
Vinci
Leonardo da Milan: S. Maria delle
The Last Supper 96
Vinci Grazie
Leonardo da Cartoon: The Madonna and London: Burlington
98
Vinci Child with S. Anne House
Leonardo da Fragment of Cartoon: The Oxford: Ashmolean
104
Vinci (?) Battle of the Standard Museum
Giovan Antonio
Man and Woman Praying Milan: Brera, 281 104
Boltraffio
Berlin: Kaiser
Giorgione da
Portrait of a Young Man Friedrich Museum, 112
Castelfranco
12A
Giorgione da S. Petersburg:
Judith 112
Castelfranco Hermitage, 112

Giorgione da Milan: Crespi
Caterina, Queen of Cyprus 114
Castelfranco (?) Collection
Antonio da Detail: S. Thomas and S. Parma: S. Giovanni
120
Correggio James the Less Evangelista
Antonio da The Madonna and Child
Parma: Gallery, 351 120
Correggio with S. Jerome
Perseus delivering
Piero di Cosimo Florence: Uffizi, 1312 128
Andromeda
Berlin: Kaiser
Piero di Cosimo Venus, Mars, and Cupid Friedrich Museum, 130
107
Hague: Royal
Piero di Cosimo Francesco Giamberti 134
Museum, 255
Bramante da
Interior of Sacristy Milan: S. Satiro 138
Urbino
Bramante da Rome: S. Pietro in
Tempietto 142
Urbino Montorio
Bramante da
Palazzo Giraud Rome 146
Urbino
Fra Bartolommeo Rome: Corsini Gallery,
The Holy Family 154
di San Marco 579
Fra Bartolommeo
S. Mark Florence: Pitti, 125 158
di San Marco
God the Father, with SS.
Fra Bartolommeo
Mary Magdalen and Lucca: Gallery, 12 160
di San Marco
Catharine
Mariotto The Madonna enthroned, Florence: Accademia,
166
Albertinelli with Saints 167
Raffaellino del Florence: Accademia,
The Resurrection 176
Garbo 90
London: Westminster
Torrigiano Tomb of Henry VII 186
Abbey
Giuliano da San Façade of S. Maria delle
Prato 194
Gallo Carceri
Raffaello da
Lo Sposalizio Milan: Brera, 472 212
Urbino

Raffaello da
Maddalena Doni Florence: Pitti, 59 212
Urbino
Raffaello da
"The School of Athens" Rome: The Vatican 216
Urbino
Raffaello da The "Disputa del
Rome: The Vatican 222
Urbino Sacramento"
Raffaello da
The Mass of Bolsena Rome: The Vatican 224
Urbino
Raffaello da Pope Leo X with Two
Florence: Pitti, 40 230
Urbino Cardinals
Raffaello da
The Transfiguration Rome: The Vatican 240
Urbino
Simone (Il Florence: Palazzo
Detail of Cornice 266
Cronaca) Strozzi
Florence: Palazzo
Niccolò Grosso Iron Link-holder 268
Strozzi
Florence: Palazzo
Niccolò Grosso Iron Lantern 268
Strozzi
Simone (Il
Interior of Sacristy Florence: S. Spirito 270
Cronaca)
Domenico Puligo Madonna and Child, with Florence: S. Maria
280
(?) Saints Maddalena de' Pazzi

FILIPPO LIPPI

FILIPPO LIPPI (FILIPPINO): THE VISION OF S. BERNARD
(Florence: Church of the Badia. Panel)
View larger image

LIFE OF FILIPPO LIPPI, CALLED FILIPPINO
PAINTER OF FLORENCE

There was at this same time in Florence a painter of most beautiful
intelligence and most lovely invention, namely, Filippo, son of Fra Filippo
of the Carmine, who, following in the steps of his dead father in the art of
painting, was brought up and instructed, being still very young, by Sandro
Botticelli, notwithstanding that his father had commended him on his death-
bed to Fra Diamante, who was much his friend—nay, almost his brother.
Such was the intelligence of Filippo, and so abundant his invention in
painting, and so bizarre and new were his ornaments, that he was the first
who showed to the moderns the new method of giving variety to vestments,
and embellished and adorned his figures with the girt-up garments of
antiquity. He was also the first to bring to light grotesques, in imitation of
the antique, and he executed them on friezes in terretta or in colours, with
more design and grace than the men before him had shown; wherefore it
was a marvellous thing to see the strange fancies that he expressed in
painting. What is more, he never executed a single work in which he did not
avail himself with great diligence of Roman antiquities, such as vases,
buskins, trophies, banners, helmet-crests, adornments of temples,
ornamental head-dresses, strange kinds of draperies, armour, scimitars,
swords, togas, mantles, and such a variety of other beautiful things, that we
owe him a very great and perpetual obligation, seeing that he added beauty
and adornment to art in this respect.
In his earliest youth he completed the Chapel of the Brancacci in the
Carmine at Florence, begun by Masolino, and left not wholly finished by
Masaccio on account of his death. Filippo, therefore, gave it its final
perfection with his own hand, and executed what was lacking in one scene,
wherein S. Peter and S. Paul are restoring to life the nephew of the
Emperor. In the nude figure of this boy he portrayed the painter Francesco
Granacci, then a youth; and he also made portraits of the Chevalier, Messer
Tommaso Soderini, Piero Guicciardini, father of Messer Francesco the
historian, Piero del Pugliese, and the poet Luigi Pulci; likewise Antonio

Pollaiuolo, and himself as a youth, as he then was, which he never did again
throughout the whole of his life, so that it has not been possible to find a
portrait of him at a more mature age. In the scene following this he
portrayed Sandro Botticelli, his master, and many other friends and people
of importance; among others, the broker Raggio, a man of great intelligence
and wit, who executed in relief on a conch the whole Inferno of Dante, with
all the circles and divisions of the pits and the nethermost well in their exact
proportions, and all the figures and details that were most ingeniously
imagined and described by that great poet; which conch was held in those
times to be a marvellous thing.
Next, in the Chapel of Francesco del Pugliese at Campora, a seat of the
Monks of the Badia, without Florence, he painted a panel in distemper of S.
Bernard, to whom Our Lady is appearing with certain angels, while he is
writing in a wood; which picture is held to be admirable in certain respects,
such as rocks, books, herbage, and similar things, that he painted therein,
besides the portrait from life of Francesco himself, so excellent that he
seems to lack nothing save speech. This panel was removed from that place
on account of the siege, and placed for safety in the Sacristy of the Badia of
Florence. In S. Spirito in the same city, for Tanai de' Nerli, he painted a
panel with Our Lady, S. Martin, S. Nicholas, and S. Catherine; with a panel
in the Chapel of the Rucellai in S. Pancrazio, and a Crucifix and two figures
on a ground of gold in S. Raffaello. In front of the Sacristy of S. Francesco,
without the Porta a S. Miniato, he made a God the Father, with a number of
children. At Palco, a seat of the Frati del Zoccolo, without Prato, he painted
a panel; and in the Audience Chamber of the Priori in that territory he
executed a little panel containing the Madonna, S. Stephen, and S. John the
Baptist, which has been much extolled. On the Canto al Mercatale, also in
Prato, in a shrine opposite to the Nuns of S. Margherita, and near some
houses belonging to them, he painted in fresco a very beautiful Madonna,
with a choir of seraphim, on a ground of dazzling light. In this work, among
other things, he showed art and beautiful judgment in a dragon that is at the
feet of S. Margaret, which is so strange and horrible, that it is revealed to us
as a true fount of venom, fire, and death; and the whole of the rest of the
work is so fresh and vivacious in colouring, that it deserves infinite praise.
He also wrought certain things in Lucca, particularly a panel in a chapel of
the Church of S. Ponziano, which belongs to the Monks of Monte Oliveto;

in the centre of which chapel there is a niche containing a very beautiful S.
Anthony in relief by the hand of Andrea Sansovino, a most excellent
sculptor. Being invited to go to Hungary by King Matthias, Filippo refused,
but made up for this by painting two very beautiful panels for that King in
Florence, and sending them to him; and in one of these he made a portrait
of the King, taken from his likeness on medals. He also sent certain works
to Genoa; and beside the Chapel of the High-Altar in S. Domenico at
Bologna, on the left hand, he painted a S. Sebastian on a panel, which was a
thing worthy of much praise. For Tanai de' Nerli he executed another panel
in S. Salvadore, without Florence; and for his friend Piero del Pugliese he
painted a scene with little figures, executed with so much art and diligence
that when another citizen besought him to make a second like it, he refused,
saying that it was not possible to do it.
After these things he executed a very great work in Rome for the
Neapolitan Cardinal, Olivieri Caraffa, at the request of the elder Lorenzo de'
Medici, who was a friend of that Cardinal. While going thither for that
purpose, he passed through Spoleto at the wish of Lorenzo, in order to give
directions for the making of a marble tomb for his father Fra Filippo at the
expense of Lorenzo, who had not been able to obtain his body from the
people of Spoleto for removal to Florence. Filippo, therefore, made a
beautiful design for the said tomb, and Lorenzo had it erected after that
design (as has been told in another place), sumptuous and beautiful.
Afterwards, having arrived in Rome, Filippo painted a chapel in the Church
of the Minerva for the said Cardinal Caraffa, depicting therein scenes from
the life of S. Thomas Aquinas, and certain most beautiful poetical
compositions ingeniously imagined by himself, for he had a nature ever
inclined to this. In the scene, then, wherein Faith has taken Infidelity
captive, there are all the heretics and infidels. Hope has likewise overcome
Despair, and so, too, there are many other Virtues that have subjugated the
Vice that is their opposite. In a disputation is S. Thomas defending the
Church "ex cathedra" against a school of heretics, and holding vanquished
beneath him Sabellius, Arius, Averroes, and others, all clothed in graceful
garments; of which scene we have in our book of drawings the original
design by Filippo's own hand, with certain others by the same man, wrought
with such mastery that they could not be bettered. There, too, is the scene
when, as S. Thomas is praying, the Crucifix says to him, "Bene scripsisti de

me, Thoma"; while a companion of the Saint, hearing that Crucifix thus
speaking, is standing amazed and almost beside himself. In the panel is the
Virgin receiving the Annunciation from Gabriel; and on the main wall there
is her Assumption into Heaven, with the twelve Apostles round the
sepulchre. The whole of this work was held, as it still is, to be very
excellent and wrought perfectly for a work in fresco. It contains a portrait
from life of the said Cardinal Olivieri Caraffa, Bishop of Ostia, who was
buried in this chapel in the year 1511, and afterwards removed to the
Piscopio in Naples.

THE LIBERATION OF S. PETER
(After the fresco by Filippo Lippi (Filippino).
Florence: S. Maria del Carmine)
Anderson
View larger image

Having returned to Florence, Filippo undertook to paint at his leisure the
Chapel of the elder Filippo Strozzi in S. Maria Novella, and he actually
began it; but, having finished the ceiling, he was compelled to return to
Rome, where he wrought a tomb with stucco-work for the said Cardinal,
and decorated with gesso a little chapel beside that tomb in a part of the
same Church of the Minerva, together with certain figures, some of which
were executed by his disciple, Raffaellino del Garbo. The chapel described
above was valued by Maestro Lanzilago of Padua and by the Roman
Antonio, known as Antoniasso, two of the best painters that were then in
Rome, at 2,000 ducats of gold, without the cost of the blues and of the
assistants. Having received this sum, Filippo returned to Florence, where he
finished the aforesaid Chapel of the Strozzi, which was executed so well,
and with so much art and design, that it causes all who see it to marvel, by
reason of the novelty and variety of the bizarre things that are seen therein
—armed men, temples, vases, helmet-crests, armour, trophies, spears,
banners, garments, buskins, head-dresses, sacerdotal vestments, and other
things—all executed in so beautiful a manner that they deserve the highest
commendation. In this work there is the scene of Drusiana being restored to
life by S. John the Evangelist, wherein we see most admirably expressed
the marvel of the bystanders at beholding a man restore life to a dead
woman by a mere sign of the cross; and the greatest amazement of all is
seen in a priest, or rather philosopher, whichever he may be, who is clothed
in ancient fashion and has a vase in his hand. In the same scene, likewise,
among a number of women draped in various manners, there is a little boy,
who, terrified by a small spaniel spotted with red, which has seized him
with its teeth by one of his swathing-bands, is running round his mother and
hiding himself among her clothes, and appears to be as much afraid of
being bitten by the dog as his mother is awestruck and filled with a certain
horror at the resurrection of Drusiana. Next to this, in the scene where S.
John himself is being boiled in oil, we see the wrath of the judge, who is
giving orders for the fire to be increased, and the flames reflected on the
face of the man who is blowing at them; and all the figures are painted in
beautiful and varied attitudes. On the other side is S. Philip in the Temple of
Mars, compelling the serpent, which has slain the son of the King with its
stench, to come forth from below the altar. In certain steps the painter
depicted the hole through which the serpent issued from beneath the altar,
and so well did he paint the cleft in one of the steps, that one evening one of

Filippo's lads, wishing to hide something, I know not what, from the sight
of someone who was knocking for admittance, ran up in haste in order to
conceal it in the hole, being wholly deceived by it. Filippo also showed so
much art in the serpent, that its venom, fetid breath, and fire, appear rather
real than painted. Greatly extolled, too, is his invention in the scene of the
Crucifixion of that Saint, for he imagined to himself, so it appears, that the
Saint was stretched on the cross while it lay on the ground, and that
afterwards the whole was drawn up and raised on high by means of ropes,
cords, and poles; which ropes and cords are wound round certain fragments
of antiquities, pieces of pillars, and bases, and pulled by certain ministers.
On the other side the weight of the said cross and of the Saint who is
stretched nude thereon is supported by two men, on the one hand by a man
with a ladder, with which he is propping it up, and on the other hand by
another with a pole, upholding it, while two others, setting a lever against
the base and stem of the cross, are balancing its weight and seeking to place
it in the hole made in the ground, wherein it had to stand upright. But why
say more? It would not be possible for the work to be better either in
invention or in drawing, or in any other respect whatsoever of industry or
art. Besides this, it contains many grotesques and other things wrought in
chiaroscuro to resemble marble, executed in strange fashion with invention
and most beautiful drawing.

S. JOHN THE EVANGELIST RAISING DRUSIANA FROM THE
DEAD
(After the fresco by Filippo Lippi [Filippino].
Florence: S. Maria Novella, Strozzi Chapel)
Anderson
View larger image

For the Frati Scopetini, also, at S. Donato, without Florence, which is called
Scopeto and is now in ruins, he painted a panel with the Magi presenting
their offerings to Christ, finished with great diligence, wherein he portrayed
the elder Pier Francesco de' Medici, son of Lorenzo di Bicci, in the figure of
an astrologer who is holding a quadrant in his hand, and likewise Giovanni,
father of Signor Giovanni de' Medici, and another Pier Francesco, brother
of that Signor Giovanni, and other people of distinction. In this work are
Moors, Indians, costumes of strange shapes, and a most bizarre hut. In a
loggia at Poggio a Cajano he began a Sacrifice in fresco for Lorenzo de'
Medici, but it remained unfinished. And for the Nunnery of S. Geronimo,
above the Costa di S. Giorgio in Florence, he began the panel of the high-
altar, which was brought nearly to completion after his death by the
Spaniard Alonzo Berughetta, but afterwards wholly finished by other
painters, Alonzo having gone to Spain. In the Palazzo della Signoria he
painted the panel of the hall where the Council of Eight held their sittings,

and he made the design for another large panel, with its ornament, for the
Sala del Consiglio; which design his death prevented him from beginning to
put into execution, although the ornament was carved; which ornament is
now in the possession of Maestro Baccio Baldini, a most excellent
physician of Florence, and a lover of every sort of talent. For the Church of
the Badia of Florence he made a very beautiful S. Jerome; and he began a
Deposition from the Cross for the high-altar of the Friars of the Nunziata,
but only finished the figures in the upper half of the picture, for, being
overcome by a most cruel fever and by that contraction of the throat that is
commonly known as quinsy, he died in a few days at the age of forty-five.
Thereupon, having ever been courteous, affable, and kindly, he was
lamented by all those who had known him, and particularly by the youth of
his noble native city, who, in their public festivals, masques, and other
spectacles, ever availed themselves, to their great satisfaction, of the
ingenuity and invention of Filippo, who has never had an equal in things of
that kind. Nay, he was so excellent in all his actions, that he blotted out the
stain (if stain it was) left to him by his father—blotted it out, I say, not only
by the excellence of his art, wherein he was inferior to no man of his time,
but also by the modesty and regularity of his life, and, above all, by his
courtesy and amiability; and how great are the force and power of such
qualities to conciliate the minds of all men without exception, is only
known to those who either have experienced or are experiencing it. Filippo
was buried by his sons in S. Michele Bisdomini, on April 13, 1505; and
while he was being borne to his tomb all the shops in the Via de' Servi were
closed, as is done sometimes for the obsequies of great men.
Among the disciples of Filippo, who all failed by a great measure to equal
him, was Raffaellino del Garbo, who made many works, as will be told in
the proper place, although he did not justify the opinions and hopes that
were conceived of him while Filippo was alive and Raffaellino himself still
a young man. The fruits, indeed, are not always equal to the blossoms that
are seen in the spring. Nor did any great success come to Niccolò Zoccolo,
otherwise known as Niccolò Cartoni, who was likewise a disciple of
Filippo, and painted at Arezzo the wall that is over the altar of S. Giovanni
Decollato; a little panel, passing well done, in S. Agnesa; a panel over a
lavatory in the Abbey of S. Fiora, containing a Christ who is asking for

water from the woman of Samaria; and many other works, which, since
they were commonplace, are not mentioned.

THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI
(After the panel by Filippo Lippi (Filippino).
Florence: Uffizi, 1257)
Alinari
View larger image

BERNARDINO PINTURICCHIO

LIFE OF BERNARDINO PINTURICCHIO
PAINTER OF PERUGIA

Even as many are assisted by fortune without being endowed with much
talent, so, on the contrary, there is an infinite number of able men who are
persecuted by an adverse and hostile fortune; whence it is clearly manifest
that she acknowledges as her children those who depend upon her without
the aid of any talent, since it pleases her to exalt by her favour certain men
who would never be known through their own merit; which is seen in
Pinturicchio of Perugia, who, although he made many works and was
assisted by various helpers, nevertheless had a much greater name than his
works deserved. However, he was a man who had much practice in large
works, and ever kept many assistants to aid him in his labours. Now, having
worked at many things in his early youth under his master Pietro da
Perugia,[1] receiving a third of all that was earned, he was summoned to
Siena by Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini to paint the library made by Pope
Pius II in the Duomo of that city. It is true, indeed, that the sketches and
cartoons for all the scenes that he painted there were by the hand of
Raffaello da Urbino, then a youth, who had been his companion and fellow-
disciple under the same Pietro, whose manner the said Raffaello had
mastered very well. One of these cartoons is still to be seen at the present
day in Siena, and some of the sketches, by the hand of Raffaello, are in our
book.

BERNARDINO PINTURICCHIO: THE MADONNA IN GLORY
(San Gimignano. Panel)
View larger image

Now the stories in this work, wherein Pinturicchio was aided by many
pupils and assistants, all of the school of Pietro, were divided into ten
pictures. In the first is painted the scene when the said Pope Pius II was
born to Silvio Piccolomini and Vittoria, and was called Æneas, in the year
1405, in Valdorcia, at the township of Corsignano, which is now called
Pienza after the name of that Pope, who afterwards enriched it with
buildings and made it a city; and in this picture are portraits from nature of
the said Silvio and Vittoria. In the same is the scene when, in company with

Cardinal Domenico of Capranica, he is crossing the Alps, which are
covered with ice and snow, on his way to the Council of Bâle. In the second
the Council is sending Æneas on many embassies—namely, to Argentina
(three times), to Trent, to Constance, to Frankfurt, and to Savoy. In the third
is the sending of the same Æneas by the Antipope Felix as ambassador to
the Emperor Frederick III, with whom the ready intelligence, the eloquence,
and the grace of Æneas found so much favour that he was given the poet's
crown of laurel by Frederick himself, who made him his Protonotary,
received him into the number of his friends, and appointed him his First
Secretary. In the fourth he is sent by Frederick to Eugenius IV, by whom he
was made Bishop of Trieste, and then Archbishop of Siena, his native city.
In the fifth scene the same Emperor, who is about to come to Italy to
receive the crown of Empire, is sending Æneas to Telamone, a port of the
people of Siena, to meet his wife, Leonora, who was coming from Portugal.
In the sixth Æneas is going to Calistus IV,[2] at the bidding of the said
Emperor, to induce him to make war against the Turks; and in this part,
Siena being harassed by the Count of Pittigliano and by others at the
instigation of King Alfonso of Naples, that Pontiff is sending him to treat
for peace. This effected, war is planned against the Orientals; and he,
having returned to Rome, is made a Cardinal by the said Pontiff. In the
seventh, Calistus being dead, Æneas is seen being created Supreme Pontiff,
and called Pius II. In the eighth the Pope goes to Mantua for the Council
about the expedition against the Turks, where the Marquis Lodovico
receives him with most splendid pomp and incredible magnificence. In the
ninth the same Pope is placing in the catalogue of saints—or, as the saying
is, canonizing—Catherine of Siena, a holy woman and nun of the Preaching
Order. In the tenth and last, while preparing a vast expedition against the
Turks with the help and favour of all the Christian Princes, Pope Pius dies
at Ancona; and a hermit of the Hermitage of Camaldoli, a holy man, sees
the soul of the said Pontiff being borne by Angels into Heaven at the very
moment of his death, as may also be read. Afterwards, in the same picture,
the body of the same Pope is seen being borne from Ancona to Rome by a
vast and honourable company of lords and prelates, who are lamenting the
death of so great a man and so rare and holy a Pontiff. The whole of this
work is full of portraits from the life, so numerous that it would be a long
story to recount their names; and it is all painted with the finest and most
lively colours, and wrought with various ornaments of gold, and with very

well designed partitions in the ceiling. Below each scene is a Latin
inscription, which describes what is contained therein. In the centre of this
library the said Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini, nephew of the Pope,
placed the three Graces of marble, ancient and most beautiful, which are
still there, and which were the first antiquities to be held in price in those
times. This library, wherein are all the books left by the said Pius II, was
scarcely finished, when the same Cardinal Francesco, nephew of the
aforesaid Pontiff, Pius II, was created Pope, choosing the name of Pius III
in memory of his uncle. Over the door of that library, which opens into the
Duomo, the same Pinturicchio painted in a very large scene, occupying the
whole extent of the wall, the Coronation of the said Pope Pius III, with
many portraits from life; and beneath it may be read these words:
PIUS III SENENSIS, PII SECUNDI NEPOS, MDIII, SEPTEMBRIS XXI,
APERTIS ELECTUS SUFFRAGIIS, OCTAVO OCTOBRIS CORONATUS
EST.
When Pinturicchio was working with Pietro Perugino and painting at Rome
in the time of Pope Sixtus, he had also been in the service of Domenico
della Rovere, Cardinal of San Clemente; wherefore the said Cardinal,
having built a very beautiful palace in the Borgo Vecchio, charged
Pinturicchio to paint the whole of it, and to make on the façade the coat of
arms of Pope Sixtus, with two little boys as supporters. The same master
executed certain works for Sciarra Colonna in the Palace of S. Apostolo;
and no long time after—namely, in the year 1484—Innocent VIII, the
Genoese, caused him to paint certain halls and loggie in the Palace of the
Belvedere, where, among other things, by order of that Pope, he painted a
loggia full of landscapes, depicting therein Rome, Milan, Genoa, Florence,
Venice, and Naples, after the manner of the Flemings; and this, being a
thing not customary at that time, gave no little satisfaction. In the same
place, over the principal door of entrance, he painted a Madonna in fresco.
In S. Pietro, in the chapel that contains the Lance which pierced the side of
Christ, he painted a panel in distemper, with the Madonna larger than life,
for the said Innocent VIII; and he painted two chapels in the Church of S.
Maria del Popolo, one for the aforesaid Domenico della Rovere, Cardinal of
San Clemente, who was afterwards buried therein, and the other for
Cardinal Innocenzio Cibo, wherein he also was afterwards buried; and in
each of these chapels he portrayed the Cardinal who had caused him to

paint it. In the Palace of the Pope he painted certain rooms that look out
upon the courtyard of S. Pietro, the ceilings and paintings of which were
renovated a few years ago by Pope Pius IV. In the same palace Alexander
VI caused Pinturicchio to paint all the rooms that he occupied, together with
the whole of the Borgia Tower, wherein he wrought stories of the liberal
arts in one room, besides decorating all the ceilings with stucco and gold;
but, since they did not then know the method of stucco-work that is now in
use, the aforesaid ornaments are for the most part ruined. Over the door of
an apartment in the said palace he portrayed the Signora Giulia Farnese in
the countenance of a Madonna, and, in the same picture, the head of Pope
Alexander in a figure that is adoring her.
Bernardino was much given to making gilt ornaments in relief for his
pictures, to satisfy people who had little understanding of his art with the
more showy lustre that this gave them, which is a most barbarous thing in
painting. Having then executed a story of S. Catherine in the said
apartments, he depicted the arches of Rome in relief and the figures in
painting, insomuch that, the figures being in the foreground and the
buildings in the background, the things that should recede stand out more
prominently than those that should strike the eye as the larger—a very grave
heresy in our art.

FREDERICK III CROWNING THE POET ÆNEAS SYLVIUS
(After the fresco by Bernardino Pinturicchio.
Siena: Sala Piccolominea)
Brogi
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In the Castello di S. Angelo he painted a vast number of rooms with
grotesques; and in the Great Tower, in the garden below, he painted stories
of Pope Alexander, with portraits of the Catholic Queen, Isabella; Niccolò
Orsino, Count of Pittigliano; Gianjacomo Trivulzi, and many other relatives
and friends of the said Pope, in particular Cæsar Borgia and his brother and
sisters, with many talented men of those times. At Monte Oliveto in Naples,
in the Chapel of Paolo Tolosa, there is a panel with an Assumption by the
hand of Pinturicchio. This master made an infinite number of other works

throughout all Italy, which, since they are of no great excellence, and
wrought in a superficial manner, I will pass over in silence. Pinturicchio
used to say that a painter could only give the greatest relief to his figures
when he had it in himself, without owing anything to principles or to others.
He also made works in Perugia, but these were few. In the Araceli he
painted the Chapel of S. Bernardino; and in S. Maria del Popolo, where, as
we have said, he painted the two chapels, he made the four Doctors of the
Church on the vaulting of the principal chapel.

POPE ALEXANDER VI ADORING THE RISEN CHRIST
(After the fresco by Bernardino Pinturicchio.
Rome: The Vatican, Borgia Apartments)

Anderson
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Afterwards, having reached the age of fifty-nine, he was commissioned to
paint the Nativity of Our Lady on a panel in S. Francesco at Siena. To this
he set his hand, and the friars assigned to him a room to live in, which they
gave to him, as he wished, empty and stripped of everything, save only a
huge old chest, which appeared to them too awkward to remove. But
Pinturicchio, like the strange and whimsical man that he was, made such an
outcry at this, and repeated it so often, that finally in despair the friars set
themselves to carry it away. Now their good fortune was such, that in
removing it there was broken a plank which contained 500 Roman ducats of
gold; at which Pinturicchio was so displeased, and felt so aggrieved at the
good luck of those poor friars, that it can hardly be imagined—nay, he took
it so much to heart, being unable to get it out of his thoughts, that it was the
death of him. His pictures date about the year 1513.
A companion and friend of Pinturicchio, although he was a much older
man, was Benedetto Buonfiglio, a painter of Perugia, who executed many
works in company with other masters in the Papal Palace at Rome. In the
Chapel of the Signoria in Perugia, his native city, he painted scenes from
the life of S. Ercolano, Bishop and Protector of that city, and in the same
place certain miracles wrought by S. Louis. In S. Domenico he painted the
story of the Magi on a panel in distemper, and many saints on another. In
the Church of S. Bernardino he painted a Christ in the sky, with S.
Bernardino himself, and a multitude below. In short, this master was in no
little repute in his native city before Pietro Perugino had come to be known.
Another friend of Pinturicchio, associated with him in not a few of his
works, was Gerino Pistoiese, who was held to be a diligent colourist and a
faithful imitator of the manner of Pietro Perugino, with whom he worked
nearly up to his death. He did little work in his native city of Pistoia; but for
the Company of the Buon Gesù in Borgo San Sepolcro he painted a
Circumcision in oil on a panel, which is passing good. In the Pieve of the
same place he painted a chapel in fresco; and on the bank of the Tiber, on
the road that leads to Anghiari, he painted another chapel, also in fresco, for
the Commune. And he painted still another chapel in the same place, in S.
Lorenzo, an abbey of the Monks of Camaldoli. By reason of all these works

he made so long a stay in the Borgo that he almost adopted it as his home.
He was a sorry fellow in matters of art, labouring with the greatest
difficulty, and toiling with such pains at the execution of a work, that it was
a torture to him.

BENEDETTO BUONFIGLIO: MADONNA, CHILD AND THREE
ANGELS

(Perugia: Pinacoteca. Panel)
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At this same time there was a painter in the city of Foligno, Niccolò
Alunno, who was held to be excellent, for it was little the custom before
Pietro Perugino's day to paint in oil, and many were held to be able men
who did not afterwards justify this opinion. Niccolò therefore gave no little
satisfaction with his works, since, although he only painted in distemper, he
portrayed the heads of his figures from life, so that they appeared alive, and
his manner won considerable praise. In S. Agostino at Foligno there is a
panel by his hand with a Nativity of Christ, and a predella with little
figures. At Assisi he painted a banner that is borne in processions, besides
the panel of the high-altar in the Duomo, and another panel in S. Francesco.
But the best painting that Niccolò ever did was in a chapel in the Duomo,
where, among other things, there is a Pietà, with two angels who are
holding two torches and weeping so naturally, that I do not believe that any
other painter, however excellent, would have been able to do much better.
In the same place he also painted the façade of S. Maria degli Angeli,
besides many other works of which there is no need to make mention, it
being enough to have touched on the best. And let this be the end of the Life
of Pinturicchio, who, besides his other qualities, gave no little satisfaction
to many princes and lords because he finished and delivered his works
quickly, which is their pleasure, although such works are perchance less
excellent than those that are made slowly and deliberately.

FRANCESCO FRANCIA

MEDALS
(London: British Museum)
1. ULISSE MUSOTTI 3. FRANCESCO ALIDOSI
2. GIOVANNI II BENTIVOGLIO 4. BERNARDO ROSSI
(After Francesco Francia) (After a pupil of Francesco
Francia)

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LIFE OF FRANCESCO FRANCIA
GOLDSMITH AND PAINTER OF BOLOGNA

Francesco Francia, who was born in Bologna in the year 1450, of parents
who were artisans, but honest and worthy enough, was apprenticed in his
earliest boyhood to the goldsmith's art, in which calling he worked with
intelligence and spirit; and as he grew up he became so well proportioned in
person and appearance, and so sweet and pleasant in manner and speech,
that he was able to keep the most melancholy of men cheerful and free from
care with his talk; for which reason he was beloved not only by all those
who knew him, but also by many Italian princes and other lords. While
working as a goldsmith, then, he gave attention to design, in which he took
so much pleasure, that his mind began to aspire to higher things, and he
made very great progress therein, as may be seen from many works in silver
that he executed in his native city of Bologna, and particularly from certain
most excellent works in niello. In this manner of work he often put twenty
most beautiful and well-proportioned little figures within a space no higher
than the breadth of two fingers and not much more in length. He also
enamelled many works in silver, which were destroyed at the time of the
ruin and exile of the Bentivogli. In a word, he did everything that can be
done in that art better than any other man.
But that in which he delighted above all, and in which he was truly
excellent, was the making of dies for medals, wherein he was the rarest
master of his day, as may be seen in some that he made with a most lifelike
head of Pope Julius II, which bear comparison with those of Caradosso; not
to mention that he made medals of Signor Giovanni Bentivogli, in which he
appears alive, and of an infinite number of princes, who would stop in
Bologna on their way through the city, whereupon he would make their
portraits in wax for medals, and afterwards, having finished the matrices of
the dies, he would send them; for which, besides immortal fame, he also
received very rich presents. As long as he lived he was ever Master of the
Mint in Bologna, for which he made the stamps of all the dies, both under
the rule of the Bentivogli and also during the lifetime of Pope Julius, after

their departure, as is proved by the coins struck by that Pope on his entrance
into the city, which had on one side his head portrayed from life, and on the
other these words: BONONIA PER JULIUM A TYRANNO LIBERATA.
So excellent was he held in this profession, that he continued to make the
dies for the coinage down to the time of Pope Leo; and the impressions of
his dies are so greatly prized, and those who have some hold them in such
esteem, that money cannot buy them.

MADONNA AND CHILD, WITH SAINTS
(After the panel by Francesco Francia.
Bologna: S. Giacomo Maggiore, Bentivoglio Chapel)
Anderson
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Now it came to pass that Francia, being desirous of greater glory, and
having known Andrea Mantegna and many other painters who had gained

wealth and honours by their art, determined to try whether he could succeed
in that part of painting which had to do with colour; his drawing was
already such that it could well bear comparison with theirs. Thereupon,
having made arrangements to try his hand, he painted certain portraits and
some little things, keeping in his house for many months men of that
profession to teach him the means and methods of colouring, insomuch that,
having very good judgment, he soon acquired the needful practice. The first
work that he made was a panel of no great size for Messer Bartolommeo[3]
Felicini, who placed it in the Misericordia, a church without Bologna; in
which panel there is a Madonna seated on a throne, with many other
figures, and the said Messer Bartolommeo portrayed from life. This work,
which was wrought in oil with the greatest diligence, was painted by him in
the year 1490; and it gave such satisfaction in Bologna, that Messer
Giovanni Bentivogli, desiring to honour his own chapel, which was in S.
Jacopo in that city, with works by this new painter, commissioned him to
paint a panel with the Madonna in the sky, two figures on either side of her,
and two angels below sounding instruments; which work was so well
executed by Francia, that he won from Messer Giovanni, besides praise, a
most honourable present. Wherefore Monsignore de' Bentivogli, impressed
by this work, caused him to paint a panel containing the Nativity of Christ,
which was much extolled, for the high-altar of the Misericordia; wherein,
besides the design, which is not otherwise than beautiful, the invention and
the colouring are worthy of nothing but praise. In this work he made a
portrait of Monsignore de' Bentivogli from the life (a very good likeness, so
it is said by those who knew him), clothed in that very pilgrim's dress in
which he returned from Jerusalem. He also painted a panel in the Church of
the Nunziata, without the Porta di S. Mammolo, representing the Madonna
receiving the Annunciation from the Angel, with two figures on either side,
which is held to be a very well executed work.
Now that Francia's works had spread his fame abroad, even as his painting
in oil had brought him both profit and repute, so he determined to try
whether he would succeed as well at working in fresco. Messer Giovanni
Bentivogli had caused his palace to be painted by diverse masters of Ferrara
and Bologna, and by certain others from Modena; but, having seen Francia's
experiments in fresco, he determined that this master should paint a scene
on one wall of an apartment that he occupied for his own use. There Francia

painted the camp of Holofernes, guarded by various sentinels both on foot
and on horseback, who were keeping watch over the pavilions; and the
while that they were intent on something else, the sleeping Holofernes was
seen surprised by a woman clothed in widow's garments, who, with her left
hand, was holding his hair, which was wet with the heat of wine and sleep,
and with her right hand she was striking the blow to slay her enemy, the
while that an old wrinkled handmaid, with the true air of a most faithful
slave, and with her eyes fixed on those of her Judith in order to encourage
her, was bending down and holding a basket near the ground, to receive
therein the head of the slumbering lover. This scene was one of the most
beautiful and most masterly that Francia ever painted, but it was thrown to
the ground in the destruction of that edifice at the time of the expulsion of
the Bentivogli, together with another scene over that same apartment,
coloured to look like bronze, and representing a disputation of philosophers,
which was excellently wrought, with his conception very well expressed.
These works brought it about that he was loved and honoured by Messer
Giovanni and all the members of his house, and, after them, by all the city.
In the Chapel of S. Cecilia, which is attached to the Church of S. Jacopo, he
painted two scenes wrought in fresco, in one of which he made the
Marriage of Our Lady with Joseph, and in the other the Death of S. Cecilia
—a work held in great esteem by the people of Bologna. And, indeed,
Francia gained such mastery and such confidence from seeing his works
advancing towards the perfection that he desired, that he executed many
pictures, of which I will make no mention, it being enough for me to point
out, to all who may wish to see his works, only the best and most notable.
Nor did his painting hinder him from carrying on both the Mint and his
other work of making medals, as he had done from the beginning. Francia,
so it is said, felt the greatest sorrow at the departure of Messer Giovanni
Bentivogli, for he had received such great benefits from Messer Giovanni,
that it caused him infinite grief; however, like the prudent and orderly man
that he was, he kept at his work. After his parting from his patron, he
painted three panels that went to Modena, in one of which there was the
Baptism of Christ by S. John; in the second, a very beautiful Annunciation;
and in the last, which was placed in the Church of the Frati dell'
Osservanza, a Madonna in the sky with many figures.

FRANCESCO FRANCIA: PIETÀ
(London: National Gallery, 180. Panel)
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The fame of so excellent a master being spread abroad by means of so
many works, the cities contended with one another to obtain his pictures.
Whereupon he painted a panel for the Black Friars of S. Giovanni in Parma,
containing a Dead Christ in the lap of Our Lady, surrounded by many
figures; which panel was universally held to be a most beautiful work; and
the same friars, therefore, thinking that they had been well served, induced
him to make another for a house of theirs at Reggio in Lombardy, wherein
he painted a Madonna with many figures. At Cesena, likewise for the
church of these friars, he executed another panel, painting therein the
Circumcision of Christ, with lovely colouring. Nor would the people of
Ferrara consent to be left behind by their neighbours; nay, having
determined to adorn their Duomo with works by Francia, they
commissioned him to paint a panel, on which he made a great number of
figures; and they named it the panel of Ognissanti. He painted one in S.
Lorenzo at Bologna, with a Madonna, a figure on either side, and two
children below, which was much extolled; and scarcely had he finished this
when he had to make another in S. Giobbe, representing a Crucifixion, with
that Saint kneeling at the foot of the Cross, and two figures at the sides.
So widely had the fame and the works of this craftsman spread throughout
Lombardy, that even from Tuscany men sent for something by his hand, as
they did from Lucca, whither there went a panel containing a S. Anne and a

Madonna, with many other figures, and a Dead Christ above in the lap of
His Mother; which work is set up in the Church of S. Fridiano, and is held
in great price by the people of Lucca. For the Church of the Nunziata in
Bologna he painted two other panels, which were wrought with much
diligence; and in the Misericordia, likewise, without the Porta a Strà
Castione, at the request of a lady of the Manzuoli family, he painted
another, wherein he depicted the Madonna with the Child in her arms, S.
George, S. John the Baptist, S. Stephen, and S. Augustine, with an angel
below, who has his hands clasped with such grace, that he appears truly to
belong to Paradise. He executed another for the Company of S. Francesco
in the same city, and likewise one for the Company of S. Gieronimo. He
lived in close intimacy with Messer Polo Zambeccaro, who, being much his
friend, and wishing to have some memorial of him, caused him to paint a
rather large picture of the Nativity of Christ, which is one of the most
celebrated works that he ever made; and for this reason Messer Polo
commissioned him to paint at his villa two figures in fresco, which are very
beautiful. He also executed a most charming scene in fresco in the house of
Messer Gieronimo Bolognino, with many varied and very beautiful figures.
All these works together had won him such veneration in that city, that he
was held in the light of a god; and what made this infinitely greater was that
the Duke of Urbino caused him to paint a set of horse's caparisons, in which
he made a vast forest of trees that had caught fire, from which there were
issuing great numbers of all sorts of animals, both of the air and of the
earth, and certain figures—a terrible, awful, and truly beautiful thing, which
was held in no little esteem by reason of the time spent in painting the
plumage of the birds, and the various sorts of terrestrial animals, to say
nothing of the diversity of foliage and the variety of branches that were seen
in the different trees. For this work Francia was rewarded with gifts of great
value as a recompense for his labours, not to mention that the Duke ever
held himself indebted to him for the praises that he received for it. Duke
Guido Baldo, also, has in his guardaroba a picture of the Roman Lucretia,
which he esteems very highly, by the same man's hand, together with many
other pictures, of which mention will be made when the time comes.
After these things he painted a panel for the altar of the Madonna in SS.
Vitale e Agricola; in which panel are two very beautiful angels, who are
playing on the lute. I will not enumerate the pictures that are scattered

throughout Bologna in the houses of gentlemen of that city, and still less the
infinite number of portraits that he made from life, for it would be too
wearisome. Let it be enough to say that while he was living in such glory
and enjoying the fruits of his labours in peace, Raffaello da Urbino was in
Rome, and all day long there flocked round him many strangers, among
them many gentlemen of Bologna, eager to see his works. And since it
generally comes to pass that every man extols most willingly the intellects
of his native place, these Bolognese began to praise the works, the life, and
the talents of Francia in the presence of Raffaello, and they established such
a friendship between them with these words, that Francia and Raffaello sent
letters of greeting to each other. And Francia, hearing such great praise
spoken of the divine pictures of Raffaello, desired to see his works; but he
was now old, and too fond of his comfortable life in Bologna. Now after
this it came about that Raffaello painted in Rome for Cardinal Santi
Quattro, of the Pucci family, a panel-picture of S. Cecilia, which had to be
sent to Bologna to be placed in a chapel of S. Giovanni in Monte, where
there is the tomb of the Blessed Elena dall' Olio. This he packed up and
addressed to Francia, who, as his friend, was to have it placed on the altar
of that chapel, with the ornament, just as he had prepared it himself. Right
readily did Francia accept this charge, which gave him a chance of seeing a
work by Raffaello, as he had so much desired. And having opened the letter
that Raffaello had written to him, in which he besought Francia, if there
were any scratch in the work, to put it right, and likewise, as a friend, to
correct any error that he might notice, with the greatest joy he had the said
panel taken from its case into a good light. But such was the amazement
that it caused him, and so great his marvel, that, recognizing his own error
and the foolish presumption of his own rash confidence, he took it greatly
to heart, and in a very short time died of grief.
Raffaello's panel was divine, not so much painted as alive, and so well
wrought and coloured by him, that among all the beautiful pictures that he
painted while he lived, although they are all miraculous, it could well be
called most rare. Wherefore Francia, half dead with terror at the beauty of
the picture, which lay before his eyes challenging comparison with those by
his own hand that he saw around him, felt all confounded, and had it placed
with great diligence in that chapel of S. Giovanni in Monte for which it was
destined; and taking to his bed in a few days almost beside himself,

thinking that he was now almost of no account in his art in comparison with
the opinion held both by himself and by others, he died of grief and
melancholy, so some believe, overtaken by the same fate, through
contemplating too attentively that most lifelike picture of Raffaello's, as
befell Fivizzano from feasting his eyes with his own beautiful Death, about
which the following epigram was written:
Me veram pictor divinus mente recepit;
Admota est operi deinde perita manus.
Dumque opere in facto defigit lumina pictor,
Intentus nimium, palluit et moritur.
Viva igitur sum mors, non mortua mortis imago,
Si fungor quo mors fungitur officio.
However, certain others say that his death was so sudden, that from many
symptoms it appeared to be due rather to poison or apoplexy than to
anything else. Francia was a prudent man, most regular in his way of life,
and very robust. After his death, in the year 1518, he was honourably buried
by his sons in Bologna.

PIETRO PERUGINO

LIFE OF PIETRO PERUGINO
[PIETRO VANNUCCI, OR PIETRO DA CASTEL DELLA
PIEVE]

PAINTER

How great a benefit poverty may be to men of genius, and how potent a
force it may be to make them become excellent—nay, perfect—in the
exercise of any faculty whatsoever, can be seen clearly enough in the
actions of Pietro Perugino, who, flying from the extremity of distress at
Perugia, and betaking himself to Florence in the desire to attain to some
distinction by means of his talent, remained for many months without any
other bed than a miserable chest to sleep in, turning night into day, and
devoting himself with the greatest ardour to the unceasing study of his
profession. And, having made a habit of this, he knew no other pleasure
than to labour continually at his art, and to be for ever painting; for with the
fear of poverty constantly before his eyes, he would do for gain such work
as he would probably not have looked at if he had possessed the
wherewithal to live. Riches, indeed, might perchance have closed the path
on which his talent should advance towards excellence, no less effectually
than poverty opened it to him, while necessity spurred him on in his desire
to rise from so low and miserable a condition, if not to supreme eminence,
at least to a rank in which he might have the means of life. For this reason
he never took heed of cold, of hunger, of hardship, of discomfort, of fatigue,
or of ridicule, if only he might one day live in ease and repose; ever saying,
as it were by way of proverb, that after bad weather there must come the
good, and that during the good men build the houses that are to shelter them
when there is need.

PIETRO PERUGINO: APOLLO AND MARSYAS
(Paris: Louvre, 1509. Panel)
View larger image

But in order that the rise of this craftsman may be better known, let me
begin with his origin, and relate that, according to common report, there
was born in the city of Perugia, to a poor man of Castello della Pieve,
named Cristofano, a son who was baptized with the name of Pietro. This
son, brought up amid misery and distress, was given by his father as a shop-
boy to a painter of Perugia, who was no great master of his profession, but
held in great veneration both the art and the men who were excellent
therein; nor did he ever cease to tell Pietro how much gain and honour
painting brought to those who practised it well, and he would urge the boy
to the study of that art by recounting to him the rewards won by ancient and

modern masters; wherefore he fired his mind in such a manner, that Pietro
took it into his head to try, if only fortune would assist him, to become one
of these. For this reason he was often wont to ask any man whom he knew
to have seen the world, in what part the best craftsmen in that calling were
formed; particularly his master, who always gave him one and the same
answer—namely, that it was in Florence more than in any other place that
men became perfect in all the arts, especially in painting, since in that city
men are spurred by three things. The first is censure, which is uttered freely
and by many, seeing that the air of that city makes men's intellects so free
by nature, that they do not content themselves, like a flock of sheep, with
mediocre works, but ever consider them with regard to the honour of the
good and the beautiful rather than out of respect for the craftsman. The
second is that, if a man wishes to live there, he must be industrious, which
is naught else than to say that he must continually exercise his intelligence
and his judgment, must be ready and adroit in his affairs, and, finally, must
know how to make money, seeing that the territory of Florence is not so
wide or abundant as to enable her to support at little cost all who live there,
as can be done in countries that are rich enough. The third, which is
perchance no less potent than the others, is an eager desire for glory and
honour, which is generated mightily by that air in the men of all
professions; and this desire, in all persons of spirit, will not let them stay
content with being equal, much less inferior, to those whom they see to be
men like themselves, although they may recognize them as masters—nay, it
forces them very often to desire their own advancement so eagerly, that, if
they are not kindly or wise by nature, they turn out evil-speakers,
ungrateful, and unthankful for benefits. It is true, indeed, that when a man
has learnt there as much as suffices him, he must, if he wishes to do more
than live from day to day like an animal, and desires to become rich, take
his departure from that place and find a sale abroad for the excellence of his
works and for the repute conferred on him by that city, as the doctors do
with the fame derived from their studies. For Florence treats her craftsmen
as time treats its own works, which when perfected, it destroys and
consumes little by little.
Moved by these counsels, therefore, and by the persuasions of many others,
Pietro came to Florence, minded to become excellent; and well did he
succeed, for the reason that in those times works in his manner were held in

very great price. He studied under the discipline of Andrea Verrocchio, and
his first figures were painted without the Porta a Prato, in the Nunnery of S.
Martino, now in ruins by reason of the wars. In Camaldoli he made a S.
Jerome on a wall, which was then much esteemed by the Florentines and
celebrated with great praise, for the reason that he made that Saint old, lean,
and emaciated, with his eyes fixed on the Crucifix, and so wasted away, that
he seems like an anatomical model, as may be seen from a copy of that
picture which is in the hands of the aforesaid Bartolommeo Gondi. In a few
years, then, he came into such credit, that his works filled not only Florence
and all Italy, but also France, Spain, and many other countries to which they
were sent. Wherefore, his paintings being held in very great price and
repute, merchants began to buy them up wholesale and to send them abroad
to various countries, to their own great gain and profit.
For the Nuns of S. Chiara he painted a Dead Christ on a panel, with such
lovely and novel colouring, that he made the craftsmen believe that he
would become excellent and marvellous. In this work there are seen some
most beautiful heads of old men, and likewise certain figures of the Maries,
who, having ceased to weep, are contemplating the Dead Jesus with
extraordinary awe and love; not to mention that he made therein a
landscape that was then held most beautiful, because the true method of
making them, such as it appeared later, had not yet been seen. It is said that
Francesco del Pugliese offered to give to the aforesaid nuns three times as
much money as they had paid to Pietro, and to have a similar one made for
them by the same man's hand, but that they would not consent, because
Pietro said that he did not believe he could equal it.
There were also many things by the hand of Pietro in the Convent of the
Frati Gesuati, without the Porta a Pinti; and since the said church and
convent are now in ruins, I do not wish, with this occasion, and before I
proceed further with this Life, to grudge the labour of giving some little
account of them. This church, then, the architect of which was Antonio di
Giorgio of Settignano, was forty braccia long and twenty wide. At the upper
end one ascended by four treads, or rather steps, to a platform six braccia in
extent, on which stood the high-altar, with many ornaments carved in stone;
and on the said altar was a panel with a rich ornament, by the hand, as has
been related, of Domenico Ghirlandajo. In the centre of the church was a
partition-wall, with a door wrought in open-work from the middle upwards,

on either side of which was an altar, while over either altar, as will be told,
there stood a panel by the hand of Pietro Perugino. Over the said door was a
most beautiful Crucifix by the hand of Benedetto da Maiano, with a
Madonna on one side and a S. John on the other, both in relief. Before the
said platform of the high-altar, and against the said partition-wall, was a
choir of the Doric Order, very well wrought in walnut-wood; and over the
principal door of the church there was another choir, which rested on well-
strengthened woodwork, with the under part forming a ceiling, or rather
soffit, beautifully partitioned, and with a row of balusters acting as parapet
to the front of the choir, which faced towards the high-altar. This choir was
very convenient to the friars of that convent for holding their night services,
for saying their individual prayers, and likewise for week-days. Over the
principal door of the church—which was made with most beautiful
ornaments of stone, and had a portico in front raised on columns, which
made a covered way as far as the door of the convent—was a lunette with a
very beautiful figure of S. Giusto, the Bishop, and an angel on either side,
by the hand of the illuminator Gherardo; and this because that church was
dedicated to the said S. Giusto, and within it those friars preserved a relic of
that Saint—that is, an arm. At the entrance of the convent was a little
cloister of exactly the same size as the church—namely, forty braccia long
and twenty wide—with arches and vaulting going right round and
supported by columns of stone, thus making a spacious and most
commodious loggia on every side. In the centre of the court of this cloister,
which was all neatly paved with squared stone, was a very beautiful well,
with a loggia above, which likewise rested on columns of stone, and made a
rich and beautiful ornament. In this cloister were the chapter-house of the
friars, the side-door of entrance into the church, and the stairs that ascended
to the dormitory and other rooms for the use of the friars. On the farther
side of this cloister, in a straight line with the principal door of the convent,
was a passage as long as the chapter-house and the steward's room put
together, leading into another cloister larger and more beautiful than the
first; and the whole of this straight line—that is, the forty braccia of the
loggia of the first cloister, the passage, and the line of the second cloister—
made a very long enfilade, more beautiful than words can tell, and the
rather as from that farther cloister, in the same straight line, there issued a
garden-walk two hundred braccia in length; and all this, as one came from
the principal door of the convent, made a marvellous view. In the said

second cloister was a refectory, sixty braccia long and eighteen wide, with
all those well-appointed rooms, and, as the friars call them, offices, which
were required in such a convent. Over this was a dormitory in the shape of a
T, one part of which—namely, the principal part in the direct line, which
was sixty braccia long—was double—that is to say, it had cells on either
side, and at the upper end, in a space of fifteen braccia, was an oratory, over
the altar of which there was a panel by the hand of Pietro Perugino; and
over the door of this oratory was another work by the same man's hand, in
fresco, as will be told. And on the same floor, above the chapter-house, was
a large room where those fathers worked at making glass windows, with the
little furnaces and other conveniences that were necessary for such an
industry; and since while Pietro lived he made the cartoons for many of
their works, those that they executed in his time were all excellent. Then the
garden of this convent was so beautiful and so well kept, and the vines were
trained round the cloister and in every place with such good order, that
nothing better could be seen in the neighbourhood of Florence. In like
manner the room wherein they distilled scented waters and medicines, as
was their custom, had all the best conveniences that could possibly be
imagined. In short, that convent was one of the most beautiful and best
appointed that there were in the State of Florence; and it is for this reason
that I have wished to make this record of it, and the rather as the greater part
of the pictures that were therein were by the hand of our Pietro Perugino.

THE DEPOSITION
(After the panel by Pietro Perugino.
Florence: Pitti, 164)
Anderson
View larger image

Returning at length to this Pietro, I have to say that of the works that he
made in the said convent none have been preserved save the panels, since
those executed in fresco were thrown to the ground, together with the whole
of that building, by reason of the siege of Florence, when the panels were
carried to the Porta a S. Pier Gattolini, where a home was given to those
friars in the Church and Convent of S. Giovannino. Now the two panels on
the aforesaid partition-wall were by the hand of Pietro; and in one was
Christ in the Garden, with the Apostles sleeping, in whom Pietro showed
how well sleep can prevail over pains and discomforts, having represented
them asleep in attitudes of perfect ease. In the other he made a Pietà—that
is, Christ in the lap of Our Lady—surrounded by four figures no less

excellent than any others in his manner; and, to mention only one thing, he
made the Dead Christ all stiffened, as if He had been so long on the Cross
that the length of time and the cold had reduced Him to this; wherefore he
painted Him supported by John and the Magdalene, all sorrowful and
weeping. In another panel he painted the Crucifixion, with the Magdalene,
and, at the foot of the Cross, S. Jerome, S. John the Baptist, and the Blessed
Giovanni Colombini, founder of that Order; all with infinite diligence.
These three panels have suffered considerably, and they are all cracked in
the dark parts and where there are shadows; and this comes to pass when
the first coat of colour, which is laid on the ground (for three coats of colour
are used, one over the other), is worked on before it is thoroughly dry;
wherefore afterwards, with time, in the drying, they draw through their
thickness and come to have the strength to make those cracks; which Pietro
could not know, seeing that in his time they were only just beginning to
paint well in oil.
Now, the works of Pietro being much commended by the Florentines, a
Prior of the same Convent of the Ingesuati, who took delight in art, caused
him to make a Nativity, with the Magi, on a wall in the first cloister, after
the manner of a miniature. This he brought to perfect completion with great
loveliness and a high finish, and it contained an infinite number of different
heads, many of them portrayed from life, among which was the head of
Andrea del Verrocchio, his master. In the same court, over the arches of the
columns, he made a frieze with heads of the size of life, very well executed,
among which was one of the said Prior, so lifelike and wrought in so good a
manner, that it was judged by the most experienced craftsmen to be the best
thing that Pietro ever made. In the other cloister, over the door that led into
the refectory, he was commissioned to paint a scene of Pope Boniface
confirming the habit of his Order to the Blessed Giovanni Colombino,
wherein he portrayed eight of the aforesaid friars, and made a most
beautiful view receding in perspective, which was much extolled, and
rightly, since Pietro made a particular profession of this. In another scene
below the first he began a Nativity of Christ, with certain angels and
shepherds, wrought with the freshest colouring. And in an arch over the
door of the aforesaid oratory he made three half-length figures—Our Lady,
S. Jerome, and the Blessed Giovanni—with so beautiful a manner, that this
was held to be one of the best mural paintings that Pietro ever wrought.

The said Prior, so I once heard tell, was very excellent at making
ultramarine blues, and, therefore, having an abundance of them, he desired
that Pietro should use them freely in all the above-mentioned works; but he
was nevertheless so mean and suspicious that he would never trust Pietro,
and always insisted on being present when he was using blue in the work.
Wherefore Pietro, who had an honest and upright nature, and had no desire
for another man's goods save in return for his own labour, took the Prior's
distrust very ill, and resolved to put him to shame; and so, having taken a
basin of water, and having laid on the ground for draperies or for anything
else that he wished to paint in blue and white, from time to time he caused
the Prior, who turned grudgingly to his little bag, to put some ultramarine
into the little vase that contained the tempera-water, and then, setting to
work, at every second stroke of the brush Pietro would dip his brush in the
basin, so that there remained more in the water than he had used on the
picture. The Prior, who saw his little bag becoming empty without much to
show for it in the work, kept saying time after time: "Oh, what a quantity of
ultramarine this plaster consumes!" "Does it not?" Pietro would answer.
After the departure of the Prior, Pietro took the ultramarine from the bottom
of the basin, and gave it back to him when he thought the time had come,
saying: "Father, this is yours; learn to trust honest men, who never cheat
those who trust them, although, if they wished, they could cheat such
distrustful persons as yourself."
By reason of these works, then, and many others, Pietro came into such
repute that he was almost forced to go to Siena, where he painted a large
panel, which was held very beautiful, in S. Francesco; and he painted
another in S. Agostino, containing a Crucifix with some saints. A little time
after this, for the Church of S. Gallo in Florence, he painted a panel-picture
of S. Jerome in Penitence, which is now in S. Jacopo tra Fossi, where the
aforesaid friars live, near the Canto degli Alberti. He was commissioned to
paint a Dead Christ, with the Madonna and S. John, above the steps of the
side-door of S. Pietro Maggiore; and this he wrought in such a manner, that
it has been preserved, although exposed to rain and wind, as fresh as if it
had only just been finished by Pietro's hand. Truly intelligent was Pietro's
understanding of colour, both in fresco and in oil; wherefore all experienced
craftsmen are indebted to him, for it is through him that they have
knowledge of the lights that are seen throughout his works.

CHRIST GIVING THE KEYS TO S. PETER
(After the fresco by Pietro Perugino.
Rome: Sistine Chapel)
Alinari
View larger image

In S. Croce, in the same city, he made a Pietà—that is, Our Lady with the
Dead Christ in her arms—and two figures, which are marvellous to behold,
not so much for their excellence, as for the fact that they have remained so
fresh and vivid in colouring, painted as they are in fresco. He was
commissioned by Bernardino de' Rossi, a citizen of Florence, to paint a S.
Sebastian to be sent into France, the price agreed on being one hundred
gold crowns; but this work was sold by Bernardino to the King of France
for four hundred gold ducats. At Vallombrosa he painted a panel for the
high-altar; and in the Certosa of Pavia, likewise, he executed a panel for the
friars of that place. At the command of Cardinal Caraffa of Naples he
painted an Assumption of Our Lady, with the Apostles marvelling round the
tomb, for the high-altar of the Piscopio; and for Abbot Simone de' Graziani
of Borgo a San Sepolcro he executed a large panel, which was painted in
Florence, and then borne to S. Gilio in the Borgo on the shoulders of

porters, at very great expense. To S. Giovanni in Monte at Bologna he sent
a panel with certain figures standing upright, and a Madonna in the sky.

FORTITUDE AND TEMPERANCE, WITH WARRIORS
(After the fresco by Pietro Perugino.
Perugia: Collegio del Cambio)
Alinari
View larger image

Thereupon the fame of Pietro spread so widely throughout Italy and abroad,
that to his great glory he was summoned to Rome by Pope Sixtus IV to
work in his chapel in company with the other excellent craftsmen. There, in
company with Don Bartolommeo della Gatta, Abbot of S. Clemente at
Arezzo, he painted the scene of Christ giving the keys to S. Peter; and
likewise the Nativity and Baptism of Christ, and the Birth of Moses, with
the daughter of Pharaoh finding him in the little ark. And on the same wall
where the altar is he painted a mural picture of the Assumption of Our Lady,
with a portrait of Pope Sixtus on his knees. But these works were thrown to
the ground in preparing the wall for the Judgment of the divine

Michelagnolo, in the time of Pope Paul III. On a vault of the Borgia Tower
in the Papal Palace he painted certain stories of Christ, with some foliage in
chiaroscuro, which had an extraordinary name for excellence in his time. In
S. Marco, likewise in Rome, he painted a story of two martyrs beside the
Sacrament—one of the best works that he made in Rome. For Sciarra
Colonna, also, in the Palace of S. Apostolo, he painted a loggia and certain
rooms.
These works brought him a very great sum of money; wherefore, having
resolved to remain no longer in Rome, and having departed in good favour
with the whole Court, he returned to his native city of Perugia, in many
parts of which he executed panels and works in fresco; and, in particular, a
panel-picture painted in oils for the Chapel of the Palace of the Signori,
containing Our Lady and other saints. In S. Francesco del Monte he painted
two chapels in fresco, one with the story of the Magi going to make offering
to Christ, and the other with the martyrdom of certain friars of S. Francis,
who, going to the Soldan of Babylon, were put to death. In S. Francesco del
Convento, likewise, he painted two panels in oil, one with the Resurrection
of Christ, and the other with S. John the Baptist and other saints. For the
Church of the Servi he also painted two panels, one of the Transfiguration
of Our Lord, and in the other, which is beside the sacristy, the Story of the
Magi; but, since these are not of the same excellence as the other works of
Pietro, it is held to be certain that they are among the first that he made. In
the Chapel of the Crocifisso in S. Lorenzo, the Duomo of the same city,
there are by the hand of Pietro the Madonna, the other Maries, S. John, S.
Laurence, S. James, and other saints. And for the Altar of the Sacrament,
where there is preserved the ring with which the Virgin Mary was married,
he painted the Marriage of the Virgin.

PIETRO PERUGINO: TRIPTYCH
(London: National Gallery, 288. Panel)
View larger image

Afterwards he painted in fresco the whole of the Audience Chamber of the
Cambio,[4] adorning the compartments of the vaulting with the seven
planets, drawn in certain cars by diverse animals, according to the old
usage; on the wall opposite to the door of entrance he painted the Nativity
and Resurrection of Christ, with a panel containing S. John the Baptist in
the midst of certain other saints. The side-walls he painted in his own
manner; one with figures of Fabius Maximus, Socrates, Numa Pompilius, F.
Camillus, Pythagoras, Trajan, L. Sicinius, the Spartan Leonidas, Horatius
Cocles, Fabius, Sempronius, the Athenian Pericles, and Cincinnatus. On the
other wall he made the Prophets, Isaiah, Moses, Daniel, David, Jeremiah,
and Solomon; and the Sibyls, the Erythræan, the Libyan, the Tiburtine, the
Delphic, and the others. Below each of the said figures he placed, in the
form of a written motto, something said by them, and appropriate to that
place. And in one of the ornaments he made his own portrait, which appears

absolutely alive, and he wrote his own name below it in the following
manner:
PETRUS PERUSINUS EGREGIUS PICTOR.
PERDITA SI FUERAT, PINGENDO HIC RETULIT ARTEM;
SI NUNQUAM INVENTA ESSET HACTENUS, IPSE DEDIT.
ANNO D. 1500.
This work, which was very beautiful and more highly extolled than any
other that was executed by Pietro in Perugia, is now held in great price by
the men of that city in memory of so famous a craftsman of their own
country. Afterwards, in the principal chapel of the Church of S. Agostino,
the same man executed a large panel standing by itself and surrounded by a
rich ornament, with S. John baptizing Christ on the front part, and on the
back—that is, on the side that faces the choir—the Nativity of Christ, with
certain saints in the upper parts, and in the predella many scenes wrought
very diligently with little figures. And in the Chapel of S. Niccolò, in the
said church, he painted a panel for Messer Benedetto Calera.
After this, returning to Florence, he painted a S. Bernard on a panel for the
Monks of Cestello, and in the chapter-house a Crucifix, the Madonna, S.
Benedict, S. Bernard, and S. John. And in S. Domenico da Fiesole, in the
second chapel on the right hand, he painted a panel containing Our Lady
and three figures, among which is a S. Sebastian worthy of the highest
praise. Now Pietro had done so much work, and he always had so many
works in hand, that he would very often use the same subjects; and he had
reduced the theory of his art to a manner so fixed, that he made all his
figures with the same expression. By that time Michelagnolo Buonarroti
had already come to the front, and Pietro greatly desired to see his figures,
by reason of the praise bestowed on him by craftsmen; and seeing the
greatness of his own name, which he had acquired in every place through so
grand a beginning, being obscured, he was ever seeking to wound his
fellow-workers with biting words. For this reason, besides certain insults
aimed at him by the craftsmen, he had only himself to blame when
Michelagnolo told him in public that he was a clumsy fool at his art. But
Pietro being unable to swallow such an affront, they both appeared before
the Tribunal of Eight, where Pietro came off with little honour. Meanwhile
the Servite Friars of Florence, wishing to have the altar-piece of their high-

altar painted by some famous master, had handed it over, by reason of the
departure of Leonardo da Vinci, who had gone off to France, to Filippino;
but he, when he had finished half of one of two panels that were to adorn
the altar, passed from this life to the next; wherefore the friars, by reason of
the faith that they had in Pietro, entrusted him with the whole work. In that
panel, wherein he was painting the Deposition of Christ from the Cross,
Filippino had finished the figures of Nicodemus that are taking Him down;
and Pietro continued the lower part with the Swooning of the Madonna, and
certain other figures. Now this work was to be composed of two panels, one
facing towards the choir of the friars, and the other towards the body of the
church, and the Deposition from the Cross was to be placed behind, facing
the choir, with the Assumption of Our Lady in front; but Pietro made the
latter so commonplace, that the Deposition of Christ was placed in front,
and the Assumption on the side of the choir. These panels have now been
removed, both one and the other, and replaced by the Tabernacle of the
Sacrament; they have been set up over certain other altars in that church,
and out of the whole work there only remain six pictures, wherein are some
saints painted by Pietro in certain niches. It is said that when the work was
unveiled, it received no little censure from all the new craftsmen,
particularly because Pietro had availed himself of those figures that he had
been wont to use in other pictures; with which his friends twitted him,
saying that he had taken no pains, and that he had abandoned the good
method of working, either through avarice or to save time. To this Pietro
would answer: "I have used the figures that you have at other times praised,
and which have given you infinite pleasure; if now they do not please you,
and you do not praise them, what can I do?" But they kept assailing him
bitterly with sonnets and open insults; whereupon, although now old, he
departed from Florence and returned to Perugia.
There he executed certain works in fresco in the Church of S. Severo, a
place belonging to the Monks of the Order of Camaldoli, wherein Raffaello
da Urbino, when quite young and still the disciple of Pietro, had painted
certain figures, as will be told in his Life. Pietro likewise worked at
Montone, at La Fratta, and in many other places in the district of Perugia;
more particularly in S. Maria degli Angeli at Assisi, where he painted in
fresco a Christ on the Cross, with many figures, on the wall at the back of
the Chapel of the Madonna, which faces the choir of the monks. And for the

high-altar of the Church of S. Pietro, an abbey of Black Friars in Perugia, he
painted a large panel containing the Ascension, with the Apostles below
gazing up to Heaven; in the predella of which panel are three stories,
wrought with much diligence—namely, that of the Magi, the Baptism of
Christ, and His Resurrection. The whole of this picture is seen to be full of
beautiful and careful work, insomuch that it is the best of those wrought in
oil by the hand of Pietro which are in Perugia. The same man began a work
in fresco of no small importance at Castello della Pieve, but did not finish
it.
It was ever Pietro's custom on his going and coming between the said
Castello and Perugia, like a man who trusted nobody, to carry all the money
that he possessed about his person. Wherefore certain men, lying in wait for
him at a pass, robbed him, but at his earnest entreaty they spared his life for
the love of God; and afterwards, by means of the services of his friends,
who were numerous enough, he also recovered a great part of the money
that had been taken from him; but none the less he came near dying of
vexation. Pietro was a man of very little religion, and he could never be
made to believe in the immortality of the soul—nay, with words in keeping
with his head of granite, he rejected most obstinately every good
suggestion. He placed all his hopes in the goods of fortune, and he would
have sold his soul for money. He earned great riches; and he both bought
and built houses in Florence, and acquired much settled property both at
Perugia and at Castello della Pieve. He took a most beautiful young woman
to wife, and had children by her; and he delighted so greatly in seeing her
wearing beautiful head-dresses, both abroad and at home, that it is said that
he would often tire her head with his own hand. Finally, having reached the
age of seventy-eight, Pietro finished the course of his life at Castello della
Pieve, where he was honourably buried, in the year 1524.
Pietro made many masters in his own manner, and one among them, who
was truly most excellent, devoted himself heart and soul to the honourable
studies of painting, and surpassed his master by a great measure; and this
was the miraculous Raffaello Sanzio of Urbino, who worked for many years
under Pietro in company with his father, Giovanni de' Santi. Another
disciple of this man was Pinturicchio, a painter of Perugia, who, as it has
been said in his Life, ever held to Pietro's manner. His disciple, likewise,
was Rocco Zoppo, a painter of Florence, by whose hand is a very beautiful

Madonna in a round picture, which is in the possession of Filippo Salviati;
although it is true that it was brought to completion by Pietro himself. The
same Rocco painted many pictures of Our Lady, and made many portraits,
of which there is no need to speak; I will only say that in the Sistine Chapel
in Rome he painted portraits of Girolamo Riario and of F. Pietro, Cardinal
of San Sisto. Another disciple of Pietro was Montevarchi, who painted
many pictures in San Giovanni di Valdarno; more particularly, in the
Madonna, the stories of the Miracle of the Milk. He also left many works in
Montevarchi, his birth-place. Likewise a pupil of Pietro's, working with him
for no little time, was Gerino da Pistoia, of whom there has been mention in
the Life of Pinturicchio; and so also was Baccio Ubertino of Florence, who
was most diligent both in colouring and in drawing, for which reason Pietro
made much use of him. By this man's hand is a drawing in our book, done
with the pen, of Christ being scourged at the Column, which is a very lovely
thing.

MADONNA AND CHILD, WITH SAINTS
(After the panel by Giovanni (Lo Spagna).
Assisi: Lower Church)
Anderson
View larger image

A brother of this Baccio, and likewise a disciple of Pietro, was Francesco,
called Il Bacchiaccha by way of surname, who was a most diligent master
of little figures, as may be seen in many works wrought by him in Florence,
above all in the house of Giovan Maria Benintendi and in that of Pier
Francesco Borgherini. Bacchiaccha delighted in painting grotesques,
wherefore he covered a little cabinet belonging to the Lord Duke Cosimo
with animals and rare plants, drawn from nature, which are held very
beautiful. Besides this, he made the cartoons for many tapestries, which

were afterwards woven in silk by the Flemish master, Giovanni Rosto, for
the apartments of his Excellency's Palace. Still another disciple of Pietro
was the Spaniard Giovanni, called Lo Spagna by way of surname, who was
a better colourist than any of the others whom Pietro left behind him at his
death; after which this Giovanni would have settled in Perugia, if the envy
of the painters of that city, so hostile to strangers, had not persecuted him in
such wise as to force him to retire to Spoleto, where, by reason of his
excellence and virtue, he obtained a wife of good family and was made a
citizen of that city. He made many works in that place, and likewise in all
the other cities of Umbria; and at Assisi, in the lower Church of S.
Francesco, he painted the panel of the Chapel of S. Caterina, for the
Spanish Cardinal Egidio, and also one in S. Damiano. In S. Maria degli
Angeli, in the little chapel where S. Francis died, he painted some half-
length figures of the size of life—that is, certain companions of S. Francis
and other saints—all very lifelike, on either side of a S. Francis in relief.
But the best master among all the aforesaid disciples of Pietro was Andrea
Luigi of Assisi, called L'Ingegno, who in his early youth competed with
Raffaello da Urbino under the discipline of Pietro, who always employed
him in the most important pictures that he made; as may be seen in the
Audience Chamber of the Cambio in Perugia, where there are some very
beautiful figures by his hand; in those that he wrought at Assisi; and, finally,
in the Chapel of Pope Sixtus at Rome. In all these works Andrea gave such
proof of his worth, that he was expected to surpass his master by a great
measure, and so, without a doubt, it would have come to pass; but fortune,
which is almost always pleased to oppose herself to lofty beginnings, did
not allow L'Ingegno to reach perfection, for a flux of catarrh fell upon his
eyes, whence the poor fellow became wholly blind, to the infinite grief of
all who knew him. Hearing of this most pitiful misfortune, Pope Sixtus, like
a man who ever loved men of talent, ordained that a yearly provision should
be paid to Andrea in Assisi during his lifetime by those who managed the
revenues there; and this was done until he died at the age of eighty-six.
Likewise disciples of Pietro, and also natives of Perugia, were Eusebio San
Giorgio, who painted the panel of the Magi in S. Agostino; Domenico di
Paris, who made many works in Perugia and in the neighbouring townships,
being followed by his brother Orazio; and also Gian Niccola, who painted
Christ in the Garden on a panel in S. Francesco, the panel of Ognissanti in

the Chapel of the Baglioni in S. Domenico, and stories of S. John the
Baptist in fresco in the Chapel of the Cambio. Benedetto Caporali,
otherwise called Bitti, was also a disciple of Pietro, and there are many
pictures by his hand in his native city of Perugia. And he occupied himself
so greatly with architecture, that he not only executed many works, but also
wrote a commentary on Vitruvius in the manner that all can see, for it is
printed; in which studies he was followed by his son Giulio, a painter of
Perugia.
But not one out of all these disciples ever equalled Pietro's diligence, or the
grace of colouring that he showed in that manner of his own, which pleased
his time so much, that many came from France, from Spain, from Germany,
and from other lands, to learn it. And a trade was done in his works, as has
been said, by many who sent them to diverse places, until there came the
manner of Michelagnolo, which, having shown the true and good path to
these arts, has brought them to that perfection which will be seen in the
Third Part, about to follow, wherein we will treat of the excellence and
perfection of art, and show to craftsmen that he who labours and studies
continuously, and not in the way of fantasy or caprice, leaves true works
behind him and acquires fame, wealth, and friends.

VITTORE SCARPACCIA (CARPACCIO), AND
OTHER VENETIAN AND LOMBARD
PAINTERS

LIVES OF VITTORE SCARPACCIA
(CARPACCIO), AND OF OTHER VENETIAN
AND LOMBARD PAINTERS
It is very well known that when some of our craftsmen make a beginning in
some province, they are afterwards followed by many, one after another;
and very often there is an infinite number of them at one and the same time,
for the reason that rivalry, emulation, and the fact that they have been
dependent on others, one on one excellent master, and one on another, bring
it about that the craftsmen seek with all the greater effort to surpass one
another, to the utmost of their ability. And even when many depend on one,
no sooner do they separate, either at the death of their master or for some
other reason, than they straightway also separate in aim; whereupon each
seeks to prove his own worth, in order to appear better than the rest and a
master by himself.
Of many, then, who flourished almost at one and the same time and in one
and the same province, and about whom I have not been able to learn and
am not able to write every particular, I will give some brief account, to the
end that, now that I find myself at the end of the Second Part of this my
work, I may not omit some who have laboured to leave the world adorned
by their works. Of these men, I say, besides having been unable to discover
their whole history, I have not even been able to find the portraits, excepting
that of Scarpaccia, whom for this reason I have made head of the others. Let
my readers therefore accept what I can offer in this connection, seeing that I
cannot offer what I would wish. There lived, then, in the March of Treviso
and in Lombardy, during a period of many years, Stefano Veronese,
Aldigieri da Zevio, Jacopo Davanzo of Bologna, Sebeto da Verona,
Jacobello de Flore, Guerriero da Padova, Giusto, Girolamo Campagnola
and his son Giulio, and Vincenzio Bresciano; Vittore, Sebastiano,[5] and
Lazzaro[5] Scarpaccia, Venetians; Vincenzio Catena, Luigi Vivarini, Giovan
Battista da Conigliano, Marco Basarini,[6] Giovanetto Cordegliaghi, Il
Bassiti, Bartolommeo Vivarini, Giovanni Mansueti, Vittore Bellini,

Bartolommeo Montagna of Vicenza, Benedetto Diana, and Giovanni
Buonconsigli, with many others, of whom there is no need to make mention
here.

THE MADONNA AND CHILD WITH S. CATHARINE IN A ROSE
GARDEN
(After the panel by Stefano da Verona (da Zevio).
Verona: Gallery, 559)
Brogi
View larger image

To begin with the first, I start by saying that Stefano Veronese, of whom I
gave some account in the Life of Agnolo Gaddi, was a painter more than
passing good in his day. And when Donatello was working in Padua, as has
been already told in his Life, going on one of several occasions to Verona,
he was struck with marvel at the works of Stefano, declaring that the
pictures which he had made in fresco were the best that had been wrought
in those parts up to that time. The first works of this man were in the
tramezzo[7] of the Church of S. Antonio at Verona, at the top of a wall on
the left, below the curve of a part of the vaulting; and the subjects were a
Madonna with the Child in her arms, and S. James and S. Anthony, one on
either side of her. This work is held very beautiful in that city even at the
present day, by reason of a certain liveliness that is seen in the said figures,
particularly in the heads, which are wrought with much grace. In S.
Niccolò, a parish church of that city, likewise, he painted a S. Nicholas in
fresco, which is very beautiful. On the front of a house in the Via di S. Polo,
which leads to the Porta del Vescovo, he painted the Virgin, with certain
very beautiful angels and a S. Christopher; and over the wall of the Church
of S. Consolata in the Via del Duomo, in a recess made in the wall, he
painted a Madonna and certain birds, in particular a peacock, his emblem.
In S. Eufemia, a convent of the Eremite Friars of S. Augustine, he painted
over the side-door a S. Augustine with two other saints, and under the
mantle of this S. Augustine are many friars and nuns of his Order; but the
most beautiful things in this work are two half-length prophets of the size of
life, for the reason that they have the most beautiful and most lifelike heads
that Stefano ever made; and the colouring of the whole work, having been
executed with diligence, has remained beautiful even to our own day,
notwithstanding that it has been much exposed to rain, wind, and frost. If
this work had been under cover, it would still be as beautiful and fresh as it
issued from his hands, for the reason that Stefano did not retouch it on the
dry, but used diligence in executing it well in fresco; as it is, it has suffered
a little. Within the church, in the Chapel of the Sacrament—namely, round
the Tabernacle—he afterwards painted certain angels flying, some of whom
are sounding instruments, some singing, and others burning incense before
the Sacrament; together with a figure of Jesus Christ, which he painted at
the top as a finish to the Tabernacle. Below there are other angels, who are
supporting Him, clothed in white garments reaching to their feet, and
ending, as it were, in clouds, which was an idea peculiar to Stefano in

painting figures of angels, whom he always made most gracious in
countenance and very beautiful in expression. In this same work are life-
size figures of S. Augustine and S. Jerome, one on either side; and these are
supporting with their hands the Church of God, as if to show that both of
them defend Holy Church from heretics with their learning, and support her.
On a pilaster of the principal chapel in the same church he painted a S.
Eufemia in fresco, with a beautiful and gracious expression of countenance;
and there he wrote his own name in letters of gold, perchance since it
appeared to him to be, as in fact it is, one of the best pictures that he had
made; and according to his custom he painted there a very beautiful
peacock, and beside it two lion cubs, which are not very beautiful, because
at that time he could not see live ones, as he saw the peacock. He also
painted for the same place a panel containing, as was the custom in those
times, many half-length figures, such as S. Niccola da Tolentino and others;
and he filled the predella with scenes in little figures from the life of that
Saint. In S. Fermo, a church in the same city belonging to the Friars of S.
Francis, he painted, as an ornament for a Deposition from the Cross on the
wall opposite to the side-door of entrance, twelve half-length prophets of
the size of life, with Adam and Eve lying below them, and his usual
peacock, which is almost the hall-mark of pictures executed by him.
In Mantua, at the Martello gate of the Church of S. Domenico, the same
Stefano painted a most beautiful Madonna; the head of which Madonna,
when they had need to build in that place, those fathers placed with care in
the tramezzo[8] of the church—that is, in the Chapel of S. Orsola, which
belongs to the Recuperati family, and contains some pictures in fresco by
the hand of the same man. And in the Church of S. Francesco, on the right
hand as one enters by the principal door, there is a row of chapels formerly
built by the noble Della Ramma family, in one of which are seated figures
of the four Evangelists, painted on the vaulting by the hand of Stefano; and
behind their shoulders, for a background, he made certain espaliers of roses,
with a cane trellis-work in a pattern of mandorle, above which are various
trees and other greenery full of birds, particularly of peacocks; and there are
also some very beautiful angels. In this same church, on a column on the
right hand as one enters, he painted a life-size figure of S. Mary Magdalene.
And in the same city, on the frontal of a door in the street called
Rompilanza, he painted in fresco a Madonna with the Child in her arms,

and some angels kneeling before her; and the background he made of trees
covered with fruit.
These, then, are the works that are found to have been executed by Stefano,
although it may well be believed, since his life was not a short one, that he
made many others. But even as I have not been able to discover any more
of them, so I have failed to find his surname, his father's name, his portrait,
or any other particulars. Some declare that before he came to Florence he
was a disciple of Maestro Liberale, a painter of Verona; but this matters
nothing. It is enough that he learnt all that there was of the good in him
from Agnolo Gaddi in Florence.

PRESENTATION TO THE MADONNA OF THREE KNIGHTS OF
THE CAVALLI FAMILY
(After the fresco by Aldigieri da Zevio [Altichiero].
Verona: S. Anastasia)
Alinari
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Of the same city of Verona was Aldigieri da Zevio, who was very much the
friend of the Signori della Scala, and who, besides many other works,

painted the Great Hall of their Palace (which is now the habitation of the
Podestà), depicting therein the War of Jerusalem, according as it is
described by Josephus. In this work Aldigieri showed great spirit and
judgment, distributing one scene over the walls of that hall on every side,
with a single ornament encircling it right round; on the upper part of which
ornament, as it were to set it off, he placed a row of medallions, in which it
is believed that there are the portraits from life of many distinguished men
of those times, particularly of many of those Signori della Scala; but, since
the truth about this is not known, I will say no more of it. I must say,
indeed, that Aldigieri showed in this work that he had intelligence,
judgment, and invention, seeing that he took into consideration all the
things that can be taken into consideration in a serious war. Besides this, the
colouring has remained very fresh; and among many portraits of men of
distinction and learning, there is seen that of Messer Francesco Petrarca.
Jacopo Avanzi, a painter of Bologna, shared the work of this hall with
Aldigieri, and below the aforesaid pictures he painted two most beautiful
Triumphs, likewise in fresco, with so much art and so good a manner, that
Girolamo Campagnola declares that Mantegna used to praise them as
pictures of the rarest merit. The same Jacopo, together with Aldigieri and
Sebeto da Verona, painted the Chapel of S. Giorgio, which is beside the
Church of S. Antonio, in Padua, according to the directions left in the
testaments of the Marquesses of Carrara. Jacopo Avanzi painted the upper
part; below this were certain stories of S. Lucia, with a Last Supper, by
Aldigieri; and Sebeto painted stories of S. John. Afterwards these three
masters, having all returned to Verona, joined together to paint a wedding-
feast, with many portraits and costumes of those times, in the house of the
Counts Serenghi. Now the work of Jacopo Avanzi was held to be the best of
all; but, since mention has been made of him in the Life of Niccolò d'
Arezzo by reason of the works that he made in Bologna in competition with
the painters Simone, Cristofano, and Galasso, I will say no more about him
in this place.
A man who was held in esteem at Venice about the same time, although he
adhered to the Greek manner, was Jacobello de Flore, who made a number
of works in that city; in particular, a panel for the Nuns of the Corpus
Domini, which stands on the altar of S. Domenico in their church. A
competitor of this master was Giromin Morzone, who painted a number of

pictures in Venice and in many cities of Lombardy; but, since he held to the
old manner and made all his figures on tiptoe, we will say nothing about
him, save that there is a panel by his hand, with many saints, on the Altar of
the Assumption in the Church of S. Lena.
A much better master than Morzone was Guerriero, a painter of Padua,
who, besides many other works, painted the principal chapel of the Eremite
Friars of S. Augustine in Padua, and a chapel for the same friars in the first
cloister. He also painted a little chapel in the house of the Urban Prefect,
and the Hall of the Roman Emperors, where the students go to dance at the
time of the Carnival. He also painted in fresco, in the Chapel of the Podestà
of the same city, some scenes from the Old Testament.
Giusto, likewise a painter of Padua, painted in the Chapel of S. Giovanni
Battista, without the Church of the Vescovado, not only certain scenes from
the Old Testament and the New, but also the Revelations of the Apocalypse
of S. John the Evangelist; and in the upper part he made a Paradise
containing many choirs of angels and other adornments, wrought with
beautiful conceptions. In the Church of S. Antonio he painted in fresco the
Chapel of S. Luca; and in a chapel in the Church of the Eremite Friars of S.
Augustine he painted the liberal arts, with the virtues and vices beside them,
and likewise those who have been celebrated for their virtues, and those
who have fallen by reason of their vices into the extreme of misery and into
the lowest depth of Hell.
There was working in Padua, in this man's time, Stefano, a painter of
Ferrara, who, as has been said elsewhere, adorned with various pictures the
chapel and the tomb wherein is the body of S. Anthony, and also painted the
Virgin Mary that is called the Vergine del Pilastro.

VITTORE SCARPACCIA (CARPACCIO): THE VISION OF S.
URSULA
(Venice: Accademia, 578. Canvas)
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Another man who was held in esteem in the same times was Vincenzio, a
painter of Brescia, according to the account of Filarete, as was also
Girolamo Campagnola, another Paduan painter, and a disciple of
Squarcione. Then Giulio, son of Girolamo, made many beautiful works of
painting, illumination, and copper-engraving, both in Padua and in other
places. In the same city of Padua many things were wrought by Niccolò
Moreto, who lived eighty years, and never ceased to exercise his art.

S. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON
(After the panel by Vittore Scarpaccia [Carpaccio].
Venice: S. Giorgio Segli Schiavoni)
Anderson
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Besides these there were many others, who were connected with Gentile
and Giovanni Bellini; but Vittore Scarpaccia was truly the first among them
who made works of importance. His first works were in the Scuola of S.
Orsola, where he painted on canvas the greater part of the stories that are
there, representing the life and death of that Saint; the labours of which
pictures he contrived to carry out so well and with such great diligence and
art, that he acquired thereby the name of a very good and practised master.
This, so it is said, was the reason that the people of Milan caused him to
paint a panel in distemper with many figures for the Friars Minor, in their
Chapel of S. Ambrogio. On the altar of the Risen Christ in the Church of S.
Antonio he painted the scene of Christ appearing to the Magdalene and the
other Maries, in which he made a very beautiful view in perspective of a
landscape receding into the distance; and in another chapel he painted the
story of the Martyrs—that is, their crucifixion—in which work he made
more than three hundred figures, what with the large and the small, besides
a number of horses and trees, an open Heaven, figures both nude and
clothed in diverse attitudes, many foreshortenings, and so many other
things, that it can be seen that he did not execute it without extraordinary
labour. For the altar of the Madonna, in the Church of S. Giobbe in
Canareio, he painted her presenting the Infant Christ to Simeon, and
depicted the Madonna herself standing, and Simeon in his cope between
two ministers clothed as Cardinals; behind the Virgin are two women, one

of whom has two doves, and below are three boys, who are playing on a
lute, a serpent, and a lyre, or rather a viol; and the colouring of the whole
panel is very charming and beautiful. And, in truth, Vittore was a very
diligent and practised master, and many pictures by his hand that are in
Venice, both portraits from life and other kinds, are much esteemed for
works wrought in those times. He taught his art to two brothers of his own,
who imitated him closely, one being Lazzaro, and the other Sebastiano; and
by their hand is a panel on the altar of the Virgin in the Church of the Nuns
of the Corpus Domini, showing her seated between S. Catherine and S.
Martha, with other female saints, two angels who are sounding instruments,
and a very beautiful view of buildings in perspective as a background to the
whole work, of which we have the original drawings, by the hand of these
men, in our book.
Another passing good painter in the time of these masters was Vincenzio
Catena, who occupied himself much more with making portraits from the
life than with any other sort of painting; and, in truth, some that are to be
seen by his hand are marvellous—among others, that of a German of the
Fugger family, a man of rank and importance, who was then living in the
Fondaco de' Tedeschi at Venice, was painted with great vivacity.
Another man who made many works in Venice, about the same time, was a
disciple of Giovanni Bellini, Giovan Battista da Conigliano, by whose hand
is a panel on the altar of S. Pietro Martire in the aforesaid Church of the
Nuns of the Corpus Domini, containing the said Saint, S. Nicholas, and S.
Benedict, with landscapes in perspective, an angel tuning a cithern, and
many little figures more than passing good. And if this man had not died
young, it may be believed that he would have equalled his master.
The name of a master not otherwise than good, likewise, in the same art and
at the same time, was enjoyed by Marco Basarini, who, painting in Venice,
where he was born from a Greek father and mother, executed in S.
Francesco della Vigna a panel with a Deposition of Christ from the Cross,
and another panel in the Church of S. Giobbe, representing Christ in the
Garden, and below Him the three Apostles, who are sleeping, and S.
Francis, S. Dominic, and two other saints; but what was most praised in this
work was a landscape with many little figures wrought with good grace. In

that same church the same Marco painted S. Bernardino on a rock, with
other saints.

VINCENZIO CATENA (DI BIAGIO): S. JEROME IN HIS STUDY
(London: National Gallery, 694. Panel)
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Giovanetto Cordegliaghi made an infinity of devotional pictures in the same
city; nay, he scarcely worked at anything else, and, in truth, he had in this
sort of painting a very delicate and sweet manner, no little better than that of
the aforesaid masters. In S. Pantaleone, in a chapel beside the principal one,
this man painted S. Peter making disputation with two other saints, who are
wearing most beautiful draperies, and are wrought with a beautiful manner.

GIOVAN BATTISTA DA CONIGLIANO (CIMA): TOBIT AND THE
ANGEL (DETAIL)
(Venice: Accademia, 592. Panel transferred to Canvas)
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Marco Bassiti was in good repute almost at the same time, and by his hand
is a large panel in the Church of the Carthusian Monks at Venice, in which
he painted Christ between Peter and Andrew on the Sea of Tiberias, with
the sons of Zebedee; making therein an arm of the sea, a mountain, and part
of a city, with many persons in the form of little figures. Many other works
by this man could be enumerated, but let it be enough to have spoken of this
one, which is the best.

Bartolommeo Vivarini of Murano also acquitted himself very well in the
works that he made, as may be seen, besides many other examples, in the
panel that he executed for the altar of S. Luigi in the Church of SS.
Giovanni e Polo; in which panel he portrayed the said S. Luigi seated,
wearing the cope, with S. Gregory, S. Sebastian, and S. Dominic on one
side of him, and on the other side S. Nicholas, S. Jerome, and S. Rocco, and
above them half-length figures of other saints.
Another man who executed his pictures very well, taking much delight in
counterfeiting things of nature, figures, and distant landscapes, was
Giovanni Mansueti, who, imitating the works of Gentile Bellini not a little,
made many pictures in Venice. At the upper end of the Audience Chamber
of the Scuola of S. Marco he painted a S. Mark preaching on the Piazza; in
which picture he painted the façade of the church, and, among the multitude
of men and women who are listening to the Saint, Turks, Greeks, and the
faces of men of diverse nations, with bizarre costumes. In the same place, in
another scene wherein he painted S. Mark healing a sick man, he made a
perspective view of two staircases and many loggie. In another picture, near
to that one, he made a S. Mark converting an infinite multitude to the faith
of Christ; in this he made an open temple, with a Crucifix on an altar, and
throughout the whole work there are diverse persons with a beautiful
variety of expression, dress, and features.
The work in the same place was continued after him by Vittore Bellini, who
made a view of buildings in perspective, which is passing good, in a scene
wherein S. Mark is taken prisoner and bound, with a number of figures, in
which he imitated his predecessors. After these men came Bartolommeo
Montagna of Vicenza, a passing good painter, who lived ever in Venice and
made many pictures there; and he painted a panel in the Church of S. Maria
d' Artone at Padua. Benedetto Diana, likewise, was a painter no less
esteemed than the masters mentioned above, as is proved, to say nothing of
his other works, by those from his hand that are in S. Francesco della Vigna
at Venice, where, for the altar of S. Giovanni, he painted that Saint standing
between two other saints, each of whom has a book in his hand.
Another man who was accounted a good master was Giovanni
Buonconsigli, who painted a picture in the Church of SS. Giovanni e Polo
for the altar of S. Tommaso d' Aquino, showing that Saint surrounded by

many figures, to whom he is reading the Holy Scriptures; and he made
therein a perspective view of buildings, which is not otherwise than worthy
of praise. There also lived in Venice throughout almost the whole course of
his life the Florentine sculptor, Simon Bianco, as did Tullio Lombardo, an
excellent master of intaglio.
In Lombardy, likewise, there were excellent sculptors in Bartolommeo
Clemente of Reggio and Agostino Busto; and, in intaglio, Jacopo Davanzo
of Milan, with Gasparo and Girolamo Misceroni. In Brescia there was a
man who was able and masterly at working in fresco, called Vincenzio
Verchio, who acquired a very great name in his native place by reason of his
beautiful works. The same did Girolamo Romanino, a fine master of design,
as is clearly demonstrated by the works made by him in Brescia and in the
neighbourhood for many miles around. And not inferior to these—nay, even
superior—was Alessandro Moretto, who was very delicate in his colouring,
and much the friend of diligence, as the works made by him demonstrate.

CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES
(After the panel by Marco Bassiti [Basaiti].
Venice: Accademia, 69)
Anderson
View larger image

But to return to Verona, in which city there have flourished excellent
craftsmen, even as they flourish more than ever to-day; there, in times past,
were excellent masters in Francesco Bonsignori and Francesco Caroto, and
afterwards Maestro Zeno of Verona, who painted the panel of S. Marino in

Rimini, with two others, all with much diligence. But the man who
surpassed all others in making certain marvellous figures from life was Il
Moro of Verona, or rather, as others called him, Francesco Turbido, by
whose hand is a portrait now in the house of Monsignor de' Martini at
Venice, of a gentleman of the house of Badovaro, painted in the character of
a shepherd; which portrait appears absolutely alive, and can challenge
comparison with any of the great number that have been seen in these parts.
Battista d' Angelo, son-in-law of this Francesco, is also so lovely in
colouring and so masterly in drawing, that he is rather superior than inferior
to his father-in-law. But since it is not my intention to speak at present of
the living, it must suffice me to have spoken in this place of some with
regard to whose lives, as I said at the beginning of this Life, I have not been
able to discover every particular with equal minuteness, to the end that their
talents and merits may receive from me at least all that little which I, who
would fain make it much, am able to give them.

PIETÀ
(After the panel by Giovanni Buonconsigli.
Vincenza: Pinacoteca, 22)
Alinari
View larger image

JACOPO, CALLED L'INDACO

LIFE OF JACOPO, CALLED L'INDACO
PAINTER

Jacopo, called L'Indaco, who was a disciple of Domenico del Ghirlandajo,
and who worked in Rome with Pinturicchio, was a passing good master in
his day; and although he did not make many works, yet those that he did
make are worthy of commendation. Nor is there any need to marvel that
only very few works issued from his hands, for the reason that, being a gay
and humorous fellow and a lover of good cheer, he harboured but few
thoughts and would never work save when he could not help it; and so he
used to say that doing nothing else but labour, without taking a little
pleasure in the world, was no life for a Christian. He lived in close intimacy
with Michelagnolo, for when that craftsman, supremely excellent beyond
all who have ever lived, wished to have some recreation after his studies
and his continuous labours of body and mind, no one was more pleasing to
him for the purpose or more suited to his humour than this man.
Jacopo worked for many years in Rome, or, to be more precise, he lived
many years in Rome, working very little. By his hand, in that city, is the
first chapel on the right hand as one enters the Church of S. Agostino by the
door of the façade; on the vaulting of which chapel are the Apostles
receiving the Holy Spirit, and on the wall below are two stories of Christ—
in one His taking Peter and Andrew from their nets, and in the other the
Feast of Simon and the Magdalene, in which there is a ceiling of planks and
beams, counterfeited very well. In the panel of the same chapel, which he
painted in oil, is a Dead Christ, wrought and executed with much mastery
and diligence. In the Trinità at Rome, likewise, there is a little panel by his
hand with the Coronation of Our Lady. But what need is there to say more
about this man? What more, indeed, is there to say? It is enough that he
loved gossiping as much as he always hated working and painting.
Now seeing that, as has been said, Michelagnolo used to take pleasure in
this man's chattering and in the jokes that he was ever making, he kept him
almost always at his table; but one day Jacopo wearied him—as such

fellows more often than not do come to weary their friends and patrons with
their incessant babbling, so often ill-timed and senseless; babbling, I call it,
for reasonable talk it cannot be called, since for the most part there is
neither reason nor judgment in such people—and Michelagnolo, who,
perchance, had other thoughts in his mind at the time and wished to get rid
of him, sent him to buy some figs; and no sooner had Jacopo left the house
than Michelagnolo bolted the door behind him, determined not to open to
him when he came back. L'Indaco, then, on returning from the market-
square, perceived, after having knocked at the door for a time in vain, that
Michelagnolo did not intend to open to him; whereupon, flying into a rage,
he took the figs and the leaves and spread them all over the threshold of the
door. This done, he went his way and for many months refused to speak to
Michelagnolo; but at last, becoming reconciled with him, he was more his
friend than ever. Finally, having reached the age of sixty-eight, he died in
Rome.
Not unlike Jacopo was a younger brother of his, whose proper name was
Francesco, although he too was afterwards called L'Indaco by way of
surname; and he, likewise, was a painter, and more than passing good. He
was not unlike Jacopo—I mean, in his unwillingness to work (to say the
least), and in his love of talking—but in one respect he surpassed Jacopo,
for he was ever speaking evil of everyone and decrying the works of every
craftsman. This man, after having wrought certain things in Montepulciano
both in painting and in clay, painted a little panel for the Audience Chamber
of the Company of the Nunziata in Arezzo, containing an Annunciation, and
a God the Father in Heaven surrounded by many angels in the form of
children. And in the same city, on the first occasion when Duke Alessandro
went there, he made a most beautiful triumphal arch, with many figures in
relief, at the gate of the Palazzo de' Signori; and also, in competition with
other painters who executed a number of other works for the entry of the
said Duke, the scenery for the representation of a play, which was held to be
very beautiful. Afterwards, having gone to Rome at the time when the
Emperor Charles V was expected there, he made some figures in clay, and a
coat of arms in fresco for the Roman people on the Campidoglio, which
was much extolled. But the best work that ever issued from the hands of
this master, and the most highly praised, was a little study wrought in
stucco for the Duchess Margherita of Austria in the Palace of the Medici at

Rome—a thing so beautiful and so ornate that there is nothing better to be
seen; nor do I believe that it is possible, in a certain sense, to do with silver
what L'Indaco did in this work with stucco. From these things it may be
judged that if this man had taken pleasure in work and had made use of his
intelligence, he would have become excellent.
Francesco drew passing well, but Jacopo much better, as may be seen in our
book.

LUCA SIGNORELLI OF CORTONA

LIFE OF LUCA SIGNORELLI OF CORTONA
[LUCA DA CORTONA]

PAINTER

Luca Signorelli, an excellent painter, of whom, according to the order of
time, we have now to speak, was more famous throughout Italy in his day,
and his works were held in greater price than has ever been the case with
any other master at any time whatsoever, for the reason that in the works
that he executed in painting he showed the true method of making nudes,
and how they can be caused, although only with art and difficulty, to appear
alive. He was a pupil and disciple of Piero dal Borgo a San Sepolcro, and
greatly did he strive in his youth to imitate his master, and even to surpass
him; and the while that he was working with Piero at Arezzo, living in the
house of his uncle Lazzaro Vasari, as it has been told, he imitated the
manner of the said Piero so well that the one could scarcely be
distinguished from the other.
The first works of Luca were in S. Lorenzo at Arezzo, where he painted the
Chapel of S. Barbara in fresco in the year 1472; and he painted for the
Company of S. Caterina, on cloth and in oil, the banner that is borne in
processions, and likewise that of the Trinità, although this does not appear
to be by the hand of Luca, but by Piero dal Borgo himself. In S. Agostino in
the same city he painted the panel of S. Niccola da Tolentino, with most
beautiful little scenes, executing the work with good drawing and invention;
and in the same place, in the Chapel of the Sacrament, he made two angels
wrought in fresco. In the Chapel of the Accolti in the Church of S.
Francesco, for Messer Francesco, Doctor of Laws, he painted a panel in
which he portrayed the said Messer Francesco with some of his relatives. In
this work is a S. Michael weighing souls, who is admirable; and in him
there is seen the knowledge of Luca, both in the splendour of his armour
and in the reflected lights, and, in short, throughout the whole work. In his
hands he placed a pair of scales, in which are nude figures, very beautifully

foreshortened, one going up and the other down; and among other
ingenious things that are in this picture is a nude figure most skilfully
transformed into a devil, with a lizard licking the blood from a wound in its
body. Besides this, there is a Madonna with the Child on her lap, with S.
Stephen, S. Laurence, S. Catherine, and two angels, of whom one is playing
on a lute and the other on a rebec; and all these figures are draped and
adorned so beautifully that it is a marvel. But the most miraculous part of
this panel is the predella, which is full of Friars of the said S. Catherine in
the form of little figures.

LUCA SIGNORELLI: PAN
(Berlin: Kaiser Friedrich Museum, 79A. Canvas)
View larger image

In Perugia, also, he made many works; among others, a panel in the Duomo
for Messer Jacopo Vannucci of Cortona, Bishop of that city; in which panel
are Our Lady, S. Onofrio, S. Ercolano, S. John the Baptist, and S. Stephen,
with a most beautiful angel, who is tuning a lute. At Volterra, over the altar
of a Company in the Church of S. Francesco, he painted in fresco the
Circumcision of Our Lord, which is considered beautiful to a marvel,

although the Infant, having been injured by damp, was restored by Sodoma
and made much less beautiful than before. And, in truth, it would be
sometimes better to leave works half spoilt, when they have been made by
men of excellence, rather than to have them retouched by inferior masters.
In S. Agostino in the same city he painted a panel in distemper, and the
predella of little figures, with stories of the Passion of Christ; and this is
held to be extraordinarily beautiful. At S. Maria a Monte he painted a Dead
Christ on a panel for the monks of that place; and at Città di Castello a
Nativity of Christ in S. Francesco, with a S. Sebastian on another panel in
S. Domenico. In S. Margherita, a seat of the Frati del Zoccolo in his native
city of Cortona, he painted a Dead Christ, one of the rarest of his works;
and for the Company of the Gesù, in the same city, he executed three
panels, of which the one that is on the high-altar is marvellous, showing
Christ administering the Sacrament to the Apostles, and Judas placing the
Host into his wallet. In the Pieve, now called the Vescovado, in the Chapel
of the Sacrament, he painted some life-size prophets in fresco; and round
the tabernacle are some angels who are opening out a canopy, with S.
Jerome and S. Thomas Aquinas at the sides. For the high-altar of the said
church he painted a panel with a most beautiful Assumption, and he
designed the pictures for the principal round window of the same church;
which pictures were afterwards executed by Stagio Sassoli of Arezzo. In
Castiglione Aretino he made a Dead Christ, with the Maries, over the
Chapel of the Sacrament; and in S. Francesco, at Lucignano, he painted the
folding-doors of a press, wherein there is a tree of coral surmounted by a
cross. At Siena, in the Chapel of S. Cristofano in S. Agostino, he painted a
panel with some saints, in the midst of whom is a S. Cristopher in relief.
Having gone from Siena to Florence in order to see both the works of those
masters who were then living and those of many already dead, he painted
for Lorenzo de' Medici certain nude gods on a canvas, for which he was
much commended, and a picture of Our Lady with two little prophets in
terretta, which is now at Castello, a villa of Duke Cosimo's. These works,
both the one and the other, he presented to the said Lorenzo, who would
never be beaten by any man in liberality and magnificence. He also painted
a round picture of Our Lady, which is in the Audience Chamber of the
Captains of the Guelph party—a very beautiful work. At Chiusuri in the
district of Siena, the principal seat of the Monks of Monte Oliveto, he

painted eleven scenes of the life and acts of S. Benedict on one side of the
cloister. And from Cortona he sent some of his works to Montepulciano; to
Foiano the panel which is on the high-altar of the Pieve; and other works to
other places in Valdichiana. In the Madonna, the principal church of
Orvieto, he finished with his own hand the chapel that Fra Giovanni da
Fiesole had formerly begun there; in which chapel he painted all the scenes
of the end of the world with bizarre and fantastic invention—angels,
demons, ruins, earthquakes, fires, miracles of Antichrist, and many other
similar things besides, such as nudes, foreshortenings, and many beautiful
figures; imagining the terror that there shall be on that last and awful day.
By means of this he encouraged all those who have lived after him,
insomuch that since then they have found easy the difficulties of that
manner; wherefore I do not marvel that the works of Luca were ever very
highly extolled by Michelagnolo, nor that in certain parts of his divine
Judgment, which he made in the chapel, he should have deigned to avail
himself in some measure of the inventions of Luca, as he did in the angels,
the demons, the division of the Heavens, and other things, in which
Michelagnolo himself imitated Luca's method, as all may see. In this work
Luca portrayed himself and many of his friends; Niccolò, Paolo, and
Vitelozzo Vitelli, Giovan Paolo and Orazio Baglioni, and others whose
names are not known. In the Sacristy of S. Maria at Loreto he painted in
fresco the four Evangelists, the four Doctors, and other saints, all very
beautiful; and for this work he was liberally rewarded by Pope Sixtus.
It is said that a son of his, most beautiful in countenance and in person,
whom he loved dearly, was killed at Cortona; and that Luca, heart-broken
as he was, had him stripped naked, and with the greatest firmness of soul,
without lamenting or shedding a tear, portrayed him, to the end that,
whenever he might wish, he might be able by means of the work of his own
hands to see that which nature had given him and adverse fortune had
snatched away.
Being then summoned by the said Pope Sixtus to work in the chapel of his
Palace in competition with many other painters, he painted therein two
scenes, which are held the best among so many; one is Moses declaring his
testament to the Jewish people on having seen the Promised Land, and the
other is his death.

THE LAST JUDGMENT
(Detail, after the fresco by Luca Signorelli.
Orvieto: Duomo)
Anderson
View larger image

Finally, having executed works for almost every Prince in Italy, and being
now old, he returned to Cortona, where, in those last years of his life, he
worked more for pleasure than for any other reason, as one who, being used
to labour, neither could nor would stay idle. In this his old age, then, he
painted a panel for the Nuns of S. Margherita at Arezzo, and one for the
Company of S. Girolamo, which was paid for in part by Messer Niccolò
Gamurrini, Doctor of Laws and Auditor of the Ruota,[9] who is portrayed
from life in that panel, kneeling before the Madonna, to whom he is being
presented by a S. Nicholas who is in the same panel; there are also S.
Donatus and S. Stephen, and lower down a nude S. Jerome, and a David
who is singing to a psaltery; and also two prophets, who, as it appears from
the scrolls that they have in their hands, are speaking about the Conception.
This work was brought from Cortona to Arezzo on the shoulders of the men
of that Company; and Luca, old as he was, insisted on coming to set it in
place, and partly also in order to revisit his friends and relatives. And since
he lodged in the house of the Vasari, in which I then was, a little boy of

eight years old, I remember that the good old man, who was most gracious
and courteous, having heard from the master who was teaching me my first
letters, that I gave my attention to nothing in lesson-time save to drawing
figures, I remember, I say, that he turned to my father Antonio and said to
him: "Antonio, if you wish little Giorgio not to become backward, by all
means let him learn to draw, for, even were he to devote himself to letters,
design cannot be otherwise than helpful, honourable, and advantageous to
him, as it is to every gentleman." Then, turning to me, who was standing in
front of him, he said: "Mind your lessons, little kinsman." He said many
other things about me, which I withhold, for the reason that I know that I
have failed by a great measure to justify the opinion which the good old
man had of me. And since he heard, as was true, that the blood used to flow
from my nose at that age in such quantities that this left me sometimes half
dead, with infinite lovingness he bound a jasper round my neck with his
own hand; and this memory of Luca will stay for ever fixed in my mind.
The said panel set in place, he returned to Cortona, accompanied for a great
part of the way by many citizens, friends, and relatives, as was due to the
excellence of Luca, who always lived rather as a noble and a man of rank
than as a painter.
About the same time a palace had been built for Cardinal Silvio Passerini of
Cortona, half a mile beyond the city, by Benedetto Caporali, a painter of
Perugia, who, delighting in architecture, had written a commentary on
Vitruvius a short time before; and the said Cardinal determined to have
almost the whole of it painted. Wherefore Benedetto, putting his hand to
this with the aid of Maso Papacello of Cortona (who was his disciple and
had also learnt not a little from Giulio Romano, as will be told), of
Tommaso, and of other disciples and lads, did not cease until he had painted
it almost all over in fresco. But the Cardinal wishing to have some painting
by the hand of Luca as well, he, old as he was, and hindered by palsy,
painted in fresco, on the altar-wall of the chapel of that palace, the scene of
S. John the Baptist baptizing the Saviour; but he was not able to finish it
completely, for while still working at it he died, having reached the age of
eighty-two.
Luca was a man of most excellent character, true and loving with his
friends, sweet and amiable in his dealings with every man, and, above all,
courteous to all who had need of him, and kindly in teaching his disciples.

He lived splendidly, and he took delight in clothing himself well. And for
these good qualities he was ever held in the highest veneration both in his
own country and abroad.
And so, with the end of this master's life, which was in 1521, we will bring
to an end the Second Part of these Lives; concluding with Luca, as the man
who, with his profound mastery of design, particularly in nudes, and with
his grace in invention and in the composition of scenes, opened to the
majority of craftsmen the way to the final perfection of art, to which those
men who followed were afterwards enabled to add the crown, of whom we
are henceforward to speak.
THE THIRD PART OF THE LIVES OF THE SCULPTORS, PAINTERS,
AND ARCHITECTS, WHO HAVE LIVED FROM CIMABUE TO OUR
OWN DAY. WRITTEN BY MESSER GIORGIO VASARI, PAINTER
AND ARCHITECT OF AREZZO

PREFACE TO THE THIRD PART
Truly great was the advancement conferred on the arts of architecture,
painting, and sculpture by those excellent masters of whom we have written
hitherto, in the Second Part of these Lives, for to the achievements of the
early masters they added rule, order, proportion, draughtsmanship, and
manner; not, indeed, in complete perfection, but with so near an approach to
the truth that the masters of the third age, of whom we are henceforward to
speak, were enabled, by means of their light, to aspire still higher and attain
to that supreme perfection which we see in the most highly prized and most
celebrated of our modern works. But to the end that the nature of the
improvement brought about by the aforesaid craftsmen may be even more
clearly understood, it will certainly not be out of place to explain in a few
words the five additions that I have named, and to give a succinct account
of the origin of that true excellence which, having surpassed the age of the
ancients, makes the modern so glorious.
Rule, then, in architecture, was the process of taking measurements from
antiquities and studying the ground-plans of ancient edifices for the
construction of modern buildings. Order was the separating of one style
from another, so that each body should receive its proper members, with no
more interchanging between Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Tuscan.
Proportion was the universal law applying both to architecture and to
sculpture, that all bodies should be made correct and true, with the members
in proper harmony; and so, also, in painting. Draughtsmanship was the
imitation of the most beautiful parts of nature in all figures, whether in
sculpture or in painting; and for this it is necessary to have a hand and a
brain able to reproduce with absolute accuracy and precision, on a level
surface—whether by drawing on paper, or on panel, or on some other level
surface—everything that the eye sees; and the same is true of relief in
sculpture. Manner then attained to the greatest beauty from the practice
which arose of constantly copying the most beautiful objects, and joining
together these most beautiful things, hands, heads, bodies, and legs, so as to
make a figure of the greatest possible beauty. This practice was carried out

in every work for all figures, and for that reason it is called the beautiful
manner.
These things had not been done by Giotto or by the other early craftsmen,
although they had discovered the rudiments of all these difficulties, and had
touched them on the surface; as in their drawing, which was sounder and
more true to nature than it had been before, and likewise in harmony of
colouring and in the grouping of figures in scenes, and in many other
respects of which enough has been said. Now although the masters of the
second age improved our arts greatly with regard to all the qualities
mentioned above, yet these were not made by them so perfect as to succeed
in attaining to complete perfection, for there was wanting in their rule a
certain freedom which, without being of the rule, might be directed by the
rule and might be able to exist without causing confusion or spoiling the
order; which order had need of an invention abundant in every respect, and
of a certain beauty maintained in every least detail, so as to reveal all that
order with more adornment. In proportion there was wanting a certain
correctness of judgment, by means of which their figures, without having
been measured, might have, in due relation to their dimensions, a grace
exceeding measurement. In their drawing there was not the perfection of
finish, because, although they made an arm round and a leg straight, the
muscles in these were not revealed with that sweet and facile grace which
hovers midway between the seen and the unseen, as is the case with the
flesh of living figures; nay, they were crude and excoriated, which made
them displeasing to the eye and gave hardness to the manner. This last was
wanting in the delicacy that comes from making all figures light and
graceful, particularly those of women and children, with the limbs true to
nature, as in the case of men, but veiled with a plumpness and fleshiness
that should not be awkward, as they are in nature, but refined by
draughtsmanship and judgment. They also lacked our abundance of
beautiful costumes, our great number and variety of bizarre fancies,
loveliness of colouring, wide knowledge of buildings, and distance and
variety in landscapes. And although many of them, such as Andrea
Verrocchio and Antonio del Pollaiuolo, and many others more modern,
began to seek to make their figures with more study, so as to reveal in them
better draughtsmanship, with a degree of imitation more correct and truer to
nature, nevertheless the whole was not yet there, even though they had one

very certain assurance—namely, that they were advancing towards the
good, and their figures were thus approved according to the standard of the
works of the ancients, as was seen when Andrea Verrocchio restored in
marble the legs and arms of the Marsyas in the house of the Medici in
Florence. But they lacked a certain finish and finality of perfection in the
feet, hands, hair, and beards, although the limbs as a whole are in
accordance with the antique and have a certain correct harmony in the
proportions. Now if they had had that minuteness of finish which is the
perfection and bloom of art, they would also have had a resolute boldness in
their works; and from this there would have followed delicacy, refinement,
and supreme grace, which are the qualities produced by the perfection of art
in beautiful figures, whether in relief or in painting; but these qualities they
did not have, although they give proof of diligent striving. That finish, and
that certain something that they lacked, they could not achieve so readily,
seeing that study, when it is used in that way to obtain finish, gives dryness
to the manner.
After them, indeed, their successors were enabled to attain to it through
seeing excavated out of the earth certain antiquities cited by Pliny as
amongst the most famous, such as the Laocoon, the Hercules, the Great
Torso of the Belvedere, and likewise the Venus, the Cleopatra, the Apollo,
and an endless number of others, which, both with their sweetness and their
severity, with their fleshy roundness copied from the greatest beauties of
nature, and with certain attitudes which involve no distortion of the whole
figure but only a movement of certain parts, and are revealed with a most
perfect grace, brought about the disappearance of a certain dryness,
hardness, and sharpness of manner, which had been left to our art by the
excessive study of Piero della Francesca, Lazzaro Vasari, Alesso
Baldovinetti, Andrea dal Castagno, Pesello, Ercole Ferrarese, Giovanni
Bellini, Cosimo Rosselli, the Abbot of S. Clemente, Domenico del
Ghirlandajo, Sandro Botticelli, Andrea Mantegna, Filippo, and Luca
Signorelli. These masters sought with great efforts to do the impossible in
art by means of labour, particularly in foreshortenings and in things
unpleasant to the eye, which were as painful to see as they were difficult for
them to execute. And although their works were for the most part well
drawn and free from errors, yet there was wanting a certain resolute spirit
which was never seen in them, and that sweet harmony of colouring which

the Bolognese Francia and Pietro Perugino first began to show in their
works; at the sight of which people ran like madmen to this new and more
lifelike beauty, for it seemed to them quite certain that nothing better could
ever be done. But their error was afterwards clearly proved by the works of
Leonardo da Vinci, who, giving a beginning to that third manner which we
propose to call the modern—besides the force and boldness of his drawing,
and the extreme subtlety wherewith he counterfeited all the minutenesses of
nature exactly as they are—with good rule, better order, right proportion,
perfect drawing, and divine grace, abounding in resources and having a
most profound knowledge of art, may be truly said to have endowed his
figures with motion and breath.
There followed after him, although at some distance, Giorgione da
Castelfranco, who obtained a beautiful gradation of colour in his pictures,
and gave a sublime movement to his works by means of a certain darkness
of shadow, very well conceived; and not inferior to him in giving force,
relief, sweetness, and grace to his pictures, with his colouring, was Fra
Bartolommeo di San Marco. But more than all did the most gracious
Raffaello da Urbino, who, studying the labours of the old masters and those
of the modern, took the best from them, and, having gathered it together,
enriched the art of painting with that complete perfection which was shown
in ancient times by the figures of Apelles and Zeuxis; nay, even more, if we
may make bold to say it, as might be proved if we could compare their
works with his. Wherefore nature was left vanquished by his colours; and
his invention was facile and peculiar to himself, as may be perceived by all
who see his painted stories, which are as vivid as writings, for in them he
showed us places and buildings true to reality, and the features and
costumes both of our own people and of strangers, according to his
pleasure; not to mention his gift of imparting grace to the heads of young
men, old men, and women, reserving modesty for the modest, wantonness
for the wanton, and for children now mischief in their eyes, now
playfulness in their attitudes; and the folds of his draperies, also, are neither
too simple nor too intricate, but of such a kind that they appear real.
In the same manner, but sweeter in colouring and not so bold, there
followed Andrea del Sarto, who may be called a rare painter, for his works
are free from errors. Nor is it possible to describe the charming vivacity
seen in the works of Antonio da Correggio, who painted hair in detail, not

in the precise manner used by the masters before him, which was
constrained, sharp, and dry, but soft and feathery, with each single hair
visible, such was his facility in making them; and they seemed like gold and
more beautiful than real hair, which is surpassed by that which he painted.
The same did Francesco Mazzuoli of Parma, who excelled him in many
respects in grace, adornment, and beauty of manner, as may be seen in
many of his pictures, which smile on whoever beholds them; and even as
there is a perfect illusion of sight in the eyes, so there is perceived the
beating of the pulse, according as it best pleased his brush. But whosoever
shall consider the mural paintings of Polidoro and Maturino, will see
figures in attitudes that seem beyond the bounds of possibility, and he will
wonder with amazement how it can be possible, not to describe with the
tongue, which is easy, but to express with the brush the tremendous
conceptions which they put into execution with such mastery and dexterity,
in representing the deeds of the Romans exactly as they were.
And how many there are who, having given life to their figures with their
colours, are now dead, such as Il Rosso, Fra Sebastiano, Giulio Romano,
and Perino del Vaga! For of the living, who are known to all through their
own efforts, there is no need to speak here. But what most concerns the
whole world of art is that they have now brought it to such perfection, and
made it so easy for him who possesses draughtsmanship, invention, and
colouring, that, whereas those early masters took six years to paint one
panel, our modern masters can paint six in one year, as I can testify with the
greatest confidence both from seeing and from doing; and our pictures are
clearly much more highly finished and perfect than those executed in
former times by masters of account.
But he who bears the palm from both the living and the dead, transcending
and eclipsing all others, is the divine Michelagnolo Buonarroti, who holds
the sovereignty not merely of one of these arts, but of all three together.
This master surpasses and excels not only all those moderns who have
almost vanquished nature, but even those most famous ancients who
without a doubt did so gloriously surpass her; and in his own self he
triumphs over moderns, ancients, and nature, who could scarcely conceive
anything so strange and so difficult that he would not be able, by the force
of his most divine intellect and by means of his industry, draughtsmanship,

art, judgment, and grace, to excel it by a great measure; and that not only in
painting and in the use of colour, under which title are comprised all forms,
and all bodies upright or not upright, palpable or impalpable, visible or
invisible, but also in the highest perfection of bodies in the round, with the
point of his chisel. And from a plant so beautiful and so fruitful, through his
labours, there have already spread branches so many and so noble, that,
besides having filled the world in such unwonted profusion with the most
luscious fruits, they have also given the final form to these three most noble
arts. And so great and so marvellous is his perfection, that it may be safely
and surely said that his statues are in all their parts much more beautiful
than the ancient; for if we compare the heads, hands, arms, and feet shaped
by the one with those of the others, we see in his a greater depth and
solidity, a grace more completely graceful, and a much more absolute
perfection, accomplished with a manner so facile in the overcoming of
difficulties, that it is not possible ever to see anything better. And the same
may be believed of his pictures, which; if we chanced to have some by the
most famous Greeks and Romans, so that we might compare them face to
face, would prove to be as much higher in value and more noble as his
sculptures are clearly superior to all those of the ancients.
But if we admire so greatly those most famous masters who, spurred by
such extraordinary rewards and by such good-fortune, gave life to their
works, how much more should we not celebrate and exalt to the heavens
those rare intellects who, not only without reward, but in miserable poverty,
bring forth fruits so precious? We must believe and declare, then, that if, in
this our age, there were a due meed of remuneration, there would be
without a doubt works greater and much better than were ever wrought by
the ancients. But the fact that they have to grapple more with famine than
with fame, keeps our hapless intellects submerged, and, to the shame and
disgrace of those who could raise them up but give no thought to it,
prevents them from becoming known.
And let this be enough to have said on this subject; for it is now time to
return to the Lives, and to treat in detail of all those who have executed
famous works in this third manner, the creator of which was Leonardo da
Vinci, with whom we will now begin.

LEONARDO DA VINCI

LIFE OF LEONARDO DA VINCI[10]
PAINTER AND SCULPTOR OF FLORENCE

The greatest gifts are often seen, in the course of nature, rained by celestial
influences on human creatures; and sometimes, in supernatural fashion,
beauty, grace, and talent are united beyond measure in one single person, in
a manner that to whatever such an one turns his attention, his every action is
so divine, that, surpassing all other men, it makes itself clearly known as a
thing bestowed by God (as it is), and not acquired by human art. This was
seen by all mankind in Leonardo da Vinci, in whom, besides a beauty of
body never sufficiently extolled, there was an infinite grace in all his
actions; and so great was his genius, and such its growth, that to whatever
difficulties he turned his mind, he solved them with ease. In him was great
bodily strength, joined to dexterity, with a spirit and courage ever royal and
magnanimous; and the fame of his name so increased, that not only in his
lifetime was he held in esteem, but his reputation became even greater
among posterity after his death.
Truly marvellous and celestial was Leonardo, the son of Ser Piero da Vinci;
and in learning and in the rudiments of letters he would have made great
proficience, if he had not been so variable and unstable, for he set himself
to learn many things, and then, after having begun them, abandoned them.
Thus, in arithmetic, during the few months that he studied it, he made so
much progress, that, by continually suggesting doubts and difficulties to the
master who was teaching him, he would very often bewilder him. He gave
some little attention to music, and quickly resolved to learn to play the lyre,
as one who had by nature a spirit most lofty and full of refinement:
wherefore he sang divinely to that instrument, improvising upon it.
Nevertheless, although he occupied himself with such a variety of things, he
never ceased drawing and working in relief, pursuits which suited his fancy
more than any other. Ser Piero, having observed this, and having considered
the loftiness of his intellect, one day took some of his drawings and carried
them to Andrea del Verrocchio, who was much his friend, and besought him

straitly to tell him whether Leonardo, by devoting himself to drawing,
would make any proficience. Andrea was astonished to see the
extraordinary beginnings of Leonardo, and urged Ser Piero that he should
make him study it; wherefore he arranged with Leonardo that he should
enter the workshop of Andrea, which Leonardo did with the greatest
willingness in the world. And he practised not one branch of art only, but all
those in which drawing played a part; and having an intellect so divine and
marvellous that he was also an excellent geometrician, he not only worked
in sculpture, making in his youth, in clay, some heads of women that are
smiling, of which plaster casts are still taken, and likewise some heads of
boys which appeared to have issued from the hand of a master; but in
architecture, also, he made many drawings both of ground-plans and of
other designs of buildings; and he was the first, although but a youth, who
suggested the plan of reducing the river Arno to a navigable canal from Pisa
to Florence. He made designs of flour-mills, fulling-mills, and engines,
which might be driven by the force of water: and since he wished that his
profession should be painting, he studied much in drawing after nature, and
sometimes in making models of figures in clay, over which he would lay
soft pieces of cloth dipped in clay, and then set himself patiently to draw
them on a certain kind of very fine Rheims cloth, or prepared linen: and he
executed them in black and white with the point of his brush, so that it was
a marvel, as some of them by his hand, which I have in our book of
drawings, still bear witness; besides which, he drew on paper with such
diligence and so well, that there is no one who has ever equalled him in
perfection of finish; and I have one, a head drawn with the style in
chiaroscuro, which is divine.
And there was infused in that brain such grace from God, and a power of
expression in such sublime accord with the intellect and memory that
served it, and he knew so well how to express his conceptions by
draughtsmanship, that he vanquished with his discourse, and confuted with
his reasoning, every valiant wit. And he was continually making models and
designs to show men how to remove mountains with ease, and how to bore
them in order to pass from one level to another; and by means of levers,
windlasses, and screws, he showed the way to raise and draw great weights,
together with methods for emptying harbours, and pumps for removing
water from low places, things which his brain never ceased from devising;

and of these ideas and labours many drawings may be seen, scattered
abroad among our craftsmen; and I myself have seen not a few. He even
went so far as to waste his time in drawing knots of cords, made according
to an order, that from one end all the rest might follow till the other, so as to
fill a round; and one of these is to be seen in stamp, most difficult and
beautiful, and in the middle of it are these words, "Leonardus Vinci
Accademia." And among these models and designs, there was one by which
he often demonstrated to many ingenious citizens, who were then governing
Florence, how he proposed to raise the Temple of S. Giovanni in Florence,
and place steps under it, without damaging the building; and with such
strong reasons did he urge this, that it appeared possible, although each
man, after he had departed, would recognize for himself the impossibility of
so vast an undertaking.
He was so pleasing in conversation, that he attracted to himself the hearts of
men. And although he possessed, one might say, nothing, and worked little,
he always kept servants and horses, in which latter he took much delight,
and particularly in all other animals, which he managed with the greatest
love and patience; and this he showed when often passing by the places
where birds were sold, for, taking them with his own hand out of their
cages, and having paid to those who sold them the price that was asked, he
let them fly away into the air, restoring to them their lost liberty. For which
reason nature was pleased so to favour him, that, wherever he turned his
thought, brain, and mind, he displayed such divine power in his works, that,
in giving them their perfection, no one was ever his peer in readiness,
vivacity, excellence, beauty, and grace.
It is clear that Leonardo, through his comprehension of art, began many
things and never finished one of them, since it seemed to him that the hand
was not able to attain to the perfection of art in carrying out the things
which he imagined; for the reason that he conceived in idea difficulties so
subtle and so marvellous, that they could never be expressed by the hands,
be they ever so excellent. And so many were his caprices, that,
philosophizing of natural things, he set himself to seek out the properties of
herbs, going on even to observe the motions of the heavens, the path of the
moon, and the courses of the sun.

He was placed, then, as has been said, in his boyhood, at the instance of Ser
Piero, to learn art with Andrea del Verrocchio, who was making a panel-
picture of S. John baptizing Christ, when Leonardo painted an angel who
was holding some garments; and although he was but a lad, Leonardo
executed it in such a manner that his angel was much better than the figures
of Andrea; which was the reason that Andrea would never again touch
colour, in disdain that a child should know more than he.

ANDREA VERROCCHIO: THE BAPTISM IN JORDAN
(Florence: Accademia, 71. Panel)
View larger image

He was commissioned to make a cartoon for a door-hanging that was to be
executed in Flanders, woven in gold and silk, to be sent to the King of

Portugal, of Adam and Eve sinning in the Earthly Paradise; wherein
Leonardo drew with the brush in chiaroscuro, with the lights in lead-white,
a meadow of infinite kinds of herbage, with some animals, of which, in
truth, it may be said that for diligence and truth to nature divine wit could
not make it so perfect. In it is the fig-tree, together with the foreshortening
of the leaves and the varying aspects of the branches, wrought with such
lovingness that the brain reels at the mere thought how a man could have
such patience. There is also a palm-tree which has the radiating crown of
the palm, executed with such great and marvellous art that nothing save the
patience and intellect of Leonardo could avail to do it. This work was
carried no farther; wherefore the cartoon is now at Florence, in the blessed
house of the Magnificent Ottaviano de' Medici, presented to him not long
ago by the uncle of Leonardo.
It is said that Ser Piero da Vinci, being at his villa, was besought as a
favour, by a peasant of his, who had made a buckler with his own hands out
of a fig-tree that he had cut down on the farm, to have it painted for him in
Florence, which he did very willingly, since the countryman was very
skilful at catching birds and fishing, and Ser Piero made much use of him in
these pursuits. Thereupon, having had it taken to Florence, without saying a
word to Leonardo as to whose it was, he asked him to paint something upon
it. Leonardo, having one day taken this buckler in his hands, and seeing it
twisted, badly made, and clumsy, straightened it by the fire, and, having
given it to a turner, from the rude and clumsy thing that it was, caused it to
be made smooth and even. And afterwards, having given it a coat of gesso,
and having prepared it in his own way, he began to think what he could
paint upon it, that might be able to terrify all who should come upon it,
producing the same effect as once did the head of Medusa. For this purpose,
then, Leonardo carried to a room of his own into which no one entered save
himself alone, lizards great and small, crickets, serpents, butterflies,
grasshoppers, bats, and other strange kinds of suchlike animals, out of the
number of which, variously put together, he formed a great ugly creature,
most horrible and terrifying, which emitted a poisonous breath and turned
the air to flame; and he made it coming out of a dark and jagged rock,
belching forth venom from its open throat, fire from its eyes, and smoke
from its nostrils, in so strange a fashion that it appeared altogether a
monstrous and horrible thing; and so long did he labour over making it, that

the stench of the dead animals in that room was past bearing, but Leonardo
did not notice it, so great was the love that he bore towards art. The work
being finished, although it was no longer asked for either by the
countryman or by his father, Leonardo told the latter that he might send for
the buckler at his convenience, since, for his part, it was finished. Ser Piero
having therefore gone one morning to the room for the buckler, and having
knocked at the door, Leonardo opened to him, telling him to wait a little;
and, having gone back into the room, he adjusted the buckler in a good light
on the easel, and put to the window, in order to make a soft light, and then
he bade him come in to see it. Ser Piero, at the first glance, taken by
surprise, gave a sudden start, not thinking that that was the buckler, nor
merely painted the form that he saw upon it, and, falling back a step,
Leonardo checked him, saying, "This work serves the end for which it was
made; take it, then, and carry it away, since this is the effect that it was
meant to produce." This thing appeared to Ser Piero nothing short of a
miracle, and he praised very greatly the ingenious idea of Leonardo; and
then, having privately bought from a pedlar another buckler, painted with a
heart transfixed by an arrow, he presented it to the countryman, who
remained obliged to him for it as long as he lived. Afterwards, Ser Piero
sold the buckler of Leonardo secretly to some merchants in Florence, for a
hundred ducats; and in a short time it came into the hands of the Duke of
Milan, having been sold to him by the said merchants for three hundred
ducats.
Leonardo then made a picture of Our Lady, a most excellent work, which
was in the possession of Pope Clement VII; and, among other things
painted therein, he counterfeited a glass vase full of water, containing some
flowers, in which, besides its marvellous naturalness, he had imitated the
dew-drops on the flowers, so that it seemed more real than the reality. For
Antonio Segni, who was very much his friend, he made, on a sheet of paper,
a Neptune executed with such careful draughtsmanship that it seemed
absolutely alive. In it one saw the ocean troubled, and Neptune's car drawn
by sea-horses, with fantastic creatures, marine monsters and winds, and
some very beautiful heads of sea-gods. This drawing was presented by
Fabio, the son of Antonio, to Messer Giovanni Gaddi, with this epigram:
Pinxit Virgilius Neptunum, pinxit Homerus,
Dum maris undisoni per vada flectit equos.

Mente quidem vates illum conspexit uterque,
Vincius ast oculis; jureque vincit eos.

THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI
(After the panel by Leonardo da Vinci.
Florence: Uffizi, 1252)
Anderson
View larger image

The fancy came to him to paint a picture in oils of the head of a Medusa,
with the head attired with a coil of snakes, the most strange and extravagant
invention that could ever be imagined; but since it was a work that took
time, it remained unfinished, as happened with almost all his things. It is
among the rare works of art in the Palace of Duke Cosimo, together with
the head of an angel, who is raising one arm in the air, which, coming
forward, is foreshortened from the shoulder to the elbow, and with the other
he raises the hand to the breast.

It is an extraordinary thing how that genius, in his desire to give the highest
relief to the works that he made, went so far with dark shadows, in order to
find the darkest possible grounds, that he sought for blacks which might
make deeper shadows and be darker than other blacks, that by their means
he might make his lights the brighter; and in the end this method turned out
so dark, that, no light remaining there, his pictures had rather the character
of things made to represent an effect of night, than the clear quality of
daylight; which all came from seeking to give greater relief, and to achieve
the final perfection of art.
He was so delighted when he saw certain bizarre heads of men, with the
beard or hair growing naturally, that he would follow one that pleased him a
whole day, and so treasured him up in idea, that afterwards, on arriving
home, he drew him as if he had had him in his presence. Of this sort there
are many heads to be seen, both of women and of men, and I have several
of them, drawn by his hand with the pen, in our book of drawings, which I
have mentioned so many times; such was that of Amerigo Vespucci, which
is a very beautiful head of an old man drawn with charcoal, and likewise
that of Scaramuccia, Captain of the Gypsies, which afterwards came into
the hands of M. Donato Valdambrini of Arezzo, Canon of S. Lorenzo, left to
him by Giambullari.
He began a panel-picture of the Adoration of the Magi, containing many
beautiful things, particularly the heads, which was in the house of Amerigo
Benci, opposite the Loggia de' Peruzzi; and this, also, remained unfinished,
like his other works.
It came to pass that Giovan Galeazzo, Duke of Milan, being dead, and
Lodovico Sforza raised to the same rank, in the year 1494, Leonardo was
summoned to Milan in great repute to the Duke, who took much delight in
the sound of the lyre, to the end that he might play it: and Leonardo took
with him that instrument which he had made with his own hands, in great
part of silver, in the form of a horse's skull—a thing bizarre and new—in
order that the harmony might be of greater volume and more sonorous in
tone; with which he surpassed all the musicians who had come together
there to play. Besides this, he was the best improviser in verse of his day.
The Duke, hearing the marvellous discourse of Leonardo, became so
enamoured of his genius, that it was something incredible: and he prevailed

upon him by entreaties to paint an altar-panel containing a Nativity, which
was sent by the Duke to the Emperor.
He also painted in Milan, for the Friars of S. Dominic, at S. Maria delle
Grazie, a Last Supper, a most beautiful and marvellous thing; and to the
heads of the Apostles he gave such majesty and beauty, that he left the head
of Christ unfinished, not believing that he was able to give it that divine air
which is essential to the image of Christ. This work, remaining thus all but
finished, has ever been held by the Milanese in the greatest veneration, and
also by strangers as well; for Leonardo imagined and succeeded in
expressing that anxiety which had seized the Apostles in wishing to know
who should betray their Master. For which reason in all their faces are seen
love, fear, and wrath, or rather, sorrow, at not being able to understand the
meaning of Christ; which thing excites no less marvel than the sight, in
contrast to it, of obstinacy, hatred, and treachery in Judas; not to mention
that every least part of the work displays an incredible diligence, seeing that
even in the tablecloth the texture of the stuff is counterfeited in such a
manner that linen itself could not seem more real.

THE LAST SUPPER
(After the oil fresco by Leonardo da Vinci.
Milan: S. Maria delle Grazie)
M.S.
View larger image

It is said that the Prior of that place kept pressing Leonardo, in a most
importunate manner, to finish the work; for it seemed strange to him to see
Leonardo sometimes stand half a day at a time, lost in contemplation, and
he would have liked him to go on like the labourers hoeing in his garden,
without ever stopping his brush. And not content with this, he complained
of it to the Duke, and that so warmly, that he was constrained to send for
Leonardo and delicately urged him to work, contriving nevertheless to show
him that he was doing all this because of the importunity of the Prior.
Leonardo, knowing that the intellect of that Prince was acute and
discerning, was pleased to discourse at large with the Duke on the subject, a
thing which he had never done with the Prior: and he reasoned much with
him about art, and made him understand that men of lofty genius sometimes
accomplish the most when they work the least, seeking out inventions with
the mind, and forming those perfect ideas which the hands afterwards
express and reproduce from the images already conceived in the brain. And
he added that two heads were still wanting for him to paint; that of Christ,
which he did not wish to seek on earth; and he could not think that it was
possible to conceive in the imagination that beauty and heavenly grace
which should be the mark of God incarnate. Next, there was wanting that of
Judas, which was also troubling him, not thinking himself capable of
imagining features that should represent the countenance of him who, after
so many benefits received, had a mind so cruel as to resolve to betray his
Lord, the Creator of the world. However, he would seek out a model for the
latter; but if in the end he could not find a better, he should not want that of
the importunate and tactless Prior. This thing moved the Duke wondrously
to laughter, and he said that Leonardo had a thousand reasons on his side.
And so the poor Prior, in confusion, confined himself to urging on the work
in the garden, and left Leonardo in peace, who finished only the head of
Judas, which seems the very embodiment of treachery and inhumanity; but
that of Christ, as has been said, remained unfinished. The nobility of this
picture, both because of its design, and from its having been wrought with
an incomparable diligence, awoke a desire in the King of France to
transport it into his kingdom; wherefore he tried by all possible means to
discover whether there were architects who, with cross-stays of wood and
iron, might have been able to make it so secure that it might be transported
safely; without considering any expense that might have been involved
thereby, so much did he desire it. But the fact of its being painted on the

wall robbed his Majesty of his desire; and the picture remained with the
Milanese. In the same refectory, while he was working at the Last Supper,
on the end wall where is a Passion in the old manner, Leonardo portrayed
the said Lodovico, with Massimiliano, his eldest son; and, on the other side,
the Duchess Beatrice, with Francesco, their other son, both of whom
afterwards became Dukes of Milan; and all are portrayed divinely well.
While he was engaged on this work, he proposed to the Duke to make a
horse in bronze, of a marvellous greatness, in order to place upon it, as a
memorial, the image of the Duke. And on so vast a scale did he begin it and
continue it, that it could never be completed. And there are those who have
been of the opinion (so various and so often malign out of envy are the
judgments of men) that he began it with no intention of finishing it,
because, being of so great a size, an incredible difficulty was encountered in
seeking to cast it in one piece; and it might also be believed that, from the
result, many may have formed such a judgment, since many of his works
have remained unfinished. But, in truth, one can believe that his vast and
most excellent mind was hampered through being too full of desire, and that
his wish ever to seek out excellence upon excellence, and perfection upon
perfection, was the reason of it. "Tal che l' opera fosse ritardata dal desio,"
as our Petrarca has said. And, indeed, those who saw the great model that
Leonardo made in clay vow that they have never seen a more beautiful
thing, or a more superb; and it was preserved until the French came to
Milan with King Louis of France, and broke it all to pieces. Lost, also, is a
little model of it in wax, which was held to be perfect, together with a book
on the anatomy of the horse made by him by way of study.

THE MADONNA AND CHILD WITH S. ANNE
(After the cartoon by Leonardo da Vinci.
London: Burlington House)
Vasari Society
View larger image

He then applied himself, but with greater care, to the anatomy of man,
assisted by and in turn assisting, in this research, Messer Marc' Antonio
della Torre, an excellent philosopher, who was then lecturing at Pavia, and
who wrote of this matter; and he was one of the first (as I have heard tell)
that began to illustrate the problems of medicine with the doctrine of Galen,
and to throw true light on anatomy, which up to that time had been wrapped
in the thick and gross darkness of ignorance. And in this he found

marvellous aid in the brain, work, and hand of Leonardo, who made a book
drawn in red chalk, and annotated with the pen, of the bodies that he
dissected with his own hand, and drew with the greatest diligence; wherein
he showed all the frame of the bones; and then added to them, in order, all
the nerves, and covered them with muscles; the first attached to the bone,
the second that hold the body firm, and the third that move it; and beside
them, part by part, he wrote in letters of an ill-shaped character, which he
made with the left hand, backwards; and whoever is not practised in reading
them cannot understand them, since they are not to be read save with a
mirror. Of these papers on the anatomy of man, a great part is in the hands
of Messer Francesco da Melzo, a gentleman of Milan, who in the time of
Leonardo was a very beautiful boy, and much beloved by him, and now is a
no less beautiful and gentle old man; and he holds them dear, and keeps
such papers together as if they were relics, in company with the portrait of
Leonardo of happy memory; and to all who read these writings, it seems
impossible that that divine spirit should have discoursed so well of art, and
of the muscles, nerves, and veins, and with such diligence of everything.
So, also, there are in the hands of ——,[11] a painter of Milan, certain
writings of Leonardo, likewise in characters written with the left hand,
backwards, which treat of painting, and of the methods of drawing and
colouring. This man, not long ago, came to Florence to see me, wishing to
print this work, and he took it to Rome, in order to put it into effect; but I do
not know what may afterwards have become of it.
And to return to the works of Leonardo; there came to Milan, in his time,
the King of France, wherefore Leonardo being asked to devise some bizarre
thing, made a lion which walked several steps and then opened its breast,
and showed it full of lilies.
In Milan he took for his assistant the Milanese Salai, who was most comely
in grace and beauty, having fine locks, curling in ringlets, in which
Leonardo greatly delighted; and he taught him many things of art; and
certain works in Milan, which are said to be by Salai, were retouched by
Leonardo.
He returned to Florence, where he found that the Servite Friars had
entrusted to Filippino the painting of the panel for the high-altar of the
Nunziata; whereupon Leonardo said that he would willingly have done such

a work. Filippino, having heard this, like the amiable fellow that he was,
retired from the undertaking; and the friars, to the end that Leonardo might
paint it, took him into their house, meeting the expenses both of himself and
of all his household; and thus he kept them in expectation for a long time,
but never began anything. In the end, he made a cartoon containing a
Madonna and a S. Anne, with a Christ, which not only caused all the
craftsmen to marvel, but, when it was finished, men and women, young and
old, continued for two days to flock for a sight of it to the room where it
was, as if to a solemn festival, in order to gaze at the marvels of Leonardo,
which caused all those people to be amazed; for in the face of that Madonna
was seen whatever of the simple and the beautiful can by simplicity and
beauty confer grace on a picture of the Mother of Christ, since he wished to
show that modesty and that humility which are looked for in an image of
the Virgin, supremely content with gladness at seeing the beauty of her Son,
whom she was holding with tenderness in her lap, while with most
chastened gaze she was looking down at S. John, as a little boy, who was
playing with a lamb; not without a smile from S. Anne, who, overflowing
with joy, was beholding her earthly progeny become divine—ideas truly
worthy of the brain and genius of Leonardo. This cartoon, as will be told
below, afterwards went to France. He made a portrait of Ginevra d' Amerigo
Benci, a very beautiful work; and abandoned the work for the friars, who
restored it to Filippino; but he, also, failed to finish it, having been
overtaken by death.
Leonardo undertook to execute, for Francesco del Giocondo, the portrait of
Monna Lisa, his wife; and after toiling over it for four years, he left it
unfinished; and the work is now in the collection of King Francis of France,
at Fontainebleau. In this head, whoever wished to see how closely art could
imitate nature, was able to comprehend it with ease; for in it were
counterfeited all the minutenesses that with subtlety are able to be painted,
seeing that the eyes had that lustre and watery sheen which are always seen
in life, and around them were all those rosy and pearly tints, as well as the
lashes, which cannot be represented without the greatest subtlety. The
eyebrows, through his having shown the manner in which the hairs spring
from the flesh, here more close and here more scanty, and curve according
to the pores of the skin, could not be more natural. The nose, with its
beautiful nostrils, rosy and tender, appeared to be alive. The mouth, with its

opening, and with its ends united by the red of the lips to the flesh-tints of
the face, seemed, in truth, to be not colours but flesh. In the pit of the throat,
if one gazed upon it intently, could be seen the beating of the pulse. And,
indeed, it may be said that it was painted in such a manner as to make every
valiant craftsman, be he who he may, tremble and lose heart. He made use,
also, of this device: Monna Lisa being very beautiful, he always employed,
while he was painting her portrait, persons to play or sing, and jesters, who
might make her remain merry, in order to take away that melancholy which
painters are often wont to give to the portraits that they paint. And in this
work of Leonardo's there was a smile so pleasing, that it was a thing more
divine than human to behold; and it was held to be something marvellous,
since the reality was not more alive.
By reason, then, of the excellence of the works of this most divine
craftsman, his fame had so increased that all persons who took delight in art
—nay, the whole city of Florence—desired that he should leave them some
memorial, and it was being proposed everywhere that he should be
commissioned to execute some great and notable work, whereby the
commonwealth might be honoured and adorned by the great genius, grace
and judgment that were seen in the works of Leonardo. And it was decided
between the Gonfalonier and the chief citizens, the Great Council Chamber
having been newly built—the architecture of which had been contrived with
the judgment and counsel of Giuliano da San Gallo, Simone Pollaiuolo,
called Il Cronaca, Michelagnolo Buonarroti, and Baccio d' Agnolo, as will
be related with more detail in the proper places—and having been finished
in great haste, it was ordained by public decree that Leonardo should be
given some beautiful work to paint; and so the said hall was allotted to him
by Piero Soderini, then Gonfalonier of Justice. Whereupon Leonardo,
determining to execute this work, began a cartoon in the Sala del Papa, an
apartment in S. Maria Novella, representing the story of Niccolò Piccinino,
Captain of Duke Filippo of Milan; wherein he designed a group of
horsemen who were fighting for a standard, a work that was held to be very
excellent and of great mastery, by reason of the marvellous ideas that he had
in composing that battle; seeing that in it rage, fury, and revenge are
perceived as much in the men as in the horses, among which two with the
fore-legs interlocked are fighting no less fiercely with their teeth than those
who are riding them do in fighting for that standard, which has been

grasped by a soldier, who seeks by the strength of his shoulders, as he spurs
his horse to flight, having turned his body backwards and seized the staff of
the standard, to wrest it by force from the hands of four others, of whom
two are defending it, each with one hand, and, raising their swords in the
other, are trying to sever the staff; while an old soldier in a red cap, crying
out, grips the staff with one hand, and, raising a scimitar with the other,
furiously aims a blow in order to cut off both the hands of those who,
gnashing their teeth in the struggle, are striving in attitudes of the utmost
fierceness to defend their banner; besides which, on the ground, between
the legs of the horses, there are two figures in foreshortening that are
fighting together, and the one on the ground has over him a soldier who has
raised his arm as high as possible, that thus with greater force he may
plunge a dagger into his throat, in order to end his life; while the other,
struggling with his legs and arms, is doing what he can to escape death.
It is not possible to describe the invention that Leonardo showed in the
garments of the soldiers, all varied by him in different ways, and likewise in
the helmet-crests and other ornaments; not to mention the incredible
mastery that he displayed in the forms and lineaments of the horses, which
Leonardo, with their fiery spirit, muscles, and shapely beauty, drew better
than any other master. It is said that, in order to draw that cartoon, he made
a most ingenious stage, which was raised by contracting it and lowered by
expanding. And conceiving the wish to colour on the wall in oils, he made a
composition of so gross an admixture, to act as a binder on the wall, that,
going on to paint in the said hall, it began to peel off in such a manner that
in a short time he abandoned it, seeing it spoiling.

LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONNA LISA
(Formerly Paris: The Louvre, 1601. Canvas on Panel)
View larger image

Leonardo had very great spirit, and in his every action was most generous.
It is said that, going to the bank for the allowance that he used to draw
every month from Piero Soderini, the cashier wanted to give him certain
paper-packets of pence; but he would not take them, saying in answer, "I am
no penny-painter." Having been blamed for cheating Piero Soderini, there
began to be murmurings against him; wherefore Leonardo so wrought upon

his friends, that he got the money together and took it to Piero to repay him;
but he would not accept it.
He went to Rome with Duke Giuliano de' Medici, at the election of Pope
Leo, who spent much of his time on philosophical studies, and particularly
on alchemy; where, forming a paste of a certain kind of wax, as he walked
he shaped animals very thin and full of wind, and, by blowing into them,
made them fly through the air, but when the wind ceased they fell to the
ground. On the back of a most bizarre lizard, found by the vine-dresser of
the Belvedere, he fixed, with a mixture of quicksilver, wings composed of
scales stripped from other lizards, which, as it walked, quivered with the
motion; and having given it eyes, horns, and beard, taming it, and keeping it
in a box, he made all his friends, to whom he showed it, fly for fear. He
used often to have the guts of a wether completely freed of their fat and
cleaned, and thus made so fine that they could have been held in the palm
of the hand; and having placed a pair of blacksmith's bellows in another
room, he fixed to them one end of these, and, blowing into them, filled the
room, which was very large, so that whoever was in it was obliged to retreat
into a corner; showing how, transparent and full of wind, from taking up
little space at the beginning they had come to occupy much, and likening
them to virtue. He made an infinite number of such follies, and gave his
attention to mirrors; and he tried the strangest methods in seeking out oils
for painting, and varnish for preserving works when painted.
He made at this time, for Messer Baldassarre Turini da Pescia, who was
Datary to Pope Leo, a little picture of the Madonna with the Child in her
arms, with infinite diligence and art; but whether through the fault of
whoever primed the panel with gesso, or because of his innumerable and
capricious mixtures of grounds and colours, it is now much spoilt. And in
another small picture he made a portrait of a little boy, which is beautiful
and graceful to a marvel; and both of them are now at Pescia, in the hands
of Messer Giuliano Turini. It is related that, a work having been allotted to
him by the Pope, he straightway began to distil oils and herbs, in order to
make the varnish; at which Pope Leo said: "Alas! this man will never do
anything, for he begins by thinking of the end of the work, before the
beginning."

There was very great disdain between Michelagnolo Buonarroti and him, on
account of which Michelagnolo departed from Florence, with the excuse of
Duke Giuliano, having been summoned by the Pope to the competition for
the façade of S. Lorenzo. Leonardo, understanding this, departed and went
into France, where the King, having had works by his hand, bore him great
affection; and he desired that he should colour the cartoon of S. Anne, but
Leonardo, according to his custom, put him off for a long time with words.
Finally, having grown old, he remained ill many months, and, feeling
himself near to death, asked to have himself diligently informed of the
teaching of the Catholic faith, and of the good way and holy Christian
religion; and then, with many moans, he confessed and was penitent; and
although he could not raise himself well on his feet, supporting himself on
the arms of his friends and servants, he was pleased to take devoutly the
most holy Sacrament, out of his bed. The King, who was wont often and
lovingly to visit him, then came into the room; wherefore he, out of
reverence, having raised himself to sit upon the bed, giving him an account
of his sickness and the circumstances of it, showed withal how much he had
offended God and mankind in not having worked at his art as he should
have done. Thereupon he was seized by a paroxysm, the messenger of
death; for which reason the King having risen and having taken his head, in
order to assist him and show him favour, to the end that he might alleviate
his pain, his spirit, which was divine, knowing that it could not have any
greater honour, expired in the arms of the King, in the seventy-fifth year of
his age.

FRAGMENT FROM "THE BATTLE OF THE STANDARD"
(After the cartoon attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.
Oxford: Ashmolean Museum)
Reproduced by permission of the Visitors of the Ashmolean Museum
View larger image

The loss of Leonardo grieved beyond measure all those who had known
him, since there was never any one who did so much honour to painting.
With the splendour of his aspect, which was very beautiful, he made serene
every broken spirit: and with his words he turned to yea, or nay, every
obdurate intention. By his physical force he could restrain any outburst of
rage: and with his right hand he twisted the iron ring of a door-bell, or a
horse-shoe, as if it were lead. With his liberality he would assemble
together and support his every friend, poor or rich, if only he had intellect

and worth. He adorned and honoured, in every action, no matter what mean
and bare dwelling; wherefore, in truth, Florence received a very great gift in
the birth of Leonardo, and an incalculable loss in his death. In the art of
painting, he added to the manner of colouring in oils a certain obscurity,
whereby the moderns have given great force and relief to their figures. And
in statuary, he proved his worth in the three figures of bronze that are over
the door of S. Giovanni, on the side towards the north, executed by Giovan
Francesco Rustici, but contrived with the advice of Leonardo; which are the
most beautiful pieces of casting, the best designed, and the most perfect that
have as yet been seen in modern days. By Leonardo we have the anatomy
of the horse, and that of man even more complete. And so, on account of all
his qualities, so many and so divine, although he worked much more by
words than by deeds, his name and fame can never be extinguished;
wherefore it was thus said in his praise by Messer Giovan Battista Strozzi:
Vince costui pur solo
Tutti altri; e vince Fidia e vince Apelle
E tutto il lor vittorioso stuolo.

MAN AND WOMAN PRAYING
(After the panel by Giovan Antonio Boltraffio.
Milan: Brera, 281)
Anderson
View larger image

A disciple of Leonardo was Giovan Antonio Boltraffio of Milan, a person of
great skill and understanding, who, in the year 1500, painted with much
diligence, for the Church of the Misericordia, without Bologna, a panel in
oils containing Our Lady with the Child in her arms, S. John the Baptist, S.
Sebastian naked, and the patron who caused it to be executed, portrayed
from the life, on his knees—a truly beautiful work, on which he wrote his
name, calling himself a disciple of Leonardo. He has made other works,
both at Milan and elsewhere; but it must be enough here to have named this,
which is the best. Another (of his disciples) was Marco Oggioni, who

painted, in S. Maria della Pace, the Passing of Our Lady and the Marriage
of Cana in Galilee.

GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO

LIFE OF GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO
PAINTER OF VENICE

At the same time when Florence was acquiring such fame by reason of the
works of Leonardo, no little adornment was conferred on Venice by the
talent and excellence of one of her citizens, who surpassed by a great
measure not only the Bellini, whom the Venetians held in such esteem, but
also every other master who had painted up to that time in that city. This
was Giorgio, who was born at Castelfranco in the territory of Treviso, in the
year 1478, when the Doge was Giovanni Mozzenigo, brother of Doge
Piero. In time, from the nature of his person and from the greatness of his
mind, Giorgio came to be called Giorgione; and although he was born from
very humble stock, nevertheless he was not otherwise than gentle and of
good breeding throughout his whole life. He was brought up in Venice, and
took unceasing delight in the joys of love; and the sound of the lute gave
him marvellous pleasure, so that in his day he played and sang so divinely
that he was often employed for that purpose at various musical assemblies
and gatherings of noble persons. He studied drawing, and found it greatly to
his taste; and in this nature favoured him so highly, that he, having become
enamoured of her beauties, would never represent anything in his works
without copying it from life; and so much was he her slave, imitating her
continuously, that he acquired the name not only of having surpassed
Giovanni and Gentile Bellini, but also of being the rival of the masters who
were working in Tuscany and who were the creators of the modern manner.
Giorgione had seen some things by the hand of Leonardo with a beautiful
gradation of colours, and with extraordinary relief, effected, as has been
related, by means of dark shadows; and this manner pleased him so much
that he was for ever studying it as long as he lived, and in oil-painting he
imitated it greatly. Taking pleasure in the delights of good work, he was
ever selecting, for putting into his pictures, the greatest beauty and the
greatest variety that he could find. And nature gave him a spirit so benign,
and with this, both in oil-painting and in fresco, he made certain living
forms and other things so soft, so well harmonized, and so well blended in

the shadows, that many of the excellent masters of his time were forced to
confess that he had been born to infuse spirit into figures and to counterfeit
the freshness of living flesh better than any other painter, not only in
Venice, but throughout the whole world.

GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO: FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE
(Venice: Prince Giovanelli. Canvas)
View larger image

In his youth he executed in Venice many pictures of Our Lady and other
portraits from nature, which are very lifelike and beautiful; of which we still
have proof in three most beautiful heads in oils by his hand, which are in
the study of the Very Reverend Grimani, Patriarch of Aquileia. One
represents David—and it is reported to be his own portrait—with long locks
reaching to the shoulders, as was the custom of those times; it is so
vivacious and so fresh in colouring that it seems to be living flesh, and there

is armour on the breast, as there is on the arm with which he is holding the
severed head of Goliath. The second is a much larger head, portrayed from
nature; one hand is holding the red cap of a commander, and there is a cape
of fur, below which is one of the old-fashioned doublets. This is believed to
represent some military leader. The third is that of a boy, as beautiful as
could be, with fleecy hair. These works demonstrate the excellence of
Giorgione, and no less the affection which that great Patriarch has ever
borne to his genius, holding them very dear, and that rightly. In Florence, in
the house of the sons of Giovanni Borgherini, there is a portrait by his hand
of the said Giovanni, taken when he was a young man in Venice, and in the
same picture is the master who was teaching him; and there are no two
heads to be seen with better touches in the flesh-colours or with more
beautiful tints in the shadows. In the house of Anton de' Nobili there is
another head of a captain in armour, very lively and spirited, which is said
to be one of the captains whom Consalvo Ferrante took with him to Venice
when he visited Doge Agostino Barberigo; at which time, it is related,
Giorgione made a portrait of the great Consalvo in armour, which was a
very rare work, insomuch that there was no more beautiful painting than
this to be seen, and Consalvo took it away with him. Giorgione made many
other portraits which are scattered throughout many parts of Italy; all very
beautiful, as may be believed from that of Leonardo Loredano, painted by
Giorgione when Leonardo was Doge, which I saw exhibited on one
Ascension day, when I seemed to see that most illustrious Prince alive.
There is also one at Faenza, in the house of Giovanni da Castel Bolognese,
an excellent engraver of cameos and crystals; which work, executed for his
father-in-law, is truly divine, since there is such a harmony in the gradation
of the colours that it appears to be rather in relief than painted.
Giorgione took much delight in painting in fresco, and one among many
works that he executed was the whole of a façade of the Ca Soranzo on the
Piazza di S. Polo; wherein, besides many pictures and scenes and other
things of fancy, there may be seen a picture painted in oils on the plaster, a
work which has withstood rain, sun, and wind, and has remained fresh up to
our own day. There is also a Spring, which appears to me to be one of the
most beautiful works that he painted in fresco, and it is a great pity that time
has consumed it so cruelly. For my part, I know nothing that injures works

in fresco more than the sirocco, and particularly near the sea, where it
always brings a salt moisture with it.
There broke out at Venice, in the year 1504, in the Fondaco de' Tedeschi by
the Ponte del Rialto, a most terrible fire, which consumed the whole
building and all the merchandise, to the very great loss of the merchants;
wherefore the Signoria of Venice ordained that it should be rebuilt anew,
and it was speedily finished with more accommodation in the way of living-
rooms, and with greater magnificence, adornment, and beauty. Thereupon,
the fame of Giorgione having grown great, it was ordained after
deliberation by those who had charge of the matter, that Giorgione should
paint it in fresco with colours according to his own fancy, provided only
that he gave proof of his genius and executed an excellent work, since it
would be in the most beautiful place and most conspicuous site in the city.
And so Giorgione put his hand to the work, but thought of nothing save of
making figures according to his own fancy, in order to display his art, so
that, in truth, there are no scenes to be found there with any order, or
representing the deeds of any distinguished person, either ancient or
modern; and I, for my part, have never understood them, nor have I found,
for all the inquiries that I have made, anyone who understands them, for in
one place there is a woman, in another a man, in diverse attitudes, while one
has the head of a lion near him, and another an angel in the guise of a
Cupid, nor can one tell what it may all mean. There is, indeed, over the
principal door, which opens into the Merceria, a woman seated who has at
her feet the severed head of a giant, almost in the form of a Judith; she is
raising the head with her sword, and speaking with a German, who is below
her; but I have not been able to determine for what he intended her to stand,
unless, indeed, he may have meant her to represent Germany. However, it
may be seen that his figures are well grouped, and that he was ever making
progress; and there are in it heads and parts of figures very well painted,
and most vivacious in colouring. In all that he did there he aimed at being
faithful to nature, without any imitation of another's manner; and the work
is celebrated and famous in Venice, no less for what he painted therein than
through its convenience for commerce and its utility to the commonwealth.
He executed a picture of Christ bearing the Cross, with a Jew dragging him
along, which in time was placed in the Church of S. Rocco, and which now,
through the veneration that many feel for it, works miracles, as all may see.

He worked in various places, such as Castelfranco, and throughout the
territory of Treviso, and he made many portraits for Italian Princes; and
many of his works were sent out of Italy, as things truly worthy to bear
testimony that if Tuscany had a superabundance of craftsmen in every age,
the region beyond, near the mountains, was not always abandoned and
forgotten by Heaven.

PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN
(After the painting by Giorgione da Castelfranco.
Berlin: Kaiser Friedrich Museum, 12A)
Bruckmann
View larger image

It is related that Giorgione, at the time when Andrea Verrocchio was making
his bronze horse, fell into an argument with certain sculptors, who
maintained, since sculpture showed various attitudes and aspects in one
single figure to one walking round it, that for this reason it surpassed
painting, which only showed one side of a figure. Giorgione was of the
opinion that there could be shown in a painted scene, without any necessity
for walking round, at one single glance, all the various aspects that a man
can present in many gestures—a thing which sculpture cannot do without a
change of position and point of view, so that in her case the points of view
are many, and not one. Moreover, he proposed to show in one single painted
figure the front, the back, and the profile on either side, a challenge which
brought them to their senses; and he did it in the following way. He painted
a naked man with his back turned, at whose feet was a most limpid pool of
water, wherein he painted the reflection of the man's front. At one side was
a burnished cuirass that he had taken off, which showed his left profile,
since everything could be seen on the polished surface of the piece of
armour; and on the other side was a mirror, which reflected the other profile
of the naked figure; which was a thing of most beautiful and bizarre fancy,
whereby he sought to prove that painting does in fact, with more
excellence, labour, and effect, achieve more at one single view of a living
figure than does sculpture. And this work was greatly extolled and admired,
as something ingenious and beautiful.

JUDITH
(After the painting by Giorgione da Castelfranco.
S. Petersburg: Hermitage, 112)
M.S.
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He also made a portrait from life of Caterina, Queen of Cyprus, which I
once saw in the hands of the illustrious Messer Giovanni Cornaro. There is

in our book a head coloured in oils, the portrait of a German of the Fugger
family, who was at that time one of the chief merchants in the Fondaco de'
Tedeschi, which is an admirable work; together with other sketches and
drawings made by him with the pen.
While Giorgione was employed in doing honour both to himself and to his
country, and frequenting many houses in order to entertain his various
friends with his music, he became enamoured of a lady, and they took much
joy, one with another, in their love. Now it happened that in the year 1511
she became infected with plague, without, however, knowing anything
about it; and Giorgione, visiting her as usual, caught the plague in such a
manner, that in a short time, at the age of thirty-four, he passed away to the
other life, not without infinite grief on the part of his many friends, who
loved him for his virtues, and great hurt to the world, which thus lost him.
However, they could bear up against this hurt and loss, in that he left behind
him two excellent disciples in Sebastiano, the Venetian, who afterwards
became Friar of the Piombo[12] at Rome, and Tiziano da Cadore, who not
only equalled him, but surpassed him greatly; of both of whom we will
speak at the proper time, describing fully the honour and benefit that they
have conferred on art.

CATERINA, QUEEN OF CYPRUS
(After the painting by Giorgione da Castelfranco (?).
Milan: Crespi Collection)
Anderson
View larger image

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO

LIFE OF ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO
PAINTER

I do not wish to leave that country wherein our great mother Nature, in
order not to be thought partial, gave to the world extraordinary men of that
sort with which she had already for many and many a year adorned
Tuscany; among whom was one endowed with an excellent and very
beautiful genius, by name Antonio da Correggio, a most rare painter, who
acquired the modern manner so perfectly, that in a few years, what with his
natural gifts and his practice in art, he became a most excellent and
marvellous craftsman. He was very timid by nature, and with great
discomfort to himself he was continually labouring at the exercise of his art,
for the sake of his family, which weighed upon him; and although it was a
natural goodness that impelled him, nevertheless he afflicted himself more
than was right in bearing the burden of those sufferings which are wont to
crush mankind. He was very melancholy in his practice of art, a slave to her
labours, and an unwearying investigator of all the difficulties of her realm;
to which witness is borne by a vast multitude of figures in the Duomo of
Parma, executed in fresco and well finished, which are to be found in the
great tribune of the said church, and are seen foreshortened from below
with an effect of marvellous grandeur.
Antonio was the first who began to work in the modern manner in
Lombardy; wherefore it is thought that if he, with his genius, had gone forth
from Lombardy and lived in Rome, he would have wrought miracles, and
would have brought the sweat to the brow of many who were held to be
great men in his time. For, his works being such as they are without his
having seen any of the ancient or the best of the modern, it necessarily
follows that, if he had seen them, he would have vastly improved his own,
and, advancing from good to better, would have reached the highest rank. It
may, at least, be held for certain that no one ever handled colours better than
he, and that no craftsman ever painted with greater delicacy or with more
relief, such was the softness of his flesh-painting, and such the grace with
which he finished his works.

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO: ANTIOPE
(Paris: Louvre, 1118. Canvas)
View larger image

In the same place, also, he painted two large pictures executed in oils, in
one of which, among other figures, there may be seen a Dead Christ, which
was highly extolled. And in S. Giovanni, in the same city, he painted a
tribune in fresco, wherein he represented Our Lady ascending into Heaven
amidst a multitude of angels, with other saints around; as to which, it seems
impossible that he should have been able, I do not say to express it with his
hand, but even to conceive it in his imagination, so beautiful are the curves

of the draperies and the expressions that he gave to those figures. Of these
there are some drawings in our book, done in red chalk by his hand, with
some very beautiful borders of little boys, and other borders drawn in that
work by way of ornament, with various fanciful scenes of sacrifices in the
ancient manner. And in truth, if Antonio had not brought his works to that
perfection which is seen in them, his drawings (although they show
excellence of manner, and the charm and practised touch of a master) would
not have gained for him among craftsmen the name that he has won with
his wonderful paintings. This art is so difficult, and has so many branches,
that very often a craftsman is not able to practise them all to perfection; for
there have been many who have drawn divinely well, but have shown some
imperfection in colouring, and others have been marvellous in colouring,
but have not drawn half so well. All this depends on choice, and on the
practice bestowed, in youth, in one case on drawing, in another on colour.
But since all is learnt in order to carry works to the height of perfection,
which is to put good colouring, together with draughtsmanship, into
everything that is executed, for this reason Correggio deserves great praise,
having attained to the height of perfection in the works that he coloured
either in oils or in fresco; as he did in the Church of the Frati de' Zoccoli di
S. Francesco, in the same city, where he painted an Annunciation in fresco
so well, that, when it became necessary to pull it down in making some
changes in that building, those friars caused the wall round it to be bound
with timber strengthened with iron, and, cutting it away little by little, they
saved it; and it was built by them into a more secure place in the same
convent.
He painted, also, over one of the gates of that city, a Madonna who has the
Child in her arms; and it is an astounding thing to see the lovely colouring
of this work in fresco, through which he has won from passing strangers,
who have seen nothing else of his, infinite praise and honour. For S.
Antonio, likewise in that city, he painted a panel wherein is a Madonna,
with S. Mary Magdalene; and near them is a boy in the guise of a little
angel, holding a book in his hand, who is smiling, with a smile that seems
so natural that he moves whoever beholds him to smile also, nor can any
person, be his nature ever so melancholy, see him without being cheered.
There is also a S. Jerome; and the whole work is coloured in a manner so

wonderful and so astounding, that painters revere it for the marvel of its
colouring, and it is scarcely possible to paint better.
In like manner, he executed square pictures and other paintings for many
lords throughout Lombardy; and, among other works, two pictures in
Mantua for Duke Federigo II, to be sent to the Emperor, a gift truly worthy
of such a Prince. Giulio Romano, seeing these works, said that he had never
seen any colouring that attained to such perfection. One was a naked Leda,
and the other a Venus; both so soft in colouring, with the shadows of the
flesh so well wrought, that they appeared to be not colours, but flesh. In one
there was a marvellous landscape, nor was there ever a Lombard who
painted such things better than he; and, besides this, hair so lovely in colour,
and executed in detail with such exquisite finish, that it is not possible to
see anything better. There were also certain Loves, executed with beautiful
art, who were making trial of their arrows, some of gold and some of lead,
on a stone; and what lent most grace to the Venus was a clear and limpid
stream, which ran among some stones and bathed her feet, but scarcely
concealed any part of them, so that the sight of their delicate whiteness was
a moving thing for the eye to behold. For which reason Antonio most
certainly deserved all praise and honour during his lifetime, and the greatest
glory from the lips and pens of men after his death.
In Modena, also, he painted a panel-picture of Our Lady, which is held in
esteem by all painters, as the best picture in that city. In Bologna, likewise,
in the house of the Ercolani, gentlemen of that city, there is a work by his
hand, a Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene in the Garden, which is very
beautiful. In Reggio there was a rare and most beautiful picture; and not
long since, Messer Luciano Pallavigino, who takes much delight in noble
paintings, passing through the city and seeing it, gave no thought to the
cost, and, as if he had bought a jewel, sent it to his house in Genoa. At
Reggio, likewise, is a panel containing a Nativity of Christ, wherein the
splendour radiating from Him throws its light on the shepherds and all
around on the figures that are contemplating Him; and among the many
conceptions shown in that subject, there is a woman who, wishing to gaze
intently at Christ, and not being able with her mortal sight to bear the light
of His Divinity, which seems to be beating upon her with its rays, places a
hand before her eyes; which is expressed so well that it is a marvel. Over
the hut is a choir of angels singing, who are so well executed, that they

appear rather to have rained down from Heaven than to have been made by
the hand of a painter. And in the same city there is a little picture, a foot
square, the rarest and most beautiful work that is to be seen by his hand, of
Christ in the Garden, representing an effect of night, and painted with little
figures; wherein the Angel, appearing to Christ, illumines Him with the
splendour of his light, with such truth to nature, that nothing better can be
imagined or expressed. Below, on a plain at the foot of the mountain, are
seen the three Apostles sleeping, over whom the mountain on which Christ
is praying casts a shadow, giving those figures a force which one is not able
to describe. Far in the background, over a distant landscape, there is shown
the appearing of the dawn; and on one side are seen coming some soldiers,
with Judas. And although it is so small, this scene is so well conceived, that
there is no work of the same kind to equal it either in patience or in study.

S. THOMAS AND S. JAMES THE LESS
(Detail, after the fresco by Antonio da Correggio.
Parma: S. Giovanni Evangelista)
Anderson
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Many things might be said of the works of this master; but since, among the
eminent men of our art, everything that is to be seen by his hand is admired
as something divine, I will say no more. I have used all possible diligence
in order to obtain his portrait, but, since he himself did not make it, and he
was never portrayed by others, for he always lived in retirement, I have not
been able to find one. He was, in truth, a person who had no opinion of
himself, nor did he believe himself to be an able master of his art,
contrasting his deficiencies with that perfection which he would have liked
to achieve. He was contented with little, and he lived like an excellent
Christian.

THE MADONNA AND CHILD WITH S. JEROME
(After the painting by Antonio da Correggio.
Parma: Gallery, 351)
Anderson
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Antonio, like a man who was weighed down by his family, was anxious to
be always saving, and he had thereby become as miserly as he could well
be. Wherefore it is related that, having received at Parma a payment of sixty
crowns in copper coins, and wishing to take them to Correggio to meet
some demand, he placed the money on his back and set out to walk on foot;

but, being smitten by the heat of the sun, which was very great, and
drinking water to refresh himself, he was seized by pleurisy, and had to take
to his bed in a raging fever, nor did he ever raise his head from it, but
finished the course of his life at the age of forty, or thereabout.
His pictures date about 1512; and he bestowed a very great gift on painting
by his handling of colours, which was that of a true master; and it was by
means of him that men's eyes were opened in Lombardy, where so many
beautiful intellects have been seen in painting, following him in making
works worthy of praise and memory. Thus, by showing them his treatment
of hair, executed with such facility, for all the difficulty of painting it, he
taught them how it should be painted; for which all painters owe him an
everlasting debt. At their instance the following epigram was written to him
by Messer Fabio Segni, a gentleman of Florence:
Hujus cum regeret mortales spiritus artus
Pictoris, Charites supplicuere Jovi.
Non alia pingi dextra, Pater alme, rogamus;
Hunc præter, nulli pingere nos liceat.
Annuit his votis summi regnator Olympi,
Et juvenem subito sidera ad alta tulit,
Ut posset melius Charitum simulacra referre
Præsens, et nudas cerneret inde Deas.
At this same time lived Andrea del Gobbo of Milan, a very pleasing painter
and colourist, many of whose works are scattered about in the houses of his
native city of Milan. There is a large panel-picture of the Assumption of
Our Lady, by his hand, in the Certosa of Pavia, but it was left unfinished, on
account of death overtaking him; which panel shows how excellent he was,
and how great a lover of the labours of art.

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO: THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI
(Milan: Brera, 427. Canvas)
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PIERO DI COSIMO

LIFE OF PIERO DI COSIMO
PAINTER OF FLORENCE

While Giorgione and Correggio, to their own great credit and glory, were
honouring the regions of Lombardy, Tuscany, on her part, was not wanting
in men of beautiful intellect; among whom, not one of the least was Piero,
the son of one Lorenzo, a goldsmith, and a pupil of Cosimo Rosselli, after
whom he was always called Piero di Cosimo, and known by no other name.
And in truth, when a man teaches us excellence and gives us the secret of
living rightly, he deserves no less gratitude from us, and should be held no
less as a true father, than he who begets us and gives us life and nothing
more.
Piero was entrusted by his father, who saw in his son a lively intelligence
and an inclination to the art of design, to the care of Cosimo, who took him
with no ordinary willingness; and seeing him grow no less in ability than in
years, among the many disciples that he had, he bore him love as to a son,
and always held him as such. This young man had by nature a most lofty
spirit, and he was very strange, and different in fancy from the other youths
who were working with Cosimo in order to learn the same art. He was at
times so intent on what he was doing, that when some subject was being
discussed, as often happens, at the end of the discussion it was necessary to
go back to the beginning and tell him the whole, so far had his brain
wandered after some other fancy of his own. And he was likewise so great a
lover of solitude, that he knew no pleasure save that of going off by himself
with his thoughts, letting his fancy roam and building his castles in the air.
Right good reason had Cosimo, his master, for wishing him well, seeing
that he made so much use of him in his works, that very often he caused
him to execute things of great importance, knowing that Piero had a more
beautiful manner, as well as better judgment, than himself. For this reason
he took Piero with him to Rome, when he was summoned thither by Pope
Sixtus in order to paint the scenes in his chapel; in one of which Piero
executed a very beautiful landscape, as was related in the Life of Cosimo.

And since Piero drew most excellently from the life, he made in Rome
many portraits of distinguished persons; in particular, those of Virginio
Orsino and Ruberto Sanseverino, which he placed in the aforesaid scenes.
Afterwards, also, he made a portrait of Duke Valentino, the son of Pope
Alexander VI; which painting, to my knowledge, is not now to be found;
but the cartoon by his hand still exists, being in the possession of the
reverend and cultured M. Cosimo Bartoli, Provost of S. Giovanni. In
Florence, he painted many pictures for a number of citizens, which are
dispersed among their various houses, and of such I have seen some that are
very good; and so, also, various things for many other persons. In the
Noviciate of S. Marco is a picture by his hand of Our Lady, standing, with
the Child in her arms, coloured in oils. And for the Chapel of Gino Capponi,
in the Church of S. Spirito at Florence, he painted a panel wherein is the
Visitation of Our Lady, with S. Nicholas, and a S. Anthony who is reading
with a pair of spectacles on his nose, a very spirited figure. Here he
counterfeited a book bound in parchment, somewhat old, which seems to be
real, and also some balls that he gave to the S. Nicholas, shining and casting
gleams of light and reflections from one to another; from which even by
that time men could perceive the strangeness of his brain, and his constant
seeking after difficulties.

PIERO DI COSIMO: THE DEATH OF PROCRIS
(London: National Gallery, 698. Panel)
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Even better did he show this after the death of Cosimo, when he kept
himself constantly shut up, and would not let himself be seen at work,

leading the life of a man who was less man than beast. He would never
have his rooms swept, he would only eat when hunger came to him, and he
would not let his garden be worked or his fruit-trees pruned; nay, he
allowed his vines to grow, and the shoots to trail over the ground, nor were
his fig-trees ever trimmed, or any other trees, for it pleased him to see
everything wild, like his own nature; and he declared that Nature's own
things should be left to her to look after, without lifting a hand to them. He
set himself often to observe such animals, plants, or other things as Nature
at times creates out of caprice, or by chance; in which he found a pleasure
and satisfaction that drove him quite out of his mind with delight; and he
spoke of them so often in his discourse, that at times, although he found
pleasure in them, it became wearisome to others. He would sometimes stop
to gaze at a wall against which sick people had been for a long time
discharging their spittle, and from this he would picture to himself battles of
horsemen, and the most fantastic cities and widest landscapes that were
ever seen; and he did the same with the clouds in the sky.
He gave his attention to colouring in oils, having seen some works of
Leonardo's, executed with that gradation of colour, and finished with that
extraordinary diligence, which Leonardo used to employ when he wished to
display his art. And so Piero, being pleased with his method, sought to
imitate it, although he was afterwards very distant from Leonardo, and
worlds away from any other manner. It may be said, in truth, that he
changed his manner almost for every work that he executed.
If Piero had not been so solitary, and had taken more care of himself in his
way of living than he did, he would have made known the greatness of his
intellect in such a way that he would have been revered, whereas, by reason
of his uncouth ways, he was rather held to be a madman, although in the
end he did no harm save to himself alone, while his works were beneficial
and useful to his art. For which reason every good intellect and every
excellent craftsman should always be taught, from such an example, to keep
his eyes on the end of life.
Nor will I refrain from saying that Piero, in his youth, being fanciful and
extravagant in invention, was much employed for the masquerades that are
held during the Carnival; and he became very dear to the young noblemen
of Florence, having improved their festivals much in invention, adornment,

grandeur, and pomp. As to that kind of pastime, it is said that he was one of
the first to contrive to marshal them in the form of triumphal processions; at
least, he improved them greatly, by accompanying the invention of the story
represented, not only with music and with words suited to the subject, but
also with a train of incredible pomp, formed of men on foot and on
horseback, with habits and ornaments in keeping with the story; which
produced a very rich and beautiful effect, and had in it something both
grand and ingenious. And it was certainly a very beautiful thing to see, by
night, twenty-five or thirty pairs of horses, most richly caparisoned, with
their riders in costume, according to the subject of the invention, and six or
eight grooms to each rider, with torches in their hands, and all clothed in
one and the same livery, sometimes more than four hundred in number; and
then the chariot, or triumphal car, covered with ornaments, trophies, and
most bizarre things of fancy; altogether, a thing which makes men's
intellects more subtle, and gives great pleasure and satisfaction to the
people.

PERSEUS DELIVERING ANDROMEDA
(After the panel by Piero di Cosimo.
Florence: Uffizi, 1312)
Brogi
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Among these spectacles, which were numerous and ingenious, it is my
pleasure to give a brief description of one, which was contrived mostly by
Piero, when he was already of a mature age, and which was not, like many,

pleasing through its beauty, but, on the contrary, on account of a strange,
horrible, and unexpected invention, gave no little satisfaction to the people:
for even as in the matter of food bitter things sometimes give marvellous
delight to the human palate, so do horrible things in such pastimes, if only
they be carried out with judgment and art; which is evident in the
representation of tragedies. This was the Car of Death, wrought by him with
the greatest secrecy in the Sala del Papa, so that nothing could ever be
found out about it, until it was seen and known at one and the same
moment. This triumphal chariot was an enormous car drawn by buffaloes,
black all over and painted with skeletons and white crosses; and upon the
highest point of the car stood a colossal figure of Death, scythe in hand, and
right round the car were a number of covered tombs; and at all the places
where the procession halted for the chanting of dirges, these tombs opened,
and from them issued figures draped in black cloth, upon which were
painted all the bones of a skeleton, over their arms, breasts, flanks, and legs;
which, what with the white over the black, and the appearing in the distance
of some figures carrying torches, with masks that represented a death's head
both in front and behind, as well as the neck, not only gave an appearance
of the greatest reality, but was also horrible and terrifying to behold. And
these figures of the dead, at the sound of certain muffled trumpets, low and
mournful in tone, came half out of their tombs, and, seating themselves
upon them, sang to music full of melancholy that song so celebrated at the
present day: "Dolor, pianto, e penitenzia." Before and after the car came a
great number of the dead, riding on certain horses picked out with the
greatest diligence from among the leanest and most meagre that could be
found, with black caparisons covered with white crosses; and each had four
grooms draped in the garb of death, with black torches, and a large black
standard with crosses, bones, and death's heads. After the car were trailed
ten black standards; and as they walked, the whole company sang in unison,
with trembling voices, that Psalm of David that is called the Miserere.
This dread spectacle, through its novelty and terror, as I have said, filled the
whole city with fear and marvel together; and although at the first sight it
did not seem suited to a Carnival, nevertheless, being new and very well
arranged, it pleased the minds of all, and Piero, the creator and inventor of
the whole, gained consummate praise and commendation for it; and it was
the reason that afterwards, going from one thing to another, men continued

to contrive lively and ingenious inventions, so that in truth, for such
representations and for holding similar festivals, this city has never had an
equal. And in those old men who saw it there still remains a vivid memory
of it, nor are they ever weary of celebrating this fantastic invention. I have
heard from the lips of Andrea di Cosimo, who helped him to carry out the
work, and of Andrea del Sarto, who was Piero's disciple, and who also had a
hand in it, that it was a common opinion at that time that this invention was
intended to foreshadow the return of the Medici family to Florence in the
year 1512, since at the time when the procession was held they were exiles,
and, so to speak, dead, but destined in a short time to come to life; and in
this sense were interpreted the following words in the song—
Morti siam come vedete,
Così morti vedrem voi;
Fummo già come voi siete,
Voi sarete come noi, etc.
whereby men wished to signify the return of that family (a resurrection, as
it were, from death to life), and the expulsion and abasement of their
enemies; or it may have been that many gave it that significance from the
subsequent fact of the return of that illustrious house to Florence—so prone
is the human intellect to applying every word and act that has come
previously, to the events that happen afterwards. Certain it is that this was
the opinion of many at that time; and it was much spoken of.

VENUS, MARS, AND CUPID
(After the panel by Piero di Cosimo.
Berlin: Kaiser Friedrich Museum, 107)
Hanfstaengl
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But to return to the art and actions of Piero; he was given the commission
for a panel in the Church of the Servite Friars, in the Chapel of the Tedaldi,
where they keep the garment and the pillow of S. Filippo, a brother of their
Order; wherein he depicted Our Lady standing, raised from the ground on a
pedestal, and uplifting her head towards Heaven, with a book in her hand,
but without her Son; and above her is the Holy Spirit, bathing her with
light. Nor did he wish that any other light than that of the Dove should
illumine her and the figures that are round her, such as a S. Margaret and a
S. Catherine, who are on their knees, adoring her, while S. Peter and S. John
the Evangelist are standing, contemplating her, together with S. Filippo, the
Servite Friar, and S. Antonino, Archbishop of Florence. Moreover, he made
there a landscape that is very bizarre, what with the strange trees and certain
grottoes. And in truth, there are some very beautiful things in this work,
such as certain heads that reveal both draughtsmanship and grace; besides
the colouring, which is very harmonious, for it is certain that Piero was a
great master of colouring in oils. In the predella he painted some little
scenes, very well executed; and, among others, there is one of S. Margaret
issuing from the belly of the Dragon, wherein he made that animal so
monstrous and hideous, that I do not think that there is anything better of

that kind to be seen, for with its eyes it reveals venom, fire, and death, in an
aspect truly terrifying. And certainly, as for such things, I do not believe
that any one ever did them better than he, or came near him in imagining
them; to which witness is borne by a marine monster that he made and
presented to the Magnificent Giuliano de' Medici, which is so extravagant,
bizarre, and fantastic in its deformity, that it seems impossible that Nature
should produce anything so deformed and strange among her creations.
This monster is now in the guardaroba of Duke Cosimo de' Medici, as is
also a book, likewise by the hand of Piero, of animals of the same kind,
most beautiful and bizarre, hatched very diligently with the pen, and
finished with an incredible patience; which book was presented to him by
M. Cosimo Bartoli, Provost of S. Giovanni, who is very much my friend, as
he is of all our craftsmen, being a man who has always delighted, and still
delights, in our profession.
He also executed, round a chamber in the house of Francesco del Pugliese,
various scenes with little figures; nor is it possible to describe the different
fantastic things that he delighted to paint in all those scenes, what with the
buildings, the animals, the costumes, the various instruments, and any other
fanciful things that came into his head, since the stories were drawn from
fables. These scenes, after the death of Francesco del Pugliese and his sons,
were taken away, nor do I know what has become of them; and the same
thing has happened to a picture of Mars and Venus, with her Loves and
Vulcan, executed with great art and with an incredible patience.
Piero painted, for the elder Filippo Strozzi, a picture with little figures of
Perseus delivering Andromeda from the Monster, in which are some very
beautiful things. It is now in the house of Signor Sforza Almeni, First
Chamberlain to Duke Cosimo, having been presented to him by Messer
Giovanni Battista, the son of Lorenzo Strozzi, who knew how much that
nobleman delighted in painting and sculpture; and he holds it in great
account, for Piero never made a more lovely or more highly finished picture
than this one, seeing that it is not possible to find a more bizarre or more
fantastic sea-monster than that which Piero imagined and painted, or a
fiercer attitude than that of Perseus, who is raising his sword in the air to
smite the beast. In it, trembling between fear and hope, Andromeda is seen
bound, most beautiful in countenance; and in the foreground are many
people in various strange costumes, playing instruments and singing;

among whom are some heads, smiling and rejoicing at seeing the
deliverance of Andromeda, that are divine. The landscape is very beautiful,
and the colouring sweet and full of grace. In short, with regard to the
harmony and gradation of the colours, he executed this work with the
greatest possible diligence.
He painted, also, a picture containing a nude Venus, with a Mars, likewise
nude, who is sleeping in a meadow full of flowers, and all around are
various Loves, who are carrying away, some here, some there, the helmet,
armlets, and other pieces of armour of Mars; there is a grove of myrtle, with
a Cupid that is afraid of a rabbit, and there are also the Doves of Venus and
the other emblems of Love. This picture is at Florence, in the house of
Giorgio Vasari, who keeps it in memory of that master, whose caprices have
always pleased him.
The Director of the Hospital of the Innocenti was much the friend of Piero;
and wishing to have a panel painted, which was to be placed in the Pugliese
Chapel, near the entrance into the church, on the left hand, he gave the
commission for it to Piero, who brought it to completion at his leisure; but
first he reduced his patron to despair, for on no account would he let him
see it until it was finished. How strange this seemed to the patron, both
because of their friendship, and because of his supplying Piero continually
with money, without seeing what was being done, he himself showed,
when, on the occasion of the final payment, he refused to give it to him
without seeing the work. But, on Piero threatening that he would destroy all
that he had painted, he was forced to give him the rest, and to wait patiently,
in a greater rage than ever, for it to be set in place. This picture contains
much that is truly beautiful.
He undertook to paint a panel for a chapel in the Church of S. Piero
Gattolini, and in this he represented Our Lady seated, with four figures
round her, and two angels in the sky, who are crowning her; which work,
executed with such diligence that it brought him praise and honour, is now
to be seen in S. Friano, the other church having been ruined. For the
tramezzo[13] of the Church of S. Francesco, at Fiesole, he painted a little
panel-picture of the Conception, which is a passing good little work, the
figures being of no great size. For Giovanni Vespucci, who lived in a house
now belonging to Piero Salviati, opposite to S. Michele, in the Via de' Servi,

he executed some bacchanalian scenes, which are round an apartment;
wherein he made such strange fauns, satyrs, sylvan gods, little boys, and
bacchanals, that it is a marvel to see the diversity of the bay horses and
garments, and the variety of the goatlike features, and all with great grace
and most vivid truth to nature. In one scene is Silenus riding on an ass, with
many children, some supporting him, and some giving him drink; and
throughout the whole is a feeling of the joy of life, produced by the great
genius of Piero. And in truth, in all that there is to be seen by his hand, one
recognizes a spirit very different and far distant from that of other painters,
and a certain subtlety in the investigation of some of the deepest and most
subtle secrets of Nature, without grudging time or labour, but only for his
own delight and for his pleasure in the art. And it could not well be
otherwise; since, having grown enamoured of her, he cared nothing for his
own comfort, and reduced himself to eating nothing but boiled eggs, which,
in order to save firing, he cooked when he was boiling his glue, and not six
or eight at a time, but in fifties; and, keeping them in a basket, he would eat
them one by one. In this life he found such peculiar pleasure that any other,
in comparison with his own, seemed to him slavery. He could not bear the
crying of children, the coughing of men, the sound of bells, and the
chanting of friars; and when the rain was pouring in torrents from the sky, it
pleased him to see it streaming straight down from the roofs and splashing
on the ground. He had the greatest terror of lightning; and, when he heard
very loud thunder, he wrapped himself in his mantle, and, having closed the
windows and the door of the room, he crouched in a corner until the storm
should pass. He was very varied and original in his discourse, and
sometimes said such beautiful things, that he made his hearers burst with
laughter. But when he was old, and near the age of eighty, he had become
so strange and eccentric that nothing could be done with him. He would not
have assistants standing round him, so that his misanthropy had robbed him
of all possible aid. He was sometimes seized by a desire to work, but was
not able, by reason of the palsy, and fell into such a rage that he tried to
force his hands to labour; but, as he muttered to himself, the mahlstick fell
from his grasp, and even his brushes, so that it was pitiable to behold. Flies
enraged him, and even shadows annoyed him. And so, having become ill
through old age, he was visited by one or two friends, who besought him to
make his peace with God; but he would not believe that he was dying, and
put them off from one day to another; not that he was hard of heart, or an

unbeliever, for he was a most zealous Christian, although his life was that
of a beast. He discoursed at times on the torments of those ills that destroy
men's bodies, and of the suffering endured by those who come to die with
their strength wasting away little by little, which he called a great affliction.
He spoke evil of physicians, apothecaries, and those who nurse the sick,
saying that they cause them to die of hunger; besides the tortures of syrups,
medicines, clysters, and other martyrdoms, such as not being allowed to
sleep when you are drowsy, making your will, seeing your relatives round
you, and staying in a dark room. He praised death by the hand of justice,
saying that it was a fine thing to go to your death in that way; to see the
broad sky about you, and all that throng; to be comforted with sweetmeats
and with kind words; to have the priest and the people praying for you; and
to go into Paradise with the Angels; so that whoever departed from this life
at one blow, was very fortunate. And as he discoursed, he would twist
everything to the strangest meanings that were ever heard. Wherefore,
living in such strange fashion, he reduced himself to such a state with his
extravagant fancies, that one morning he was found dead at the foot of a
staircase, in the year 1521; and he was given burial in S. Piero Maggiore.
His disciples were many, and one among them was Andrea del Sarto, who
was a host in himself. Piero's portrait I received from Francesco da San
Gallo, who was much his friend and intimate companion, and who made it
when Piero was old; which Francesco still has a work by the hand of Piero
that I must not pass by, a very beautiful head of Cleopatra, with an asp
wound round her neck, and two portraits, one of his father Giuliano, and the
other of his grandfather Francesco Giamberti, which seem to be alive.

FRANCESCO GIAMBERTI
(After the panel by Piero di Cosimo.
Hague: Royal Museum, 255)
Bruckmann
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BRAMANTE DA URBINO

LIFE OF BRAMANTE DA URBINO
ARCHITECT

Of very great advantage to architecture, in truth, was the new method of
Filippo Brunelleschi, who imitated and restored to the light, after many
ages, the noble works of the most learned and marvellous ancients. But no
less useful to our age was Bramante, in following the footsteps of Filippo,
and making the path of his profession of architecture secure for all who
came after him, by means of his courage, boldness, intellect, and science in
that art, wherein he had the mastery not of theory only, but of supreme skill
and practice. Nor could nature have created a more vigorous intellect, or
one to exercise his art and carry it into execution with greater invention and
proportion, or with a more thorough knowledge, than Bramante. But no less
essential than all this was the election to the Pontificate, at that time, of
Julius II, a Pope of great spirit, full of desire to leave memorials behind
him. And it was fortunate both for us and for Bramante that he found such a
Prince (a thing which rarely happens to men of great genius), at whose
expense he might be able to display the worth of his intellect, and that
mastery over difficulties which he showed in architecture. His ability was
so universal in the buildings that he erected, that the outlines of the
cornices, the shafts of the columns, the graceful capitals, the bases, the
consoles and corners, the vaults, the staircases, the projections, and every
detail of every Order of architecture, contrived from the counsel or model
of this craftsman, never failed to astonish all who saw them. Wherefore it
appears to me that the everlasting gratitude which is due to the ancients
from the intellects that study their works, is also due from them to the
labours of Bramante; for if the Greeks were the inventors of architecture,
and the Romans their imitators, Bramante not only imitated what he saw,
with new invention, and taught it to us, but also added very great beauty
and elaboration to the art, which we see embellished by him at the present
day.
He was born at Castel Durante, in the State of Urbino, of poor but honest
parentage. In his boyhood, besides reading and writing, he gave much

attention to arithmetic; but his father, who had need that he should earn
money, perceiving that he delighted much in drawing, applied him, when
still a mere boy, to the art of painting; whereupon Bramante gave much
study to the works of Fra Bartolommeo, otherwise called Fra Carnovale da
Urbino, who painted the panel-picture of S. Maria della Bella at Urbino.
But since he always delighted in architecture and perspective, he departed
from Castel Durante, and made his way to Lombardy, where he went now
to one city, and now to another, working as best he could, but not on things
of great cost or much credit, having as yet neither name nor reputation. For
this reason he determined at least to see some noteworthy work, and betook
himself to Milan, in order to see the Duomo. In that city there was then
living one Cesare Cesariano, reputed to be a good geometrician and an able
architect, who wrote a commentary on Vitruvius, and, out of despair at not
having received for this the remuneration that he had expected, became so
strange that he would work no more; and, having grown almost savage, he
died more like a beast than like a human being. There was also one
Bernardino da Trevio, a Milanese, engineer and architect for the Duomo,
and an excellent draughtsman, who was held by Leonardo da Vinci to be a
rare master, although his manner was rather crude and somewhat hard in
painting. By his hand is a Resurrection of Christ to be seen at the upper end
of the cloister of the Grazie, with some very beautiful foreshortenings; and
a chapel in fresco in S. Francesco, containing the deaths of S. Peter and S.
Paul. He painted many other works in Milan, and he also made a good
number in the surrounding district, which are held in esteem; and in our
book there is a head of a very beautiful woman, in charcoal and lead-white,
which still bears witness to the manner that he followed.

INTERIOR OF SACRISTY
(After Bramante da Urbino.
Milan: S. Satiro)
Brogi
View larger image

But to return to Bramante; having studied that building, and having come to
know those engineers, he so took courage, that he resolved to devote
himself wholly to architecture. Having therefore departed from Milan, he
betook himself, just before the holy year of 1500, to Rome, where he was
recognized by some friends, both from his own country and from
Lombardy, and received a commission to paint, over the Porta Santa of S.
Giovanni Laterano, which is opened for the Jubilee, the coat of arms of

Pope Alexander VI, to be executed in fresco, with angels and other figures
acting as supporters.
Bramante had brought some money from Lombardy, and he earned some
more in Rome by executing certain works; and this he spent with the
greatest economy, since he wished to be able to live independently, and at
the same time, without having to work, to be free to take measurements, at
his ease, of all the ancient buildings in Rome. And having put his hand to
this, he set out, alone with his thoughts; and within no great space of time
he had measured all the buildings in that city and in the Campagna without;
and he went as far as Naples, and wherever he knew that there were
antiquities. He measured all that was at Tivoli and in the Villa of Hadrian,
and, as will be related afterwards in the proper place, made great use of it.
The mind of Bramante becoming known in this way, the Cardinal of
Naples, having noticed him, began to favour him. Whereupon, while
Bramante was continuing his studies, the desire came to the said Cardinal to
have the cloister of the Frati della Pace rebuilt in travertine, and he gave the
charge of this cloister to Bramante, and he, desiring to earn money and to
gain the good will of that Cardinal, set himself to work with all possible
industry and diligence, and brought it quickly to perfect completion. And
although it was not a work of perfect beauty, it gave him a very great name,
since there were not many in Rome who followed the profession of
architecture with such zeal, study, and resolution as Bramante.
At the beginning he served as under-architect to Pope Alexander VI for the
fountain of Trastevere, and likewise for that which was made on the Piazza
di S. Pietro. He also took part, together with other excellent architects,
when his reputation had increased, in the planning of a great part of the
Palace of S. Giorgio, and of the Church of S. Lorenzo in Damaso, at the
commission of Raffaello Riario, Cardinal of S. Giorgio, near the Campo di
Fiore; which palace, whatever better work may have been executed
afterwards, nevertheless was and still is held, on account of its greatness, to
be a commodious and magnificent habitation; and the building of this
edifice was carried out by one Antonio Montecavallo. Bramante was
consulted with regard to the enlargement of S. Jacopo degli Spagnuoli, on
the Piazza Navona, and likewise in the deliberations for the building of S.
Maria de Anima, which was afterwards carried out by a German architect.
From his design, also, was the Palace of Cardinal Adriano da Corneto in the

Borgo Nuovo, which was built slowly, and then finally remained unfinished
by reason of the flight of that Cardinal; and in like manner, the enlargement
of the principal chapel of S. Maria del Popolo was executed from his
design.
These works brought him so much credit in Rome, that he was considered
the best architect, in that he was resolute, prompt, and most fertile in
invention; and he was continually employed by all the great persons in that
city for their most important undertakings. Wherefore, after Julius II had
been elected Pope, in the year 1503, he entered into his service. The fancy
had taken that Pontiff to so transform the space that lay between the
Belvedere and the Papal Palace, as to give it the aspect of a square theatre,
embracing a little valley that ran between the old Papal Palace and the new
buildings that Innocent VIII had erected as a habitation for the Popes; and
he intended, by means of two corridors, one on either side of this little
valley, to make it possible to go from the Belvedere to the Palace under
loggie, and also to go from the Palace to the Belvedere in the same way, and
likewise, by means of various flights of steps, to ascend to the level of the
Belvedere. Whereupon Bramante, who had very good judgment and an
inventive genius in such matters, distributed two ranges of columns along
the lowest part; first, a very beautiful Doric loggia, similar to the
Colosseum of the Savelli (although, in place of half-columns, he used
pilasters), and all built of travertine; and over this a second range of the
Ionic Order, full of windows, of such a height as to come to the level of the
first-floor rooms of the Papal Palace, and to the level of those of the
Belvedere; intending to make, afterwards, a loggia more than four hundred
paces long on the side towards Rome, and likewise another on the side
towards the wood, with which, one on either hand, he proposed to enclose
the valley; into which, after it had been levelled, was to be brought all the
water from the Belvedere; and for this a very beautiful fountain was to be
made. Of this design, Bramante finished the first corridor, which issues
from the Palace and leads to the Belvedere on the side towards Rome,
except the upper loggia, which was to go above it. As for the opposite part,
on the side towards the wood, the foundations, indeed, were laid, but it
could not be finished, being interrupted by the death of Julius, and then by
that of Bramante. His design was held to be so beautiful in invention, that it
was believed that from the time of the ancients until that day, Rome had

seen nothing better. But of the other corridor, as has been said, he left only
the foundations, and the labour of finishing it has dragged on down to our
own day, when Pius IV has brought it almost to completion.
Bramante also erected the head-wall of the Museum of ancient statues in
the Belvedere, together with the range of niches; wherein were placed, in
his lifetime, the Laocoon, one of the rarest of ancient statues, the Apollo,
and the Venus; and the rest of the statues were set up there afterwards by
Leo X, such as the Tiber, the Nile, and the Cleopatra, with some others
added by Clement VII; and in the time of Paul III and Julius III many
important improvements were made, at great expense.
But to return to Bramante; he was very resolute, although he was hindered
by the avarice of those who supplied him with the means to work, and he
had a marvellous knowledge of the craft of building. This construction at
the Belvedere was executed by him with extraordinary speed, and such was
his eagerness as he worked, and that of the Pope, who would have liked to
see the edifice spring up from the ground, without needing to be built, that
the builders of the foundations brought the sand and the solid foundation-
clay by night and let[14] it down by day in the presence of Bramante, who
caused the foundations to be made without seeing anything more of the
work. This inadvertence was the reason that all his buildings have cracked,
and are in danger of falling down, as did this same corridor, of which a
piece eighty braccia in length fell to the ground in the time of Clement VII,
and was afterwards rebuilt by Pope Paul III, who also had the foundations
restored and the whole strengthened.
From his design, also, are many flights of steps in the Belvedere, varied
according to their situations, whether high or low, in the Doric, Ionic, and
Corinthian Orders—a very beautiful work, executed with extraordinary
grace. And he had made a model for the whole, which is said to have been a
marvellous thing, as may still be imagined from the beginning of the work,
unfinished as it is. Moreover, he made a spiral staircase upon mounting
columns, in such a way that one can ascend it on horseback; wherein the
Doric passes into the Ionic, and the Ionic into the Corinthian, rising from
one into the other; a work executed with supreme grace, and with truly
excellent art, which does him no less honour than any other thing by his

hand that is therein. This invention was copied by Bramante from S.
Niccolò at Pisa, as was said in the Lives of Giovanni and Niccola of Pisa.
The fancy took Bramante to make, in a frieze on the outer façade of the
Belvedere, some letters after the manner of ancient hieroglyphics,
representing the name of the Pope and his own, in order to show his
ingenuity: and he had begun thus, "Julio II, Pont. Massimo," having caused
a head in profile of Julius Cæsar to be made, and a bridge, with two arches,
which signified, "Julio II, Pont.," and an obelisk from the Circus Maximus,
to represent "Max." At which the Pope laughed, and caused him to make the
letters in the ancient manner, one braccio in height, which are there at the
present day; saying that he had copied this folly from a door at Viterbo,
over which one Maestro Francesco, an architect, had placed his name,
carved in the architrave, and represented by a S. Francis (S. Francesco), an
arch (arco), a roof (tetto), and a tower (torre), which, interpreted in his own
way, denoted, "Maestro Francesco Architettore." The Pope, on account of
his ability in architecture, was very well disposed towards him.

TEMPIETTO
(After Bramante da Urbino.
Rome: S. Pietro in Montorio)
Anderson
View larger image

For these reasons he was rightly held worthy by the aforesaid Pope, who
loved him very dearly for his great gifts, to be appointed to the Office of the
Piombo, for which he made a machine for printing Bulls, with a very
beautiful screw. In the service of that Pontiff Bramante went to Bologna, in
the year 1504, when that city returned to the Church; and he occupied
himself, throughout the whole war against Mirandola, on many ingenious
things of the greatest importance. He made many designs for ground-plans
and complete buildings, which he drew very well; and of such there are

some to be seen in our book, accurately drawn and executed with very great
art. He taught many of the rules of architecture to Raffaello da Urbino;
designing for him, for example, the buildings that Raffaello afterwards drew
in perspective in that apartment of the Pope wherein there is Mount
Parnassus; in which apartment he made a portrait of Bramante taking
measurements with a pair of compasses.
The Pope resolved, having had the Strada Julia straightened out by
Bramante, to place in it all the public offices and tribunals of Rome, on
account of the convenience which this would bring to the merchants in their
business, which up to that time had always been much hindered. Wherefore
Bramante made a beginning with the palace that is to be seen by S. Biagio
sul Tevere, wherein there is still an unfinished Corinthian temple, a thing of
rare excellence. The rest of this beginning is in rustic work, and most
beautiful; and it is a great pity that a work so honourable, useful, and
magnificent, which is held by the masters of the profession to be the most
beautiful example of design in that kind that has ever been seen, should not
have been finished. He made, also, in the first cloister of S. Pietro a
Montorio, a round temple of travertine, than which nothing more shapely or
better conceived, whether in proportion, design, variety, or grace, could be
imagined; and even more beautiful would it have been, if the whole extent
of the cloister, which is not finished, had been brought to the form that is to
be seen in a drawing by his hand. He directed the building, in the Borgo, of
the palace which afterwards belonged to Raffaello da Urbino, executed with
bricks and mould-castings, the columns and bosses being of the Doric
Order and of rustic work—a very beautiful work—with a new invention in
the making of these castings. He also made the design and preparations for
the decoration of S. Maria at Loreto, which was afterwards continued by
Andrea Sansovino; and an endless number of models for palaces and
temples, which are in Rome and throughout the States of the Church.
So sublime was the intellect of this marvellous craftsman, that he made a
vast design for restoring and rearranging the Papal Palace. And so greatly
had his courage grown, on seeing the powers and desires of the Pope rise to
the level of his own wishes and genius, that, hearing that he was minded to
throw the Church of S. Pietro to the ground, in order to build it anew, he
made him an endless number of designs. And among those that he made
was one that was very wonderful, wherein he showed the greatest possible

judgment, with two bell-towers, one on either side of the façade, as we see
it in the coins afterwards struck for Julius II and Leo X by Caradosso, a
most excellent goldsmith, who had no peer in making dies, as may still be
seen from the medal of Bramante, executed by him, which is very beautiful.
And so, the Pope having resolved to make a beginning with the vast and
sublime structure of S. Pietro, Bramante caused half of the old church to be
pulled down, and put his hand to the work, with the intention that it should
surpass, in beauty, art, invention, and design, as well as in grandeur,
richness, and adornment, all the buildings that had been erected in that city
by the power of the Commonwealth, and by the art and intellect of so many
able masters; and with his usual promptness he laid the foundations, and
carried the greater part of the building, before the death of the Pope and his
own, to the height of the cornice, where are the arches to all the four piers;
and these he turned with supreme expedition and art. He also executed the
vaulting of the principal chapel, where the recess is, giving his attention at
the same time to pressing on the building of the chapel that is called the
Chapel of the King of France.
For this work he invented the method of casting vaults in wooden moulds,
in such a manner that patterns of friezes and foliage, like carvings, come out
in the plaster; and in the arches of this edifice he showed how they could be
turned with flying scaffoldings, a method that we have since seen followed
by Antonio da San Gallo. In the part that was finished by him, the cornice
that runs right round the interior is seen to be so graceful, that no other
man's hand could take away or alter anything from its design without
spoiling it. It is evident from his capitals, which are of olive leaves within,
and from all the Doric work on the outer side, which is extraordinarily
beautiful, how sublime was the courage of Bramante, whereby, in truth, if
he had possessed physical powers equal to the intellect that adorned his
spirit, he would most certainly have achieved even more unexampled things
than he did. This work, as will be related in the proper places, since his
death and down to the present day, has been much mutilated by other
architects, insomuch that it may be said that with the exception of four
arches which support the tribune, nothing of his has remained there. For
Raffaello da Urbino and Giuliano da San Gallo, who carried on the work
after the death of Julius II, together with Fra Giocondo of Verona, thought
fit to begin to alter it; and after the death of those masters, Baldassarre

Peruzzi, in building the Chapel of the King of France, in the transept on the
side towards the Campo Santo, changed Bramante's design; and under Paul
III Antonio da San Gallo changed it again entirely. Finally, Michelagnolo
Buonarroti, sweeping away the countless opinions and superfluous
expenses, has brought it to such beauty and perfection as not one of those
others ever thought of, which all comes from his judgment and power of
design; although he said to me several times that he was only the executor
of the design and arrangements of Bramante, seeing that he who originally
lays the foundations of a great edifice is its true creator. Vast, indeed,
seemed the conception of Bramante in this work, and he gave it a very great
beginning, which, even if he had begun on a smaller scale, neither San
Gallo nor the others, nor even Buonarroti, would have had enough power of
design to increase, although they were able to diminish it; so immense,
stupendous, and magnificent was this edifice, and yet Bramante had
conceived something even greater.
It is said that he was so eager to see this structure making progress, that he
pulled down many beautiful things in S. Pietro, such as tombs of Popes,
paintings, and mosaics, and that for this reason we have lost all trace of
many portraits of distinguished persons, which were scattered throughout
that church, which was the principal church of all Christendom. He
preserved only the altar of S. Pietro, and the old tribune, round which he
made a most beautiful ornament of the Doric Order, all of peperino-stone,
to the end that when the Pope came to S. Pietro to say Mass, he might be
able to stand within it with all his Court and with the Ambassadors of the
Christian Princes; but death prevented him from finishing it entirely, and
the Sienese Baldassarre afterwards brought it to completion.
Bramante was a very merry and pleasant person, ever delighting to help his
neighbour. He was very much the friend of men of ability, and favoured
them in whatever way he could; as may be seen from his kindness to the
gracious Raffaello da Urbino, most celebrated of painters, whom he brought
to Rome. He always lived in the greatest splendour, doing honour to
himself; and in the rank to which his merits had raised him, what he
possessed was nothing to what he would have been able to spend. He
delighted in poetry, and loved to improvise upon the lyre, or to hear others
doing this: and he composed some sonnets, if not as polished as we now
demand them, at least weighty and without faults. He was much esteemed

by the prelates, and was received by an endless number of noblemen who
made his acquaintance. In his lifetime he had very great renown, and even
greater after his death, because of which the building of S. Pietro was
interrupted for many years. He lived to the age of seventy, and he was borne
to his tomb in Rome, with most honourable obsequies, by the Court of the
Pope and by all the sculptors, architects, and painters. He was buried in S.
Pietro, in the year 1514.

PALAZZO GIRAUD
(After Bramante da Urbino. Rome)
Anderson
View larger image

Very great was the loss that architecture suffered in the death of Bramante,
who was the discoverer of many good methods wherewith he enriched that
art, such as the invention of casting vaults, and the secret of stucco; both of
which were known to the ancients, but had been lost until his time through
the ruin of their buildings. And those who occupy themselves with
measuring ancient works of architecture, find in the works of Bramante no
less science and design than in any of the former; wherefore, among those
who are versed in the profession, he can be accounted one of the rarest
intellects that have adorned our age. He left behind him an intimate friend,
Giuliano Leno, who had much to do with the buildings of his time, but was

employed rather to make preparations and to carry out the wishes of
whoever designed them, than to work on his own account, although he had
judgment and great experience.
During his lifetime, Bramante employed in his works one Ventura, a
carpenter of Pistoia, who was a man of very good ability, and drew passing
well. This Ventura, while in Rome, delighted much in taking measurements
of antiquities; and afterwards, wishing to live once more in his native place,
he returned to Pistoia. Now it happened in that city, in the year 1509, that a
Madonna, which is now called the Madonna della Umiltà, worked miracles;
and since many offerings were brought to her, the Signoria that was then
governing the city determined to build a temple in her honour. Whereupon
Ventura, confronted with this opportunity, made with his own hand a model
of an octagonal temple ...[15] braccia in breadth and ... braccia in height,
with a vestibule or closed portico in front, very ornate within and truly
beautiful. This having given satisfaction to the Signoria and to the chief
men of the city, the building was begun according to the plans of Ventura,
who, having laid the foundations of the vestibule and the temple,
completely finished the vestibule, which he made very rich in pilasters and
cornices of the Corinthian Order, with other carved stonework; while all the
vaults in that work were made in like manner, with squares surrounded by
mouldings, also in stone, and filled with rosettes. Afterwards, the octagonal
temple was also carried to the height of the last cornice, from which the
vaulting of the tribune was to rise, during the lifetime of Ventura; and since
he was not very experienced in works of that size, he did not consider how
the weight of the tribune might be safely laid on the building, but made
within the thickness of the wall, at the first range of windows, and at the
second, where the others are, a passage that runs right round, whereby he
contrived to weaken the walls so much, that, the edifice being without
buttresses at the base, it was dangerous to raise a vault over it, and
particularly on the angles at the corners, upon which all the weight of the
vault of that tribune must rest. Wherefore, after the death of Ventura, there
was no architect with courage enough to raise that vault: nay, they had
caused long and stout beams of timber to be brought to the place, in order to
make a tent-shaped roof; but this did not please the citizens, and they would
not have it put into execution. And so the building remained for many years
without a roof, until, in the year 1561, the Wardens of Works besought

Duke Cosimo that his Excellency should so favour them as to cause that
tribune to be vaulted. Whereupon, in order to meet their wishes, the Duke
ordered Giorgio Vasari to go there and see whether he could find some
method of vaulting it; and he, having done this, made a model raising the
building to the height of eight braccia above the cornice that Ventura had
left, in order to make buttresses for it; and he decreased the breadth of the
passage that runs right round between the walls, and reinforced the building
with buttresses, besides binding the corners and the parts below the
passages that Ventura had made, between the windows, with stout keys of
iron, double at the angles; which secured the whole in such a manner that
the vault could be raised with safety. Whereupon his Excellency was
pleased to visit the place, and, being satisfied with everything, gave orders
for the work to be executed; and so all the buttresses have been built, and a
beginning has already been made with the raising of the cupola. Thus, then,
the work of Ventura will become richer, greater in size and adornment, and
better in proportions; but he truly deserves to have record made of him,
since that building is the most noteworthy modern work in the city of
Pistoia.

FRA BARTOLOMMEO DI SAN MARCO

LIFE OF FRA BARTOLOMMEO DI SAN
MARCO
[BACCIO DELLA PORTA]

PAINTER OF FLORENCE

Near the territory of Prato, which is ten miles distant from Florence, in a
village called Savignano, was born Bartolommeo, known, according to the
Tuscan custom, by the name of Baccio. He, having shown in his childhood
not merely inclination, but also aptitude, for drawing, was placed, through
the good services of Benedetto da Maiano, with Cosimo Rosselli, and
lodged in the house of some relatives of his own, who lived at the Porta a S.
Piero Gattolini; where he stayed for many years, so that he was never called
or known by any other name than that of Baccio della Porta.
After taking his leave of Cosimo Rosselli, he began to study with great
devotion the works of Leonardo da Vinci; and in a short time he made such
proficience and such progress in colouring, that he acquired the name and
reputation of being one of the best young men of his art, both in colouring
and in drawing. He had a companion in Mariotto Albertinelli, who in a short
time acquired his manner passing well; and together with him he executed
many pictures of Our Lady, which are scattered throughout Florence. To
speak of all these would take too long, and I will mention only some
excellently painted by Baccio. There is one, containing a Madonna, in the
house of Filippo di Averardo Salviati, which is most beautiful, and which he
holds very dear and in great price. Another was bought not long since, at a
sale of old furniture, by Pier Maria delle Pozze, a person greatly devoted to
pictures, who, having recognized its beauty, will not let it go for any sum of
money; in which work is a Madonna executed with extraordinary diligence.
Piero del Pugliese had a little Madonna of marble, in very low relief, a very
rare work by the hand of Donatello, for which, in order to do it honour, he
caused a wooden tabernacle to be made, with two little doors to enclose it.
This he gave to Baccio della Porta, who painted, on the inner side of the

doors, two little scenes, of which one was the Nativity of Christ, and the
other His Circumcision; which Baccio executed with little figures after the
manner of miniatures, in such a way that it would not be possible to do
better work in oils; and then he painted Our Lady receiving the
Annunciation from the Angel, in chiaroscuro, and likewise in oils, on the
outer side of the same little doors, so as to be seen when they are closed.
This work is now in the study of Duke Cosimo, wherein he keeps all his
little antique figures of bronze, medals, and other rare pictures in miniature;
and it is treasured by his most illustrious Excellency as a rare thing, as
indeed it is.

FRA BARTOLOMMEO DI SAN MARCO: THE DEPOSITION
FROM THE CROSS
(Florence: Pitti, 64. Panel)
View larger image

Baccio was beloved in Florence for his virtues, for he was assiduous in his
work, quiet and good by nature, and a truly God-fearing man; he had a great
liking for a life of peace, and he shunned vicious company, delighted much
in hearing sermons, and always sought the society of learned and serious
persons. And in truth, it is seldom that nature creates a man of good parts
and a gentle craftsman, without also providing him, after some time, with

peace and favour, as she did for Baccio, who, as will be told below,
obtained all that he desired. The report having spread abroad that he was no
less good than able, his fame so increased that he was commissioned by
Gerozzo di Monna Venna Dini to paint the chapel wherein the bones of the
dead are kept, in the cemetery of the Hospital of S. Maria Nuova. There he
began a Judgment in fresco, which he executed with such diligence and
beauty of manner in the part which he finished, that he acquired
extraordinary fame thereby, in addition to what he had already, and became
greatly celebrated, on account of his having represented with excellent
conceptions the Glory of Paradise, and Christ with the twelve Apostles
judging the twelve Tribes, wherein the figures are soft in colouring and
most beautifully draped. Moreover, in those figures that are being dragged
to Hell, in the part that was designed but left unfinished, one sees the
despair, grief, and shame of everlasting death, even as one perceives
contentment and gladness in those that are being saved; although this work
remained unfinished, since Baccio was inclined to give his attention more
to religion than to painting. For there was living in S. Marco, at this time,
Fra Girolamo Savonarola of Ferrara, of the Order of Preaching Friars, a
very famous theologian; and Baccio, going continually to hear his
preaching, on account of the devotion that he felt for him, contracted a very
strait intimacy with him, and passed almost all his time in the convent,
having also become the friend of the other friars. Now it happened that Fra
Girolamo, continuing his preaching, and crying out every day from the
pulpit that lascivious pictures, music, and amorous books often lead the
mind to evil, became convinced that it was not right to keep in houses
where there were young girls painted figures of naked men and women.
And at the next Carnival—when it was the custom in the city to make little
huts of faggots and other kinds of wood on the public squares, and on the
Tuesday evening, according to ancient use, to burn these, with amorous
dances, in which men and women, joining hands, danced round these fires,
singing certain airs—the people were so inflamed by Fra Girolamo, and he
wrought upon them so strongly with his words, that on that day they
brought to the place a vast quantity of nude figures, both in painting and in
sculpture, many by the hand of excellent masters, and likewise books, lutes,
and volumes of songs, which was a most grievous loss, particularly for
painting. Thither Baccio carried all the drawings of nudes that he had made
by way of studies, and he was followed by Lorenzo di Credi and by many

others, who had the name of Piagnoni. And it was not long before Baccio,
on account of the affection that he bore to Fra Girolamo, made a very
beautiful portrait of him in a picture, which was then taken to Ferrara; but
not long ago it came back to Florence, and it is now in the house of Filippo
di Alamanno Salviati, who, since it is by the hand of Baccio, holds it very
dear.
It happened, after this, that one day the opponents of Fra Girolamo rose
against him, in order to take him and deliver him over to the hands of
justice, on account of the disturbances that he had caused in the city; and his
friends, seeing this, also banded themselves together, to the number of more
than five hundred, and shut themselves up in S. Marco, and Baccio with
them, on account of the great affection that he had for their party. It is true
that, being a person of little courage, nay, even timorous and mean-spirited,
and hearing an attack being made a little time after this on the convent, and
men being wounded and killed, he began to have serious doubts about
himself. For which reason he made a vow that if he were to escape from
that turmoil, he would straightway assume the habit of that Order; which
vow he carried out afterwards most faithfully, for when the uproar had
ceased, and Fra Girolamo had been taken and condemned to death, as the
writers of history relate with more detail, Baccio betook himself to Prato
and became a monk in S. Domenico, in that city, on July 26, in the year
1500, as is found written in the chronicles of that same convent in which he
assumed the habit; to the great displeasure of all his friends, who were
grieved beyond measure at having lost him, and particularly because they
heard that he had taken it into his head to forsake his painting.
Whereupon Mariotto Albertinelli, his friend and companion, at the
entreaties of Gerozzo Dini, took over the materials of Fra Bartolommeo—
which was the name given by the Prior to Baccio, on investing him with the
habit—and brought to completion the work of the Ossa in S. Maria Nuova;
where he portrayed from life the Director of the Hospital at that time, and
some friars skilled in surgery, with Gerozzo, the patron of the work, and his
wife, full-length figures on their knees, upon the walls on either side; and in
a nude figure that is seated, he portrayed Giuliano Bugiardini, his pupil, as a
young man, with long locks according to the custom of that time, in which
each separate hair might be counted, so carefully are they painted. He made
there, likewise, his own portrait, in the head, with long locks, of a figure

that is issuing from one of the tombs; and in that work, in the region of the
blessed, there is also the portrait of Fra Giovanni da Fiesole, the painter,
whose Life we have written. This painting was executed wholly in fresco,
both by Fra Bartolommeo and by Mariotto, so that it has remained, and still
remains, marvellously fresh, and is held in esteem by craftsmen, since it is
scarcely possible to do better in that kind of work.

THE HOLY FAMILY
(After the panel by Fra Bartolommeo di San Marco.
Rome: Corsini Gallery, 579)
Anderson
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When Fra Bartolommeo had been many months in Prato, he was sent by his
superiors to take up his abode in S. Marco at Florence, and on account of
his virtues he was received very warmly by the friars of that convent. In

those days Bernardo del Bianco had caused to be erected, in the Badia of
Florence, a chapel of grey-stone, full of carving, and very rich and
beautiful, from the design of Benedetto da Rovezzano: which chapel was
and still is much esteemed on account of some ornamental work of great
variety, wherein Benedetto Buglioni placed, in some niches, angels and
other figures made of glazed terra-cotta, in the round, to adorn it the more,
with friezes containing cherubs and the devices of Bianco. And Bernardo,
wishing to set up in the chapel a panel-picture that should be worthy of that
adornment, and conceiving the idea that Fra Bartolommeo would be the
right man for the work, sought in every possible way, through the
intervention of his friends, to persuade him. Fra Bartolommeo was living in
his convent, giving his attention to nothing save the divine offices and the
duties of his Rule, although often besought by the Prior and by his dearest
friends that he should work again at his painting; and for more than four
years he had refused to touch a brush. But on this occasion, being pressed
by Bernardo del Bianco, at length he began the panel-picture of S. Bernard,
in which the Saint is writing, and gazing with such deep contemplation at
the Madonna, with the Child in her arms, being borne by many angels and
children, all coloured with great delicacy, that there is clearly perceived in
him a certain celestial quality, I know not what, which seems, to him who
studies it with attention, to shine out over that work, into which Baccio put
much diligence and love; not to mention an arch executed in fresco, which
is above it. He also made some pictures for Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici;
and for Agnolo Doni he painted a picture of Our Lady, which stands on the
altar of a chapel in his house—a work of extraordinary beauty.
At this time the painter Raffaello da Urbino came to Florence to study his
art, and taught the best principles of perspective to Fra Bartolommeo; and
desiring to acquire the friar's manner of colouring, and being pleased with
his handling of colours and his method of harmonizing them, Raffaello was
always in his company. Fra Bartolommeo painted about the same time, in S.
Marco at Florence, a panel with an infinite number of figures, which is now
in the possession of the King of France, having been presented to him after
being exposed to view for many months in S. Marco. Afterwards, he
painted another in that convent, containing an endless number of figures, in
place of the one that was sent into France; in which picture are some
children who are flying in the air and holding open a canopy, executed with

such good drawing and art, and with such strong relief, that they appear to
stand out from the panel, while the colouring of the flesh reveals that beauty
and excellence which every able craftsman seeks to give to his pictures; and
this work is still considered at the present day to be most excellent. In it are
many figures surrounding a Madonna, all most admirable, and executed
with grace, feeling, boldness, spirit, and vivacity; and coloured, moreover,
in so striking a manner, that they seem to be in relief, since he wished to
show that he was able not only to draw, but also to give his figures force
and make them stand out by means of the darkness of the shadows, as may
be seen in some children who are round a canopy, upholding it, who, as
they fly through the air, almost project from the panel. Besides this, there is
an Infant Christ who is marrying S. Catherine the Nun, than which it would
not be possible to paint anything more lifelike with the dark colouring that
he used. There is a circle of saints on one side diminishing in perspective,
round the depth of a great recess, who are distributed with such fine design
that they seem to be real; and the same may be seen on the other side. And
in truth, in this manner of colouring, he imitated to a great extent the works
of Leonardo; particularly in the darks, for which he used printer's smoke-
black and the black of burnt ivory. This panel has now become much darker
than it was when he painted it, on account of those blacks, which have kept
growing heavier and darker. In the foreground, among the principal figures,
he made a S. George in armour, who has a standard in his hand, a bold,
spirited, and vivacious figure, in a beautiful attitude. There is also a S.
Bartholomew, standing, a figure that deserves the highest praise; with two
children who are playing, one on a lute, and the other on a lyre, one of
whom he made with a leg drawn up and his instrument resting upon it, and
with the hands touching the strings in the act of running over them, an ear
intent on the harmony, the head upraised, and the mouth slightly open, in
such a way that whoever beholds him cannot persuade himself that he
should not also hear the voice. No less lifelike is the other, who, leaning on
one side, and bending over with one ear to the lyre, appears to be listening
to learn how far it is in accord with the sound of the lute and the voice,
while, with his eyes fixed on the ground, and his ear turned intently towards
his companion, who is playing and singing, he seeks to follow in harmony
with the air. These conceptions and expressions are truly ingenious; the
children, who are seated, and clothed in veiling, are marvellous and
executed with great industry by the practised hand of Fra Bartolommeo; and

the whole work is brought out into strong relief by a fine gradation of dark
shadows.
A little time afterwards he painted another panel, to stand opposite to the
former, and containing a Madonna surrounded by some saints, which is
held to be a good work. He won extraordinary praise for having introduced
a method of blending the colouring of his figures in such a way as to add a
marvellous degree of harmony to art, making them appear to be in relief
and alive, and executing them with supreme perfection of manner.
Hearing much of the noble works made in Rome by Michelagnolo, and
likewise those of the gracious Raffaello, and being roused by the fame,
which was continually reaching him, of the marvels wrought by those two
divine craftsmen, with leave from his Prior he betook himself to Rome.
There he was entertained by Fra Mariano Fetti, Friar of the Piombo, for
whom he painted two pictures of S. Peter and S. Paul at his Convent of S.
Silvestro a Monte Cavallo. But since he did not succeed in working as well
in the air of Rome as he had done in that of Florence, while the vast number
of works that he saw, what with the ancient and the modern, bewildered him
so that much of the ability and excellence that he believed himself to
possess, fell away from him, he determined to depart, leaving to Raffaello
the charge of finishing one of those pictures, that of S. Peter, which he had
not completed; which picture was retouched all over by the hand of the
marvellous Raffaello, and given to Fra Mariano.
Thus, then, Fra Bartolommeo returned to Florence. There he had been
accused many times of not knowing how to paint nudes; for which reason
he resolved to put himself to the test, and to show by means of his labour
that he was as well fitted as any other master for the highest achievements
of his art. Whereupon, to prove this, he painted a picture of S. Sebastian,
naked, very lifelike in the colouring of the flesh, sweet in countenance, and
likewise executed with corresponding beauty of person, whereby he won
infinite praise from the craftsmen. It is said that, while this figure was
exposed to view in the church, the friars found, through the confessional,
women who had sinned at the sight of it, on account of the charm and
melting beauty of the lifelike reality imparted to it by the genius of Fra
Bartolommeo; for which reason they removed it from the church and placed

it in the chapter-house, where it did not remain long before it was bought by
Giovan Battista della Palla and sent to the King of France.

S. MARK
(After the painting by Fra Bartolommeo di San Marco.
Florence: Pitti, 125)
Anderson
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Fra Bartolommeo had fallen into a rage against the joiners who made the
ornamental frames for his panels and pictures, for it was their custom, as it
still is at the present day, always to cover an eighth part of the figures with
the projecting inner edges of the frames. He determined, therefore, to invent

some means of doing without frames for panels; and for this S. Sebastian he
caused the panel to be made in the form of a half-circle, wherein he drew a
niche in perspective, which has the appearance of being carved in relief in
the panel. Thus, painting a frame all round, he made an ornament for the
figure in the middle; and he did the same for our S. Vincent, and for the S.
Mark that will be described after the S. Vincent. For the arch of a door
leading into the sacristy, he painted in oils, on wood, a figure of S. Vincent,
a brother of that Order, representing him in the act of preaching on the
Judgment, so that there may be perceived in his gestures, and particularly in
his head, that vehemence and fury which are generally seen in the faces of
preachers, when they are doing their utmost, with threats of the vengeance
of God, to lead men hardened in sin into the perfect life; in such a manner
that this figure appears, to one who studies it with attention, to be not
painted but real and alive, with such strong relief is it executed; and it is a
pity that it is all cracking and spoiling, on account of its having been
painted with fresh coats of colour on fresh size, as I said of the works of
Pietro Perugino in the Convent of the Ingesuati.
The fancy took him, in order to show that he was able to make large figures
—for he had been told that his manner was that of a miniaturist—to paint
on panel, for the wall in which is the door of the choir, a figure of S. Mark
the Evangelist, five braccia in height, and executed with very good
draughtsmanship and supreme excellence.
After this, Salvadore Billi, a Florentine merchant, on his return from
Naples, having heard the fame of Fra Bartolommeo, and having seen his
works, caused him to paint a panel-picture of Christ the Saviour, in allusion
to his own name, with the four Evangelists round Him; wherein, at the foot,
are also two little boys upholding the globe of the world, whose flesh, fresh
and tender, is excellently painted, as is the whole work, in which there are
likewise two prophets that are much extolled. This panel stands in the
Nunziata at Florence, below the great organ, according to the wish of
Salvadore; it is a very beautiful work, finished by Fra Bartolommeo with
much lovingness and great perfection; and it is surrounded by an ornament
of marble, all carved by the hand of Pietro Rosselli.
Afterwards, having need of a change of air, the Prior at that time, who was
his friend, sent him away to a monastery of his Order, wherein, while he

stayed there, he combined the labour of his hands with the contemplation of
death, with profit[16] both for his soul and for the convent. For S. Martino in
Lucca he painted a panel wherein, at the feet of a Madonna, there is a little
angel playing on a lute, together with S. Stephen and S. John; in which
picture, executed with excellent draughtsmanship and colouring, he proved
his ability. For S. Romano, likewise, he painted a panel on canvas of the
Madonna della Misericordia, who is placed on a pedestal of stone, with
some angels holding her mantle; and together with her he depicted a throng
of people on some steps, some standing, others seated, and others kneeling,
but all gazing at a figure of Christ on high, who is sending down lightnings
and thunderbolts upon the people. Clearly did Fra Bartolommeo prove in
this work how well he was able to manage the gradation of shadows and
darks in painting, giving extraordinary relief to his figures, and showing a
rare and excellent mastery over the difficulties of his art in colouring,
drawing, and invention; and the work is as perfect as any that he ever made.
For the same church he painted another panel, also on canvas, containing a
Christ and S. Catherine the Martyr, together with a S. Catherine of Siena,
rapt in ecstasy from the earth, a figure as good as any that could possibly be
painted in that manner.

GOD THE FATHER, WITH SS. MARY MAGDALEN AND
CATHARINE
(After the painting by Fra Bartolommeo di San Marco.
Lucca: Gallery, 12)
Alinari
View larger image

Returning to Florence, he gave some attention to the study of music; and,
delighting much therein, he would sometimes sing to pass the time. At

Prato, opposite to the prison, he painted a panel-picture of the Assumption.
He executed some pictures of Our Lady for the house of the Medici, and
also other paintings for various people, such as a picture of Our Lady which
Lodovico di Lodovico Capponi has in his apartment, and likewise another
of the Virgin holding the Child in her arms, with two heads of saints, that is
in the possession of the very Excellent Messer Lelio Torelli, Chief Secretary
to the most Illustrious Duke Cosimo, who holds it very dear both on
account of the genius of Fra Bartolommeo, and because he delights in,
loves, and favours not only the men of our art, but every fine intellect. In
the house of Piero del Pugliese, which now belongs to Matteo Botti, a
citizen and merchant of Florence, in an antechamber at the head of a
staircase, he painted a S. George in armour, on horseback, who is slaying
the Dragon with his lance—a very spirited figure. This he executed in
chiaroscuro, in oils, a method that he much delighted to use for all his
works, sketching them in the manner of a cartoon, with ink or with bitumen,
before colouring them; as may still be seen from many beginnings of
pictures and panels, which he left unfinished on account of his death, and as
may also be perceived from many drawings by his hand, executed in
chiaroscuro, of which the greater part are now in the Monastery of S.
Caterina da Siena on the Piazza di S. Marco, in the possession of a nun who
paints, and of whom record will be made in the proper place; while many
made in the same way adorn our book of drawings, honouring his memory,
and some are in the hands of Messer Francesco del Garbo, a most excellent
physician.
Fra Bartolommeo always liked to have living objects before him when he
was working; and in order to be able to draw draperies, armour, and other
suchlike things, he caused a life-size figure of wood to be made, which
moved at the joints; and this he clothed with real draperies, from which he
painted most beautiful things, being able to keep them in position as long as
he pleased, until he had brought his work to perfection. This figure, worm-
eaten and ruined as it is, is in our possession, treasured in memory of him.
At Arezzo, for the Abbey of the Black Friars, he made a head of Christ in
dark tints—a very beautiful work. He painted, also, the panel of the
Company of the Contemplanti, which was preserved in the house of the
Magnificent Messer Ottaviano de' Medici, and has now been placed in a
chapel of that house, with many ornaments, by his son Messer Alessandro,

who holds it very dear in memory of Fra Bartolommeo, and also because he
takes vast pleasure in painting. In the chapel of the Noviciate of S. Marco
there is a panel-picture of the Purification, very lovely, which he executed
with good draughtsmanship and high finish. At S. Maria Maddalena, a seat
of the Friars of his Order, without Florence, while staying there for his own
pleasure, he made a Christ and a Magdalene; and he also painted certain
things in fresco in that convent. In like manner, he wrought in fresco an
arch over the strangers' apartment in S. Marco, in which he painted Christ
with Cleophas and Luke, and made a portrait of Fra Niccolò della Magna,
who was then a young man, and who afterwards became Archbishop of
Capua, and finally a Cardinal. He began a panel for S. Gallo, afterwards
finished by Giuliano Bugiardini, which is now on the high-altar of S.
Jacopo fra Fossi, on the Canto degli Alberti; and likewise a picture of the
Rape of Dinah, now in the possession of Messer Cristofano Rinieri, and
afterwards coloured by the same Giuliano, in which are buildings and
conceptions that are much extolled.
From Piero Soderini he received the commission for the panel of the
Council Chamber, which he began in such a manner, drawing it in
chiaroscuro, that it seemed destined to do him very great credit; and,
unfinished as it is, it now has a place of honour in the Chapel of the
Magnificent Ottaviano de' Medici, in S. Lorenzo. In it are all the Patron
Saints of the city of Florence, and those saints on whose days that city has
gained her victories; and there is also the portrait of Fra Bartolommeo
himself, made by him with a mirror. He had begun this picture, and had
drawn the whole design, when it happened that, from working continually
under a window, with the light from it beating on his back, he became
completely paralyzed on that side of his body, and quite unable to move.
Thereupon he was advised—such being the orders of his physicians—to go
to the baths of San Filippo; where he stayed a long time, but became very
little better thereby. Now Fra Bartolommeo was a great lover of fruit, which
pleased his palate mightily, although it was ruinous to his health. Wherefore
one morning, having eaten many figs, there came upon him, in addition to
his other infirmity, a very violent fever, which cut short the course of his
life in four days, at the age of forty-eight; when, still wholly conscious, he
rendered up his soul to Heaven.

His death grieved his friends, and particularly the friars, who gave him
honourable sepulture in their burial-place in S. Marco, on October 8, in the
year 1517. He had a dispensation from attending any of the offices in the
choir with the other friars, and the gains from his works went to the
convent, enough money being left in his hands to pay for colours and other
materials necessary for his painting.
He left disciples in Cecchino del Frate, Benedetto Cianfanini, Gabriele
Rustici, and Fra Paolo Pistoiese, the latter inheriting all his possessions.
This Fra Paolo painted many panels and pictures from his master's
drawings, after his death; of which three are in S. Domenico at Pistoia, and
one at S. Maria del Sasso in the Casentino.
Fra Bartolommeo gave such grace to his figures with his colouring, and
made them so novel and so modern in manner, that for these reasons he
deserves to be numbered by us among the benefactors of art.

MARIOTTO ALBERTINELLI

LIFE OF MARIOTTO ALBERTINELLI
PAINTER OF FLORENCE

Mariotto Albertinelli, the closest and most intimate friend of Fra
Bartolommeo—his other self, one might call him, not only on account of
the constant connection and intercourse between them, but also through
their similarity of manner during the period when Mariotto gave proper
attention to art—was the son of Biagio di Bindo Albertinelli. At the age of
twenty he abandoned his calling of gold-beater, in which he had been
employed up to that time; and he learnt the first rudiments of painting in the
workshop of Cosimo Rosselli, where he formed such an intimacy with
Baccio della Porta, that they were one soul and one body. Such, indeed, was
the brotherly friendship between them, that when Baccio took his leave of
Cosimo, in order to practise his art as a master by himself, Mariotto went
off with him; whereupon they lived for a long time, both one and the other,
at the Porta a S. Piero Gattolini, executing many works in company. And
since Mariotto was not so well grounded in drawing as was Baccio, he
devoted himself to the study of such antiquities as were then in Florence,
the greater part and the best of which were in the house of the Medici. He
made a number of drawings of certain little panels in half-relief that were
under the loggia in the garden, on the side towards S. Lorenzo, in one of
which is Adonis with a very beautiful dog, and in another two nude figures,
one seated, with a dog at its feet, and the other standing with the legs
crossed, leaning on a staff. Both these panels are marvellous; and there are
likewise two others of the same size, in one of which are two little boys
carrying Jove's thunderbolt, while in the other is the nude figure of an old
man, with wings on his shoulders and feet, representing Chance, and
balancing a pair of scales in his hands. In addition to these works, that
garden was full of torsi of men and women, which were a school not only
for Mariotto, but for all the sculptors and painters of his time. A good part
of these are now in the guardaroba of Duke Cosimo, and others, such as the
two torsi of Marsyas, the heads over the windows, and those of the
Emperors over the doors, are still in the same place.

By studying these antiquities, Mariotto made great proficience in drawing;
and he entered into the service of the mother of Duke Lorenzo, Madonna
Alfonsina, who, desiring that he should devote himself to becoming an able
master, offered him all possible assistance. Dividing his time, therefore,
between drawing and colouring, he became a passing good craftsman, as is
proved by some pictures that he executed for that lady, which were sent by
her to Rome, for Carlo and Giordano Orsini, and which afterwards came
into the hands of Cæsar Borgia. He made a very good portrait of Madonna
Alfonsina from the life; and it seemed to him, on account of his friendship
with her, that his fortune was made, when, in the year 1494, Piero de'
Medici was banished, and her assistance and favour failed him. Whereupon
he returned to the workshop of Baccio, where he set himself with even
greater zeal to make models of clay and to increase his knowledge,
labouring at the study of nature, and imitating the works of Baccio, so that
in a few years he became a sound and practised master. And then, seeing his
work succeeding so well, he so grew in courage, that, imitating the manner
and method of his companion, the hand of Mariotto was taken by many for
that of Fra Bartolommeo.

THE MADONNA ENTHRONED, WITH SAINTS
(After the panel by Mariotto Albertinelli.
Florence: Accademia, 167)
Alinari
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But when he heard that Baccio had gone off to become a monk, Mariotto
was almost overwhelmed and out of his mind; and so strange did the news
seem to him, that he was in despair, and nothing could cheer him. If it had
not been, indeed, that Mariotto could not then endure having anything to do
with monks, against whom he was ever railing, and belonged to the party
that was opposed to the faction of Fra Girolamo of Ferrara, his love for
Baccio would have wrought upon him so strongly, that it would have forced
him to don the cowl in the same convent as his companion. However, he
was besought by Gerozzo Dini, who had given the commission for the
Judgment that Baccio had left unfinished in the Ossa, that he, having a
manner similar to Baccio's, should undertake to finish it; whereupon, being

also moved by the circumstance that the cartoon completed by the hand of
Baccio and other drawings were there, and by the entreaties of Fra
Bartolommeo himself, who had received money on account of the painting,
and was troubled in conscience at not having kept his promise, he finished
the work, and executed all that was wanting with diligence and love, in such
a way that many, not knowing this, think that it was painted by one single
hand; and this brought him vast credit among craftsmen.
In the Chapter-house of the Certosa of Florence he executed a Crucifixion,
with Our Lady and the Magdalene at the foot of the Cross, and some angels
in the sky, who are receiving the blood of Christ; a work wrought in fresco,
with diligence and lovingness, and passing well painted. Now some of the
young men who were learning art under him, thinking that the friars were
not giving them proper food, had counterfeited, without the knowledge of
Mariotto, the keys of those windows opening into the friar's rooms, through
which their pittance is passed; and sometimes, in secret, they stole some of
it, now from one and now from another. There was a great uproar about this
among the friars, since in the matter of eating they are as sensitive as any
other person; but the lads did it with great dexterity, and, since they were
held to be honest fellows, the blame fell on some of the friars, who were
said to be doing it from hatred of one another. However, one day the truth
was revealed, and the friars, to the end that the work might be finished,
gave a double allowance to Mariotto and his lads, who finished the work
with great glee and laughter.
For the Nuns of S. Giuliano in Florence he painted the panel of their high-
altar, which he executed in a room that he had in the Gualfonda; together
with another for the same church, with a Crucifix, some Angels, and God
the Father, representing the Trinity, in oils and on a gold ground.
Mariotto was a most restless person, devoted to the pleasures of love, and a
good liver in the matter of eating; wherefore, conceiving a hatred for the
subtleties and brain-rackings of painting, and being often wounded by the
tongues of other painters (according to the undying custom among them,
handed down from one to another), he resolved to turn to a more humble,
less fatiguing, and more cheerful art. And so, having opened a very fine inn,
without the Porta S. Gallo, and a tavern and inn on the Ponte Vecchio, at the
Dragon, he followed that calling for many months, saying that he had

chosen an art without foreshortenings, muscles, and perspectives, and, what
was much more important, free from censure, and that the art which he had
given up was quite the contrary of his new one, since the former imitated
flesh and blood, and the latter made both blood and flesh; and now, having
good wine, he heard himself praised all day long, whereas before he used to
hear nothing but censure.

MARIOTTO ALBERTINELLI: THE SALUTATION
(Florence: Uffizi, 1259. Panel)
View larger image

However, having grown weary of this as well, and ashamed of the baseness
of his calling, he returned to painting, and executed pictures and paintings
for the houses of citizens in Florence. For Giovan Maria Benintendi he
painted three little scenes with his own hand; and for the house of the
Medici, at the election of Leo X, he painted a round picture of his arms, in
oils, with Faith, Hope, and Charity, which hung for a long time over the
door of their palace. He undertook to make, in the Company of S. Zanobi,
near the Chapter-house of S. Maria del Fiore, a panel-picture of the
Annunciation, which he executed with great labour. For this he caused
special windows to be made, wishing to work on the spot, in order to be
able to make the views recede, where they were high and distant, by
lowering the tones, or to bring them forward, at his pleasure. Now he had
conceived the idea that pictures which have no relief and force, combined
with delicacy, are of no account; but since he knew that they cannot be
made to stand out from the surface without shadows, which, if they are too
dark, remain indistinct, while, if they are delicate, they have no force, he
was eager to combine this delicacy with a certain method of treatment to
which up to that time, so it seemed to him, art had not attained in any
satisfactory manner. Wherefore, looking on this work as an opportunity for
accomplishing this, he set himself, to this end, to make extraordinary
efforts, which may be recognized in a figure of God the Father, which is in
the sky, and in some little children, who stand out from the panel in strong
relief against a dark background in perspective that he made there with a
ceiling in the form of a barrel-shaped vault, which, with its arches curving
and its lines diminishing to a point, recedes inwards in such a manner that it
appears to be in relief; besides which, there are some angels scattering
flowers as they fly, that are very graceful.
This work was painted out and painted in again many times by Mariotto
before he could bring it to completion. He was for ever changing the
colouring, making it now lighter, now darker, and sometimes more lively
and glowing, sometimes less; but, never being completely satisfied, and
never persuaded that he had done justice with his hand to the thoughts of
his intellect, he wished to find a white that should be more brilliant than

lead-white, and set himself, therefore, to clarify the latter, in order to be able
to heighten the highest light to his own satisfaction. However, having
recognized that he was not able to express by means of art all that the
intelligence of the human brain grasps and comprehends, he contented
himself with what he had achieved, since he could not attain to what it was
not possible to reach. This work brought Mariotto praise and honour among
craftsmen, but by no means as much profit as he hoped to gain from his
patrons in return for his labours, since a dispute arose between him and
those who had commissioned him to paint it. But Pietro Perugino, then an
old man, Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, and Francesco Granacci valued it, and settled
the price of the work by common consent.
For S. Pancrazio, in Florence, Mariotto painted a semicircular picture of the
Visitation of Our Lady. For S. Trinità, likewise, he executed with diligence
a panel-picture of Our Lady, S. Jerome, and S. Zanobi, at the commission of
Zanobi del Maestro; and for the Church of the Congregation of the Priests
of S. Martino, he painted a picture on panel of the Visitation, which is much
extolled. He was invited to the Convent of La Quercia, without Viterbo; but
after having begun a panel there, he conceived a desire to see Rome.
Having made his way to that city, therefore, he executed to perfection for
the Chapel of Fra Mariano Fetti in S. Silvestro di Monte Cavallo, a panel-
picture in oils of S. Dominic, S. Catherine of Siena, with Christ marrying
her, and Our Lady, in a delicate manner. He then returned to La Quercia,
where he had a mistress, to whom, on account of the desire that he had felt
while he was in Rome and could not enjoy her love, he sought to show that
he was valiant in the lists; wherefore he exerted himself so much, that,
being no longer young and so stalwart in such efforts, he was forced to take
to his bed. And laying the blame for this on the air of the place, he had
himself carried to Florence in a litter; but no expedients or remedies availed
him in his sickness, from which he died in a few days, at the age of forty-
five. He was buried in S. Piero Maggiore, in that city.
There are some drawings by the hand of this master in our book, executed
with the pen and in chiaroscuro, which are very good; particularly a spiral
staircase, drawn with great ingenuity in perspective, of which he had a good
knowledge.

Mariotto had many disciples; among others, Giuliano Bugiardini and
Franciabigio, both Florentines, and Innocenzio da Imola, of whom we will
speak in the proper place. Visino, a painter of Florence, was likewise his
disciple, and excelled all these others in drawing, colouring, and industry,
showing, also, a better manner in the works that he made, which he
executed with great diligence. A few of them are still in Florence; and one
can study his work at the present day in the house of Giovan Battista d'
Agnol Doni, in a mirror[17]—picture painted in oils after the manner of a
miniature, wherein are Adam and Eve naked, eating the apple, a work
executed with great care; and from another picture, of Christ being taken
down from the Cross, together with the Thieves, in which there is a
beautifully contrived complication of ladders, with some men aiding each
other to take down the body of Christ, and others bearing one of the Thieves
on their shoulders to burial, and all the figures in varied and fantastic
attitudes, suited to that subject, and proving that he was an able man. The
same master was brought by some Florentine merchants to Hungary, where
he executed many works and gained great renown. But the poor man was
soon in danger of coming to an evil end, because, being of a frank and free-
spoken nature, he was not able to endure the wearisome persistence of some
Hungarians, who kept tormenting him all day long with praises of their own
country, as if there were no pleasure or happiness in anything except eating
and drinking in their stifling rooms, and no grandeur or nobility save in
their King and his Court, all the rest of the world being rubbish. It seemed
to him (and indeed it is true) that in Italy there was another kind of
excellence, culture, and beauty; and one day, being weary of their nonsense,
and chancing to be a little merry, he let slip the opinion that a flask of
Trebbiano and a berlingozzo[18] were worth all the Kings and Queens that
had ever reigned in those regions. And if the matter had not happened to fall
into the hands of a Bishop, who was a gentleman and a man of the world,
and also, above all, a tactful person, both able and willing to turn the thing
into a joke, Visino would have learnt not to play with savages; for those
brutes of Hungarians, not understanding his words, and thinking that he had
uttered something terrible, such as a threat that he would rob their King of
his life and throne, wished to give him short shrift and crucify him by mob-
law. But the good Bishop drew him out of all embarrassment, and,
appraising the merit of the excellent master at its true value, and putting a
good complexion on the affair, restored him to the favour of the King, who,

on hearing the story, was much amused by it. His good fortune, however,
did not last long, for, not being able to endure the stifling rooms and the
cold air, which ruined his constitution, in a short time this brought his life to
an end; although his repute and fame survived in the memory of those who
knew him when alive, and of those who saw his works in the years after his
death. His pictures date about the year 1512.

RAFFAELLINO DEL GARBO

LIFE OF RAFFAELLINO DEL GARBO
PAINTER OF FLORENCE

Raffaello del Garbo, while he was a little boy, was called by the pet name of
Raffaellino, which he retained ever afterwards; and in his earliest days he
gave such promise in his art, that he was already numbered among the most
excellent masters, a thing which happens to few. But still fewer meet the
fate which afterwards came upon him, in that from a splendid beginning
and almost certain hopes, he arrived at a very feeble end. For it is a general
rule, in the world both of nature and of art, for things to grow gradually
from small beginnings, little by little, until they reach their highest
perfection. It is true, however, that many laws both of art and of nature are
unknown to us, nor do they hold to one unvarying order at all times and in
every case, a thing which very often renders uncertain the judgments of
men. How this may happen is seen in Raffaellino, since it appeared that in
him nature and art did their utmost to set out from extraordinary beginnings,
the middle stage of which was below mediocrity, and the end almost
nothing.
In his youth he drew as much as any painter who has ever exercised himself
in drawing in order to become perfect; wherefore there may still be seen,
throughout the world of art, a great number of his drawings, which have
been dispersed by a son of his for ridiculous prices, partly drawn with the
style, partly with the pen or in water-colours, but all on tinted paper,
heightened with lead-white, and executed with marvellous boldness and
mastery; and there are many of them in our book, drawn in a most beautiful
manner. Besides this, he learnt to paint so well in distemper and in fresco,
that his first works were executed with an incredible patience and diligence,
as has been related.
In the Minerva, round the tomb of Cardinal Caraffa, he painted the vaulted
ceiling, with such delicacy, that it seems like the work of an illuminator;
wherefore it was held in great estimation by craftsmen at that time. His
master, Filippo, regarded him in some respects as a much better painter than

himself; and Raffaellino had acquired Filippo's manner so well, that there
were few who could distinguish the one from the other. Later, after having
left his master, he gave much more delicacy to that manner in the draperies,
and greater softness to hair and to the expressions of the heads; and he was
held in such expectation by craftsmen, that, while he followed this manner,
he was considered the first of the young painters of his day. Now the family
of the Capponi, having built a chapel that is called the Paradiso, on the hill
below the Church of S. Bartolommeo a Monte Oliveto, without the Porta a
S. Friano, wished to have the panel executed by Raffaellino, and gave him
the commission; whereupon he painted in oils the Resurrection of Christ,
with some soldiers who have fallen, as if dead, round the Sepulchre. These
figures are very spirited and beautiful, and they have the most graceful
heads that it is possible to see; among which, in the head of a young man, is
a marvellous portrait of Niccola Capponi, while, in like manner, the head of
one who is crying out because the stone covering of the tomb has fallen
upon him, is most beautiful and bizarre. Wherefore the Capponi, having
seen that Raffaellino's picture was a rare work, caused a frame to be made
for it, all carved, with round columns richly adorned with burnished gold on
a ground of bole. Before many years had passed, the campanile of that
building was struck by lightning, which pierced the vault and fell near that
panel, which, having been executed in oils, suffered no harm; but where the
fluid passed near the gilt frame, it consumed the gold, leaving nothing there
but the bare bole. It has seemed to me right to say that much with regard to
oil-painting, to the end that all may see how important it is to know how to
guard against such injury, which lightning has done not only to this work,
but to many others.

THE RESURRECTION
(After the panel by Raffaellino del Garbo.
Florence: Accademia, 90)
Anderson
View larger image

He painted in fresco, at the corner of a house that now belongs to Matteo
Botti, between the Canto del Ponte alla Carraja and the Canto della Cuculia,
a little shrine containing Our Lady with the Child in her arms, with S.
Catherine and S. Barbara kneeling, a very graceful and carefully executed
work. For the Villa of Marignolle, belonging to the Girolami, he painted
two most beautiful panels, with Our Lady, S. Zanobi, and other saints; and
he filled the predella below both of these with little figures representing
scenes from the lives of those saints, executed with great diligence. On the
wall above the door of the Church of the Nuns of S. Giorgio, he painted a
Pietà, with a group of the Maries; and in like manner, in another arch below
this, a figure of Our Lady, a work worthy of great praise, executed in the
year 1504. In the Church of S. Spirito at Florence, in a panel over that of the
Nerli, which his master Filippo had executed, he painted a Pietà, which is
held to be a very good and praiseworthy work; but in another, representing

S. Bernard, he fell short of that standard. Below the door of the sacristy are
two panel-pictures by his hand; one showing S. Gregory the Pope saying
Mass, when Christ appears to him, naked, with the Cross on His shoulder,
and shedding blood from His side, with the deacon and sub-deacon, in their
vestments, serving the Mass, and two angels swinging censers over the
body of Christ. For another chapel, lower down, he executed a panel-picture
containing Our Lady, S. Jerome, and S. Bartholomew. On these two works
he bestowed no little labour; but he went on deteriorating from day to day. I
do not know to what I should attribute his misfortune, for poor Raffaellino
was not wanting in industry, diligence, and application; yet they availed him
little. It is believed, indeed, that, becoming overburdened and impoverished
by the cares of a family, and being compelled to use for his daily needs
whatever he earned, not to mention that he was a man of no great spirit and
undertook to do work for small prices, in this way he went on growing
worse little by little; although there is always something of the good to be
seen in his works.
For the Monks of Cestello, on the wall of their refectory, he painted a large
scene coloured in fresco, in which he depicted the miracle wrought by Jesus
Christ with the five loaves and two fishes, with which he satisfied five
thousand people. For the Abbot de' Panichi he executed the panel-picture of
the high-altar in the Church of S. Salvi, without the Porta alla Croce,
painting therein Our Lady, S. Giovanni Gualberto, S. Salvi, S. Bernardo, a
Cardinal of the Uberti family, and S. Benedetto the Abbot, and, at the sides,
S. Batista and S. Fedele in armour, in two niches on either hand of the
picture, which had a rich frame; and in the predella are several scenes, with
little figures, from the Life of S. Giovanni Gualberto. In all this he acquitted
himself very well, because he was assisted in his wretchedness by that
Abbot, who took pity on him for the sake of his talents; and in the predella
of the panel Raffaellino made a portrait of him from life, together with one
of the General who was then ruling his Order. In S. Piero Maggiore, on the
right as one enters the church, there is a panel by his hand, and in the
Murate there is a picture of S. Sigismund, the King. For Girolamo
Federighi, in that part of S. Pancrazio where he was afterwards buried, he
painted a Trinity in fresco, with portraits of him and of his wife on their
knees; and here he began to decline into pettiness of manner. He also made
two figures in distemper for the Monks of Cestello, a S. Rocco and a S.

Ignazio, which are in the Chapel of S. Sebastiano. And in a little chapel on
the abutment of the Ponte Rubaconte, on the side towards the Mills, he
painted a Madonna, a S. Laurence, and another saint.
In the end he was reduced to undertaking any work, however mean; and he
was employed by certain nuns and other persons, who were embroidering a
quantity of church vestments and hangings at that time, to make designs in
chiaroscuro and ornamental borders containing saints and stories, for
ridiculous prices. For although he had deteriorated, there sometimes issued
from his hand most beautiful designs and fancies, as is proved by many
drawings that were sold and dispersed after the death of those who used
them for embroidery; of which there are many in the book of the illustrious
hospital-director,[19] that show how able he was in draughtsmanship. This
was the reason that many vestments, hangings, and ornaments, which are
held to be very beautiful, were made for the churches of Florence and
throughout the Florentine territory, and also for Cardinals and Bishops in
Rome. At the present day this method of embroidery, which was used by
Paolo da Verona, the Florentine Galieno, and others like them, is almost
lost, and another method, with wide stitches, has been introduced, which
has neither the same beauty nor the same careful workmanship, and is much
less durable than the other. Wherefore, in return for this benefit, although
poverty caused him misery and hardship during his lifetime, he deserves to
have honour and glory for his talents after his death.
And in truth Raffaellino was unfortunate in his connections, for he always
mixed with poor and humble people, like a man who had sunk and become
ashamed of himself, seeing that in his youth he had given such great
promise, and now knew how distant he was from the extraordinary
excellence of the works that he had made at that time. And thus, growing
old, he fell away so much from his early standard, that his works no longer
appeared to be by his hand; and forgetting his art more and more every day,
he was reduced to painting, in addition to his usual panels and pictures, the
meanest kinds of works. And he sank so low that everything was a torment
to him, but above all his burdensome family of children, which turned all
his ability in art into mere clumsiness. Wherefore, being overtaken by
infirmities and impoverished, he finished his life in misery at the age of
fifty-eight, and was buried in S. Simone, at Florence, by the Company of
the Misericordia, in the year 1524.

He left behind him many pupils who became able masters. One, who went
in his boyhood to learn the rudiments of art from Raffaellino, was the
Florentine painter Bronzino, who afterwards acquitted himself so well
under the wing of Jacopo da Pontormo, another painter of Florence, that he
has made as much proficience in the art as his master Jacopo. The portrait
of Raffaellino was copied from a drawing that belonged to Bastiano da
Monte Carlo, who was also his disciple, and who, for a man with no
draughtsmanship, became a passing good master.

TORRIGIANO

LIFE OF TORRIGIANO
SCULPTOR OF FLORENCE

Great is the power of anger in the soul of one who is seeking, with
arrogance and pride, to gain a reputation for excellence in some profession,
when he sees rising in the same art, at a time when he does not expect it,
some unknown man of beautiful genius, who not only equals him, but in
time surpasses him by a great measure. Of such persons, in truth, it may be
said that there is no iron that they would not gnaw in their rage, nor any evil
which they would not do if they were able, for it seems to them too
grievous an affront in the eyes of the world, that children whom they saw
born should have reached maturity almost in one bound from their cradles.
They do not reflect that every day one may see the will of young men,
spurred on by zeal in their tender years, and exercised by them in continual
studies, rise to infinite heights; while the old, led by fear, pride, and
ambition, lose the cunning of their hands, so that the better they think to
work, the worse they do it, and where they believe that they are advancing,
they are going backwards. Wherefore, out of envy, they never give credit to
the young for the perfection of their works, however clearly they may see it,
on account of the obstinacy that possesses them. And it is known from
experience that when, in order to show what they can do, they exert
themselves to the utmost of their power, they often produce works that are
ridiculous and a mere laughing-stock. In truth, when craftsmen have
reached the age when the eye is no longer steady and the hand trembles,
their place, if they have saved the wherewithal to live, is to give advice to
men who can work, for the reason that the arts of painting and sculpture call
for a mind in every way vigorous and awake (as it is at the age when the
blood is boiling), full of burning desire, and a capital enemy of the
pleasures of the world. And whoever is not temperate with regard to the
delights of the world should shun the studies of any art or science
whatsoever, seeing that such pleasures and study can never agree well
together. Since, therefore, these arts involve so many burdens, few, indeed,
are they who attain to the highest rank; and those who start with eagerness

from the post are greater in number than those who run well in the race and
win the prize.
Now there was more pride than art, although he was very able, to be seen in
Torrigiano, a sculptor of Florence, who in his youth was maintained by the
elder Lorenzo de' Medici in the garden which that magnificent citizen
possessed on the Piazza di S. Marco in Florence. This garden was in such
wise filled with the best ancient statuary, that the loggia, the walks, and all
the apartments were adorned with noble ancient figures of marble, pictures,
and other suchlike things, made by the hands of the best masters who ever
lived in Italy or elsewhere. And all these works, in addition to the
magnificence and adornment that they conferred on that garden, were as a
school or academy for the young painters and sculptors, as well as for all
others who were studying the arts of design, and particularly for the young
nobles; since the Magnificent Lorenzo had a strong conviction that those
who are born of noble blood can attain to perfection in all things more
readily and more speedily than is possible, for the most part, for men of
humble birth, in whom there are rarely seen those conceptions and that
marvellous genius which are perceived in men of illustrious stock.
Moreover, the less highly born, having generally to defend themselves from
hardship and poverty, and being forced in consequence to undertake any
sort of work, however mean, are not able to exercise their intellect, or to
attain to the highest degree of excellence. Wherefore it was well said by the
learned Alciato—when speaking of men of beautiful genius, born in
poverty, who are not able to raise themselves, because, in proportion as they
are impelled upwards by the wings of their genius, so are they held down by
their poverty—
Ut me pluma levat, sic grave mergit onus.
Lorenzo the Magnificent, then, always favoured men of genius, and
particularly such of the nobles as showed an inclination for these our arts;
wherefore it is no marvel that from that school there should have issued
some who have amazed the world. And what is more, he not only gave the
means to buy food and clothing to those who, being poor, would otherwise
not have been able to pursue the studies of design, but also bestowed
extraordinary gifts on any one among them who had acquitted himself in
some work better than the others; so that the young students of our arts,

competing thus with each other, thereby became very excellent, as I will
relate.
The guardian and master of these young men, at that time, was the
Florentine sculptor Bertoldo, an old and practised craftsman, who had once
been a disciple of Donato. He taught them, and likewise had charge of the
works in the garden, and of many drawings, cartoons, and models by the
hand of Donato, Pippo,[20] Masaccio, Paolo Uccello, Fra Giovanni, Fra
Filippo, and other masters, both native and foreign. It is a sure fact that
these arts can only be acquired by a long course of study in drawing and
diligently imitating works of excellence; and whoever has not such
facilities, however much he may be assisted by nature, can never arrive at
perfection, save late in life.
But to return to the antiquities of the garden; they were in great part
dispersed in the year 1494, when Piero, the son of the aforesaid Lorenzo,
was banished from Florence, all being sold by auction. The greater part of
them, however, were restored to the Magnificent Giuliano in the year 1512,
at the time when he and the other members of the House of Medici returned
to their country; and at the present day they are for the most part preserved
in the guardaroba of Duke Cosimo. Truly magnificent was the example thus
given by Lorenzo, and whenever Princes and other persons of high degree
choose to imitate it, they will always gain everlasting honour and glory
thereby; since he who assists and favours, in their noble undertakings, men
of rare and beautiful genius, from whom the world receives such beauty,
honour, convenience and benefit, deserves to live for ever in the minds and
memories of mankind.
Among those who studied the arts of design in that garden, the following all
became very excellent masters; Michelagnolo, the son of Lodovico
Buonarroti; Giovan Francesco Rustici; Torrigiano Torrigiani; Francesco
Granacci; Niccolò, the son of Jacopo[21] Soggi; Lorenzo di Credi, and
Giuliano Bugiardini; and, among the foreigners, Baccio da Montelupo,
Andrea Contucci of Monte Sansovino, and others, of whom mention will be
made in the proper places.
Torrigiano, then, whose Life we are now about to write, was a student in the
garden with those named above; and he was not only powerful in person,

and proud and fearless in spirit, but also by nature so overbearing and
choleric, that he was for ever tyrannizing over all the others both with
words and deeds. His chief profession was sculpture, yet he worked with
great delicacy in terra-cotta, in a very good and beautiful manner. But not
being able to endure that any one should surpass him, he would set himself
to spoil with his hands such of the works of others as showed an excellence
that he could not achieve with his brain; and if these others resented this, he
often had recourse to something stronger than words. He had a particular
hatred for Michelagnolo, for no other reason than that he saw him attending
zealously to the study of art, and knew that he used to draw in secret at his
own house by night and on feast-days, so that he came to succeed better in
the garden than all the others, and was therefore much favoured by Lorenzo
the Magnificent. Wherefore, moved by bitter envy, Torrigiano was always
seeking to affront him, both in word and deed; and one day, having come to
blows, Torrigiano struck Michelagnolo so hard on the nose with his fist, that
he broke it, insomuch that Michelagnolo had his nose flattened for the rest
of his life. This matter becoming known to Lorenzo, he was so enraged that
Torrigiano, if he had not fled from Florence, would have suffered some
heavy punishment.

TOMB OF HENRY VII
(After Torrigiano.
London: Westminster Abbey)
Mansell
View larger image

Having therefore made his way to Rome, where Alexander VI was then
pressing on the work of the Borgia Tower, Torrigiano executed in it a great
quantity of stucco-work, in company with other masters. Afterwards,
money being offered in the service of Duke Valentino, who was making war
against the people of Romagna, Torrigiano was led away by certain young
Florentines; and, having changed himself in a moment from a sculptor to a
soldier, he bore himself valiantly in those campaigns of Romagna. He did
the same under Paolo Vitelli in the war with Pisa; and he was with Piero de'
Medici at the action on the Garigliano, where he won the right to arms, and
the name of a valiant standard-bearer.
But in the end, recognizing that he was never likely to reach the rank of
captain that he desired, although he deserved it, and that he had saved
nothing in the wars, and had, on the contrary, wasted his time, he returned
to sculpture. For certain Florentine merchants, then, he made small works in

marble and bronze, little figures, which are scattered throughout the houses
of citizens in Florence, and he executed many drawings in a bold and
excellent manner, as may be seen from some by his hand that are in our
book, together with others which he made in competition with
Michelagnolo. And having been brought by those merchants to England, he
executed there, in the service of the King, an endless number of works in
marble, bronze, and wood, competing with some masters of that country, to
all of whom he proved superior. For this he was so well and so richly
rewarded, that, if he had not been as reckless and unbridled as he was
proud, he might have lived a life of ease and ended his days in comfort; but
what happened to him was the very opposite.
After this, having been summoned from England into Spain, he made many
works there, which are scattered about in various places, and are held in
great estimation; and, among others, he made a Crucifix of terra-cotta,
which is the most marvellous thing that there is in all Spain. For a
monastery of Friars of S. Jerome, without the city of Seville, he made
another Crucifix; a S. Jerome in Penitence, with his lion, the figure of that
Saint being a portrait of an old house-steward of the Botti family, Florentine
merchants settled in Spain; and a Madonna with the Child. This last figure
was so beautiful that it led to his making another like it for the Duke of
Arcus, who, in order to obtain it, made such promises to Torrigiano, that he
believed that it would make him rich for the rest of his life. The work being
finished, the Duke gave him so many of those coins that are called
"maravedis," which are worth little or nothing, that Torrigiano, to whose
house there came two persons laden with them, became even more
confirmed in his belief that he was to be a very rich man. But afterwards,
having shown this money to a Florentine friend of his, and having asked
him to count it and reckon its value in Italian coin, he saw that all that vast
sum did not amount to thirty ducats; at which, holding himself to have been
fooled, he went in a violent rage to where the figure was that he had made
for the Duke, and wholly destroyed it. Whereupon that Spaniard,
considering himself affronted, denounced Torrigiano as a heretic; on which
account he was thrown into prison, and after being examined every day, and
sent from one inquisitor to the other, he was finally judged to deserve the
severest penalty. But this was never put into execution, because Torrigiano
himself was plunged thereby into such melancholy, that, remaining many

days without eating, and thus becoming very weak, little by little he put an
end to his own life; and in this way, by denying himself his food, he
avoided the shame into which he would perchance have fallen, for it was
believed that he had been condemned to death.
The works of this master date about the year of our salvation, 1515, and he
died in the year 1522.

GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO

LIVES OF GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN
GALLO
ARCHITECTS OF FLORENCE

Francesco di Paolo Giamberti, who was a passing good architect in the time
of Cosimo de' Medici, and was much employed by him, had two sons,
Giuliano and Antonio, whom he apprenticed to the art of wood-carving.
One of these two sons, Giuliano, he placed with Francione, a joiner, an
ingenious person, who gave attention at the same time to wood-carving and
to perspective, and with whom Francesco was very intimate, since they had
executed many works in company, both in carving and in architecture, for
Lorenzo de' Medici. This Giuliano learnt so well all that Francione taught
him, that the carvings and beautiful perspectives that he afterwards
executed by himself in the choir of the Duomo of Pisa are still regarded not
without marvel at the present day, even among the many new perspectives.
While Giuliano was studying design, and his young blood ran hot in his
veins, the army of the Duke of Calabria, by reason of the hatred which that
lord bore to Lorenzo de' Medici, encamped before Castellina, in order to
occupy the dominions of the Signoria of Florence, and also, if this should
be successful, in order to accomplish some greater design. Wherefore
Lorenzo the Magnificent was forced to send an engineer to Castellina, who
might make mills and bastions, and should have the charge of handling the
artillery, which few men at that time were able to do; and he sent thither
Giuliano, considering him to have a mind more able, more ready, and more
resolute than any other man, and knowing him already as the son of
Francesco, who had been a devoted servant of the House of Medici.
Arriving at Castellina, therefore, Giuliano fortified that place with good
walls and mills, both within and without, and furnished it with everything
else necessary for the defence. Then, observing that the artillery-men stood
at a great distance from their pieces, handling, loading, and discharging
them with much timidity, he gave his attention to this, and so contrived that

from that time onwards the artillery did harm to no one, whereas it had
previously killed many of them, since they had not had judgment and
knowledge enough to avoid suffering injury from the recoil. Having
therefore taken charge of the artillery, Giuliano showed great skill in
discharging it to the best possible advantage; and the Duke's forces so lost
heart by reason of this and other adverse circumstances, that they were glad
to make terms and depart from the town. In consequence of this Giuliano
won no little praise from Lorenzo in Florence, and was looked upon with
favour and affection ever afterwards.
Having meanwhile given his attention to architecture, he began the first
cloister of the Monastery of Cestello, and executed that part of it that is seen
to be of the Ionic Order; placing capitals on the columns with volutes
curving downwards to the collarino, where the shaft of the column ends,
and making, below the ovoli and the fusarole, a frieze, one-third in height
of the diameter of the column. This capital was copied from a very ancient
one of marble, found at Fiesole by Messer Leonardo Salutati, Bishop of that
place, who kept it for some time, together with other antiquities, in a house
and garden that he occupied in the Via di S. Gallo, opposite to S. Agata; and
it is now in the possession of Messer Giovan Battista da Ricasoli, Bishop of
Pistoia, and is prized for its beauty and variety, since among the ancient
capitals there has not been seen another like it. But that cloister remained
unfinished, because those monks were not then able to bear such an
expense.
Meanwhile Giuliano had come into even greater credit with Lorenzo; and
the latter, who was intending to build a palace at Poggio a Cajano, a place
between Florence and Pistoia, and had caused several models to be made
for it by Francione and by others, commissioned Giuliano, also, to make
one of the sort of building that he proposed to erect. And Giuliano made it
so completely different in form from the others, and so much to Lorenzo's
fancy, that he began straightway to have it carried into execution, as the best
of all the models; on which account he took Giuliano even more into his
favour, and ever afterwards gave him an allowance.
After this, Giuliano wishing to make a vaulted ceiling for the great hall of
that palace in the manner that we call barrel-shaped, Lorenzo could not
believe, on account of the great space, that it could be raised. Whereupon

Giuliano, who was building a house for himself in Florence, made a ceiling
for his hall according to the design of the other, in order to convince the
mind of that Magnificent Prince; and Lorenzo therefore gave orders for the
ceiling at the Poggio to be carried out, which was successfully done.
By that time the fame of Giuliano had so increased, that, at the entreaty of
the Duke of Calabria, he was commissioned by Lorenzo the Magnificent to
make the model for a palace that was to be built at Naples; and he spent a
long time over executing it. Now while he was working at this, the
Castellan of Ostia, then Bishop della Rovere, who after a time became Pope
Julius II, wishing to restore that stronghold and to put it into good order,
and having heard the fame of Giuliano, sent to Florence for him; and,
having supplied him with a good provision, he kept him employed for two
years in making therein all the useful improvements that he was able to
execute by means of his art. And to the end that the model for the Duke of
Calabria might not be neglected, but might be brought to conclusion, he left
it to his brother Antonio, who finished it according to his directions, which,
in executing it and carrying it to completion, he followed with great
diligence, for he was no less competent in that art than Giuliano himself.
Now Giuliano was advised by the elder Lorenzo to present it in person, to
the end that he might show from the model itself the difficulties that he had
triumphed over in making it. Whereupon he departed for Naples, and,
having presented the work, was received with honour; for men were as
much impressed by the gracious manner in which the Magnificent Lorenzo
had sent him, as they were struck with marvel at the masterly work in the
model, which gave such satisfaction that the building was straightway
begun near the Castel Nuovo.
After Giuliano had been some time in Naples, he sought leave from the
Duke to return to Florence; whereupon he was presented by the King with
horses and garments, and, among other things, with a silver cup containing
some hundreds of ducats. These things Giuliano would not accept, saying
that he served a patron who had no need of silver or gold, but that if he did
indeed wish to give him some present or some token of approbation, to
show that he had been in that city, he might bestow upon him some of his
antiquities, which he would choose himself. These the King granted to him
most liberally, both for love of the Magnificent Lorenzo and on account of
Giuliano's own worth; and they were a head of the Emperor Hadrian, which

is now above the door of the garden at the house of the Medici, a nude
woman, more than life-size, and a Cupid sleeping, all in marble and in the
round. Giuliano sent them as presents to the Magnificent Lorenzo, who
expressed vast delight at the gift, and never tired of praising the action of
this most liberal of craftsmen, who had refused gold and silver for the sake
of art, a thing which few would have done. That Cupid is now in the
guardaroba of Duke Cosimo.

FAÇADE OF S. MARIA DELLE CARCERI
(After Giuliano da San Gallo.
Prato)

Alinari
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Having then returned to Florence, Giuliano was received most graciously
by the Magnificent Lorenzo. Now the fancy had taken that Prince to build a
convent capable of holding a hundred friars, without the Porta S. Gallo, in
order to give satisfaction to Fra Mariano da Ghinazzano, a most learned
member of the Order of Eremite Friars of S. Augustine. For this convent
models were made by many architects, and in the end that of Giuliano was
put into execution, which was the reason that Lorenzo, from this work, gave
him the name of Giuliano da San Gallo. Wherefore Giuliano, who heard
himself called by everyone "da San Gallo," said one day in jest to the
Magnificent Lorenzo, "By giving me this new name of 'da San Gallo,' you
are making me lose the ancient name of my house, so that, in place of going
forward in the matter of lineage, as I thought to do, I am going backward."
Whereupon Lorenzo answered that he would rather have him become the
founder of a new house through his own worth, than depend on others; at
which Giuliano was well content.
Meanwhile the work of S. Gallo was carried on, together with Lorenzo's
other buildings; but neither the convent nor the others were finished, by
reason of the death of Lorenzo. And even the completed part of this
structure of S. Gallo did not long remain standing, because in 1530, on
account of the siege of Florence, it was destroyed and thrown to the ground,
together with the whole suburb, the piazza of which was completely
surrounded by very beautiful buildings; and at the present day there is no
trace to be seen there of house, church, or convent.
At this time there took place the death of the King of Naples, whereupon
Giuliano Gondi, a very rich Florentine merchant, returned from that city to
Florence, and commissioned Giuliano da San Gallo, with whom he had
become very intimate on account of his visit to Naples, to build him a
palace in rustic work, opposite to S. Firenze, above the place where the
lions used to be. This palace was to form the angle of the piazza and to face
the old Mercatanzia; but the death of Giuliano Gondi put a stop to the work.
In it, among other things, Giuliano made a chimney-piece, very rich in
carvings, and so varied and beautiful in composition, that up to that time
there had never been seen the like, nor one with such a wealth of figures.

The same master made a palace for a Venetian in Camerata, without the
Porta a Pinti, and many houses for private citizens, of which there is no
need to make mention.
Lorenzo the Magnificent, in order to benefit the commonwealth and adorn
the State, and at the same time to leave behind him some splendid
monument, in addition to the endless number that he had already erected,
wished to execute the fortification of the Poggio Imperiale, above
Poggibonsi, on the road to Rome, with a view to founding a city there; and
he would not lay it out without the advice and design of Giuliano.
Wherefore that master began that most famous structure, in which he made
the well-designed and beautiful range of fortifications that we see at the
present day.
These works brought him such fame, that he was then summoned to Milan,
through the mediation of Lorenzo, by the Duke of Milan, to the end that he
might make for him the model of a palace; and there Giuliano was no less
honoured by the Duke than he had previously been honoured by the King of
Naples, when that Sovereign had invited him to that city. For when he had
presented the model to him, on the part of the Magnificent Lorenzo, the
Duke was filled with astonishment and marvel at seeing the vast number of
beautiful adornments in it, so well arranged and distributed, and all
accommodated in their places with art and grace; for which reason all the
materials necessary for the work were got together, and they began to put it
into execution. In the same city, together with Giuliano, was Leonardo da
Vinci, who was working for the Duke; and Leonardo, speaking with
Giuliano about the casting of the horse that he was proposing to make,
received from him some excellent suggestions. This work was broken to
pieces on the arrival of the French, so that the horse was never finished; nor
could the palace be brought to completion.
Having returned to Florence, Giuliano found that his brother Antonio, who
worked for him on his models, had become so excellent, that there was no
one in his day who was a better master in carving, particularly for large
Crucifixes of wood; to which witness is borne by the one over the high-altar
of the Nunziata in Florence, by another that is kept by the Friars of S. Gallo
in S. Jacopo tra Fossi, and by a third in the Company of the Scalzo, which
are all held to be very good. But Giuliano removed him from that

profession and caused him to give his attention to architecture, in company
with himself, since he had many works to execute, both public and private.
Now it happened, as it is always happening, that Fortune, the enemy of
talent, robbed the followers of the arts of their hope and support by the
death of Lorenzo de' Medici, which was a heavy loss not only to all able
craftsmen and to his country, but also to all Italy. Wherefore Giuliano,
together with all the other lofty spirits, was left wholly inconsolable; and in
his grief he betook himself to Prato, near Florence, in order to build the
Temple of the Madonna delle Carcere, since all building in Florence, both
public and private, was at a standstill. He lived in Prato, therefore, three
whole years, supporting the expense, discomfort, and sorrow as best he
could.
At the end of that time, it being proposed to roof the Church of the
Madonna at Loreto, and to raise the cupola, which had been formerly begun
but not finished by Giuliano da Maiano, and those who had charge of the
matter doubting that the piers were too weak to bear such a weight, they
wrote, therefore, to Giuliano, that if he desired such a work, he should go
and see it for himself. And having gone, like the bold and able man that he
was, he showed them that the cupola could be raised with ease, and that he
had courage enough for the task; and so many, and of such a kind, were the
reasons that he put before them, that the work was allotted to him. After
receiving this commission, he caused the work in Prato to be despatched,
and made his way, with the same master-builders and stone-cutters, to
Loreto. And to the end that this structure, besides beauty of form, might be
firm, solid, stable, and well bound in the stonework, he sent to Rome for
pozzolana[22]; nor was any lime used that was not mixed with it, nor any
stone built in without it; and thus, within the space of three years, it was
brought to perfect completion, ready for use.
Giuliano then went to Rome, where, for Pope Alexander VI, he restored the
roof of S. Maria Maggiore, which was falling into ruin; and he made there
the ceiling that is to be seen at the present day. While he was thus employed
about the Court, Bishop della Rovere, who had been the friend of Giuliano
from the time when he was Castellan of Ostia, and who had been created
Cardinal of S. Pietro in Vincula, caused him to make a model for the Palace
of S. Pietro in Vincula. And a little time after, desiring to build a palace in

his own city of Savona, he wished to have it erected likewise from the
design and under the eye of Giuliano. But such a journey was difficult for
Giuliano, for the reason that his ceiling was not yet finished, and Pope
Alexander would not let him go. He entrusted the finishing of it, therefore,
to his brother Antonio, who, having a good and versatile intelligence, and
coming thus into contact with the Court, entered into the service of the
Pope, who conceived a very great affection for him; and this he proved
when he resolved to restore, with new foundations and with defences after
the manner of a castle, the Mausoleum of Hadrian, now called the Castello
di S. Angelo, for Antonio was made overseer of this undertaking, and under
his direction were made the great towers below, the ditches, and the rest of
the fortifications that we see at the present day. This work brought him great
credit with the Pope, and with his son, Duke Valentino; and it led to his
building the fortress that is now to be seen at Cività Castellana. Thus, then,
while that Pontiff was alive, he was continually employed in building; and
while working for him, he was rewarded by him no less than he was
esteemed.
Giuliano had already carried well forward the work at Savona, when the
Cardinal returned to Rome on some business of his own, leaving many
workmen to bring the building to completion after the directions and design
of Giuliano, whom he took with him to Rome. Giuliano made that journey
willingly, wishing to see Antonio and his works; and he stayed there some
months. During that time, however, the Cardinal fell into disgrace with the
Pope, and departed from Rome, in order not to be taken prisoner, and
Giuliano, as before, went in his company. On arriving at Savona, they set a
much greater number of master-builders and other artificers to work on the
building. But the threats of the Pope against the Cardinal becoming every
day louder, it was not long before he made his way to Avignon. From there
he sent as a present to the King of France a model for a palace that Giuliano
had made for him, which was marvellous, very rich in ornament, and
spacious enough for the accommodation of his whole Court. The royal
Court was at Lyons when Giuliano presented his model; and the gift was so
welcome and acceptable to the King, that he rewarded Giuliano liberally
and gave him infinite praise, besides rendering many thanks for it to the
Cardinal, who was at Avignon.

Meanwhile they received news that the palace at Savona was already nearly
finished; whereupon the Cardinal determined that Giuliano should once
more see the work, and Giuliano, having gone for this purpose to Savona,
had not been there long when it was completely finished. Then, desiring to
return to Florence, where he had not been for a long time, Giuliano took the
road for that city together with his master-builders. Now at that time the
King of France had restored Pisa her liberty, and the war between the
Florentines and the Pisans was still raging; and Giuliano, wishing to pass
through Pisan territory, had a safe-conduct made out for his company at
Lucca, for they had no small apprehension about the Pisan soldiers.
Nevertheless, while passing near Altopascio, they were captured by the
Pisans, who cared nothing for safe-conducts or for any other warrant that
they might have. And for six months Giuliano was detained in Pisa, his
ransom being fixed at three hundred ducats; nor was he able to return to
Florence until he had paid it.
Antonio had heard this news in Rome, and, desiring to see his native city
and his brother again, obtained leave to depart from Rome; and on his way
he designed for Duke Valentino the fortress of Montefiascone. Finally, in
the year 1503, he reached Florence, where the two brothers and their friends
took joyful pleasure in each other's company.
There now ensued the death of Alexander VI, and the election of Pius III,
who lived but a short time; whereupon the Cardinal of S. Pietro in Vincula
was created Pontiff, under the name of Pope Julius II; which brought great
joy to Giuliano, on account of his having been so long in his service, and he
determined, therefore, to go to kiss the Pope's foot. Having then arrived in
Rome, he was warmly received and welcomed lovingly, and was
straightway commissioned to execute the first buildings undertaken by that
Pope before the coming of Bramante.
Antonio, who had remained in Florence, continued, in the absence of
Giuliano (Piero Soderini being Gonfalonier), the building of the Poggio
Imperiale, to which all the Pisan prisoners were sent to labour, in order to
finish the work the quicker. After this, by reason of the troubles at Arezzo,
the old fortress was destroyed, and Antonio made the model for the new
one, with the consent of Giuliano, who had come from Rome for this
purpose, but soon returned thither; and this work was the reason that

Antonio was appointed architect to the Commune of Florence for all the
fortifications.
On the return of Giuliano to Rome, the question was being debated as to
whether the divine Michelagnolo Buonarroti should make the tomb of Pope
Julius; whereupon Giuliano exhorted the Pope to pursue that undertaking,
adding that it seemed to him that it was necessary to build a special chapel
for such a monument, and that it should not be placed in the old S. Pietro, in
which there was no space for it, whereas a new chapel would bring out all
the perfection of the work. After many architects, then, had made designs,
the matter little by little became one of such importance, that, in place of
erecting a chapel, a beginning was made with the great fabric of the new S.
Pietro. There had arrived in Rome, about that time, the architect Bramante
of Castel Durante, who had been in Lombardy; and he went to work in such
a manner, with various extraordinary means and methods of his own, and
with his fantastic ideas, having on his side Baldassarre Peruzzi, Raffaello da
Urbino, and other architects, that he put the whole undertaking into
confusion; whereby much time was consumed in discussions. Finally—so
well did he know how to set about the matter—the work was entrusted to
him, as the man who had shown the finest judgment, the best intelligence,
and the greatest invention.
Giuliano, resenting this, for it appeared to him that he had received an
affront from the Pope, in view of the faithful service that he had rendered to
him when his rank was not so high, and of the promise made to him by the
Pope that he should have that building, sought leave to go; and so,
notwithstanding that he was appointed companion to Bramante for other
edifices that were being erected in Rome, he departed, and returned, with
many gifts received from that Pontiff, to Florence.
This was a great joy to Piero Soderini, who straightway set him to work.
Nor had six months gone by, when Messer Bartolommeo della Rovere, the
nephew of the Pope, and a friend of Giuliano, wrote to him in the name of
his Holiness that he should return for his own advantage to Rome; but
neither terms nor promises availed to move Giuliano, who considered that
he had been put to shame by the Pope. Finally, however, a letter was written
to Piero Soderini, urging him in one way or another to send Giuliano to
Rome, since his Holiness wished to finish the fortifications of the Great

Round Tower, which had been begun by Nicholas V, and likewise those of
the Borgo and the Belvedere, with other works; and Giuliano allowed
himself to be persuaded by Soderini, and therefore went to Rome, where he
received a gracious welcome and many gifts from the Pope.
Having afterwards gone to Bologna, from which the Bentivogli had just
been driven out, the Pope resolved, by the advice of Giuliano, to have a
figure of himself in bronze made by Michelagnolo Buonarroti; and this was
carried out, as will be related in the Life of Michelagnolo himself. Giuliano
also followed the Pope to Mirandola, and after it was taken, having endured
much fatigue and many discomforts, he returned with the Court to Rome.
But the furious desire to drive the French out of Italy not having yet got out
of the head of the Pope, he strove to wrest the government of Florence out
of the hands of Piero Soderini, whose power was no small hindrance to him
in the project that he had in mind. Whereupon, since the Pontiff, for these
reasons, had turned aside from building and had embroiled himself in wars,
Giuliano, by this time weary, and perceiving that attention was being given
only to the construction of S. Pietro, and not much even to that, sought
leave from him to depart. But the Pope answered him in anger, "Do you
believe that you are the only Giuliano da San Gallo to be found?" To which
he replied that none could be found equal to him in faithful service, while
he himself would easily find Princes truer to their promises than the Pope
had been towards him. However, the Pontiff would by no means give him
leave to go, saying that he would speak to him about it another time.
Meanwhile Bramante, having brought Raffaello da Urbino to Rome, set him
to work at painting the Papal apartments; whereupon Giuliano, perceiving
that the Pope took great delight in those pictures, and knowing that he
wished to have the ceiling of the chapel of his uncle Sixtus painted, spoke
to him of Michelagnolo, adding that he had already executed the bronze
statue in Bologna. Which news pleased the Pope so much that he sent for
Michelagnolo, who, on arriving in Rome, received the commission for the
ceiling of that chapel.
A little time after this, Giuliano coming back once more to seek leave from
the Pope to depart, his Holiness, seeing him determined on this, was content
that he should return to Florence, without forfeiting his favour; and, after
having blessed him, he gave him a purse of red satin containing five

hundred crowns, telling him that he might return home to rest, but that he
would always be his friend. Giuliano, then, having kissed the sacred foot,
returned to Florence, at the very time when Pisa was surrounded and
besieged by the army of Florence. No sooner had he arrived, therefore, than
Piero Soderini, after the due greetings, sent him to the camp to help the
military commissaries, who had found themselves unable to prevent the
Pisans from passing provisions into Pisa by way of the Arno. Giuliano made
a design for a bridge of boats to be built at some better season, and then
went back to Florence; and when spring had come, taking with him his
brother Antonio, he made his way to Pisa, where they constructed a bridge,
which was a very ingenious piece of work, since, besides the fact that,
rising or falling with the water, and being well bound with chains, it stood
safe and sound against floods, it carried out the desires of the commissaries
in such a manner, cutting off Pisa from access to the sea by way of the
Arno, that the Pisans, having no other expedient in their sore straits, were
forced to come to terms with the Florentines; and so they surrendered. Nor
was it long before the same Piero Soderini again sent Giuliano, with a vast
number of master-builders, to Pisa, where with extraordinary swiftness he
erected the fortress that still stands at the Porta a S. Marco, and also the gate
itself, which he built in the Doric Order. And the while that Giuliano was
engaged on this work, which was until the year 1512, Antonio went through
the whole dominion, inspecting and restoring the fortresses and other public
buildings.
After this, by the favour of the same Pope Julius, the house of Medici was
reinstated in the government of Florence, from which they had been driven
out on the invasion of Italy by Charles VIII, King of France, and Piero
Soderini was expelled from the Palace; and the Medici showed their
gratitude to Giuliano and Antonio for the services that they had rendered in
the past to their illustrious family. Now Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici
having been elected Pope a short time after the death of Julius II, Giuliano
was forced once again to betake himself to Rome; where, Bramante dying
not long after his arrival, it was proposed to give to Giuliano the charge of
the building of S. Pietro. But he, being worn out by his labours, and crushed
down by old age and by the stone, which made his life a burden, returned
by leave of his Holiness to Florence; and that commission was given to the
most gracious Raffaello da Urbino. And Giuliano, after two years, was

pressed so sorely by his malady, that he died at the age of seventy-four in
the year 1517, leaving his name to the world, his body to the earth, and his
soul to God.
By his departure he left a heavy burden of sorrow to his brother Antonio,
who loved him tenderly, and to a son of his own named Francesco, who was
engaged in sculpture, although he was still quite young. This Francesco,
who has preserved up to our own day all the treasures of his elders, and
holds them in veneration, executed many works at Florence and elsewhere,
both in sculpture and in architecture, and by his hand is the Madonna of
marble, with the Child in her arms, and lying in the lap of S. Anne, that is in
Orsanmichele; which work, with the figures carved in the round out of one
single block, was held, as it still is, to be very beautiful. He has also
executed the tomb that Pope Clement caused to be made for Piero de'
Medici at Monte Cassino, besides many other works, of which no mention
is here made because the said Francesco is still alive.
After the death of Giuliano, Antonio, being a man who was not willing to
stay idle, made two large Crucifixes of wood, one of which was sent into
Spain, while the other, by order of the Vice-Chancellor, Cardinal Giulio de'
Medici, was taken by Domenico Buoninsegni into France. It being then
proposed to build the fortress of Livorno, Antonio was sent thither by
Cardinal de' Medici to make the design for it; which he did, although it was
afterwards not carried completely into execution, nor even after the method
suggested by Antonio. After this, the men of Montepulciano determining,
by reason of the miracles wrought by an image of Our Lady, to build a
temple for it at very great cost, Antonio made the model for this, and
became head of the undertaking; on which account he visited that building
twice a year. At the present day it is to be seen carried to perfect
completion, having been executed with supreme grace, and with truly
marvellous beauty and variety of composition, by the genius of Antonio,
and all the masonry is of a certain stone that has a tinge of white, after the
manner of travertine. It stands without the Porta di S. Biagio, on the right
hand, half-way up the slope of the hill. At this time, he made a beginning
with a palace in the township of Monte San Sovino, for Antonio di Monte,
Cardinal of Santa Prassedia; and he built another for the same man at
Montepulciano, both being executed and finished with extraordinary grace.

He made the design for the side of the buildings of the Servite Friars (in
Florence), on their Piazza, following the order of the Loggia of the
Innocenti; and at Arezzo he made models for the aisles of the Madonna
delle Lacrime, although that work was very badly conceived, because it is
out of harmony with the original part of the building, and the arches at the
ends are not in true line with the centre. He also made a model for the
Madonna of Cortona; but I do not think that this was put into execution. He
was employed in the siege on the bastions and fortifications within the city,
and in this undertaking he had as a companion his nephew Francesco. After
this, the Giant of the Piazza, executed by the hand of Michelagnolo, having
been set into place in the time of Giuliano, the brother of our Antonio, it
was proposed to set up the other, which had been made by Baccio
Bandinelli; and the task of bringing it safely into position was given to
Antonio, who, taking Baccio d' Agnolo as his companion, carried this out
by means of very powerful machines, and placed it in safety on the base
that had been prepared for that purpose.
In the end, having become old, he took no pleasure in anything save
agriculture, of which he had an excellent knowledge. And then, when on
account of old age he was no longer able to bear the discomforts of this
world, he rendered up his soul to God, in the year 1534, and was laid to rest
by the side of his brother Giuliano in the tomb of the Giamberti, in the
Church of S. Maria Novella.
The marvellous works of these two brothers will bear witness before the
world to the extraordinary genius that they possessed; and for their lives,
their honourable ways, and their every action, they were held in estimation
by all men. Giuliano and Antonio bequeathed to the art of architecture
methods that gave the Tuscan Order of building better form than any other
architect had yet achieved, and the Doric Order they enriched with better
measures and proportions than their predecessors, following the rules and
canons of Vitruvius, had been wont to use. They collected in their houses at
Florence an infinite number of most beautiful antiquities in marble, which
adorned Florence, and still adorn her, no less than those masters honoured
themselves and their art. Giuliano brought from Rome the method of
casting vaults with such materials as made them ready carved; examples of
which may be seen in a room in his own house, and in the vaulting of the
Great Hall at Poggio a Cajano, which is still to be seen there. Wherefore we

should acknowledge our obligation to their labours, whereby they fortified
the dominion of Florence, adorned the city, and gave a name, throughout
the many regions where they worked, to Florence and to the intellects of
Tuscany, who, to honour their memory, have written to them these verses—
Cedite Romani structores, cedite Graii,
Artis, Vitruvi, tu quoque cede parens.
Etruscos celebrare viros, testudinis arcus,
Urna, tholus, statuæ, templa, domusque petunt.

RAFFAELLO DA URBINO

LIFE OF RAFFAELLO DA URBINO
[RAFFAELLO SANZIO]

PAINTER AND ARCHITECT

How bountiful and benign Heaven sometimes shows itself in showering
upon one single person the infinite riches of its treasures, and all those
graces and rarest gifts that it is wont to distribute among many individuals,
over a long space of time, could be clearly seen in the no less excellent than
gracious Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, who was endowed by nature with all
that modesty and goodness which are seen at times in those who, beyond all
other men, have added to their natural sweetness and gentleness the
beautiful adornment of courtesy and grace, by reason of which they always
show themselves agreeable and pleasant to every sort of person and in all
their actions. Him nature presented to the world, when, vanquished by art
through the hands of Michelagnolo Buonarroti, she wished to be
vanquished, in Raffaello, by art and character together. And in truth, since
the greater part of the craftsmen who had lived up to that time had received
from nature a certain element of savagery and madness, which, besides
making them strange and eccentric, had brought it about that very often
there was revealed in them rather the obscure darkness of vice than the
brightness and splendour of those virtues that make men immortal, there
was right good reason for her to cause to shine out brilliantly in Raffaello,
as a contrast to the others, all the rarest qualities of the mind, accompanied
by such grace, industry, beauty, modesty, and excellence of character, as
would have sufficed to efface any vice, however hideous, and any blot,
were it ever so great. Wherefore it may be surely said that those who are the
possessors of such rare and numerous gifts as were seen in Raffaello da
Urbino, are not merely men, but, if it be not a sin to say it, mortal gods; and
that those who, by means of their works, leave an honourable name written
in the archives of fame in this earthly world of ours, can also hope to have
to enjoy in Heaven a worthy reward for their labours and merits.

RAPHAEL: S. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON
(S. Petersburg: Hermitage, 39. Panel)
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Raffaello was born at Urbino, a very famous city in Italy, at three o'clock of
the night on Good Friday, in the year 1483, to a father named Giovanni de'
Santi, a painter of no great excellence, and yet a man of good intelligence,
well able to direct his children on that good path which he himself had not
been fortunate enough to have shown to him in his boyhood. And since
Giovanni knew how important it is to rear infants, not with the milk of
nurses, but with that of their own mothers, no sooner was Raffaello born, to

whom with happy augury he gave that name at baptism, than he insisted
that this his only child—and he had no more afterwards—should be suckled
by his own mother, and that in his tender years he should have his character
formed in the house of his parents, rather than learn less gentle or even
boorish ways and habits in the houses of peasants or common people. When
he was well grown, he began to exercise him in painting, seeing him much
inclined to such an art, and possessed of a very beautiful genius: wherefore
not many years passed before Raffaello, still a boy, became a great help to
Giovanni in many works that he executed in the state of Urbino. In the end,
this good and loving father, knowing that his son could learn little from
him, made up his mind to place him with Pietro Perugino, who, as he heard
tell, held the first place among painters at that time. He went, therefore, to
Perugia: but not finding Pietro there, he set himself, in order to lessen the
annoyance of waiting for him, to execute some works in S. Francesco.
When Pietro had returned from Rome, Giovanni, who was a gentle and
well-bred person, formed a friendship with him, and, when the time
appeared to have come, in the most adroit method that he knew, told him
his desire. And so Pietro, who was very courteous and a lover of beautiful
genius, agreed to have Raffaello: whereupon Giovanni, going off rejoicing
to Urbino, took the boy, not without many tears on the part of his mother,
who loved him dearly, and brought him to Perugia, where Pietro, after
seeing Raffaello's method of drawing, and his beautiful manners and
character, formed a judgment of him which time, from the result, proved to
be very true.
It is a very notable thing that Raffaello, studying the manner of Pietro,
imitated it in every respect so closely, that his copies could not be
distinguished from his master's originals, and it was not possible to see any
clear difference between his works and Pietro's; as is still evident from
some figures in a panel in S. Francesco at Perugia, which he executed in
oils for Madonna Maddalena degli Oddi. These are a Madonna who has
risen into Heaven, with Jesus Christ crowning her, while below, round the
sepulchre, are the twelve Apostles, contemplating the Celestial Glory, and at
the foot of the panel is a predella divided into three scenes, painted with
little figures, of the Madonna receiving the Annunciation from the Angel, of
the Magi adoring Christ, and of Christ in the arms of Simeon in the Temple.
This work is executed with truly supreme diligence; and one who had not a

good knowledge of the two manners, would hold it as certain that it is by
the hand of Pietro, whereas it is without a doubt by the hand of Raffaello.
After this work, Pietro returning to Florence on some business of his own,
Raffaello departed from Perugia and went off with some friends to Città di
Castello, where he painted a panel for S. Agostino in the same manner, and
likewise one of a Crucifixion for S. Domenico, which, if his name were not
written upon it, no one would believe to be a work by Raffaello, but rather
by Pietro. For S. Francesco, also in the same city, he painted a little panel-
picture of the Marriage of Our Lady, in which one may recognize the
excellence of Raffaello increasing and growing in refinement, and
surpassing the manner of Pietro. In this work is a temple drawn in
perspective with such loving care, that it is a marvellous thing to see the
difficulties that he was for ever seeking out in this branch of his profession.
Meanwhile, when he had acquired very great fame by following his
master's manner, Pope Pius II[23] had given the commission for painting the
library of the Duomo at Siena to Pinturicchio; and he, being a friend of
Raffaello, and knowing him to be an excellent draughtsman, brought him to
Siena, where Raffaello made for him some of the drawings and cartoons for
that work. The reason that he did not continue at it was that some painters in
Siena kept extolling with vast praise the cartoon that Leonardo da Vinci had
made in the Sala del Papa[24] of a very beautiful group of horsemen, to be
painted afterwards in the Hall of the Palace of the Signoria, and likewise
some nudes executed by Michelagnolo Buonarroti in competition with
Leonardo, and much better; and Raffaello, on account of the love that he
always bore to the excellent in art, was seized by such a desire to see them,
that, putting aside that work and all thought of his own advantage and
comfort, he went off to Florence.
Having arrived there, and being pleased no less with the city than with
those works, which appeared to him to be divine, he determined to take up
his abode there for some time; and thus he formed a friendship with some
young painters, among whom were Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, Aristotile da San
Gallo, and others, and became much honoured in that city, particularly by
Taddeo Taddei, who, being one who always loved any man inclined to
excellence, would have him ever in his house and at his table. And
Raffaello, who was gentleness itself, in order not to be beaten in courtesy,

made him two pictures, which incline to his first manner, derived from
Pietro, but also to the other much better manner that he afterwards acquired
by study, as will be related; which pictures are still in the house of the heirs
of the said Taddeo.

LO SPOSALIZIO
(After the panel by Raffaello da Urbino.
Milan: Brera, 472)

Anderson
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Raffaello also formed a very great friendship with Lorenzo Nasi; and for
this Lorenzo, who had taken a wife about that time, he painted a picture in
which he made a Madonna, and between her legs her Son, to whom a little
S. John, full of joy, is offering a bird, with great delight and pleasure for
both of them. In the attitude of each is a certain childlike simplicity which is
wholly lovely, besides that they are so well coloured, and executed with
such diligence, that they appear to be rather of living flesh than wrought by
means of colour and draughtsmanship; the Madonna, likewise, has an air
truly full of grace and divinity; and the foreground, the landscapes, and in
short all the rest of the work, are most beautiful. This picture was held by
Lorenzo Nasi, as long as he lived, in very great veneration, both in memory
of Raffaello, who had been so much his friend, and on account of the
dignity and excellence of the work; but afterwards, on August 9, in the year
1548, it met an evil fate, when, on account of the collapse of the hill of S.
Giorgio, the house of Lorenzo fell down, together with the ornate and
beautiful houses of the heirs of Marco del Nero, and other neighbouring
dwellings. However, the pieces of the picture being found among the
fragments of the ruins, the son of Lorenzo, Battista, who was a great lover
of art, had them put together again as well as was possible.

MADDALENA DONI
(After the panel by Raffaello da Urbino.
Florence: Pitti, 59)
Anderson
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After these works, Raffaello was forced to depart from Florence and go to
Urbino, where, on account of the death of his mother and of his father
Giovanni, all his affairs were in confusion. While he was living in Urbino,
therefore, he painted for Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, then Captain of the
Florentines, two pictures of Our Lady, small but very beautiful, and in his
second manner, which are now in the possession of the most illustrious and

excellent Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino. For the same patron he painted a
little picture of Christ praying in the Garden, with the three Apostles
sleeping at some distance from Him. This painting is so highly finished, that
a miniature could not be better, or in any way different; and after having
been a long time in the possession of Francesco Maria, Duke of Urbino, it
was then presented by the most illustrious Signora Leonora, his consort, to
the Venetians Don Paolo Giustiniano and Don Pietro Quirini, hermits of the
holy Hermitage of Camaldoli, who afterwards placed it, as a relic and a
very rare thing, and, in a word, as a work by the hand of Raffaello da
Urbino, and also to honour the memory of that most illustrious lady, in the
apartment of the Superior of that hermitage, where it is held in the
veneration that it deserves.
Having executed these works and settled his affairs, Raffaello returned to
Perugia, where he painted a panel-picture of Our Lady, S. John the Baptist,
and S. Nicholas, for the Chapel of the Ansidei in the Church of the Servite
Friars. And in the Chapel of the Madonna in S. Severo, a little monastery of
the Order of Camaldoli, in the same city, he painted in fresco a Christ in
Glory, and a God the Father with angels round Him, and six saints seated,
S. Benedict, S. Romualdo, S. Laurence, S. Jerome, S. Mauro, and S.
Placido, three on either side; and on this picture, which was held at that
time to be most beautiful for a work in fresco, he wrote his name in large
and very legible letters. In the same city, also, he was commissioned by the
Nuns of S. Anthony of Padua to paint a panel-picture of Our Lady, with
Jesus Christ fully dressed, as it pleased those simple and venerable sisters,
in her lap, and on either side of the Madonna S. Peter, S. Paul, S. Cecilia,
and S. Catherine; to which two holy virgins he gave the sweetest and most
lovely expressions of countenance and the most beautifully varied head-
dresses that are anywhere to be seen, which was a rare thing in those times.
Above this panel, in a lunette, he painted a very beautiful God the Father,
and in the predella of the altar three scenes with little figures, of Christ
praying in the Garden, bearing the Cross (wherein are some soldiers
dragging Him along with most beautiful movements), and lying dead in the
lap of His Mother. This work is truly marvellous and devout; and it is held
in great veneration by those nuns, and much extolled by all painters.
I will not refrain from saying that it was recognized, after he had been in
Florence, that he changed and improved his manner so much, from having

seen many works by the hands of excellent masters, that it had nothing to
do with his earlier manner; indeed, the two might have belonged to different
masters, one much more excellent than the other in painting.
Before he departed from Perugia, Madonna Atalanta Baglioni besought him
that he should consent to paint a panel for her chapel in the Church of S.
Francesco; but since he was not able to meet her wishes at that time, he
promised her that, after returning from Florence, whither he was obliged to
go on some affairs, he would not fail her. And so, having come to Florence,
where he applied himself with incredible labour to the studies of his art, he
made the cartoon for that chapel, with the intention of going, as he did, as
soon as the occasion might present itself, to put it into execution.

RAFFAELLO DA URBINO: ANGELO DONI
(Florence: Pitti, 61. Panel)
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While he was thus staying in Florence, Agnolo Doni—who was very
careful of his money in other things, but willing to spend it, although still
with the greatest possible economy, on works of painting and sculpture, in
which he much delighted—caused him to make portraits of himself and of
his wife; and these may be seen, painted in his new manner, in the
possession of Giovan Battista, his son, in the beautiful and most

commodious house that the same Agnolo built on the Corso de' Tintori, near
the Canto degli Alberti, in Florence. For Domenico Canigiani, also, he
painted a picture of Our Lady, with the Child Jesus welcoming a little S.
John brought to Him by S. Elizabeth, who, as she holds him, is gazing with
a most animated expression at a S. Joseph, who is standing with both his
hands leaning on a staff, and inclines his head towards her, as though
praising the greatness of God and marvelling that she, so advanced in years,
should have so young a child. And all appear to be amazed to see with how
much feeling and reverence the two cousins, for all their tender age, are
caressing one another; not to mention that every touch of colour in the
heads, hands, and feet seems to be living flesh rather than a tint laid on by a
master of that art. This most noble picture is now in the possession of the
heirs of the said Domenico Canigiani, who hold it in the estimation that is
due to a work by Raffaello da Urbino.
This most excellent of painters studied in the city of Florence the old works
of Masaccio; and what he saw in those of Leonardo and Michelagnolo
made him give even greater attention to his studies, in consequence of
which he effected an extraordinary improvement in his art and manner.
While he was living in Florence, Raffaello, besides other friendships,
became very intimate with Fra Bartolommeo di San Marco, being much
pleased with his colouring, and taking no little pains to imitate it: and in
return he taught that good father the principles of perspective, to which up
to that time the monk had not given any attention.
But at the very height of this friendly intercourse, Raffaello was recalled to
Perugia, where he began by finishing the work for the aforesaid Madonna
Atalanta Baglioni in S. Francesco, for which, as has been related, he had
made the cartoon in Florence. In this most divine picture there is a Dead
Christ being borne to the Sepulchre, executed with such freshness and such
loving care, that it seems to the eye to have been only just painted. In the
composition of this work, Raffaello imagined to himself the sorrow that the
nearest and most affectionate relatives of the dead one feel in laying to rest
the body of him who has been their best beloved, and on whom, in truth, the
happiness, honour, and welfare of a whole family have depended. Our Lady
is seen in a swoon; and the heads of all the figures are very gracious in their
weeping, particularly that of S. John, who, with his hands clasped, bows his
head in such a manner as to move the hardest heart to pity. And in truth,

whoever considers the diligence, love, art, and grace shown by this picture,
has great reason to marvel, for it amazes all who behold it, what with the air
of the figures, the beauty of the draperies, and, in short, the supreme
excellence that it reveals in every part.

"THE SCHOOL OF ATHENS"
(After the fresco by Raffaello da Urbino.
Rome: The Vatican)
Anderson
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This work finished, he returned to Florence, where he received from the
Dei, citizens of that city, the commission for an altar-panel that was to be
placed in their chapel in S. Spirito; and he began it, and brought the sketch
very nearly to completion. At the same time he painted a picture that was
afterwards sent to Siena, although, on the departure of Raffaello, it was left
with Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, to the end that he might finish a piece of blue
drapery that was wanting. This happened because Bramante da Urbino, who
was in the service of Julius II, wrote to Raffaello, on account of his being
distantly related to him and also his compatriot, that he had so wrought
upon the Pope, who had caused some new rooms to be made (in the

Vatican), that Raffaello would have a chance of showing his worth in them.
This proposal pleased Raffaello: wherefore, abandoning his works in
Florence, and leaving the panel for the Dei unfinished, in the state in which
Messer Baldassarre da Pescia had it placed in the Pieve of his native city
after the death of Raffaello, he betook himself to Rome. Having arrived
there, he found that most of the rooms in the Palace had been painted, or
were still being painted, by a number of masters. To be precise, he saw that
there was one room in which a scene had been finished by Piero della
Francesca; Luca da Cortona had brought one wall nearly to completion; and
Don Pietro[25] della Gatta, Abbot of S. Clemente at Arezzo, had begun some
works there. Bramantino, the Milanese, had likewise painted many figures,
which were mostly portraits from life, and were held to be very beautiful.
After his arrival, therefore, having been received very warmly by Pope
Julius, Raffaello began in the Camera della Segnatura a scene of the
theologians reconciling Philosophy and Astrology with Theology: wherein
are portraits of all the sages in the world, disputing in various ways.
Standing apart are some astrologers, who have made various kinds of
figures and characters of geomancy and astrology on some little tablets,
which they send to the Evangelists by certain very beautiful angels; and
these Evangelists are expounding them. Among them is Diogenes with his
cup, lying on the steps, and lost in thought, a figure very well conceived,
which, for its beauty and the characteristic negligence of its dress, is worthy
to be extolled. There, also, are Aristotle and Plato, one with the Timæus in
his hand, the other with the Ethics; and round them, in a circle, is a great
school of philosophers. Nor is it possible to express the beauty of those
astrologers and geometricians who are drawing a vast number of figures
and characters with compasses on tablets: among whom, in the figure of a
young man, shapely and handsome, who is throwing out his arms in
admiration, and inclining his head, is the portrait of Federigo II, Duke of
Mantua, who was then in Rome. There is also a figure that is stooping to the
ground, holding in its hand a pair of compasses, with which it is making a
circle on a tablet: this is said to be the architect Bramante, and it is no less
the man himself than if he were alive, so well is it drawn. Beside a figure
with its back turned and holding a globe of the heavens in its hand, is the
portrait of Zoroaster; and next to him is Raffaello, the master of the work,
who made his own portrait by means of a mirror, in a youthful head with an

air of great modesty, filled with a pleasing and excellent grace, and wearing
a black cap.
Nor is one able to describe the beauty and goodness that are to be seen in
the heads and figures of the Evangelists, to whose countenances he gave an
air of attention and intentness very true to life, and particularly in those who
are writing. Thus, behind S. Matthew, who is copying the characters from
the tablet wherein are the figures (which is held before him by an angel),
and writing them down in a book, he painted an old man who, having
placed a piece of paper on his knee, is copying all that S. Matthew writes
down; and while intent on his work in that uncomfortable position, he
seems to twist his head and his jaws in time with the motion of the pen. And
in addition to the details of the conceptions, which are numerous enough,
there is the composition of the whole scene, which is truly arranged with so
much order and proportion, that he may be said to have given therein such a
proof of his powers as made men understand that he was resolved to hold
the sovereignty, without question, among all who handled the brush.
He also adorned this work with a view in perspective and with many
figures, executed in such a sweet and delicate manner, that Pope Julius was
induced thereby to cause all the scenes of the other masters, both the old
and the new, to be thrown to the ground, so that Raffaello alone might have
the glory of all the labours that had been devoted to these works up to that
time. The work of Giovanni Antonio Sodoma of Vercelli, which was above
Raffaello's painting, was to be thrown down by order of the Pope; but
Raffaello determined to make use of its compartments and grotesques.
There were also some medallions, four in number, and in each of these he
made a figure as a symbol of the scenes below, each figure being on the
same side as the scene that it represented. Over the first scene, wherein he
painted Philosophy, Astrology, Geometry, and Poetry making peace with
Theology, is a woman representing Knowledge, who is seated on a throne
that is supported on either side by a figure of the Goddess Cybele, each with
those many breasts which in ancient times were the attributes of Diana
Polymastes; and her dress is of four colours, standing for the four elements;
from the head downwards there is the colour of fire, below the girdle that of
the sky, from the groin to the knees there is the colour of earth, and the rest,
down to the feet, is the colour of water. With her, also, are some truly
beautiful little boys. In another medallion, on the side towards the window

that looks over the Belvedere, is a figure of Poetry, who is in the form of
Polyhymnia, crowned with laurel, and holds an antique musical instrument
in one hand, and a book in the other, and has her legs crossed. With a more
than human beauty of expression in her countenance, she stands with her
eyes uplifted towards Heaven, accompanied by two little boys, who are
lively and spirited, and who make a group of beautiful variety both with her
and with the others. On this side, over the aforesaid window, Raffaello
afterwards painted Mount Parnassus. In the third medallion, which is above
the scene where the Holy Doctors are ordaining the Mass, is a figure of
Theology, no less beautiful than the others, with books and other things
round her, and likewise accompanied by little boys. And in the fourth
medallion, over the other window, which looks out on the court, he painted
Justice with her scales, and her sword uplifted, and with the same little boys
that are with the others; of which the effect is supremely beautiful, for in the
scene on the wall below he depicted the giving of the Civil and the Canon
Law, as we will relate in the proper place.
In like manner, on the same ceiling, in the angles of the pendentives, he
executed four scenes which he drew and coloured with great diligence, but
with figures of no great size. In one of these, that near the Theology, he
painted the Sin of Adam, the eating of the apple, which he executed with a
most delicate manner; and in the second, near the Astrology, is a figure of
that science setting the fixed stars and planets in their places. In the next,
that belonging to Mount Parnassus, is Marsyas, whom Apollo has caused to
be bound to a tree and flayed; and on the side of the scene wherein the
Decretals are given, there is the Judgment of Solomon, showing him
proposing to have the child cut in half. These four scenes are all full of
expression and feeling, and executed with excellent draughtsmanship, and
with pleasing and gracious colouring.
But now, having finished with the vaulting—that is, the ceiling—of that
apartment, it remains for us to describe what he painted below the things
mentioned above, wall by wall. On the wall towards the Belvedere, where
there are Mount Parnassus and the Fount of Helicon, he made round that
mount a laurel wood of darkest shadows, in the verdure of which one
almost sees the leaves quivering in the gentle zephyrs; and in the air are
vast numbers of naked Loves, most beautiful in feature and expression, who
are plucking branches of laurel and with them making garlands, which they

throw and scatter about the mount. Over the whole, in truth, there seems to
breathe a spirit of divinity, so beautiful are the figures, and such the nobility
of the picture, which makes whoever studies it with attention marvel how a
human brain, by the imperfect means of mere colours, and by excellence of
draughtsmanship, could make painted things appear alive. Most lifelike,
also, are those Poets who are seen here and there about the mount, some
standing, some seated, some writing, and others discoursing, and others,
again, singing or conversing together, in groups of four or six, according as
it pleased him to distribute them. There are portraits from nature of all the
most famous poets, ancient and modern, and some only just dead, or still
living in his day; which were taken from statues or medals, and many from
old pictures, and some, who were still alive, portrayed from the life by
himself. And to begin with one end, there are Ovid, Virgil, Ennius, Tibullus,
Catullus, Propertius, and Homer; the last-named, blind and chanting his
verses with uplifted head, having at his feet one who is writing them down.
Next, in a group, are all the nine Muses and Apollo, with such beauty in
their aspect, and such divinity in the figures, that they breathe out a spirit of
grace and life. There, also, are the learned Sappho, the most divine Dante,
the gracious Petrarca, and the amorous Boccaccio, who are wholly alive,
with Tibaldeo, and an endless number of other moderns; and this scene is
composed with much grace, and executed with diligence.
On another wall he made a Heaven, with Christ, Our Lady, S. John the
Baptist, the Apostles, the Evangelists, and the Martyrs, enthroned on clouds,
with God the Father sending down the Holy Spirit over them all, and
particularly over an endless number of saints, who are below, writing the
Mass, and engaged in disputation about the Host, which is on the altar.
Among these are the four Doctors of the Church, who have about them a
vast number of saints, such as Dominic, Francis, Thomas Aquinas,
Buonaventura, Scotus, and Nicholas of Lira, with Dante, Fra Girolamo
Savonarola of Ferrara, and all the Christian theologians, with an infinite
number of portraits from nature; and in the air are four little children, who
are holding open the Gospels. Anything more graceful or more perfect than
these figures no painter could create, since those saints are represented as
seated in the air, in a circle, and so well, that in truth, besides the
appearance of life that the colouring gives them, they are foreshortened and
made to recede in such a manner, that they would not be otherwise if they

were in relief. Moreover, their vestments show a rich variety, with most
beautiful folds in the draperies, and the expressions of the heads are more
Divine than human; as may be seen in that of Christ, which reveals all the
clemency and devoutness that Divinity can show to mortal men through the
medium of painting. For Raffaello received from nature a particular gift of
making the expressions of his heads very sweet and gracious; of which we
have proof also in the Madonna, who, with her hands pressed to her bosom,
gazing in contemplation upon her Son, seems incapable of refusing any
favour; not to mention that he showed a truly beautiful sense of fitness,
giving a look of age to the expressions of the Holy Patriarchs, simplicity to
the Apostles, and faith to the Martyrs. Even more art and genius did he
display in the holy Christian Doctors, in whose features, while they make
disputation throughout the scene in groups of six or three or two, there may
be seen a kind of eagerness and distress in seeking to find the truth of that
which is in question, revealing this by gesticulating with their hands,
making various movements of their persons, turning their ears to listen,
knitting their brows, and expressing astonishment in many different ways,
all truly well varied and appropriate; save only the four Doctors of the
Church, who, illumined by the Holy Spirit, are unravelling and expounding,
by means of the Holy Scriptures, all the problems of the Gospels, which are
held up by those little boys who have them in their hands as they hover in
the air.
On another wall, where the other window is, on one side, he painted
Justinian giving the Laws to the Doctors to be revised; and above this,
Temperance, Fortitude, and Prudence. On the other side he painted the Pope
giving the Canonical Decretals; for which Pope he made a portrait from life
of Pope Julius, and, beside him, Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici, who became
Pope Leo, Cardinal Antonio di Monte, and Cardinal Alessandro Farnese,
who afterwards became Pope Paul III, with other portraits.
The Pope was very well satisfied with this work; and in order to make the
panelling worthy of the paintings, he sent to Monte Oliveto di Chiusuri, a
place in the territory of Siena, for Fra Giovanni da Verona, a great master at
that time of perspective-views in inlaid woodwork, who made there not
only the panelling right round, but also very beautiful doors and seats,
wrought with perspective-views, which brought him great favour, rewards,
and honour from the Pope. And it is certain that in that craft there was never

any man more able than Giovanni, either in design or in workmanship: of
which we still have proof in the Sacristy, wrought most beautifully with
perspective-views in woodwork, of S. Maria in Organo in his native city of
Verona, in the choir of Monte Oliveto di Chiusuri and that of S. Benedetto
at Siena, in the Sacristy of Monte Oliveto at Naples, and also in the choir of
the Chapel of Paolo da Tolosa in the same place, executed by that master.
Wherefore he well deserved to be esteemed and held in very great honour
by the convent of his Order, in which he died at the age of sixty-eight, in the
year 1537. Of him, as of a person truly excellent and rare, I have thought it
right to make mention, believing that this was due to his talents, which, as
will be related in another place, led to many beautiful works being made by
other masters after him.

THE "DISPUTA DEL SACRAMENTO"
(After the fresco by Raffaello da Urbino.
Rome: The Vatican)
Anderson
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But to return to Raffaello; his powers grew in such a manner, that he was
commissioned by the Pope to go on to paint a second room, that near the

Great Hall. And at this time, when he had gained a very great name, he also
made a portrait of Pope Julius in a picture in oils, so true and so lifelike,
that the portrait caused all who saw it to tremble, as if it had been the living
man himself. This work is now in S. Maria del Popolo, together with a very
beautiful picture of Our Lady, painted at the same time by the same master,
and containing the Nativity of Jesus Christ, wherein is the Virgin laying a
veil over her Son, whose beauty is such, both in the air of the head and in
all the members, as to show that He is the true Son of God. And no less
beautiful than the Child is the Madonna, in whom, besides her supreme
loveliness, there may be seen piety and gladness. There is also a Joseph,
who, leaning with both his hands on a staff, and lost in thoughtful
contemplation of the King and Queen of Heaven, gazes with the adoration
of a most saintly old man. Both these pictures are exhibited on days of
solemn festival.
By this time Raffaello had acquired much fame in Rome; but, although his
manner was graceful and held by all to be very beautiful, and despite the
fact that he had seen so many antiquities in that city, and was for ever
studying, nevertheless he had not yet given thereby to his figures that
grandeur and majesty which he gave to them from that time onward. For it
happened in those days that Michelagnolo made the terrifying outburst
against the Pope in the chapel, of which we will speak in his Life; whence
he was forced to fly to Florence. Whereupon Bramante, having the keys of
the chapel, allowed Raffaello, who was his friend, to see it, to the end that
he might be able to learn the methods of Michelagnolo. And the sight of it
was the reason that Raffaello straightway repainted, although he had
already finished it, the Prophet Isaiah that is to be seen in S. Agostino at
Rome, above the S. Anne by Andrea Sansovino; in which work, by means
of what he had seen of Michelagnolo's painting, he made the manner
immeasurably better and more grand, and gave it greater majesty.
Wherefore Michelagnolo, on seeing afterwards the work of Raffaello,
thought, as was the truth, that Bramante had done him that wrong on
purpose in order to bring profit and fame to Raffaello.
Not long after this, Agostino Chigi, a very rich merchant of Siena, who was
much the friend of every man of excellence, gave Raffaello the commission
to paint a chapel; and this he did because a short time before Raffaello had
painted for him in his softest manner, in a loggia of his palace, now called

the Chigi, in the Trastevere, a Galatea in a car on the sea drawn by two
dolphins, and surrounded by Tritons and many sea-gods. Raffaello, then,
having made the cartoon for that chapel, which is at the entrance of the
Church of S. Maria della Pace, on the right hand as one goes into the church
by the principal door, executed it in fresco, in his new manner, which was
no little grander and more magnificent than his earlier manner. In this
painting Raffaello depicted some Prophets and Sibyls, before
Michelagnolo's chapel had been thrown open to view, although he had seen
it; and in truth it is held to be the best of his works, and the most beautiful
among so many that are beautiful, for in the women and children that are in
it, there may be seen a marvellous vivacity and perfect colouring. And this
work caused him to be greatly esteemed both in his lifetime and after his
death, being the rarest and most excellent that Raffaello executed in all his
life.
Next, spurred by the entreaties of a Chamberlain of Pope Julius, he painted
the panel for the high-altar of the Araceli, wherein he made a Madonna in
the sky, with a most beautiful landscape, a S. John, a S. Francis, and a S.
Jerome represented as a Cardinal; in which Madonna may be seen a
humility and a modesty truly worthy of the Mother of Christ; and besides
the beautiful gesture of the Child as He plays with His Mother's hand, there
is revealed in S. John that penitential air which fasting generally gives,
while his head displays the sincerity of soul and frank assurance appropriate
to those who live away from the world and despise it, and, in their dealings
with mankind, make war on falsehood and speak out the truth. In like
manner, the S. Jerome has his head uplifted with his eyes on the Madonna,
deep in contemplation; and in them seem to be suggested all the learning
and knowledge that he showed in his writings, while with both his hands he
is presenting the Chamberlain, in the act of recommending him to her;
which portrait of the Chamberlain is as lifelike as any ever painted. Nor did
Raffaello fail to do as well in the figure of S. Francis, who, kneeling on the
ground, with one arm outstretched, and with his head upraised, is gazing up
at the Madonna, glowing with a love in tone with the feeling of the picture,
which, both by the lineaments and by the colouring, shows him melting
with affection, and taking comfort and life from the gracious sight of her
beauty and of the vivacity and beauty of her Son. In the middle of the panel,
below the Madonna, Raffaello made a little boy standing, who is raising his

head towards her and holding an inscription: than whom none better or
more graceful could be painted, what with the beauty of his features and the
proportionate loveliness of his person. And in addition there is a landscape,
which is singularly beautiful in its absolute perfection.

THE MASS OF BOLSENA
(After the fresco by Raffaello da Urbino.
Rome: The Vatican)
Anderson
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Afterwards, going on with the apartments of the Palace, he painted a scene
of the Miracle of the Sacramental Corporal of Orvieto, or of Bolsena,
whichever it may be called. In this scene there may be perceived in the face
of the priest who is saying Mass, which is glowing with a blush, the shame
that he felt on seeing the Host turned into blood on the Corporal on account
of his unbelief. With terror in his eyes, dumbfoundered and beside himself
in the presence of his hearers, he seems like one who knows not what to do;
and in the gesture of his hands may almost be seen the fear and trembling
that a man would feel in such a case. Round him Raffaello made many
figures, all varied and different, some serving the Mass, others kneeling on

a flight of steps; and all, bewildered by the strangeness of the event, are
making various most beautiful movements and gestures, while in many,
both men and women, there is revealed a belief that they are to blame.
Among the women is one who is seated on the ground at the foot of the
scene, holding a child in her arms; and she, hearing the account that another
appears to be giving her of the thing that has happened to the priest, turns in
a marvellous manner as she listens to this, with a womanly grace that is
very natural and lifelike. On the other side he painted Pope Julius hearing
that Mass, a most marvellous work, wherein he made a portrait of Cardinal
di San Giorgio, with innumerable others; and the window-opening he
turned to advantage by making a flight of steps, in such a way that all the
painting seems to be one whole: nay, it appears as if, were that window-
space not there, the work would in nowise have been complete. Wherefore
it may be truly credited to him that in the invention and composition of
every kind of painted story, no one has ever been more dexterous, facile,
and able than Raffaello.
This he also proved in another scene in the same place, opposite to the last-
named, of S. Peter in the hands of Herod, and guarded in prison by men-at-
arms; wherein he showed such a grasp of architecture, and such judgment in
the buildings of the prison, that in truth the others after him seem to have
more confusion than he has beauty. For he was ever seeking to represent
stories just as they are written, and to paint in them things gracious and
excellent; as is proved in this one by the horror of the prison, wherein that
old man is seen bound in chains of iron between the two men-at-arms, by
the deep slumber of the guards, and by the dazzling splendour of the Angel,
which, in the thick darkness of the night, reveals with its light every detail
of the prison, and makes the arms of the soldiers shine resplendent, in such
a way that their burnished lustre seems more lifelike than if they were real,
although they are only painted. No less art and genius are there in the action
of S. Peter, when, freed from his chains, he goes forth from the prison,
accompanied by the Angel, wherein one sees in the face of the Saint a belief
that it is rather a dream than a reality; and so, also, terror and dismay are
shown in some other armed guards without the prison, who hear the noise
of the iron door, while a sentinel with a torch in his hand rouses the others,
and, as he gives them light with it, the blaze of the torch is reflected in all
their armour; and all that its glow does not reach is illumined by the light of

the moon. This composition Raffaello painted over the window, where the
wall is darkest; and thus, when you look at the picture, the light strikes you
in the face, and the real light conflicts so well with the different lights of the
night in the painting, that the smoke of the torch, the splendour of the
Angel, and the thick darkness of the night seem to you to be wholly real and
natural, and you would never say that it was all painted, so vividly did he
express this difficult conception. In it are seen shadows playing on the
armour, other shadows projected, reflections, and a vaporous glare from the
lights, all executed with darkest shade, and so well, that it may be truly said
that he was the master of every other master; and as an effect of night,
among all those that painting has ever produced, this is the most real and
most divine, and is held by all the world to be the rarest.
On one of the unbroken walls, also, he painted the Divine Worship and the
Ark of the Hebrews, with the Candlestick; and likewise Pope Julius driving
Avarice out of the Temple, a scene as beautiful and as excellent as the Night
described above. Here, in some bearers who are carrying Pope Julius, a
most lifelike figure, in his chair, are portraits of men who were living at that
time. And while the people, some women among them, are making way for
the Pope, so that he may pass, one sees the furious onset of an armed man
on horseback, who, accompanied by two on foot, and in an attitude of the
greatest fierceness, is smiting and riding down the proud Heliodorus, who is
seeking, at the command of Antiochus, to rob the Temple of all the wealth
stored for the widows and orphans. Already the riches and treasures could
be seen being removed and taken away, when, on account of the terror of
the strange misfortune of Heliodorus, so rudely struck down and smitten by
the three figures mentioned above (although, this being a vision, they are
seen and heard by him alone), behold, they are all dropped and upset on the
ground, those who were carrying them falling down through the sudden
terror and panic that had come upon all the following of Heliodorus. Apart
from these may be seen the holy Onias, the High Priest, dressed in his robes
of office, with his eyes and hands raised to Heaven, and praying most
fervently, being seized with pity for the poor innocents who were thus
nearly losing their possessions, and rejoicing at the help that he feels has
come down from on high. Besides this, through a beautiful fancy of
Raffaello's, one sees many who have climbed on to the socles of the
column-bases, and, clasping the shafts, stand looking in most

uncomfortable attitudes; with a throng of people showing their amazement
in many various ways, and awaiting the result of this event.
This work is in every part so stupendous, that even the cartoons are held in
the greatest veneration; wherefore Messer Francesco Masini, a gentleman
of Cesena—who, without the help of any master, but giving his attention by
himself from his earliest childhood, guided by an extraordinary instinct of
nature, to drawing and painting, has painted pictures that have been much
extolled by good judges of art—possesses, among his many drawings and
some ancient reliefs in marble, certain pieces of the cartoon which Raffaello
made for this story of Heliodorus, and he holds them in the estimation that
they truly deserve. Nor will I refrain from saying that Messer Niccolò
Masini, who has given me information about these matters, is as much a
true lover of our arts as he is a man of real culture in all other things.
But to return to Raffaello; on the ceiling above these works, he then
executed four scenes, God appearing to Abraham and promising him the
multiplication of his seed, the Sacrifice of Isaac, Jacob's Ladder, and the
Burning Bush of Moses: wherein may be recognized no less art, invention,
draughtsmanship, and grace, than in the other works that he painted.
While the happy genius of this craftsman was producing such marvels, the
envy of fortune cut short the life of Julius II, who had fostered such
abilities, and had been a lover of every excellent work. Whereupon a new
Pope was elected in Leo X, who desired that the work begun should be
carried on; and Raffaello thereby soared with his genius into the heavens,
and received endless favours from him, fortunate in having come upon a
Prince so great, who had by the inheritance of blood a strong inclination for
such an art. Raffaello, therefore, thus encouraged to pursue the work,
painted on the other wall the Coming of Attila to Rome, and his encounter
at the foot of Monte Mario with Leo III, who drove him away with his mere
benediction. In this scene Raffaello made S. Peter and S. Paul in the air,
with swords in their hands, coming to defend the Church; and while the
story of Leo III says nothing of this, nevertheless it was thus that he chose
to represent it, perchance out of fancy, for it often happens that painters, like
poets, go straying from their subject in order to make their work the more
ornate, although their digressions are not such as to be out of harmony with
their first intention. In those Apostles may be seen that celestial wrath and

ardour which the Divine Justice is wont often to impart to the features of its
ministers, charged with defending the most holy Faith; and of this we have
proof in Attila, who is to be seen riding a black horse with white feet and a
star on its forehead, as beautiful as it could be, for in an attitude of the
utmost terror he throws up his head and turns his body in flight. There are
other most beautiful horses, particularly a dappled jennet, which is ridden
by a figure that has all the body covered with scales after the manner of a
fish; which is copied from the Column of Trajan, wherein the figures have
armour of that kind; and it is thought that such armour is made from the
skins of crocodiles. There is Monte Mario, all aflame, showing that when
soldiers march away, their quarters are always left a prey to fire. He made
portraits from nature, also, in some mace-bearers accompanying the Pope,
who are marvellously lifelike, as are the horses on which they are riding;
and the same is true of the retinue of Cardinals, and of some grooms who
are holding the palfrey on which rides the Pope in full pontificals (a portrait
of Leo X, no less lifelike than those of the others), with many courtiers; the
whole being a most pleasing spectacle and well in keeping with such a
work, and also very useful to our art, particularly for those who have no
such objects at their command.
At this same time he painted a panel containing Our Lady, S. Jerome robed
as a Cardinal, and an Angel Raphael accompanying Tobias, which was
placed in S. Domenico at Naples, in that chapel wherein is the Crucifix that
spoke to S. Thomas Aquinas. For Signor Leonello da Carpi, Lord of
Meldola, who is still alive, although more than ninety years old, he
executed a picture that was most marvellous in colouring, and of a singular
beauty, for it is painted with such force, and also with a delicacy so
pleasing, that I do not think it is possible to do better. In the countenance of
the Madonna may be seen such a divine air, and in her attitude such a
dignity, that no one would be able to improve her; and he made her with the
hands clasped, adoring her Son, who is seated on her knees, caressing a S.
John, a little boy, who is adoring Him, in company with S. Elizabeth and
Joseph. This picture was once in the possession of the very reverend
Cardinal da Carpi, the son of the said Signor Leonello, and a great lover of
our arts; and it should be at the present day in the hands of his heirs.
Afterwards, Lorenzo Pucci, Cardinal of Santi Quattro, having been created
Grand Penitentiary, Raffaello was favoured by him with a commission to

paint a panel for S. Giovanni in Monte at Bologna, which is now set up in
the chapel wherein lies the body of the Blessed Elena dall' Olio: in which
work it is evident how much grace, in company with art, could accomplish
by means of the delicate hands of Raffaello. In it is a S. Cecilia, who,
entranced by a choir of angels on high, stands listening to the sound, wholly
absorbed in the harmony; and in her countenance is seen that abstraction
which is found in the faces of those who are in ecstasy. Scattered about the
ground, moreover, are musical instruments, which have the appearance of
being, not painted, but real and true; and such, also, are some veils that she
is wearing, with vestments woven in silk and gold, and, below these, a
marvellous hair-shirt. And in a S. Paul, who has the right arm leaning on his
naked sword, and the head resting on the hand, one sees his profound air of
knowledge, no less well expressed than the transformation of his pride of
aspect into dignity. He is clothed in a simple red garment by way of mantle,
below which is a green tunic, after the manner of the Apostles, and his feet
are bare. There is also S. Mary Magdalene, who is holding in her hands a
most delicate vase of stone, in an attitude of marvellous grace; turning her
head, she seems full of joy at her conversion; and indeed, in that kind of
painting, I do not think that anything better could be done. Very beautiful,
likewise, are the heads of S. Augustine and S. John the Evangelist. Of a
truth, other pictures may be said to be pictures, but those of Raffaello life
itself, for in his figures the flesh quivers, the very breath may be perceived,
the pulse beats, and the true presentment of life is seen in them; on which
account this picture gave him, in addition to the fame that he had already,
an even greater name. Wherefore many verses were written in his honour,
both Latin and in the vulgar tongue, of which, in order not to make my story
longer than I have set out to do, I will cite only the following:
Pingant sola alii referantque coloribus ora;
Cæciliæ os Raphael atque animum explicuit.
After this he also painted a little picture with small figures, which is
likewise at Bologna, in the house of Count Vincenzio Ercolano, containing
a Christ after the manner of Jove in Heaven, surrounded by the four
Evangelists as Ezekiel describes them, one in the form of a man, another as
a lion, the third an eagle, and the fourth an ox, with a little landscape below
to represent the earth: which work, in its small proportions, is no less rare
and beautiful than his others in their greatness.

POPE LEO X WITH TWO CARDINALS
(After the panel by Raffaello da Urbino.
Florence: Pitti, 40)
M.S.
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To the Counts of Canossa in Verona he sent a large picture of equal
excellence, in which is a very beautiful Nativity of Our Lord, with a
daybreak that is much extolled, as is also the S. Anne, and, indeed, the
whole work, which cannot be more highly praised than by saying that it is
by the hand of Raffaello da Urbino. Wherefore those Counts rightly hold it
in supreme veneration, nor have they ever consented, for all the vast prices
that have been offered to them by many Princes, to sell it to anyone.

For Bindo Altoviti, he made a portrait of him when he was a young man,
which is held to be extraordinary; and likewise a picture of Our Lady,
which he sent to Florence, and which is now in the Palace of Duke Cosimo,
in the chapel of the new apartments, which were built and painted by me,
where it serves as altar-piece. In it is painted a very old S. Anne, seated, and
holding out to Our Lady her Son, the features of whose countenance, as
well as the whole of His nude form, are so beautiful that with His smile He
rejoices whoever beholds Him; besides which, Raffaello depicted, in
painting the Madonna, all the beauty that can be imparted to the aspect of a
Virgin, with the complement of chaste humility in the eyes, honour in the
brow, grace in the nose, and virtue in the mouth; not to mention that her
raiment is such as to reveal infinite simplicity and dignity. And, indeed, I do
not think that there is anything better to be seen than this whole work. There
is a nude S. John, seated, with a female saint, who is likewise very
beautiful; and for background there is a building, in which he painted a
linen-covered window that gives light to the room wherein are the figures.
In Rome he made a picture of good size, in which he portrayed Pope Leo,
Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, and Cardinal de' Rossi. In this the figures
appear to be not painted, but in full relief; there is the pile of the velvet,
with the damask of the Pope's vestments shining and rustling, the fur of the
linings soft and natural, and the gold and silk so counterfeited that they do
not seem to be in colour, but real gold and silk. There is an illuminated book
of parchment, which appears more real than the reality; and a little bell of
wrought silver, which is more beautiful than words can tell. Among other
things, also, is a ball of burnished gold on the Pope's chair, wherein are
reflected, as if it were a mirror (such is its brightness), the light from the
windows, the shoulders of the Pope, and the walls round the room. And all
these things are executed with such diligence, that one may believe without
any manner of doubt that no master is able, or is ever likely to be able, to do
better. For this work the Pope was pleased to reward him very richly; and
the picture is still to be seen in Florence, in the guardaroba of the Duke. In
like manner he executed portraits of Duke Lorenzo and Duke Giuliano,
with a perfect grace of colouring not achieved by any other than himself,
which are in the possession of the heirs of Ottaviano de' Medici at Florence.
Thereupon there came to Raffaello a great increase of glory, and likewise of
rewards; and for this reason, in order to leave some memorial of himself, he

caused a palace to be built in the Borgo Nuovo at Rome, which Bramante
executed with castings. Now, the fame of this most noble craftsman, by
reason of the aforesaid works and many others, having passed into France
and Flanders, Albrecht Dürer, a most marvellous German painter, and an
engraver of very beautiful copperplates, rendered tribute to Raffaello out of
his own works, and sent to him a portrait of himself, a head, executed by
him in gouache on a cloth of fine linen, which showed the same on either
side, the lights being transparent and obtained without lead-white, while the
only grounding and colouring was done with water-colours, the white of the
cloth serving for the ground of the bright parts. This work seemed to
Raffaello to be marvellous, and he sent him, therefore, many drawings
executed by his own hand, which were received very gladly by Albrecht.
That head was among the possessions of Giulio Romano, the heir of
Raffaello, in Mantua.
Raffaello, having thus seen the manner of the engravings of Albrecht Dürer,
and desiring on his own behalf to show what could be done with his work
by such an art, caused Marc' Antonio Bolognese to make a very thorough
study of the method; and that master became so excellent, that Raffaello
commissioned him to make prints of his first works, such as the drawing of
the Innocents, a Last Supper, the Neptune, and the S. Cecilia being boiled in
oil. Marc' Antonio afterwards made for Raffaello a number of other
engravings, which Raffaello finally gave to Baviera, his assistant, who had
charge of a mistress whom Raffaello loved to the day of his death. Of her he
made a very beautiful portrait, wherein she seemed wholly alive: and this is
now in Florence, in the possession of that most gentle of men, Matteo Botti,
a Florentine merchant, and an intimate friend of every able person, and
particularly of painters, who treasures it as a relic, on account of the love
that he bears to art, and above all to Raffaello. And no less esteem is shown
to the works of our arts and to the craftsmen by his brother, Simon Botti,
who, besides being held by us all to be one of the most loving spirits that
show favour to the men of our professions, is held in estimation by me in
particular as the best and greatest friend that ever man loved after a long
experience; not to mention the good judgment that he has and shows in
matters of art.
But to return to the engravings; the favour shown by Raffaello to Baviera
was the reason that there afterwards sprang up Marco da Ravenna and a

host of others, insomuch that the dearth of copper engravings was changed
into that abundance that we see at the present day. Thereupon Ugo da Carpi,
having a brain inclined to ingenious and fanciful things, and showing
beautiful invention, discovered the method of wood-engraving, whereby,
with three blocks, giving the middle values, the lights, and the shadows, it is
possible to imitate drawings in chiaroscuro, which was certainly a thing of
beautiful and fanciful invention; and from this, also, there afterwards came
an abundance of prints, as will be related with greater detail in the Life of
Marc' Antonio Bolognese.
Raffaello then painted for the Monastery of the Monks of Monte Oliveto,
called S. Maria dello Spasmo, at Palermo, a panel-picture of Christ bearing
the Cross, which is held to be a marvellous work. In this may be seen the
impious ministers of the Crucifixion, leading Him with wrath and fury to
His death on Mount Calvary; and Christ, broken with agony at the near
approach of death, has fallen to the ground under the weight of the Tree of
the Cross, and, bathed with sweat and blood, turns towards the Maries, who
are in a storm of weeping. Moreover, there is seen among them Veronica,
who stretches out her arms and offers Him a cloth, with an expression of the
tenderest love, not to mention that the work is full of men-at-arms both on
horseback and on foot, who are pouring forth from the gate of Jerusalem
with the standards of justice in their hands, in various most beautiful
attitudes. This panel, when completely finished, but not yet brought to its
resting-place, was very near coming to an evil end, for the story goes that
after it had been put on shipboard, in order that it might be carried to
Palermo, a terrible storm dashed against a rock the ship that was carrying it,
in such a manner that the timbers broke asunder, and all the men were lost,
together with the merchandise, save only the panel, which, safely packed in
its case, was washed by the sea on to the shore of Genoa. There, having
been fished up and drawn to land, it was found to be a thing divine, and was
put into safe keeping; for it had remained undamaged and without any hurt
or blemish, since even the fury of the winds and the waves of the sea had
respect for the beauty of such a work. The news of this being then bruited
abroad, the monks took measures to recover it, and no sooner had it been
restored to them, by the favour of the Pope, than they gave satisfaction, and
that liberally, to those who had rescued it. Thereupon it was once more put
on board ship and brought at last to Sicily, where they set it up in Palermo;

in which place it has more fame and reputation than the Mount of Vulcan
itself.
While Raffaello was engaged on these works, which, having to gratify great
and distinguished persons, he could not refuse to undertake—not to mention
that his own private interests prevented him from saying them nay—yet for
all this he never ceased to carry on the series of pictures that he had begun
in the Papal apartments and halls; wherein he always kept men who pursued
the work from his own designs, while he himself, continually supervising
everything, lent to so vast an enterprise the aid of the best efforts of which
he was capable. No long time passed, therefore, before he threw open that
apartment of the Borgia Tower in which he had painted a scene on every
wall, two above the windows, and two others on the unbroken walls. In one
was the Burning of the Borgo Vecchio of Rome, when, all other methods
having failed to put out the fire, S. Leo IV presents himself at the Loggia of
his Palace and extinguishes it completely with his benediction. In this scene
are represented various perils. On one side are women who are bearing
vessels filled with water in their hands and on their heads, whereby to
extinguish the flames; and their hair and draperies are blown about by the
terrible fury of a tempestuous wind. Others, who are seeking to throw water
on the fire, are blinded by the smoke and wholly bewildered. On the other
side, after the manner of Virgil's story of Anchises being carried by Æneas,
is shown an old sick man, overcome by his infirmity and the flames of the
fire; and in the figure of the young man are seen courage and strength, and
great effort in all his limbs under the weight of the old man, who lies
helpless on the young man's back. He is followed by an old woman with
bare feet and disordered garments, who is flying from the fire; and a little
naked boy runs before them. On the top of some ruins, likewise, may be
seen a naked woman, with hair all dishevelled, who has her child in her
hands and is throwing him to a man of her house, who, having escaped
from the flames, is standing in the street on tiptoe, with arms outstretched to
receive the child wrapped in swathing-bands; wherein the eager anxiety of
the woman to save her son may be recognized no less clearly than her
torment in the peril of the fierce flames, which are already licking around
her. And no less suffering is evident in him who is receiving the child, both
for its sake and on account of his own fear of death. Nor is it possible to
describe the imagination that this most ingenious and most marvellous

craftsman showed in a mother with her feet bare, her garments in disorder,
her girdle unbound, and her hair dishevelled, who has gathered her children
before her and is driving them on, holding part of her clothing in one hand,
that they may escape from the ruins and from that blazing furnace; not to
mention that there are also some women who, kneeling before the Pope,
appear to be praying to his Holiness that he should make the fire cease.
The next scene is from the life of the same S. Leo IV, wherein Raffaello
depicted the port of Ostia occupied by the fleet of the Turks, who had come
to take the Pope prisoner. The Christians may be seen fighting against that
fleet on the sea; and already there has come to the harbour an endless
number of prisoners, who are disembarking from a boat and being dragged
by the beard by some soldiers, who are very beautiful in features and most
spirited in their attitudes. The prisoners, dressed in the motley garb of
galley-slaves, are being led before S. Leo, whose figure is a portrait of Pope
Leo X. Here Raffaello painted his Holiness in pontificals, between Cardinal
Santa Maria in Portico, who was Bernardo Divizio of Bibbiena, and
Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, who afterwards became Pope Clement. Nor is it
possible to describe in detail the beautiful conceptions that this most
ingenious craftsman showed in the expressions of the prisoners, wherein
one can recognize, without speech, their grief and the fear of death.
In the first of the other two scenes is Pope Leo X consecrating the most
Christian King, Francis I of France, chanting the Mass in his pontificals,
and blessing the oil for the anointing of the King, and likewise the royal
crown. There, besides the great number of Cardinals and Bishops in their
robes, who are assisting, he portrayed from life many Ambassadors and
other persons, and also some figures dressed in the French fashion,
according to the style of that time. In the other scene he painted the
Crowning of the same King, wherein are portraits from life of the Pope and
of Francis, one in armour and the other in his pontificals; besides which, all
the Cardinals, Bishops, Chamberlains, Esquires, and Grooms of the
Chamber are seated in due order in their places, as is the custom in the
chapel, all in their robes and portrayed from life, among them being
Giannozzo Pandolfini, Bishop of Troia, a close friend of Raffaello, with
many others who were distinguished at that time. Near the King is a little
boy kneeling, who is holding the royal crown—a portrait of Ippolito de'
Medici, who afterwards became Cardinal and Vice-Chancellor, a man of

great repute, and much the friend not only of this art, but of all others, to
whose blessed memory I acknowledge a vast obligation, seeing that my first
steps, such as they were, were taken under his auspices.
It is not possible to write of every detail in the works of this craftsman,
wherein every least thing, although dumb, appears to have speech: save
only of the bases executed below these pictures, with various figures of
defenders and benefactors of the Church, and various terminal figures on
either side of them, the whole being wrought in such a manner that
everything reveals spirit, feeling, and thought, and with such a harmony and
unity of colouring that nothing better can be conceived. And since the
ceiling of that apartment had been painted by Pietro Perugino, his master,
Raffaello would not destroy it, moved by respect for his memory and by the
love that he bore to the man who had been the origin of the rank that he
held in his art.
Such was the greatness of this master, that he kept designers all over Italy,
at Pozzuolo, and even in Greece; and he was for ever searching out
everything of the good that might help his art.
Now, continuing his work, he also painted a hall, wherein were some
figures of the Apostles and other saints in tabernacles, executed in terretta;
and there he caused to be made by Giovanni da Udine, his disciple, who has
no equal in the painting of animals, all the animals that Pope Leo possessed,
such as the chameleon, the civet-cats, the apes, the parrots, the lions, the
elephants, and other beasts even more strange. And besides embellishing
the Palace greatly with grotesques and varied pavements, he also gave the
designs for the Papal staircases, as well as for the loggie begun by the
architect Bramante, but left unfinished on account of his death, and
afterwards carried out with the new design and architecture of Raffaello,
who made for this a model of wood with better proportion and adornment
than had been accomplished by Bramante. The Pope wishing to
demonstrate the greatness and magnificence of his generous ambition,
Raffaello made the designs for the ornaments in stucco and for the scenes
that were painted there, and likewise for the compartments; and as for the
stucco and the grotesques, he placed at the head of that work Giovanni da
Udine, and the figures he entrusted to Giulio Romano, although that master
worked but little at them; and he also employed Giovanni Francesco, Il

Bologna, Perino del Vaga, Pellegrino da Modena, Vincenzio da San
Gimignano, and Polidoro da Caravaggio, with many other painters, who
executed scenes and figures and other things that were required throughout
that work, which Raffaello caused to be completed with such perfection,
that he even sent to Florence for pavements by the hand of Luca della
Robbia. Wherefore it is certain that with regard to the paintings, the stucco-
ornaments, the arrangement, or any of the beautiful inventions, no one
would be able to execute or even to imagine a more marvellous work; and
its beauty was the reason that Raffaello received the charge of all the works
of painting and architecture that were in progress in the Palace.
It is said that the courtesy of Raffaello was such that he prevailed upon the
masons, in order that he might accommodate his friends, not to build the
walls absolutely solid and unbroken, but to leave, above the old rooms
below, various openings and spaces for the storage of barrels, flasks, and
wood; which holes and spaces so weakened the lower part of the masonry,
that afterwards they had to be filled in, because the whole was beginning to
show cracks. He commissioned Gian Barile to adorn all the doors and
ceilings of woodwork with a good number of carvings, which he executed
and finished with beautiful grace.

He gave architectural designs for the Vigna[26] of the Pope, and for many
houses in the Borgo; in particular, for the Palace of Messer Giovanni
Battista dall' Aquila, which was a very beautiful work. He also designed one
for the Bishop of Troia, who had it built in the Via di S. Gallo at Florence.
For the Black Friars of S. Sisto in Piacenza, he painted the picture for their
high-altar, containing the Madonna with S. Sisto and S. Barbara, a truly rare
and extraordinary work. He executed many pictures to be sent into France,
and in particular, for the King, a S. Michael fighting with the Devil, which
was held to be a marvellous thing. In this work he painted a fire-scarred
rock, to represent the centre of the earth, from the fissures of which were
issuing sulphurous flames; and in Lucifer, whose scorched and burned
limbs are painted with various tints of flesh-colour, could be seen all the
shades of anger that his venomous and swollen pride calls up against Him
who overbears the greatness of him who is deprived of any kingdom where
there might be peace, and doomed to suffer perpetual punishment. The
opposite may be perceived in the S. Michael, clad in armour of iron and
gold, who, although he is painted with a celestial air, yet has valour, force,

and terror in his aspect, and has already thrown Lucifer down and hurled
him backwards with his spear. In a word, this work was of such a kind that
he won for it, and rightly, a most honourable reward from that King. He
made portraits of Beatrice of Ferrara and other ladies, and in particular that
of his own mistress, with an endless number of others.
Raffaello was a very amorous person, delighting much in women, and ever
ready to serve them; which was the reason that, in the pursuit of his carnal
pleasures, he found his friends more complacent and indulgent towards him
than perchance was right. Wherefore, when his dear friend Agostino Chigi
commissioned him to paint the first loggia in his palace, Raffaello was not
able to give much attention to his work, on account of the love that he had
for his mistress; at which Agostino fell into such despair, that he so
contrived by means of others, by himself, and in other ways, as to bring it
about, although only with difficulty, that this lady should come to live
continually with Raffaello in that part of the house where he was working;
and in this manner the work was brought to completion. For this work he
made all the cartoons, and he coloured many of the figures in fresco with
his own hand. And on the ceiling he made the Council of the Gods in
Heaven, wherein, in the forms of the Gods, are seen many vestments and
lineaments copied from the antique, and executed with very beautiful grace
and draughtsmanship. In like manner he made the Marriage of Psyche, with
ministers serving Jove, and the Graces scattering flowers over the table. In
the spandrels of the vaulting he executed many scenes, in one of which is
Mercury with his flute, who, as he flies, has all the appearance of
descending from Heaven; and in another is Jove with an air of celestial
dignity, kissing Ganymede; and in another, likewise, lower down, is the Car
of Venus, and the Graces, with Mercury, drawing Psyche up to Heaven;
with many other scenes from the poets in the other spandrels. And in the
spherical triangles of the vaulting above the arches, between the spandrels,
are many most beautiful little boys in foreshortening, hovering in the air
and carrying all the instruments of the gods; Jove's lightnings and
thunderbolts, the helmet, sword, and shield of Mars, Vulcan's hammers, the
club and lion-skin of Hercules, the caduceus of Mercury, Pan's pipes, and
the agricultural rakes of Vertumnus. All are accompanied by animals
appropriate to their character; and the whole work, both as picture and as
poem, is truly beautiful. Round these scenes he caused Giovanni da Udine

to make a border of all kinds of flowers, foliage, and fruits, in festoons,
which are as beautiful as they could be.
Raffaello made the designs for the architecture of the stables of the Chigi,
and the design for the chapel of the aforesaid Agostino in S. Maria del
Popolo, wherein, besides painting it, he made arrangements for the erection
of a marvellous tomb, causing Lorenzetto, a sculptor of Florence, to execute
two figures, which are still in his house in the Macello de' Corbi at Rome;
but the death of Raffaello, followed by that of Agostino, brought it about
that this work was given to Sebastiano Viniziano.
Meanwhile Raffaello had risen to such greatness, that Leo X ordained that
he should set to work on the Great Hall on the upper floor, wherein are the
Victories of Constantine; and with this he made a beginning. A fancy
likewise took the Pope to have some very rich tapestries made in gold and
floss-silk; whereupon Raffaello drew and coloured with his own hand, of
the exact form and size, all the cartoons, which were sent to Flanders to be
woven; and the tapestries, when finished, were brought to Rome. This work
was executed so marvellously, that it arouses astonishment in whoever
beholds it, wondering how it could have been possible to weave the hair
and beards in such detail, and to give softness to the flesh with mere
threads; and it is truly rather a miracle than the work of human art, seeing
that in these tapestries are animals, water, and buildings, all made in such a
way that they seem to be not woven, but really wrought with the brush. The
work cost 70,000 crowns, and it is still preserved in the Papal Chapel.
For Cardinal Colonna he painted a S. John on canvas, for which, on account
of its beauty, that Cardinal had an extraordinary love; but happening to be
attacked by illness, he was asked by Messer Jacopo da Carpi, the physician
who cured him, to give it to him as a present; and because of this desire of
Messer Jacopo, to whom he felt himself very deeply indebted, he gave it up.
It is now in the possession of Francesco Benintendi, in Florence.

THE TRANSFIGURATION
(After the panel by Raffaello da Urbino.
Rome: The Vatican)
Anderson
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For Giulio de' Medici, Cardinal and Vice-Chancellor, he painted a panel-
picture, to be sent into France, of the Transfiguration of Christ, at which he
laboured without ceasing, and brought it to the highest perfection with his
own hand. In this scene he represented Christ Transfigured on Mount Tabor,
at the foot of which are the eleven Disciples awaiting Him. There may be

seen a young man possessed by a spirit, who has been brought thither in
order that Christ, after descending from the mountain, may deliver him;
which young man stretches himself out in a distorted attitude, crying and
rolling his eyes, and reveals his suffering in his flesh, his veins, and the beat
of his pulse, all infected by that malignant spirit; and the colour of his flesh,
as he makes those violent and fearsome gestures, is very pale. This figure is
supported by an old man, who, having embraced him and taken heart, with
his eyes wide open and the light shining in them, is raising his brows and
wrinkling his forehead, showing at one and the same time both strength and
fear; gazing intently, however, at the Apostles, he appears to be encouraging
himself by trusting in them. Among many women is one, the principal
figure in that panel, who, having knelt down before the Apostles, and
turning her head towards them, stretches her arms in the direction of the
maniac and points out his misery; besides which the Apostles, some
standing, some seated, and others kneeling, show that they are moved to
very great compassion by such misfortune. And, indeed, he made therein
figures and heads so fine in their novelty and variety, to say nothing of their
extraordinary beauty, that it is the common opinion of all craftsmen that this
work, among the vast number that he painted, is the most glorious, the most
lovely, and the most divine. For whoever wishes to know how Christ
Transfigured and made Divine should be represented in painting, must look
at this work, wherein Raffaello made Him in perspective over that mount, in
a sky of exceeding brightness, with Moses and Elias, who, illumined by a
dazzling splendour, burst into life in His light. Prostrate on the ground, in
attitudes of great beauty and variety, are Peter, James, and John; one has his
head to the earth, and another, shading his eyes with his hands, is defending
himself from the rays and intense light of the splendour of Christ. He,
clothed in snow-white raiment, with His arms outstretched and His head
raised, appears to reveal the Divine essence and nature of all the Three
Persons united and concentrated in Himself by the perfect art of Raffaello,
who seems to have summoned up all his powers in such a manner, in order
to show the supreme force of his art in the countenance of Christ, that, after
finishing this, the last work that he was to do, he never again touched a
brush, being overtaken by death.

RAFFAELLO DA URBINO: THE THREE GRACES
(Chantilly, 38. Panel)
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Now, having described the works of this most excellent craftsman, before I
come to relate other particulars of his life and death, I do not wish to grudge
the labour of saying something, for the benefit of the men of our arts, about
the various manners of Raffaello. He, then, after having imitated in his
boyhood the manner of his master, Pietro Perugino, which he made much
better in draughtsmanship, colouring, and invention, believed that he had
done enough; but he recognized, when he had reached a riper age, that he
was still too far from the truth. For, after seeing the works of Leonardo da
Vinci, who had no peer in the expressions of heads both of men and of
women, and surpassed all other painters in giving grace and movement to
his figures, he was left marvelling and amazed; and in a word, the manner
of Leonardo pleasing him more than any other that he had ever seen, he set
himself to study it, and abandoning little by little, although with great
difficulty, the manner of Pietro, he sought to the best of his power and
knowledge to imitate that of Leonardo. But for all his diligence and study,

in certain difficulties he was never able to surpass Leonardo; and although it
appears to many that he did surpass him in sweetness and in a kind of
natural facility, nevertheless he was by no means superior to him in that
sublime groundwork of conceptions and that grandeur of art in which few
have been the peers of Leonardo. Yet Raffaello came very near to him, more
than any other painter, and above all in grace of colouring. But to return to
Raffaello himself; in time he found himself very much hindered and
impeded by the manner that he had adopted from Pietro when he was quite
young, which he acquired with ease, since it was over-precise, dry, and
feeble in draughtsmanship. His being unable to forget it was the reason that
he had great difficulty in learning the beauties of the nude and the methods
of difficult foreshortenings from the cartoon that Michelagnolo Buonarroti
made for the Council Hall in Florence; and another might have lost heart,
believing that he had been previously wasting his time, and would never
have achieved, however lofty his genius, what Raffaello accomplished. But
he, having purged himself of Pietro's manner, and having thoroughly freed
himself of it, in order to learn the manner of Michelagnolo, so full of
difficulties in every part, was changed, as it were, from a master once again
into a disciple; and he forced himself with incredible study, when already a
man, to do in a few months what might have called for the tender age at
which all things are best acquired, and for a space of many years. For in
truth he who does not learn in good time right principles and the manner
that he wishes to follow, and does not proceed little by little to solve the
difficulties of the arts by means of experience, seeking to understand every
part, and to put it into practice, can scarcely ever become perfect; and even
if he does, that can only be after a longer space of time and much greater
labour.
When Raffaello resolved to set himself to change and improve his manner,
he had never given his attention to nudes with that zealous study which is
necessary, and had only drawn them from life in the manner that he had
seen practised by his master Pietro, imparting to them the grace that he had
from nature. He then devoted himself to studying the nude and to
comparing the muscles of anatomical subjects and of flayed human bodies
with those of the living, which, being covered with skin, are not clearly
defined, as they are when the skin has been removed; and going on to
observe in what way they acquire the softness of flesh in the proper places,

and how certain graceful flexures are produced by changing the point of
view, and also the effect of inflating, lowering, or raising either a limb or
the whole person, and likewise the concatenation of the bones, nerves, and
veins, he became excellent in all the points that are looked for in a painter
of eminence. Knowing, however, that in this respect he could never attain to
the perfection of Michelagnolo, he reflected, like a man of supreme
judgment, that painting does not consist only in representing the nude
human form, but has a wider field; that one can enumerate among the
perfect painters those who express historical inventions well and with
facility, and who show fine judgment in their fancies; and that he who, in
the composition of scenes, can make them neither confused with too much
detail nor poor with too little, but distributed with beautiful invention and
order, may also be called an able and judicious craftsman. To this, as
Raffaello was well aware, may be added the enriching those scenes with a
bizarre variety of perspectives, buildings, and landscapes, the method of
clothing figures gracefully, the making them fade away sometimes in the
shadows, and sometimes come forward into the light, the imparting of life
and beauty to the heads of women, children, young men and old, and the
giving them movement and boldness, according to necessity. He
considered, also, how important is the furious flight of horses in battles,
fierceness in soldiers, the knowledge how to depict all the sorts of animals,
and above all the power to give such resemblance to portraits that they seem
to be alive, and that it is known whom they represent; with an endless
number of other things, such as the adornment of draperies, foot-wear,
helmets, armour, women's head-dresses, hair, beards, vases, trees, grottoes,
rocks, fires, skies turbid or serene, clouds, rain, lightning, clear weather,
night, the light of the moon, the splendour of the sun, and innumerable
other things, which are called for every moment by the requirements of the
art of painting. Pondering over these things, I say, Raffaello resolved, since
he could not approach Michelagnolo in that branch of art to which he had
set his hand, to seek to equal, and perchance to surpass him, in these others;
and he devoted himself, therefore, not to imitating the manner of that
master, but to the attainment of a catholic excellence in the other fields of
art that have been described. And if the same had been done by many
craftsmen of our own age, who, having determined to pursue the study of
Michelagnolo's works alone, have failed to imitate him and have not been
able to reach his extraordinary perfection, they would not have laboured in

vain nor acquired a manner so hard, so full of difficulty, wanting in beauty
and colouring, and poor in invention, but would have been able, by aiming
at catholicity and at imitation in the other fields of art, to render service
both to themselves and to the world.
Raffaello, then, having made this resolution, and having recognized that Fra
Bartolommeo di San Marco had a passing good method of painting, well-
grounded draughtsmanship, and a pleasing manner of colouring, although at
times, in order to obtain stronger relief, he made too much use of darks,
took from him what appeared to him to suit his need and his fancy—
namely, a middle course, both in drawing and in colouring; and mingling
with that method certain others selected from the best work of other
masters, out of many manners he made one, which was looked upon ever
afterwards as his own, and which was and always will be vastly esteemed
by all craftsmen. This was then seen perfected in the Sibyls and Prophets of
the work that he executed, as has been related, in S. Maria della Pace; in the
carrying out of which work he was greatly assisted by having seen the
paintings of Michelagnolo in the Chapel of the Pope. And if Raffaello had
remained content with this same manner, and had not sought to give it more
grandeur and variety in order to prove that he had as good a knowledge of
the nude as Michelagnolo, he would not have lost a part of the good name
that he had acquired; but the nudes that he made in that apartment of the
Borgia Tower where there is the Burning of the Borgo, although they are
fine, are not in every way excellent. In like manner, those that were painted
likewise by him on the ceiling of the Palace of Agostino Chigi in the
Trastevere did not give complete satisfaction, for they are wanting in that
grace and sweetness which were peculiar to Raffaello; the reason of which,
in great part, was the circumstance that he had them coloured by others
after his design. However, repenting of this error, like a man of judgment,
he resolved afterwards to execute by himself, without assistance from
others, the panel-picture of the Transfiguration of Christ that is in S. Pietro a
Montorio, wherein are all those qualities which, as has already been
described, are looked for and required in a good picture. And if he had not
employed in this work, as it were from caprice, printer's smoke-black, the
nature of which, as has been remarked many times, is to become ever
darker with time, to the injury of the other colours with which it is mixed, I

believe that the picture would still be as fresh as when he painted it;
whereas it now appears to be rather a mass of shadows than aught else.
I have thought fit, almost at the close of this Life, to make this discourse, in
order to show with what labour, study, and diligence this honoured
craftsman always pursued his art; and even more for the sake of other
painters, to the end that they may learn how to avoid those hindrances from
which the wisdom and genius of Raffaello were able to deliver him. I must
add this as well, that every man should be satisfied and contented with
doing that work to which he feels himself drawn by a natural inclination,
and should not seek, out of emulation, to put his hand to that for which
nature has not adapted him; for otherwise he will labour in vain, and often
to his own shame and loss. Moreover, where striving is enough, no man
should aim at super-striving,[27] merely in order to surpass those who, by
some great gift of nature, or by some special grace bestowed on them by
God, have performed or are performing miracles in art; for the reason that
he who is not suited to any particular work, can never reach, let him labour
as he may, the goal to which another, with the assistance of nature, has
attained with ease. Of this, among the old craftsmen, we may see an
example in Paolo Uccello, who, striving against the limitations of his
powers, in order to advance, did nothing but go backwards. The same has
been done in our own day, no long time since, by Jacopo da Pontormo, and
it has been proved by the experience of many others, as we have shown
before and will point out yet again. And this, perchance, happens because
Heaven always distributes its favours, to the end that every man may rest
content with that which falls to him.
But now, having discoursed on these matters of art, perchance at greater
length than was needful, let us return to the life and death of Raffaello. He
had a strait friendship with Cardinal Bernardo Divizio of Bibbiena, who had
importuned him for many years to take a wife of his choosing; and
Raffaello, while not directly refusing to obey the wishes of the Cardinal,
had yet put the matter off, saying that he would rather wait till three or four
years had passed. This term came upon Raffaello when he was not
expecting it, and he was reminded by the Cardinal of his promise;
whereupon, seeing himself bound, like the courteous man that he was, he
would not break his word, and thus accepted as his wife a niece of that
Cardinal. And because he was always very ill content with this

entanglement, he continued to delay the matter in such a way that many
months passed without the marriage being brought to pass. But it was with
no dishonourable motive that he did this, for, having been so many years in
the service of the Court, and being the creditor of Leo for a good sum, it
had been hinted to him that when the hall on which he was engaged was
finished, the Pope proposed to reward him for his labours and abilities by
giving him a red hat, of which he had already determined to distribute a
good number, and some of them to men of less merit than Raffaello.
Meanwhile, pursuing his amours in secret, Raffaello continued to divert
himself beyond measure with the pleasures of love; whence it happened
that, having on one occasion indulged in more than his usual excess, he
returned to his house in a violent fever. The physicians, therefore, believing
that he had overheated himself, and receiving from him no confession of the
excess of which he had been guilty, imprudently bled him, insomuch that he
was weakened and felt himself sinking; for he was in need rather of
restoratives. Thereupon he made his will: and first, like a good Christian, he
sent his mistress out of the house, leaving her the means to live honourably.
Next, he divided his possessions among his disciples, Giulio Romano,
whom he had always loved dearly, and the Florentine Giovanni Francesco,
called Il Fattore, with a priest of Urbino, his kinsman, whose name I do not
know. Then he gave orders that some of his wealth should be used for
restoring with new masonry one of the ancient tabernacles in S. Maria
Ritonda, and for making an altar, with a marble statue of Our Lady, in that
church, which he chose as his place of repose and burial after death; and he
left all the rest to Giulio and Giovanni Francesco, appointing as executor of
his will Messer Baldassarre da Pescia, then Datary to the Pope. Finally, he
confessed and was penitent, and ended the course of his life at the age of
thirty-seven, on the same day that he was born, which was Good Friday.
And even as he embellished the world with his talents, so, it may be
believed, does his soul adorn Heaven by its presence.
As he lay dead in the hall where he had been working, there was placed at
his head the picture of the Transfiguration, which he had executed for
Cardinal de' Medici; and the sight of that living picture, in contrast with the
dead body, caused the hearts of all who beheld it to burst with sorrow. That
work, in memory of the loss of Raffaello, was placed by the Cardinal on the
high-altar of S. Pietro a Montorio; and on account of the nobility of his

every action, it was held ever afterwards in great estimation. His body
received that honourable burial which his noble spirit had deserved, for
there was no craftsman who did not weep with sorrow and follow him to
the grave. His death was also a great grief to the whole Court of the Pope,
first because he had held in his lifetime the office of Groom of the
Chamber, and likewise because he had been so dear to the Pope that his loss
caused him to weep bitterly.

RAFAELLO SANZIO: BALDASSARE CASTIGLIONE
(Paris: Louvre, 1505. Canvas)
View larger image

O happy and blessed spirit, in that every man is glad to speak of thee, to
celebrate thy actions, and to admire every drawing that thou didst leave to
us! When this noble craftsman died, the art of painting might well have died
also, seeing that when he closed his eyes, she was left as it were blind. And
now for us who have survived him, it remains to imitate the good, nay, the
supremely excellent method bequeathed to us by him as a pattern, and, as is
called for by his merit and our obligations, to hold a most grateful
remembrance of this in our minds, and to pay the highest honour to his
memory with our lips. For in truth we have from him art, colouring, and
invention harmonized and brought to such a pitch of perfection as could
scarcely be hoped for; nor may any intellect ever think to surpass him. And
in addition to this benefit that he conferred on art, like a true friend to her,
as long as he lived he never ceased to show how one should deal with great
men, with those of middle station, and with the lowest. And, indeed, among
his extraordinary gifts, I perceive one of such value that I for my part am
amazed at it, in that Heaven gave him the power to produce in our art an
effect wholly contrary to the nature of us painters, which was that our
craftsmen—I do not mean only the lesser, but also those whose humour it
was to be great persons; and of this humour art creates a vast number—
while working in company with Raffaello, felt themselves naturally united
and in such accord, that all evil humours vanished at the sight of him, and
every vile and base thought fell away from their minds. Such unity was
never greater at any other time than his; and this happened because they
were overcome both by his courtesy and by his art, and even more by the
good disposition of his nature, which was so full of gentleness and so
overflowing with loving-kindness, that it was seen that the very animals,
not to speak of men, honoured him. It is said that if any painter who knew
him, and even any who did not know him, asked him for some drawing that
he needed, Raffaello would leave his own work in order to assist him. And
he always kept a vast number of them employed, aiding them and teaching
them with such a love as might have been the due rather of his own children
than of fellow-craftsmen; for which reason he was never seen to go to Court
without having with him, as he left his house, some fifty painters, all able
and excellent, who kept him company in order to do him honour. In short,
he lived not like a painter, but like a prince. Wherefore, O art of painting,
thou couldst then esteem thyself indeed most blessed, in possessing a
craftsman who, both with his genius and his virtues, exalted thee higher

than Heaven! Truly happy mightest thou call thyself, in that thy disciples,
following in the footsteps of so great a man, have seen how life should be
lived, and how important is the union of art and virtue, which, wedded in
Raffaello, had strength to prevail on the magnificent Julius II and the
magnanimous Leo X, exalted as they were in rank and dignity, to make him
their most intimate friend and show him all possible generosity, insomuch
that by their favour and by the wealth that they bestowed upon him, he was
enabled to do vast honour both to himself and to art. Blessed, also, may be
called all those who, employed in his service, worked under him, since
whoever imitated him found that he had reached an honourable haven; and
in like manner all those who imitate his labours in art will be honoured by
the world, even as, by resembling him in uprightness of life, they will win
rewards from Heaven.
Raffaello received from Bembo the following epitaph:
D. O. M.
RAPHAELLI SANCTIO JOAN. F. URBINAT.
PICTORI EMINENTISS. VETERUMQUE ÆMULO,
CUJUS SPIRANTEIS PROPE IMAGINEIS
SI CONTEMPLERE,
NATURÆ ATQUE ARTIS FŒDUS
FACILE INSPEXERIS.
JULII II ET LEONIS X PONTT. MAXX.
PICTURÆ ET ARCHITECT. OPERIBUS
GLORIAM AUXIT.
VIXIT AN. XXXVII, INTEGER, INTEGROS.
QUO DIE NATUS EST, EO ESSE DESIIT,
VIII ID. APRIL. MDXX.
ILLE HIC EST RAPHAEL, TIMUIT QUO SOSPITE VINCI
RERUM MAGNA PARENS, ET MORIENTE MORI.
And Count Baldassarre Castiglione wrote of his death in the following
manner:
Quod lacerum corpus medica sanaverit arte,
Hyppolitum Stygiis et revocarit aquis,
Ad Stygias ipse est raptus Epidaurius undas;

Sic precium vitæ mors fuit artifici.
Tu quoque dum toto laniatam corpore Romam
Componis miro, Raphael, ingenio,
Atque urbis lacerum ferro, igni, annisque cadaver,
Ad vitam antiquum jam revocasque decus,
Movisti superum invidiam, indignataque mors est
Te dudum extinctis reddere posse animam,
Et quod longa dies paulatim aboleverat, hoc te
Mortali spreta lege parare iterum.
Sic, miser, heu, prima cadis intercepte juventa,
Deberi et morti nostraque nosque mones.

GUGLIELMO DA MARCILLA

LIFE OF GUGLIELMO DA MARCILLA
[GUILLAUME DE MARCILLAC, OR THE FRENCH PRIOR]

FRENCH PAINTER AND MASTER OF GLASS WINDOWS

At this same time, wherein our arts were endowed by God with the greatest
felicity that they could possibly enjoy, there flourished one Guglielmo da
Marcilla, a Frenchman, who, from his constant residence in Arezzo, and
from the affection that he bore to that city, may be said to have chosen it for
his country, insomuch that all men considered and called him an Aretine.
And, in truth, among the benefits that are derived from ability, one is that
from whatever strange and distant region and from however barbarous and
unknown a race a man may come, be he who he may, if only he has a mind
adorned with ability and practises some ingenious craft with his hands, no
sooner does he make his first appearance in each city to which he turns his
steps, demonstrating his worth, than the skill of his hand works so
powerfully, that his name, passing from lip to lip, in a short time waxes
great, and his qualities become very highly prized and honoured. And it
happens often to a great number of men, who have left their country far
behind them, that they chance upon nations that are lovers of ability and of
foreigners, where, by reason of their upright walk of life, they find
themselves recognized and cherished in such a manner, that they forget the
country of their birth and choose a new one for their last resting-place.
Even so was Arezzo chosen as a final home by Guglielmo, who, as a youth
in France, applied himself to the art of design, and together with that gave
attention to glass windows, in which he made figures no less harmonious in
colouring than if they had been painted with the greatest beauty and
harmony in oils. While in his own country, persuaded by the entreaties of
certain of his friends, he was present at the slaying of one who was their
enemy: on which account he was forced to assume the habit of a monk in
the Order of S. Dominic in France, in order to escape the courts and the
hand of justice. But although he remained in that Order, yet he never

abandoned the study of art; nay, continuing it, he arrived at the highest
perfection.
Now, by order of Pope Julius II, a commission was given to Bramante da
Urbino to have a number of glass windows made for the Palace; whereupon
he, making inquiries about the most excellent craftsmen, received
information of many who were working at that craft, and among them of
some who were executing marvellous works in France; and of these he saw
a specimen through the French Ambassador who was then at the Court of
his Holiness, and who had in the frame of a window in his study a figure
executed on a piece of white glass with a vast number of colours, fixed on
the glass by the action of fire. Wherefore, by order of Bramante, a letter was
written to France, inviting them to come to Rome, and offering them good
payments. Thereupon Maestro Claudio, a Frenchman, the head of that art,
having received the intelligence, and knowing the excellence of Guglielmo,
so went to work with money and fair promises, that it was no difficult
matter to draw him out of the convent, particularly because Guglielmo, on
account of the discourtesy shown to him and the jealousies that there
always are among monks, was even more eager to leave it than was
Maestro Claudio to get him out. They went, therefore, to Rome, where the
habit of S. Dominic was changed for that of S. Peter.
Bramante at that time had caused two windows of travertine to be made in
the Palace of the Pope, which were in the hall in front of the chapel, now
embellished by a vaulted ceiling by Antonio da San Gallo, and by
marvellous stucco-work from the hand of Perino del Vaga of Florence.
These windows were executed by Maestro Claudio and Guglielmo,
although afterwards, during the sack of Rome, they were broken to pieces,
in order to extract the lead to make harquebus-balls; and they were truly
marvellous. In addition to these, they made an endless number of them for
the apartments of the Pope, which met with the same fate as the other two.
And even now there is one to be seen in the room containing Raffaello's
Burning of the Borgo, in the Borgia Tower; in which are angels who are
holding the escutcheon of Leo X. They also made two windows for the
chapel behind the Madonna in S. Maria del Popolo, with the stories of her
life, which were highly praiseworthy examples of that craft.

These works brought them no less fame and renown than comfort in life.
But Maestro Claudio, being very intemperate in eating and drinking,
according to the custom of his race, which is a deadly thing in the air of
Rome, fell sick of so violent a fever, that in six days he passed to the other
life. Whereupon Guglielmo, left alone, and almost like one lost without his
companion, painted by himself a window, likewise of glass, in S. Maria de
Anima, the church of the Germans in Rome; which was the reason that
Cardinal Silvio of Cortona made him an offer, and made a contract with
him that he should execute some windows and other works in his native city
of Cortona. Wherefore the Cardinal took him in his company to take up his
abode in Cortona; and the first work that he executed was the façade of the
Cardinal's house on the side towards the Piazza, which he painted in
chiaroscuro, depicting therein Croton and the other original founders of that
city. Thereupon the Cardinal, who saw that Guglielmo was no less upright
as a man than excellent as a master of that art, caused him to execute, for
the Pieve of Cortona, the window of the principal chapel, in which he made
the Nativity of Christ and the Magi adoring Him.
Guglielmo was a man of fine spirit and intelligence, and of very great
mastery in handling glass, and particularly in so distributing the colours that
the brightest should come in the foremost figures, those in the other figures
being darker in proportion as they receded; in which point he was a rare and
truly excellent master. Moreover, he showed very good judgment in the
painting of his figures; whereby he executed them with such unity, that they
fell back into the distance little by little, in such a way that they did not
cling either to the buildings or to the landscapes, and had the appearance of
being painted on panel, or rather in relief. He showed invention and variety
in the composition of scenes, making them rich and well grouped; and he
rendered easy the process of making such pictures as are put together out of
pieces of glass, which was held to be very difficult, as indeed it is for one
who has not his skill and dexterity. He designed the pictures for his
windows with such good method and order, that the mountings of lead and
iron, which cross them in certain places, were so well fitted into the joinings
of the figures and the folds of the draperies, that they cannot be seen—nay,
they gave the whole such grace, that the brush could not have done more—
and thus he was able to make a virtue of necessity.

Guglielmo used only two kinds of colour for the shading of such glass as he
proposed to subject to the action of fire; one was scale of iron, and the other
scale of copper. That of iron, which is dark, served to shade draperies, hair,
and buildings; and the other, that of copper, which produces a tawny tint,
served for flesh colours. He also made much use of a hard stone that comes
from Flanders and France, called at the present day hematite, which is red
in colour and is much employed for burnishing gold. This, having first been
pounded in a bronze mortar, and then ground with an iron brazing
instrument on a plate of copper or yellow brass, and tempered with gum,
works divinely well on glass.
When Guglielmo first arrived in Rome, he was no great draughtsman,
although he was well practised in every other respect. But having
recognized the need of this, he applied himself to the study of drawing, in
spite of his being well advanced in years; and thus little by little he
achieved the improvement that is evident in the windows that he afterwards
made for the Palace of the said Cardinal at Cortona, and for the other
without the city, in a round window that is in the aforesaid Pieve, over the
façade, on the right hand as one enters the church, wherein are the arms of
Pope Leo X, and likewise in two little windows that are in the Company of
Gesù, in one of which is a Christ, and in the other a S. Onofrio. These are
no little different from his early works, and much better.
Now while Guglielmo, as has been related, was living in Cortona, there
died at Arezzo one Fabiano di Stagio Sassoli, an Aretine, who had been a
very good master of the making of large windows. Thereupon the Wardens
of Works for the Vescovado gave the commission for three windows in the
principal chapel, each twenty braccia in height, to Stagio, the son of the said
Fabiano, and to the painter Domenico Pecori; but when these were finished
and fixed in their places, they gave no great satisfaction to the Aretines,
although they were passing good and rather worthy of praise than
otherwise. It happened at this time that Messer Lodovico Belichini, an
excellent physician, and one of the first men in the government of the city
of Arezzo, went to Cortona to cure the mother of the aforesaid Cardinal;
and there he became well acquainted with our Guglielmo, with whom,
when he had time, he was very willing to converse. And Guglielmo, who
was then called the Prior, from his having received about that time the
benefice of a priory, likewise conceived an affection for that physician, who

asked him one day whether, with the good will of the Cardinal, he would go
to Arezzo to execute some windows; at which Guglielmo promised that he
would, and with the permission and good will of the Cardinal he made his
way to that city. Now Stagio, of whom we have spoken above, having
parted from the company of Domenico, received Guglielmo into his house;
and the latter, for his first work, executed for a window of the Chapel of S.
Lucia, belonging to the Albergotti, in the Vescovado of Arezzo, that Saint
and a S. Sylvester, in so good a manner that the work may truly be said to
be made with living figures, and not of coloured and transparent glass, or at
least to be a picture worthy of praise and marvellous. For besides the
mastery shown in the flesh-colours, the glasses are flashed; that is, in some
places the first skin has been removed, and the glass then coloured with
another tint; by which is meant, for example, the placing of yellow over red
flashed glass, or the application of white and green over blue; which is a
difficult and even miraculous thing in this craft. The first or true colour,
then, such as red, blue, or green, covers the whole of one side; and the other
part, which is as thick as the blade of a knife, or a little more, is white.
Many, being afraid that they might break the glasses, on account of their
lack of skill in handling them, do not employ a pointed iron for removing
that layer, but in place of this, for greater safety, set about grinding the
glasses with a copper wheel fixed on the end of an iron instrument; and
thus, little by little, by the use of emery, they contrive to leave only a layer
of white glass, which turns out very clear. Then, if a yellow colour has to be
applied to the piece of glass thus left white, at the moment when it is to be
placed into the furnace for firing, it is painted by means of a brush with
calcined silver, which is a colour similar to bole, but somewhat thick; and in
the fire this melts over the glass, fuses, and takes a firm hold, penetrating
into the glass and making a very beautiful yellow. These methods of
working no one used better, or with more ingenuity and art, than Prior
Guglielmo; and it is in these things that the difficulty consists, for painting
the glass with oil-colours or in any other manner is little or nothing, and that
it should be diaphanous or transparent is not a matter of much importance,
whereas firing it in the furnace and making it such that it will withstand the
action of water and remain fresh for ever, is a difficult work and well
worthy of praise. Wherefore this excellent master deserves the highest
praise, since there is not a man of his profession who has done as much,
whether in design, or invention, or colouring, or general excellence.

He then made the great round-window of the same church, containing the
Descent of the Holy Spirit, and likewise the Baptism of Christ by S. John,
wherein he represented Christ in the Jordan, awaiting S. John, who has
taken a cup of water in order to baptize Him, while a nude old man is taking
off his shoes, and some angels are preparing Christ's raiment, and on high is
the Father, sending down the Holy Spirit upon His Son. This window is
over the baptismal font of that Duomo, for which he also executed the
window containing the Resurrection of Lazarus on the fourth day after
death; wherein it seems impossible that he could have included in so small a
space such a number of figures, in which may be recognized the terror and
amazement of the people, with the stench from the body of Lazarus, whose
resurrection causes his two sisters to rejoice amid their tears. In this work
are innumerable colours, flashed one over the other in the glass, and every
least thing truly appears most natural in its own kind.
And whoever wishes to learn how much the hand of the Prior was able to
effect in this art, should study the window of S. Matthew over the Chapel of
that Apostle, and observe the marvellous invention of that scene, wherein he
can see a living figure of Christ calling Matthew from his tables, while
Matthew, following Him and stretching out his arms to receive Him,
abandons the riches and treasures that he has acquired. And at the same
time an Apostle may be seen in a very spirited attitude, awaking another
who has fallen asleep on some steps; and in like manner there may also be
perceived a S. Peter speaking with S. John, both being so beautiful that they
seem truly divine. In this same window are temples in perspective,
staircases, and figures so well grouped, and landscapes so natural, that one
would never think it was glass, but rather a thing rained down from Heaven
for the consolation of mankind. In the same place he made the window of S.
Anthony and that of S. Nicholas, both most beautiful, with two others, one
containing the scene of Christ driving the traders from the Temple, and the
other that of the woman taken in adultery; all these works being held to be
truly excellent and marvellous.
So fully were the labours and abilities of the Prior recognized by the
Aretines, what with praises, favours, and rewards, and so satisfied and
contented was he by this result, that he resolved to adopt that city as his
home, and to change himself from a Frenchman into an Aretine.
Afterwards, reflecting in his own mind that the art of glass-painting, on

account of the destruction that takes place every moment in such works,
was no lasting one, there came to him a desire to devote himself to painting,
and he therefore undertook to execute for the Wardens of Works of the
Vescovado in that city three very large vaults in fresco, thinking thus to
leave a memorial of himself behind him. The Aretines, in return for this,
presented to him a farm that belonged to the Confraternity of S. Maria della
Misericordia, near their city, with some excellent houses, for his enjoyment
during his lifetime. And they ordained that when the work was finished, its
value should be estimated by some distinguished craftsman, and that the
Wardens should make this good to him in full. Whereupon he made up his
mind to show his worth in this undertaking, and he made his figures very
large on account of the height, after the manner of the works in
Michelagnolo's chapel. And so mightily did his wish to become excellent in
such an art avail in him, that although he was fifty years of age, he
improved little by little in such a manner, that he showed that his
knowledge and comprehension of the beautiful were not less than his
delight in imitating the good in the execution of his work. He went on to
represent the earlier events of the New Testament, even as in the three large
works he had depicted the beginning of the Old. For this reason, therefore, I
am inclined to believe that any man of genius who has the desire to attain to
perfection, is able, if he will but take the pains, to make naught of the limits
of any science. At the beginning of those works, indeed, he was alarmed by
their size, and because he had never executed any before; which was the
reason that he sent to Rome for Maestro Giovanni, a French miniaturist,
who, coming to Arezzo, painted over S. Antonio an arch with a Christ in
fresco, and for that Company the banner that is carried in processions,
which he executed with great diligence, having received the commission for
them from the Prior.
At the same time Guglielmo made the round window for the façade of the
Church of S. Francesco, a great work, in which he represented the Pope in
Consistory, with the Conclave of Cardinals, and S. Francis going to Rome
for the confirmation of his Rule and bearing the roses of January. In this
work he proved what a master of composition he was, so that it may be said
with truth that he was born for that profession; nor may any craftsman ever
think to equal him in beauty, in abundance of figures, or in grace. There are
innumerable windows executed by him throughout that city, all most

beautiful, such as the great round window in the Madonna delle Lacrime,
containing the Assumption of Our Lady and the Apostles, and a very
beautiful window with an Annunciation; a round window with the Marriage
of the Virgin, and another containing a S. Jerome executed for the Spadari,
and likewise three other windows below, in various parts of the church;
with a most beautiful round window with the Nativity of Christ in the
Church of S. Girolamo, and another in S. Rocco. He sent some, also, to
various places, such as Castiglione del Lago, and one to Florence for
Lodovico Capponi, to be set up in S. Felicita, where there is the panel by
Jacopo da Pontormo, a most excellent painter, and the chapel adorned by
him with mural paintings in oils and in fresco and with panel-pictures;
which window came into the hands of the Frati Ingesuati in Florence, who
worked at that craft, and they took it all to pieces in order to learn how it
was made, removing many pieces as specimens and replacing them with
new ones, so that in the end they made quite a different window.
He also conceived the wish to paint in oils, and for the Chapel of the
Conception in S. Francesco at Arezzo he executed a panel-picture wherein
are some vestments very well painted, and many heads most lifelike, and so
beautiful that he was honoured thereby ever afterwards, seeing that this was
the first work that he had ever done in oils.
The Prior was a very honourable person, and delighted in agriculture and in
making alterations in buildings; wherefore, having bought a most beautiful
house, he made in it a vast number of improvements. As a man of religion,
he was always most upright in his ways; and the remorse of conscience, on
account of his departure from his convent, kept him sorely afflicted. For
which reason he made a very beautiful window for the Chapel of the High-
altar in S. Domenico, a convent of his Order at Arezzo; wherein he depicted
a vine that issues from the body of S. Dominic and embraces a great
number of sanctified friars, who constitute the tree of the Order; and at the
highest point is Our Lady, with Christ, who is marrying S. Catherine of
Siena—a work much extolled and of great mastery, for which he would
accept no payment, believing himself to be much indebted to that Order. He
sent a very beautiful window to S. Lorenzo in Perugia, and an endless
number of others to many places round Arezzo.

And because he took much pleasure in matters of architecture, he made for
the citizens of that country a number of designs of buildings and
adornments for their city, such as the two doors of S. Rocco in stone, and
the ornament of grey-stone that was added to the panel-picture of Maestro
Luca in S. Girolamo; and he designed an ornament in the Abbey of
Cipriano d' Anghiari, and another for the Company of the Trinità in the
Chapel of the Crocifisso, and a very rich lavatory for the sacristy; which
were all executed with great perfection by the stone-cutter Santi.
Finally, ever delighting in labour, and continually working both winter and
summer at his mural painting, which breaks down the healthiest of men, he
became so afflicted by the damp and so swollen with dropsy, that his
physicians had to tap him, and in a few days he rendered up his soul to Him
who had given it. First, like a good Christian, he partook of the Sacraments
of the Church, and made his will. Then, having a particular devotion for the
Hermits of Camaldoli, who have their seat on the summit of the Apennines,
twenty miles distant from Arezzo, he bequeathed to them his property and
his body, and to Pastorino da Siena, his assistant, who had been with him
many years, he left his glasses, his working-instruments, and his designs, of
which there is one in our book, a scene of the Submersion of Pharaoh in the
Red Sea.
This Pastorino afterwards applied himself to many other fields of art, and
also to glass windows, although the works that he produced in that craft
were but few. Guglielmo was much imitated, also, by one Maso Porro of
Cortona, who was more able in firing and putting together the glass than in
painting it. One of the pupils of Guglielmo was Battista Borro of Arezzo,
who continues to imitate him greatly in the making of windows; and he also
taught the first rudiments to Benedetto Spadari and to Giorgio Vasari of
Arezzo.
The Prior lived sixty-two years, and died in the year 1537. He deserves
infinite praise, in that by him there was brought into Tuscany the art of
working in glass with the greatest mastery and delicacy that could be
desired. Wherefore, since he conferred such great benefits upon us, we also
will pay him honour, exalting him continually with loving and unceasing
praise both for his life and for his works.

SIMONE

LIFE OF SIMONE, CALLED IL CRONACA
[SIMONE DEL POLLAIUOLO]

ARCHITECT OF FLORENCE

Many intellects are lost that would make rare and worthy works, if, on
coming into the world, they were to hit upon persons able and willing to set
them to work on those labours for which they are fitted. But it often
happens that he who has the means is neither capable nor willing; and if,
indeed, there chances to be one willing to erect some worthy building, he
often takes no manner of care to seek out an architect of real merit or of any
loftiness of spirit. Nay, he puts his honour and glory into the keeping of
certain thievish creatures, who generally disgrace the name and fame of
such memorials; and in order to thrust forward into greatness those who
depend entirely upon him (so great is the power of ambition), he often
rejects the good designs that are offered to him, and puts into execution the
very worst; wherefore his own fame is left besmirched by the clumsiness of
the work, since it is considered by all men of judgment that the craftsman
and the patron who employs him, in that they are conjoined in their works,
are of one and the same mind. And on the other hand, how many Princes of
little understanding have there been, who, through having chanced upon
persons of excellence and judgment, have obtained after death no less fame
from the memory of their buildings than they enjoyed when alive from their
sovereignty over their people.
Truly fortunate, however, in his day, was Cronaca, in that he not only had
the knowledge, but also found those who kept him continually employed,
and that always on great and magnificent works. Of him it is related that
while Antonio Pollaiuolo was in Rome, working at the tombs of bronze that
are in S. Pietro, there came to his house a young lad, his relative, whose
proper name was Simone, and who had fled from Florence on account of
some brawl. This Simone, having worked with a master in woodwork, and
being much inclined to the art of architecture, began to observe the

beautiful antiquities of that city, and, delighting in them, went about
measuring them with the greatest diligence. And, going on with this, he had
not been long in Rome before he showed that he had made much
proficience, both in taking measurements and in carrying one or two things
into execution.
Thereupon he conceived the idea of returning to Florence, and departed
from Rome; and on arriving in his native city, having become a passing
good master of words, he described the marvels of Rome and of other
places with such accuracy, that from that time onwards he was called Il
Cronaca, every man thinking that he was truly a chronicle of information in
his discourse. Now he had become such that he was held to be the most
excellent of the modern architects in the city of Florence, seeing that he had
good judgment in choosing sites, and showed that he had an intellect more
lofty than that of many others who were engaged in that profession; for it
was evident from his works how good an imitator he was of antiquities, and
how closely he had observed the rules of Vitruvius and the works of Filippo
di Ser Brunellesco.

DETAIL OF CORNICE
(After Simone [Il Cronaca],

Florence: Palazzo Strozzi)
Alinari
View larger image

There was then in Florence that Filippo Strozzi who is now called "the
elder," to distinguish him from his son; and he, being very rich, wished to
leave to his native city and to his children, among other memorials of
himself, one in the form of a beautiful palace. Wherefore Benedetto da
Maiano, having been called upon by him for this purpose, made him a
model entirely isolated, which was afterwards put into execution, although
not in all its extent, as will be related below, for some of his neighbours
would not give up their houses to accommodate him. Benedetto began the
palace, therefore, in the best way that he could, and brought the outer shell
almost to completion before the death of Filippo: which outer shell is in the
Rustic Order, with varying degrees of rustication, as may be seen, since the
boss-covered part from the first range of windows downwards, together
with the doors, is very much Rustic, and the part from the first range of
windows to the second is much less Rustic. Now it happened that at the
very moment when Benedetto was leaving Florence, Cronaca returned from
Rome; whereupon, Simone being presented to Filippo, the latter was so
pleased with the model that he made for the courtyard and for the great
cornice which goes round the outer side of the palace, that, having
recognized the excellence of his intellect, he decided that thenceforward the
whole work should pass through his hands, and availed himself of his
services ever afterwards. Cronaca, then, in addition to the beautiful exterior
in the Tuscan Order, made at the top a very magnificent Corinthian cornice,
which serves to complete the roof; and half of it is seen finished at the
present day, with such extraordinary grace that nothing could be added to it,
nor could anything more beautiful be desired. This cornice was taken by
Cronaca, who copied it in Rome with exact measurements, from an ancient
one that is to be found at Spoglia Cristo, which is held to be the most
beautiful among the many that are in that city; although it is true that it was
enlarged by Cronaca to the proportions required by the palace, to the end
that it might make a suitable finish, and might also complete the roof of that
palace by means of its projection. Thus, then, the genius of Cronaca was
able to make use of the works of others and to transform them almost into
his own; which does not succeed with many, since the difficulty lies not in

merely having drawings and copies of beautiful things, but in
accommodating them to the purpose which they have to serve, with grace,
true measurement, proportion, and fitness. But just as much as this cornice
of Cronaca's was and always will be extolled, so was that one censured
which was made for the Palace of the Bartolini in the same city by Baccio d'
Agnolo, who, seeking to imitate Cronaca, placed over a small façade,
delicate in detail, a great ancient cornice copied with the exact
measurements from the frontispiece of Monte Cavallo; which resulted in
such ugliness, from his not having known how to adapt it with judgment,
that it could not look worse, for it seems like an enormous cap on a small
head. It is not enough for craftsmen, when they have executed their works,
to excuse themselves, as many do, by saying that they were taken with
exact measurements from the antique and copied from good masters, seeing
that good judgment and the eye play a greater part in all such matters than
measuring with compasses. Cronaca, then, executed half of the said cornice
with great art right round that palace, together with dentils and ovoli, and
finished it completely on two sides, counterpoising the stones in such a
way, in order that they might turn out well bound and balanced, that there is
no better masonry to be seen, nor any carried to perfection with more
diligence. In like manner, all the other stones are so well put together, and
with so high a finish, that the whole does not appear to be of masonry, but
rather all of one piece. And to the end that everything might be in keeping,
he caused beautiful pieces of iron-work to be made for all parts of the
palace, as adornments for it, and the lanterns that are at the corners, which
were all executed with supreme diligence by Niccolò Grosso, called Il
Caparra, a smith of Florence. In those marvellous lanterns may be seen
cornices, columns, capitals, and brackets of iron, fixed together with
wonderful craftsmanship; nor has any modern ever executed in iron works
so large and so difficult, and with such knowledge and mastery.