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I 




Architocfural 

Library 

N 

.V3ZK3 
/^23 



LIVES 



OF SEVENTY OF THE MOST EMINENT 



PAINTERS, SCULPTORS, AND 

ARCHITECTS 



VOLUME IL 



LIVES OF SEVENTY 

or m MOST ejuiiENT 

PAINTERS, SCULPTORS 



AND 



ARCHITECTS 

tr 

GIORGIO VASARI 

■SITED AND ANNOTATED IN THE LIGHT OF RECENT DiSOOflMi 

ftY 

& R AND E. W. BLASHFIELD 

AND 

^ A. HOPKINS 



• • • , * 
. . • • • 



VOLUME n. 



NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

MCMXXIII 



COPTBIOBT, 1896, ST 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
Mated in the United States ol Amcricn 



• - • 










CONTENTS 

laOHELOZSSO MICHBLOZZI 1 

PIBBO BELLA FRANCESGA .... 80 

FRA eiOVANNI DA FIESOLE .... 81 

LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI .... 49 

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI 68 

ANDBEA DAL GASTAeNO AND DOMENICO VE- 

NBZIANO 79 

6BNTILB DA FABRIANO AND YITTORB PISA- 

NELLO 94 

BENOZZO GOZZOLI 105 

ANTONIO ROSSELUNO AND BERNARDO HIS 

BROTHER 114 

DESEDERIO DA SETTIGNANO . .186 

MINO DA FIESOLE 18S 

JAGOPO, eiOVANNI* AND GENTILE BELLINI . 144 

DOMENIGO GHIRLANDAJO . / . 167 

ANTONIO AND PIERO POLLAJOLI . .198 

8ANDR0 BOTTIGELU 806 

BENEDETTO DA MAIANO . . . . .884 

ANDREA DEL VERROGGHIO . . .287 

ANDREA MANTEGNA 866 

FILIPPO LIPPI 877 

BERNARDO PINTURIGGHIO . . . .891 

FRANCB800 FRANOIA 804 



OONTEKTd 



PIETBO PBRUeiNO 816 

VITTORB 80ARPACCIA 844 

LUCA SIGNORBLU 801 

LBONABDO DA YINOI 867 



MIOHELOZZO MIOHELOZZI/ FLOBENTINB 
SCULPTOR AND ABOHITEOT 

(Botn 1896 (?) ; died 147a] 

BnuoOBAPBT.— A. Sohmanow, ifwovi Studi intomo a Ukhdozto MichO^ 
MsrifSeriMof ArtielMiiiyoLyL of th« ArehUfio Starico delT ArU. Banm 
H. Toa <3«jiiitkUar, DU ArehUekUmiiehs Sntwickelung IiichelozMo'$ und Sein 
ZmammtnwirktiHg mii JkmatelU^t Jahrbueh der K, P. 8,^ YoL XV. Ea- 
g^M MOnts (in Ia Tour du Mbnde^ XTjTTT. 887), A travtrt la Touane ; see 
the ohapiar on Montepnlciano for the tomb of Aimgawi. For Kioheloiio in 
the Pdeooyeoohio, see Anrelio (Sotti, Storia del Palazxo Veechio, 1889. O. 
Garoooi, BeaUmH a Paiaxxo Veeehio in ArU e Storia for Maroh IS, 1888. 
H. Puigi, Dneriatioiu Stwriea del PaUutzo deUa Signaria o FoIomzo Vecchio 
di Firetue^ Slorenoe, 188a 

IF all who inhabit this world would consider that they 
may have to live when they can no longer work, there 
would not be so many who are reduced to beg that in 
their old age which they haye squandered without any kind 
of restraint in their youth, when their large and liberal 
gains, blinding their judgment, have tempted them to spend 
beyond what was ne^lful, and much more than was right 
and suitable. Wherefore, since he who has fallen from 
possessing much to having little or nothing, is often looked 
upon but coldly, each should endeayour, but in all rectitude, 
and preserving the medium, to prepare in such sort that he 
shall not have to beg in his old age. Thus, he who will do 
as Michelozzo did (who would not imitate his master. Dona- 
tello, in this respect, although he did so in his art), will 
live honourably idl the days of his life, and will not be com- 

> Hie name wae IQoheloao di Bertolommeo di Qhererdo, and he wae pirob»- 
bly bom ial898L Bertolommeo diOheraido, a Bnrfondian tailor, wasthe fiiet 
FWmtine aBoaiter of the family. He wae made a dtlaen of Florenoe in 
1934 



2 inOHELOZZO MIGHELOZZI 

polled in his last years to go about^ miserably seeking the 
means of existence. 

Michelozzo studied sculpture and design^ in his youth, 
under Donatello ;' and although he experienced some diffi* 
culty, he nevertheless pursued his labours to improye him- 
self so steadily, whether in clay, in wax, or in marble, that, 
in the works which he afterwards produced, he constantly 
displayed much talent, and eyen genius. In one respect, 
howeyer, Michelozzo surpassed many, and on the point in 
question may be said to have surpassed himself also. We 
here allude to the fact, that after the death of Brunellesco, 
Michelozzo was considered the most consistently regular 
architect of his time, and the one who most suitably and 
correctly arranged and distributed the different kinds of 
dwellings, whether palaces, monasteries, or houses, as will 
be declared in its proper place. Donatello availed himself 
for many years of Michelozzo's aid ; the latter having ac- 
quired great practice in works of marble, as well as in the 
casting of bronze.' Of this we have proof in the sepulchral 
monument erected, as we have said, in the church of San 
Qiovanni, at Florence, by Donatello, for the Pope Giovanni 
Goscia, since the greater part of it was executed by him.^ 
In the same place there is still to be seen a marble statue of 
Faith, by Michelozzo ; it is two braccia and a half high,* 
and is very beautiful. This figure was made at the same 
time with one of Hope, of the same size, and another of 
Gharity, both executed by Donatello, but the work of 
Michelozzo does not lose by comparison with them.* Over 

t Miidieloao ooUaboimted for yean with Donatello in many of hia impoi^ 
taat worki. 

>MlohdoaowoEkod with Ghlbcrti on the atatao of Si Matthew before he 
waa aaaooiated with Donatello, and in 1423 he aariated in the exeontion of 
Oh0>erti'i gatea. 

« The three fignrea on the lower part of thia tomb are hj lOehdosae. Ao- 
oording to If. MOnts,' thia monoment (1428) of Giovanni Coaoia, Pope John 
XXTTT., aet the example in atyle for the mawaoleoma of the flfteentii eentuj. 

• A UtOe leaa than two brmeeim, 

• Mioheloan modelled the San Gioranni whieh Vaaari attribntea to Antenle 
del PoUajnolo ; it forma part of the ailTor altar of the Baptiaterj. 



M1CHEL02220 MtCHSL0Z2t d 

the sacristy and the rooms of the superintQiideiitSi which 
are opposite to San Oiovanni, Michelozzo executed a San 
OioTannino, in full relief,'' which is finished with extreme 
care, and was mnch praised. This artist was closely at- 
tached to the service of Oosimo de' Medici, to whom the 
superiority of his talents was well known, and who conse- 
quently caused him to prepare the model for the house and 
palace situated at the comer of the Via Larga, and beside 
San Oioyannino ; that which had been made by Filippo di 
Ser Brunellesco appearing to him, as we haye said, too 
sumptuous and magnificent, and quite as likely to awaken 
enyy among his fellow-citizens as to contribute to the gran- 
deur and ornament of the city, or to his own conyenience. 
Wherefore, as Oosimo considered the model made by Miche- 
lozao satisfactory, he caused the building to be erected' 

'TbSs nuuMe itetiia of a little St John was exeoated bj Antonio Botellino 
(1447) ; it if in the Beigello, hot in its plaoe over the door where it originally 
stood if a little 8k John in temrootta, said to be by Miohelosso. See Mila- 
nesL Herr Sohmanow believes that a St John in the Mnseo I^azionale (Bar- 
gello), Florenoe, attributed by Sig. U. Rossi to Michelozzo, is really by Barto- 
loiniDeo Vellano da Padova. See VAreK Star. tUlT Arts, VI 341. 

• TheFslano Medioi, now lUooardi, istbedistinctiTe typeof the FUnentiiie 
forties! \m}t^m of the merohant prince. The Pitti, which is yaster and 
grander in conception, was, according to Herr von Fabriosy, rather the real 
prototype of palatial arehiteotnre in Florence than was MiohelosBO*s constmo- 
ikm; bntthePitti is only the tcnoof what BnmeUeschi intended it to be. 
andisdepriTcdof its crown, the cornice. The Stroisi, which is periiaps eren 
finer than the Medici-Riccardi, is a later bmlding, and to a oertain extent its 
dwrignir imitates Ifichelozso. Michelozso*s palace, too, has been greatly 
ehanged, the Maninis Biocardi having nearly doabled the length of its 
faftkii in 1089. Fergosson, in criticising the moootonons effiwt cansed by the 
two exaotly eqosl ranges of npper windows, says that we must remember 
that these two stories contained the state apartments, and were necessarily 
sonewhat fmrmal In their distribution. Miliiie severely criticises the ar- 
rangement of the first-story windows in reference to the main doorway, and 
finds the latter so dmple as to be bare. Nevertheless we should not forget that 
in planning this place Michelozzo would naturally err rather on the side of 
simpUoity than of richness, sines Oosimo had Just refused the design of 
BnuMUesdii as too splendid for a private citizen, and likely to provoke Jeslousy, 
whUe the somptnaiy laws, as in the case of the windows of the Fitti, must also 
be taken into conaideratkm. The graduated rustication is an important feat- 
ure in Miohelono's/ayads, and, on the whole, this palaoe is oneof the snoosw- 
foi perfocmanesa of the Bensissanca. For an admirable notioe of the Fiona- 



MICHfiLOClO 

Ui «Hre ; when it was completed in the manner that 
we now see^ with all the utility^ beauty^ and graceful deco- 
rations so mnch admired, and which deriye majesty and 
grandeur from their simplicity. Michelozzo deserves all the 
more credit for this building, since it was the first palace 
erected in Florence after modem rules, and in which the 
rooms were arranged with a view to convenience as well as 
beauty. The cellars are excavated to more than half their 
depth under ground, having four braccia beneath the earth 
that is, with three above, on account of the lights. There 
are, besides, butteries, store-rooms, etc..* on the same leveL 
In the first, or ground fioor, are two court-yards, with mag- 
nificent colonnades (loggia), on which open various saloons, 
bed-chambers, ante-rooms, writing-rooms, ofSces, baths, 
kitchens, and reservoirs, with staircases, both for private 
and public use, all most commodiously arranged. In the 
upper fioors are dwellings and apartments for a family, 
with all et those conveniences proper, not only to that of a 
private citizen, as Cosimo then was, but sufficient also for 
the most powerful and magnificent sovereign. Accordingly, 
in our time, kings, emperors, popes, and whatever of most 
illustrious Europe can boast in the way of princes, have 
been most commodiously lodged in this palace, to the infin- 
ite credit of the magnificent Oosimo, as well as to that of 
Michelozzo^s eminent skill in architecture. 

In the year 1433, when Oosimo was exiled, Michelozzo, 
who loved him greatly, and was faithfully devoted to his 
person, voluntarily accompanied him to Venice,* and would 
always remain with him during the whole time of his stay 
there; wherefore, in addition to the many designs and 



tine house or paUoe of the fifteenth oentaxj, eee Dr. Gineeppe Muooill, 
Ouide-^Souifenir de Ploreno$^ pp. 83, 83. 

• Perkiiia in hie Toioen Soolptora notee the importinoe of thii Tieit of 
Miohelocso to Y enetU end Lombwdy , Buying thet he piopegAted in the aotth 
thet derdopment of the Reneieeenoe whioh in Toieeny BnineUeeohi and he 
hed Jointly impeUed. We thna find the ineritable end nbiqoitooe Tneoea 
infloenoe eheedy ezereiaed in Yenioe neerly a handled yeere before Bene>» 
Tino was to gife it enoh derelopment in hie library of San Maioow 



ltt0HStO220 ItiCfiEtOZSt 



models irUdi ]» wmdm m ttdit oi(j lor wwacam pcirabt 
dwellings and public buildings irlnoh lie Je owa te J for A» 
friends of Oosimo and other nobles^ Michelosso oonstructed 
the library of the monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore^ a 
house of the Black Monks of Santa Giustina. This was 
built by the command and at the expense of Gosimo^ who 
completed it> not only externally, and with the wood-work, 
seats, and decorations required, but also furnished it with 
many books. Such was the occupation, and such the 
amusement of Oosimo during that exile, irom which, bar* 
ing been recalled by his country, in the year 1434, he re- 
turned almost in triumph, and Michelozso with him. The 
master was thus again in Florence at the time when it was 
perceiyed that the public palace of the Signoria began to 
show symptoms of decay, some of the columns of the court- 
yard giving way, either because the weight with which they 
were loaded was too great, or that their foundations were 
weak and awry, or perhaps because the parts which com- 
posed them were not well put together ; but whaterer may 
have been the cause of decay, the care of the restoration 
was entrusted to Michelozzo, who willingly accepted that 
charge, and the rather as, while in Venice, he had provided 
against a similar peril which was threatening a house in the 
neighbourhood of San Bamaba. A gentleman had a palace 
there which seemed on the point of falling, and he there- 
fore put it into the hands of Michelozso ; whereupon the 
latter, according to what Michael Angelo Buonarotti for- 
merly told me, caused a column to be constructed secretly, 
and when he had also prepared a number of props and sup- 
ports, he concealed the whole in a boat, into which he 
entered himself, with several builders, when, in one night, 
he securely propped the house and replaced the column. 
Emboldened by this experience therefore, Michelosso re- 
paired the injury received by the palace of the Signoria, to 
his own honour as well as to the credit of those by the favour 
of whom such a charge had been r^mmitted to him. He 
refounded and reconstructed the columns, placing them in 



6 MIOHBLOZZO MIOHSLOZZI 

the condition wherein we now see them. Haying fint con- 
atrnoted a massive framework of thick beams and very 
strong uprights, to strengthen the centres of the arches, 
which were formed of nut-wood, and which he now caused 
to assist in the support of the weight formerly borne up 
by the columns alone, he then removed such portions of 
the latter as were defective, by little and little, replacing 
the decayed parts by new pieces, prepared with great care ; 
and this he effected in such a manner that the building did 
not suffer in any way, nor has it ever since sunk a hair's 
breadth. And to the end that his columns might be known 
from the others, Michelozzo constructed some with eight 
sides, and having capitals carved in foliage, after the modem 
fashion ; others he made round, but all are most easily dis- 
tinguished from those previously erected by Amolfo.^ 
When this had been accomplished, it was determined in 
pursuance of the advice of Michelozzo, by those who then 
governed the city, that the weight pressing on the arches of 
those columns should be diminished, and that the walls ol 
that part should be reconstructed to that end. The build- 
ings surrounding the court, from the arches upwards, were 
consequently altered ; windows being made after the modem 
fashion, and similar to those which the master had con- 
structed in the palace of the Medici ; cavities were more- 
over hewn in the stones, and in these were placed the golden 
lilies still to be seen there ; " all which Michelozzo caused 
to be completed with great promptitude. In the second 
floor, immediately above the windows of the before-men- 
tioned court-yard, the architect contrived circular aper- 
tures, to give light to the rooms of the entresol, which are 
over those of the first floor, and where is now the hall ol 
the Dugento. The third floor, finally, in which resided 

>* These oolamnf and wmlls reoeWed in 1666 ttie decoration still to be sssa 
opon them, and placed there to enhance the splendour of the ireddinf •! 
Francesco de* Hedioi (afterwards Grand Dnke) with Joanna of Anstriai. 

" In 1809 the French removed them as too like the royal liUes of FranoCi 
and furthermore as darkening the oonrt-yard bj the deep color ol the gfoniidl 
of the medalliona. 



MIOHXLOZZO MICHSLOZSSI 7 

the Signori and the Gonfaloniere, was more richly adorned, 
and on the ride towards San Piero^' Scheraggio, Miche- 
lotso arranged a series of rooms for the Signori, who had 
prerioosly all slept together in one great chamber. These 
apartments consisted of eight for the Signori, with a larger 
one for the Gonf aloniere, and they all opened upon a gallery, 
the windows of which looked on the coart-yard« Above 
these apartments was a range of commodious rooms for 
the honsehold of the palace, the officers of the courts, etc. 
In one of these rooms, that namely which is now the 
treasury, there is the portrait of Carlo Duke of Gal^ria, 
son of King Bobert, who is represented kneeling before a 
figure of the Virgin. This picture is by the hand of 
Giotto.^ In like manner, the architect provided rooms 
for the women-servants, the ushers, doorkeepers, trum- 
peters, muricians, pipers, mace-bearers, servants of the 
courts, heralds, and such-like, with all other apartments 
required in a palace of that character. ^^ On the upper 
part of the gallery, and entirely around the court, Mi- 
cheloszo erected a stone cornice, with a reservoir of water, 
which was filled by the rains, for the use of the fountains 
that were required to play at certain times. The improve- 
ments and decorations of the chapel, wherein mass is per- 
formed, were also executed by Michelozzo, and here he 
likewise constructed several rooms, the ceilings of which 
were highly enriched with lilies of gold on a ground of 
blue. At the same time he caused the ceilings of other 
rooms, both on the upper and lower floors of the palace, to 
be constructed anew, while the old ones which had been 
formerly made there in the ancient manner, were covered. 
In a word, he gave to the whole building that perfection 
of completeness which is proper to such a palace. The 
water from the wells, moreover, he contrived to convey to 

>• Ban FSmo Seheraggio has been destroyed. 
>* The peintiags have diiappeftied. 

>« TIm ahertttioDe were, acoordhig to Gaje, who is quoted by lliUnen, ov* 
dend by deoreee of October SO, 143S ; Jannazy 99, 1458 ; October U, 1454. 



8 XIOHELOZZO MIOHELOZZI 

the first floor,^ where, by means of a wheel, it oonld be 
attained more easily than was usually the case. For one 
defect only did the ingenuity of Michelozzo fail to dis- 
coyer a remedy : this was the public staircase, which, being 
ill-arranged from the beginning, and situated in an incon- 
yenient place, was too steep, insufficiently lighted, and in 
all respects badly constructed, with stairs of wood from the 
first floor upwards. He neyertheless laboured to such effect 
that a flight of circular steps was formed at the entrance 
to the court. He also made a door, with pillars, otpietra 
forte, and yery beautiful capitals, caryed with his own 
hand. This door had, besides, a cornice and double archi- 
traye, of yery good design, in the frieze of which he placed 
the arms of the commune.^' But, what was more, he made 
the whole staircase otpietra forte, up to the floor inhabited 
by the Signoria, and fortified it at the top and in the middle 
with a portcullis at each point, in case of tumults. At the 
summit of the stair he further constructed a door, which 
was called " the chain,'' by which there constantly stood a 
doorkeeper, who opened or closed it, accordingly as he was 
commanded by those who ruled. Michelozzo also rendered 
the fabric of the Oampanile more secure, by means of yery 
strong iron girders, this building haying cracked beneath 
the weight which is improperly distributed at that part, 
oyer the supports of the cross-beams, that is, on the side 
towards the Piazza. Finally, he so greatly improyed, and 
so ably restored this palace, that he was highly com- 
mended by the whole city ; and, in addition to olJier re- 
wards, he was chosen one of the OolUgio, which magistracy 
in Florence is esteemed highly honourable.** And now, if 
it should appear to any one that I haye spoken at more 

* TI|0 top floor rather {VyMmo piano). 

>* This door hM dinppaftred. 

M The two meet importuit magistrMiee of the dty after the Bignoria 
were held by the lixteen Oonfalonieri of the people and the twelve Bmonm^ 
cminiL Their two bodiea ** were oalled ooUegee beoaaee they oonld noTer 
meet apart from each other and from the SignorU, whether for the piopoaal 
of meamree, or for the deciaion of boameia.*'— YarohL 



MIOHBLOZZO MIOHELOZZI 

lengtii on this Bubjeot than may perhaps seem needful^ I 
deserre to be exonsed for this, inasmnch as, that, having 
shown in the life of Amolfo, that this building was out of 
square, and destitute of correct proportion at its first erec- 
tion in 1298 ; that it had columns of unequal sives in the 
court- jard, with arches, some of which were large and some 
small, stairs ill-contrived, and rooms awry and badly pro- 
portioned, it was necessary that I should also show to what 
extent the building had profited by the skill and judgment 
of Micheloszi, although even he did not arrange it in such 
a manner that it could be commodioudy inhabited or oc- 
cupied in any manner without great discomfort and the 
utmost inconvenience. But when, at length, the Signer 
Duke Oosimo came, in the year 1538, to make it his habi- 
tation, his Excellency began to bring it into a better shape ; 
yet, as the intentions of the duke were never understood, 
or as the architects who were employed by him for many 
years on that work did not know how to execute his pur- 
poses, he resolved to try if there were not some means 
whereby, without destroying the old works, in which there 
was certainly something good, and proceeding in accordance 
with the plan he had formed in his mind, the staircases and 
apartments, ill-contrived and inconvenient as they were, 
might not be brought into somewhat better order, and ar- 
ranged with more regard to convenience and proportion. 

Having therefore caused the Aretine painter and archi* 
teot, Giorgio Yasari, to be sent for from Bome, where he was 
employed in the service of Pope Julius III, the duke gave 
him a commission, not only to make a new arrangement of 
the rooms which he had already caused to be commenced in 
the upper part of the division opposite to the Oom Market 
(those rooms being also awry in consequence of the defects 
of the ground plan), but likewise commanded him to con- 
sider whether the palace could not, without destroying the 
work already done, be so contrived internally that com- 
munications might be established all over it, from one part 
to another, and from one room to another, by the means of 



10 MIOHELOZZO MICHBLOZZI 

staircases, prirate and public, to be constructed in a manner 
that should make them as easy of ascent as was possible. 
Giorgio Yasari, therefore, while the above-mentioned rooms, 
which were already begun, were in process of decoration, the 
ceilings being enriched with oil paintings and gold, and the 
walls covered with frescoes, or in other cases adorned with 
stucco, — Giorgio, I say, examined the whole ground-plan ot 
the palace minutely, both the new part and the old ; and 
after he had determined, with no small labour and study, on 
the means to be adopted for executing what he proposed to 
do, he gradually began to bring the building, by little and 
little, into better form, and succeeded in uniting the rooms 
formerly separated, of which some were high and others 
low, almost without destroying any part of what had previ- 
ously been done. But, to the end that the Signer Duke 
might see the design of the whole, Yasari prepared, in the 
space 6f six months, a model, in wood, representing the ex- 
act proportionis of the entire fabric, which has rather the 
form and extent of a castle than of a palace. And this 
model having been approved by his Excellency, the work 
proceeded in accordimce with it, and many commodious 
apartments were made, with easy staircases, private and pub- 
lic, which communicate with all the floors, and thus liberate 
the halls, which formerly were like a public road, since it 
was not possible to reach the upper stories without first pass- 
ing through them. The whole was magnificently adorned 
with various paintings ; and finally the roof of the great hall 
was raised twelve braccia above its previous height : inso. 
much that if Amolfo, Michelozzo, and the other masters 
who had laboured on this building, from its first foundation 
to the present time, should return to life, they would not 
know it again ; nay, they would rather believe that it was not 
their work, but a new construction and a different edifioe^ 

But let us now return to Michelozzo : the church of San 
Giorgio had at this time been given ^^ to the monks of San 

>f HilMiedsays thattbej took posseesion June 10, 143S, and ntelndl it tiB 
the eod of the following January. 



HIOHELOZZO MIOHELOZZI 11 

Domenico da Fiesole, but they did not occupy it longer than 
from about the middle of July to the end of January, be- 
cause GoBimo de^ Medici and Lorenzo his brother had ob- 
tained for them, from Pope Eugenius, the church and con- 
yent of San Marco, which had previously been occupied by 
Salvestrine monks, to whom San Giorgio was given in ex- 
change. Moreover they (Oosimo and Lorenzo de' Medici), 
being much devoted to religion, and zealous for the Divine ser- 
vice and worship, gave orders that the above-named convent 
of San Marco should be entirely rebuilt according to the de- 
sign and model of Michelozzo, commanding that it should 
be constructed on the most extensive and magnificent scale, 
with all the conveniences that those monks could possibly 
desire. This building the master commenced in the year 
1437, and the first part completed was that above the old 
refectory ^ and opposite to the ducal stables, which had for- 
merly been erected by the Duke Lorenzo de^ Medici. In 
this place twenty cells were made, the roof was put on, and 
the various articles of wood work brought into the refec- 
tory, which was finished as we see it in our day. But the 
edifice was not proceeded with any further at that time, be- 
cause it was necessary first to see what would be the end of 
a lawsuit,^ which a certain Maestro Stefano, general of the 
aforesaid Salvestrine monks, had commenced against the 
monks of San Marco in relation to that convent. At length, 
the suit having ended in favour of the brothers of San 
Marco, the construction of the convent was resumed ; but it 
was again interrupted, for the principal chapel, which had 
been erected by Ser Pino Bonaccorsi, had afterwards de- 
volved on a lady of the Gaponsacchi ^ family, and from her 
it had passed to Mariotto Banchi. Lawsuits to I know not 
what amount then ensued ; and Mariotto having got through 

>» October 28, 14S8» the frian of 8ui Maroo Mked for a tubaidy to rebuild 
their dormitory which had been burned. See MUaned. 

*> The Salveetrine monks appealed against a bill of Bngenina IV. and a do* 
orce of Ooaimo, which took awaj their convent and gaye it to the DominioviM. 
Ihe oonndl decided for the latter. See Mllaneri. ' 

s^ Tho daughter of Ser Pino f onnded the ohapel, . 



12 HIOHELOZZO HIOHELOZZI 

them all^ and taken the said chapel from Agnolo della Oasa 
to whom it had been either sold or given by the abore-named 
Salyestrine monks^ made it over to Gosimo de' Medici, who 
on his part gave Mariotto 500 scndi for the same. Subse- 
qnently, and when Cosimo had in like manner bought from 
the brotherhood of the Spirito Santo the site whereon the 
choir now stands, the chapel, the tribune, and the choir 
were built under the direction of Michelozzo, and were com- 
pleted and furnished at all points in the year 1439. The 
library was afterwards erected, it was yaulted above and be« 
low, and had sixty-four bookcases of cypress wood filled with 
most valuable books.^ The dormitory, which was in the 
form of a square, was next built, and finally the cloister was 
completed, with all the other truly commodious apartments 
of that convent, which is believed to be the most perfectly 
arranged, the most beautiful and most convenient building 
of its kind that can be found in Italy, thanks to the skill 
and industry of Michelozzo, who gave it up to its occupants 
entirely finished in the year 1452.^ Oosimo de' Medici is 
said to have expended 36,000 ducats on this fabric ;* it is 
added that while it was in course of construction, he gave 
the monks 366 ducats every year for their support. Of the 
erection and consecration of this temple certain details may 
be read in an epitaph (sic) of marble placed over the door lead- 
ing into the sacristy, and which is in the following words : 

''Gum hoc templum Maroo Evangelistte dioatam magnificit 
fomptibus 01. V. Oosmi Mediois tandem absolutum esset, Euge- 

*i In this library was deposited the celebrated ooUeotkm of Niooold moooU, 
whose liabilities Oosimo had cancelled, on condition that he shonld hare the 
free disposal of these books, in the arrangement of which he availed himself 
of the connsels of Thomas of Sariana, afterwards Pope Nicholas V. — Schom. 

"Ifilanesi cites annalists who affirm that the convent was finished in 144S, 
not 1463. The tribnne and choir of the chorch were made over in 194 8. 

ts This convent, although enlarged and in some parts modernised, stm re- 
mains for the greater part as it was left by Michelosso. So far Masselli. The 
Florentine commentators of 1846-49 adduce the authority of certain chroii* 
iolers of the oonvent, who declare the plan of their monastery to be due to 
Bnmellesoo, attributing the direotioii and ezecatioii only to MiohelooOk 
^Kri. Foster's Notes. 



XICHBLOZZO MIOHELOZZI 13 

niiis Qoftrtiui Bomanns Pontifex maiimft CkrcLinaliam, Archie- 
pisoopomm, Episoopomm, alioramqne Baoerdotom freqaentia 
oomitatoB) id oeleberrimo EpiphaaiaB die, solemni more serrato, 
conseoravit. Turn etiam qaotannis onmibosy qui eodem die festo 
annoas statasqne consecrationis oeremonias oarti pieqne oelebra- 
Terint ylBerintye, temporie Inendis peooatiB siiis debiti septem 
annos totidemqae qoadragesiinas apoatolioa remisit anctoritate. 
▲.M.ooocjczin.*^'' 

In like manner Oosimo commanded the noviciate of Santa 
Groce to be constructed after the designs of Michelozzo^ 
with the chapel of the same, and the entrance which leads 
from the charch to the sacristy, and which communicates 
with the noviciate, as well as with the stair-case of the 
dormitory. These works, whether as regards their beauty 
of form, convenience, or decorations, are not inferior to 
any of the buildings, whatever their character, erected by 
the truly magnificent Oosimo de' Medici, or which were 
carried into execution by Michelozzo. Among other par* 
ticulars, was the door leading from the church to the above- 
named portions of the fabric, which the master executed in 
the grey stone called macigno, and which was much com- 
mended for its novelty, and for the beauty of its decora- 
tions ; since it was at that time but little the custom to 
imitate the good manner of the ancients, as Michelozzo did 
in that case.^ Gosimo de^ Medici also caused the palace of 
Gafaggiuolo in Mugello,* to be constructed by the advice 
and after the plans of Michelozzo, who gave it the form of 
a fortress, surrounded by trenches : he likewise proceeded 
to lay out farms, and make roads about the domain, while 
he further planted gardens, constructed fountains, with 

** The bnflding, in spite of aHeratioiis, remaioB ementially a oonyent of tlii 
fifteenth oentory, and is, with its beamed roofs, its many ceUs and oorridofs 
deooratod by Fra Angelioo, its doisters, its frescoed ohapter-house and refso- 
tocy, one of the most interesting boildings in Bnrope. It was the home of 
Bayonarola, of Fra Angelioo, of Sant* Antoalno^ and has giren hoapilali^ 
to popes and prinoes. 
» AU these portions of Santa Crooe stiU exist 
** Oafsgginolo has been greatly changed and has lost its tmiolita 



14 nOHBLOZZO MIOHKLOZat 

groTet afonnd {hem, and made aTiariea, with all ihe other 
reqaisitee to a complete oountry residence. At the distance 
of two miles from the palace, and in a place called the 
Friars' Wood, Ooeimo completed the erection of a conyent^ 
for the barefooted monks of St Francis ; this he also con- 
fided to the care of Michelozzo, and a very beaatifnl work it 
is.'' At Trebbio, in like manner, Micheloizo executed 
yarious improvements ; as he also did at the palace of Villa 
Oareggi," w^ch was a rich and magnificent building, 
whither Michelozzo conducted the water for the fountain 
which we now see there. For Qioranni, the son of Oosimo 
de' Medici, the same architect constructed another magnifi- 
cent and noble palace at Fiesole, the foundations f <Nr the 
lower part of which were sunk at a yery great expense, in 
the decliyity of the hill, but this was not without its equiy- 
alent advantage, since the master contrived to place in that 
portion of the edifice, various cellars, store-rooms, stables, 
and other handsome and useful appurtenances to the dwell- 
ing of a noble. Above these, and in addition to the ordi- 
nary haUs, chambers, and other apartments usual in such 
buildings, Michelosao constructed some for books, with 
others for music. He gave in short a clear proof, in this 
palace, of the eminent skill which he possessed in architec- 
ture, since in addition to all that we have said, it may be 
truly afltened to have been built in such a manner, that 
although much exposed on that eminence, it has never sunk 
in the smallest degree. This palace* being completed, 
Michelozzo built the church * and convent of the monks of 
San Girolamo above it, and almost at the summit of the 
hill, which was also done at the expense of GiovannL The 
design and model of the hospital, which Oosimo de' Medici 

» Stm azittiiig. 

MVilUOanggisiiUttdrti; Lormao the M acnlSowii diad tfiw. 

»Bertoi«d, mjB Miluiasi, in 1780, by Gmpato Ptektti, it k mw Mlkd 
VUUHonL 

>• Milaiuwi ieUs us that MinhelodH) only Moonitniettd hniMingi wbidi «s* 
irtedaliMdy. Matteo Nigotti in ISSi dadgntd a portioo for Hm ooavwl 
whioh is iK»w a TiU* (BioMoU). 



MIOHBLOZZO jaOHBLOZZI IB 

OMied to be erected in Jerusalem, for the pilgrims who go 
to yiflit the sepalchre of Christ, were famished by Miche- 
lono, as was the design for six of the windows in the fagade 
of San Pietro, and which was sent to Borne by Gosimo. 
These windows were adorned with the arms of the Medici, 
bat three of them have been remoyed in oar own day, and 
repkoed by Pope Paol III, with others bearing the arms of 
the Eamese family. At a sabseqaent period, Oosimo was 
informed that a grievoas dearth of water was saffered at 
Santa Maria degli Angeli, at Assisi,*^ to the* great incon* 
yenience of the nameroas pilgrims who yearly flock to that 
jdaoe, on the first of Aagast, for the '' Absolation '^ : he oon- 
ieqnently sent Michelozzo thither, when that master con- 
dnoted a spring which rises mid-way ap the hill, to the 
wells of Santa Maria, which he then adorned with a rich 
and beaatifal colonnade (loggia) ; the columns whereof, 
formed of separate pieces, were decorated with the arms of 
Oosimo. Within the conyent also, and in like manner at the 
command of Oosimo, Micheloszo ezecated many asef al im- 
proyements for the monks ; these the magnificent Lorenzo 
afterwards renewed at a greater cost and with increased 
beaaty of ornament ; he likewise caased the wax figare of 
the Madonna to be made,* which is still to be seen there."* 
Oosimo de' Medici moreoyer commanded that the road 
leading from Santa Maria degli Angeli to the city, should 
be payed with bricks, and before Michelozzo left that 
neighbourhood, he prepared the design of the old citadel of 
Perugia. Betuming at length to Florence, he built the 
house of Oioyanni Tomabuoni, at the comer of the Tor- 
naquinei,* which was in almost all respects similar to the 



* ThSi tfBt in ftt, A miiiniialfttioii, ii obaeiiM In the original ; it meant ihak 
Lonnio oAred hie own waxen image to the Madimna. See the life of Vei>- 



"Xnehinjinywae done here hj the earthqnakee of 1889; whioh raineda 
gnal part of ilie work. SeeMiUuieeL 

** The Tolfve image haa periabed. 

« Kewlhe dabocately ree t ored Fnhoao Oonl. reatored, howerer, nja Mi* 
hmMi, afl« the deaign of the acehiteot TOemaoo BonafnlL A UigffU de* 



16 MIOHSLOZZO MIOHELOZZI 

palaoe constrnoted by the same master for Cosimo^ except- 
ing that the facade has not the carved stone-work and cor* 
nices of the latter^ but is entirely plain. 

After the death of Gosimo, by whom Michelozzo had been 
as much beloved as a dear friend could bo, Piero, his son, 
caused the master to bnUd the marble chapel of the Gmcifiz,'* 
in San Miniato std Monte, and in the semi-circle of the 
arch Michelozzo scolptared, in mezzo-rilievo, the Falcon, 
with the diamond, which was the device of Gosimo, the 
father of Piero, a work that was troly beautiful. Some 
time after this was completed, the same Piero de' Medici, 
proposing to construct the chapel jof the Annunciation, in 
the church of the Servi, entirely of marble, desired to have 
the opinion of Michelozzo, who was now become old, re- 
specting the matter, not only because he highly estimated 
the skill of that master, but also because he knew how faith- 
ful a friend and servant the latter had been to Gosimo his 
father. Michelozzo having accordingly said what he thought 
of the design, the charge of executing it was entrusted to 
Pagno di Lapo Partigiani, a sculptor of Fiesole, who dis- 
played much ability and foresight in the progress of the 
work, having many things to provide for in a very small 
ipace." 

In San Miniato al Tedeeco, likewise, Pagno executed cer- 
tain figures while still very young, in company with his 
master Donate," and in Lucca he constructed a marble 
tomb opposite to the chapel of the Sacrament in the church 
of San Martino for Messer Piero Nocera, who is there pour- 

■ignad by Oigdii, at the end tow»rdB the Chad Pdftoe, was destroyed, but 
Imiteted in the loggia oonstracted upon the end whieh facet Ban Gaetanow . 

MTheOnioifizion is now in the ohoroh of the Sa Trinitk. Thechapel is 
stUl in tUu, 

MMilanesi shows that Gioranni di Bettino bnilt this chapel abont 1461. 
The same Giovanni is belieTcd by some writers to be the designer of the /a- 
fade of 8. Maria Novella, attributed by Vasari to Albert!. Lapo^s name was 
Ftetifiani not Partigiani; born in 1406, he died 1470. 

** At Ban Miniato al Tedeeco, in the diarch of Bant* Jaoopo de Dominioani, 
there is a monument (1461) to the Florentine physician, Giofanni C3Mlia^ 
whioh recalls the mannsr of Dooatdlo. 



MIOHSLOZZO MIOHELOZZI 17 

trayed after the life.'' Filarete, in the 25th book of his 
work, has recorded that Francesco Sforza, fourth duke of 
Milan, presented a most beautif ol palace in that city to the 
magnificent Gosimo de' Medici,® and that the latter, to 
show the duke how acceptable was the gift, not only adorned 
it richly with marbles and carvings in wood, but also en- 
larged it under the direction of Michelozzo, giving it an ex- 
tent of eighty-seven braccia and a half, whereas it had pre- 
viously measured eighty-four braccia only. Besides this, 
he commanded that various pictures should be painted 
there, more particularly in one of the galleries, where he 
caused to be represented certain stories from the life of the 
emperor Trajan.* Among the decorations of these works, 
Gosimo ordered the portrait of Francesco Sf orza to be de- 
picted, with that of the Lady Bianca, duchess of Milan^ 
his consort, and those of their children ; the portraits of 
many other nobles and great personages were added, to- 
gether with those of eight emperors, and with these Miche- 
lozzo placed the likeness of Gosimo himself, done by his own 
hand. All the rooms, moreover, were decorated by the 
master with the arms of Gosimo, arranged in various modes 
and accompanied by his device of the Falcon and Diamond. 
The paintings here described were all by the hand of Vin- 
cenzio di SSoppa, a painter who was held in no small esteem 
at that time and in that country.^ 

It appears that the money expended by Gosimo in the 
restorations of this palace was paid by Pigello Portinari,^ 

*v It is by Mfttteo CSTitfOi, not by Fl^^no. 

»This is now the Pftlsno de Vismara, in the Gontnds de Bosd (see 
lOlsnesi, Vol II., p. 448). It was gjtwen to Gosimo in 1456. Only the ooort- 
yard and oater door belonging to the older bnUding remain. 

** Only a few traces remain of the piotores. 

«*innoensio Foppa, not Zoppa, was a fiunona painter of the Milanese 
sohool, and was bom in Bresoia. 

«i8ee Imoa Beltrami, La oappiUa di San PUtro Jfartire, Areh. Stor. deJV 
Art0^ Y. 907-991, an important article with many reprodaotions. The aathor 
(daims that nothing proves Michelono to have baUt the ohapel of St. Peter 
Martyr in the ehnroh of SanV Bostorgio fai Milan, attributed by PassigU (1889) 
toMiolMloao,aadshioehistime byall sncoeedingannotatoni Filarete, /iftro 



18 MIOHBLOZZO MIOHBLOZZI 

a Florentine citizen, who then directed the financial and 
other affairs of Gosimo in Milan and resided in the palace. 

There are certain works in marble and bronze by Miche- 
lozzo in Genoa, with many others in other places which 
are known by their manner.^ But what we have now said 
of him must suffice ;^ he died in the 68th year of his age, 
and was buried in his own tomb in the church of San Marco, 
in Florence.** ** *• His portrai t, by the hand of Fra Giovanni, 

ZXV. TVattato deW ArchUettura, doee not mration it m Miohelozso'a work, 
and •▼idently doet not omit it from profeuional jealooiy, m he dabontdy 
desoribM the Banco Medioeo (Vismftra). Signor Beltrami thinks that the 
chapel, which waa ordered bj Pigello Porfcinari, a Florentfaie, in 146% ia a 
combination of Toacan architecture and local traditions. 

««Afterthefire of 1463 Michelozzo and Giorgio of Sebeoico partiaUy rebuilt 
theFldaizoBetfcoraloofBagnaa. Certain portiona are identified aaMichelosao'a 
by Herr Schmaraow. See Micheloxzo in Ragwa^ ArchMo Storioo^TL 209L 
Michelono contcacted also to go to Scio, bat whether he went or not haa not 
been learned. Sig. Pietro Gianuissi haa a long and careful atody of the work 
of thia collaborator of Mieheloaao (Giorgio da Sebenico) in the Arch, Star, d$lC 
Arte, V. 897-454. 

«> Milaneai atates that BCichelosio waa elected propeddUore of the Cupola 
and Lanton of Sta. Maria del Fiore, August U, 1446. 

44 Miohdoao ia proved by Milaneai to haye been buried October 7, 1478, in 
Ban Marco, at the age of 78i 

** Vaaazi attribntea to Donatdlo, in the Life of that master, the very im* 
portent tomb of Bartolommeo Aragazii at Montepidoiano, which ia now 
proved to have been ordered of Michdono, and executed by him 14S7-20L 
The tomb, which ia in the cathedral, waa taken to piecea in the eighteenth cen- 
tury, and the different portions are dispened about the church, while certain 
parts have completely disappeared. Herr Schmarsow, Nuavi Studi intomo a 
Mlehelozzo, VArch. 8tar,y YL 241, claims that the lunette orer the door of S. 
Agostino at Montepuldano ia a fine work of Michdono, and that the wboU 
fagade of the church is by him. Dr. Bode attributes to Mieheloaao a large 
painted terra-cotta relief of the Madonna in the Berlin Muaenm. 

** M. Mttntc, in noting Midieloiao aa more temperate and more elegant 
than Brunelleechi, finda alao that he oould not have beena man of atrong 
character, aince, when already fifty yeara old, he waa willing to work under 
the ordera of another ; but at leaat thia readineaa to accept guidance fell in a 
Tery fortunate time, for Michelono, beaidea possessing talent of a rery high 
order, enjoyed exceptional adyantages of aaaociation. He waa the oollaborator 
at onoe of the greatoit aculptor and the greatest architect of his time. 
** Working together like brothers,** says the inaoription upon the houaea 
of the Adimari, lOcheloaio with DonateUo created maaterpiecea of aenlptura 
and of architectonic arrangement, and under the influence and in emulation 
«f Brunelleachi, he built palaoea which entitled him to at leasta third rank 



HIOHSLOZZO MI0HfiLOZ2I Id 

is in the sacristy of Santa Trinita, in the figure of an old man 
with a cap on his head, representing Nioodemns, who is taking 
the Saviour from the cross.^ 

•moiig the aiohiieots of the early quattroe^nio^ for if he ia not Bmnelleaohi, 
the inapinr of a eohool, nor Alberti, the Leonardo da Vinoi of arohiteotnre, he 
ia aman who haa created great and laating worka and left hia peraonal im- 
jmaa npon a period of aplendid effloreaoenoe and indiyidnalitjr. 

^' The portrait of Mioheloiao enata in thia piotore by Fra Awgelico, now in 
the Aoademy. It ia not the figure of Kioodemoa, howeves^ which reprcMnta 
MidifllMMiu hot another figure wearing a Uaokhoodi 



PIBRO BELLA PRANOESOA, PAINTEE OP BOEaO 

SAN SEPOLOEO* 

[Bora 1430; died 1490.] 

BiBLiOGRAPHT.— In Addition to the general works on Italian art eee & 
Mllnti» Ibur du Monde, 1883, L 280; Kwut-Chronik, 1878, No. 48; He- 
pertcriumfUr Eurutwisseruchafly 188S, p. 33. Jahrbuchder Klg. Pr, JTwiut- 
SamnUungm, 1. 1., 1880, pp. 112-118. R Hansen, ArchUffBirdie Meiehnenden 
KufUie, t n., 1856, p. 240-241. BomI, Del Cenacolo di Leonardo da Vinei^ 
Milan, 1810, p. 17. Catalogue de la bibliotMque de 8ig, Botei, p. 288; Oa^ 
getU de$ Beaux ArU, 1868, t. II., p. 184 ; Revue OrUique, Haxoh 8, 1880. 
Loigi Ginnti, Ptero della Franeeeea dal Borgo 3. SepoUro^ Aieno, 1886. 
B. Hnnti, Uh nouoeau Mdnuaerit du Traiti de PerepeetUfe de Piero delta 
Praneesea, ArehiveM dee Arts, premikre Urie^ 1890. R Idilnti, Andrea 
Mantegna e Piero dtUa Franeeeea etudio eutla predeRa delta pata di San 
Zeno net Jfueeo del Louvre ed in quedo di Sbvrtin ArdsMo StorieodelT Arte, 
XL 278. A Life of Piero della Franoesoa, bj Signer Giovanni Felioe Pichi, 
pnbUahod at Borgo San Sepoloro, 1898, ia reviewed bj Sig. Louis B. Bodrignea 
(rAreh, Star. deXP ArU^ YL, 146) aa being ntlMr a pan^gjiio than aa 
impactial Ufaw 

TTNHAPPT, of a tnifh, are those who, doToting them- 
I J sdves to laborioas stadies^ in the hope of benefiting 
others and acquiring fame for themselyes^ are im- 
peded by infirmities or prevented by death from carrying 
the works they have commenced to their ultimate perfec- 
tion. For it sometimes happens^ that leaving their labours 
when all but completed, or in a fair way for the. attainment 
of perfection, the credit of all is usurped by the presump- 
tion of those who seek to conceal the skin of the ass beneath 

>PaoioU oaUa him more oorreotly Pietro dei Franoeaohi, and aometimea 
Petrue de FranelBcie. He ia alao oaUed Pietro da Borgo San Sepoloro and 
Fietro di Benedetto della Franoeaoai alao oooaaionally Piero Borghaaa. 



PIEBO DELLA FRAK0E80A ^ 

the glorious and hononred spoils of the lion. And although 
time^ who is declared to be the father of truths does sooner 
or later make the real state of things manifest^ yet it is 
none the less true, that the labourer is, for a certain period, 
defrauded of the honour which should attach to the works 
he has performed. Such was the case with Piero della 
Francesca, of Borgo San Sepolcro, who, being considered an 
admirable master in the difficulties of drawing rectilinear 
bodies, as also well versed in arithmetic and geometry, was 
nevertheless prevented in his mature age, first by blindness, 
and finally by the close of his life, from bringing to light 
the various fruits of his meritorious labours, and the many 
books written by him, which are still preserved in Borgo, 
his native place.' 

And the man who should have laboured with all his 
powers to secure the fame and increase the glory of Piero, 
from whom he had acquired all that he knew, Fra Luca del 
Borgo namely, — ^he, on the contrary, envious and malig- 
nant, did his utmost to annihilate the name of Piero, his 
instructor, and sought to arrogate to himself that honour 
which was due to his teacher alone, publishing, under his 
own name, all the laborious works of that good old man, 
who, in addition to the acquirements named above, was 
highly distinguished in painting also.' Piero was bom in 
Borgo San Sepolcro, — ^now a city, which it was not at that 
time, — and was called Delia Francesca, from the name of 
his mother ; whom the death of her husband and his father 
had left a widow before he was bom,^ and because he had 
been brought up solely by herself, who furthermore assisted 
him in the attainment of that learning to which his good 
fortune had destined him. Piero gave considerable atten- 
tion to mathematics in his early youth ; and although he 

*It hM been enoneonaly iteted thftl tome of Pieio*e MSB, it in the po** 
leeeion of Qinteppe liarini SVuioeechi, a deeoendaat of the artisi See Ifik* 
Mil, VoL IL, p. 48a 

•See note Sa 

« This it noi true; hie lather UtocI tOl 1469. 



dd I'iSftO DBLLA FBAK0S80A 

was indaoed to become a painter in his fifteenth year^ ht 
yet never deserted the study of that science ; bat» on the 
contrary, made extraordinary progress therein, as well as in 
painting. He was much employed by Onidobaldo Feltro the 
elder, Dnke of Urbino/ for whom he ezecated many pict- 
ures. These works comprised numerous small figures, and 
were extremely beautiful, but have, for the most part, been 
much injured, or altogether destroyed in the many times 
that this Duchy has been disturbed by wars.* Some of the 
writings of Piero della Francesca, on geometry and the laws 
of perspective, are nevertheless still preserved there. In 
knowledge of these sciences Piero was certainly not inferior 
to the best-informed of his contemporaries ; nay, was per- 
haps equal to any who have followed him down to the pres- 
ent time, as may be shown by the many fine drawings in 
perspective which fill his works. Among other instances of 
this kind is a vase, which is treated in such a manner that 
it can be seen before, behind, and at the sides, while the 
base and mouth are equally visible ; without doubt a most 
astonishing thing. In this work the smallest minutisd are 
attended to with the utmost exactitude, and each .turn of 
every circle is foreshortened with the greatest delicacy, 
fiaving by these things acquired considerable eminence in 
the court of XTrbino, Piero desired to make himself known 
elsewhere ; he therefore proceeded to Pesaro and Ancona,^ 

*lfiUneii thinbi Vaatri mnit hftye meuit Gnidobaldo, Mm of Fedarigo. 
CKddobaldo beoune dnka in 1483 ; the Traetatui d$ Quinque OorpcrHtrnM mm 
dedkmtad to him and postdatw by four yean the last pietore exeented by 
Piera M. MOnii thinka that tfais and the other mathematteal wOrka into 
written dnring the period when Piero*8 eyeiight had fdled him. Piero ia 
hia atyle foDowed Paolo Uooello rather than Domenieo Veirfiiano, aHhongh 
when a youth he worked with the latter at the deoocation of the great ehapel 
of Bant* Bgidio (dnoe deitroyed) in Florenoe. 

*Aooording to Milaneai tiie only weU-anthentioated wo^ of Piero deOa 
P^ranoeaea in Urbino ia a Boonrging of Christ, and is in the aaorlaty of the 
oathednd. It ia signed OFVS fbtri db buboo savoti iiPTLonu. The pto- 
sis portndto of Dnke Federigo d' Urbino and Batdsta BCumk hia wi&, paiiiled 
by Piero, are in the UlBiL The baoks of the panela are alao painted with 
•Oegorioal snbjeota repr e se n ting the Dnke and Dnehess npoo triumphal oan. 

* Piero^a makM in Pesaro and Anoona haTs.periahed. A froseo^ not flMa* 



pubo dslla fbakobsoa 33 

whenoe^ at the moment when he was most busily occnpied, 
he was sammoned by the Dnke Borso, to Ferrara^ where he 
painted many aparhnents of the palace. These chambers 
were afterwards destroyed by Duke Ercole the elder, who 
rebuilt the palace after the modem taste, one consequence 
of which was, that there now remains no work in that city 
from the hand of Piero, if we except a chapel in the church 
of Saint Agostino, which he painted in fresco, and even 
that has been grievously injured by the humidity of the 
place.' 

From Ferrara Piero della Francesca was inyited by pope 
Nicholas V. to Bome, where he painted two stories in the 
upper rooms of the palace, in company with Bramante of 
Milan.* But these works also were destroyed in like man- 
ner by pope Julius II., to the end that Baffaello da XJrbino 
might paint the imprisonment of St. Peter, with the mira- 
cle of the corporale of Bolsena in its place. At the same 
time there were likewise destroyed certain pictures which 
had been painted by Bramantino, an excellent master of that 
time.^ 

But to return to Piero della Francesca: when he had 
completed his work in Bome he returned to Borgo, where 
his mother had died, and in the deanery there, he painted 
two saints in fresco, within the central door, which are con- 
sidered extremely beautiful. ^^ In a convent belonging to the 
monks of Sant' Agostino, this master painted the picture 
for the high altar, which was a much esteemed work.^ He 

iioned by VaMri, is ttiU preieryed in the ehnroh of San FnmoMoo in Bimi- 
iiL It repreients Sigiunondo Maltttosta Inneoling before 81 Sigiimiind, his 
{Nitron. 

• The ohnrdi and the paintings are destroyed. 

* Probably not the arohiteet Bramante, who was but eleven years old when 
Nicholas V. died (1466). 

>* Vaaari^s notioe of Bramantino is omitted. 

" This work is in tUu in the Piere di Santa Maria. 

'* An Assumption. Menrs. Crowe and OsTaloaselle attribute thispiofcore in 
& Agostino to Francesco da OasteUo, bat a contract exists for a picture to 
be painted by Piero for the brothers of St. Aognstine, and is dated October 4. 
1454. SeeMihoiesL 



34 PISBO BELLA FBANOESOA 

likewise painted a Virgin in fresco ^* for a society, or, as 
they call themselyes, a brotherhood, of the Misericordia ; 
and in the palace of the Oonservators he executed a Besur- 
rection, which is held to be the best of his works in that 
city ; nay, of all that he ever performed.'* At Santa Maria 
di Loretto, Piero commenced a work in company with Do- 
menico of Venice : this was the decoration of the sacristy, 
but as he left it incomplete from fear of the plagae, it was 
afterwards finished by Lnca da Gortona,'' a disciple of Piero 
della Francesca, as will be related in the proper place. 

Departing from Loretto, and proceeding to Arezzo, Piero 
there painted the chapel of the Bacci family in the church 
of San Francesco,'* the chapel is that near the high altar, and 

>* miMt^rf states that this pietnre of the Vligin, now in the little ohnroh of 
the hospital, ii painted on a panel, while Crowe and Oavaloaselle mention it as 
a fresco. The ArcMvio Storieo deW Arte^ V. 397, says that the architeot Del 
Moro has lately made a reoonstniotion of the laige Aneona of Piero della 
Franoesoa in the Ospedale della Madonna dell* Ansilio at Borgo San Sepoloro. 

>« Bxecnted in 14^, it is in the palace of the GonBenrators, now Monte di 
Pietd of Borgo San Sepoloro. Symonds considers it ** by far the grandest, 
most poetic, and most awe-inspiring piotore of the Resorreotion.** M. MQnts, 
VAreh, 8tor. delT Arte^ IL 278, shows that this fresco inspired the Besoneo- 
tlMi by Mantegna (a predeUa panel at Tonrs, taken from the San Zeno Ma- 
donna of Verona), and that the latter work, in spite of the vastly superior skill 
shown, is inferior in grandeor to the conception of the Umbrian master. 

>* The works which now adorn the sacristy are by Lnca SignoreUi 

>• This work was ezecnted in 1450. If the Resurrection at Borgo San Sepol- 
oro is the greatest, the series of paintings at Aresso (painted about 1400 in the 
church of San Francesco) is the most oonsidersble work of Piero. The sub- 
jects are : The Stories of Adam and Bre ; the Queen of Sheba Visiting Solo- 
mon ; the Triumph of Christianity ; the Dream of Constantine ; the Find- 
ing of the True Cross ; the Raising of the Cross before Jerusalem ; the 
Annunciation ; the Prophets ; the Victory of Heraolius over the Persians. 
The frescoes of San Francesco are very remarkable works, which call for 
careful consideration. M. MQnts has described them at once with enthu- 
siasm and discrimination (Ze Tbur du Monde^ 1888, L 280-384), has praised 
Piero*s obserration, his science, his narrative capacity, his style, his dear 
odor and distribution of light, has blamed his neglect of the search for beauty 
and a certain commonness sometimes found in his types. He even thinks that 
the Bai»i«g of the Cross before Jerusdem wholly lacks solemnity. It is true 
that the figuzes, with their huge head-dresses, stand upon the verge of the gro- 
tesque ; but, as ICr. Ruskin has said, there is a noble and an ignoble grotcsquoi 
Plsro*s figures are so imperturbably, so intensely grave, that this rigid and 



PIBBO BBLLA FBANOBSOA 26 

the work was ezecated for Lnigi Bacci, a citizen of Arezzo. 
The ceiling of the chapel had already been commenced by 
Lorenzo di Bicci ; the subject represented is the History of 
the Oross^ from the moment when^ at the burial of Adam 
by his sons^ the seed of the tree from which the wood of the 
cross was afterwards taken, was placed beneath the tongae 
of the patriarch by their forethought, to the time when the 
exaltation of the cross itself was solemnized by the Em- 
peror Heraolius, who, supporting it on his shoulders and 
walking barefoot, thus enters with it into Jerusalem. In 
this work are many admirable qualities, and various merits 
in the attitudes, all of which are worthy of consideration. 
Among other things, the vestments worn by the female 
attendants of the Queen of Sheba will be found to deserve 
praise ; they are treated in a pleasing manner, which was 
then new. There are, besides, many portraits from life 
which exhibit great animation, with a range of Oorinthian 
columns, the proportions of which are absolutely perfect ; 
and a peasant, who, leaning with his hands on his spade, 
stands listening to the discourse made by St. Helena, while 
the three crosses are in process of being disinterred, with an 
attention which is expressed so perfectly that it would 
not be possible to improve it. The dead body which is re- 
stored to life at the touch of the cross is also very well 
executed, and the joy felt by St. Helena is equally well 
expressed, as is the arrangement of the bystanders, who 
prostrate themselves in adoration. But, superior to all be- 
sides, whether for conception or execution, is the represen- 

■omewhftt staring graTity beoomet impreeslYa. The painter*! aimpUoity in 
the diatribntion of hia maaaea, hia olear, flat, f oroefnl deooratiye planea of oolor, 
are aided by a really noble oomprehenaion of landscape compoaition nntil the 
work attaina an effect which is quite independent of the grotesqoely natoralis- 
tic head-dreaaea of aome of hia peraonagea. Hia pictnrea are fine in apite of, 
rather than by aid of, hia ooatnmea (aaving only when he haa ample draperiea 
to deal with), and hia Umbrian or Florentine women who foUow Sheba have 
little of beaaty, but mneh of styla As for his Dream of Constantine, Piero 
has ahown, in his bold lighting of fignrea and baekgronnd, Raphael's daring, 
and afanoat BaphaePa akill, without any of the latter*B sense of beaaty (com- 
pare the fresco of Arezzo with the Liberation of Peter from Frison, in Rome). 



96 PIERO DELLA FBAN0B80A 

tation of Nighty as giyen by this master : in this picture is 
an angel ; the figure, admirably foreshortened, is descend- 
ing with the head downwards, bearing the insignia of Vic- 
tory to Oonstantine, who is sleeping in his pavilion, watched 
by a chamberlain, and guarded by armed men, whose forms 
are obscurely seen in the darkness. These figures, with the 
tent, and all within a certain distance, are illumined by the 
light which proceeds from the angel himself, and which is 
managed with the utmost care and judgment. In this 
work, Piero della Francesca has shown the importance of 
copying things as they really are, and of taking nature and 
reality for the models ; this he has done excellently well, 
and has thereby giyen later artists the opportunity of profit- 
ing by his example, and in doing so to arriye at the high 
position which they have attained in our day. In the same 
work is a battle, in which fear, animosity, force, dexterity, 
and other passions and qualities exhibited by the comba- 
tants, are expressed with extraordinary truthfulness. The 
occurrences of the struggle are equally well represented, 
and fearful scenes of carnage ; the wounded, the dying, and 
the dead, are depicted with great animation. Piero has 
likewise found means to imitate in this fresco, the glittering 
of the arms for which he well merits praise ; and no less for 
a group of horses in the flight and submersion of Maxentius, 
these animals being foreshortened with such extraordinary 
skill, that when the time in which they were executed is 
considered, we may truly declare them to be excellent and 
beautiful beyond measure. A figure, partly nude, partly 
clothed in Saracenic vestments, and seated on a meagre 
horse, is also in this work, and displays the knowledge 
which Piero della Francesca possessed of anatomy, a science 
but imperfectly understood in his time. For all these 
things, the artist well deserved the large rewards bestowed 
on him by Luigi Bacci, whose portrait, with those of Oarlo 
and others of his brothers, he has depicted in the figures 
present at the decapitation of a king, which makes part of 
the story. The portraits of other Aretine citizens, distin* 



PIEBO BELLA FRANOBSOA 27 

gaished as men of letters, accompany those of Lnigi and his 
brothers, by whom Piero was highly esteemed, as he was 
indeed by tiie whole city, which he had so richly adorned 
and ennobled by his works. 

In the episcopal chnrch of Arezzo, Piero della Francesca 
execnted a Santa Maria Maddalena in fresco, beside the door 
of the sacristy ; and for the brotherhood of the Nanzata,* 
he painted the banner which they carry in procession. ^^ He 
likewise depicted San Donate in episcopal robes with figures 
of children, on a seat drawn in perspectiye at the head of 
the cloister belonging to Santa Maria delle Grazie, and at 
San Bernardo he execnted a figure of San Vincenzio, in a 
high niche of the wall, for the monks of Monte Oliyeto, 
which is much esteemed by artists. In a chapel at Sargiano, 
a residence of the Frati Zoccolantif situated outside of 
Arezzo, Piero executed a figure of Christ praying by night 
in the garden, which is yery beautiful.'^ 

In Perugia, also, this master produced many works which 
are still to be seen in that city. Among others, a picture ^ 
in '' tempera,'^ for the church of the nuns of Sant' Antonio 
of Padua, this represents the Virgin with the Child on her 
lap; she is accompanied by San Francesco, Sant' Eliza- 
betta, San Gioyanni Battista, and Sant' Antonio of Padua. 
Aboye these figures is a most beautiful Annunciation, with 
an angel which seems in truth to haye descended from 
heayen ; and, what is more, a range of columns diminishing 

* If imsiAtei 

tThe Zoccolanti were the barefooted FnnoiMMn frimi 90 oaOad from 
their Moceoli^ or wooden-ioled sMidde. 

" The freaco ie in 9Uu ; the burner is ket 

>• This picture is destroyed. 

>* In the Finseoteoa of Peragis. Kear SinigagUa, in the soppresied oonvent 
of 8. Maria delle Grade, there is a rery carefnUy finished little pictore attri- 
bnted to Fra Gamerale, which is beliered by some critics (Areh. Star, delP 
ArU^ V. 868) to be a good specimen of Piero della Franoeica This is, how- 
erer, a disputed point, and a large piotnre in the Brera gallecy, containing a 
kneeling figure of Doke Federigo d*Urbino, is also a subject for the same kind 
of oontrorersy. See Dr. Frinoni reriewing Dr. Bode*s edition of the Oiot* 
nme, Arch, 8tor,^ L, 90S. 



28 PIEBO DBLLA FBAN0B80A 

in perspective, which is indeed beantifol. In the predella 
are representations in small figures, depicting St. Anthony 
restoring a boy to life ; St. Elizabeth saving a child who has 
fallen into a well, and St. Francis receiving the stigmata.*^ 
At Ancona, likewise, on the altar of St. Joseph, in the 
chnrch of San Giriaco, Piero della Francesca depicted the 
espousals of our Lady in a story of extraordinary beanty.'' 

This master was exceedingly zealons in the study of arts. 
As I have said, he devoted much attention to perspective, 
and possessed considerable knowledge of Euclid, inasmuch 
that he understood all the most important properties of rec- 
tilinear bodies better than any other geometrician ; and the 
most useful elucidations of these matters which we possess, 
are from his hand : for the monk of St. Francis, Maestro 
Luca del Borgo, whose works treat of regular geometrical 
bodies, was his disciple, and when Piero became old, and 
finally died, after having written many books, the above- 
named Maestro Luca, attributing them to himself, caused 
the works of his master to be printed as his own, they hav- 
ing fallen into his hands on the death of Piero.^ 

** Beliered to be the triptych in the Ffnaooieoa of Peragift. 

ti Aooording to Milanwri this was probably a wall-paintiiig and haa periihad. 

** Paoioli has been defended against the impntation of Vasari by Qioaeppe 
Bossi, Padre Lnigi Pnngileone, and Milanesi. Aooording to Drs. Jordan and 
l^Hnterberg, who have studied the MS. oarefolly, the facts of the case seem to 
be : Lnoa Pacioli, who afterwards became a ^tmons mathematioian, was a 
pnpil of Piero deUa Francesca ; Piero^s MS. contained no original oontrUm- 
ticms, bnt was simply a series of practical applications baaed on Bnolid*s prop- 
ositions ; the work referred to by Vasari was merely an Italian tianalation by 
PsdoU of the Latin. M. MQnts asserts, on the contrary, that study of tfaa 
original BiS., Traetattu de Quinque corporibut^ fonnd by Dr. Jocdan, prores 
that Vasari was right in aconsing Pacioli of plagiarism. H. Mdnti has re- 
oently disooyered in the Biblioth^ne Nationale an old copy of Pietro*s trea- 
tise on perspective under the title, Petrta pirtor BurgetuU de ptrtpetHnta. 
This copy, made in the sixteenth century, contains reproductions of the 
original drawings. Another copy of the same work has also been found In the 
library of Bordeaux by M. Ravaisaon. The MS. of the De ProtpectUfa pin^ 
gendi belongs to the Saibanti collection in Verona; an Italian translation 
was discorered by Herr Hanen in the Ambrosian library, Bfilan, under tfaa 
name PUtro pUtore di Bruges, Another copy, which was once the prop- 
er^ of the Duke of Urbino, is now in the Vatican. 



PIBBO DBLLA FRAN0E80A 39 

It was the cnatom of Piero della Franceses to form figures 
in clay whereon he afterwards arranged draperies of soft 
textures richly f olded^ from which he then drew^ using them 
as his models. 

The works of Piero Borghese were executed about the 
year 1458. At the age of sixty he was attacked by a catarrh, 
in consequence of which he became blind, and thus lived till 
he had attained his eighty-sixth year.^ He left consider- 
able property among which were certain houses in Borgo, 
which he had himself built, but which were burnt and de- 
stroyed in the strife of factions during the year 1536.^ He 
was honourably interred by his fellow citizens in the prin- 
cipal church, which originally belonged to the monks of 
Camaldoli, but is now the episcopate.^ His books, which 

*• The story of his blindness is doubtfoL He was working in 1478, and his 
win, made in 1487, asserts him to have been sanies menU inUUeetu et eorpore. 
He died October 18, 1492, and was bnried in ihe abbey (now oathedral) of 
Borgo San Sepoloro. His name apon the bnrial records is UdeMtro Pietro di 
Benedetto d^ Franeeeehi. See Milanesi. 

M Signer Giuseppe Marini Franceschi of Borgo San Sepolcro, a descendant 
of Piero, possesses what is considered to be a copy from an original portrait of 
Piero by himself. 

s* Piero della Francesoa is an Umbrian paintez, bat of the Taseo-Umbriaa 
branch of art, that is to say, coming from the portion of Umbria which is 
tamed toward Tuscany, and which, being affected by Florentine inflnence mora 
than was the coantry about Assisi, gare to Italian p^iti<a«g Signorelli and 
Piero Borghese, instead of Perugino and Qentile of Fabriano. Piero, then, 
was a naturalist studying anatomy as ardently as PoUajuolo, perspectire as 
earnestly as UcoeUo, but he was still Umbrian enough never to thorou|^y 
adopt the ugly side of these punters* naturalism, and he borrowed from 
Andrea dal Gastagno not his grimaces, but rather his proud and defiant at- 
titudes. To those who seek for grace first of all in a work of art, and espe- 
oially to thcee who love theprScieux quality in a painting, Piero's stiff direct- 
ness will be somewhat repellent ; but to those who care most for largeness of 
conception and breadth of treatment, his works will become more admirable 
the more th^ are studied, for although he is first of sll an obserrer, he 
obserres largely and omits with judgment and taste. Piero's personages are 
always grave, having somewhat of woodenness and also somewhat of grandeur. 
He worked in broad, simple, clear planes of color, which are eminently decora- 
tive, and in the Dream of Oonstantine his science of chiaroeeuro points 
forward to Raphael^s Deliverance of St. Peter, in the Vatican etatue. His 
love of the quaint fifteenth-century costumes, with their stiffiiess and partl- 
oolored patterns, exaggerates the archaic character of some of his iIgareS| bol 



90 PIEBO DSLLA FKAK0X80A 

are for the most part in the library of Frederick II.> dake 
of Urbino^ are of so much yalae> that they hare deeervedly 
obtomed for him the name of the first geometrician of his 
time. 

they ftend finnly upon their feet, aire ftodied in the rouid stni^t from 
juitare and hie poiee are at timee quite BobkL Amoag the vltnMialiiraliata 
of hit time he meet eompletely attained grandeur of style. Heir Bobert 
Yiooher olaimt t^ he markB a turning-point in the histoiy of art^ and that 
Lvoa SignonQi was *' profidantiaUy thmm ia his way at hia allotted apiritwd 
heii;*' 



PRA GIOVANNI DA FIESOLE, PAINTEB OF THE 
OBDEE OF PBEACHING PRIAES^ 

(Bon 1887; died 145&] 

Bauoffiurar. — lAi» of OioTumi Angelioo da Iletola, tzandftted from 
VAMtfi by CUovamii Aubrey Beni, Anmdel Sooietj PnUieatioii, London, 
185a Gutier, VUdt F^a AngelUo d$ FU^ole, Paru, 1867. Fdritei^ Leben 
mnd Wnrk€, Batiabon, ISSOi B. Dobbert, Fra Angdieo da FU9ole in tbo 
I>ohiii«oeiiM of KuHst und Kamtler det UUUlaUtn nnd der IftuMeiL Vin- 
eeaao IffimhiMW, MemorU del piu imigni ort^fM Domenieani, Florence, 
ISm T. Ctoodwin, Life of Fra Angelioo, London, 1861. VOtwtrt d« Fra 
AmgtUeo d Borne article by M. Faaoon in L 'AH for 1888, vol. XXXV., pp. 
141, 167. K. Bmn, Fra Angelieo in Chri$aiehe$ Kututblait, 7. V. Marcbeee, 
Siaria dd cotwento di San Jfarco, Florence. See the chapter on Fra An- 
geBeolB Tame'a Voyage en ^alie. Vol. II. ; Fiorenee et Veuiee^ and alio many 
beanftlfal peiegei referring to him in Mr. Bnakin*a works. The life of Fra 
AngeHeo in Crowe and Cayalcaeelle is especially long and foU The Italian 
•ditioii of their history (still appearing) is clearer in its arrangement than is 
their older aad weU-known Bngliah edition, The History of Pointing in Italy, 
in three TolaBiea. 



F 



BA GIOVANNI ANGELIOO DA FIESOLE, who, 
while in the world, was called Gnido,' having been 
no less eminent as a painter and miniaturist than ex- 



* Certain eritftoahaTc bettered that this life was dictated to Vasari by the 
monk Dob SilTio Bassi, but Milaneei demonstrates the fidseness of this theory. 
Fadre Marchese snggeets that the biographer may haTO obtained the facts in 
the life of Fra Angelioo from Fra Bastaohio, a miniature-painter of San Marco, 
wbo gave the Aretine anther Taloable assistance in his first edition. He also 
eitee the Tazioos monastic records and annals to which Vasari might have had 
aeceee. See V. Marohese, LiTes of the Most Eminent Painters, Scnlpton, and 
Axchiteets of the order of Si Dominio, English edition, L, pp. lei, 162. 

• Fra Angeiico was bom at V icehio, not far from Vespignano, the reputed 
birthplaoe of Qiotto. His real name was Onido di Pietro da Mogello. As a 
monk he was known as Frate CKoranni da Fieeole. After his death and 
beatiAoation he waa often called Tl Beato, and still more generally Fra Angel- 
lea MngeOoissimplythenameof a proTince, and those who give Angelioo ft 
oegnomerB snob as de* Toiiiiii, de* Montocsoli, de* Petri are nnanpported hf 
Aeenmentary evidenoe. 



32 OIOVANKI DA FIB80LB 

cellent aa a chnrchman, deserves to be held in honourable 
remembrance for both these canses. This master might 
have lived in the world with the utmost ease and comfort, 
since, in addition to what he originally possessed, he might 
have gained whatever he desired by the exercise of the arts 
with which, while still very young, he was perfectly well 
acquainted. But he chose nevertheless, in the hope of 
ensuring the peace and quiet of his life, and of promoting 
the salvation of his soul, to enter the order of the preach- 
ing friars ; ' for although it is certain, that we may serve 
Qoi in all conditions, yet to some it appears, that they can 
more effectually secure their salvation in the cloister than 
in the world ; and this purpose is doubtless successful, as 
regards the man of good and upright purpose, but the 
contrary as certainly happens to him who becomes a monk 
from less worthy motives, and who is sure to render himself 
truly miserable. 

There are certain choral books from the hand of Fra 
Giovanni in his convent of San Marco at Florence, of which 
the miniatures are such that no words could do justice to 
their beauty. Similar to these are others, which he left in 
San Domenico, at Fiesole, and which are executed with in- 
expressible care and patience : it is true that he was assisted 
in these works by an elder brother, who was also a minia- 
turist, and tolerably well versed in painting.* 

* Fim QioTtnni ontered the Dominiotn order m a novice in 140S, and pMied 
hie noTioiftte in Cortona ; he then zetarned to Fieeole, from whence the whole 
bcotherhood of the convent went in 1409 to Foligno, in Umbria, where thej 
remained until 141& From 141S to 1486 he stayed in FieM>la From 1480 
till 1445 he was in Florence, and painted in the monastery of Ban Marco. 
About the year 1445 he was ordered to Rome by Pope Bngenins IV., and 
remained there most of the time until his death in 1456. The chronicle of 8. 
Domenieo of Fiesole reads : ** 1407, Brother Joannes Petri de Mugello of Vie- 
chio, who excelled as a painter, and adorned many tables and walls in diyers 
I^aees, accepted the habit of a clerk in this convent, . . . and the following 
year professed." On a picture at Oortona he signs himself Prater Johannet, 

4 Fra Benedetto, his yoanger brother, was not a painter, but a Scriptariui. 
He was so much esteemed f or his Tirtoes by Bishop Antoninothat he was made 
■bb-prior of San Marco for many years; he died in 1448 as prior of San Domen- 
ieo of Fleeole. Zanobi di Benedetto Stroisi iUuminated the figures, and F&- 



GIOVANNI DA FIE80LB 83 

One of the first paintings executed by this good father ' 
was a picture on panel for the Carthusian monastery in 
Florence, where it was placed in the principal chapel, which 
belonged to the cardinal Acciaiuoli : the subject is a Virgin 
with the Child in her arms, and with angels at her feet ; the 
latter are sounding musical instruments and singing, and are 
exceedingly beautiful : on one side of the Virgin are San 
Lorenzo, with Santa Maria Maddalena; on the other are 
San Zanobi, with San Benedetto ; and on the predella are 
stories from the lives of those saints, the figures of which 
are very small, and are executed with infinite care. In the 
same chapel are two other pictures by the same master, one 
representing the Coronation of the Virgin ; and in the other 
are the Madonna, with two saints in ultra-marine blue, of 
great beauty.* In the nave of Santa Maria Novella, and 
beside the door, which is opposite to the choir, Fra Qio- 
vanni afterwards painted a fresco, wherein he represented 
San Domenico, Swta Caterina da Siena, and St. Peter the 
martyr. In the chapel of the Coronation of our Lady, 
which is in the same part of the church, he likewise painted 
certain small historical pictures ; and on the doors which 



l^ipo di llfttieoTor«nidid theonuuncntfttioii, of the ohonl books of San Maiooi 
Tlie bookB of San Domenioo were, some of ihem at least, illnminated by a 
Ser Benedetto^ a priest of Fiesole. See Milanesi's Cfammenttirto, A fine ool- 
leotion of iUmniiiated ohoir books is stUl shown in San Ifaroo, though maajr 
were kMt after the sappression of the oonTents by the Freneh. 

* We do not know definitely how or where Fra Angelioo first studied, bnt it 
is probable that he had learnt the rudiments of his art before entering the 
religious order. Baldinuooi, Bottari, and Bosini assert that he was the puptt 
of Gherardo Stamina. He was inflnenoed by both Orgagna and MssoHno, 
and aooording to Lord Lindsay, also by Antonio Venedano and Spinello. In 
the life of Masaooio, Vaoui says that the study of the works of that artist 
was the souroe of Fra Angelioo*s ezoellenoe in painting. But the latter was 
bom in 1887, while Masaooio was bom in 1401, so that though Fra Angelioo 
QBdonbtedly profited, in later life, by the work of Msaaooio, the latter painter 
eould not haye infineneed him in his earlier years. 

•These haTO all disappeared. Sigg. OaTaloaselle e Crowe, Storia dstta PiU 
htrm^ eta, IL, p. 863, say that his first piotures were the fresooes (now de- 
stroyed) in the oouTent ^ San Domenioo at Oortona. Sereral youthful works 
of Angelioo were oarried from San Domenioo to the Gesh, where they stffl aia 



34 GIOVANNI DA FIESOLS 

close the old organ he painted an Annnnciatlon on clothe 
which is now in the cenvent, opposite to the door of the 
lower dormitory, and between the two cloisters^ 

Fra Giovanni was so greatly beloyed for his admirable 
qualities by Gosimo de' Medici, that the latter had no 
sooner completed the chnrch and convent of San Marco,' 
than he cansed the good father to paint the whole story of 
the Grncifixion of Jesus Ghrist on one of the walls of the 
chapter-house. In this work are figures of all those saints 
who have been heads and founders of religious bodies, 
mourning and bewailing at the foot of the cross on one side, 
and on the other, St. Mark the Evangelist beside the mother 
of the Son of God, who has fainted at sight of the crucified 
Saviour. Around the Virgin are the Maries, who are sor- 
rowing with and supporting her ; they are accompanied by 
the saints, Gosimo and Damiano. It is said that in the fig- 
ure of San Gosimo, Fra Giovanni depicted his friend Nanni 
d' Antonio di Banco, the sculptor, from the life. Beneath 
this work, in a frieze over the back of the seats, the master 
executed a figure of San Domenico standing at the foot of a 
tree, on the branches of which are medallions, wherein are 
all the popes, cardinaLs, bishops, saints, and masters in the- 
ology who had belonged to Fra Giovanni's order of the 
Preaching Friars, down to his own day. In this work the 
brethren of his order assisted him by procuring portraits of 
these various personages from different places, by which 
means he was enabled to execute many likenesses from 
nature. These are, San Domenico in the centre, who is 
grasping the branches of the tree; Pope Innocent V.; a 
Frenchman ; * the Beato XJgone, first cardinal of that order ; 
the Beato Paolo the patriarch, a Florentine ; Sant' Antonino, 
a Florentine ; Bishop Giordano, a German, and the second 
general of the order ; the Beato Niccolo ; the Beato Bemi- 

* Thii Mnteooe ihonld read : l%e French pope, Innooeni V. 

^ All ol the piotnree mwitiftned mm beuMr ia Senta Muia KovilU hftre 
peneneo. 

* See the life of Miohelozio, notei 17 io 21, indiuiTe. 



OIOVAKKI DA FIBSOLS 86 

giOj a Florentine ; and the martyr Boninsegno, a Florentine ; 
all these are on the right hand. On the left are Benedict 
XL,* of Treviso ; Giandominico, a Florentine cardinal ; 
Pietro da Palnde, patriarch of Jemsalem; the German 
Alberto Magno; the Beato Baimondo, of Catalonia, third 
general of the order ; the Beato Ohiaro, a Florentine, and 
Provincial of Bome; San Vincenzio di Valenza; and the 
Beato Bernardo, a Florentine; all these heads are tmly 
graceful and yery beantifxil.^ In the first cloister, Fra 
GioYanni then painted many admirable figures in fresco oyer 
certain lunettes, with a crucifix, at the foot of which stands 
San Domenico, which is greatly esteemed ; and in the dor- 
mitory, beside many other things in the cells and on the 
walls, he executed a story from the New Testament which 
is beautiful beyond the power of words to describe. ^^ 
But exquisite and admirable aboyeall is the picture of the 

•Benediot IL, rather. 

M Aeoording to MMTchmift it eonld not have been exeonted before 1441. For 
■o early an epoch of Italian painting the heads in this Oinciflxion are aatoii- 
khinc^y akilfol in dranghtsmanahip. They are rabtly charaeterixed, inteUi- 
gMitly modeUed, and ihow a oloie ttady of natore, therein diffecing widely 
from Angelioo's treatment of the &oet of angels and of women. Here we 
feel that we are in the presence of a master capable of preparing his papil» 
Benono Gonoli, to draw the carefal and wonderfully ind^Hdoal heads in the 
Bt. Angnaline pyele of frescoes at San Gimignano. On the whole this Omci* 
ftdon may dlTide with his fresco at Orvieto the honor of being Angelioo's mas- 
terpiece. The former has been retonched at Tarions times, the color of the 
baokgroond changed, and the inscriptions at the sides of some of the fignret 
haT* been altered. Thns Angelioo did not paint Antonino as a saint, sinoe 
he was only a bishop when the picture was painted. The halo and inscriptioii 
were nndonbtedly giren to this fignre by later restorers, who desired to «m- 
phaaiae and point ont the sanotification of this fsmons member of their order. 
M. L a fen estre sajrs that in this fresco Fra Angelioo has given ns the measure 
of his spiritnal capacity combined with an nnaccostomed vigor of style, that 
the fignres ranged on either side of the cmcified Christ present with eztraor* 
dinaiy intensity of emotion all the aspirations of Giotto and his followers 
toward an ideal of expression. Bvery shade of ecstasy, of grief, of oompas- 
iioii, which the death of the Saviour could inspire in the faithful is rendered 
with the same fidelity ; '* religious art could go no further.** 

i> These frescoes are nearly all in existence in the vazioas oelU and zooms 
tnd moat of them are weU preserved. The convent is a whole galkiy ni th« 
veriu of Fra Angeliook 



36 OIOVAKKI DA FIESOLB 

High Altar in that charoh; for besides that the Madonna 
in this painting awakens devotional feeling in all who re- 
gard her, by the pnre simplicity of her expression ; and 
that the saints surrounding her have a similar character ; ^ 
the predella, in which are stories of the martyrdom of San 
Oosimo, San Damiano, and others, is so perfectly finished, 
that one cannot imagine it possible for any thing to be exe- 
cuted with greater care, nor can figures more delicate, or 
more judiciously arranged, be conceived.^ 

At San Domenico di Fiesole Fra Oiovanni likewise painted 
the picture of the High Altar ; but this — ^perhaps because it 
appeared to have received injury — ^has been retouched by 
other masters, and much deteriorated. The Predella and 
the Oiborium are, fortunately, much better preserved ; and 
the many small figures which are seen there, surrounded by 
a celestial glory, are so beautiful, that they do truly seem to 
belong to paradise; nor can he who approaches them be 
ever weary of regarding their beauty. ^^ In a chapel of the 
same church is a picture from the same hand, representing 
our Lady receiving the annunciation from the angel (Jabriel^ 
with a countenance, which is seen in profile, so devout, so 
delicate, and so perfectly executed, that the beholder can 
scarcely believe it to be by the hand of man, but would 
rather suppose it to have been delineated in Paradise. In 
the landscape forming the background are seen Adam and 
Eve, by whom it was made needful that the Virgin should 
give birth to the Bedeemer.^ In the predella are likewise 

M Whioh WM fMdnted in 1488, and is now In the Aeademy; ii hM bean in- 
Jnred by washing and olmniy retoaohing. Two rery nmibff labjeota ara in tho 
nine hall of the Academy, one from the oonrent of Dominioan nnni oalled Oon- 
Tento di Annalwia, one from the oonvent of the Botoode* Frati, near Florence. 

** MHaneai, after ■oggeetlBC thai theae panels haTt been combined with a 
larger one by Lorenzo Monaco into a predeUa^ which is in the Oappella de' 
Pittori, Cloister of the Annnnriata, eyentoally inclines to think that thqr 
belonged to a set of panels, two of whioh are now in the Florentine Academy, 
fbnr in Munich, and one in a private collection. 

*« Now in the choir ; it was restored by Lorenao di CndL The three panels 
of the ^odino haTt been sold. 

>• Said to have been sold in 1611 to the Duke Mario Fameat, and 1^ him ro- 



oioVakki da fixsolb 37 

oertain stories, the small figures of wUoh are extremely 
beantifal. 

Bat superior to all the other works of Fra Oioyanni, and 
one in which he surpassed himself, is a picture in the same 
church, near the door on the left hand of the entrance : in 
this work he proves the high quality of his powers as well 
as the profound intelligence he possessed of the art which 
he practised. The subject is the Coronation of the Virgin 
by Jesus Ohrist : the principal figures are surrounded by a 
choir of angels, among whom are vast numbers of saints and 
holy personages, male and female. These figures are so 
numerous, so well executed, in attitudes so varied, and with 
expressions of the head so richly diversified, that one feels 
infinite pleasure and delight in regarding them* Nay, one 
is convinced that those blessed spirits can look no otherwise 
in heaven itself, or, to speak under correction, could not, if 
they had forms, appear otherwise ; for all the saints, male 
and female, assembled here, have not only life and expres- 
sion, most delicately and truly rendered, but the colouring 
also of the whole work would seem to have been given by 
the hand of a saint, or of an angel like themselves. It is 
not without most sufficient reason therefore, that this excel- 
lent ecclesiastic is always called Frate Giovanni Angelico, 
The stories from the life of our Lady and of San Domenico 
which adorn the predella, moreover, are in the same divine 
manner, and I, for myself, can affirm with truth, that I 
never see this work but it appears something anew, nor can 
I ever satisfy myself with the sight of it^ or have enough of 
beholding it.^ 

In the chapel of the Nunziata at Florence, which Piero di 
Gosimo de' Medici caused to be constructed, Fra Giovanni 

■old in 1612 to the Dnkt of Leima lor a chnroh of YallftdoUd. Bae F^dn 
Mwohese. 

** Now in tho LonTre. Thore stiU remain two pictnxee bj Angelioo in the 
oonvent : a Onudfizion in the old refectory and a Madonna and Child, with 
Mints, in the old ohapter-honae. The Coronation of the Virgin and thepre- 
dfOa panels were engmTod and pnUiehed at Paris, with text bj A. W. tos 
floUsgel, in 1817. 



38 OIOVAKKI DA HBSOLX 

painted the doors of the armory or preas,'^ wherein the 
silver ntensils for the service of the altar are deposited, the 
figures are made and execnted with mach care. He painted 
besides so many pictures which are now in the dwellings of 
different Florentine citizens, that I remain sometimes in as* 
tonishment, and am at a loss to comprehend how one man 
coald so perfectly execute all that he has performed, even 
though he did labour many years. ^ The very reverend Don 
Vincenzio Borghini, superintendent of the Innocenti, is in 
possession of a small picture of the Virgin by the hand of 
this father, which is beautiful ; ^ and Bartolommeo Oondi, 
as zealous an amateur of these arts as any gentleman that I 
know, has a large picture, a small one, and a crucifix, all by 
the same hand.^ The paintings in the arch over the door 
of San Domenico^ are likewise by Fra Giovanni, and in 
Santa Trinita there is a picture in the sacristy, representing 
a deposition from the cross, to which he devoted so much 
care that it may be numbered among the best of his works.^ 
In San Francesco, without the gate of San Miniato, Fra 
Giovanni painted an Annunciation,^ and in Santa Maria 

>v Thii Mriw is of greai interest from the largeneaa of oonoeptioii whidi 
goes hand in hand with the diminativeneas of the panels. There are thhtj- 
fiTO litUe pictures from the life of Christ ; they are now in the FloientiBO 
Aoademj. 

i> Milaned adds to these remarks the statement that the greater part of Ft* 
Angelioo's works are not even mentioned by YasarL He eites among others 
those in the oratorio of Sant* Ansano at Fiesole, two in the gaUery of Tnrin, 
and the picture which, taken from the church of San Girolamo, near Fiesole, 
is now in the Louyre, and is not considered (by Messrs. Crowe and OsTaloa- 
selle) to be an authentic Fra Angelioo. The Utter authors, in their ItaUaa 
edition of the History of Painting in Italy, the Storia delta PUtura^ IL, pp. 
85S-423, give a particularly copious list of Angelioo^s works. 

>• This work has perished. 

M Apparency these works have perished. 

n No longer to be seen. 

» This is considered to be one of AngeUco*s best works. Painted in 1441^ 
it is now in the Florentine Academy ; the lunetUt in the tops of the three 
Gkythio arches are by Lorenxo Monaoo. The portrait of Miohdono is in thii 
picture. See note at the end of life of the latter, and lOlanaal, U, p^ 4BQ^ 
note 8. 

» This has dipi^peared. 



GIOYANia DA FIBSOLB 39 

Norellay in addition to the works from his hand already 
ennmerated; are certain stories, decorating various reliqua- 
ries^ which it is the custom to place on the altar in high 
solemnities,* with others which are used in the Easter 
ceremonies.' 

In the abbey of the same city (Florence), this master 
painted the figure of San Benedetto, in the act of com- 
manding silence.' For the Guild of Joiners,! he executed 
a picture I ^ which is preserved in the house of their 
Guild,' and in Gortona he painted a small arch over the 
door of the church which belongs to his order, as also the 
picture of the high altar.' 

* The tnnalAtor has omitted a eentenoe here, tIs.; ** He pelnted anan piot- 
tties on the pesohal taper " {dipin9e di tiorU pieeoU U eereo patquaU), 
Vanri refers to the huge painted and gQded wax candles which were, and 
stUl are, pUoed by the altar at Easter in Italy and Spain, and which weve 
geoeraUy decorated in the conyents. 

t Not joiners {legtiaiuoli), bat linen-drapers (liiunfMoli), 

X The text in the original is tavota^ P^nd, rather than piotore ; in this oaie 
it was a tabernacle. 

** According to PAdre Marohese cited by Milanesi, he painted four of the 
leUqaariea. Three of these still exut in Santa Maria NoTdla. 

** The stories and the paschal taper have very natnraUy disappeared. 

** This is a half-length figure, badly damaged, bat still existing above a 
walled-np door in the small cloister. 

*' Marchess stakes that Fia Angelico never inscribed his pictures with dates, 
Mid though it is not very difficult to discriminate between the works of the 
eariy and mature periods of most srtists, it is in the case of Fra Angelioo, 
whose works are characterised by such uniformity that it is hard to dster- 
■ine which were painted first and which were painted last. 

** Milanesi, citing Baldinucci and other critics, says that the commission lor 
lUf picture was given July 11, 1488. The model for the tabernacle was or- 
dered of Ghiberti, and was executed in wood (1483) by Jacopo, called P^pero 
di P&era Fra Angelico painted upon it a Madonna and Child, larger than 
Bfe, with twelve small angels in the borders of the tabernacle ; on the backs 
of the shutters (^por<«ttO were the figures of St. Peter and Saint Mark, and 
on the interiors of the same were Saint John Baptist, and Saint Mark repeated 
a aeoMid time (as he was the patron saiot of the guild). This famous picture, 
with its often-copied angioUUi, has been in the Uffisi since 1777. 

** Cortonahas two pictures and two prtdeUe by Angelico : an Annunciatioii 
la the Oompagnia di OetA and a Madonna Bnthrcmed, with saints and angels, 
in the first chapel to the left of the high altar in San I>omenioo. As for the 
gieat piotnre of the high altar, attributed to Fra Angelico, Biilaneri provea U 
ttbtbyLocBiiaodiinoookii. See his commentary on l?m Angelioa 



40 GIOYAKNI DA FIB80LE 

In Onrieto,® Fra Giovanni began to paint certain proph« 
ets in the Cathedral ; on the ceiling of the chapel of onr 
Lady, these were afterwards finished by Luca da Gortona. 
For the Brotherhood of the Temple in Florence, he painted 
a picture representing the Dead Christ,'^ and in the chnrch 
of the Monks of the Angeli,*^ he ezecated a Paradise and 
Inferno, the figares of both which are small. Fra Oio- 
yanni proved the rectitude of his judgment in this work, 
having made the countenances of the blessed beautiful and 
full of a celestial gladness ; but the condemned, those des- 
tined to the pains of hell, he has depicted in various at- 
titudes of sorrow, and bearing the impress and consciousness 
of their misdeeds and wretchedness on their faces : the 
blessed are seen to enter the gate of Paradise in triumphal 
dance, the condemned are dragged away to eternal punish- 
ment in hell, by the hands of demons. This work is in the 
church above-mentioned, on the right hand, as you ap- 
proach the high altar, near where the priest is wont to sit 
while the Mass is sung. For the Nuns of St. Peter the 
Martyr, who now occupy the monastery of San Felice in 
Piazza, which formerly belonged to the Order of Gamaldoli, 
Fra Giovanni painted a picture wherein are represented the 
Virgin, St. John the Baptist, St. Dominick, St. Thomas, 
and St. Peter the Martyr, with many small figures." In 

M During hii ctaj In Rome Angelioo oontcaotod to go to Orrieto mch ywr 
dnring the hot mihtfial monthi of Jane, Jolj, Angost^ September, and to 
work there on the oathedraL He went in 1447, and painted the propheta on 
the Tanlting of the ohapel oalled ** of the Madonna of Ban Biisio,** whioh waa 
afterward deooiated thronghont by Signorelli Angelioo did not return to 
Orrieto, perhaps on aooonnt of the involved finanoea of the cathedral board. 
In apite of hia short staj he left in thia group of propheta and sainta one of 
the fineat works of the fiffeeenth oentory. Benosio GoboU waa Angelioo^a 
aasistant here. The fresoo it in the lunette orer the high altar and con- 
tains sixteen prophets, with the inaoripUon, ** Prophitarum laudabiU$ nu* 
fiMrtM.** 

*> Now in the Fkventine Aoademy. 

*■ In the Aoadem J of Fine Arte, Florenoe. 

** Inthe Pitti GaOery. It ia mnoh repainted, and someoritlet Msert ilial it 
iaonlyaoopyfromaworkofPni Angelioo. Sigg.OaTaloaaeIleeOrowe, jStorta 
della PUturat IL, 803-401, mention, among other worka of Angelioo, a Last 



GIOVANNI DA FIE80LS 41 

the centre aide of Santa Maria Naoya,^ is also to be seen a 
pictnre by the hand of this master. 

Tlese many and yarioos labonrs haying rendered the 
name of Fra Oioyanni illnstrious thronghont all Italy> he 
was inyited to Rome by Pope Nicholas V.,* who caused him 
to adorn the chapel of the palace^ where the pontiff is ac- 
customed to hear mass, with a Deposition from the Gross, 
and with certain eyents from the life of San Lorenzo, which 
are admirable.^ The Pope further appointed him to ex- 

Judgmenti in the Dadlay ooUeotion of London, and one in iht Oonini gtHery, 
Rome; Two Angela Kneeling (in Tnrin); a Madonna Enthroned, with 
Saints (in Ptoma) ; a Madonna, with Angels (Frankfort) ; St. Ambrose Re- 
fusing to admit Theodosias within his Ghnrch Doors (Antwerp), and four 
works in Berlin : a ICadonna with Saints, a Meeting of St Dominick and 
St. Franeis, an Apparition of SI Francis to the Monks of Aries, and a Last 
Judgment 

** The famons small piotnreof the Ooronatbn, now in the UfBiL This 
piotnre^ like many others of Fra Angelico, has in the oostnmes Tiolent 
▼emulions and nltramarines. Angelioo thought, saj some writers, that onlj 
the purest of colors were good enough for the elect He maj hare thought 
all this, and rery possibly did, but he also used sound technical reasoning and 
knew that upon the raised gold patterns of his bsokgrounds the purest colors 
would tdl most strongly, and furthermore, that dear Termilions and unadul- 
terated ultramarines which would be raw in a strong light, would become 
toned and admirable in the half -darkness of a church. 

** Pope Bugenius lY., not Nicholas Y., invited Fra Angelioo to Rome, 
where he commenced, March 18, 1447, to fresco a chapel in St Peter^s, since 
destroyed. Thomas of Santana, who became Pope Nicholas Y. on March 6, 
1447, a week before Angelico began his work, confirmed the appointment by 
Bogadus of ** Fra Gioranni di E^ietro,*' with a salary which for the epoch 
was an enormous one— two hundred gold ducats since Bernardo RoseUino, 
architeot-in-chief of the works of Saint Peter, receiTed only one hundred and 
eighty. See M. MOnti, Le$ PrimUift. 

*• *' The chapel of San Lorenio" was the oratory, and indeed the ** studio,** 
the private working-room of the pope, and was a real art sanctuary. An- 
gelico*s decorations consisted of scenes from the lives of St Stephen in the 
npper series, and from that of St Lawrence in the lower tier of frescoes, while 
above were the BvangeUsts and Doctors of the church. The scenes from the 
lives of Stephen and Lawrence in this ohapd mark Fra Angelico*s culminating 
point, and do not suffisr greatly even in their close juxtaposition with the 
itanz0 of Raphael. They have the angelic monk*s deep feeling for his sub- 
ject, and at the same time are closely and skilfully drawn, equalling his 
Qnrieto fresco in science (though not in feeling for grandeur), and showing 
M the artist as a man pressing always forward in his art to the very end 



42 GIOYANKI DA FEESOLB 

ecute the miniatures of several books, which are also ex* 
tremely beantifal.'' In the chnrch of the Minerva Era 
Giovanni execnted the picture of the High Altar " an4 an 
Annunciation, which is now placed against the wall beside 
the principal chapeL For the same pontiff, Fra Oiovanni 
decorated the chapel of the sacrament in the palace, which 
chapel was afterwards destroyed by Pope Paul IIL, who 
conducted the staircase through it." In this work, which 
was an excellent one, Fra Oiovanni had painted stories in 
fresco from the life of Christ, in his own admirable man- 
ner, and had introduced many portraits of eminent persons 
then living. These portraits would most probably have 
heea lost to us, had not Paul Jovius caused the following 
among them to be reserved for his museum : Pope Nicholas 
v., the Emperor Frederick, who had at that time arrived 
in Italy ; Frate Antonino, who afterwards became archbishop 
of Florence, Biondo da Forli, and Ferdinand of Arragon. 

And now, Fra Giovanni, appearing to the Pope to be, as 
he really was, a person of most holy life, gentle and modest, 
the Pontiff, on the archbishopric becoming vacant, judged 
Fra Giovanni to be worthy of that preferment ; but the 
Frate, hearing this, entreated his Holiness to provide him- 
self with some other person, since he did not feel capable of 
ruling men.^ He added, that among the brethren of his 
order, was a man well skilled in the art of governing others. 



of his life. Heie he eren made me of oUadc detail, for lo ttrong wm the in* 
fluenoe of the loviTal of aatiqiiit j th»t it foroed the door of the oonTent, and 
the peinter-eaint himaelf threw a grain of inoenae on the altar of Faganiam. 

•V No erfating iUnminated bodca are known to be b j Pm Angelioo. 

M Milaoeai thinka that poasibly a painting bj Angelioo may be hidden bo- 
hind the altar-pieoe in the ohapel of the Roaary in the Chnrohof the ICinerrai 
but oertainly nothing by him ia Tidble there. 

*• M. Fwaoon ia dted by M. MOnts aa affirmhig in VArt, Vol IH, pp. 144^ 
that thia ohapel was not in the Yatioan, bnt in Saint Feter'ai 

** Miiii^^ ahowa that none of the early ohroniolera aay that the areh* 
biahoprio of Florenoe was ever oiFered to Pm Angelioo ; he haa, howeTet^ 
little donbt bnt that Angelioo^a inflnenoe with Pope Bngenina may haswt 
bronght abont the election of Antonino. Bee alao tho Annotationa to ¥«• 
■ari*a I4fe of Pra Angelioo in the Anmdel Sooiefy'a pamphlet^ p. 91 



GIOVANKI BA FIBSOLB 43 

a friend of the poor, and one who feared Ood : on this man 
he considered that the proposed dignity woald be mnch 
more appropriately conferred than on himself. The Pope 
hearing this, and remembering that what he said of this 
brother of his order was tme, freely granted him the favour 
he desired, and thus was the Frate Antonino of the order of 
Friars-Preachers made archbishop of Florence. And the 
new prelate was in truth most illustrious, whether for learn- 
ing or sanctity ; he was of such a character, in fine, that he 
fully merited the honour of canonization bestowed on him 
in our own days by Pope Adrian VI. 

A great proof of excellence was this act of Fra Giovanni^s, 
and, without doubt, a very rare thing. The resignation of 
a dignity so eminent, of an honour and office so important, 
offered to himself by the supreme pontiff, but yielded by 
him to the man whom he, with unbiassed judgment and in 
the sincerity of his heart, considered much more worthy of 
it than himself. The churchmen of our times might learn 
from this holy man to refrain from taking upon them those 
offices, the duties of which they cannot duly fulfil, and to 
resign them to those who are more worthy of them. And 
would to Ood, that all ecclesiastics (be it said without of- 
fence to the good among them) would employ their time, 
as did this excellent father, to return to Fra Giovanni, so 
truly named Angelico, seeing that he continued the whole 
course of his life in the service of God, or in labouring for 
the benefit of the world and of his neighbour. And what 
more can or ought to be desired, than by thus living right- 
eously, to secure the kingdom of heaven, and by labouring 
virtuously, to obtain everlasting fame in this world ? And, 
of a truth, so extraordinary and sublime a gift as that pos- 
sessed by Fra Giovanni, should scarcely be conferred on any 
but a man of most holy life, since it is certain that all who 
take upon them to meddle with sacred and ecclesiastical 
subjects, should be men of holy and spiritual minds ; for 
we cannot but have seen that when such works are attempted 
by persons of little faith, and who do but lightly esteem re* 



44 GIOVANNI DA FIE80LB 

ligion, they frequently caase light thoughts and unworthy 
inolinations to awaken in the beholder ; whence it follows 
that these works are censured for their offences in this kind, 
even while praised for the ability displayed in them as 
works of art. Yet I would not here give occasion to the 
mistake that things rude and inept shall therefore be holy, 
and that the beautiful and attraotiye are licentious : this is 
the false interpretation of many who> when they see fem- 
inine or youthful figures adorned with more than common 
beauty, instantly consider them licentious, and therefore 
censure them ; not perceiving how wrongfully they are con- 
demning the sound judgment of the painter ; for the latter 
believes the saints, male and female, who are celestial, to be 
as much superior to mere mortals in beauty, as heaven is 
superior to things earthly and the work of human hands ; 
and, what is worse, they at the same time betray the un- 
soundness and impurity of their own hearts, by thus deduc- 
ing evil consequences from, and finding causes of offence, in 
things which, if they were truly admirers of good, as by 
their stupid zeal they desire to make themselves appear, 
would rather awaken in them aspirations towards heaven, 
and to wish to make themselves acceptable to the Creator of 
all things, from whom, as Himself, the highest and most 
perfect ; beauty and perfection have proceeded. But what 
are we to suppose that such people would do if they were 
placed, or rather what do they when they are placed, where 
they find living beauty, accompanied by light manners, by 
seductive words, by movements full of grace, and eyes that 
cannot but ravish the heart ^ot amply guarded ? What are 
we to believe they then do, since the mere image, the very 
shadow, can move them so powerfully ? Not that I would 
have any suppose me to approve the placing in churches of 
such figures as are depicted in all but perfect nudity ; by no 
means : for in such cases the painter has not taken into 
consideration the reserve that was due to the place. He 
may have just cause for desiring to make manifest the ex- 
tent qI his power ; but this should be done with due regard 



GIOVANNI DA FIBSOLS 46 

to cironmstances^ and not without befitting respeot to per« 
sons, times, and places. 

Fra OioYanni was a man of the ntmost simplicity of in- 
tention, and was most holy in every act of Ids life. It is 
related of him, and it is a good evidence of his simple ear- 
nestness of parpose, that being one morning invited to break- 
fast by Pope Nicholas Y., he had scruples of conscience as 
to eating meat without the permission of his prior, not con- 
sidering that the authority of the pontiff was superseding 
that of the prior. He disregarded all earthly advantages ; 
and, living in pure holiness, was as much the friend of the 
poor in life as I believe his soul now is in heaven. He 
laboured continually at his paintings, but would do nothing 
that was not connected with things holy. He might have 
been rich, but for riches he took no care ; on the contrary, 
he was accustomed to say, that the only true riches was con- 
tentment with little. He might have conunanded many, 
but would not do so, declaring that there was less fatigue 
and less danger of error in obeying others, than in com- 
manding others. It was at his option to hold places of 
dignity in the brotherhood of his order, and also in the 
world ; but he regarded them not, affirming that he sought 
no dignity and took no care but that of escaping hell and 
drawing near to Paradise. And of a truth what dignity can 
be compared to that which should be most coveted by all 
churchmen, nay, b/ every man living, that, namely, which 
is found in God alone, and in a life of virtuous labour ? 

Fra Giovanni was kindly to all, and moderate in all his 
habits, living temperately, and holding himself entirely 
apart from the snares of the world. He used frequently to 
say, that he who practised the art of painting had need of 
quiet, and should live without cares or anxious thoughts ; 
adding, that he who would do the work of Christ should 
perpetually remain with Christ. He was never seen to dis- 
play anger among the brethren of his order ; a thing which 
appears to me most extraordinary, nay, almost incredible ; 
if he admonished his friends, it was with gentleness and a 



46 GIOVANNI DA FIS80LX 

qniet smile ; and to those who sought his works, he wotdd 
reply with the atmost cordiality, that they had but to ob* 
tain the assent of the prior, when he would assuredly not 
fail to do what they desired. In fine, this never sufficiently 
to be lauded father was most humble, modest, and excellent 
in all his words and works ; in his painting he gave eyidence 
of piety and devotion, as well as of ability, and the saints 
that he painted have more of the air and expression of sanc- 
tity than have those of any other master. 

It was the custom of Era Giovanni to abstain from re- 
touching or improving any painting once finished. He 
altered nothing, but left all as it was done the first time, 
believing, as he said, that such was the will of God. It is 
also affirmed that he would never take the pencil in hand 
until he had first offered a prayer. He h said never to have 
painted a Crucifix without tears streaming from his eyes, 
and in the countenances and attitudes of his figures it is 
easy to perceive proof of his sincerity, his goodness, and the 
depth of his devotion to the religion of Christ 

Fra Giovanni died in 1455, at the age of sixty-eight. He 
left disciples, among whom was Benozzo, a Florentine, by 
whom his manner was always imitated, with Zanobi Strozzi, 
who executed paintings for all Florence, which were dis* 
persed among the houses of the citizens. 

Ctentile da Fabriano was likewise among the disciples of 
Fra Giovanni, as was Domenico di Michelino, who executed 
the altar-piece of San Zanobi, in the church of SanV Apolli- 
nare, of Florence, with many other pictures. Fra Giovanni 
Angelico was interred by the brethren of his order in the 
church of the Minerva at Bome, beside the lateral door 
which opens on the sacristy. On his tomb, which is of 
marble and of a round ^ form, is the portrait of the master 

«> The tomb is sqiuie, not roand, and Vanri, nyi Milmeri, omitled tht 
foDowing from the inecription : mo jaobt VXN. nCTOB IB. za DB fIXML 

ORD*. PDIOATO ILLV. 

M 

0000 

h 
▼ 



GIOVANNI DA FIE80LE 47 

taken from nature ; ^ and on the marble is engraved the 
epitaph, which may be read below : 

Non mihi 9it laudi, quod eram vdut alter ApeUn^ 
8ed quod lucra tuts omnia^ Christen dabam : 

AUera nam terris opera extant^ altera ocelo 
Urbi me Joannemflos tulit Mrurice, 

In Santa Maria del Fiore are two very large books richly 
decorated with miniatures most admirably executed by the 
hand of Fra Giovanni Angelico ; ^ ^ they are held in the 

^ The figure usuaUj oelled that of Fia Angelioo, hi a fresco of SignoreUi, 
at Orrieto, is no longer considered to be the portrait of the angelio monk. Fra 
Bartolommeo placed the figure of Fra Angelioo among the Beati^ in the fresco 
of the Last Judgment, in a chapel belonging to the hospital of S. Maria 
Noova. Fnm this fresco G. B. Nocohi traced his head of Fra Angelioo. 

M The prino^Ml pupils of Fra Angelioo were Benozzo Gozzoli and Cosimo 
BosseUL 

^ Vasari*s life of AngeUoo, while admirable in spirit, is confused as to 
ehrono&ogiesl arrangement. When the events are properly co-ordinated and 
we examine the works of his first period, we see in Fra Angelioo the pupil of 
the miniaturists. His color is that of the illuminator of missals and ohoir- 
booki, his Madonna of the Uffizi is an enlarged miniature, and the angels which 
are so greatlj admired in his Last Judgment and his Paradise (Florentine 
Aoademj) an celestial dolls, thm as paper and stuck fast to their gold back- 
groonds. In this early time the painter's skill in modelling and drawing is in 
the inverse ratio to the sice of his canvas, another proof that he cannot forget 
the miniature, bat it is only the limitations of his skill in drawing and model- 
ling which require a small surface ; his sentiment of composition is large and 
noble, and some of his panels, now in the Academy, taken from the doors of a 
press formerly in the Annunsiata, panels which are a foot square (see notably 
the Flight into Egypt), might be enlarged to colossal size and worthily decorate 
a ohnroh wall. As for the sentiment of beauty, even the paper-doU angels 
hare so mueh of it that Michelangelo, that lover of muscular eonstructioii 
and heioio nudity, said of them, *' Surely the good monk visited Paradise and 
was allowed to choose his models there." In the later life of Fra Angelioo 
we have in his Gmcifizion of San Marco, his fresco of Orvieto. and his cycle in 
the chapel of San Lorenzo in the Vatican the work of a painter who without 
for a moment losing his religions conviction, without feeling his subject any 
less pdgnantly, has profited by the realistic study of his contemporaries, and 
who draws and models with a skiU which is a whole lifetime removed from 
his little angelio musioians or his dancing figures in the Paradise of the Acad- 
emy. M. Lafenestre has admirably defined Angelico^s place in the Renaia- 
MBoe when he says that to Fra Giovanni was reserved ** the glory of fixing, la 
ft series of imperishable Tisions, the religions ideal of the middle agea just al 



48 OlOVAKKt DA FIESOLS 

atmost Teneration, are most sumptuously adorned, and are 
only suffered to be seen on occasions of high solemnity. 

ibe moment when it wm about to disappeu: forever.*' The tendemese of the 
Goepel, the divine jeaming of the Imiiatio ChrUti^ the na(f sweetnese of the 
Fiorttti of SI Francie, the childlike simplioity of the Golden Legend, fonnd 
pictorial expreteion in Angelioo*a work. As the atady of the nnde body waa 
forbidden to a monk, he concentrated all his feeling for physical beanty, all 
his capacity for dramatic expression, on the faces of his saints and angels, and 
became a unique exponent of religious sentiment. To the churchman's love 
of minute and elaborate ornament appUed to holy things, he united the aspira- 
tions of the devout soul toward perfection, and added to the achievements of 
the Oiott€»ehi^ beauty, distinction, and emotion. Though without doubt his 
ohief i^ry is a fervor of conviction which passes beyond and above aU tech^ 
niqu€f yet in tevhniq%i€ also he sets a worthy example, and he owes to his 
oompodtion, as well as to his conviction, the fact that he charms at once the 
ignorant, the devotee, the dilettante^ and the trained artist. To the art stu- 
dent who is oocupied with problems of construction and relief, Angelico^B 
laok of the latter and indifference to the former are somewhat shocking, 
but to the matured artist comes a growing consciousness that the simply and 
admirably oomposed little scenes f^m the life of Christ, in the Florentine 
Academy, with their flat masses of brilliant color, are a never-ending source of 
delight to the eye, and that he may sooner tire of the great technical achieve- 
ments of the Renaissance than of these perfectly decorative little panels. 
Add to the effect of the latter the growth of art-knowledge shown by Fia 
Angdioo in his frescoes of the chapel of Nicholas Y., in the Vatioan, frescoes 
which, in their juxtaposition to the Uanxe of Raphael, are like the pUin chani 
of the medieval church beside the chorded melodies of Palestrina. Add to 
these again the fresco of Qrvieto ; lastly, consider the very early epoch of Fra 
Angelioo and that he was weU known even before Masaocio began the freaeoet 
of the Oarmine, and it must be admitted that here, in spite of his self-impoae^ 
llBitatioaai was one of the greatest masters of the Renaissanoe. 



LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI, PLORENTINB 

AROHITEOT » 

[Bom 1404; died 1472.] 

BiBUOQBAPHT.— Mandni, Vita di Leon Baltista AJberii^ Florenoe, 188a 
Hanoini, Nuovi Documenti e Hbtizie , . . di Leon Battista Alberti, Flor- 
enot, 1887. Anioio Boaaod, Opere volgari^ di Leon Battitta Alberti (5 
▼oil.), Fknrenoe, 1845. Clementiiii, BacoUa Storica^ Rimini, 1817. G. 
TriitfiA, Uh CondoUiere au XVnte SiMei Bimini, PariB, 18821 G. B. 
Costa, II Ten^io di 8. Franeeeeo, Bra^hiioUi, L. B, Alberti a Mantcva^ 
1860. Hoflmaan, Studien xu L, B. Atbertfe zehn Bachem de Re Aedijl- 
eatoria, Paaaerini, OU Alberti di Firenxe, Florenoe, 1870. H. Janiiachek, 
Leon BcUtieta AlbeHi^e kleinere kuneUheoretUehe Schriften^ Vienna, 1877. 
H. Olaiidiof Popelin, De la Statue etdela Peinture ; has tmnalated into French 
(FariBi 1800), tlie treatises on painting and soulptnre. Passezini, Oenealogia e 
etoria dei Rucettai, 6. Mazootti, Uh Jfereante florentino^ taken from the 
Zibaldone (Misoellaaeons Notes), aatograph manasoript of Giovanni Rnoel- 
lal, in the possession of Mr. Temple-Leader. Opera inedita et pauca 
eeparatim impreea H, Mancini Curante^ Fkxrsnoe, 1890. Carlo Giuseppe 
Fossati, Tempio Jfalateetictno d^ Franeeecani di Bimini; architectura di 
Leon BaUieta Alberti, Foligno, 1794. C. PopeUn, Leon Battitta Alberti in 
the GawetU dee Beaux Arte, XXV., p. 406w 

THE knowledge of letters and the study of the sciences 
are, withoat doubt, of the utmost value to all, and 
offer the most important advantages to every artist 
who takes pleasure therein ; but most of all are they ser- 
viceable to sculptors, painters, and architects, for whom 

* Tlie Alberti were great Florentine noUes, ** seeming rather prinoes," says 
JiaehiaTeUi, ' ' than a private family.** They were exiled by their enemies, the 
AiUoL In 1413 two thonsand giM florins were promised by deeree to any 
who should loll one of the four ehiefsjof the family, and one thoosand florins 
to the astsiwiin of any Alberti who should have reaehed eighteen years of age^ 
Leon Battista grew np under snch eonditiona, and was twenty-fonr years old 
before the retom from exile of Cosimo dei Medid, who oonnted the Alberti 
amoag his warm partisans and pnt an end to the decree. Even then for a wbfle 
the Alberti were not qnite safe, and during a oertain period Leon Battista 
walked always aoeompaaied bj armed men. See M. Triarte*s Bimini et un 
Condottiere au XVnte SiMe. 



60 LEON BATTISTA ALBEBTI 

they prepare the path to various inyentions in all the works 
executed by them ; and be the natural qualities of a man 
what they may, his judgment can never be brought to per- 
fection if he be deprived of the advantages resulting from 
the accompaniment of learning. For who does not admit, 
that in selecting the site of buildings it is necessary to pro- 
ceed with enlightened consideration, in order to their being 
sheltered from dangerous winds, and so placed as to avoid 
insalubrious air, injurious vapours, and the effects of impure 
and unhealthy waters ? who does not allow, that for what- 
ever work is to be executed, the artist must know for him- 
self, both how to avoid impediments and how to secure all 
needful results, that he may not be reduced to depend on 
others for the theory on which his labours must be founded, 
to ensure success ? Since theory, when separated from 
practice, is, for the most part, found to avail very little ; 
but when theory and practice chance to be happily united 
in the same person, nothing can be more suitable to the life 
and vocation of artists, as well because art is rendered much 
richer and more perfect by the a?d, of science, as because 
the councils and ivritings of learned artists have, in them- 
selves, a greater efficacy, and obtain a higher degree of 
credit, than can be accorded to the words or works of 
those who know nothing beyond the simple process they 
use, and which they put in practice, well or ill, as it may 
chance. Now that all this is true is seen clearly in 
the instance of Leon Batista Alberti who, having given his 
attention to the study of Latin as well as to that of archi- 
tecture, perspective, and painting, has left behind him 
books, written in such a manner, that no artist of later 
times has been able to surpass him in his style and other 
qualities as an author, while there have been numbers, much 
more distinguished than himself in the practice of art,' 

• Aeootding to M. MOnts, Xet PHmU{fh, 861, the fint work writton bj 
Alberti wm Ddla PUtura libri tre (1485), dedicated to BnmelleMhi; to 
thii most be added the SUmeiUa Pietura, fint pablished bj ManaiBi at Oor- 
tona in 1861 Other works are I cinque Ordini ArehiUttonM^ II TYaOalB 



LBOK BATTI8TA ALBEHTt £11 

althongh it is yery generally supposed (such is the force of 
his writings^ and so extensive has been their influence on 
the pens and words of the learned^ his contemporaries and 
others)^ that he was^ in fact> superior to all those who have^ 
on the contrary, greatly surpassed him in their works. We 
are thus taught by experience, that, in so far as regards 
name and fame, the written word is that which, of all 
things, has the most effectual force, the most vivid life, and 
the longest duration; for books make their way to all 
places, and everywhere they obtain the credence of men, 
provided they be truthful and written in the spirit of can- 
dour. We are therefore not to be surprised if we find the 
renowned Leon Batista to be better known by his writings 
than by the works of his hand. 

This master was bom in Florence,* of the most noble 
family of the Alberti, concerning which we have already 
spoken in another place. He gave his attention, not only 
to the acquirement of knowledge in the world of art gen- 
erally, and to the examination of works of antiquity in their 
proportions, &c., but also, and much more fully, to writing 
on these subjects, to which he was by nature more inclined 
than to the practice of art.^ Leon Batista was well versed in 



ePArehUHtura, 1452 (pnbUshed first in 1485), and the De Staiua, written 
after 1464; Piaeevolexze AfcUematiche (BSechanios* Hydranlios, etc.), and 
TraUiUo detta ProapettivtL These varioiu works, written in Latin, were in 
part translated by their author into Italian, and portions of them were trans- 
lated by O. Bartoli, in 1550 and 1565, into Italian, and in 1553 into French. 
The De Be jBd^fleatoria was, says Dr. Riohter, the principal occasion of the 
xeriyal of the antique style of architecture in Italy. 

* He was a natural son of Lorenzo Alberti and Margherita di Messer Piero 
Binini, and was bom Id 1404, in Venice, where his &ther was staying as a 
poUtioal refugee. 

* Before he was twenty, Alberti, who studied at Bologna, wrote a comedy in 
Latin called PhUodaxeoe^ and signed **Lepidui Camieus,*^ The younger Ma- 
nutius, even as late as 1588, btlieved it to be an antique comedy and published it 
as such, Lepidi Comici veterie PhUodoxeotfabula ex afUiquU€Ue eruta; but M. 
Oharles Yriarte dtes Albert d*Bybe, a canon of Bamberg, as having recognised 
that it was modem and attributed it to Carlo MarsuppinL Poggio Braodo- 
Uni had been cognizant of the authorship of his friend Alberti, and later 
made it known to Lionello d*Bste. 



b^ tiEOK BATTI8TA ALBBBTI 

arithmetic^ and a very good geometrician; he wrote 
books respecting architectare in the Latiii ^^■y^J ^diich 
were published in l^Slj'ibegr ibomj mfw be read in the 
Florantiiw Umgtmge, fasring been translated by the Ber. 
Mow e r Oosimo Bartoli^ provost of San Giovanni^ in Flor- 
ence. He likewise wrote three books on paintings now 
translated into the Tuscan by Messer Ludovico Domenichi, 
and composed a dissertation on tractile forces^ containing 
rules for measuring heights. Leon Batista was moreover 
the author of the Libri delta vita civile,* with some other 
works of an amatory character^ in prose and verse : he was 
the first who attempted to apply Latin measures to Italian 
verse^ as may be seen in his epistle. 

Questa per estrema miserabile pistola mando^ 
A te ohe spregi miseramente noL 

At the time when Nicholas V. had thrown the city of 
Bome into utter confusion with his peculiar manner of 
buildings Leon Batista Alberti arrived in that city^ where, 
by means of his intimate friend Biondo da Forli,^ he became 

• FlnislMd, layi Matteo P«lmieri (de TanporUmi 8uis)^ in 1468 ; pabllihtd 
in 1486 by Angelo Polidano. 

• Sig. Bonuooi, nys llilanoBi, has provad that this book, which haying bom* 
Mvexal names has been considered as several diflbrent works, is the famooa 
txeatise IM govemo delta Famiglia^ a series of dialogues between a Floren- 
tine merchant and his children. This work was long attribated to Agnolo 
Pimdolfini, and is still published under his name. 

V Flavio Biondo of Forli, secretary of Engenins IV. and of Nidholaa V. He 
was the anthor of Roma Imtaurata^ and M. Mnnts calls him the onator of 
aroh«ology. Biondo and Poggio Bracdolini were almost the first to oonr^ 
ageously protest against the vandalistio destruction of antique buildings hf 
princes who wished for building material M. Mttnts (see his ArU d la C<mr 
de$ P<9iet) was unable to find a sin^e document in Rome testi^jring to the 
presence of Alberti in that city. M. Triarte (Simini^ p. 18S, note 1) ny 
that this absence of documents is caused by the &ot that Alberti*s position aa 
the holder of important benefices enabled him to be independent of restiio* 
tions. Letters from him to Sigismondo and to Matteo de* Fasti, dated in 
Rome, prove his presence there, and it was Pope Martin V. who, in 14S4, di- 
rectly addressed the magistrates of the Florentine Balia, reqnesUng them to 
recall Alberti from exile. See the work upon the family of the Albert!, writ* 
|«i for the Duo de Lnynes by Passerini 



LEOK BATTtStA ALBBRTt 53 

known to the pontiff. The latter had previonsly ayailed 
himself of the counsel of Bernardo Bossellino^ a Florentine 
fcolptor and architect^ as will be related in the life of An- 
kmsD iw iwirihui ; stkd Bernardo^ having commenced the 
restoration of the papal paian^ wi& ottenpodciiH .SaBta 
Maria Maggiore^ thenceforward proceeded by the adrioe at 
Leon Batista^ snch being the will of the Pope. Thns the 
pontiff with the counsel of one of these two^ and the exe- 
cution of the other^ brought many useful and praiseworthy 
labours to conclusion : among these was the Fountain of 
the Acqua Vergine^ which had been ruined^ and was restored 
by him. He likewise caused the fountain of the Piazza de' 
Trevi to be decorated with the marble ornaments which we 
now see there^^ among which are the arms of Pope Nicholas 
himself^ and those of the Soman people.* 

Leon Batista thence proceeded to Sigismondo Malatestaof 
Bimini^ for whom he made the model of the church of San 
Francesco/^ that of the Fa9ade more particularly^ which 

* Thmb onuunents had been lost even in Bottari*i day. 

* Beitored in 1466 and 1473, in the Utter year by Francesoo Lon. See M. 
Bag. MOnts, Monuments antiques de Rome au XV^f** SUcle^ in the Bevu€ 
Arch4ologique^ Paris, 1875. Afterward the foantain was xestoied and riehly 
adorned by Nicoolo Salvi under Pope Clement ZII. See Milaneiri, toL IL, 
PL 689, note 2. 

^* The oomer-Btone of the new oonstmotions of the Charch of St. Franeia 
of Rimini, more often and more properly called the lialatestian Temple, was 
laid October 81, 1446. The architect respected the old Gothic church and 
built about it a sort of envelope or shell in that new manner which was based 
upon the architecture of the Qreeks and Ronums. Close at his hand was the 
sich of Augustus, which stood at the beginning of the Flaminian Way, and in 
it, says M. Yiiarte, Albert! found his inspiration for the front of his church, 
a front which became the first facade of the Renaissance, Just as BruneUea- 
ohi's San Locenxo of Florence became the first interior of the new style. For 
the history of the work almost no documents exist, as the Riminesi burned 
the azohiyes of the Malateste on the Plazxa della Fontana in 1537. There 
was, therefore, UtUe or nothing to prove what artists had or had not worked 
in the church. Luca deUa Robbia, Ghiberti, Simone, brother of Donatello, 
Bernardo Ciuitagni, are named by Vasari as hsTing worked there. Cinffi^^ni 
may have done so, but the Aretine author is wholly at fault regarding Luca ; 
he makes him go to Rimini (at the age of fifteen years, in 1414) to work upoa 
the Temple, which was not begun till more than thirty years later. Ghiberti, 
on the other hand, was in Rimini fifty-six yean before the oonstmetioB el 



64 IitlON BATTlSTA ALBEETt 

was constructed in marble^ and of the sonthem side, where 
there are yery large arches with burial places for the illus- 
trious men of that city. In fine, he completed the whole 
fabric in such a manner that it is beyond dispute one of the 
most renowned temples of Italy. Within this church are 
six very beautiful chapels/' one of which, dedicated to San 

San FraaoeBoa Am for Simone, the so-oalled brother of DonateUOf Donatello 
never had a brother at all Gioognara pats Piaanello among the scnlptora of 
the reliefs in the churoh, but PisaneUo died only three years after the begin- 
ning of the works. Perkins (Tusoan Soulptors) gives to Benedetto of Maiano 
the most important share in the work. Benedetto, as M. Triarte remarks, was 
eight yean old when the edifioe was inangnrated. M. Yriarte proceeds to 
show that Matteo de* P^ti was nndonbtedly the controlling spirit in the dis- 
tribution of the decoration of the interior, and that Agostino d* Antonio di 
Dacoio was the author of roost of the sculpture. His long and interesting 
essay, Le Temple des MaliUeita (Rimini, pp. 17&-374}, contains a most im- 
portant appreciation of the work of Agostino (see note 21 in the Life of 
Lnoa della Robbia in Volume L). as also a great number of reproductions and 
of Talnable notes, many of ibem referring to o iginal research. 

1* M. MQntz refuses to credit Alberti with the confused interior distribu- 
tion of sculpture in 8. Francesco at Rimini He bi'lieves that when that mas- 
ter left the works the sculptors in company with the nnder-architect, Mat- 
teo de^ Pasti, a Lombard, did as they pleased, sacrificiog everything to make the 
church a gallery of bas-reliefg. The result is that this Malatestian Temple is 
one of the strangest churches in the world. The facade is simple and noble, 
ba^^ upon the triumphal arch of the Romans. It is the interior which strikes 
at once by its novelty, its richness, its spontaneity, above all by its intensely 
pagan character, so pagan as to have scandalised even a pope who was 
an arch-patron of the Renaissance. See the commentaries oi Pins Beoon- 
dns. But this pagan effect is due rather to the sculptors than to the archi- 
tect^ to the wishes of Malatesta rather than to the example of Alberti. Hit 
latter indeed has kept the Gothic arches, making them the frames of th« 
side-chapels ; but these frames of marble have been carved, by Agostino di 
Duccio and the rest, into an army of arts and sciences, planets and signs, 
gods and goddesses, which have crowded out every sacred image until the oal* 
endar of the seasons displaces the calendar of the saints. These scnlptniet 
are intensely mannered, are in very flat relief ( ** exaggerated Stiacciato ** a oritio 
has called them), are incorrect in construction and detail, yet are sponta- 
neous and lovely to an extraordinary degree. La lien of the Madonna, Diva 
Isotta, mistress and afterward wife of Sigismond, reigns over this incongm- 
ons yet beautiful assemblage, and among those palmettes and ultra-heavy 
Qreek wreaths, in which, says M. Yriarte, we find the sign mannal of Alberti 
as decorator, are seen, on every side, the black elephants of the Malatesta* 
Nowhere in Italy is there an interior more characteristic of the eariy B«- 
naissance, with its union of eclecticism and of intense personality. 



LEON BATTI6TA ALBBBTI 65 

Oeronimo, is most sump taou sly adorned ; yarions relics 
brought from Jerusalem being preserved in it. This chapel 
likewise contains the sepulchre of the above-named Sigis- 
mondo^ with that of his wife,^ very richly constructed of 
fine marbles, in the year 1450. One one of these tombs is 
the portrait of Malatesta, that of Leon Batista himself being 
also to be seen in another part of the work. 

In the year 1457> when the very useful method of print- 
ing books was invented by Giovanni Gutenberg/' a German, 
Leon Batista discovered something similar ; the method of 
representing landscapes, and diminishing figures by means 
of an instrument, namely, by which small things could in 
like manner be presented in a larger form, and so enlarged 
at pleasure : all very extraordinary things, useful to art, 
and certainly very fine. 

It happened about this time, that Giovanni di Paolo Ru- 
cellai resolved to adorn the principal Fa9ade of Santa Maria 
Novella, entirely with marble, at his own cost ; whereupon 
he consulted with Leon Batista, who was his intimate 
friend, and having received from him not advice only, but 

>* This WM I«otta of Rimiiii, whom Sigismondo eTentnaUy married. Mal»- 
teita stole ao frankly for the oonstmctioD of his churoh that he was called 
iaerilegioiis by the Pope. He took preoioas marble from the basilicas of 
Baveiua, '* in one year thirty chariots faU ** (see M. Yriarte, op. <r<<., p. 194), 
carried away the bridge of Fano, the antique quays of Rimini, as well as a fine 
emnpaniU ; he even plundered the Greek islands, and fragments of relief with 
nndedpheied inscriptions are built into San Francesco. But we must not 
forget that vandalism went hand in hand during the Renaissance with intense 
enthusiasm for antiquity, and at one epoch at least the investigat'ir studied 
the antique monument for his own uses, then pulled it to pieces and put the 
material to those uses. See Pope Martin V.*s permission to take from the 
abandoned cbuiches marbles for the Lateran pavement, and the example of 
even the sroh-enthusiast, Thomas of Sarzana, Pope Nicholas V., who made 
a quarry of the Coliseum. It was not till 1463 that Pius IL decreed that the 
antique monuments should be respected. 

" The invention to which Vasari aUudes is a vertical net-work which divides 
the model or landscape into squares. Leonardo da Vinci substituted the ver- 
tieal plane for it. See the Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci by Dr. 
Riohter, L 260, note, and B. von Bruoke in his BruchitUeke atu der bUdend^r 
KUhmU, Leipcig, 1877. Vasari*s comparison of this inventioii of Alb«fti*t 
with the inventioii of printing is amusing. 



66 LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI 

a design for the work also^ he determined that it shonld by 
all means be put into execution^ that so he might leave a 
memorial of himself. ^^ Rucellai^ therefore, caused the work 
to be at once commenced, and in the year 1477, it was fin- 
ished, to the great satisfaction of all the city ; the whole 
work being much admired, bat more particularly the door, 
for which it is obvious that Leon Batista took more than 
common pains. This architect also gave the design for a 
palace,'^ which Gosimo Rucellai caused to be built in the 
street called La Vigne, with that for the Loggia which 
stands opposite to it.^* In constructing the latter, Alberti, 
having made the arches above the columns very narrow, 
because he wished to continue them, and not make one arch 

** The fofode of & M. KorelU wm oommenoed at an earUer date (after 
1848), the fonde ooming from a legacy of Tuiino Baldesi, and certain oritioi 
claim that later Qiovanni Bettini furnished the design for the oompletion of 
Hhefofade, 8ig. Paaserini, however, feels sure that the central door was de- 
■igned by Albert!, or else is a servile imitation of his style. See Milmn^^ 
▼oL IL, pp. 544, note 1. Dr. Marcotti, in his Ouide-aouvenir de Florence, de- 
olaies that Alberti was the designer of all the newer part of the/ofod^, and 
thai Giovanni Bettini (Bertini, di Bettino) was only master of the works. 
The architect was compelled to respect and take account of the Gothic tomba 
which existed at the side of the ohoroh, and therefore of the Gothic doors thai 
adjoined the same. The result is a mixed style, which critics do not find 
whoUy a happy one. The date of the termination of tbefttfode is not certain, 
although a monumental inscription cited by M. MOnts, Lee PrimU^, p. 
466, gives the year 1470. 

>• These dates, 1451-1455, are Milanesi*s ; M&nti suggests 1460. Illarete, in 
1464, speaks of the Rucellai palace as new. It was probably built for Gio- 
vanni Rucellai — Giovanni delle Fabbriohe, John the Builder, as his contem- 
poraries oaUed him — and the wind-filled sails of the Rucellai may be seen 
upon the palace front as upon iAkefag<tde of Santa Maria Novella. 

>* M. MOntz, Let Primiiift, calls this the most complete and harmonious 
creation of Alberti, in which he ** boldly opposes the modem palace, gay and 
elegant, to the severe palace of Bmnelleachi and Miohek>zzo.** ** Here,** says 
Dr. ICarcotti, ** is the marking-point of the relinquishment of the Florentine 
style for the revival of classicism. ^ See G. Marootti, Un Jfereante Fiorentino, 
taken from an autograph MS. of Giovanni Rucellai, in the possession of Mr. 
John Temple-Leader. The anonymous author of a MS. in the Magliabeochian 
Library states that Bernardo Rossellino designed the Rucellai palaoe, and that 
Antonio del MigUorino Guidotti built the loggia, and indeed the palaoe great- 
ly resembles some of Rossellino^s works, such as the Palazso Plcoolomini in 
Pienn and the Piccolomini in Siena. See Milanesi, IL, p, 542, note 1. 



IiBON BATTISTA ALBEBTI 67 

Qvlj, found he had a certain space left on each side^ and 
was consequently compelled to add ressanlts to the inner 
angles. When he afterwards proceeded to turn the arches 
of the internal yaalting^ he perceived that he could not 
giye it the form of the half-circle> the effect of which would 
be stunted and clumsy ; he therefore determined to turn 
small arches oyer the angles from one ressault to the other> 
showing that there was wanting in him that soundness of judg- 
ment in design^ which, as is clearly evident, can only be the 
result of practice added to knowledge ; each must be aided 
by the other, for the judgment can never become perfect un- 
less the knowledge acquired be carried into operation, and 
the guidance of experience be attained by means of practice. 

It is said that the same architect produced the design for 
the palace and gardens, ^^ erected by the Rucellai family in 
the Via della Scala, an edifice constructed with much judg- 
ment, and which is therefore exceedingly commodious. 
Besides many other convenient arrangements, there are two 
galleries or loggie, one towards the south, the other to the 
west, both very beautiful, and raised upon the columns 
without arches ; which method is the true and proper one, 
according to the ancients, because the architraves, which 
are placed immediately upon the capitals of the columns, 
stand level, while a rectangular body, such as is the arch 
turned into a vault in the upper part, cannot stand on a 
round column, without having the angles out of square or 
awry; this considered, the best mode of construction re- 
quires that the architraves should be placed upon the col- 
umns, or that, when it is resolved to construct arches, the 
master should employ pillars instead of columns. 

For the same family of Bucellai, and in a similar manner, 
Leon Batista erected a chapel in the church of San Bran- 
casio,^ which rests on large architraves, supported on the 

" In thwe gavdflos MtemMed the funoiu FUtonio aoademy, but the palace 
WM nol Mlt tm 149H, and is not by AlbertL See PaMerini, J>6gli orH 
OrieOUtrl, \B6L It Is now the Stioni-Orloff palace. 

M San Pencimzio^ rather; it waa ereoied In 1407; the ohmoh if aoppmaed, 
bal the chapel itin eiiati. 



08 LEON BATTISTA ALBBRTI 

side where the wall of the church opens into the chapel by 
two columns and two pilasters. This is a yery difficolt 
mode of proceeding, bat gives great security^ and is accord- 
ingly among the best works produced by this architect. In 
the centre of this chapel is an oblong tomb in marble of an 
oral form, and similar, according to an inscription engrared 
on the tomb itself, to the sepulchre of Christ at Jerusalem. 
About the same time, Ludovico Gknzaga, Marquis of 
Mantua, having determined to construct the apsis, or trib* 
une, and the principal chapel in the Nunziata, the church 
of the Servites in Florence, after the design and model of 
Leon Batista, caused a small square chapel, very old, and 
painted in the ancient manner, which was at the upper end 
of that church, to be demolished, and in its place made the 
tribune above-mentioned.** It has the fanciful and difficult 
form of a circular temple surrounded by nine chapels, all 
surmounted by a round arch, and each having the shape of 
a niche. But as the arches of these chapels are supported 
by the pilasters in front of them, it follows that the outlines 
of the stone arch tend constantly backwards towards the 
wall behind them, while the latter, following the form of 
the tribune itself, turns in the opposite direction : hence it 
results, that when the arches of the chapels are regarded 
from the side, they appear to fall backwards, which gives 
the whole an unhappy effect, although the proportions are 
correct : but the mode of treatment is an exceedingly diffi- 
cult one, and it certainly would have been much better if 
Leon Batista had avoided the disorders of this method alto- 
gether : it is true that the plan is by no means easy of ac- 
complishment, but there is a want of grace both in the 
whole and in the details, insomuch that it could not possibly 
have a good effect. And that this is true in respect of the 

>* The tribune was oonstrnoted 1470-1476. Ludovioo Gonsaga, Captain- 
General of the Florentine repnblic, gave a large portion of hia military wages 
to the rebuilding of the ohoir of the Annanziata, and ordered that the bannera 
and trophies taken from the enemy should be hung up there. Giovanni Aldo- 
brandlni, 1471, tried vainly to persuade Ludovico to depart from the designs of 
Alberti in the oonstruotion of this choir. See Milanesi, Facoioli, and Qftyt, 



LEON BATTI8TA ALBERTI 69 

larger parts may be shown by the great arch which forms 
the entrance to the tribune ; for this> which is very beauti- 
ful on the outer side, appears on the inner, where it must 
of necessity turn with the turn of the chapel, which is 
round, to be falling backwards, and is extremely ungraceful. 
Leon Batista would, perhaps, not haye fallen into this error, 
if to the knowledge he possessed, and to his theories, he had 
added the practice and experience acquired by actual work- 
ing ; another would have taken pains to avoid this difficulty, 
and sought rather to secure grace and beauty to his edifice. 
The whole work is nevertheless very fanciful and beautiful 
in itself, as well as difficult : nor can we deny that Leon 
Batista displayed great courage in venturing at that time to 
construct the tribune as he did. The architect was then in- 
vited to Mantua by the above-named Marchese Ludovioo, 
where he made the model of the church of Sanf Andrea,^ 
for that noble, with some few other works, and on the road 
leading from Mantua to Padua, there are certain churches 
which were erected after the manner of this architect. The 
Florentine Salvestro Fancelli,^ a tolerably good architect 
and sculptor, was the person who carried Leon Batista's de- 
signs for the city of Florence into execution, according to 
the desire of that master, and this he did with extraordinary 
judgment and diligence. The works designed by Alberti for 
Mantua were executed by a certain Luca, also a Florentine, 
who, continuing ever after to dwell in that city, there died, 

** Sant* Andrea, designed in 1470, oommenoed in 1472, wm not finished tiU 
forty years afterward. The smaU and elegant ohorch of £1 Sebastiano was 
also designed in Mantua by Alberti, and oommenoed in 1460L Sant* Andrea 
is a wonderfolly beaatifnl ohnroh ; its lines are so pure that eren the 
painted ornaments with whioh it has been plentifully besprinkled cannot 
spotlit. Baron H. yon Geymtkller {PrcjeU Primitifk pour la Baailique 
de 8aint Pierre de Home, p. 7) admits without hesitation that it served Bra- 
mante as a;:iodel for the interior of Saint Peter's, while the porch, too, had its 
inflnence upon the later architect. Symonds in his Fine Arts (History of the 
Renaissance) notes the highly imaginative faculty implied by the building of 
such a church at a time when ** the rules of classic architecture had not y«t 
been reduced to method,** bnt he bUmes the use as aporohof what is, after aU, 
a mere decorathre screen. 

•> Impa Fknoelli, xathti; 



00 LBOK BATTISTA ALBEBTI 

leaying the name, as we are told by Filarete, to tlie famfly 
of the Lnchi, which is still settled there. And the good 
fortune of Leon Batista was not small in thus having friends, 
who> comprehending his desires, were both able and willing 
to serve him, for as architects cannot always be at the work, 
it is of the utmost advantage to them to have a faithful and 
friendly assistant, and if no other ever knew this, I know it 
well, and that by long experience. 

In painting, Leon Batista did not perform any great work, 
or execute pictures of much beauty ; those remaining to ui 
from his hand, and they are but very few, do not display a 
high degree of perfection, seeing that he was more earnestly 
devoted to study than to design. Yet he knew perfectly 
well how to give expression to his tiioughts with the p^icil, 
as may be seen in certain drawings by his hand in our book. 
In these are depicted the bridge of St. Angelo, with the sort 
of roof or covering in the manner of a Loggia, constructed 
over it after his design, as a shelter from the sun in summer, 
and from the rain and wind in winter. This work he exe- 
cuted for Pope Nicholas V.,^ who had intended to construct 
many similar ones for various parts of Bome, but death in- 
terpoeed to prevent him. In a small chapel to the Virgin, 
at the approach to the bridge of the Oarraia, in Florence, is 
a work by Leon Batista, an altar-table, namely, with three 
small historical pictures, and certain accessories in perspec- 
tive, which were much more effectually described by him 
with the pen than depicted with the pencil There is be* 
sides, a portrait of Alberti in the house of the Palla BuoeUai 
fiunily in Florence, drawn by himself with the aid of a mir- 
ror;* and a picture in chiaro-scuro, the figures of which 

» The dedgn, rather. 

** Theie peintiiigB are lost, but there ia a well-JaMmn profile bfome medal of 
ABberti by Matteode* Fasti, of Veroiia ; the reverMbeara a winged ^je, with the 
woida^^ifikitMm, and a lauiBl wreath. Theoelefafatedpfa^iMafiatheDiigrfu 
ooileetion, Paris, bears Alberti*s name ; a repetition of it is in the hoiawt% bni 
Oe iMtter kda the initials. Oompetent critios believe thia relief to be bjr Al- 
berti fainaell ▲ third aathentic portrait ia in the tnedanion whiohia the 
oompanion totheone upon the tombof Pandolfo Flitiimninln Milileafi \m Um 
Malateatian templa. 



LEON BATTI8TA ALBBBTI 61 

are large. He likewise executed a perspective yiew of 
Venice and St. Mark's^ bnt the figures seen in this work, 
which is one of the best paintings performed by Leon Ba» 
tista^ were executed by other masters. 

Leon Batista Alberti was a man of refined habits and 
praiseworthy life^^ a friend of distinguished men, liberal 
and courteous to all. He lived honourably and like a gentle- 
man, as he was, all the course of his life, and finally, hay- 
ing attained to a tolerably mature age, he departed* con* 
tent and tranquil to a better life, leaving behind him a most 
honourable name.* 

** He took orders and held yariocui ecdeeiMikMd offices, was eaium of tbt 
Florentiiie cathedral, rector of the *'prepo9Uura di San Hartino a Gang»* 
landi,** abbot of San Savino and of Sant* Brmete di Pua, a prelate of Dtxgo 
San Lorenzo, and became apoetolioal secretary. See Poaietti, Jfirm. « ioc 
ifMd, Bottari and Tirabosohi, cited by Milaneai 

** Alberti died in Rome in the spring of 1472, and was buried in the ehmoh 
from which he held a title, bat his ashes were soon carried to Floience, w1mi«| 
sfter PoUtian had pronounced the foneral oration, they were placed in tht 
fsmily tomb in Santa Crooe. See Yriarte's JUmini, p. 187. 

** Leon Battista Alberti incarnated the thought of the early Benaissanoe m 
did Leonardo da Vinci that of the later and riper period. This artist-hnmanitfc 
was at once athlete, poet— both in Latin and the Tolgar tongae— oritio, easay- 
ist, moralist, mathematician, engineer, writer upon optica, inventor, aoalptor, 
medallist, and architect. He led humanistic debates, yet held a benefioe from 
Pope Nicholas, was pontifical secretary after the year 1483, and at the aaint 
time served the pagan Malatesta. Like Leonardo, he worked at so many things 
that he accomplished rdatively little in the concrete, bnt waa a mighty inflii- 
ence. It is not certain that he built either the Rucellai palace or the/sfodf 
of Santa Mada Novella, though both are attributed to him, but San Itaui- 
oesoo of Rimini and Sent' Andrea of Mantua suffice to his fame. M. Mflnti 
ealls him ** the ideal consulting architect,** the man who " {dans in his study 
and goes rarely to the works.** Albertl's force as a factor hi the Renaissanoa 
waa tripled by his peculiar position, his influenoe as artist^ as humanist, and 
as prince (or at least as the member at once of a princely house and tA tha 
prdacy). In the early Renaissance the artist, thouj^ often the esteemed and 
even petted friend of duke or marquis, was a craftsman after alL The hu- 
manist stood much higher, intellectually he was often the superior of the 
princes of Church and State, and as a man he was considered to be thcit 
equal ; and when to the qualities of a great artist and of a humanist AJbertl 
added the blood of a famUy equal to the Medici or the Albisri, he became the 
peer of any one, and could enforce the principles of his art with an anftbodt^ 
Moorded only to a man on whom such triple gifts had b^n b9et9Wf4* 



FBA FILIPPO UPPI, FLOEENTINE PAINTEB< 

[Bom dfwi 1406; cliedl4«0.] 

BnuoGHAFHT.— /Mfo PUiur€ d^ Fra FUlppo Ltppi im PrtOo^ bj Ohmni- 
ioo F. BidcUiKi, PMto, 188S. O. Milaiieii, VArt, 8d jwur, VoL IV.; 4th 
year, VoL L Dohme SeriM of Kunit Mnd EUnttUr, artiolo bgr Hcfr Kid 
WoonnaiUL .FVa FUippo Lippi in VArt^ XL, p^ 289; XIL, pp. 6^ 68L 

THE Carmelite monk, Fra Filippo di Tommaso Lippi, 
was bom at Florence in a bye street called Ardi- 
glione, under the Canto alia Onculia, and behind the 
convent of the Carmelites. By the death of his father ' he 
was left a friendless orphan at the age of two years, his 
mother having also died shortly after his birth. The child 
was for some time under the care of a certain Mona La* 
paccia, his aunt, the sister of his father, who brought him 
up with very great difficulty till he had attained his eighth 
year, when, being no longer able to support the burden of 
his maintenance, she placed him in the above-named con- 
vent of the Carmelites.' Here, in proportion as he showed 

> FOippo di TomxnMO Lippi, oaUed Fm Filii^ JApgi and Lippo Lippi, to 
diitingnish him from Filippino LippL 

* Tommaiodi Lippo, almtcbflr, wm the father of Fflippo Lippi; hit mothof; 
who died in the early yeara of the fifteenth century, ia not known 1^ name. 
Vasari in hia first edition givea the date of Fi%po*B Urth m the year 1408, 
and in the aeoond edition ohangea it to 1419, but If ilaneai ahowa that Filippo 
went first to the convent when eight yeara old, aenred there some six ydars, 
and took his first orders, after a year's noTitiate, on Jnne S, 143L This fisea 
tho date of his birth as about 1406. After the death of Lippo*a mother Tom- 
maeo married again, his second wife being Antonia di Bar Kndo BenigL 

s The nanal custom of changing the baptismal name npon entering a eon* 
Tent appears te haye been departed from in the instance of Filippo. Ha it 
legistered for the first time in 1490 as a foll-fledged fraU^ te whom tiia oott- 
▼ent granta a certain snm to pay for his monk'a roba^ A lew nontha Uil« kt 
profeased. See note 9L 



nLippo uppi 88 

himself dexterons and ingenions in all works perf onned by 
hand> did he manifest the atmost dnlness and incapacity in 
letters^ to which he woald never apply himself, nor would 
he take any pleasure in learning of any kind. The boy 
continued to be called by his worldly name of Filippo> and 
being placed with others, who like himself were in the 
house of the noyices, under the care of the master, to the 
end that the latter might see what could be done with him ; 
in place of studying, he never did anything but daub his 
own books, and those of the other boys with caricatures, 
whereupon the prior determined to give him all means and 
every opportunity for learning to draw. The chapel of the 
Carmine had then been newly painted by Masaccio, and 
this being exceedingly beautiful, pleased Fra Filippo great- 
ly, wherefore he frequented it daily for hiB recreation, and, 
continually practising there, in company with many other 
youths, who were constantly drawing in that place, he sur- 
passed all the others by very much in dexterity and knowl- 
edge ; insomuch that he was considered certain to accom- 
plish some marvellous thing in the course of time* For 
.not only in his youth, but when almost in his childhood, he 
performed so many praiseworthy labours, that it was truly 
wonderful. While still very young he painted a picture in 
terra verde,^ in the cloister, near Masaccio's painting of the 
Consecration ; the subject of which was a Pope confirming 
the Bule of the Carmelites, with others in fresco on several 
of the walls in different parts of the church : among these 
was a figure of St John the Baptist, with stories from the 
life of that saint. Proceeding thus, and unproving from 

* TKe aooouni-book of the ooiiTeiit mentioiif FiUppo «8 iMinter in the jmn 
14801, 1481. He probably worked at thie time in the doister of the oonTent 
and H as IfUaned belierea, Maaaocio painted the Brancaooi ohapel toward the 
end of bia life, it ia quite poMiUe that Filippo atndied with him, and oertain 
that he moat hare at leaat aeen and profited by the paintings in the ehapeL 
All of F£lippo*B workB in the Carmine have perished, nnless oertain fragmenta 
in the eloisler be hia ; bnt lleasra. OaTaloaaeUe and Gtowe eaU attention to 
the fiMit that the freaoo in the doister of the CSarmine is not in terra ««nlt, 
•ad think it ean baldly be from the hand of RUppo Lippi, as it is painted in 
the a^ €« Masodo. f^ HkOx StarUt OtUa FtUum im IUUU$, JL, 2Li. 



64 FILIPPO LIPPI 

day to day, lie had so closely followed the maimer of Ma- 
saccio, and his works displayed so mnch similarity to those 
of the latter, that many affirmed the spirit of Masaccio to 
have entered the body of Fra Filippo.* On one of the 
pillars of the chnrch, near the organ, he depicted the figure 
of San Marziale, a work by which he acquired great fame, 
seeing that it was judged to bear a comparison with those 
executed by Masaccio. Whereupon, hearing himself so 
highly commended by all, he formed his resolution at the 
age of seventeen, and boldly threw off the clerical habit/ 

Some time after this event, and being in the march of 
Ancona, Filippo was one day amusing himself with certain 
of his friends in a boat on the sea, when they were all taken 
by a Moorish galley which was cruising in that neighbour- 
hood, and led captives into Barbary, where he remained, 
suffering many tribulations, for eighteen months. But, 
having frequent opportunities of seeing his master, it came 
into his head one day to draw his portrait ; and finding an 
opportunity, he took a piece of charcoal from the fire, and 
with that delineated his figure at full length on a white 
wall, robed in his Moorish vestments. This being related 
to the master by the other slaves, to all of whom it ap- 
peared a miracle, the arts of drawing and painting not 
being practised in that country, the circumstance caused 
his liberation from the chains in which he had so long been 
held. And truly that was greatly to the glory of that noble 
art ; for here was a man to whom belonged the right of 
condemning and punishing, but who, in place of inflicting 
pains and death, does the direct contrary, and is even led 

* AU oritiot have not rabwribed to this ttatemont ; many detect rather the 
infliience of Fza Angelioo. It is, however, quite patent to any oaiefol ob- 
■errer that both these great masters. Angelioo and Masaocio, affected the emi- 
aently sympathetic temperament of Filippo. 

• M^'ft"— * hat prored that he did not tiirow off the clerical habit^ and that 
In learing the oonve nt he continued to be a friar, and maintained friendly r»- 
latio&s with the other monks. A bull of Pope Bugenius, issued February 28, 
14^ made him vector for life of the parochial church of San Qnirico, at 
Lsgnaja, near Florence. He was chaplain in 1452 of the nuns of San Nioolo 
d« Friiri of Flormoe, and later of the nuns of Santa Margherita at Ftato. 



FiLippo Lippi es 

to show friendship, and restore the captiye to liberty. Hay- 
ing afterwards executed certain works in painting for his 
master, he was then conducted safely to Naples,^ where he 
painted a picture on panel for king Alfonso, then Duke 
of Calabria, which was placed in the chapel of the castle, 
where the guard-room now is. But after no long time he 
oonceiyed a wish to return to Florence, where he remained 
some months, during which time he painted an altar-piece 
for the nuns of Sanf Ambrogio, a most beautiful picture,' 
by means of which he became known to Gosimo de' Medici, 
who was thereby rendered his most assured friend.* He 
likewise executed a painting in the chapter-house of Santa 
Oroce,^ with a second, which was placed in the chapel of 
the Medici Palace, and on which he depicted the Natiyity 
of Christ.^^ Fra FUippo likewise painted a picture for the 
wife of the aboye-named Gosimo, the subject of which is 
also a Natiyity of Ghrist, with a figure of St. John the 

* Aflooidliigto MflanMJ tbe dates of aomeof FiUppo*s worka make the itocy 
of hk alavtty in Barbazy improbable, though they do not whoUy diaprore it. 
Hia piotnzefor the DoIm of OaUfaria, or rather toKing Alfonao I. of Kaplea, 
waa painted in Floienoe in 1450, and no traoea of FiUppo*a atay in AnoonA or 
Haplea ean be fonnd. 

* )fi]aneai*a datea for thia Ooion»tion of the Vixgin are that of the original 
oommiMJon, 1484, and that of final payment, 1447. It is a krge altar-pieoe 
with many flgarea, now in the Academy at Florence. In the right-hand 
lower eomor is aeen Fra lippo himaelf beside an angel, bearing a aoroU in- 
aecibed, ^ !• pwfwii Qput.** This ia the most important and perhapa the 
most interesting of Fi]ippo*s altaz^iecea. For inscriptions once ezistmg on 
the pictore, see /lormce, by lOl Lafenestre and Richtenberger, p. 181, and 
for charming phikaophico-poetical reflediona, apparent^ inspired by this 
piotnre and by the atory of the friar's life, see Robert Browning's poem, Fm 
I4ppo Idppi. 

* This woik waa ezeonted long after Gosimo first knew FiUppo. It has 
been stated that the woman with the children in the foreground, near the fig- 
ve of Fka Fflippo, was either Bpinetta or Lncresia BntL But at this time 
(1441) Spinetta waa <m]y eight years old and Lncrezia was six. 

>* The pictore for the chapter-honse of Santa Oroee was a Madonna En- 
throned with the Chihi, at rif^t and left Saints Damian and Fraads, Ckwhno 
•ad Antiiony of Padna ; it is now in the Academy of Florence. 

" The piotazefor Oasa Medid, a Madonna and Ohild, with two litUe angela, 
iraoWin Ae 0flfad, where there is also a study for it^ and the gallery of the 
Boipilal of the Inaooenti poesesses a aUghtly modified fatten; 



66 FILIPPO LIPPI 

Baptist ; this work was intended for one of the cells in the 
hermitage of Gamaldoli which she had caused to be con- 
structed as a mark of deyotion^ and had dedicated to St. 
John the Baptist.^ Other pictures by the same master^ 
containing stories in small figures^ were sent as a gift to 
Pope Eugenius IV., who was a Venetian, by Cosimo de' 
Medici, and these works caused Fra Filippo to be in great 
favour with that pontiff. 

It is said that Fra Filippo was much addicted to the pleas- 
ures of sense, insomuch that he would give all he possessed 
to secure the gratification of whatever inclination might at 
the moment be predominant ; but if he could by no means 
accomplish his wishes, he would then depict the object 
which had attracted his attention, in his paintings, and en- 
deavour by discoursing and reasoning with himself to 
diminish the violence of his inclination. It was known 
that, while occupied in the pursuit of his pleasures, the 
works undertaken by him received little or none of his at- 
tention ; for which reason Cosimo de' Medici, wishing him 
to execute a work in his own palace,^' shut him up, that he 
might not waste his time in running about; but having 
endured this confinement for two days, he then made ropes 
with the sheets of his bed, which he cut to pieces for that 
purpose, and so having let himself down from a window, 
escaped, and for several days gave himself up to his amuse- 
ments. When Oosimo found that the painter had disap- 
peared, he caused him to be sought, and Fra Filippo at last 
returned to his work, but from that time forward Oosimo gave 
him liberty to go in and out at his pleasure, repenting 
greatly of having previously shut him up when he consid- 
ered the danger that Fra Filippo had incurred by his folly 
in descending from the window ; and ever afterwards, 

1* The Moond Natiyity, painted for Ck>iimo's wife, ia believed by Milaneri 
to be a piotiire in the Academy, which was at one time attributed to Bfasolino 
da Panioale^ while MeMra. Crowe and CaTaloaselle are reminded by it of Fra 
Angelica 

** Two luneUei now in the National Gallery of London oame from tbt 
Medid (now Ricoardi) palaoe. 



PILIPPO LIPPI C7 

labouring to keep him to his work by kindness only^ he was 
by this means much more promptly and effectually served 
by the painter^ and was wont to say that the excellencies of 
rare genius were as forms of light and not beasts of burden. ^^ 
For the church of Santa Maria Primerana, on the 
piazza of Piesole, Fra Filippo painted a picture,^ wherein 
he depicted Our Lady receiving the Annunciation from the 
angel. This work exhibits extraordinary care> and there 
is so much beauty in the figure of the angel^ that it appears 
to be indeed a celestial messenger. This master executed 
two pictures for the nuns of the Murate ; one, an Annuncia- 
tion/* is placed on the high altar ; the other, presenting 
stories from the lives of San Benedetto and San Bernardo, is 
on another altar of the same church. ^^ In the palace of the 
Signoria Fra Filippo likewise painted a picture which is over 
a door ; with another representing San Bernardo, placed 
over another door, in the same palace.^ In the sacristy of 
Santo Spirito, in Florence, is a painting by this master, rep- 
reaenting the Virgin Burronnded by angels, and with saints 
on either hand, a work of rare excellence, which has ever 
been held in the highest esteem by men versed in our arts.^ 
In the church of San Lorenzo, Fra Filippo executed a 

** Fn Filippo*! letten do not bear oat Vasftri*! desoriptioii of the JoYial 
friar. He was poor and made great saorifioee to provide for hia nieoea. See 
the letter to Pieio de' Medici in Graye^a Carteggio. 

** Long finoe sold ; Milaneei snggeata that it may be identical with a piotor* 
bk the Gallery at Munich. 

1* An Annanoiation in the Munich Gallery, and much injured, came from 
the Murate. See Crowe and Cavaloaselle, History of Painting in Italy. 

>v Thia work ia lost 

i« Mllanesi proves by a doonment that Sllippo was paid for the piotnre in 
the Plilazzo Yeochio in 1447. The Vision of San Bernardo is in the National 
Gallery of London, and represents the Madonna, who appears to the Saint 
The Annnndation painted for the Signoria has perished. 

>* Now in the Lonvxe ; it was ordered of Filippo by the oaptaina of Or Ban 
Miohele in 14S6i A tando bought by the National GraUery of London from 
the Baldi-Lombardi collection of Florence, was, according to Milanesi, mis- 
taken for a time for thia picture. The London pictuze is not considered by 
Messrs. Gitme and Oavalcaselle to be by Fra Filippo. It ia probably only a 
work of his schooL The predeUa is in the Academy at Florence, see Ia- 
fenestre and Riohtenberger, Florence, p. 189. 



68 Fiuppo upn 

picture^ also representing the Annunciation, wUch it in tli0 
chapel of the Superintendents of Works^"^ with a second for 
the Delia Stufa Chapel, which is not finished. For Sanf 
Apostolo, in the same city, he painted a picture, in panel 
for one of the chapels ; it presents the Virgin surrounded 
by different figures.^ And in Arezzo he executed one for 
Messer Carlo Marsuppini, to be placed in the chapel of San 
Bernardo,^ belonging to the monks of Monte Oliveto, 
wherein he depicted the Coronation of the Virgin, sur- 
rounded by numerous saints. This work has maintained 
itself in so remarkable a degree of freshness, that one might 
suppose it to have but just left the hands of the master. 
With respect to this picture, the latter was exhorted by 
Carlo Marsuppini to give particular attention to the hands, 
his painting of which, in many of his works, had been much 
complained of ; whereupon Fra Filippo, wishing to avoid 
such blame for the future, oyer afterwards sought to conceal 
the hands of his figures, either by the draperies or by some 
other contriyance. In the painting we are now describing, 
the master has given the portrait of Messer Carlo Marsup* 
pini from the life. 

In Florence, Fra Filippo painted the picture of a Prt- 
sepiOf^ for the nuns of Annalena,** and some of his works 
are also to be seen in Padua.* He sent two stories in small 
figures to Bome for Cardinal Barbo ; they were admirably 



•^RiiftUliiitlieobiiNb; the Moond pietan piiiited fat fStmBMtkObasfA 
hM dimppaued. 

*> This piotan it lost 

*■ Aooording to MHannd, IL 019, note 1, tidi ptotuit mm oold In 178K, iHien 
the ooiiTeiit was ropp w ed, and erentaaUjr pMted Into tiio banda of Popa 
Gfegory XVI., who placed it in the Latacan GaUery, whare it femalna. 

*• A repreaentation of the NatiTitj. 

•« HUaneii dedarea thia to bea Katiyity in the Fbrentine Academy iStat^ 
Ma <t0* pieeoli quadri). In thia Httle piotore ia aeen a dhdr of angda, whlla 
below are the Magdalen, Si Jerome, and another hermit, who bean inaerfbed 
vpon his aboolders the name miarion {Uarione) ; the latter fignie la aaid by 
Bloha, Chte9$ FU>retUlney EL 14S, who saw the hooka of Hit ooBfen^ to b« • 
portrait of Rnberto Malateata, a brother of Arniakna. 

•• Theae piotmea aie kafc. 



FILIPPO Lipn 

execnted> and finished with extraordinaiy care.* This 
master certainly displayed most wonderful grace in his 
works^ blending his colours with the most perfect harmony, 
qualities for which he has ever been held in the highest es- 
teem among artists, and for which he is extolled by modem 
masters with unlimited commendation ; nay, there can be 
no doubt, that so long as his admirable labours can be pre- 
served from the Toracity of time, his name will be held in 
yeneration by all coming ages. In Prato, near Florence, 
where Fra Filippo had some relations, he took up his abode 
for some months, and there executed rarious works for the 
whole surrounding district, in company with the Carmelite, 
Fra Diamante, who had been his companion in noriciate. 
Haying then receiyed a commission from the nuns of Santa 
Margherita, to paint a picture for the high altar of their 
church, he one day chanced to see the daughter of Fran- 
cesco Buti, a citizen of Florence, who had been sent to the 
Conyent, either as a noyice or boarder. Fra Filippo, haying 
giyen a glance at Lucrezia, for such was the name of the 
girl, who was exceedingly beautiful and graceful, so per- 
suaded the nuns, that he preyailed on them to permit him 
to make a likeness of her, for the figure of the Virgin in the 
work he was executing for them.^ The result of this was, 
that the painter fell yiolently in loye with Lucrezia, and at 
length found means to infiuence her in such a manner, that 
he led her away from the nuns, and on a certain day, when 
she had gone forth to do honour to the Ointola* of 
our Lady, a yenerated relic preserved at Prato and exhibited 



M These pioinrei have disappeared. 

•^ MOaneti foggesto the possible identificatkfn of tids Madonna with one in 
a KatiTity which is now in the LoaTie. There is a gradino wtSU in the Oom- 
mnnal GaUery of Prato; it bears the three stones of the P rese n tation in the 
Temple, the Adoration of the Magi, and the Sknghter of the Innooents. 
Messrs. Orowe and Cavaloaselle, however, beUeve that this piotnre of tha 
Loovre is byPesellino rather than byLippi, and Milanesi, admitting tiiat th«y 
mmf be ri^^t, is inclined to think that the piotnre m the Oonmnnal QtXlmf «l 
Pkato is identical with the one which Yasari mentions. 

M The girdle presented to St. Thomas by the MadoniML 



7D FILIPPO LIPW 

on that occasion^ he bore her from their keeping. By thii 
event the nuns were deeply disgraced^ and the father of 
Lncrezia was so grievously afflicted thereat, that he never 
more recovered his cheerfulness, and made every possible 
effort to regain his child. But Lncrezia, whether retained 
by fear or by some other cause, would not return, but re- 
mained with Filippo, to whom she bore a son, who was also 
called Filippo, and who eventually became a most excellent 
and very famous painter like his father.^ 

In the church of San Domenico, in this same Prato, are 
two pictures® by this master, and in the transept of the 
church of San Francesco is another, a figure of the Vir- 
gin namely. Desiring to remove this work from its original 
place, the superintendents, to save it from injury, had the 
wall on which it was depicted cut away, and having secured 
and bound it with wood-work, thus transported it to another 
wall of the church, where it is still to be seen.*^ Over a 
well, in the court-yard of the Geppo of Francesco di Marco, 
there is a small picture on panel by this master, representing 
the portrait of the above-named Francesco di Marco, the au- 

** Milaneii, in a long oommentaiy, diioiuaes the theories r^gaiding FlUppo's 
lidBon with Lncrezia, and gives the resnlt of documentary investigation at 
follows : In 1453 Filippo bought a house at Prato, stasring there tiU about 
1463. In 1456, when fifty years old, he fell in lore with Lncreiia BntL 
Lncresia's father, Francesco Buti, was a Florentine silk-merchant, who died 
leaving a family of eleven children to the care of the elder brother Antoniow 
The latter was forced by limited means to put Spinetta Buti, bom in 1484, 
and Imcresia, bom in 1485, into the convent of Santa Margherita at Prato, of 
which Filippo was chaplain. Lucrezia ran away with him on the day of the 
festival of the Holy Qirdle, and in 1457 gave birth to a ehUd, who became 
the fsmous painter Filippino Lippi Spinetta also fled from the convent 
with several other nuns, but aU were forced to return in 1459, and re-entered 
the novidate. In 1461 Pope Pius II. granted Filippo a dispensation reoo^ 
nising the friar and nun as a married couple, and Lncreda, in 146S, boie a 
daughter named Alessandra. 

** One of these paintings appears to be lost. The other, still in tttw, is a Na- 
tivity with adoring shepherds, a Saint Vincent, and a militant saint. BCesara. 
Crowe and Cavalcaselle refer to Filippo a picture now attributed to Bottioelli, 
in a church close by the Santo Spirito at Fkato, rnprnMiiting a Yligiii \ 
rounded by sainta. 

M Since loat 



FILIPPO LIPPI 71 

thor and founder of that pions establishment.® In the 
Oapitnlar Ohnrch of Prato^ on a small tablet which is oyer 
the side door as one ascends the steps, Fra Filippo depicted 
the death of San Bernardo," by the touch of whose bier many 
lame persons are restored to h^th. In this work are monks 
bewailing the loss of their master ; and the exquisite grace 
of their heads, the truth and beauty with which their grief, 
and the plaintive expression of their weeping, are conveyed 
to the spectator, is a thing marrellous to behold. Some of 
the hoods and draperies of these monks have most beautiful 
folds, and the whole work merits the utmost praise for the 
excellence of its design, composition, and colouring, as well 
as for the grace and harmony of proportion displayed in it, 
completed as it is by the most delicate hand of Filippo. He 
was also appointed by the wardens of the same church, who 
desired to retain a memorial of him, to paint the chapel of 
the High Altar,** and here we have likewise good eyidence 
of his power, for besides the excellence of the picture as a 
whole, there are certain heads and draperies in it which are 
most admirable. In this work Fra Filippo made the figures 

i> This pieime (painted aboat the year 1453) ia now in the offioe of the Hoa- 
pitaL Franceaoo di Maioo (Datini) is not tlie principal figure, but ia aeen 
adoring a Virgin sorxonnded by aainta. 

** This work b not a smaU tablet, bnt ia a large painting ordered by Gemi- 
Biaao Inghirami See Milanesi, Vol. H, p. 682, note a 

^ The order to paint the ohoir of the oathedral (then Capitular Chnroh) 
of Prato may hare been given to Filippo as early as 1453, and the fretooes 
were piobably not entirely finished in 1464. These dates are taken from 
dcKmments cited by MilanesL Geminiano Inghirami was Propo9to when the 
freseoea were begnn. Carlo de* Medici, son of Cosimo the Elder, snooeeded 
Geminiano in oflBoe before they were finiBhed. The portrait of Geminiano was 
painted in the lunette (death of San Bernardo), that of Carlo in the piotore 
of the death of St Stephen. Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaaelle beliere thai 
Filippo has painted his own portrait in the last figore at the right of the group 
of people who mourn the death of the saint. These two frescoes in the ohoir 
of Ftato are Filippo^s masterpieces, and in them he shows the whole soope of 
his oapfoity. They show comedy and tragedy aide by aide, for the Banquet 
of Herod ia treated in a light yefai, with charming epiMdes (see the two whis- 
pering figures), whereas in the Death of Stephen and ita ordered mssses ai 
giftTe speotatora Filippo followa Masaocio, is » precursor of Ghirlaadajo and 



n FILIPPO Lipn 

larger than life> and hereby instracted later artists in the 
mode of giring true grandeur to large figures. There are 
likewise certain figures clothed in yestments but little used 
at that time, whereby the minds of others were awakened, 
and artists began to depart from that sameness which should 
rather be called obsolete monotony than antique simplicity. 
In the same work are stories from the life of Santo Stefano, 
to whom the church is dedicated ; they coyer the wall on the 
right side, and consist of the Disputation, the Stoning, and 
the Death of the Protomartyr. In the first of these, where 
St. Stephen is disputing with the Jews, the countenance of 
the saint exhibits so much ^eal and feryour, that it is diffi- 
cult eyen to imagine ; how much more then to giye it ex- 
pression : while, in the &ces and attitudes of these Jews, 
their hatred and rage, with the anger they feel at finding 
themselyes yanquished by the saint, are equally manifest. 
Still more forcibly has he depicted the brutal rage of 
those who slew the martyr with stones, which they grasp, 
some large, others smaller ones, with grinding teeth, horri- 
ble to behold, and with gestures of demoniac rage and cru- 
elty. St. Stephen, calm and steadfast in the midst of their 
terrible yiolence, is seen with his face towards heayen, im- 
ploring the pardon of the Eternal Father for those who thus 
attack him, with the utmost piety and feryour. This yariety 
of expression is certainly yery fine, and is well calculated to 
teach students of art the yalue of imitatiye power, and the 
importance of being able to express clearly the affections and 
emotions of the characters represented. Fra Filippo deyoted 
the most earnest attention to this point, as is seen in this 
work ; he has giyen the disciples who are burying St. Stephen 
attitudes so full of dejection, and feces so deeply afflicted, 
so drowned in tears, that it is scarcely possible to look at 
them without feeling a sense of sorrow. On the other side 
of the chapel is the History of St. John the Baptist, his 
Birth, that is to say, his Preaching in the Wilderness, his 
Baptism, the Feast of Herod, and the Decapitation of the 
Saint. In the picture of the Preaching, the Diyine Spirit 



Fiiiippo uppi 78 

inapirmg tho speaker is most clearly manifest in his face> 
wliile the different emotions of hope^ anxiety^ gladness^ and 
sorrow^ of the crowds women as well as men^ who are listen- 
ing around him^ charmed and mastered by the force of his 
words, are equally well expressed. In the Baptism are 
beauty and goodness exemplified, and in the Feast of Herod^ 
the ^lendour of the banquet, the address of Herodias, the 
astonishment of the guests, and their inexpressible sorrow 
when -the head is presented on the charger, are rendered with 
admirable truth and effect. Among those present at the ban- 
quet are numerous figures in fine attitudes, exhibiting beau- 
tiful draperies and exquisite expressions of countenance. A 
portrait of Fra Filippo himself, taken with his own hand by 
help of a mirror, is one of them, and among the persons who 
bewail the death of St. Stephen, is the portrait of his disdple 
Fra Diamante, in a figure robed in black, and bearing the 
Teatments of a bishop.® This work is indeed the best of all 
that he produced, as well for the many fine qualities dis- 
played in it, as for the circumstance, that haying made the 
figures somewhat larger than life, he encouraged those who 
came after him to enlarge their manner. Fra Filippo was 
indeed so highly estimated for his great gifts, that many 
circumstances in his life which were very blameable receired 
pardon, and were partly placed out of riew, in consideration 
of his extraordinary abilities In the work just described is 
the portrait of Messer Carlo, natural son of Gosimo de' 
Medici, who was rector of the church wherein it was executed, 
which had received large benefactions both from him and 
his house. 

In the year li6Z,^ when Fra Filippo had completed this 
undertaking, he painted a picture in tempera for the church 
of San Jacopo, in Pistoja. The subject of this work, which 
is a very fine one, is the Annunciation, and contains the 

#• Tli# 4JSmdt In ibair o«talogiie of a wriM of photogiAphs taken from the 
frenoea, oall the fignze which atanda direotlj beaide mca Filippo a portcait o< 
Via Dlaaanta. 



74 PILIPPO LIPPI 

portrait of Messer Jacopo Bellncci,^ taken from the life, 
and depicted with great animation. There is fdso a picture 
representing the Birth of the Virgin^ by this master^ in the 
house of Pulidoro Bracciolini^ and in the hall of the Coun- 
cil of Eight, in Florence^ is a picture of the Virgin with 
the Child in her arms^ painted in tempera^ on a half circle." 
In the house of Ludovico Capponi^ likewise^ there is another 
picture of the Virgin, which is exceedingly beautiful ; • 
and a work of the same master is in the possession of Ber- 
nardo Vecchietti, a Florentine noble of so much integrity 
and excellence that my words cannot do justice to his 
merits. The picture is small, the subject Sanf Agostino 
occupied with his studies ; an exceedingly beautiful paint- 
ing.^ But still finer is a figure of St. Jerome doing pen- 
ance, of similar size, and by the same hand, which is now 
in the guardaroha of Duke Cosimo : ^ f or if Fra Filippo 
displayed excellence in his paintings generally, still more 
admirable were his smaller pictures ; in these he surpassed 

^ This work has not been traced with oertainty. 

M In the Berlin Gallery are two Madonnas, bnt they are not identified with 
this picture by Dr. Bode or Dr. Meyer. The Bracoiolini picture is not known 
with any oertainty. Morelli, in his Italian Masters, admits as genuine pict- 
ures by Fra lippo Lippi the f oUowing works in Rome : An Annunciation in 
the private collection of Miss Herts, an Annunciation in the Doria Galleiy, 
and a triptych in the Lateran with a Coronation of the Virgin in the central 
panel and a portrait of Carlo Marsuppini in one of the iporteUi, In Munich, 
Morelli catalogues an Annonoiation and a Madonna with the infant Christ ; 
in the National Gallery, three works, an Annunciation, a Vision of S. Bernard, 
and a John the Baptist with six other saints ; in Oxford, a little panel of the 
marriage of Saints Joachim and Anna ; in the Louyre, only one picture, a Ma- 
donna and Child with two priests and six angels. Besides these there are the 
two panels of the Turin Academy representing the Fathers of the Church, 
and a half dozen pictures in Florenoe. (MM Lafenestre and Richtenbecger 
catalogue fourteen in their Florence as among the works of the master in the 
churches and galleries of the latter city. ) Morelli says that Vienna, Dresden, 
and Madrid have no pictures by the master, but admits that Berlin possesses 
sereral genuine works by Lippi, and calls Na 09 in that gallery the most 
oharaoteristic of them. 

«• Said by MOanesi to have been sold to Ftinoe Demidoil^ and then iwold by 
him. 

MXntheUflBsL 

«> This piotnre is kMt 



FILIPPO LIPPI 76 

himself^ imparting to them a grace and beaaty^ than which 
nothing finer could be imagined : examples of this may be 
seen in the predellas of all the pictures painted by him. 
He was indeed an artist of such power^ that in his own 
time he was surpassed by none^ and even in our days there 
are rery few superior to him : therefore it is that he has 
not only been always eulogized by Michael Angelo^ but in 
many things has been imitated by that master. 

For the church of San Domenico-yecchio^ in Perugia^^ 
Fra Filippo painted a picture^ which has since been placed 
on the high altar ; it represents the Virgin^ with San Piero^ 
San Paolo^ San Ludovico^ and Sanf Antonio the abbot. 
The Cavaliere^ Messer Alessandro degli Alessandria also a 
friend of Fra Filippo, caused him to paint a picture^ for 
the church of his country palace at Yincigliata, on the 
heights of Fiesole, the subject a San Lorenzo and other 
saints. In this work he depicted the portraits of Alessandro 
degli Alessandri and his two sons. Fra Filippo was very 
partial to men of cheerful character, and lived for his own 
part in a very joyous fashion. 

This master instructed Fra Diamante in the art of paint- 
ing, and the latter executed many works in the church of 
the Carmine at Prato. He attained to great perfection in 
the imitation of his master's manner, and thereby obtained 
much credit for himself. Among those who studied with 
Fra Filippo, were Sandro Botticello, Pisello, and Jacopo 
del Sellajo, a Florentine, who painted two pictures for the 
church of San Friano, and one in distemper for that of the 
Garmine, with many other artists whom he fdways instruct- 
ed in the most friendly manner. He lived creditably by his 
labours, and expended very large sums on the pleasures to 



^ Thif picture was ordered in 1461 by the Pemgiui Antonio del Branca ; 
he was diaaatlsfied and had a lawsoit about it. There has been some oontro- 
Tersy regarding fragments of an altar-piece now in the chapter house of 8. 
Domenioo, bat Messrs. Orowe and Oayalcaselle do not beUere them to be bj 
FiHppo, and nothing certain is known about the matter. 

4* In OMa Alessandri, Borgo degU AUnsii, Floreaoo, 



76 PILIPPO LIPPI 

which he continued to addict himself^ even to the end of 
his life. Fra Filippo was requested by the commune of 
Spoleto^ through the medium of Gosimo de' Medici^ to 
paint the chapel in their principal church^ — ^that of Our 
Lady — and this work^ with the assistance of Fra Diamante, 
he was conducting to a successful termination^ when, being 
overtaken by death, he was prevented from completing it. 
It was said that the libertinism of his conduct occasioned 
this catastrophe, and that he was poisoned by certain per- 
sons related to the object of his love. 

Fra Filippo finished the course of his life in the year 1438, 
being then fifty-seven years old.* He left Filippo his son 
to the guardianship of Fra Diamante, with whom the child, 
then ten years old, returned to Florence, and was by him in- 
structed in the art of painting. Fra Diamante took three 
hundred ducats with him from Spoleto, which remained to 
be received from the commune for the work performed 
there, and with this sum he purchased a certain property 
for himself, appropriating but little of it to the child. The 
latter was placed with Sandro Botticello, who was at that 
time considered an excellent master in painting, and the old 
man was buried in a tomb of red and white marble, which 
the people of Spoleto caused to be erected for him in the 
church which he was painting. 



** TbB principal work in ihii seriei (1467-1460) k » Tasl freioo in the 
dome of the oaihedral at Spoleto. It is dignified and has » oerlain grandeur 
which is enhanced by its size. Probably no freeoo by a Tuscan mastsr is so 
rich in color, bnt this is largely beosnse a liberal nse of strong bines and gilding 
has been followed by the tempering dhot of disintegration and the flaking otf 
of the plaster. The subject, which is immensely deooratire from its ahnoei 
(Gothic abondance of gUded patterns in the costumes, represents a Cknonatlon 
of the Virgin, who is surrounded by a great number of angels and saints. 
Below upon the walls are the Annunciation, the Nativity, and the AssumptioiL 
Fra Diamante finished the work in 1470. 

** He died in 1469, at the age of sixty-three years, and probably from natoxal 
causes, for it is most improbable that he should hsTe been UUed by the fela- 
tiyee of Lucresia, to whom he bad been for numy years married and nnleat 
some other woman was *' the object of his lore** referred to hj Va«uci| wt 
vnst diamias the question of poison. 



A 



PILIPPO LIPPI 77 

The death of Fra Filippo caused much regret to many 
among his friends, more particularly to Gosimo de' Medici 
and Pope Eugenius lY.^ The latter had offered in his life- 
time to give him a dispensation,^ that he might make Lu- 
crezia di Francesco Buti his legitimate wife, but Fra Filippo, 
desiring to retain the power of living after his own fashion, 
and of indulging his love of pleasure as might seem good to 
him, did not care to accept that offer. 

During the pontificate of Sixtus IV., Lorenzo de' Medici 
was sent ambassador from the Florentines, and took the 
journey to Spoleto, for the purpose of demanding the re- 
mains of Fra Filippo from that Commune, to the end that 
they might be deposited in the Florentine cathedral, Santa 
Maria del Fiore. But the Spoletines replied that they were 
but poorly provided with ornaments, above all with distin- 
guished men; they consequently begged permission as a 
favour to retain them, that they might honour themselves 
therewith, adding, that since they possessed so many great 
men in Florence as almost to have a superfluity, they might 
content themselves without this one, and that reply was all 
that Lorenzo received. But being still resolved to do all the 
honour that he possibly could to Fra Filippo, he sentFilip- 
pino, the son of the latter, to Rome, to the cardinal of 
Naples, that he might paint a chapel for that prelate, and 
on this occasion Filippino, passing through Spoleto, was 
commissioned by Lorenzo to construct* a sepulchre of 
marble over the sacristy and beneath the organ. On this 
work he expended two hundred ducats, which were paid by 
Nof ri Tomabuoni, master of the bank to the Medici. Lo- 
renzo likewise caused the following epigram to be made by 

** Oosimo and Engenins both died before Filippo Lippi 

^ Milanesi proTes thai, on the oontiarj, he aooepted this dispematUm giantad 
him by Pope Pius II. (not EogenioB IV.), and that he thereby, for the lalEie of 
Lnoresia, forfeited all those ecolesiastioal xevenaes which had been settled on 
him for life. His letters prove that he was often in financial difKoolties, 
and sometimes in actual wani» though he waa an Industriona and populai 
painter. 

«Id1488. 



78 FILIPPO LIPW 

Messer Agnolo Poliziano^ which was engrayed on the tomb 
in letters after the antique : — 

** €hndUu$ kic ego 8%impieturcB/ama Phil^apm 

yuUi ignota tmcb est graHa mira fiumuf / 
Artifices potui digiiU amniare color6$ 

Sperataque cmimMfaUere voce diu: 
Jjp$a meis stvptdi natura eapressaJIguHip 

Moque sutsfcusa est (srtUnu e$$e par m m^ 
Marmoreo tumuh Medkes LaurenHta Me me 

Oondidiif ante htimiU pulvere techa eram. ** 

^ An interne quality of hutnan iympathy made mippo lippi cue cf Iks 
freatost artitto of his time ; he aympathiied with everything, was at onee emi- 
nently natnralistio, lepiodaoing the grimace of a street nxohin, and eminent^ 
deooxatiye, setting the lilies a row in his CoronatioQ of the Viigin of Baint Am- 
brose, and multiplying them against the gilded rays and brocaded pattendnga 
of the Testments in his other and moxe solemn OoronAtion of Spoletoi Robsft 
Browning, in his poem of Fra Lippo Lippi, makes him say tmly of the 

nal world, 

** To me it means intensely and means good.** 



And M. Lafenestre, in his PeirUure IlalUnns, has felt profoondly the **^ 
expansion of sympathy " with which Fra Lippo farongbt the hnman type into 
art, in exchange for that oonrentional type which had been called divine, 
making Kadonna a real mother of a real baby, and giving to sacred person^ 
ages, ** withoat scrapie as without coarseness,** the featorea of living men and 
women. His color is warm and transparent, and, says M. Lafenestre, ** in the 
midst of a grave, severe school he sounds a joyous note, which echoes knger 
in Venice than in his native Tuscany, and which is the first nttennoe of 
modem painting.** He is a realist and an idealist at onoe, forgetting the 
grand style of Masacoio in his attempt, a snocessfiil attempt, to render the 
grace and life of the adolescent figures in his Feast of Herod at Ptato and 
again yielding a precedent for the statelinees of Ghirlandajo in his mourning 
groups about the dead Saint Stephen. He often saorlfioes predskm to vivaeity 
and variety, caring more about expression than pure form and falling fre- 
quently into a mannerism shown in his flattened and widened skuOs and broad 
faces, but conquering his audienoe of the fifteenth as of the ninetsenth oentory 
by bis unaffected sincerity and his joyous reaUsm. Ashe had homaniied 
Madonna he domesticated Art, reducing the altar-piece to the genre pictnre. 
He first painted those tondi in roond frames which gradually replaced the 
more solemn triptych and admitted of a more familiar treatment of sacred 
themes. His greatest works are his frescoes of Prato, for his huge, solemn 
semi-dome of Spoleto has suffered too much from time and damp and candle- 
SBU^ to be considered his masterpiece ; but the things which have made him 
famous are his more intimate and more familiar easel pictures, his Madmmaa 
of the Pttti and UfBsi and his great altar-piece of the Aoademgr. 



ANDBEA DAL OASTAGNO,* OF THE MUGELLO, 
AND DOMENICO VENIZIANO, PAINTERS 

(Bonil890f; dtod 1467. Bom during the fixit ten ytara of the fiftoenih otn* 

inzy ; died 1401.] 

HOW reprehensible b the vice of enyy in a distinguished 
artist : enyy^ which never should be permitted to 
exist in any mind. Above all^ how fearful and hor- 
rible a crime is that of seeking, under the guise of friend- 
Bhip» to annihilate the fame and honour, nay, to extinguish 
the life of another I How atrocious such a crime is no words 
can possibly express, the depravity of the action, rendering 
all power of language, however eloquent, inadequate to de- 
scribe it. Therefore, without further insisting on that mat- 
ter, I will only say, that in men, capable of such wickedness, 
there dwells a spirit, not merely savage and inhuman, but 
wholly cruel and fiend-like ; nay, so utterly destitute of all 
worth are such beings, that they no longer merit the name 
of men, or even of animals, but are altogether unfit to 
breathe the breath of life. For, inasmuch as a virtuous 
emulation and the effort to acquire glory and honour, by 
surpassing men more distinguished than himself, is praise- 
worthy in the artist, as necessary to his progress and useful to 
society; insomuch, nay much more, is the wickedness of 
envy to be scorned and vituperated ; envy, which, not being 
able to endure the praise and glory of another, is therefore 
resolved to deprive him of life, whom it cannot despoil of 
honour, as was done by the unhappy Andrea dal Oastagno, 

* Aadnm di Bartoloinmeo di Stmone, OAlled Andrea dal CesUgno (Andrea 
d«if JmphotAi Vj Filarete, and Andiein by Giovanni Santi in hie Blogio 
SUTiM\ mm tbe ion of a laborer and email propriotor of 8. Andiea a Linari, 
in tha amUmIo of Floieneo. 



80 ANBBBA DAL OABTAONO A DOMENlOO VEKIZIAKO 

who was in tmth^ excellent as a painter^ and a great master 
in design, bnt was still more remarkable for the ranoonr and 
envions hatred by which he was inspired towards other 
painters, insomuch that, by the weight and darkness of his 
crime, he has inhumed and obscured the splendour of his 
talents. 

This master, haying been bom ' at a small farm called 
Gastagno, situate in the Mugello, a district of the Florentine 
territory, adopted that name as his surname when he came 
to take up his abode in Florence, which happened on this 
wise. His father died while he was in his first childhood, 
and left him to the care of an uncle, who set him to herd 
his cattle. In this occupation he spent several years, dis- 
playing great readiness and intelligence ; he was besides so 
strong and powerful that he was not only capable of guard- 
ing and keeping his cattle in subjection, but also of protect- 
ing the pastures, and whatever else was placed within his 
care, from all attack and aggression. One day, while em- 
ployed in this manner, he was seeking shelter from the rain, 
when he chanced to enter a house where one of those paint- 
ers of the district, who make pictures for small prices, was 
painting an oratory or tabernacle, for a countryman. Where- 
upon, Andrea, who had never before seen a thing of the 
kind, was seized with instant admiration, and began to look 
attentively at the work, and examine the manner of its ex- 
ecution ; as he did so, a sudden inclination was awakened in 
him, and this became so passionate a desire for art, that he 
began without loss of time to scratch figures of animals on 
the wfdls and on stones with the point of his knife, and to 
draw them with pieces of charcoal, in such a manner that he 
caused no little amazement in those who beheld them. The 
report of Andrea's new studies was soon bruited about among 
the country people, and reached the ears (as his good fort- 
une would have it) of a Florentine gentleman called Bernar- 
detto de' Medici, whose property was situated in that neigh- 
bourhood. This gentleman then desired to know the boy, 

•In 1890. 



ANDBBA DAL CA8TAONO A DOMBNICO VBNIZIANO 81 

and haying seen him^ and found that he replied to his ques- 
tions with considerable intelligence^ he asked him if he 
would like to become a painter. To this Andrea made an- 
swer, that nothing could happen to him that would be so 
welcome, nor would any thing please him so much ; where- 
fore, to the end that he might be made perfect in the art, 
Bemardetto took the boy with him to Florence, where he 
engaged him to work with one of those masters who were 
then esteemed the best.* 

Thenceforward Andrea continued to practise the art of 
painting, and devoting himself entirely to the studies con- 
nected therewith : he displayed very great intelligence in the 
difficulties of his calling, and more particularly in design. 
In the colouring of his works he was not so happy ; here 
there was a something crude and harsh, which detracted 
greatly from the beauty and grace of the picture, depriving 
it of the charm of softness, which in his colouring was 
never to be found. He displayed extraordinary power in 
the movements of his figures, and great force in the heads, 
whether male or female, giving them aspects of much gravity 
and an extreme earnestness of expression. He drew them 
also exceedingly well. Among the earliest works of this 
master, are those in San Miniato at Monte, which he exe- 
cuted in his first youth. They are in the cloister as you 
ascend * from the church to go into the convent ; and here 
he painted a fresco, wherein is depicted the parting of San 
Miniato and San Gresci from their father and mother.^ In 
San Benedetto, a most beautiful monastery situate without 
the Pinti Gate, there were many pictures by Andrea dal 
Oastagno, both in the chuix^h and convent, but of these I 
need make no further mention, since they were destroyed in 

* 8c€nd0^ here tranalaied Afoend, means deaoend. 

* There ie lome donbt m to where Andrea obtained hit knowledge of art. 
Haaaooio, HaeoUno, and AngeUoo areaoggested aa pouible mastera by yariona 
anthofitiee, bat Meaara. Crowe and CaTaloaaelle think that he ia a product of 
the aehool which produced UooeUo and Peaellina He waa matrionlated aa 
painter May 90, 144& 

^Tbeae works have been de atroy ed. 



82 AKBBEA DAL OASTAOKO A DOMEKIOO VSKIZIAKO 

the siege of Florence. In the city itself, and in the monas- 
tery belonging to the Monaci degU Angeli, Andrea dal Oach 
tagno painted a Gracifix * (which is still there), in the first 
cloister, and opposite to the principal door, witii Our Lady, 
San Giovanni, San Benedetto, and San Bomualdo : and at 
the end of the cloister which is aboye the kitchen-garden, 
he painted another, nearly similar, the heads only, with a 
few other smaller particulars, being slightly varied.' 

In the church of Santa Trinity, near the chapel of Maes- 
tro Luca, this artist painted a Sanf Andrea.* For Pan- 
dolfo Pandolfini,'' he depicted certain illustrious persons 
in one of the halls of his palace at Legnara.f And for the 
Brotherhood of the Evangelist he painted a Banner, to be 
carried in their processions, which was esteemed to be a very 
beautiful thing.^ In the convent belonging to the Servites 
in the same city, are certain frescoes by this master, painted 
in three shallow niches of different chapels. One of these 
chapels, is that dedicated to San Giuliano,* where there are 
stories from the life of the Saint, with a considerable num- 
ber of figures and a dog, foreshortened, which has been 
greatly extolled. Above these, in the chapel of San Giro- 
lamo (St. Jerome), that saint is delineated, his body wasted, 
and with the head shaven ; the figure well drawn and very 
carefully painted. Over it is the Trinity with a Crucifix, 
which is also foreshortened, and so well done, that Andrea 

• For Cradfix imd CnidfizioiL 
t Bead LegiuU for Legnaia. 

• A Gmcifixion has been rooently fiwed from whitewaih, Imt Milmud (VoL 
n., p. 609) doM not believa thftt it it hj Andrea. The lecoiid Onieifiikm it 
loet 

• Thie work ie loefe. 

vpor iome time theae portraits were pteeerred in the Bargello, bat in 1891 
they were earned to the oonyent of Santa ApoUonia, where they now are. 
They indade foil-length figoree of the famous Pippo Spano (Filippo Soolari), 
of Faiinata de^ Uberti, of Nicoolo Aooiajaoli, The Conusan ^byl, Bfkhsf^ 
Tomyris, Dante AUghieri, Petrarch, and Boooaodo. 

• This banner is lost. 

• The upper half of a figure of San Ginliano still ezirts behind a painting oo 
oanras in the Feroni ohapel at the right <m entering the ohoroh. See Xi- 
lanesi, VoL IL, p. 071, note L 



AKDBBA DAL 0A8TAGN0 A DOMENlOO VSNIZIANO 6d 

merits great praise for that work^ he having executed the 
foreshortening in a much better and more modem manner 
than any master among those who preceded him had done. 
But this fresco can no longer be seen, a picture having been 
suspended over it by the Montaguti family. In the third 
chapel (which stands beside the last-mentioned, the place of 
which is beneath the organ), erected at the command of 
Messer Orlando de' Medici, Andrea painted Lazarus, Martha, 
and Mary Magdalen.^ For the Nuns of San Giuliano, he 
executed a Crucifix * in fresco, over the door, with figures of 
Our Lady, San Domenico, San Giuliano, and San Giovanni, 
a picture which is considered one of the best that Andrea 
ever painted, and which has been commended by all artists.^ 
In Santa Groce, there is a work by this master in the 
chapel of the Gavalcanti family, a San Giovan Batista, and 
San Francesco namely, both considered very beautiful fig- 
ures.^ But one which caused astonishment in all artists, 
was that in the new cloister of the convent of Santa Groce : 
at the head of it, that is to say, opposite to the door : where 
Andrea dal Gastagno painted a fresco, representing Ghrist 
bound to the column and scourged, which is most beautiful 
in itself; but in addition, there is a Loggia, with the 
columns drawn in perspective, the cross-vaulting and ribs 
diminishing so finely, and the walls (partitioned into oval 
compartments) being depicted with so much art and knowl- 
edge, that he proved himself to understand the difficulties 
of perspective as perfectly as he did the art of design in 
painting. ^ The attitudes of the men who are scourging the 

* Bead OraoifizioiL 

>• These woiks Are loet 

» There it ttiU ftOmoifixioii in the luruUe orer the door, hot H it evidently 
hy ft peinter of the sixteenth oentnry. There are im> figoret ae Vaiari de- 
■oribe& See Blesare. Orowe and CaTaloaseUe'i History of Painting in Italy, 

iL,8ia 

"This work is stiU in Santa Orooe. MorelU asoribes these saints to 
Domenioo Veoesisna See Morelli*s Italian Masters in German Galleries, p. 
90K, note. Dr. Bichter considers that these fresooes show the charaoteristios 
ef BaldovinettL 

** Thia work is lost, and was replaced by a seTtntee&th-oentnry painting. 



84 AITDBBA DAL CAStAGKO A DOMfiNlCO VBNIZIAKO 

Savioar in this fresco^ are exceedingly fine^ and display ex* 
traordinary force ; their faces betray their rage and hatred, 
while that of Christ is equally expressive of patience and 
humility. In the person of the Saviour, which is fast bound 
to the column with cords, it would seem that Andrea de- 
sired to exhibit the suffering endured by the flesh, while at 
the same time, the Divinity concealed in that body makes 
itself manifest in a certain nobility and splendour, by which 
Pilate, who is sitting among his councillors, appears to be 
moved, and seeks to discover an opportunity for setting him 
free. This picture is, in fine, of such merit, that were it 
not for the carelessness which has permitted it to be 
scratched and injured by children and simple folks, who 
have maltreated the head, arms, and almost the entire per- 
sons of the Jews, as though they would thereby avenge the 
injuries inflicted on the Saviour, this work would, without 
doubt, be the most beautiful of all that Andrea executed. 
Had nature conferred on this artist the gift of imparting 
softness to his colouring, as liberally as she bestowed on him 
those of invention and design, he would have justly merited 
to be considered most admirable. 

In Santa Maria del Fiore, Andrea dal Gastagno depicted 
the likeness of Niccold da Tolentrno ^* on horseback ; and 
while engaged on this work, a child who was passing by, 
shook the ladder on which he stood ; when Andrea, like a 
brutally violent man as he was, got down and ran after him 
to the comer of the Pazzi. Beneath the charnel-house in 
the cemetery of Santa Maria Nuova, he painted a figure of 
Sant^ Andrea, which gave so much satisfaction that he was 
at once appointed to paint a picture of the Last Supper in 
the refectory used by the servants and other officials of the 

14 Thii fretoo, whioh is ttiU in the ohnroli, wif tnagfenttd to oiiitm in 1848 
byRisxoU. There is » itody for it in tha ecdleotion of drawing! in the UffiiL 
It WM probebly Andrea*! last extant work, aa it waa ezeonted in 1456-1466. 
Niooolb di* Giovanni de* Bfanmoci, Captain-General of the FlocentineB, died a 
little after 14S8. The figore of the man is ungainly in ita foreehoriening, and 
while the beUy of the horae ia seen from oademsath, tba head is painted as 
from on a le?d with it. 



Airi>B&^ i>AL OASf AGltO A l>Olt£Nt<)0 VBKIZiANO 8S 

house. ^ These works obtained him great fayoar with the 
superintendent of the hospital and the Portinari family ; 
and procured him a commission to decorate a portion of the 
principal chapel with pictures ; a second part being confided 
to Alesso Baldovinetti ; and the then renowned painter^ 
Domenico Veneziano/* being engaged to execute the third ; 
he having been inyited to Florence on account of the new 
method^ which he had acquired, of painting in oii.^^ Each 
of these artists, therefore, gave his attention to his own diyis- 
ion of the work, but Andrea was in the highest degree en- 
yious of Domenico, because, although he felt conscious that 
he was himself superior to the Venetian painter in design, 
he was, nevertheless, enraged to see that ho, who was a for- 
eigner, received marks of esteem and friendship from his 
own fellow citizens. So powerful indeed were these emo- 
tions of anger and bitterness, that Andrea began to consider 

>* A Craoifixioii in the Ancient Convent d^li AngioU, » dependency of the 
hospital of 8. Maria Naova, ia so feeble a work that Milaneiri does not beliere 
it to be bj Andrea. A aeoond and better Oradfizion haa been carried to a 
room on the Piasxa S. Maria Naova, opposite the hospital See Lalenestre 
and Bichtenberger, Florence, pp. 258-254. 

It little is known of Domenico Veneziano^ called in the records *'^MaMtiTO 
Jkimenicho di Bariolomeio da Venexia,^'* and hardly any of bis works remain. 
His works in & Maria Naora have perished, bat Vasari*s statement that he 
painted them in oils, seems to be corroborated by the entries in the hospital 
books for linseeed oil fnmished to the painter. This, however, does not 
prove that he had learned the method of the Van Bycks, either from Anto- 
nello da Messina (who does not appear to have visited the north of Italy at 
this time), or from anyone else, since the process of the famous Flemish 
brothers consisted in much more than the mere nse of linseed oil. The latter 
medium goes back to the days of Oennini, and it is probable that Domenico 
only used the oil furnished him in considerable quantities, in preparation of 
eoloxs for his fresco work, according to a method which had long been em- 
ployed. See Mihmesi (Vol. IL, p. 685), Commentario alle VUe di Andrea dal 
Ckutagno e Domenico Venetiano, where he assures us, that although much lin- 
seed oil was charged to Domenico upon the books of the convent, while he was 
p>.m«ny the chapel of Sant* Bgidio, no traces of it can be found in his panel 
picture once in Santa Lncia de Magnoli, and now in the UfiBzL It must be 
added that Domenico^s pnpU, Piero della Francesca, succeeded admirably with 
the new vehicle. 

>^ Domenico Venexiano did not paint in S. Maria Nuova simultaneously with 
Andrea. The former worked there in 1445, and the latter began his fresco in 
1451. 



66 ANDBBA DSL OAdtAONO & DOMENtOO VSKIZIAKO 

if he could not by one means or another remoye this com- 
petitor from his sight. Andrea dal Gastagno was no less 
subtle in dissimulation than clever as a painter ; he could 
assume a cheerful countenance at his pleasure, had a ready 
tongue, was a man of a bold spirit, and was as decided in 
acting as in resolving ; he had the same dispositions towards 
others as towards Domenico ; and when he perceived a fault 
in the work of an artist, would mark it secretly with his 
nail. But when, in his youth, his own works were censured 
by any one, he would ftdl on such critics with blows and 
other injurious retorts, giving them to understand that he 
was always both able and willing to avenge himself in one 
mode or another on all who might offend him. 

But before we speak of the paintings in the above-named 
chapel, we will say a few words of Domenico. This master, 
in company with Piero della Francesca, had executed dif* 
f erent works in the Sacristy of Santa Maria, at Loretto,^ 
before repairing to Florence ; and these paintings, display- 
ing much grace and beauty, has caused his fame to be 
knewn in the last-named city, a result to which other 
works, in various places (in Perugia, for example, where 
he had painted a chamber in the palace of the Baglioni 
family,^ which palace is now destroyed), had also contrib- 
uted. Being invited to Florence, therefore, the first thing 
that he did was to paint a Tabernacle in fresco, at the cor- 
ner of the Gamesecchi, in the angle of the two roads, lead- 
ing, the one to the new, the other to the old Piazza of 
Santa Maria Novella."^ The subject of this work is a Yir- 



>* Now ooTered with freiooM by Imoa BigiunrelU. 

>* He painted there twenty ^ve figniee of men fUnstrioae In war, phOoaopliy, 
and law. For the inicriptioni, eta, aee Ariodante Fahbretti*i IfoU « do- 
cumenti atte VUe de* CapUani venturieri deW Vmbria (oited by MUaaed). 

M Among the few eziating worke of Domenico are a tempera altar-pieoe, 
formerly in the Ohmoh of S. Laoia del Magnoli, Florence, now In the UiBii, 
and a tranaferred painting* originally on the Tabemade, aa deacribed by Va- 
•arL Thia Virgin and Ohild, and two heads of ndnta, are now in the National 
Gallery, London. The picture from Santa Lada ia a Virgin and Child, with 
Bainta Imcy, Nicholae, Franoie of Amsi, and John the B^>tift For apr#> 



AKDBSA DAL 0A8TAON0 & DOHBNIOO VEKIZIANO 87 

gin snrroanded by varioiia Saints^ and as it pleased the 
Florentines greatly^ and was much commended by the 
artists of the time, as well as by the citizens, this picture 
awakened still more bitter rage and envy against poor 
Domenico, in the ill-regulated mind of Andrea, who deter- 
mined to accomplish by treachery the purpose which he 
oonld not bring about openly, without manifest danger to 
himself. He, therefore, affected a great friendship for Do- 
menico, and the latter, being of a good and kindly dispo- 
sition, returned his pretended cordiality with sincere good 
wiU, and willingly accepted his advances, Andrea seeming 
to him a clever and amusing person. This friendship, there- 
fore, on the one side feigned, on the other sincere, proceed- 
ing to intimacy, Domenico, who was very fond of music, 
and played on the lute, passed the greater part of his even- 
ings with Andrea, when they amused themselves in com- 
pany, or went together to serenade their ^^ inamorato ;'' all 
which greatly delighted Domenico, who sincerely regarding 
Andrea, instructed him in the method of painting in oil, 
which was at that time not known in Tuscany. 

Things being thus, Andrea, to relate what occurred in 
due order, depicted an Annunciation on the portion of the 
chapel appropriated to him ; this work is esteemed to be 
very beautiful, and is much admired for the attitude of the 
Angel, whom he represents to be hovering in the air, a thing 
which had not previously been done. But a much finer 
work is that in which he has depicted the Virgin ascending 
the steps of the temple, whereon are grouped many figures 
of mendicants : among these is one lifting his cruse, with 
which he smites one of his fellows on the head, an extreme- 
ly fine figure, as indeed are all the others. Andrea, having 
bestowed much study on the work, and being incited by 
his emulation with Domenico, finished every part with 
great care. In the same picture is an octagonal temple, in 
the midst of a piazza, drawn in perspective : the building is 

MUk psnel In the Berlin Mmenm, Mcribed to Domenioo Veimriano^ aee Ih; 
Bode, JahrbuehdtrK P. &, IV., p. Sa 



88 ANDBBA DAL CASTAGNO & DOMBNIOO VBNIZIAKO 

isolated^ it exhibits nnmerons columns, niches, &c., and the 
principal front is beantifolly adorned with statues painted 
to imitate marbles. Around the piazza, magnificent build- 
ings, in great variety, are represented, and on one side of 
these, the shadow of the temple, the scene, being one of 
sunlight, falls with admirable effect, all the difficulties in- 
cident to the subject being handled with infinite judgment. 

On his part Maestro Domenico depicted* the Visit of 
Joachim to his wife Santa Anna, and beneath this is the 
birth of Our Lady ; the place represented being a chamber 
decorated with great splendour. In that picture is a beau- 
tiful Child, striking on the door of the room with a ham- 
mer : the action of this figure is full of grace. The Mar- 
riage of the Virgin follows, and in this part of the work 
are many portraits from the life, among them those of 
Messer Bemardetto de' Medici, constable of the Florentines, 
wearing a red barett-cap or morion ; of Bernardino Oua- 
dagni, who was Gonf aloniere ; and of Folco Portinari, with 
other members of his family. The master has likewise 
presented a Dwarf breaking a staff, and in this action also 
there is extraordinary animation displayed ; there are be- 
sides seyeral female figures, wearing yestments such as were 
customary at the period, all painted with exceeding grace 
and beauty : this work, however, remained unfinished, for 
causes which will be related hereafter. 

Andrea, meanwhile, had painted the Death of Our Lady 
in oil on the front of the Ohapel ; and, whether moved by 
emulation of Domenico, or simply by the desire to make 
himself known for the able artie^ that he certainly was, he 
bestowed inexpressible care and pains on the work, more 
particularly on the bier, foreshortened, within which the 
Virgin is seen lying dead, and which, though not more 
than a braccio and a half in length, appears to be fully 
three. Around the bier are the Apostles ; and these figures 
are treated in such a manner, that, although the satisfaction 

* The tmiiblor has omitted two words here. Bead ** Maeetio Domenioo 
depicted in oU the Vint,** eto. 



AKDBBA DAL OASTAGNO & DOMBNICO VSNIZIANO 89 

they feel at seeing their Madonna borne to heayen by Jeans 
Christ is manifest in their f aces^ there is yet to be perceived 
the bitterness of their regret at being left on earth without 
her. Among these figares of the Apostles are mingled 
Angels, who bear lighted torches ; they have beautiful ex- 
pression in the heads, and are so well executed as to make 
it obyious, that Andrea knew how to manage the colours in 
oil, as well as his competitor Domenico. In this picture 
Andrea painted the portraits of Messer Binaldo degli Al« 
biz2d, Pnccio Pucci, Falganaccio,^ by whom the liberation 
of Gosimo de' Medici was effected, and Federigo Malavolti, 
who kept the keys of the Alberghetto.^ He likewise de- 
picted the resemblance of Messer Bernardo di Domenico 
della Yolta, superintendent of the hospital belonging to the 
conyent of Santa Maria Nuoya ; this figure is on its knees, 
and is so well done that it might be supposed to breathe. 
On a sort of medallion, at the commencement of the work, 
Andrea dal Oastagno placed his own portrait also, with a 
&ce like that of Judas Iscariot, whom he did indeed re- 
semble, both in person and character.^ 

Haying brought his work thus far towards a successful 
termination, Andrea, blinded by enyy at the praises which 
he heard giyen to the abilities of Domenico, determined to 
rid himself of his presence, and after haying reflected on 
various methods of accomplishing this evil design, he at 
length fixed on one, which he put in execution in the fol- 
lowing manner : — 

One evening, in the summer time, Domenico, taking his 
lute, as was his custom, went forth from Santa Maria 
Nuova, leaving Andrea in his room drawing, the latter 

•1 Thk Fizgagnaooio, or Ferganaooio, effeoied Oodmo de* ICedioiM vdflMe 
whenhe wmtimpriMnedinthePfelAiBO VeoohiobybiibiiigtlM Oot^cianiert, 
Fugagnaooio** real name wu Antonio di VierL 

•* Thii AlberghettOf ** Little Inn,** was a emaU room in the tower of the Pa- 
lasao Veeohio where Oodmo was imprisoned ; the room was hardly big enon^ 
for a man to lie down in. 

** A fresoo of the Omoifizion by Andrea exists in the nei^hbpfiog Utggia of 
the Hoqjiital of the Oblate. See notes 15 and 80. 



90 ANDREA DAL CASTAONO & DOMENIOO VENIZIANO 

haying refused his invitation to accompany him to their 
amusements as usnal^ under the pretext that he had to pre- 
pare certain drawings of importance. Domenico^ having 
thus gone forth alone to his recreations^ Andrea^ disguising 
his person, set himself to wait for his companion's return at 
the comer of a street ; and when Domenico, on his way 
home, arrived at the place, he fell upon him with a certain 
leaden weight, and therewith crushed the lute and chest of 
his victim with repeated blows. But even this did not ap- 
pear to him sufficient for his purpose, and with the same 
weapon he struck his victim heavily on the head; then, 
leaving him lying on the ground, he returned to his room 
in Santa Maria Nuova, where, having locked the door, he 
sat down to his drawing as he had been left by Domenico.^ 

Meanwhile the noise had been heard, and the servants 
hastening out, and, finding what had happened, went first 
to call Andrea, and to relate the bad news to the traitor and 
murderer himself ; who, running to where the others all 
stood around Domenico, was not to be consoled, nor did he 
cease from crying, ^'Alas my brother! alas my brother!'* 
Finally, the murdered man expired in his arms, and in spite 
of all the efforts made to discover who had committed that 
homicide, it was never known, nor would the truth ever 
have been made manifest, if Andrea himself, finding his 
death approaching, had not divulged it in confession. 

In San Miniato-f ra-le-Torri, in Florence, Andrea dal Gas- 
tagno painted a picture, the subject of which is an Assump- 

^ Andrea dal Castagno died Angoat 19, 1457 ; Mb aappoied Tiotim, Domeii- 
ioo Venesiaiio, died May 15^ 1461. In apite of the datee with which he refatea 
the story, Milaneai adds a long argument showing the nnreasonablenesa aa weU 
aa the falseness of a tale which has for four hundred years darkened the mem- 
ory of a famons painter. One writer after another haa seen in the fierce faoea, 
the tpadoisino swagger of Andrea^s figureti, the oonfirmation of his ferodty 
and ongoTemable paasion, and Padre della Valle has even aooonnted for the 
violation of the sttd of confession in VaRari*s story by the supposition that 
Andrea asked his confessor to make known his guilt An artist named Do- 
menico di Matteo was, however, murdered in Florence in 1448, and it is poa- 
aible that the similarity of oiunes gave rise to the tradition of the aasaiiihiation 
of Po m enioo Veneiiano. 



AKDBEA DAL 0A8TAONO & DOMENIOO VENIZIAKO 91 

tion of the Virgin^ with two figures ;* and in a tabernacle 
at Lanchetta^ beyond the gate of the Croce^ he painted an- 
other^ also representing Onr Lady.* The same artist de- 
picted the effigies of certain celebrated men in the house of 
the Garducci family^ now belonging to the Pandolfini.^ 
These are partly imaginary and partly portraits ; among them 
are Pilippo Spano degli Scolari, Dante^ Petrarch, Boccaccio, 
and others. At the Scarperia in Magello, he painted an un- 
draped figure of Oharity oyer the door of the vicar's palace; 
it was a very beautiful thing, but has been destroyed. In 
the year 1478, when Giuliano de' Medici was killed, and Lo- 
renzo his brother wounded in the church of Santa Maria del 
Fiore, by the Pazzi and others, their adherents and fellow 
conspirators ; it was resolyed by the Signoria, that all who 
had taken part in the plot should be painted as traitors on 
the facade of the palace of the Podesta : whereupon, the 
work being offered to Andrea dal Oastagno, he, as the ser- 
vant of, and much beholden to the house of Medici, accepted 
the office very willingly ; and having set himself to the 
work, he executed it in such a manner that it was a perfect 
wonder.* It would indeed not be possible adequately to de- 
scribe the art and judgment displayed in these figures, for 
the most part copied from the life, and hung up by the feet 
in the strangest attitudes, which were infinitely varied and 
exceedingly fine. The approbation which this work obtained 
from the whole city, but more especially from those who were 
well versed in the art of painting, caused the artist to be no 
longer named Andrea dal Oastagno, but he was ever after- 
wards called Andrea degl' Impiccati.* 

** This work, «ze<mted in 1466, is lost 

** No tsbemsole in Andrea^s style exists. 

^ Vasari here doubtless refers to the works ezeonted for the pftlaoe at Leg- 



** This is m ehronologioal error. In 148i, sfter Oosimo de* Medioi*s xetnrn 
from exile, Andrea painted the leaders of the adverse faction, Rinaldo de^ 
Allnssi, the Perussi, and others, hanging head downward on the walls of the 
BargeDb. Andrea died in 1457, and it was BottioeUi who, in 1478, gibbeted 
in effigy the prinoipal plotters in the Paszi oonspixaoj. 
•• ^ Andrea of the Hanged, or Gibbeted. 



92 ANDREA DAL CASTAGNO A; DOMBNIOO VSNIZIAKO 

This master lived in a yery honourable manner ; ^ but as 
he spent freely, more particularly in dress and liberal house- 
keeping, he left but little property ; when, at the age of 
seventy-one, he departed to another life.*^ A short time 
only had elapsed after his death, before the impious crime 
he had committed against Domenico, who had been so truly 
his friend, became known, and he was buried, not with hon- 
ourable obsequies, but with marks of disgrace, in Santa 
Maria Nuova, where, in his fifty-sixth year, the unfortunate 
Domenico had also been buried."* The work which the last- 
mentioned master had commenced in Santa Maria Nuova re- 
mained incomplete, nor was it ever finished. The picture of 
the high altar of Santa Lucia de' Bardi "* is also by Domenico 
Veniziano, and in this he has represented Our Lady with 
the Child in her arms, San Giovanni Batista, San Niccold, 
San Francesco, and Santa Lucia, an admirably executed 
picture, and one which the master had brought to the ut- 
most perfection but a short time before his death.^ 



d does not mention the Last Snpper in the MonMierj of Seat* Apd- 
lonia, nor the other works in that building (see note 7), which is now » gOT«ni- 
ment mnseiun, nor the fresco of the Gmcifizion in the loggia of the Qpsp iti l 
of the Oblate near Santa Maria Nuova. 

** Andrea died August 19, 1457, probably of the plagae. 

** Domenico was buried in 8. Piero Gattolino. 

*s Kow in the nflfid; it is referred to in note 90. Na 873 in the noMgil- 
Uay, a portrait of a man, jb accredited to Andrea, as are three pictores in ttM 
Florentine Academy— St. Jerome, St John the Baptist, and St. llaiy Mag- 
dalen ; these are the three paneb of a triptych once in the ohnrofa of 8aa 
Procola See Lafenestre and Richtenberger, Fhrenee, pp. 1S9, 190^ 191. 

** Decision and force are the marking characteristios of Andrea dal Oaa- 
tagno, with a bold, firm outline and a certain hardness of faric^t, erode color. 
His soldiers are bravi (see the Pippo Spano and Faiinata), who stand fizmly 
with legs braced wide apart like the swashbucklers of SignoreUL Andxea*a 
apostles, too, are somewhat brutal in their excess of strength and Tiger, and 
warriors and apostles alike have followed the plough. They are peasants, 
with coarse, tumbled hair, and strong, roughly hewn faces, but they impcess va 
with the sincerity and directness of their creator. The Last Snpper in tbo 
convent of Sant* Apollonia, together with the Crucifixion and the nine por- 
traits of heroes, heroines, and scholars, make up a kind of museum of Andxea*t 
works in Florence. Dr. Richter gives this painter the high place of a diieol 
precursor of Leonsrdo da Vinci, in reference to the bitter's Last Supper, daim^ 
ing that Andrea's eenaeolo of Sant' Apollonia influenoed Leonardo more thaa 



AKDBEA DAL 0A8TAGNO & DOMENICO VEKIZIANO 03 

The disciples of Andrea dal Gastagno were Jaoopo del 
Gorso^ who was a tolerably good master; Pisanello^ Mar- 
chino, Piero del PoUainolo^ and Giovanni da Boyezzano. 

did Miy other of the ooontleM repreeeiit«tUms of the nme Mibjeci For lour 
oentnzies the Aocnaation that he murdered, to tteal his leoret, the friend who 
outlived him for yean, haeclonded the memory of Andrea dal Gastagno, and 
so colored the prejndioe of his oritios that deoinon and foroe have ooonted 
in him as unqualified brutality. But the story is not only false as a Vhole, but 
improbable in all its details. If Domtsioo Venisiano understood the use of 
the oil medium it is unlikely that he made a secret of it and kepi it from 
Andrea. The adoption of oil as a vehide was very gradual, but this was prob- 
ably because artists distrusted it as a medium, and feared to undertake large 
works with it until experiments had been made. Such experiments, in order 
to be thorough, had to stand the test of many years before they could be ae- 
counted final, and it was this distrust and inexperience of artists in general, 
rather than any profound secrecy upon the part of particular painters, that 
made the complete adoption of the oil medium a tardy one. As for stealing 
Domenico*s secret, Andrea was one of the last men to make far-reaching plana 
or to take anything at second-hand, since he belongs emphatically to the group 
of painters who were straightforward in the practice of their art, even to the 
extent of unpleasant directness. His principles entitle him to a higher place 
than does his performance, and he stands with those great Florentines whose 
earnest observation of the shapes of things, of their outline and rdief, laid 
the foundation of scientific attainment upon which the school of Tommii art 
was based so solidly. 



GBNTILB DA FABBIANO AND VITTORB PISA- 
. NELLO, OF VEEONA, PAINTEES * 

[Bonil870?;di«dl«»(Mtii«to8).] [Bom 1880 ?; di«d 1466.] 

BnuoeBAPHT vob Qwhtum da Fabuuio.— TIm Mirnhaio Amko Biool, 
JOmorU Sioriehs ditU Arti $ degU AHitti diUa Marea di Aiuonii^ Umomk^ 
1884; iwo TolimiM. GioUo Omtilamfl— i, Veeehi qft-McAi a 8. ViUaria im 
MdUnano attribnUi a OetUiU da Fahriano^ in Nuowa Jikrkia JiU$mm^ IIL, 
B. 1. Anielio and Angnito Longhi, Vanno deUa marie di OentiU da Ffabri^ 
ano, Faoo, 1887. Oibo, Niccolo Alnnno e la Seuola Umbra^ Bomt, 191%, 
BemMooni, Studii, p. 51. See ako Appendix, VoL IV., Gentile and PIm- 
nello. 

BiBLiooRAPHT TOR PisANXLLO.— Bartolommeo Fkeio, De FIHt JttHtMbm, 
Facio WM the oontemporary and penoDal friend of PInneUo ; bia work (an 
opuicule) waa written in 1468 and printed in 1745 in Flofenoe. MalliBi, Ve- 
rona Illuttraia, G. Chmyer, VUtore Pitano, OaxetU dee Beaimt Arie^ X., 
353; XL, 109, 412; XIL, 290, 485. A. Bi^iMe, Lee MedaOiewre de la BenaU. 
eanee, Paria, 1881. C Bphraaai, A propoe de ViUore Pieam/O de Mi AUnee 
Heiu, Paria, 1881. Azmand (Alfr.), Lee medaiUeure UaUene dee ^MtfuOnM ei 
eeUtime eOdee, Paria, 1888-87. J. Friedlftnder, DU Halieniechen SehamHUn- 
ten dee fat\fMehnten Jahrhunderte^ Berlin, 1883. Vieomte Both de Taoiia, 
artiole in VAri (1883), Vol XXVIIL, p. 331. (For fine and large repcodno- 
tion of medala by Fbanello, aee VArt^VoL XXVIIL, pp. 14^157, Lee eotteetUme 
Bei^amin Fitton^ by G. NoeL) Ventnri, II Pieanelh a Ferrmra^ Veaiee, 
188& O. Bemaaooni, // Pisono, Vcfona, 1863. Qwi^ioVwkXd, Sui ritraUi 
diPaohdal P&mmo Ti>eeaneai faUi da AUeeio BaldaHmeM eda Fitter PI- 
eani, from BoOeiino dtUa Soeieta geogrt^flta Itatiana, Jvne, 1800. Guide to 
the Italian Medala, Britiah Mnaenm, London, 1881. De Ohennevikree. Deeeime 
dee maUree anciene au Ltntere, Pairia. F. BaTaiaaon, Une rnmrre de PleafMo^ 
PiMda. CSaTattoni, Tre earmi loHni in lode di VUtore Pteano^ Verona, 188L 
W. Bode, Lodovieo IIL^ Oontaga^ Jtarkgr^f von Ifantua^ in BromubHaien 
und JfedaOUn, Jahrbueh der K. P. A, 1889,/im; L II Pieanello e i Oon-^ 
wagoy artiele by Umberto Boaai in AreMeio Storieo deW Arte^ L« 468. Dee- 
mmento eul Pieanello, artiole by A. Ventnri in ArchkHo Storieo cMT Arie^ 

1 Gentile di IHooolo di Giovanni di Maoo waa bom, about 1870^ alFabriaM^ 
in the Xaroh of Anoona, went with Jaoopo Bellini to Florenoe in 1431, and 
waa enioUed aa painter in Florenoe in 1433. It ia not known who hie maalir 
waa Allegretto Nnii, of Fabriano, may have given him aoineinatnMtloaa,b«l 
bodied when Gentile waa fiftofln yean old. Set IfikaMi, VoL IIL, pp^ lft-16L 



OKNTILB DA FABBIANO A; VITTOBB PI8ANSLL0 96 

I..435. B3MiiUumBjpmrmU^VmarPi$amfd0UoPiiatulhpUtor§* 
ikU9*ronmtd$U€i prim^msUiM8eeohXV,^YmmM^19lK^ 

AYEBY great adyantage is possessed by the man who, 
after the death of some distingaished person, adranced 
to fame and honour by the exercise of rare gifts and 
abilities, shall follow in the path thus prepared for him ; 
for he has but to pursue the trace of the master in some 
slight degree, by doing which he almost always attains to an 
honourable position ; while, if he had attempted to obtain 
that eminence by his own unassisted efforts, a much longer 
time and more laborious pains would, or might have been 
required to ensure success. The truth of this remark is 
fully exemplified in the case of Pisano or Pisanello, a paintAr 
of Verona, who, having studied in Florence with Andrea 
dal Gastagno, during many years, and having completed 
the works of that master, after his death, acquired so much 
reputation by means of Andrea's name, that Pope Martin 
v., coming to Florence, took the Veronese artist with him 
to Rome.' There he caused Pisano to paint certain stories 
in fresco in San Giovanni Laterano ; these are exceedingly 
pleasing and beautiful, from the circumstance of his having 
used a sort of ultra-marine blue, given to him by the Pope, 
in the richest abundance, and which is of a colour so full, 
BO deep, and of so exquisite a tint, that none has ever been 
found to equal it. 
In competition* with Vittore Pisano, Gtontile da Fabriano 

• llilaiMd bM pio?«d that AadrM dtl GMtagno died in Angnit^ 1457. Mar- 
tin v. ouM to Floreiiee in UlOanddiad in 1481, while Andrea wuitiUyoiinf. 
Tha datea, thanf oce, iHioUy diiproTe Vaiazi'a etatementi. 

• Milaiieai eitee H Bog. Mttnts {Revui ArMologique, Lm aneUnna boH" 
Uquu it AgliMe$ ds UomM on XF"m 8QcU) to prove that there was no oom- 
IMtitioo. GentOe painted here in 1497, Piaanello in 1481. Faoio {De HrU 
mmtrihui) my that FIsaneUo hinmlf told him that he had finiahed GentUe*a 
pletorea from the life of Saint John the Baptiat, bat that dampoeai had already 
deatrojed them. GentOe died in Bome in 1487 or 1428^ aa proved hy Sigfi 
AnrtUo and Angnato LoQghi {Vanno deUa morU di OentiU da Fabriano)^ 
and not in Oitti di OMteUo, aa VaMiri eeemt to beUere. MihuMii eaya that 
Blod had aeen an old mannaoript whioh ehronided tha ohuroh of SantA 

Bomaaa aa GeBtila*! borial-plaoek 



96 OBNTILB DA FABSIANO & VITTOBB PISANELLO 

likewise painted certain other stories beneath those above- 
mentioned^ and of these Platina makes mention in his Life 
of Pope Martin. He relates that the pontiff caused the 
flooring, ceiling, and roof of San Oiovanni Laterano to be 
restored, which being done. Gentile da Fabriano then eze- 
cnted yarious paintings therein ; among the rest, certain 
figures of Prophets in chiaro-scuro ; they are between the 
windows, and are considered to be the best pictures in the 
whole work. Oentile da Fabriano^ executed numerous 
works in the March,' more particularly in Agobbio, where 
some of them are still to be seen. He worked in like 
manner throughout the whole state of IJrbino. In the 
clfnrch of San Oiovanni at Siena, this artist also laboured, 
and in the sacristy of the church of Santa Triniti, in Flor- 
ence, he painted a picture representing the story of the 
Magi,* in which he placed his own portrait. In the church 

* Gentile*! most important works were probably hii freeooes, painted in 
1428i, in St John Lateran, at Rome, and tiiose in the Dncal Palaoe of Venioe 
{girea 1420) ; aU tbeee, as well as the frescoes of a chapel executed in Brescia 
for Pandolfo Malatesta, have perished. From 1421 to 1425 Oentile was in 
Fkcenoe, and in 1425 he painted in the cathedral of Orrieto a Virgin in Olorj, 
■tiU in $itu though nearly destroyed. An altar-piece (Coronation of the Vir- 
gin) mnaini in Fabriano, while the panels, with figures of Saints Franoiai 
Jerome, Dominiok, and the Magdalen have gone to the Brent See Mttnts, 
Xst PrimittfM^ pp. 647-649. For certain frescoes attributed to Oentile, see 
also Oinlio Cantalameasa, Vecehi qffretchi a 8. ViUoria in JttUenano aUri- 
buUi a OentiU, ArccTia, 189a 

* Of these there remains a Crudfizion over the door of Sant* Agostino in 
Bari. It is doubtful if it be by Oentile. 

* According to MJlanesi 'this was painted for Palla StrozsL It is in the 
Florentine Academy, and is dated May, 142S. One of the three pictures from 
the grvdino (the Presentation in the Temple) is in the Louvre. The other 
two, the Flight into Egypt and the Adoration of the Shepherds, are stiU in 
the gradino. According to MBl Lafenestre and Richtenberger, Florence^ 
pi 9()4, the picture was painted for the monks of Vallombrosa, and the figure 
with red torban and black and gold tunic behind the standing Magian king is 
Ckntile Kiiw*J^- This fiunous Adoration of the Magi, in Florence (Academy 
of Fine Arts) is the best known of this artistes pictures ; but Morelli (Italian 
Masters in Oerman (Galleries) justly rema^ that it has been praised above 
its due, and that Oentile*s is an inferior place when he is compared with his 
great contemporaries Masaccio, PisaneUo, Angelico, Ohiberti, and others. 
Bogier Van der Weyden, however, is said to have called him the most excel- 
lent painter of his time in Italy. 



OSKTILB DA FABBIAKO & VITTOBE PISANELLO 97 

of San Nicoold^ sitaated at the gate of Miniato^ Gentile da 
Fabriano painted the picture for the high altar^'' a work 
which appears to me much superior to any other that I have 
seen from his hand. For to say nothing of the Virgin sur- 
rounded by numerous Saints, which are all extremely well 
done, the predella of this picture, coyered with stories from 
the life of San Niccold, in small figures, could not possibly 
be more beautiful nor more perfectly executed than it is. 
In the church of Santa Maria Nuova, in Borne, within a 
small arch above the tomb of the Florentine Archbishop 
of Pisa, Cardinal Adimari, this master painted Our Lady 
with the Ohild in her arms ; she has St. Benedict on one 
side, and St. Joseph on the other. This tomb is beside 
that of Pope Gregory IX., and the painting here alluded 
to was held in high estimation by the divine Michel An- 
galo, who, speaking of Gentile, was wont to say, that his 
hand in painting resembled his name.^ In Perugia, this 
master painted a picture, which is a very beautiful one, for 
the church of San Domenico,* and a Crucifix, which, after 
having painted, he cut from the wood, in Sant' Agostino di 
Bar! ; with three very beautiful figures in half-length, which 
are ove^ the entrance to the choir. ^® 

But to return to Yittore Pisano, the short notice of him 
which we have given above was written by us without 
further addition, when this our book was printed for the 
first time, because we had not then been furnished with 

* TIm two dde-puieb of thii picture (1425), with Saints Mary, Magdalen^ 
Nioholaa, GtooKge. and John the Baptist, remain in the ohoir of the ohnrch. 
The etntre has disappeared, so has the ^odino, exoept that a panel in the Or- 
fMiotoofio of Pistoja msj possiblj he identified as having onoe formed a por- 
tion of the latter. A second piotme in San Nicoold represents the Holj 
Ohost descending to the Virgin and Child. Of the two works MM. Lafe- 
neslre and Richtenherger, Florence^ p. 278, ascribe one to Oentile, the other 
to the seftooZ of Gentile. 

* This painting has perished. See American Archaological Jonmal, April 
1806^ for • Madonna bj Gentile in the Jarvis Collection at New Haven. 

* A Madonna in the Pinaooteca of Pemgia is thought bj Milanesi to bt 
poflibbr the piotore mentioned hera 

M B^ntTid in the SututdenkmaOer of Schnlts , V oL m. , p. 171 



98 GENTILE DA FABBIANO & VITTOBB PISANXLLO 

those details respecting this excellent master, nor obtained 
that knowledge of his works which we have since procured." 
Bat from notices supplied by the very reverend and most 
learned Father, Fra Marco de^ Medici, of Verona, of the 
Order of Friars-Preachers, as well as from what is related 
by Biondo da Forli, where he speaks of Verona, in his Italia 
niustrata, we learn that Vittore Pisano " was fully equal to 
any of the painters of his time, and of this we have ample 
proof in the works which, in addition to those enumerated 
above, may still be seen in his native place, the most noble 
city of Verona ; although many of them are in part de- 
stroyed by time. Pisano took especial pleasure in the de- 
lineation of animals, and in the chapel of the Pellegrini 
family,^ which is in the church of Sant* Anastasia, at 
Verona, he depicted a figure of Sant' Eustachio, who is 
caressing a dog, spotted, dun-colour and white, which, with 
its feet raised and supported against the 1^ of the saint, 
turns its head backward, as if it had heard some noise, and 
this it does with so much animation, that a living dog could 
not do it better. Beneath this figure of Sanf Eustachio is 
the name of Pisano, who was accustomed to call himself 
sometimes Pisano, and sometimes Pisanello, as may be seen 
on the pictures and medals by his hand. After having 
completed the picture of Sant' Eustachio, which is among 
the best ever executed by this master, and is indeed, most 
beautiful, Vittore painted the whole external front of the 
chapel, and on the inner side he depicted a Si Qeorge, in 

>> Thif pMMge it one of leyenl which prore that Vuazi'i lilenoe regirding 
•rtiflte who w«to not Tucaa oomes niher from Uok of knowledge than 
from Jeelouj. Indeed his pndee is giren generonslj and fieqoentlj to Um- 
briane, Venetlane, Lombaidi, men of all Mhook. 

>«M. Bog. Mtknts (Z«t iV^U^) gives the following as dates in the Hfeof 
Pisanello. He was bom in Verona toward 1880, and decorated (1428) the 
hall in the Daoal Palaoe of Venioe, where he oompleted a work oommenoed bj 
Gentile da Fsbrisaa He worked in the Lateran at Rome 0^81-1489), in 
Ferrsxa (1485), was bnsj and oonrted, and died in Rome about 1461. 

>* The only fresooeodt Pisanello wUch are affirmed to have esoaped an the 
partisllj p r ese r r e d ones at Verona in Santa Annftiiis, and in Ban VbnM 
Haggioie. .* „ 



OBNTILE DA FABBIANO <& VITTOBE PISANSLLO 99 

wbite^ or rather silver armour, a costume adopted for that 
saint in those times, not by him only, but by all other paint- 
ers. In this work, St. Oeorge, having slain the dragon, is 
replacing his sword in the scabbard, he raises his right 
hand, which holds the sword, the point whereof is abeady 
in the scabbard, and lowering the left, that the increased 
distance may facilitate the descent of the weapon, which is 
a long one, he does this with so much grace, and in so life- 
like a manner, that nothing better conld be seen. The 
Veronese, Michele Sanmichele, architect to the Most Illns- 
trions Signoria of Venice, and a person most deeply versed 
in these noble arts, was often seen to contemplate the works 
of Vittore with admiration, and would then say, that few 
better things were to be found than the Sanf Eustachio, 
the Dog, and the St. George above described. In the arch 
over this same chapel, is further depicted the figure of St. 
George, after he has killed the dragon, and is rescuing the 
king's daughter, who stands near the saint, and is clothed 
in long vestments, according to the custom of that time. 
The St. George, in this portion of the work, is again worthy 
of the utmost admiration ; he is armed as above described, 
and, standing with his face and person turned towards the 
surrounding spectators, is in the act of mounting his horse : 
one foot is in tiie stirrup, the left hand is on the saddle, and 
one almost sees the movement of the saint as he rises to his 
seat. The animal itself, admirably foreshortened, is stand- 
ing with the crupper to the people, and, though in a very 
small space, is wholly seen, and is extremely beautiful. In 
a word, the entire work, executed as it is with correct de- 
sign, extraordinary grace, and remarkable judgment, can 
never be contemplated without admiration, or rather with- 
out astonishment, so excellent is it in all its parts. 
In San Permo Maggiore, at Verona," a church belonging 

>« The frasooM of San F«nno are rtill in exiaienoe, thongfa badlj injured ; 
eertain other fieacoea, found in 1868 in the Torriani chapel of Sant* Bnatorgio 
at Milan (and ainoe injured by reetorera), are anffioiently like Pisanello'a work 
to be attributed to Mm. The National Gallery, London, posMuea an anthen- 
tie piotore by h<m^ repreaenting Saints Gkorge and Anthony, while linrelli at 



100 GBNTILE DA FABBIANO & VITTOBE PISANELLO 

to the Orey Friars of St. Francis, on the left hand as yon 
enter by the principal door, there is a picture of the Annun- 
ciation, by Vittore Pisano ; it forms the decoration of a Se- 
pulchral Monument, erected in the chapel of the Brenzoni 
family, and which represents the Besurrection of the 
Saviour, in sculpture, very finely executed for those times. 
In this work the figures of the Virgin and the Angel hare 
the parts in relief, heightened with gold, as was customary 
at that period, and are both very beautiful, as are also cer- 
tain buildings in the same picture, which are extremely well 
drawn ; there are, besides, many small animals and birds in 
yarious parts of the work, all of which are as natural and as 
animated as it is possible to imagine.^ 

The same master executed numerous castings of medal- 
lions, containing portraits of princes and other personages 
of his time. From these medallions, many likenesses in 
painting have since been made.^* And Monsignore Qioyio, 
in a letter written in the vulgar tongue, which he sent to 
the Lord Duke Oosimo, and which may be read, printed 
with many others, has these words, when speaking of Vit- 
tore Pisano : — 

'^ This master was exceedingly clever in the execution 
of basso-rilievo, a work esteemed most difficult by artists, 

Milan had a portrut of Leonello d'Este. There ii a yerj charming Si. Hubert 
in the Ajhbumham oolleotion, and a Madonna and Child in Verona are as- 
cribed to him. The ■o-called Vallardi ooUeotion of the Louvre oontaini a gre at 
number of important drawingn by Pisanello. Vittore ngned his medals 
Pisano, not PisaneUo. 

1* Nothing certain is known of Pisanello's masters. Messrs. Crowe and 
Cayalcaselle consider him a follower of Lorenxo Monaco and Pietro da Mon- 
tepnldano, and to have been influenced later by Gentile da Fabriano. Morelli 
suggests that Ucoello influenced him, and Dr. Richter claims an equally im- 
portant place for Altichieri as a man whose work must have been seen and 
studied by Pisanella Certain frescoes in the Castello of Pavia, and contain- 
ing many animals, have been attributed to PisaneUo. See M. Bug. MOnti, 
Leg PrimUift, 285, for an interesting passage on the animal painters of the 
fifteenth century. 

1* A profile of a woman, believed to be by Pisanello, has been recently ac- 
quired by the Louvre, and may represent Margherita Gonsaga, first wife of 
Leonello d*Bste. See M. G. Gruyer, Oaxette dn Beaux ArU, and Big. O. 
FriBoni, Areh. Star. deW ArU, VL, 400. Uerr Von Teohndi and Dr. Bode 



OENTILB DA FABUIANO & VITTOBB PI8ANBLLO 101 

because it holds the mean between the level surface of pict- 
ures and the full roundness of statues. There are many 
highly esteemed medals of great princes by his hand, they 
are in a large form, and of the same proportions with that 
reverse of the capatisoned and barbed horse which Ouidi 
has sent me. Among the works of this kind in my pos- 
session, is a portrait of the great King Alfonso, wearing no 
other head-dress than his hair ; and on the reverse is the 
helmet of a general. I have besides, a medal with the por- 
trait of Pope Martin, and bearing the arms of the house of 
Colonna on the reverse, mth that of Sultan Mahomst, who 
took Constantinople, an equestrian figure ; in a Turkish 
habit J holding a scourge in his hand. Of Sigismundo 
Malatesta, likewise, I have the portrait, with that of Ma- 
donna Isotta, of Rimini, on the reverse ; and one of Niccolo 
Piccinino, wearing an oblong barrett or cap on the head ; 
with the reverse sent me by Ouidi, and which I return. In 
addition to these, I have also a very beautiful medal of John 
Paleologus, Emperor of Constantinople, with that strange 
looking head-dress, after the Oreekish manner, which the 
Emperors used to wear. This last was made by the same 
Pisano in Florence, at the time of the council held by Pope 
Eugenius, whereat the aforesaid emperor was present ; the 
reverse of this bears the Cross of Christ, sustained by two 
hands, that of the Latin church, namely, and that of the 
Greek.'' 

So far Giovio. Yittore Pisano likewise executed the 
portraits, also on medals, of Filippo de' Medici, Archbishop 
of Pisa, Braccio da Montone, Gioyan Galleozzo Yisconti, 
Carlo Malatesta, Lord of Bimini, Giovanni Oaracciolo, grand 
Seneschal of Naples, with those of Borso and Ercole D'Este, 
and of many other nobles and personages, renowned in arms 
or distingaished for learning." 

attribate to Pioanello a tondo (Adoration of the Kings) and a Madonna with 
daints, both in the Berlin Gallery. 

" He ledisoovered the art of the medallist about 1488 (according to M. 
M&nts, Le$ Primit^\ and has left twenty-four signed medak, while some ten 



103 GBNTILE DA FABRIAKO Sc VITTOBB PI8AKSLLO 

For the reputation he had acquired in this branch of art 
Pisano has been celebrated by many very great men and 
excellent writers ; and^ in addition to what was written of 
him by Biondo^ as before related, he was highly extolled 
in a Latin poem, composed by his compatriot the elder 
Onerino, a well-known and very learned writer of that day. 
Of this poem, called from the name of its subject, II Pisano 
del Ouerino, Biondo also makes honourable mention. Yit- 
tore, was, in like manner, celebrated by the elder Strozzi, 
Tito Vespasiano, that is, father of the other Strozzi, who, 
like himself, was an excellent poet in the Latin tongue. 
The father, I say then, honoured the memory of Yittore 
Pisano in a most beautiful epigram, which is in print with 
the others.^ And these are the fruits that are borne by a 
life passed worthily and in the practice of virtuous laboora. 

It has been said by some writers that when Pisano, then 
very young, was acquiring his art in Florence, he painted a 
picture in the old church of the Temple, which stood where 
the old citadel now is. The subject of this work was taken 
from the life of San Jacopo di Oalizia, and represents the 
story of the pilgrim, in whose pocket, while he was going 
on a pilgrimage to that saint, the son of his host put a sil- 
ver cup, to the intent that he might be punished as a thief ; 

others are attributed to him. Specimens of them may be seen in the great mn- 
senms of Europe, and the best of them are among the fineiit, if they are not 
themselves ttu finest, medals of the Renaissance. Milanesi only oatalogoea 
fourteen medals by Pisauello ; they bear the heads of Nicoolo Piooinino, 
LeoneUo d^Este. Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Pietro Candido Deoem- 
brio, Vittorino da Feltre, Filippo Maria Visconti, Oia Paleologo, Alfonso V. 
d*Aragona, Franoesoo Sforza, Giovan Francesco Gonsaga, Cecilia Gonsaga, 
LodoHoo [TIL] Gonsaga, Malatesta IV., NotcIIo, Inigo d^Aralos. Poroellio 
in his Latin verses, see Cesare Gavattoni, Tre Curmi LtUini^ dted by Mi- 
lanesi, in., p. 26, note 1, tells us that Pisan^^llo made med<l portraits of him- 
self (Porodlio), of Basinio, Carlo Gonzaga, Guarino, Aurispa, of a oertain 
Gifolamo, and of the child Bellotto, as ttXuo of Paolo dal Posxo Toscan eU i 
None of these except the Aurispa have been recognised in modem times 
in any museum. Certain Tariations are known in the oases of the medals 
of LeoneUo d*Este, Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatista, and AUonso of ArragoiL 
>• Aooording to Maffei, Verona lllutiraia^ quoted by MJlanesi, Pisaatlto 
could not haye been in Florence during his youth. 



0XNTILB BA FABBIANO A YITTOBB PISANELLO 108 

but the pilgrim, being aided by San Jacopo, is by him re- 
conducted to his home in safety. In this painting, Yittore 
Pisano gave evidence of that excellence in art to which he 
afterwai^ attained. Finally, having reached a good old 
age, he departed to a better life.^* 

Gentile da Fabriano, after having executed many works *> 
in Gitti di Gastello, became at length paralytic, and fell 
into such a state of weakness, that he could no more pro- 
duce any thing of value. Ultimately he died from the ex* 
haustion of age, having reached the term of eighty years.** » 

The portrait of Pisano," I have not been able to discover 

>* In his fint edition Vanri says that he painted in the Gampo Santo, bat 
in hia eeooiid edition he makes no mention of thia, probably beoanae he oonld 
not anbatantiate the statement 

** No tcaoe of these works remaina. 

*> Milanesi has written a k>ng oommentary npon Pisanello, in which he eon- 
dodea that Oretti was mistaken in attributing to him a medal of Mahomet IL, 
dated 1481. He disproves the attribution of certain pictares dating from the 
third <iaarter of the fifteenth century ; he shows that Leonello d^Bste, who 
died in 1450, waa modelled by Pisanello, and that Bono, his snoceasor, waa not 
(in spite of Vaaari's affirmation) ; finally, that Faoio, who knew him personally, 
speaks of him in 1456 as if ahready dead. See Bartolommeo Faoio, De FIrit 
Ittuttribut^ written in 1456 and published in Florence, 1745, by the Abbate 
Mehna. Lastly, he quotes a letter of Carlo de* Medid, mentioning the reoent 
death of PiMmello ; this letter, though only dated October Slst, beara eyidenoe 
of having been written in 1456. He deduoes that Pisanello waa bom about 
1400 and died in 1456, shortly after the middle of Maroh. See the OazHle d€$ 
Beaux Art$, 1804, IL, 494, for the suggestion of 1451 aa the date of his death. 

** Morelli declares Pisanello to have been as great a pioneer in his time aa 
waa Giambellino in hia later epoch. M. MQntc says that instead of employ- 
ing the soientific processes of the Tuscans, certain northern maaters attacked 
the same problems empirically, and setting aside the methods of pure reaaon, 
tmsted to the training of the eye and the observation of the ontaidea of 
things. He cites Pisanello as the incarnation of this tendency,, and claima 
that these northern painters, ** like the architects of their region, represent the 
pictoresqne school aa opposed to that of the stylists.** 

** Two medals exist with the portrait of PiMuello, one bareheaded and in- 
scribed Pi9anu8 Pietort the aeoond with a cap, and also inscribed Pisanu9 
Fietar, The latter medal is of smaller sixe ; both are considered genuine by 
Morelli and M. Groyer. Milanesi believes that the former may really be by 
Piaanello, but agrees with Charles Lenormant that the latter is not so, the 
letters F. S. K. L P. F. T. on the reverse being read by Lenormant as fol- 
Iowa : FraneUeuM Korradini Pidor Fecit. 

8%. D. Gnoli, in the Archiioio Storico dclP Arte, IH, 406, publishes the 



104 GSNTILE DA FABBIANO A VITTOBB PI8ANBLLO 

in any place whatsoever. Both these artists drew exceed- 
ingly well, as may be seen from the drawings preserved in 
onr book.^ 

paasport of Piflaiii from ^me, of Julj 96, 1432, and the Areh. Star,, EL, 88 
contains a docament, II PUanello graziaio^ referring to his return to Yecona 
after the si^e and plague of 14S9. 

*^ Vernon Lee, in an admirable essay on The Portrait Art in Euphorion em- 
phasizes the fact that the greatest medallists of the Early Renaissance, Vittore 
Pisano and Matteo de* Pasti, were painters, not sculptors, and that, like 
painters, they obtained their effects, working for *^ the almost pictorial effect 
of flesh in its various degrees of boss and of reaction of the light . . . 
by the skilful manipulation of texture and of surface.** They were wholly 
independent of the ideal work of antiquity, and completely unlike such later 
men as Oellini and Caradosso, who were medallist-sculptors ** seeking essen- 
tially for abstract elegance of line.** As a painter Pisanello, with his keen 
and subtle perception and his marvellous capacity for characterisation, holds 
an honorable rank among the naturalistic masters who gave such an impulse 
to art in the early fifteenth century, but it is by his medallions in relief that 
he stands as peer of the greatest masters and as the first medallist of modem 



. BENOZZO GOZZOLI," FLORENTINE PAINTER. 

[BornliaO; died 1496.] 

BIBLIOORAPHT.— PaaoagM from Croniea di Gifttto tPAndrea di OiutU 
(Benosso*! MsiiUnt in S. Gimignano), pablished in G%jei*B Carteggio^ I.« p. 
2U. Laainio'i engraved work, PUture afrwco dtl Uampo Santo di Pisa^ 1880. 
Igino Benvenuto Supino, Le Opere mifiori di Benozzo Qotzoli a Pita^ Arch, 
JStor. deW ArU, VIL, 233-S4a Francesco Cristofori, La vita di Santa Ro$a 
dipinta afraco da Benozzo Gozzoli net 1453, in AtUcellaneafrancescana, Vol. 
ULy/cuc. L Natale Baldoria« Mbnnmenti Artistici in San Oimignano ; article 
in the Archivio Storico delC ArU, IIL, 85-6a H Thode, PUture di Mautri 
italiani nelle OaUerie Minori di Oermania^ article in Archivio Storieo deW 
Artty IL, 52. Gozzoli d San Oimignano^ article bjr M. Fanoon in VAri, 
XXVH, p. 125, 189, 201. 

HE who, with determined effort, pursues the path of 
virtue, although it be, as men say, rough and stormy 
and full of thorns, at the close of the ascent discovers 
himself finally to have attained a broad level, with all the 
happiness that can be desired. And if he then look back 
and consider the difScult and perilous passages laboriously 
overcome, he thanks God who hath safely conducted him 
through thenrto the point which he has reached, and with 
gladness of heart blesses those efforts which he had pre- 
viously found so painful. Thus restored and repaid for his 
bygone sufferings by the joys of the happy present, he now* 
labours without any sense of fatigue, to make known to all 
who observe him the certainty with which the pains endured, 
and the heat, cold, hunger, thirst, and other inconveniences 
sustained, for the acquirement of excellence, are rewarded 
by freedom from poverty, and by the attainment of that 
secure and tranquil condition in which the wearied Benozzo 
Gozzoli happily enjoyed his repose. 

iHewaiBenoBaodiLeaediSandro; theoognoxnedof GonoliMenuitohftTit 
btn a late additJoo. 



106 BENOZZO GOZZOLI 

This artist was the disciple of the deservedly-entitled an« 
gelic master^ Era Giovanni^^ by whom he was with reason 
much beloved; he was acknowledged by all who saw his 
works^ to possess great power of invention^ much facility^ and 
richly varied resources in the delineation of animals^ in per- 
spective^ in landscape^ and in decorations. BenozzoGozzoli* 
executed so many labours in his day that he proved himself 
to have but little regard for any pleasure beside; and, al- 
though in comparison with certain other masters, who sur- 
passed him in design, he was not particularly eminent ; he 
yet left all far behind him in perseverance, and among the 
multitude of his works there are many that are very good.' 
In his youth,^ Benozzo painted an altar-piece for the Broth- 
erhood of San Marco' in Florence, he (Ud also the death of 
St. Jerome for the church of San Friano ; but the latter 
was destroyed when that front of the church, which is 
bounded by the street, was restored. 

For the palace of the Medici,* Benozzo Gk>zzoli painted 
the chapel in fresco, the subject chosen being the story of 
the Magi,^ and in Bome he painted stories from the life 

'FnAngelioo. 

• Benozio at the age of twenty-four worked under Ghiberti <m the faionii 
gates of the Baptutery, ao that we may aaaune that he began hii oaieer aa • 
goldamith. He waa with Fra Angelioo in Bome from 1447 to 1449, and in 
Monte&loo from 1450 to 1452, ezeoating the fresooee whioh are stiU to be seen 
there in the Monaateiy of San Franceaoo and in San Fortonato ; an altar- 
piece from the littter (painted in 1450) ia in the Lateraa Mnsenm at Rome. 
There ia an interesting reference to Benozzo'* worka at Montefaloo in the 

•American Arohmological Jonmal for July-September, 1998. 
« In 1461. 

• Now in the National Gallery, London. The original oontraot ia still in az- 
istenoe and is dated 1461, and atipnlates that the entire work, even to theprs- 
ddlOy mnst be ezecnted by Gozzoli's own hand, and that the figure of the 
Virgin ahonld be the aame as that of the Virgin Bnthroned, in the ohvioh of 
San liaroo, l^ Fra Angelioo. 

• Now the Bicoardi Palace. 

T It would be hard to find, eren in the fifteenth oentory, • moce pecfiotiy 
satisfactory decoration, at once brilliant and sincere, than k thia of the chapel 
which the lords of Florence built for their priTste dcTotions in their palaoe of 
'Via Larga. The charming pageant, with its abnndance of gilding and its em* 
boised pattemsi its dogs and horses, hunten and shepherds, winds about tbt 



BENOZZO GOZZOLI 107 

of St. Anthony of Padaa in the chapel of the Gesarina 
family^ in the church of Ara Goeli : ^ in this work are the 
portraits of Cardinal Ginliano^ Gesarini, and of Antonio 
Golonna^ both taken from the life. In the Torre de' Oonti 
also^ over the gate of entrance that is, Benozzo painted a 
fresco, wherein he depicted Our Lady with numerous saints ; 
and in Santa Maria Maggiore, in a chapel on the right hand 
as you enter by the principal door, he painted various fig- 
ures in fresco, which are tolerably well done.' 

Having returned from Borne to Florence, Benozzo next 
repaired to Pisa, where he worked ^ in the cemetery beside 
the cathedral, which is called the Gampo Santo, painting 
the decorations of a wall which runs the whole length of the 
building, and on which he depicted stories from the Old 

walls and leads up to a perfeotlj deooratiye motiTe, where peaoook-winged 
angels duster about the altar upon which the Adoration of the Kings once 
stood. In the procession are three generations of Medici, Cosimo, pater pO" 
tri€B^ Piero the gouty, and the young Lorenzo with ooroneted barret upon his 
head; there are lords and grooms and huntsmen with dogs in leashes, and 
among the Medid, Benoszo himself rides with his name inscribed upon his cap. 
This is the yery perfection of a decoration, gay yet serious, rich yet dignified 
in color, animated yet stately. It was painted by artificial light, sinoe the 
window in the fifteenth century was even smaller than it is now. The fres- 
coes executed in 1459 were deaned and retouched in 1887, and are in better 
condition than are most wall-paintings in Italy. The altar-piece, an Adoraticm 
of the Magi, is in Munich, and one whole wall of the chapd has been thrown 
forward for some feet, but in spite of loss and changes the room is singularly 
complete in its scheme of decoration — walls, Taultiog, payement, and wood- 
work being admirably harmonious. For three letters from Benozso to Piero 
de* Medid referring to these frescoes, see Gaye, Carteggio^ L, 196-194. 

* This fresco exists, but is much repainted. Messrs. Crowe and CayalcaseUe 
also find traces of Benozzo^s hand in the paintings on the lunetiett of the por- 
tals. See Crowe and Cayalcaaelle, History of Painting in Italy, U., 499. 

* All of these works have perished. 

!<* Painted between 1469 and 1485, and the vastest cyde of paintingB un- 
dertaken by any fifteenth-century painter. In some of these frescoes, accor- 
ding to Messrs. Woltmann and Woermann (History of Painting, Vol. EL, p. 
809), *' we fed the absence of any adequate and independent motive in the 
prindpal actors, and Benozzo, though amiable, is not strongly original** 
Neverthdess, and in spite of the reduplication of the same characters in a 
single work, those frescoes which have an architectural setting are generally, 
as M. Mttnts has remarked, exodlent in the ordering of the compoaitioD. The 
p«int€r*s invention is endless and fadlCt 



108 BBNOZZO GOZZOLI 

Testament^ wherein he displayed much power of inyentioii.^ 
This work may be truly called a most formidable nndertak- 
ingy the artist having represented the whole creation of the 
world day by day : after which follows the Flood, with the 
Ark of Noah ; pictures which are yery finely composed, and 
exhibit a great yariety of figures. Near this is the proud 
building of the Tower of Nimrod, the burning of Sodom 
and the neighbouring cities, with stories from the life of 
Abraham, in which there are many parts admirably ex- 
pressed, and worthy of much consideration. For although 
it is true that Benozzo possessed no yery distinguished tal- 
ent in drawing figures," yet in this work, in the Sacrifice of 
Isaac more particularly, he has neyertheless exhibited con- 
siderable mastery of his art; among other things he has 
painted an Ass, foreshortened, and placed in such a manner 
that it seems to turn on every side ; this animal is considered 
yery fine. The Birth of Moses follows, together with all 
the signs and prodigies that ensued, until the time when he 
led the people forth from Egypt, and fed them during so 
many years in the wilderness. Finally, Benozzo added to 
these certain other stories of the Hebrew people ; as, for ex- 
ample, those of Dayid and Solomon his son ; and it may be 
truly affirmed that, in this work, he displayed infinite per- 
sistence, and a spirit more than bold ; for whereas so vast 
an undertaking might yery well have appalled a whole 
legion of painters, he alone encountered the whole, and 
completed it with his own hand. He accordingly acquired 

" 11 Bag. MClnte, Let Pr^euneun ds la R0nait$ane$^ p. lU, noiw thaft 
the period of Piero do Medici (U goUomt) wm one of lektife atagiuilkNi la 
art. and of oompM&ttre timidity in the following of the mtlqiie. Ho otbm 
BenoBo ta a man who eaoaped thia reTolaioa and was fianUj of hit own 
time. 

M On the contrary, he was often an admirable drangfataman. Hehadnotthe 
grand manner, the sweep of Maaacoio, or the dignity of Ohirlandajo, bat for 
doaeneea of drawing and skilful individoaliiation some of hia heads in the 
SanV Agoatino frescoes at San Gimignano, especially the heads of beaxdlaaa 
middle-aged men, are almost equal to the drawings of Holbein. Ha wai, how- 
erer, an oneren dranghtsman, and often oarelesi hi hia treatment of the igna^ 
aapeoially in the drawing of tlie •ttaohmenta. 



BBNOZZO 60ZZ0LI 109 

a yery great reputation by this work, and well merited the 
following lines which were appended to it in his honoor :*« 

** QfM specUu voluerm, ptfoes, et man$lra/erarump 

El virides $iha$ <gthere(uqu6 dama§ t 
Slpueros^juveneSt matres, canosque parmUnt 

Queii temper virwn* tpirai in ore deeu$f 
JSfon hcec tarn variis, JtnxU wnvlaera fgur%9 • 

Na^ra ingenio fcBtibut apia muo: 
Bit opus artifim : pinxii viva era BeiUttUi •• 

iuperi vivo$ fwndiie m ora Mitof .** 

Innumerable portraits, taken from the life, are scattered 
throughout this work, but as the subjects of all are not 
known, I shall speak of those only which are understood to 
be of important personages, or of those respecting which I 
have found authentic notices recorded. In the story of the 
Queen of Sheba visiting Solomon there is a portrait of 
Marcilius Ficinus among various prelates, with those of 
Argiropolo, a learned Greek, and of Batista " Platina, whose 
likeness Benozzo had previously taken in Some ; with the 
portrait of the artist himself on horseback, the figure being 
that of an old man with shaven beard, and wearing a black 
cap, in the fold of which there is a white paper, perhi^s 
intended as a sign or token ; or it may be that Benozio had 
intended to inscribe his name thereon. 

In the same city of Pisa, in a convent on the bank of the 
Amo belonging to the nuns of San Benedetto, Benoaszo 
(xozzoli painted a series of stories exhibiting the various 
events of the life of that saint ; ^^ and in the house of the 

• V^9um in the MOsnen edition. 

IS Bartolommeo, not Battista. 

>4 The San Benedetto fretooet haye peiiahed. There is aa aHav-i^eee (a 
Virgin and Child), in the Academj at.Piw, which earn* from & Benedetto a 
Ripa d*Amo. Morelli notes that Benosso painted in Umpera and nerer ia 
oil Prof eteor Branohi, of Pisa, made lome experiments on a fragment of Gos* 
loITs fresooes in the Oampo Santo to determine his method of applying the 
gilding so lavishly naed in his pictures. From these experiments it iqppeafed 
that (1) a sise was first applied to the smooth inUmaeo^ (8) wiikh was thta 
thinly coaled with wax, to which (8) the gold ]e«f was aflboed. 



110 BENOZZO GOZZOLI 

Brotherhood of the Florentines, which then stood where the 
monastery of San Yito now is, he painted the Altar-piece, 
with many other pictures.^' In the cathedral, behind the 
seat of the archbishop, Benozzo executed a small picture in 
tempera ; the subject of this work is St. Thomas Aquinas 
surrounded by numerous learned men, who dispute concern- 
ing his works : among these is the portrait of Pope Siztus 
IV., with several cardinals, and many chiefs and generals 
of different religious orders. This is the best and most 
finished work ever executed by Benozzo.^* In Santa Oate- 
rina, a monastery belonging to the Preaching-Friars in the 
same city, this master painted two pictures in tempera, 
which may be easily recognized by the manner ; and in the 
church of San Niccold, another in like manner; with two in 
Santa Groce, without the gates of Pisa.^^ 

While still a youth ^^ Benozzo worked in the Capitular 
church of San Gimignano, where he painted the altar-piece 
for the altar of San Bastiano, which stands in the middle of 
the church, opposite to the prihcipal chapel ;^* and in the 
Hall of Council are certain figures, partly by his hand, and 
partly by an older master,*^ but restored by him. For the 
monks of Monte Oliveto, in the same district, he painted a 
Crucifix ; but the best work executed by Benozzo in that 
place was a fresco in the principal chapel of the church of 
Sant' Agostino,^ where he painted stories from the life of 
the titular saint, from his conversion, that is, to his death." 

1* These works are probably lost. 

1* This pictare is now in ihe Lonrre. 

" These works are unidentified. There are two piotmes in the M oaeo GiTieo 
attributed to him. In 8. Domeoioo (ohnroh and conTent) are a panel painting, 
the Forty Martyrs, fresooes of the Gmoifizion, and of • half-length & 
Domenico^ which tJl may be by Benozzo. 

*• As he was then forty-fonr yean old he oonld hardly hare beoi mniridwd 
ayoath. 

" This fresoo still exists in the ohnroh. 

** The older master r e f er r ed to was Lippo MemmL 

** This series from the life of Saint Angoatine is one of Benono's most lm« 
portant works, and in the drawing of certain heads offers ■ome of tha cloaeat 
and most skilfol work done in the fifteenth oentory. 

«• That is to say, from 1464 to 1407. 



BBNOZZO QOZZOLI 111 

Of all this work I have the design^ by the master's own 
hand^ in my book^ with several drawings of those described 
above^ as executed in the Campo Santo of Pisa. In Vol- 
terra^ likewise^ Benozzo performed certain works,* but these 
do not require further mention. 

Now it happened that when Benozzo was working in 
Rome, there was another painter then in that city called 
Melozzo,^ and who came from Forli ; many, therefore, not 
being better informed, and having found written Melozzo, 
while the dates agreed, have believed that this Melozzo 
should have been Benozzo ;* but they are in error, for the 
painter Melozzo was one who lived at the same time with 
Gozzoli, and was very zealous in the study of art ; he gave 
his attention more particularly to foreshortening, which he 
executed with great care and diligence ; of this a proof may 
be seen in the church of Sant' Apostolo, in Rome, on the 
tribune of the High Altar, where there are certain figures 
gathering grapes, in a frieze painted in perspective as an 
ornamental framework to the picture, with a cask, which 

** Milaneri attiibntM to Benouo an Adoration of the Mag^ in the cathedral 
of Voltem^ as alio a Madonna with saint* in the convent of San Oirolamo, 
outside the town. The latter picture is ascribed to Oiosto d* Andrea by 
HessiSL Crowe and CaTalcaseUe. Four pictures which were in the Alessandri 
palace of Fk>renoe hare been Tarionsly ascribed to Benosio and to Pesellino. 

•« Melozxo degU Ambrosi was bom at ForU in 1488. Repainted [1474-75] at 
Urbino, probably in the library. Four of the pictures executed there stiU ex- 
ist : two~-Dia]ectic8 and Astronomy — are at Berlin ; two— Music and Rhetorie 
•—are in the National GhtUery at London. There are also curious fragments at 
Windsoc In 1478 he painted in the ootagonal treasury at Loretto (prophets, 
angels, and oherubim). In Rome he decorated {circa 1478) the tribune of the 
88. Apostoli In 1711 the principal fragment of this tribune, a fresco 
(CShrist surrounded by Angels), was inorusted upon the interior staircase of the 
Qnirinal, and certain half-length figures of angels playing on musical instm- 
BMQts were placed in the noristy of Saint Peter^s, which hsTc been made 
popular by frequent photographio reproduction. M. Mtknts says of them: 
**Th^ show an originality, a freedom, and a beauty such as ctcu Ra- 
phad has not surpassed.'* In spite of this high praise, and in spite, too, of 
their rhythmical charm and of great elegance, these angel heads are not only 
•omettmes deroid of beauty, but are often incorrect in drawing and erefi 
•ompkiely lacking in construction. Meloszo died Kovember 8^ 1494. 

*• MslosM at about the same time as Mantegna began to paint Tioleottr 
iorahocteiied fignxes in his osiUng deooiations. 



113 BBNOZZO GOZZOU 

are exceedingly well done. But this quality of Melozzo is 
even more obviously apparent in the Ascension of Jesus 
Ohrist^ whose figure is seen in the midst of a choir of angels, 
by whom he is borne to heaven. In this picture the figure 
of the Saviour is so admirably foreshortened, that it seems 
to pierce the vault ; and the same may be said of the angels 
who are fioating in various attitudes through the fields of 
air. The apostles, who stand on the earth beneath, are in 
like manner foreshortened so well, in the different attitudes 
given to them, that the work was then, and continues still 
to be, greatly commended by artists, who have learned much 
from the labours of this master. Melozzo was also well ac- 
quainted with the laws of perspective, as the buildings 
painted in this picture sufficiently demonstrate. The work 
here described was executed by command of Cardinal Biario, 
nephew of Pope Sixtus IV., by whom the master was largely 
remunerated. 

But to return to Benozzo. Exhausted at length by time 
and by his labours, he departed in his seventy-eighth year to 
the true rest. This master died in the City of Pisa while 
dwelling in a small house which he had purchased during 
the long period of his abiding there, in Garraja di San Fran- 
cesco, and which he left at his death to his daughter. He 
was r^retted by all the city, and was honourably interred 
in the Oampo Santo with the following epitaph, which is 
still to be read there : — 

Hie iumulus e$t Benotii Fiorentini, quiproxime hcupinxit historioi. 
Hune $ibi Pl$(morum danavit humaniicu. ifoooacxxvin.'* 

Benozzo always lived with great regularity, and in the 
manner of a true Christian, his whole life being occupied 
with honourable labours. He was long looked upon with 
great consideration in Pisa, as well for his excellent qualities 
as for the distinction to which he had attained in art. The 
disciples whom he left behind him were, Zanobi Macchi- 

*• This dttU dom not wUt to the death of Beaoao, but to the time wh«i 
the people of Piee ereoied hie tomb. 



BSN02SZ0 OOZZOU 113 

avelli, a Florentine, and some others who do not require 
more particular mention.'' * 

•^Beeidct Zanobi di Jaoopo di PiAto ICaohiaTelle (l^B-1479) Ginato 
d' Andrea di Ginsio (1440-1498) was alio a papil of Benozso. 

•* BenoBEo Gouoli ia an imeTeii painter, bat a great one. Alwaya ipontane- 
ona, often gay, and lometimea graTO, he Mems to fear no taak, howerer great, 
and withont preoccupation as to the <|if&0Qlt7 he attacks an enormous waU 
surface, as in bis fresooes of the Pisan Campo Santo, and i^pears not so mnoh 
to think ont his composition in adyanoe as to go straight <m telling a storj 
easily and qtuokly, adding group after group as he feels the need of more 
figujnas, and pressing animals and plants, architecture and landscape, into his 
service as readily as men and women. Messrs. Woltmann and Woermann 
(History of Painting, Vol. H, p. 808) say that ''this constantly romantic mood 
leaves, it must be owned, a rather desultory impression,*' which is true ; but 
what is more important, the pictorial and deoocatiTe impression is not desul- 
tocy, but strong and abiding. In his procession of the Magian Swings in the 
Medici chiq>el, Beuosso is a miniature-painter on a vast scale, and seems al- 
most like a ehOd at play, setting out his little trees and hills and tiny back- 
ground figures hunting or psstnring their herds ; but to this mnvetd he adds a 
grace and charm, so great that here one feels perhaps more than anywhere else 
that delightful decorative quality of fifteenth-century art, which, as M Mtlbits 
has said, was sacrificed forever when the orders with their inezoiable rules 
came in only a tew years later. Here in the Medici chapel Benoszo added 
the strength and science of the eariy Renaissance to the sincerity and 
daintiness of the Gothic iUuminator. He is a story-teller par excellence^ a 
Florentine Carpaooio in his episodical treatment of his subjects, and a Floren- 
tine Holbein in his drawing of the heads of doctors and lawyers in his Saint 
Augustine series, where the modelling, awkward even to carelessness in some 
of his work, beccMnes almost as dose as that of the great German master. He 
is classical only in his architecture, loving to paint rather the gayest costumes 
of his own fifteenth century, and setting, says M Lafenestre, ''thelife of the 
Bchoob " (see his San Gimignano works) " side by side with the life of courts 
and palaces.'* For a particularly enthusiastic essay upon Benosao, see M. 
MOnts, VAffe tPOr^ pp. 619 to 088, where he claims that justice has not yet 
been done to the painter, and that his is the glory of having restored to honor 
a narrative element too often sacrificed to the contemplative by the Florentine 
artists. He is not only an animated story-teller, he is a poet at times ; the idyl 
is his as weU as the episode, and his style suggests the romance rather than 
the Novella, He is a lover of nature, a student of fields and flowers and 
birds and animals : he loved to enamel a meadow with blossoms as well as to 
eUboKate the pattern of a brocade jerkin, and to show us the arbor bending 
under heavy clusters of grapes as weU as to present us to some contemporary 
legist or Jtagnifieo, On the vast waU spaces that he covered so rapidly and 
easily with a world of story, he revealed himself in turn as landscape-painter, 
portrait-painter, animal-painter, ocetumer, architect, a designer of omamenti 
and superlatively a decorator. The pure, serene spirit of Fra Ange]ico*s 
art in GoksoU had become more human, more homely, more familiar, the 
pleasant places of earth were the heaven he painted ; but if the work of the 
master is more divine, that of the pupil is more Uving. 



ANTONIO ROSSELLINO, PLOEENTINE SCULPTOE,» 
AND BERNARDO, HIS BROTHER, FLORENTINE 
SCULPTOR AND ARCHITECT. 

[Born 1427 ; died tboat U79.] [Bom 1409 ; dUd 1464.] 

BiBUOGBAPHT.— W. Bode, R und A. So9ellino, in the Dohme Mries of 
Xuntt und KiinttUr de$ Mittelalten und der Neuzeit. Angiut Sohmazaow, 
Uh capolavoro di scuUura Jlorentina del quattrocento, in Arehitio JStorico 
deW Arte, IV., 235-285. W. Bode, Italieniiehe BUdhauer der Itetiaitmnee, 
Studien gur Oe$chiehte der UalienUchen PUutik und Malerei at^ Orund der 
BUdwerke und OemfOde in den KQnigl Uween tu Berlin, Dr. Albert Dg; 
with a short article on II Boasellino in the Jcihrbuch der KunU hiitoriaehen 
Sammlungen de$ AllerTUkhaten Kaiterhctutet, L (1888), p. 17, hat a fine r^nro- 
duction of a beaatifnl Madonna which was tsken from Sohloss Ambras to the 
Vienna collections. For Polyohromy applied to statues, see for the Rossel- 
lini, as well as for Donatello, Verrocchio, Benedetto, and others, Louis Oou- 
rajod, Za Polyehromie dam la etatuaire du moyen-dge et de la Menait$anee, 
Paris, 1888. 

IT has in truth been ever a praiseworthy and virtuous , 

thing to possess modesty^ and to be adorned with 
those amiable qualities and rare gifts, so clearly to be 
perceived in the honourable conduct of the sculptor An- 
tonio Rossellino, an artist, who pursued his calling with 
such devotion and so much grace that he was esteemed 
something more than man by all who knew him, and was 

> Antonio was bom in Bettignano; his father was Matteo di Domenioo Gkun- 
barellL There were five brothers, aU artists— Domenico, bom 1407 ; Ber- 
nardo, 1409-1464; Oiovanni, 1417-1496; Tommaso, bom 1422; Antonio, 
1427-1479. Late critics. Dr. Bode espeoiaUy, have considerably increased the 
Hst of Antonio^s works by vadons attribationB of relief, hosts, eta, both in i 

day and marble. 



AKTOKIO AND BERNARDO ROSSEtLINO ll5 

▼enerated almost as a saint for the admirable virtues which 
he added to his knowledge of art. 

Antonio ^ was called the Rossellino of the Proconsolate^' 
from the circumstance of his workrooms being in a part of 
Florence^ so called. His works display so much softness 
and delicacy, with a refinement and purity so entirely per- 
fecty that his manner may be justly called the true and 
really modem one. 

The marble fountain in the second court of the Medici 
Palace was constructed by Antonio Rossellino^ the decora- 
tions of this work consist of Children with Dolphins^ from 
the mouths of which the water is poured. The whole is 
executed with exceeding grace^ and finished with the ut- 
most care. In the church of Santa Groce^ and near the 
holy-water font^ this master erected a sepulchral monu- 
ment for Francesco Nori,* with the Virgin above it in 
basso-rilievo^ and a second figure of Our Lady, in the 
palace of the Tomabuoni family,* with many other works 
which were sent abroad into various parts, as for example, 
to Lyons, in France. For San Miniato al Monte, a mon- 
astery of White Friars, outside of Florence, Rossellino was 
appointed to construct the monument of the Cardinal of 
Portugal, and this work he executed so admirably, with 

s The RoneUini belong to the groap of soolptom called by M. Mtiiiti the 
Bcleotioa. This author says the loiilptora of the time were divided into three 
olaisea— the stone-cotters, lavoranti di quadro ; the omamentalists, lavoraiUi 
dUntaglio ; the figure sculptors, Uworanti di figure. The Rossellini were em- 
phaticaUf both omamentalists and figure sculptors. See E. Mtints, VAge 
d'Or.^m, 

* The old Ptooonsulate stiU stands at the comer of the Via del Prooonsolo 
and the Via dei Pandolfini ; it was the head-quarters of the guild of judges and 
notaries. 

« In the last edition of MUanesi, Vol. II., p. 408, he attribntes the fountain 
at the Villa of Oastello to Donatello, and on p. 94, Vol. IIL, he corrects this 
eiror and afBrms his belief that the Castello fountain is the one mentioned 
here, although iAiBputti and the dolphins have disappeared. 

* Francesco Nod, the friend of Lorenzo de* Medici, was murdered in the 
oathedial in 147S by Giov. Bandini. See the history of the Paszi conspiracy. 
Antonio died about 1479, but Nori ordered the tomb during his lifetime^ 

* This work is supposed to be lost. 



116 AKTONlO AND B£BNAt(t>0 BOSSBLLIKO 

8nch extraordinary care and ability^ that no artist can ever 
expect to see anything which in grace and delicacy could 
possibly surpass if Nay^ to him who examines this work 
it appears not merely difficulty but almost impossible tiiat 
it should have been brought to such perfection. There are 
angels who have so much grace and beauty of expression ; 
with such an easy flow in the draperies, and so much art in 
the whole work, that they no longer seem to be of marble, 
but living beings. Of these angels, one holds the crown of 
chastity, which belonged to that cardinal, he having died, 
as it is said, in strict celibacy, the other bears the palm 
of victory, to intimate the conquest obtained by the Preli^ 
over worldly things. Among other remarkable parts of 
this work is an arch in the stone called macigno, which 
supports a marble curtain, so finely arranged, that between 
the white of the marble and the grey of the macigno this 
drapery looks much more like real cloth than like marble. 
On the sarcophagus are figures of children which are truly 
beautiful, with that of the Prelate himself ; there is a Ma- 
donna, moreover, in a medallion, which is also very well 
done : the tomb itself has the form of that constructed in 
porphyry, which is to be seen in Bome on the Piazza of the 



V An Admirablotomb. The poly^romafcio material eomewlifti Matten tlie 
effect, Mid the flying angels are awkward, bnt the medaUioQ of the Vixgiii 
and OhUd it beantifal, Roesellino being at his best in theee Umdi, while the 
tdiole chapel, down to the smallest detail, is singnlarly harmonious in its deoo- 
rative effidct Perkins, Historical Handbook of Sonlptnre, p. 191, calls thia 
one of the three finest tombs in Toscany, and says that it "attains the golden 
mean of ornament, thanks to the jndioions oontrast preserred between adorned 
and onadomed spaces. ** It must be added that Bosaellino, after attaining 
this effBot of jnst proportion of ornament, has gone far toward oanoelling whal 
he had obtained, by using colored marble in large mats es instead of white, 
and thia error surprises, since the epoch was one in which painter and sculptor 
BO often thoroughly appreciated each otber^s effects of color aa well aa of pro* 
portion. The tomb was ordered of Antonio in 1461. On the whole, though 
this work displays perhaps higher sculptural qualities than doea the Bmni 
monument, l^ his brother Bernardo, the latter is finer in arrangement and 
is therefore better as an artistic en$mibU, 11 Bug: MOnts is emphatie in 
hia opinion that Bernardo is g rea te r than Antnnio^ both aa arehiteci and 
■eolptor. 



AKDONIO AND BKKNARDO B088SLLINO 117 

Rotunda.' This monument to the Cardinal of Portagal was 
erected in the year 1459^ and its form, with the arohitectnre 
of the chapel, so greatly pleased the Duke of Malfi/ 
nephew of Pope Pins II., that he caused one to be con- 
structed for his wife in Naples by the same artist, and sim- 
ilar to that of the cardinal in all things, excepting only the 
figure of the dead. In the same place ^ Antonio executed 
a picture in relief," representing the Nativity of Christ 
(the Presepio) ; a choir of rejoicing angels float over the rude 
building, and these, singing, with parted lips, are finished 
in such a manner that they seem to breathe, nay, to all 
their movements and expressions, Antonio imparted so 
much grace and refinement that genius and the chisel could 
produce nothing in marble to surpass this work. For 
these qualities the works of Antonio Bossellino have always 
been held in the highest esteem by Michael Angelo, and are 
ever considered more than excellent by every other artist. 
In the capitular church of Empoli, this master produced a 
figure in marble, of San Bastiano,'' which is held to be a 
very beautiful thing, and of this we have a drawing by his 
own hand in our book, where we have likewise all the archi- 
tectural details and figures of the before-mentioned chapel 

* The porphyzy tomb, aooording to Bottaii, beouno a part of the tepnlohM 
of Pope Clement XIL, a oover of the same material having beeo added to it. 
It it now in the Chnrch of 8. John Lateran, in Rome. 

* By Jia{/1, Amalfi is, of eonrse, meant Antonio did not Uye to complete 
the tomb. Dr. Bode olaimi that this monument, which is in the Ghnzeh of 
Monte Oliyeto at Naples, was executed by Benedetto da Majano, working un- 
der the direction of Antonia Perkins treats of this tomb as Antonio*s woric. 

'•Perkins, Historical Handbook of Italian Sculpture, p. 128, calls this 
KatiTity '*a picture in marble,** especially recalling GhibertL It is in the 
Ohurch of 8. H Del Monte Oliveto, Naples. Herr A Schmarsow, Un Ca^ 
polavaro di ScuUura Fiorentifia dd QuattrocentOy Arch. Stor,^ IV., 235- 
885, daims that the 8t John in the a GioT. BattisU chapel of a Giobbe at 
Venice is a masterpiece of Antonio Rossellina 

" This ranks among RosseUino's best works ; it is still in »Uu. 

» This San Bastiano is called by M. MOnts one of the most beantifol node 
fignres of the fifteenth century. See also the same author in La ArehUtn du 
Art$y p. 2S, f or a fine Annunciation by Bernardo Bossellino (one of his earKsit 
works), in the Chnrch of the Misericordia at Bmpoli. 



118 ANTONIO AND BERNARDO ROSSELLINO 

of San Miniato al Monte, with the portrait of Antonio Bos* 
sellino himself. 

Antonio died in Florence at the age of forty-six, leaving 
a brother, also an architect and sculptor, called Bernardo.'* 
This artist executed the marble monument erected in the 
church of Santa Groce, to Messer Lionardo Bruni, of Arez* 
zo, who wrote the History of Florence, and was a very 
learned man, as all the world knows.** Bernardo was much 

It H. MUntz oonsiderfl ihAt Bernardo BosseUino Burpassed his brother both 
as sculptor and architect. His masterpiece of sculpture is the Bnmi monn- 
ment (1444) in Santa Crooe; an Annunciation in the Miserioordia at EmpoU 
is important ; while the tomb of the Beata Villana (1^U> ^ Santa Maria No- 
Telia, is unlike most of his work and recalls DonateUa The Lazcari monu- 
ment at Pistoja (Church of San Domenico) is by Antonio and Bernardo. 

i« This tomb commemorates the eminent jurist, Leonardo Bruni ; also called 
Aretino, from his birthplace. He was Apostolic Secretary to four sucoessive 
popes, became Chancellor of Florence, and at his death, in 1444, was giTen a 
magnificent funeral by the Republia This monument, much less rich than 
is the tomb of Marsuppini, by Desidorio, which stands opposite it upon the 
other side of the church, is less original and in a way less striking, but it 
has a dignity and balance which approach perfection, and one oan never tire 
of its grave beauty. 

It is perhaps the finest of that wonderful group of lepulchral monnments 
which includes the tombs of Carlo Marsuppini, by Desiderio ; of Cardinal Por- 
togallo, by Antonio Rossellino, and of Ugo, Maiquis of Tuscany, by IGno da 
Fiesole. This tombal sculpture is the contribution of the Renaissance sculp* 
tors to Art. In their other works, in bat-reliefs in the statue in the round, in 
the portrait bust, in the medal, and in decorative detail they were the students 
and foUowers of antiquity, but in thia they were creators and innovators. 
Through the middle ages the sepulchral slab was laid flat upon the church 
floor, its efilgy soon worn smooth by countless feet. Portraiture, decorative 
motives, and elaborate detail were thus lost and wasted. In the Renaissance 
the beloved or illustrious dead were given a nobler place. The sarcophagus 
with its recumbent figure was set high against the church wall in a richly 
decorated niche between ornamented pilasters. Ouardian angels watched on 
either side or drew apart the marble curtains, contemplative genii sustained 
the heavy wreaths of fruit and flowers or supported the shields of the dead, 
while above in the lunette were Madonna and the saints. Lovely decorative 
forms enriched the sarcophagus, the base and pilasters were carved with 
leaf and flower and shell. But it was in the treatment of the figure of the de- 
parted lying quietly with composed Umbs and folded hands, looking as they 
who loved him saw him for the last time, with aU the transient lines smoothed 
away by the touch of the greatest of sculptors— it was in the figure idealised 
by afleotion and simplified by memory that the Renaissance sculptor proved 
himself **a poet of Death.** The sculptor had forgotten the chamel-house 



ANTONIO AND BERNARDO ROSSBLLINO 113 

eflteemed for his ability in architecture by Pope Nicholas V.^ 
who, besides, valued him greatly, and employed him in many 
of the works ^* which he caused to be constructed during his 
pontificate, and of which he would have erected many more, 
had not death interposed to prevent him.** Among those 
for which Bernardo was employed by Pope Nicholas, was 
the rebuilding of the Piazza, or Market, in Fabriano (ac- 
cording to what we find related by Giannozzo Manetti), 
where Bernardo remained during several months, on account 
of the plague, which was that year raging in Florence. 

images of the Middle Ages. Death was no longer to him a grisly spectre, but 
a gentle youth with an inverted torch, or rather a grave and tender guardiaa 
angel, and in these aoslerely beautiful recumbent figures, in these mailed soU 
diexs, delicate women, and dignified scholars and churchmen, the peace, the 
pathos, and the majesty of death found adequate artistic expression. 

If we compare these Renaissance tombs with those of the Greek Geramicus 
we shaU perhaps appreciate more highly the individuality of the Tuscan 
aoulptor and the force as a controlling influence in the plastic arts of that 
^*grande i^pdrance qui a traversie la terre,^* The sepulchral bas-reliefs ot 
the Greeks show us the wife surrounded by her servants, her children at her 
knee bidding them a long farewell, the youth clasping his fitther^s hand while 
the horse stands near, symbol of the last, dark journey, or the maiden at her 
t<nlet, with the sirens, emblems of death, hovering above her. Profoundly 
hnmanas they arc, these figures are not portraits, they are merely types ; both 
form and features are generalised in the true Greek fashion ; it is the inscrip- 
tion alone that commemorates the individual These tombal reliefs teU us of 
self-restraint, of obedience to inflexible law, but they seem already shrouded 
in the twilight of the dim under-world, and they are overshadowed by the 
deep sadness of the eternal separation. The Renaissance tomb lacks this 
universal humanity, it is intensely individual, it preserves the actual sem- 
blance of the departed, it betrays the desire for posthumous Came so charac- 
teristic of the epoch, it represents death as but a brief sleep, angel-guarded, 
and it suggests a glorious resurrection and a personal immortality. 

>* Certain critics attribute these buildings, executed under Nicholas V., 
rather to Bernardo di Lorenzo than to Bernardo Rossellino. Milanesi consid- 
ers this attribution to be wholly mistaken, and resting upon no proof, whereas 
Bernardo Rossellino certainly was in the service of Pope Nicholas. 

>* Bernardo built at Pienza the church, town-hall, bishop's palace, and the 
Pioodomini palace. These edifices show great similarity to the work of Leon 
Battista Alberti, and certain critics affirm that the Ruoellai palace at Florence 
ia more probably by Rossellino than by Alberti Bernardo was also architect 
of the Piocolomini palace at Siena. In 1433 he sculptured a tabernacle for 
the convent of SS. Flora e Lucilla d' Arezzo, and another in 1436 for the Badia 
of Floxenoe. These tabernacles are not mentioned by Vaaari 



120 AKTOiaO AND BERNARDO ROSSBLLIlfO 

This he enlarged where it was too closely restricted^ and 
brought the whole place into good order^ erecting a range of 
shops around it^ which are very useful as well as commodious 
and handsome. He then restored the church of San Fran- 
cesco in the same place> which was going to ruin ; and at 
Gualdo he rebuilt tiie church of San Benedetto, we may al- 
most say, entirely anew, considering the addition of hand- 
some and well constructed buildings which he made to it. 
In Assisi, the church of San Francesco was greatly damaged 
in some parts, and in others were threatening to fall ; this 
building, he likewise repaired and strengthened most thor- 
oughly, covering it also with a new roof. At Givita V ecchia, 
Benuurdo erected many beautiful and magnificent edifices ; 
and at Givita Gastellana, he rebuilt more than a third of the 
city walls in a very good manner. At Narni, also, he re- 
built and enlarged the fortress, adding to it strong and 
handsome walls. At Orvieto, this artist likewise erected a 
large fortress, with a most beautiful palace, a work of 
great cost and no less magnificence." At Spoleto, in like 
manner, he enlarged and strengthened the fortress, con- 
structing dwelling-places therein, so handsome, commo- 
dious, and well-arranged, that nothing better can be seen. 
He restored the baths of Viterbo at great expense and with 
a most regal spirit, erecting residences there, calculated, not 
for the rich * only, who daily go to bathe there, but worthy 
to be the lodging of the greatest princes.'* 

All these buildings were executed at the command of Pope 
Nicholas V., by Bernardo, in places distant from Bome ; but 
for that city il^elf he restored, and in many places renewed, 
the walls which were for the most part in ruins ; adding to 
them certain towers, and comprehending in these, additional 
fortifications, which he erected outside of the Gastle St. 
Angelo, besides numerous rooms and decorations which he 

* Ammalati meant the liok, not the rich. 

^' Delia VaUe, quoted by Milaneei, affirms that the Onrietan fortreaa gieatlj 
antedatet Bernardo. Many of the palaoea were built by Ippolito Scalia, and 
It is not known whioh onea were designed by Bernardo. 

* These boildings had already fallen into decay when Bottari wrote in 17M 



AKTOKIO AND BEBKABDO BOSSSLUKO 121 

constracted within. This Ponidfl had it also in mind to re- 
store and gradually to rebuild^ as the occasion should de- 
mand, the forty Churches of the Stations instituted by Pope 
Gregory I., who was called Gregory the Great, and he did 
complete that work in a great measure, having restored 
Santa Maria Trastevere, Santa Prassedia, San Teodoro, San 
Pietro in Yinculs^ and many others of the minor churches. 
But with still greater spirit, magnificence, and care was the 
same work accomplished for six of the greater and principal 
churches — San Giovanni Laterano, for example, Santa Ma- 
ria Maggiore, Santo Stephano, in Monte Oelio, Sanf Apos- 
tolo, San Paolo, and Sux Lorenzo, extra muroa.^* Of San 
Pietro I do not speak, because this constitutes an undertak- 
ing apart. 

Pope Nicholas Y. had also proposed to make the Vatican 
itself into a separate city, and to surround it with fortifica- 
tions ; in pursuance of this plan, he had three roads laid 
out which should lead to San Pietro ; two of these being, as 
I believe, where the Borgo Yecchio and Borgo Nuovo now 
are. These he was covering in certain parts with Loggie, 
containing very convenient shops : the richer and more im- 
portant trades being separated from the minor and poorer, 
each class of trades established being in a street by itself. 
The Bound Tower, still called Torrione di Niccola, was al- 
ready completed. Over these shops and Loggie were to be 
erected commodious and magnificent houses in a fine style 
of architecture, and these were so designed that they were 
defended and sheltered from all those winds which in Bome 
are considered insalubrious, and were moreover freed from 
all the inconveniences of water and other disadvantages 
likely to generate malaria. All which would have been 
completed by that Pontiff, had his life been prolonged but 
for a short time, he being of a great and most determined 

>• TlMce it no doonmentMy proof ih»fe Bonuurdo RoMdUno did Miythiiif in 
Romo ezoept superintend certain bnildinge at 8«n Ste&no Rotondo, and 
other maetera tre reooided m tlie anthon ^ iVOM vt tbe acohiteotiiral wodn 



122 ANTONIO AND BERNARDO ROSSELLINO 

spirit, well informed also, and so thoroughly skilled in snch 
undertakings, that he directed and governed the architects 
no less than he was counselled and guided by them. And 
this is a state of things which causes great undertakings to 
be brought easily to a successful termination, for when the 
founder of the building understands for himself, and is 
capable of instant decision, the works go forward, but when 
he is incapable and irresolute, he stands undecided between 
the yes and the no, suffering time to pass unprofitably 
amidst various designs and opinions, while nothing useful is 
effected. But respecting this design of Nicholas, there is 
no need to say anything more, since it was not carried into 
effect. 

This Pontiff, likewise proposed to reconstruct the papal 
palace in so vast and magnificent a style, and with so much 
beauty and convenience, that, in every point of view, it 
should be the most splendid and extensive building in 
Christendom. He intended that it should not only be a 
suitable residence for the person of the supreme Pontiff, the 
chief of all Christians, and that of the sacred college of car- 
dinals, who, as being his council and assistants, ought to 
be ever near him ; but he also desired that all oflSices for 
business of whatever kind, despatches, legal affairs, and all 
others connected with the Court, should be comprised with- 
in it ; insomuch, that all these buildings, thus assembled to- 
gether, offices, courts, and the household, would have pre- 
sented imposing magnificence; and, if such a term may be 
used for such a purpose, would have produced a pompous 
grandeur of inconceivable effect. But what is even much 
more, preparations were to have been made for the reception 
of emperors, kings, dukes, and other Christian princes, who, 
whether for their affairs, or from devotion, should visit that 
most holy apostolic seat. And who will believe that Pope 
Nicholas would also have constructed there a theatre for the 
coronation of the Pontiffs, with gardens, loggie, aqueducts, 
fountains, chapels, libraries, and a most sumptuous building 
set apart for the conclave ? This building (I know not 



ANTONIO AND BERNARDO R08SELLIN0 123 

whether I shonld call it a palace^ a castle^ or a city) would 
certainly have been the most snperb edifice that had ever 
been erected, so far as we know, from the creation of the 
world to the present day. What dignity would it not haye 
imparted to the holy Roman church, to see the supreme 
Pontiff, the chief thereof, assemble around him all the ser- 
Tants and ministers of God dwelling in the city of Rome, 
and unite them as in a renowned and most holy monastery, 
where, as it were in a new terrestrial Paradise, they might 
have lived a heavenly, angelic, and most holy life, present- 
ing an example to all Christendom, and awakening even the 
minds of inQdels to the true worship of God and the blessed 
Saviour ! But this vast work was left incomplete by the 
death of the Pope, nay, rather it was scarcely commenced ; 
the little that was done may be known by his arms, or what 
he used as arms, which were two keys laid cross-wise on a 
field of red. The fifth work which this Pontiff had proposed 
to himself to execute, was the church of San Pietro, which 
he had designed to make so vast, so rich, and so splendidly 
adorned, that it were better to be silent respecting it than 
to commence the recital, since I could not fittingly describe 
even the smallest part of the work, and should fail all the 
more certainly, because the model prepared for this building 
has been lost, and others have since been made by other 
architects. But whoever shall desire to form a clear con- 
ception of the great designs entertained in this matter by 
Pope Nicholas V., let him read what Giannozzo Manetti, a 
noble and leame<^ Florentine citizen, has written very cir- 
cumstantially in the life of that Pontift. For the designs of 
all the works projected as above described by Pope Nicholas, 
as well as for others, the latter is said to have availed him- 
self of the genius and great industry of Bernardo Rossellino.'^ 

** In the Miueo NaiiooAle of Florence are bnete of a San GioTannino and 
of Battiata Sfona, by Bernardo RosaelUno ; also a tondo by Antonio, of the 
Madonna and Child, and a bnat of Matteo FklmierL At the Sonth Kensing- 
ton Httienm is the bust of Gioranni da San Miniato, Doctor of Arte and of 
Medicine, 147B, by Antonio (for a fine reproduction, see J. C. Robinaon*a 
folio work, Sonth Kensington Maseom Italian Sonlptnre, plate XVIII.), while 



134 ANTONIO AND BERNARDO ROSSBLUNO 

Antonio^ the brother of Bernardo,^ " (to retam at length 
to the point; whence^ for so fair a purpose^ I departed)^ An- 
tonio executed his labours in sculpture^ about the year 1490 ^ 
and as men for the most part admire such works as are seen 
to have been produced with care and difficulty, and as his 



Dr. Bode olaims for him as weU MTeral Urge d* j relieik, » M>domi» with tlie 
Ghriflt Child, in the Berlin Mosemn, and anothor in the Hainaner oolleolioii. 
The former ia the original stady for the tondo in the Mnaeo Naiiotialeaf Flor- 
ence, and like most of the terra-ootta studies is superior to the completed 
marble. A man*B bust from the Goadagni Palace of Florenoe is also at- 
tributed to Antonio, and Herr von Fabziosy ascribes to him the Solaxolo Ma- 
donna which Signer Argnani, of Faenza, accredits to Donatella Two rdiefs, 
the Assumption and the story of St Stephen, in the pulpit of the cathedral 
of Ptato, are by Antonio, and far surpass the other sculptures there by Hino. 
See Milanesi. Works in terra-cotta became frequent at this epoch; tht 
terra-cotta is sometimes glazed terra invetriat€i^ as in the case of the Bobbiaa, 
sometimes painted in oil (see the Niccolo d'Ussano of Donatello), and some- 
times has only the natural color of the baked day. H. Louis Ckmiajod (see 
Bibliography) and J. O. Robinson, in his South Kensington Catalogue, are of 
the opinion that nearly all terra-cottas up to the end of the fifteenth ce ntur y 
were colored, and that gilding was almost invariably used upon certain por- 
tions of boi^eliefs. 

*i Apparently Antonio died about 1479. That was the last year in which ht 
is recorded as having paid taxes. Bernardo Bossellino, bom 1400^ was buried 
in Sta. Maria Novella, September 2S, 1464. 

•* The Rooellini belong to the group of edeotic sculptors who aaerificod 
some of Donatello's vigor to the striving for religious expression and deganoe 
of fonn. They are ** thoughtful and laborious, if not powerful,** mys M. Mlkitti, 
who adds that to this group, including Dedderio and Mine, '* is due In great 
part the high perfection of Florentine Art ** Distinction and refinement, to- 
gether with exquisite taste in the arrangement of ornament and detail, bdoof 
to all of these sculptors. Symonds, in his Fine Arts, sayi that these artists 
** voluntarily imposed upon their genius *^ limitation to sudi effects as could 
be obtained by ** suavity of Expression, delicacy of feeling, urbanity of stylCi'' 
and he believes that their charm of manner can hardly be defined except by 
similes, such as '* the melody of a late as distinguished from that of aa or- 
chestra.** Although these edeoticB have left no such immortal works as the 
gates of Ghiberti, the Zuecone of Donatello, the Cdleone of Verrooehlo, the 
Cantoria of della Bobbia, yet they are the authors (Benedetto and Mlno^ that 
is, as wdl as the Rosellini and Matt^ da Civitale) of the countless foontalni 
and frieies and bordered panda, the fentoons of marble fruit which hang 
down over tomba, the acanthus scroU-work climbing the walla of ehurehea, la 
fact of all that lovdy decorative detail which is so essentially of the qumUr^» 
esfUo, that it, even more than the masterpieces of thdr greater conten^Qfla* 
dea, stands for us as the very sign-manual of the Italian BeDiismnoa. 



AKTOKIO AND BERNABDO R08SBLLIN0 129 

labours are distingaished for these two qaalities, he deaerres 
and has obtained fame and honour^ as an illnstrious ex- 
ample from which modem sculptors may learn how those 
statues should be executed which are calculated^ by the dif- 
ficulties they present^ to secure the greatest amount of praise 
and renown. For after Donatello^ it is Antonio^ who has 
effected the most towards adding a certain delicacy and re- 
finement to works in sculpture, seeking to perforate in some 
parts, and in others to round his figures in such a manner, 
that they appear in full relief and well finished in eyery 
part, a point which until that time had not been seen to be 
so perfectly attended to in sculpture, but the method, hay- 
ing been first introduced by him, has since, in the times 
more immediately following, and in our own, been eyer 
adopted and acknowledged to be admirable. 



DBSIDEBIO DA SETTIGNANO,' SOULPTOB 

[Bom 1428 ; died 14M.] 

BiBLiooBAPHT.— W. Bode, Desiderio^ in the Dohme eeriee of Kuntt und 
KUnatler de$ JiUtelaUerB und der NeuuU. Dr. Bode, both in the JahHnAchy 
the Oazette dea Beaitx Arti, and the Archivio Storieo^ hu written mnoh of Iftte 
oonoeming Desideria W. Bode, Deaiderio da Settignano und Franeeteo 
Laurana^ Die wahre BiUte der Marietta Strozzi, Jahrbueh der K. P. S.^ Vol 
IX., Na 4, and Vol. X.,Nal., Berlin, 1888-89. W, Bode, Zweiltalieniaehe 
F^auenbHtten dee QuaUrocenio im Berliner Jfueeum, Jahrbueh der K, P, A, 
VoL XL EL Yon Tsohndi, DonaUUo e la OrUica Modema^ Tmin, 1887. 

YERY great is the amonnt of gratitude which is due 
to Heayen and to Nature, from those who are able 
to produce their works without effort and with a 
certain grace which others cannot impart to their produc- 
tions, whether by study or imitation. For this is in truth 
a gift of Heayen, showered, so to speak, oyer certain works 
in such a manner that they bear about them a loyeliness 
and attraction which draw towards them not only those who 
are well yersed in art, but eyen many who are not connected 
with it. And this proceeds from the idea of ease and facil- 
ity which the truly good presents, neyer offering to the eyes 
that hard and crude aspect so frequently giyen to works 
produced painfully and with laboured efforts; by such 
grace and simplicity, which pleases uniyersally and is un- 
derstood by all, are distinguished the works performed by 
Desiderio. 

Many affirm, that this artist belonged to Settignano, a 
place two miles distant from Florence, while others con- 



> Dedderio (di Bartolommeo di Francesoo) wai bom at Settignano, and 
the ion of a maaon, Bartolommeo di Franoeaoo, oallad Ferro. He had two 
hrothen, Fianoeioo and Gezi, and Geii waa afterward adopted aa tlie familf 



DESIDERIO DA SETTIGNANO 127 

sider him a Florentine ; bnt this is ol little consequence, 
seeing that the two places are so near together. Desiderio 
imitated the manner of Donato^^ although he was himself 
endowed by nature with the power of imparting extraordi- 
nary grace and loveliness to his heads ; ' and the faces of 
his women and children exhibit the most charming sweet- 
ness and the softest delicacy^ qualities which he deriyed so 
much from nature by whom he was disposed to the art> as 
from the zeal and study wherewith he disciplined and exer- 
cised his genius. Desiderio worked in his youth on the 
pedestal of Donato's David, which is in the ducal palace of 
Florence, and on this he executed harpies in marble, of ex- 
traordinary merit, as also vine-leaves, with their tendrils, in 
bronze, which are very graceful and most ably executed.* 
On the facade of the Gianfigliazzi palace, he sculptured the 
armorial bearings 'of the family, of a large size and very 
finely done, with a lion, which is most beautiful ; and 
other works in stone now dispersed over different parts of 
the city. For the church of the Carmine, Desiderio carved 
an Angel* in wood, which was placed in the chapel of the 
Brancacci ; and in the church of San Lorenzo he completed 
the decorations, in marble, for the chapel of the Sacrament, 
a work which he conducted with great diligence to the 
utmost perfection. In this chapel there was the figure of a 
child by our artist, in full relief, which was removed from 
its place,^ and is now wont to be set upon the altar on the 

* In this we cuinot agree, for it is dramatic, yigorona, and energetio, while 
that of Desiderio is quiet, gentle, and onimpasaioned. We have litfcle to jadge 
him by — a bast, a monoment, and a tabernacle — ^but these are sufficient to 
show his exquisite taste in ornament, his great technical skill, and his origi- 
nality. — C. C. Perkinses Historical Handbook of Italian Soulptare. Since 
this was written the list of works attributed to Desiderio has been increased 
by a number of bnsts. 

* In his Cronaea Himata Giovanni Santi says of Desiderio, '* It bravo De- 
MgrttdoleteheUoy 

« This pedestal is lost. 

* Whioh have been restored. 

* The angel is lost. 

f In 1077 these soolptores were taken to the opposite side of the ohnroh. 
Hid the litUe Christ was restored to its old place npon the monument. Sef 



128 DBSIBEBIO DA BETTIONAirO 

feast of the Nativity, as an extraordinary thing ; and In its 
stead another was made by Baccio da Montelnpo, also in 
marble, which stands constantly on the tabernacle of the 
Sacrament. In Santa Maria Novella, Desiderio constmcted 
the marble sepnlchre of the Beata Villana,* a work wherein 
there are certain little angels which are very graceful, as is 
the portrait of the Beata herself, taken from the life. She 
does not seem to be dead, bnt merely asleep. For the Nuns 
of the Mnrate likewise he ezecated a small figure of the 
Virgin, to stand on a column in a tabernacle, which is also 
in a very pleasing and graceful manner, insomuch that both 
these works were always held in the utmost esteem, and are 
still very highly prized.* Desiderio executed the marble 
tabernacle of the Sacrament in the church of San Pietro 
Maggiore, with his accustomed diligence; and although 
there are no figures in this work, it gives evidence, never- 
theless, of a very fine manner, and has infinite grace, like all 
the other works by his hand.^ This artist sculptured the 
portrait of Marietta degli Strozzi,^^ likewise in marble, and 

miMieif. Thii inlMit Ghriit Is among the moit ohanniiig statuM of th« Bo- 
Mlnuiea H Httnti notot {Le$ PrimUift) that a marblA rtataeito gnaftlj 
TWiimMInf it wai leffc to tlie honm b j Baron DaTiUier. Bee also the atalii* 
•tie in the Doooio of Plrato^ nearly identical in character. 

• The tomb of the Beata YiUana is hj Bernardo Boesellmo. See bis LUe. 

* It was broken bj accident in 1567, put together again, bnt was coarsely 
painted and badly damaged. It was finallj placed in the small oratory of 
8. M. deUe Nerri Bee Milaaeai, VdL IL, p. 109. 

>* In 1784, the dmioh being destroyed, this edbarivm was carried to a mar- 
ble ibop in the Piasza Madonna. HUanesi in his last edition conld no longer 
aeeonnt for its whereabonts. 

» Dr. Bode {Oagette dm Beaux ArtM^ 1888) refuses for technical reasons to 
eredit the bust of Marietta Stroszi in the Berlin Gallery to Desiderio^ and 
•Itribates it to Francesco Laorana, the medallist and sculptor ; Big. Osrottl 
oombats this attribntion. Dr. Bode also remarks that Marietta was bnt six- 
teen jrean old when Desiderio died, while the bnst is that of a person at least 
ten years older. Dr. Bode is, howerer, convinced that the Berlin Gallery poo- 
sessss two basts which really are by Desideria One is of a yoong giri, tho 
material is marUe, and the writer snggests that the bast may baTo come 
from the Medici palaoe in Florence. The other bast, which is in calcareoos 
stone, came from the Dacal Palaoe of Urbino, is of about the year 1460^ and 
Moording to Dr. Bode, is probably a portrait of one of the daughters of Dnkt 



DB6IDEBI0 DA 8ETTIGNAK0 129 

taken from the life, and, as the Lady was exceedingly bean- 
tifal, the bast is a very admirable one. 

The tomb of Meeser Garlo Marsnppini/* of Arezzo, in the 
church of Santa Groce, was also erected by this master, and 
the work not only caused amazement in the artists and 
other well-informed persons, who then examined it, but con- 
.tinues to surprise all who see it in the present day : Desi- 
derio having executed foliage on the sarcophagus, which, 
although somewhat hard and dry, yet, as but few antiquities 
had at that time been discovered, was then considered a 
very beautiful thing. Again, among other particulars of 
this work, are certain wings which form part of the orna- 
ments of the sarcophagus, and seem rather to be of actual 
feathers than of stone, a thing very difficult to produce in 
marble, since it is almost impossible to copy hair and feath- 
ers with the chisel.* There are, besides, several Children 
and Angels, executed in a manner which is truly beautiful 
and animated. The figure of the Dead, a portrait from 
nature, extended on the tomb, is of the utmost excellence ; 

fbdflffigo. For fine X0prodaoti<mi of these busti tee the Jahrbuch der K. P. S.^ 
VoL ym, p. S2, and VoL Yin., p. 112. The fonner zepiodaoes aleo a 0U7 
bulk reooitiy eeqoired, and which Dr. Bode bdieree to be a study for the Ber- 
lin marble. Dr. Bode thinks that a bust Utely found in a villa of the Strosd, 
near Florenoe, is the tme and oric^inal portrait of Marietta Strossi See the 
JahHmeh derX. P. S., VoL X., p. 28, 2>i« WahreBOsUderlfarieUa Str&ggi, 
■nd Yd. XL, p. 200, ZwH IUMlieni9ehs FratimbiUUn, etc. The bast called a 
Prinoeas of Urbino has also been named, though with no certain proof, An- 
lonietta des Banx, wife of Oianfranceaco Goniaga. See VAreK Stor. deW 
ArU, XL, ISS. 

* The translator has heve omitted a meaningless, or at best a fsntastie, 
sentenee : '* There is a marble niohe more living than if it were of bone.** 

^ Oarlo di Gregorio Mannppini, who died about 1465, was Secretary to the 
Florentine RepnUio. This tomb is a marked contrast to the Bmni tomb, 
whioh is opposite it. The work of Desiderio is less grare and dassical, but 
is spontaneous, orighial, and unusual Owing to the symmetrical disposition 
■nd the deUoaoy of the work, the monument does not appear overloaded, al- 
thoog^ nearfy every portion of it is filled with ornament Altogether it is 
one of the two or three most beautiful tombs in Tuscany. Speaking of it H 
HOnts says : ** Here one sees the popU of Donatello less universal than bis 
msiler, bat more chastened, sometimet more sobtle, and with move of mor^ 



130 DESIDEKIO DA SETTIGNANO 

and on a medallion is the effigy of Onr Lady in basso-rilieyo, 
treated after the manner of Donato, and finished with great 
judgment as well as extraordinary grace. These qualities 
are likewise to be remarked in many other bassi-rilievi in 
marble by Desiderio, some of which are in the guardaroba 
of the lord Duke Gosimo^ more particularly a medallion 
with the head of Jesus Christy and that of John the Baptist, 
as a child. ^^ At the foot of Messer Carious tomb, Desiderio 
laid a large stone to the memory of Messer Giorgio, ^^ a re- 
nowned doctor and legist, who was secretary to the Signoria 
of Florence, with a basso-rilievo, which is very beautiful, 
and wherein is the portrait of Messer Giorgio, clothed in the 
robes of a doctor, according to the fashion of .that time. 

Had not death so prematurely deprived the world of that 
powerful mind which thus laboured with such admirable 
effect, Desiderio would, without doubt, have profited to such 
extent by the experience of the future, as to have surpassed 
all others, as much in knowledge of art as he did in grace. 
But the thread of his life was cut short at the age of twenty- 
eight,^^ to the deep grief of all those who had hoped to be- 

" This work U lost. 

14 This slab still exists, bat is mnch injnxed by the feet of pMsers. Bioha 
copied the now illegible insciiption ; it proved this Marsappini to be Gregorio, 
not GiorgiOf and secretary, not of the Florentine Signoria, but of Charles VL, 
king of France. See Milanesi. 

>* Desiderio died, aged thirty-six, January I61, 1464, and was boned in San 
Piero Maggiore. He left a statue of a Penitent Magdalen partially completed. 
It was finished by Benedetto of Majano, and is in the Santa Trinith. A atiac- 
ciato relief of the Madonna and Child in the Via Cavoor at Florence is attrib- 
uted to Desiderio. H. von Tsohudi, in DonateUo € la Orltiea Modemii, has 
claimed for Desiderio several children's busts, including the famous Laughing 
Child of the Ifiller collection. 11 MOnts ( J>f Primitift) cannot admit this 
last attribution, considering that the frankness of the expression and sureness 
of handling could only hare come from Donatella This objection seems a 
fair one, nevertheless there is a something in the Laughing Child which is 
very suggestive of Desiderio, and which seems like the supreme expression of 
just what Desiderio most admired in DonateUo, and best aMimilated, adding a 
refinement, a certain pr^d^wx quality of his own not found in the greater 
master*s work. The Museo Borromeo at Milan contains a hu9tino which re- 
semUes the children*s busts in the Vanchettoni church of Florence, and if the 
latter are by Desiderio, as has been suggested, the Borromeo bust may be also 



DESIDERIO DA SETTIGKAKO 131 

hold the perfection^ to which snch a genius would hare at* 
tained in its maturity, and who were more than dismayed by 
so great a loss. He was followed by his relations and nu- 
merous friends to the church of the Serrites ; and on his 
tomb there continued for a long time to be placed epigrams 
and sonnets, from the number of which it shall suffice me 
to insert the following : — 

Gome ffide natttra 
Bar Deiiderio aifredcH marmi ffita, 
Epoter la scuUura 

Agguagliar $ua beUezza abna e tt^imta^ 
Si/ermd sbigoUita 

Edi^e; omai sard nUa gloria ctcura. 
E plena cT alto sdegno 
Troned la vita a con bell^ ingegno 
Ma in van^ peixhi costui 
DU vita etema ai marmi, e i marmi a ltd. 

The works of Desiderio were performed about the year 1485. 
He left the sketched figure of a Magdalene in penitence, 
which was finished at a later period by Benedetto da Maiano, 
and is now in the church of Santa Triniti at Florence, on 
the right as you enter the church. This figure is beautiful 
beyond the power of words to express. In our book are 
certain drawings by Desiderio," which are yery fine ; his 

Indladed among his worka See 6. Frizzoni, VAreh. Stor,^ UL , 849. Signer 
Umberto RoMi, VArch, Stor.^ VI. {tt Mmeo Naziondle di Firenze nel 2Vi. 
€finio, 18S9-1S91), gires a reproduction (p. 15) of a bronze bead of a child 
in the Bargello which he attributes to Desiderio. There is in the Berlin 
Museum a bust of a child accredited by Dr. Bode to Desiderio, .which was 
bought originally by Herr Semper from the Barberini palaoe, went thence to 
Vienna, and lastly to Berlin. 

1* Had Desiderio left nothing but the Martuppini tomb he would hare been 
fkmous. Perhaps no sculptor ever succeeded in making a monument so in- 
tensely rich and yet avoided giving any sense of overloaded ornament. Taste 
and refinement are the words which come first to the mind in describing it, 
but behind these two qualities is a delicate individuality which surpasses both. 
The tomb of Maxsuppini will always be accounted among the. glorious produc- 
tions of the Renaissance, and as a title of immortality to the young sculptor, 
whose remaining works are so few. He was pre-eminently fitted to be a 



133 D£8ID£RI0 DA BSTTIOXAKO 

portrait I have obtained from some of his connectiong in 
Settignano. 

■oholar of DooatellOf for he wm capable at onoe of appcadatiiig DonateDo^b 
■trength and hk iweetneeB, ^hoae ohazaotorUtiot of the maater which are ie«B 
in his putti of the Ptato pnlpit, the Sieneae font and the Santa Croce Annnn- 
ciation. Desiderio*! children liaye not the robnatneet of D on ate H o^a, aome of 
them are ahnoet fragile ; the artist is already following the current of the fif- 
teenth-century sculpture, which set in the direction of grace and tendemesa, 
bat he BtUl preserves his own strong individoalitj, and therein he stands 
higher than do any of the eclectics who immediately surrounded him. He 
seems an exemplification of one side of Donatello^s talent spiritualised and 
refined into less of strength and more of sweetness, a sweetness, howtver, 
which is wholly sane and healthy. M. Mtknta {Lm PrimUift) calla him ''the 
moattpirituel of the second generation of Florentine sculptOEa, tha beat «i- 
dowed of those who followed the manner of DonataUob** 



MDfO DA PIE80LB, SCULPTOR* 

[Born 1481 ; diod 1481] 

BiBUOGBAFHT.— D. OnoH, Ia 0p9r€ di JUno da FUtoU in Bema^ in L*Ar» 
MlviOi8toHco<l<a*^r<«,n.,456; m.,8Q,175,Sd5a»4a4. D. Gnott, JHoMfm- 
Mioiu dei numwnento del OardinaU FbrUguerri, di Mino da FUmUe^ in L*Ar* 
ehi9io Starico delP Arte, IV., 90a Bateo-raietfi di Mino da FieeoUy article 
by Adolfo Yentnri in VArehinio Starico delT Arte, L, 4ia H. Ton Ttehndi, 
Iku Oo^fetiion^B Tabemakel Statue IV, in & FeUr m Itom, Jahrbwh 
£P.&,VIIL,1. Vr, Bode, mno da FieeoU, in ihib D6tan» UKim Qt Kmnet 
und Sinetler dee MiUaUer$ und der Ifeuteit, 

WHEN artists seek no more^ in the works they pro- 
dace^ than to imitate their masters, or some other 
eminent person, whose manner may please them, 
in the attitudes of their fignres, the air ot their heads, or 
the folds of their draperies, and confine themselves to the 

I Ifino di GioTUini di Mino wm bom aboat 1490, 1481 (a misprint in Q§,y 
makea it 1400). He ia registered in m book of the master-carrcn in atone and 
wood aa m natire of Poppi in the Casentino, Jitnue Jbhannte JUni de Pypio 
[Poppi], matricnlated July 28, 1404. Mllanesi aoeepts thia entry and eoo- 
aiders him aa Mino dn Poppi and not dn Fieaole, bat another book, the one 
oaUed U roeeo, the red book, belonging to the same art guild, qpeaka of him 
aa Mino dn Fieaole. Bee Milanesi, HI, p. 110, note St. EUg. Domenioo 
GnoU, in an important aeriea of artides, Le Opere di Mino da FteeoU in 
Roma, published in the Asr^Utio Storieo deW Arte, has nearly doobled oar 
knowledge of this sculptor. He has eetabliahed the facts, firrt, that Borne 
was the real theatre of Minors aoUvity ; second, thai fifteenth-oentory work 
in Borne was abnost ignored by Vasari, the latter failing to eren reoocd works 
wiiioh he wonld have celebrated with high praise had they been in Fhnenoe ; 
third, he has proved by examination, analysis, and photographic repiodnotion 
that many Boman works denied to Mino by Perkins are his, wholly or in pari 
Big. GdoU, in speaking of the Tuscan neglect of Boman fifteenth-century woik, 
notes the &ot that tradition regarding art work ia presenred in the famillea 
of the artists who exeonte and of the patrons who order it; bat that in Borne 
the artists were bat transient, and did not settle with their families in the 
city, while the patnms, being ohorclmien, celibates, and only eleotiTe princes, 
were also transient and had no families. In addition to thia the pomp and 
splendor of the sixteenth and seyenteenth centariea in Borne hare eaoaed the 
eligant bat more simple work of the fifteenth eentaiy to be fui go lte a. 



134 MINO DA FIESOLB 

stadying of these particulars ; although with time and la- 
bour^ they may execute works similar to those they admire^ 
yet they never attain^ by these means alone^ to the perfec- 
tion of their art^ since it is obvious that he rarely presses 
forward who is content to follow behind.' And the imita- 
tion of Nature herself is at an end for that artist whom 
long practice has confirmed in the manner he has adopted : 
for as imitation is the fixed art of representing exactly what 
you desire to copy^ so it is a very fine things provided that 
you take pure Nature only for your guide^ without the in- 
tervention of your master's manner^ or that of others, who 
have also reduced to a manner what they first took from 
Nature : seeing that^ however truthful and natural the 
works of any master may appear^ it is not possible that 
with all his diligence, he can make it such as that it shall be 
equal to Nature herself, nay, even though he select the beet 
parts^ he can never set them together into a body of such 
perfection as to 'make Art outstrip Nature. Then, if this 
be so, it follows, that objects taken directly from Nature 
are alone calculated to make painting and sculpture per- 
fect, and that he who studies artists only, and not bodies 
and things natural, must of necessity have his works in- 
ferior to the reality, nay, less excellent than those of the 
master from whom he takes his manner. Accordingly^ it 
has happened to many of our artists, that not having stud- 
ied anything but the manner of their masters, and having 
thus left Nature out of view, they have failed to acquire 
any knowledge of her, neither have they got beyond the 
master they have imitated, but have done great wrong to 
their own genius. Whereas, if they had studied the man- 
ner of their masters and natural objects at the same time, 
they would have produced more effectual fruits than they 
have now done. An instance of this may be seen in the 
works of the sculptor, Mino da Fiesole, who, possessing 
genius whereby he might have accomplished whatever he 
had chosen to attempt was yet so enamoured of the manner 

* Thia is a laying of MiohaUngelo*!. 



MINO DA FIESOLB 136 

of his master^ Desiderio da Settignano/ that the grace im- 
parted by that artist to his heads of women^ to his boys^ 
and to all other figures executed by him^ appeared to Mino 
something saperior to Nature herself ; insomuch that^ sole- 
ly occupied in following his master, he abandoned the study 
of natural objects as superfluous, whence he became rather 
graceful in manner than solidly based in art. 

It was on the hill of Fiesole, a most ancient city, now in 
decay, near to Florence, that the sculptor, Mino di Giovanni 
was born : and he, being placed as a stone-cutter with Desi- 
derio da Settignano, a young sculptor of great excellence, 
displayed much attachment to his calling ; and while occu- 
pied with the squaring of stones, he acquired the art of 
imitating in terra the works executed by Desiderio in 
marble. These he copied so closely, that his master seeing 
him likely to make progress in art, took pains to bring him 
forward, and set him to execute certain parts of the sculpt- 
ures in marble on which he was himself engaged. Thus 
employed, Mino gave the most earnest attention to his work, 
keeping carefully close to the sketch before him ; nor had 
any long time elapsed before he attained to considerable 
proficiency. This pleased Desiderio greatly, but still more 
entirely was Mino satisfied with the great kindness of his 
master, whom he found always ready to instruct him how 
best to avoid the errors into which those who exercise that 
art are liable to fall. When Mino was thus entering on the 
path to excellence in his profession, his evil fortune would 
have it that Desiderio should depart to a better life ; and 
this loss was so great a calamity to Mino, that, full of de- 
spair, he departed from Florence, like one desperate, and 
repaired to Rome. In that city he became assistant to the 

* Ai li5 WM only two or three years younger than Desiderio, it is unlikely 
that lie was the latter*8 pupil. A bust of Nicoolo Strozzi in Berlin, dated 
1464, is Minors earliest work, if genuine, as claimed in Berlin. It is signed 
Nino, not Mino, and Sig. Gnoli doubts its authenticity, since the next work of 
Mino, in point of date, the Rinaldo della Luna (Bargello), is of 1461. Sig. 
Gnoli, howerer, says that he knows the work only by reproductions, and Dr. 
Bode belieres in its authenticity. 



130 MINO DA FIB80LB 

masters who were then occupied with different works 
in marble (tombs of cardinals and other things), for the 
church of San Pietro, bat which in the erection of the new 
fabric, have now been destroyed. Mino soon became known 
as an able and experienced artist, and he was engaged by 
the Cardinal Guglielmo Destovilla/ whom his manner great- 
ly pleased, to constract the marble altar in the church of 
Santa Maria Maggiore, beneath which repose the remains 
of San Oirolamo (St. Jerome.) This he decorated with sto- 
ries in basso-rilieyo, the subjects being events in the life of 
the Saint, a work which he conducted to great perfection, 
adding the portrait of the cardinal taken from the life.' 
Pope Paul II., a Venetian, was at this time erecting his 



* D*HirtoateiriU0, ntiher. Ourdinal Montalto, afterward Bixtiu Y., demol- 
iahed thfa alUr of Baa Girolamo, aad liGno's aoiilpfcarea diaappeared ; lately, 
in opening the Oorao Yittorio Bmmannele, some reUefs were foond, and bavinf 
been taken to the Mnaeo Indnstriale were identified by Big. Adolfo Yoitari aa 
from the S. Girolamo altar. They are in Tery low relief and are inferior 
works. Yasari mentions the altar, but forgets the eiborium in the same ohozoh, 
one of the most important wocks of Mino. It was broken to pieoea, bat all the 
fngments, inolnding the sixteen tondi^ are stiUpfeserred, ezoept the four angle 
st a t aes , whioh, inoredible as it appears, were sold in 1873 to a Roman mer- 
ehant for one hundred and twenty-five francs apieoe. The large relief are 
stiB in the apse of the ehnrch, the other sonlptaree are in the anla capUolart^ 
near the sacristy. Big. GnoU thinks that this eUHMHum wonld have been 
famons if in Florence ; he gives a repcodnotion of a reconstruction of it, 
VArcK 8tar.^ YoL IIL, p. IK), and of the Madonna from the same on p. 92. 
Tbe Madonnas of the eiborium had round faces and fuU throats (unlike )flno*s 
other statues of women) in order that they might resemble the rerered 
Madonna of the basilica, painted, according to the tradition of the place, by 
St. Luke. Sig. Gnoli assigns the date 1468-64 to the dborium, 

• The monument of Cardinal Niccolo Forteguerri in 8. Cecilia in Trasterwe, 
eceeted in 1478-1480, is, says Sig. Gnoli, the true brother [ftoUUo camaU) of 
the Badia monument of Florence. Some angels upon it, and the Sainta Nio- 
oolo and Cecilia, are not by the hand of Mino. Sig. GnoU found its columns 
in the subterranean vaulta of the church, and the Minister of Public Instruo- 
tioa baa, at the suggestion of the finder, had the monument set up, thus ao- 
ccmpUshing, says Sig. Gnoli, the first reconstruction in Rome of a tma 
Benaissasoe monument, the only one in the city, " di tipo prettomenU Fiortt^ 
«fi/>.** Yasari eridently did not know of this monument. See VArch, Stor,^ 
IIL, 909. Cardinal Forteguerri haa also an honmary tomb in Fistoja (set 
the lilb of Yenooohio). 



MINO DA FIB80LB 137 

palace of San Marco/ and employed Mino to execute certain 
armorial bearingB for its decoration. After the death of 
that Pontiff^ the commission for constructing his tomb was 
given to Mino, who erected it in San Pietro, where he com- 
pleted the whole in the space of two years. This tomb was 
at that time considered the most magnificent and most 
richly decorated sepulchre that had ever been erected to any 
Pontiff whatever ; it was cast down by Bramante in the de* 
molition of San Pietro, and remained buried amidst the 
rubbish for several years ; but in 1547, certain Venetians 
caused it to be reconstructed in the old building of San 
Pietro, against a wall near the chapel of Pope Innocent.* 
And although some believe that that tomb is by the hand of 
Mino del Reame, who lived about the same time * with Mino 
da Fiesole, it is without doubt by the latter. It is true that 
some of the small figures of the basement, which can be dis- 
tinguished from the rest, were executed by Mino del Beame, 
if, indeed, his name were Mino, and not Dino, as some aflbm 
that it was. But to return to our artist.' When he had 

*Ihl]ieohiiiQhol8anMarooareatabeniadeandiwordiefsbjMfaia Sig. 
Gnoli oooM&n th«t these formed an eiuernbU together with reUeft hj other 
bands, and giree a suggestion of a reoonstraetion (VAreh. Stor,^ IIL, p. 
371). He betieres from the eagle scnlptored npon it that the tabemadle waa 
ordered by Cardinal Agnifiio (Aqnihmo). 

^ Oommiaskmed by Marco Barbo, CSardinal San Maroo, and patriareh ol 
AqnUeia (see Ifilanesi). It is now in the Orotte YatScanei Sig. GnoU bo- 
Beres thai the tomb of i^»pe PaalU was allotted to Ifino and Oioranni Dal- 
mata together. )fino*s share was two angels npon the saroophagos, a rdief of 
the Last Judgment, which is ]fino*s largest oomposition extant; the 
Temptation of Bre, the Evangelists Lnke and John, and figures of Faith and 
Oharit J. Ttkt Adam and Bre are Lost The aoeeoUt or lower portion of the 
monnment is in the Lonrre. A bnst of Pope Panl, attribnted hj Yasarl to 
YeUano (BeUano) of Padn% bat really by ICno, is reprodnoed in the VArth, 
i9tor.,VoLin., p.288. 

* Yasaii aajrs Sig. OnoU, prdbaUy confused this name of Mino del Beanie 
with PimIo Bomano, as the/rontoiM of the door to S. Oiaoomo degU Spag- 
nQoU in Borne bears two angels, one signed 0pu9 PoiiZi, the other Qpus 
MUd. This door dates from 1468, aooording to Sig. GnoU. 

*Ko trace remains of the benedictory pulpit of Pius U, while dooumentt 
amply prove its existenoe in 1448. On the other hand, » dborivm for Sixtna 
lY. is not mentioned by any documents, but stiU remains in a fragmentary 
•ondition in the Grotte Yatioane. Sig. OnoU beUeret thai the kat pnl^ 



138 MINO DA FIESOLB 

acquired a name in Borne by this tomb^ and by the sarooph* 
agns which he constracted in the church of the Minerra, 
for Francesco Tomabnoni/* whose statue is marble, after 
the life, and considered an admirable work, he placed upon 
it." After these and other works had secured him an es- 
teemed name I say, he returned to Fiesole with but short 
delay, bearing thither a tolerable amount of money which 
he had saved, and there he took a wife. No long time after 
that, he was employed by the Nuns of the Murate to con- 
struct a marble tabernacle, decorated in mezzo-rilieyo, for 
the sacrament, a work which he conducted to perfection 
with all the diligence of which he was capable." He had 
not yet fixed the tabernacle into its place, when the Nuns 
of Sant' Ambruogio (who desired to haye an ornament of 
similar construction, but more richly adorned, to contain 
the Miracle of the Sacrament), having heard the ability of 
Mino greatly extolled, invited him to execute that work ; *• 

WM atilized for the makiiig of this eiborium. There are twelre Apostles re- 
maining, three of which are by Mino, while another ii partially by him ; oer* 
tain other figares are by Giovanni Dalmata. 

1* The Tomabnoni tomb was Mino*B last work in Rome. 

11 Aooording to Perkins (Tuscan Soolptors, Vol I., p. 118) this tomb of 
Tomabaoni, as weU as the tombs of Bishop Piccolomini in the cloister of 
a Agostino, of Biario in the SS. Apostoli, of the SaTelli in the Araooeli, 
the Borgia altar in S. M. del Popolo, and other sonlptnres attribnted to Mino 
in the Lateraa and the Minerva, are not by Mino, bat by imitators of his 
style, his only weU-aothenticated work in Rome being the tabemade of Banta 
Maria in Tzastevera Sig. GnoU has in part dispzoyed these statements of 
Perkins, and by analysis and careful examination has shown that some of 
these works are wholly or partially by Mina See preceding notes. Thos on 
the tomb of Cardinal Pietro Riario {circa 1475), in the church of the SS. 
Apostli, Rome, the Madonna is, according to Sig. Onoli, by Mino. In the 
monument of Cardinal Ammanati (died 1479), in the Chiostro Verde di Sant* 
Agostino (now Ministry of the Marine), only the upper part of the monument is 
by Mino, and in spite of Herr von Tschudi^s dictum, Sig. GnoU gives only the 
Madonna to Mino in the monument of Cardinal Cristoforo della Rovere, in 
Santa Maria del Popola The same may be said of Cardinal Ferrioci*s tomb 
(1478), in the cloister of the Minerva. The Archivio Storico, YoL IIL, 488, 
also reproduces a Madonna found lately in the hospital of San Giovanni in 
Laterano. 

>• Now in the chapel of the Novitiate, Santa Crooe. 

** In 1481 ; it is stiU in place. It commemorates the following minusle : A 



MINO DA FIBSOLE 139 

and the master completed it with so mnch care^ that the 
THuna, highly satisfied with his labours, gave him all that he 
demanded as the price thereof. A short time after this, he 
nndertook, at the instance of Messer Dietisalvi Neroni, to 
prepare a picture in mezzo-rilieyo/* the subject of which is 
Oar Lady with the Child in her arms, having San Lorenzo 
on one side, and San Lionardo on the other ; this was in- 
tended for the priests of the chapter of San Lorenzo, but 
has remained, in the sacristy of the Abbey of Florence. For 
the same monks, Mino executed a medallion in marble, with 
Our Lady, in relief, holding the Divine Child in her arms ; 
this they placed over the principal door of entrance into 
the church ; '* and as it gave universal satisfaction, the artist 
received a commission for the erection of a sepulchral monu- 
ment to the illustrious cavalier, Messer Bernardo de' Oiugni, 
who, having been a most honourable person, and very 
highly esteemed, had merited and received that memorial 
from his brethren. In this work, to say nothing of the 
sarcophagus, and the portrait of Messer Bernardo, taken 
from nature, which the artist placed on it, there is a figure 
of Justice, which is veiy much after the manner of De- 
siderio, but the draperies are wanting in grace, and are 
rendered somewhat common-place by the mode of handling. 
This monument caused the abbot and monks of the Abbey 
of Florence, in which building it was erected, to entrust 
Mino with that of Count Ugo,** son of the Marquis TJberto 
di Madeborgo, who bequeathed large possessions to that 
Abbey, on which he also conferred many privileges. Where- 
fore, the Monks desiring to do him all possible honour, 
caused Mino to prepare a sepulchral monument in marble 

inrieit haring neglected to dean the ohalioe after maes found dots of blood 
in it the next day. 

*< It was exeoated in 1470, and is in a chapel off the olobter. 

"This work is still in place. 

1* See the ntory in Malespina, Hi$t. di FXrenze, pp. 87, 88. dgo is mentioned 
in the Paradito^ canto xvi. liilanesi cites the books of the Badia to the 
effect that the tomb was ordered in 14(S9, and that a final payment t/QX 
late additions to the monmnent was made in 1481, 



140 MINO DA FIESOLE 

of Garrara^ which was the most beautifal work ever per- 
formed by this master. There are certain boys^ for example, 
by whom the arms of the Goont are borne, and whose atti- 
tndes have much spirit, with a childish grace, which is very 
pleasing. On the sarcophagos, is the statne of the dead 
Goant," and on the wall, above the bier, is the figure of 
Gharity, with children, well grouped and very carefully 
finished. The same may be remarked of a Madonna, in a 
half-circle, with the Child in her arms, in which Mino has 
imitated the manner of Desiderio, to the utmost of his 
power : and if he had improved his mode of proceeding by 
reference to the life, there is no doubt that he would have 
attained great proficiency in art. This monument, with 
all its consequent expenses, cost 1600 livres ; it was finished 
in 1481 ; and the artist derived great credit from his work, 
which was, besides, the cause of his obtaining the commission 
for constructing another funereal monument, in a chapel 
in the Episcopal Church of Fiesole, near the principal 
chapel, and on the right hand, in ascending to the high altar. 
This was to the memory of the Bishop Lionardo Salutati, 
Suffragan of that see ; and Mino here represented ** the Pre- 
late himself in his episcopal robes : a portrait from the life, 

IT This monnmeni, raised in oommemoratioii of Count Ugo of TatoMiy (Mt 
note 1, p. 164, Ln Primneurt de la Renaiuanee^ bj 11 Bog. MOntB, ■bowing 
tbftt tbe inscription on Count Ugo*s monument contains in tbe H. IC H. N. 8. — 
Hoc monumerUum hteredes non sequUitr—^ curious and wbolly nnneoesstfjr 
imitation of tbe Roman lapidary style), bas faults of detail, stiffhess, and ex- 
aggeration, but in its general effect is so exquisite tbat it ranks among tbo Texy 
foremost of Tuscan tombs. 

i« Count ngo*s monument postdates tbat of Salutati, and tberefove could 
not baye been fcbe occasion of its commission. Tbe latter monument was 
ordered about tbe year 1462, in Salntati*s lifetime. It is beautiful in arobi- 
teotonic ordering, and tbe bust of tbe bisbop is astonisbingly obaraoteriaed, 
but certainly lacks subtlety of modelling, altbougb bigbly finisbed as to polish. 
Tbe praise wbicb bas been lavisbed on tbe figures of tbe altar-piece opposite 
it appears excessive, at least as to tbe beads, wbicb altbougb in some cases 
obarming are in others lacking in any expression wbatcTcr. Tbis altar-pisoe 
has tbe Madonna and Child, with an infant Saint John, and at bsr aides Saints 
Bemigius and Leonard ; it is not mentioned by Yasari Mino here, as im maaj 
other oases, m«d« ft considerable use of gilding upon ths maKfale. 



MINO DA FIESOLB 141 

which was as close a resemblance as could possibljf be im- 
agined. For the same Bishop^ our artist executed a bust 
of the Sayiour^ in marble, the size of life, a very well- 
finished work, which was left among other bequests to the 
Hospital of the Innocenti/' and is now in the possession of 
the Very Beverend Don Yincenzo Borghini, Prior of that 
house, who esteems it among the most precious specimens of 
those arts ; wherein he takes more pleasure than I could 
BufBciently express. 

In the Capitular church of Prato, Mino constructed a 
pulpit entirely of marble ; the ornaments are stories from 
the life of the Virgin, the whole admirably well done,* and 
the joinings are effected with so much care, that the work 
appears to be entirely of one piece.* Over the pulpit, at 
one side of the choir, and almost in the centre of the church, 
are certain ornaments, also executed under the care of the 
same master. He likewise took the portrait of Piero di 
Lorenzo de' Medici, with that of his wife, both from nature, 
and presenting an exact resemblance to the originals. These 
two busts stood for many years over two doors in the cham- 
ber of Piero, in the Medici palace, within lunettes ; they 
were however afterwards placed, with the likenesses of many 
other illustrious persons of that house, in the guardaroba of 
the Lord Duke Oosimo.*^ 

The figure of Our Lady in marble, now in the audience- 
chamber of the Quild of Manufacturers, is also by the hand 
of Mino,® who likewise sent a work in marble to Perugia for 
Messer Baglione Bibi. This was placed in the chapel of the 

>* Milanesi belieyeii this to be a bast kept provisionally in the miueiim of 
the hospital of the InnooeiitL Dr. Bode feels sure that the bust of Niooolo 
Stroszi, signed opus ninx {tic) 1454, in the Berlin Miisenm, is by Hino, and 
also attributes to him a bust of a yoong girl and a tondo of the Madonna and 
Child in the same moseum. See note 8. 

«• In 1478. 

*i This pulpit was sculptured by Mino and by Antonio di Matteo Roasellino, 
who did the stories of the Assumption, St. Stephen Disputing, and his Mar* 
tyrdom. To Mino belong the two stpriea from th9 lif9 of the Baptiai 

** Now in the Bargello. 

9* This work is los^ 



142 MINO DA FIESOLB 

Sacrament, in the church of San Piero, and presentB a Tab* 
emacle, with figures of San Oiovanni on one side, and San 
Oirolamo (St. Jerome) on the other, both yery well executed 
in mezzo-rilieyo.'* The Tabernacle of the Sacrament, in 
the cathedral of Volterra, is also by this master, and two 
Angels standing one on each side of it are so well and care- 
fully done, that this work has been deservedly extolled by 
all artists.* Finally, desiring one day to more certain 
stones, and not having the needful assistance at hand, Mino 
fatigued himself too violently, insomuch that an inflamma> 
tory disease ensued which caused his death. This took place 
in the year I486,* when the artist was honourably interred 
by his relations and friends in the Ganonicate of Fiesole." 

M still in the oharoh. 

** Now in the Bftptisterj. 

•• He died July 11, 1484, And WM hnried in SMir Ambfogio. IhailMiAiB 
Campo a tombstone bears the Mino anns. See Milaned. 

^ Among the works bj Mino are the basU of Piero de Medid, U Ocitom, 
1454; oCRinaldodella Lima, 1461 ; of Diotisalri Neroni, 1464, and profile headf 
of Giangaleazso Sf orza and Federigo d*Urbino ; of the two latter Milaneai.njB 
** attributed.** There is a 8. Oiovannino bast in tlie LonTre, also two «n ft>Kif 
slabs in the Renaissanoe Mnsenm, Nos. 26, 27. The bast of Isotta da Bi- 
mini, in the Gampo Santo of Pisa, is otherwise attributed by Dc Bode. 

** Serious analysis of the works of the old masters is oomparatiTe|y modeca, 
and in many oase s an unoritioal admiration has been aooorded eren to the do- 
foots of great artists, for it is often the oase that the weak points of a master 
are the first to oatoh the attention of the untrained, who aie rather spoo- 
tators than obserreis. The spectator, knowing that be is in the prosonoe of a 
great artist, holds all the qualities of the latter to be great simply beoaoae 
they are his, and emphasises most those eharaoteristios which he notioeo fint 
Thus Mino has been set down as a great sculptor of the figure, notable at onoe 
for deep sentiment and wonderful finish. In reality he is one of the most lo- 
madcable artists of the Renaissance, bat it is not as a soulptor of the figure 
but as a composer, sn arranger, a master of architectonic combinations that 
we may count him among the foremoel Some of his busts are immensely 
strong in character and are thereby fine works of art, but he is not a master of 
subtle modelling, and his so-called high finish, idiioh has been so greatly 
praised, is rather high polish of the marUe, a Tory different thing from reid 
finiih of execution. He has created an indiTidual type with widely opened and 
somewhat protuberant eyes, and opened mouth as weU. The best of his angel 
heads are charming in sentiment, the poorest of them are inane in their lack 
of expression. His qualities of simplicity and sweetness haTO made him wtry 
fuaous, and are sure to be popular in any epoch; bat to place him on apar as a 






HIKO DA FIE80LS 143 

The portrait of Mino is among those in our book of draw- 
ings, but I do not know by whose hand ; it was given to me, 
with certain designs in black-lead, by himself, and which are 
tolerably good. 

■onlptor of the figure with his oontemporarieif Deiiderio, the BoMelUni, And 
Benedetto, b unoritioal. His tomb of Oount Ugo in the Badi* rmnki ftmoog 
the three or four finest in Tiiacany— that is to say in Italy— bat it is by its 
•flbot ss a whole that the monoment holds this high place. 

Mino had a way of handling the stone which is admirably characterised by 
Vasaii, in his description of the draperies in the Oiagni monomttit, as ^* un 
pocQ tritati daW inlaglio^^ and which gives a poor look, as thongh he had 
hacked the marble without exactly knowing what he proposed to do with it 
At other times his basts snrprise by their admirable force of expression. It is 
as a oomposer of monoments, and in his architectonic arrangements, that Mino 
is eminent This genins for disposition, together with a certain simple and 
penetrating charm, has enabled him to piodaoe some of the most beantiful of 



JACOPO, GIOVANNI, AND GENTILE BELLINI, 

VENETIAN PAINTERS 

[Bon drea 1400; died eirea 14^1] [Born 1428; died 1510.] [Bom circa 

14S0 ; died 1507.] 

BiBUOORAPHT. — Hermann Lttoke, Oiopanni Bellini, in the Dohme eeriee 
of Kumt und KUtutUr det MiUdaUert und der Neuxeit, P. G. Molmentif / 
pUiori Bdtini^ Nuova Antologia, XVL, tSrU IIL, number for July 10, 188a 
JL LnsiOk Duiegni topogrc^flci e picture dei BeUirU in PArchiifio SUnico delV 
AfU, L, 2m H. Ton Tiohndi, Die Pietd von OUwanni Bellini im Berliner 
Mueeum, Jahrhueh der K. P. JT., XIL, 4. P. MolmenU, Le origini deUa pit- 
tura Veneta^ Venioe, 1890. R Mfbitz, La colonne TModaeienne d Oonttanti" 
nopU d^aprh let pr^teftdue deseina de OentUe Bellini coneenie au Louore et d 
rieole de$ Beaux Arte, Bevue det etudes grecquee, Paris, 1888. L. Thuasne, 
Gentile BeUini et Sultan Mohammed IL; Notet sur le t^ur du peintre «e- 
nitien d Comtantinople (1479-1480), d'aprh let doeumenlt originaux en partie 
in^diU^ Paris, 1888. Oostansa Jooelyn Ffoulices, VEspotiziont delT Arte 
Veneta a Londra, UArehivio Storico deU^ Arte, January- April, 1895. En- 
gene Mttnis, Jacopo Bellini et la Renaissance dantVttalie Septentrionale, Oa* 
tette det Beaux Arte, October and November, 1884. Bernard Berenson, Vene- 
tian Painting, chiefly before Titian, at the Elxhibition of Venetian Art, the 
New Gallery, London, 1896. Bernard Berenson, Venetian Painters, New 
Toik, 1894. BraghiroUi, Carteggio di Ftabella d'Ette Gonzaga intomo ad un 
quadro di Gian, Bellino, extracted from VArchivio Veneto^ 1877. F. Wick- 
hoff, Repertorium far Kumtwittentehafl, 1883. P. Molmenti, VArt, 1880, 
L, 60. Sidney Oolvin, Skizxe fUr ein Gemalde im Bogenpalatt xu Venedig, 
Jahrhueh der K. P. S., XIH, p. 28. The most important late addition to 
onr knoTfdedge of the Bellini is the far greater plaoe which has been given to 
Jaoopo than had hitherto been accorded him. See Appendix, VoL IV. 

WHEN zealous efforts are supported by talent and rec- 
titude, though the beginning may appear lowly and 
poor, yet do they proceed constantly upward by grad- 
ual steps, never ceasing nor taking rest until they have 
finally attained the summit of distinction, as may be clearly 
seen in the poor and humble commencement of the Bellini 
family, and in the elevation to which it attained by the de« 
votion of its founders to the art of painting. 



JACOPO, GIOVAKKI, AND OENTILE BELLINI 146 

The Venetian artist, Jacopo Bellini/ was a disciple of 
Oentile da Fabriano, and a rival of that Domenico who 
taught the method of painting in oil to Andrea dal Cas- 
tagno ; but although he laboured very zealously to attain 
Bminence in his art, yet he neyer acquired any great reputa- 
tion in the same, until after the departure of the above- 
named Domenico from Venice.' But from that time for- 

> Jftoopo*8 name wis Jaoopo di Piero ; 1m wm known in Florenoe m Jaoopo 
dft VenMdftk 

* J«o(^ Bellini, m pupil of Gentile da Fabriano, accompanied him to 
Floienoe and paaaed tome time theie, learning much, thinks Mocelli, from 
Gentile and Piianella The ArohiTea of Florence, VoL OVL, carta yiii., teU 
na that Jaoopo, when with Gentile da Fabriano in Florence, came to fisticafla 
with another lad, who had thrown etonea into a court-yard where G^tile^i 
freshly painted panels had been set oat to dry. Jacopo, fearing private re- 
Tenge, took service on the Florentine galleys. The boy*s &mily had him som- 
moned to appear before a judge, but as he failed to do so he was fined, and 
when be nnsns p io i ously returned to Florence a year later, he was seized for 
eontempt and lodged in the Stinche prison. He compromised with his enemy 
and regained his liberty by public acts of penance, one of which con- 
sisted in marching bareheaded with a guard from the prison of the Stinche 
io the Baptistery of San Giovanni See H MOnts, in two articles in the Oa^ 
aette de$ Beaux Arts for October and November, 1884, pp. 346-434 ; Jacopo 
Bellini et la Benaiteance dam Pllalie Septentrtonale. He describes the ool- 
leetion of designs by Jacopo reeently acquired by the Louvre, and gives many 
reprodnetions of the drawinga He attributes to Jacopo as distinctive traits 
the enthnsiastio study of antiquity, on one hand, and on the other of perspec- 
tive, anatomy, and of physiognomy. He places him far above Squardone as a 
teacher, and credits him with considerable influence upon Mantegna. Mr. 
Bernard Berenson (Venetian Painters) mentions, besides Jacopo^s sketch- 
books of Psris and London, an Annunciation at Brescia (S. Alessandro) ; 
a Madonna at Lovere ; a Christ in Limbo, at Padua ; a Crucifixion in Verona, 
and three works in Venice : S. Giovanni Crisogono (in San Trovaso) ; a Cruci- 
fixion (in the Museo Correr), and a Madonna in the Academy. Sig. Molmenti, 
in his Carpaeeio eon Tempe et eon (Euvre (Venice, 1898), gives an abstract of 
the works of Jacopo Bellini. He states that in the Virgin and Child in the 
Academy, signed ** Opue lacopi Bellini Veneti^** the inscription is falsified and 
the picture itself does not appear to be by any one of the Bellini He also 
says that the catalogue of the gallery confounds this picture with one in the 
Tadini Palace at Lovere (see above), in the Province of Beigamo. The Mu- 
seum at Verona possesses a Christ on the Cross, signed with the name of Ja- 
eopa Tlie works in Sent* Antonio at Padua, in the house of Pietro Bembo at 
Padua, and in the Confraternity of St. John the Bvangelist at Venice, have all 
perished. Morelli, in his Italian Masters, says that the Annunciation in the 
«luireh of S, Alessandro at Bieaoia (see above), attributed to Fra AngeUoo^ 



146 JACOPO, GIOVANNI, AND GENTILE BELLINI 

ward, finding himself alone, and without a competitor who 
could equal him in that city, his fame and credit constantly 
increased, and he attained to such eminence as to be reputed 
the first in his profession : and the renown thus acquired 
was not only maintained in his house, but was much en- 
hanced by the circumstance that he had two sons, both de- 
cidedly inclined to the art, and each possessed of good abil- 
ity and fine genius. One of these was called Oiovanni, the 
other Oentile, a name which Jacopo gave him in memory of 
the tender affection bom to himself by Oentile da Fabriano, 
his master, who had been as a kind father to his youth. 
When these two sons therefore had attained the proper age, 
Jacopo himself instructed them carefully in the principles 
of design, but no long time elapsed before both greatly sur- 
passed their father ; who, rejoicing much thereat, encour- 
aged them constantly, telling them, that he desired to see 
them do as did the Tuscans, who were perpetually striying 
among themselves to carry off the palm of distinction by 
outstripping each other, and that so he would have Oiovanni 
surpass himself, while Oentile should vanquish them both, 
and so on successively. 

The first works by which Jacopo acquired fame were the 
portraits of Oiorgio Oomaro and of Oaterina, queen of Cy- 
press,* a picture which he sent to Verona,* and which repre- 
sented the Passion of Christ, with many figures, among 
which he depicted the portrait of himself ; and an historical 

and tlie Madonna in the Lochia Carrara GkUlery of Bergamo, wioo^ aaoribod 
to Gentile da Fabriano, both anggeet the manner of Jaoopo BeUini 

s This CatarinaComaro by Gentile, not Jaoopo, ia inthe EeterhasyOolleotion 
at Bnda-Peeth. See Morelli, Italian Maatera, Vol I, p. 266, Bngliah edition. 
The aame author thinka that the importance of Jaoopo BeUini aa an artist has 
only recently been proved, and that both Giovanni and GJentite owed mnch of 
their artiatic training to their father. Hia aketoh-book in the Britiah Mu- 
aenm, and the one recently acquired by the Louvre, ahow that Jaoopo waa an 
enthnsiaatio atndent of antiquity and an observer of nature. For reprodno- 
tiona from the aketch-book aee M. MUnts in the OautU det Beaux ArU^ Oc- 
tober and November, ISSi. 

« In the Life of liberate of Verona, Vaaari mentions the painting of the 
ohapel of San NiocoUiat Verona, by Jaoopo BeUini 



JAOOPO, GIOVANNI, AND GENTILE BELLINI 147 

picture representing the Miracle of the Gross, which is said 
to be in the Scv^la^ of San Qiovanni Evangelista ; all which, 
and many others, were executed by Jacopo, with the assist- 
ance of his sons.* The last-named picture was painted on 
canvas, as it is almost always the custom to do in that city, 
where they but rarely paint on wood of the maple or poplar, 
as is usual in other places. This wood, which grows for the 
most part along the banks of rivers or other waters, is very 
soft, and is excellent for painting on, because it holds very 
firmly when joined properly with suitable glue. But in 
Venice they do not paint on panel, or, if they use it occa- 
sionally, they take no other wood than that of the fir, whic& 
is most abundant in that city, being brought thither, along 
the river Adige, in large quantities from (Germany ; to say 
nothing of that Which also comes from Sclavonia. It is the 
custom, then, in Venice to paint very much on canvas, either 
because that material does not so readily split, is not liable 
to clefts, and does not suffer from the worm, or because pict- 
ures on canvas may be made of such size as is desired, and 
can also be conveniently sent whithersoever the owner 
pleases, with little cost and trouble. Be the cause what it 
may, the first works of Jacopo and Oentile were on cloth, as 
we have said ; and afterwards Oentile, without any assist- 
ance, added seven or eight pictures^ to that story of the 
Miracle of the Gross of which mention has been made above. 



* By the word Seuola we axe not to necessarily understand a place of educa- 
tion. A Seuola was rather the head-quarters of a confraternity, or society. 
Sig. Molmenti (7 PUtoH BeUini, Nuova Antologia, Vol. XVL, Third Series, 
July 10, 1888) gives the contracts between the school of San Marco and Jacopo, 
Qiovanni, and GentUe for pictures, among others for a large one, probably the 
Preaching of S. Mark. 

* The portraits snd the Passion of Christ have disappeared. Three of the 
compositions painted by Oentile Bellini for the Brotherhood of St John re- 
main, and are now in the Academy at Venice. The subjects are : A Miracle 
Performed by the True Cross (executed before 1494) ; aProoewion of the True 
Cross (1496), and the Recovery of the True Cross (1500). 

V Acoording to Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle, History of Painting in North 
Italy, I., 199, Grentile painted three ; Carpacoio, one ; Mansueti, two ; Dianas 
one, and LaBUZo Sebastiani, one. 



148 JAOOPO, GIOVANNI, AND G£KTILB BBLUKI 

In these works Gentile delineated the miracle performed 
in respect of the true cross of Christ,* a piece of which the 
Scuola, or Brotherhood, above named, preserved as a relic, 
and which miracle took place as follows. The cross was 
thrown, I know not by what chance, from the Ponte della 
Paglia into the canal ; when many persons, from the rever- 
ence which they bore to the piece of the true cross of Jesus 
Christ contained within it, threw themselves into the water 
to get it out. But it was the will of Ood that none should 
be found worthy to take it thence, save only the Principal or 
Ouardian of the said Brotherhood. (Gentile, therefore, 
representing this story, delineated in perspective several 
houses situated along the Qrand Canal, showing the Ponte 
della Paglia, and the Piazza di San Marco, with a long pro- 
cession of men and women who are walking behind the 
clergy. Many persons have cast themselves into the water, 
others are in the act of throwing themselves in, some are 
half -immersed, and others are in other positions, but all in 
very fine attitudes : finally, the artist depicted the Ouardian 
Hbove-named, who recovers the cross. The labour and pains 
bestowed on this work were very great, as is manifest when 
we consider the vast number of figures, the many portraits 
taken from the life, the diminution of the figures receding 
into the distance, and the likenesses more particularly of 
almost all the men who then belonged to that Scuola, or 
company. The master has likewise represented the Be- 
placing of the Cross : and all these pictures, painted on 
canvas, as before related, brought Gentile very great repu« 
tation.* 

* The piotnre of this mizade ii in the Venetbui Academy. It is mott inter- 
eeting, though in some respeote rather groteiqne ; lee the ■wimming, or, rathec, 
miraoaloaily floating, figuxe of Vendramin, who has reoovered the relie. Tbm 
kneeling figures at the sides of the oanal have famished much material for th« 
stndents of fifteenth-oentnry ooatome, and the background shows how little 
the smaller canals of Venice have changed in appearance sinoe the days of 
BeUinL 

* Also in the Academy at Venice. In these paintings of Gentile Bellini (aa 
also in those of Oarpacoio) we have almost for the first time pictures in which 
the architectural setting to a subject is so realistioally and oocreotlj dnwa 



JAOOl^O, OIOVAKNI, AND GlCNl'ILB BXLlIKX 149 

In the coarse of time Jacopo withdrew himself entirely 
from his previous association with his children, and gave his 
attention, as did his two sons on their part, each separately 
to his own works. Of Jacopo I will make no farther men- 
tion, because his paintings, when compared with those of his 
sons, were not extraordinary, and no long time after he had 
withdrawn himself from his sons, he died ; but I will not 
omit to say that, although the brothers separated, and each 
lived alone, yet they had so much affection for each other, 
and both held their father in so much reverence, that each, 
constantly extolling the other, attributed inferior merit only 
to himself, and thus modestly sought to emulate each other 
no less in gentleness and courtesy than in the excellences of 
art. 

The first works of Oiovanni Bellini were certain portraits ^ 
from the life, which gave great satisfaction, more especially 
that of the Doge Loredano ; but this is said by some to be 
the likeness of Oiovanni Mozzenigo, brother of that Piero 
Mozzenigo who had been Doge long before Loredano.^ 

iliat it beoomet a complete and satiifaotory docnment. In the miniatoree of 
manoBoripUf proportion and scale were always ridicukmely nnreaeonable, and 
mnch imagination as weU as common-sense was required in malring a recon- 
■tmotion from such pictures. Bven here there are undoubtedly enrcfs of 
scale, but, on the whole, we see the Piazza of San Marco just as Gentfle, a 
caxeful, conscientious draughtsman, saw it, while for the history of the ancient 
faf€tde of the church the picture furnishes iuTaluable memoranda. 

!• Giovanni^s early pictures and those of Andrea Mantcgna have been some- 
timea confounded, as the latter painter had great influence on his brother-in- 
law QioTanni, and was, in turn, much influenced by Bellini It is hard to 
OTcr-ostimate the importance of the relationship by marriage, which threw to- 
gether the two greatest painters of North Italy in the fifteenth century, and 
the reaction upon each other of these two profoundly earnest natures. See in 
the National Gallery of London the same subject of Ohrist in the Garden 
treated by the two masters, and see still more especially some of the hooded 
Madonnas of either painter. 

11 Thia fine portrait is in the National GMlery, London. Loredano was 
the sizty-aeTenth Doge ; he held office from 1501 to 1501. A picture in the 
Museo Ooxrer {Fondaco dei TStrchi) at Venice is said to be that of GioTanxd 
Mosxenigo^ or rather Mocenigo (1478-85), by BellinL The portrait of Lora* 
dano is not an early work of Giovanni, as Vasari would imply. See Dr. Rioh- 
ter's Italian Art in the National Gallery, pp. 78-80, lor a description of BeUinfa 
pictures there. 



150 JAOOPO, OtOVAKKt, AND OSHTILB BRLLIHI 

At a later period Oioyanni Bellini painted a picture for 
the altar of Santa Caterina of Siena, in the chnrch of San 
OioTanni ; in this, which is of a rather large size, he repre- 
sented Onr Lady seated with the Child in her arms, she is 
accompanied by St. Domenick, St. Jerome, St. Catherine, 
St. Ursula, and two other virgin saints : three rery beantifal 
boys are standing at the feet of Onr Lady, singing from a 
book, and above the figures is depicted the termination of 
the vaulted ceiling of the building, which is extremely wdl 
done ; the whole work was considered to be am<mg the best 
that had then been executed in Venice.^ Li the church of 
Sant' lobbe (Job), the same master painted a picture for the 
altar of that saint, of which the drawing is very good, and 
the colouring beautiful. The subject is Our Lady seated in 
a somewhat elevated position, with the Child in her arms. 
Undraped figures of Sanf lobbe, and San Bastiano (Se* 
bastian) are beside her, with San Domenico, San Francesoo, 
San Oiovanni, and Sant^ Agostino, near them ; beneath are 
three boys playing musical instruments with much grace of 
attitude." This picture was highly praised, not only when 
it was first seen, but has in like manner been extolled ever 
since as an extremely beautiful work. 

Moved by these most praiseworthy performances, certain 

*• Vcniee has been peeoliaily imfQrtimaie m to Siet fai ehmohee And pal- 
•eee. Thii fMiioQs piotnre wm burned, Angnsi 16, 1887, whh Tttiaa*! Ftlw 
UMxiyr, 

» The bemtifal alUr-pieee from San V lobbe k in the Anedemy. Itkeneof 
the htt|(est, and ii, in some reepeota, the moat important of the worki wbkk 
Bellini haa left, bat jet doea not quite etiaal in intenat the HHinmat of the 
Frari and of San Zaooaria,, or the picture in San Ciiovanni Ciiaoatomo. Tba 
great pietoiea of Gtiambellino in Venioe are the altar-pieoea of the FVaii aad 
San Zaoearia,, the painting oarried from SanV lobbe to the Aeadamy, and tba 
picture in 8. Gioranni Criaostomo (repreaenting Saanta Jeiome, Ohrjaoatom, 
and Augnatine), painted by the artiat when orer eighty yearn old, and called 
by Mr. Buakin hii fineit work in Venice. BesideathoM there are in tba Acad- 
emy and the chnrchea of Venice many half-length figurea of ^i^VnTM>n and 
aainta, either single or grouped. Theae raiy greatly in type and beaaty, aaya 
M. MOnta, and are tometimea*' lofty, ample, majeatio;** aometimea**hafd,a^ 
chaio, Bynntine;** again, *' sulky-looking and eaemfng half<4roMn.'* TW 
Supper of Bmmant in San SalTadore ia no longer conaiderad io ba by BiDiBi 



JAOOPO, GIOVANNI, AND OENTILE BELLINI 161 

gentlemeii began to reason among themselves, and to declare 
that it would be well to profit by the presence of such excel- 
lent masters, using the occasion to decorate the Hall of the 
Orand Council with historical paintings, wherein should be 
defHcted the glories and magnificence of their most admira- 
ble city, her greatness, her deeds in war, her most important 
undertakings, and other similar things worthy to be repre- 
sented in picture, and to be had in remembrance by those 
who should come after, in order that to the pleasure and ad- 
yantage derived from the reading of history, might be added 
the gratification of the eyes and equally of the intellect, from 
seeing delineated the images of so many illustrious nobles 
with the admirable works of so many great men, all most 
worthy of eternal renown and remembrance. 

It was therefore commanded by those who then governed, 
that the commission for this work should be accorded to 
Oiovanni and Oentile, whose fame increased from day to 
day, and it was further ordered that the undertaking should 
be entered on as soon as possible. ^^ But we must here 
remark that Antonio Veneziano had long before commenced 
the painting of this Hall, as we have said in his life : he 
had even finished a large historical picture there, when he 
was compelled to depart from Venice by the envy of mali- 
cious persons, and could no longer continue that most hon- 
ourable enterprise. 

Now Oentile, either because he had more experience and 
a better manner on canvas than in fresco, or for whatever 
else may have been the cause, proceeded in such sort that 
he readily obtained permission to execute that work, not in 
fresco, but on canvas, and thus, having set hand thereto, in 
the first story, he delineated the Pope, who presents a 
waxen taper to the Doge, that the latter may carry it in the 
processions which are about to take place.** The whole ex- 

>« In 1474 

*• After his retnrii from Conitantinople Grille painted in tlie HaU of th« 
Grand Ooonoil of the Palaszo Dnoale the following snbjeotB : The DeliTer j 
«f the Conaeoated Taper to the Doge, the Pope and Doge Sending an 



152 JACOPO, GIOVANNI, AND OENTILB BBLLIKI 

tenor of San Marco appears in this picture, the Pope is 
standing in full pontificals, with nnmerous prelates behind 
him. The Doge is likewise standing, accompanied by many 
senators. In another part of this story the master has 
depicted the emperor Frederick Barbarossa : first, where he 
receives the Venetian Ambassadors with a friendly aspect, 
and next, where he is angrily preparing for war ; fine yiews 
in perspective are here delineated, with an immense number 
of figures and numerous portraits, all executed in an excel- 
lent manner and with extraordinary grace. In the picture 
next following, is also the Pope, encouraging the Doge and 
Venetian nobles to arm thirty galleys at the common ex- 
pense, wherewith they are to proceed to battle against the 
emperor Frederick Barbarossa. The Pope is seated on the 
pontifical seat, clothed in his rochet ; the Doge is beside 
him, with numerous senators around and at the foot of the 
papal throne. In this picture also. Gentile Bellini depicted 
the Piazza and Fa9ade of St. Mark's, with the sea, but in a 
different manner from that of the preceding story, and 
with so vast a multitude of figures, that it is really a mar- 
vel. In another compartment the same Pope is again rep- 
resented standing in full pontificals, and conferring his 
benediction on the Doge, who is armed, and, having a 
large train of soldiers, would seem to be departing for the 
field : in long procession behind the Doge is an immense 
number of nobles, and the palace of San Marco is seen in 
perspective. This work is one of the best executed by the 
hand of Oentile, although the picture wherein there is the 
representation of a sea-fight displays more invention ; for in 
the last there are numerous galleys engaged in battle, wit!i 

BmbMsj to the Emp«ror, the Hmperor ReoeiTing the BmbMsy, the Popo 
GiTing a Sword to the Doge, the Pope Giring » Ring to the Doge, and a 
Nayal Battle (the latter being a restoration of an older piotnre), the Pope 
Oelebfating Mau in & Haroo, the Deliyery of the Dnoal Umbrella to the 
Doge, the Beoeption at the Gates of Rome, eta These piotiires. the labor 
of more than thirtj yearn, perished in the fire of 1577. One of the assist- 
ants of Gioranni, in this wosk, engaged and paid bj the state to '* render 
qpeedy and diligent assiatanoe,** was Oarpaocio. 



JAOOPO, OIOVANKl, AND OENTILB BBLLINI 163 

ftn almost incredible number of men^ and^ in fine, because 
the artist has here proved that he was no less accurately 
acquainted with maritime warfare than with the details of 
painting. The crowd of galleys, inyolyed in all the confu- 
sion of battle, the fighting men, the barks seen in perspec- 
tiye, and diminished with the most correct proportions, the 
well-ordered combat, the attack, the defence, the fury of 
the combatants, the wounded soldiers, and those who, in 
yarious manners, are dying, the cleaving of the waters by 
the galleys, the movement of the waves, the variety of 
weapons proper to the sea service — all this immense diver- 
sity of objects cannot but serve to show the vast abUity of 
Gentile, his power of invention, his rectitude of judgment, 
and his knowledge of art, every part being perfect in itself, 
and the whole admirably composed.^* 

In another story the artist has represented the Pope re* 
ceiving the Doge, who has returned with the victory so 
much desired ; the pontiff is bestowing on him various 
marks of friendship, with the ring of gold with which he is 
to espouse the sea, as his successors have done, and still 
continue to do every year, in sign of the seal and perpetual 
dominion which they deservedly hold over that element. In 
this compartment is Otho, son of Frederick Barbarossa, 
portrayed from the life, he is kneeling before the Pope ; 
and as behind the Doge there is a retinue of armed soldiers, 
so behind the Pontiff are there many cardinals and nobles. 
In this story the poops of the galleys only appear, and on 
that of the admiral is the figure of Victory painted to seem 
of gold, and seated, with a crown on the head and a sceptre 
in the hand. 

The stories which were to decorate the other parts of the 

** Malipiero, Annati Venetiy pnnrei that the Bellixii only tmtond this story, 
the hftttle between Doge Zieni and Otho, eon of Barharoeaa, painted origi- 
nally by Gentile da Fabriano and PiaaneUo. Alviae ViTarini aedsted the 
BeUini in their restoration. Professor Sidney Oolyin, in VoL XUL of the 
Jahrbueh der K P, 8.^ has an article upon the sketch in the British Mnseom 
for the fresoo whioh onoe existed in the Doge*8 Pslaoe and in which the Pope^ 
**iB fun pontificals^** wis seen " conferring his beaodW^ipQ Oft ^ Doga** 



164 JAOOPO, GIOVANNI, AND GENTILE BELLINI 

hall were adjudged to Oioyanni, the brother of Gentile; 
but as the order of the events there represented by him is 
connected with those executed in great part, but not com- 
pleted, by Vivarino, it will be necessary that I should in the 
first place say somewhat of the latter. Those parts of the 
Hall, then, which were not adjudged to Oentile, were given 
partly to Oiovanni and partly to Yivarino, to the end that 
all might be excited, by mutual emulation, to more zealous 
efforts. Wherefore Vivarino, having commenced the part 
which belonged to him, painted, immediately following the 
last story of Oentile, the above named Otho, offering him- 
self to the Pope and the Venetians, as their messenger, to 
attempt the settlement of peace between them and his 
father Frederick Barbarossa ; with his departure, after hav- 
ing obtained their permission, on the faith of his word. In 
this first part, to say nothing of other characteristics amply 
worthy of consideration, Vivarino painted in very fine 
perspective an open Temple, with flights of steps and nu- 
merous figures. Before the Pope, who is seated and sur- 
rounded by many senators, is Otho kneeling and plighting 
his faith by an oath. In the next compartment Vivarino 
represented Otho crowned in the presence of his father, who 
receives him joyfully ; and in this picture are buildings in 
perspective very finely painted ; Barbarossa is seated, and 
his son, who kneels before him, holds his hand : Otho is 
accompanied by many Venetian nobles, and among these 
figures are portraits from the life, so well depicted as to 
prove that this master copied nature very faithfully." Poor 

17 The Bellini painted in the Dncal Pakoe in and about 1474. Their worki 
remained for jost a century, then perishedf in what were^ perhaps, the two most 
disastrous fires (May 11. 1574, and December 20, 1577) that the lover of pict- 
ures can chronicle, and which were a modem oounterpart of the burning of 
the temple of the Ephesian Diana. AU of the greatest names of Venetian art 
were represented upon the walls of the Ducal Palace, for its period of decora- 
tion corresponded with the highest point attained by the School of Venioe, 
and not only the works of the BeUini, but of the older masters, as well as of 
Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, and their contemporariea, were aU destroyed to- 
gether. The moment could scarcely have been a more unfortunate one ; had 
the fire ooonrred twenty-five yeari earlier, many famous masters would haTO 



JAOOPO, GIOVANNI, AND GENTILE BELLINI 166 

Viyarino would hare completed the remainder of his portion 
greatly to his own credit, bat being of a weakly constitu- 
tion, and exhausted by his labours, it pleased Qoi that he 
should die early, and he could proceed no further;^ nay, 
he could not entirely finish even what he had commenced, 
and it became necessary that Oiovanni Bellini should re- 
touch the work in certain parts. 

Oiovanni had himself meanwhile begun four stories, which 
followed those above described in regular succession. In 
the first he depicted the same Pope ^* in the church of San 
Marco, which he also delineated exactly as it stood. The 
pontiff presents his foot to Frederigo Barbarossa to kiss, but 
this first picture of Oiovanni, whatever may have been the 
cause, was rendered much more animated, and beyond com- 
parison better in every way, by the most excellent Titian. 
To follow Oiovanni in his stories, however — ^in the next he 
portrayed the Pope saying mass in San Marco, and after- 
wards, in the presence of the Emperor and the Doge, grant- 
ing plenary and perpetual indulgence to all who at certain 
periods shall visit the church of San Marco, the Ascension 
of our Lord being particularly specified. The master here 
depicted the interior of the church, with the Pope in his 
pontifical habit on the steps descending from the Choir, sur- 
rounded by numerous cardinals and nobles ; the concourse 
of these persons rendering this a rich and beautiful picture. 
In the compartment beneath that above described, the Pope 
is seen in his rochet presenting an umbrella or canopy to the 
Doge, after having given one to the Emperor and retained 
two for himself. In the last picture painted by Oiovanni, 
Pope Alexander, the Emperor, and the Doge, are seen to ar- 
rive in Bome, outside the gate of which city the Pontiff is 

■tood at hand to create new worka^ but in 1577 the last of the great Vene- 
tiana were wearing the end of their lives and the work waa, save in a few oaaea, 
given perforce to leaser men. 

>* Antonio ViTarini, Joannes Alemannns, Bartdommeo and Alvise 'VlTa- 
nni, and Andrea da Morano were the leading artisia of the lohooil of Mnzaaov 
famooa daring the fifteenth oentory. 

>* Alexander VL 



166 JAOOPO, GIOVANNI, AND OENTILS BBLLIKI 

presented by the clergy and people of Borne with eight stand* 
ards of yarions colours, and eight silver trampets, which he 
gives to the Doge, that he and his snccessors may bear them 
as their standard, or ensign of war. Oiovanni here de- 
picted the city of Borne in somewhat distant perspective^ 
with a large number of horses and a vast body of soldiers : 
there are besides innumerable banners, standards, and other 
tokens of rejoicing, on the castle St Angelo and elsewhere. 
These works, which are really beautiful, gave so much sat- 
isfaction, that Giovanni had just received the commission to 
paint all the remaining portion of that hall when he died, 
having already attained to a good old age. 

We have hitherto spoken of the works executed in the 
Hall of the Council only, that we may not interrupt the de- 
scription of the stories depicted there, but we will now turn 
back a little to relate that many other paintings were exe- 
cuted by the same masters. Among these is a picture which 
is now on the high altar of the church of San Domenico ^ 
in Pesaro ; and in the church of San Zaccheria in Venioe, in 
the chapel of San Oirolamo, namely, is a picture of the Vir* 
gin, with numerous Saints, painted with great care : in this 
there is a building very judiciously executed ;^ and in the 

** In S. Fnnoesoo initead of San Domenioo. Itiiit01inpUfOt,lmtiimiieh 
injured by ihe ipliUing of the panel and by abfaskm. There are five aioriaa 
in thtpredella, 

*i Symonds aajra of this picture (painted in 1506), a Madonna enthroned, at- 
tended by Sainta Peter, Jerome, Catherine, and Lacy: **No braihwork ia 
perceptible. Surface and anbetance haye been eUborated into one hannoni* 
oua richness that defies analysis.*' See The Fine Arts. It is indeed a maf» 
nifioent picture, one of the finest in Italy. The concentration of the efbot 
about the Madonna, and the delicate contrast in color of her head-doth with 
the throne and other accessories, are particularly interesting. Here and there 
in the figures of saints, at the bottom of the picture, the draperies have a oer- 
tain papery look, which comes from a lack of modelling. It is probable, how* 
ever, that this arises from a lighting which the artist nerer intended his oan- 
Taa to reoeive, and that the modelling was sufficient for the light which Migi- 
nally feU upon hia work. The picture was for a long time in the saofisty, 
but has been remored to an altar in the body of the church where, what with 
the darkness and the paper roses piled before it, this glorioos work oonid, 
in 1808, Bcaroely be seen at all. In the sacristy it probably reoeiTed more light 
than the painter meant it to have; in the church, eren if its pr eee nt atatfan ba 



JACOPO, OIOVANNI, AND 0£NTIL£ BSLLINI 167 

same city^ in the Sacristy of the Frati Minori^^ called the 
** Ca grande^'^ there is another by the same master^ very 
well drawn and in a very good manner : a similar work is 
to be seen in San Michele di Mnrano^ a monastery of Gamal- 
doline monks. ^ And in San Francesco della Vigna, which 
belongs to the Barefooted Friars, (Frati del Zoccolo) there 
was a picture of the Dead Christ in the old church, which was 
so beautiful, that having been highly extolled before Louis 
XI., king of France, he requested the gift of it with so 
much earnestness, that those monks were compelled to 
gratify him therewith, however reluctant they were to do so. 
Another was put into its place ^ with the name of the same 
Giovanni, but not by any means so beautiful or so well done 
as the first, and many believed that this last named was for 
the most part executed by Girolamo Mocetto, a pupil of Gio- 
vanni. There is a picture by this same master in the pos- 
session of the Brotherhood of San Girolamo ; the figures are 

the origiiud one, there is too Uttle light for the piotore. There hare beea si 
many and raoh radioal changes in the interior distribntion of Benaienaoo 
churches, so many windows blocked np or pierced through in later oentmieB, 
that there is rarely any certainty as to what lighting the aathor of a mnzal 
painting or altar picture had originaUy to deal with in his calcnlatioB o€ 
effect 

*s This work was painted in 1488 and is still in the sacristy of Santa Marl* 
Gloriosa dei Frarl We may quote concerning it what Symonds has said of 
the San 2^aooaria Madonna : ** Between this piotnre, so strong in its smooth- 
ness, and any masterpiece of Velasqaes, so mgged in its strength, what a wide 
abyss of inadequate half -achievement, of smooth feebleness and feeble mgged* 
noM exists.** See the Renaissance in Italy, The Fine Arts. It is a moft 
beautiful picture, and so perfectly well executed that the method of its paints 
in^ is never for a moment noticed ; the effect is arrired at without perceptible 
effort. Its charm is greatly enhanced by the fact that Bellini in making oae 
of all his science of the new period, has retained the decoratire arrangement 
of the old, the pUastera and gilded domes and soroU-work of the MonuM 
school ; in addition to this, inspired by Bfantegna, he has placed npon tba 
steps of the throne two of the most charming child-angels, playing npon 
musical instruments, that are to be found in the range of Renaissance Art 
It is diflBcult to say enough of this picture, and of the Madonna of San Zao- 
earia. Other performances of the Renaissance are moce brilliant^ but 
are more entirely satiafsotorjr. 

tt In the church of SS. Pietroe Paolo, at Maraao. 

••In 1607. 



168 JAOOPO, OIOYANNI, AND OSNTILB BELLIKI 

small, but the work is very highly esteemed. And in the 
house of Messer Giorgio Oomaro is a picture equally beau- 
tiful, representing the Saviour with Gleophas and Luke.* 

In the aboYe-mentioned hall GioYanni painted another pict- 
ure, but not at the same time. This contains a story show- 
ing the Venetians inviting a Pope, I know not which, to 
leave the monastery of Santa Maria della Cariti, where he 

M IforeUi ataliui Pftinten) notot ih«i duiiif the Iirt thirty jmn of hit 
life CHoraani BeUini wae eo buiy in peinting lor the stete of Venioiii or for 
iti ohnrohee, that the aothor is ahle to eamiiente during that timeae ptotnree 
•zeonted for other parts of Italy only the Peiaro altar-pieoe ; the FUtd 
of Rimini ; the Baoohanal for the Dnke of Fenara ; the Santa Oorooa 
aUar-pieoeatVieenxa; and theAlxano BfadoonanearBergama Tbeoritload- 
miti as genuine works of Qiovanni, one picture in the UlBsi, the Txm of Life, 
(081) ; a second piotore, the PUtd (a monodirome preparation for p»^"**«f in 
color), having been too nearly destn^ed by restorers to hare any imhie ; one 
piotnre in Turin (779) ; three works in the Brera ; a Pietd (S84) dating from 
14((4-1407; two Madonnas (961, 297); an early work, a Madonna, in the ooltoo- 
tion of Dr. Frisaooi, at Blilan ; one in the Morelli collection, since left to the 
eity of Beigamo ; a Madonna (early) in the Lochia collection there ; and one 
of about 1518, in the cathedral ; at Verona a Madonna and child of about 1477 ; 
at Vicenza the Santa Ckmma Madonna. In P^ua, Ferrara, Bologna, and 
^neriao, Morelli finds not one genuine picture by GioTsnni, though tiMre 
is one disfigured eiample in the gallery at Bovigo. In Venioe, besido the H- 
mous altar-pieces of the Frari, S. Zaocaria, S. Crisostomo, 8. fVaneeseo deOa 
Vigna, and that of Mnrano, Morelli admits the Madonna in the Orto ; aersral 
in the Academy (Nos. 2, 17, 94, 88, 84); the huge altar-piece and the four al- 
legorical panels, all in the same gaUery. The Museo Correr has a PM«i, a small 
Orudfixion, and a l^ansfignration. In Borne there is one picture, a Madonna 
(greatly retouched), in the Torlonia collection. The Transfiguration in Nh>1« 
is called a ^'splendid early work.** Mr. Bernard Berenson, in his Venetian 
Fiainters, oatdogues the Bellini of the National CteUery as the Loredano 
portrait; a Madonna; the Agony in the Garden ; the Blood of the Bedeemer; 
in priTate collections, a Madonna (Lady Bastkke) ; a Dead Christ (Mend col- 
lectton) ; and a Madonna (Dr. Biohter). He mentions the PMd and the Dead 
Christ of Berlin, and questions a Crudfizion at Pesara Morelli notea that 
Giovanni Bellini's drawings are rare, and mentioos only a Pietd in the Venice 
Academy (attributed to Mantegna), and a standing figure of an apostle in same 
ooUeetion; a pen-and-ink sketch for the Entombment QnToBi collection, Brss- 
da) ; a Pietd (in the La Salle collection in the LouTre), and four standing 
figures of saints (Chatsworth, attributed to Perino del Vaga). Mr. Bereneoii 
includes in his Venetian Fainten a fery important and interesting eatakgne 
of the works, both in Italy and throughout Europe, of the masters of Venioa, 
with specification aa to whether the paintings bdoog to the early, mlddli^ or 
kAe periods of the artist*s career. 



JAOOPO, QIOYANNI, AlfD OXKTILS BELLINI 169 

had concealed himself^ after having taken refuge in Venice, 
and there secretly aerred as cook to the monks, an ofiSce 
which he had held for a considerable time. In this story 
there are many figares portrayed from the life, with others, 
all of which are very b^ntif nl.* 

No long time after, several portraits by this master were 
taken into Turkey by an ambassador, and presented to the 
Orand Turk. These works awakened so much astonish- 
ment and admiration in that monarch, that although among 
this people pictures are prohibited by the Mahometan law, 
the emperor accepted them with great good will, extolling 
beyond measure both the art and the artist ; and, what is 
more, requiring that the master of the work should be sent 
to him.'' 

The Senate thereupon, considering that Giovanni had 
reached an age when he could but ill support fatigue," 
and not desiring to deprive their city of such a man, he 
having his hands then fully occupied, moreover, with the 
hall of the Orand Gouucil, resolved to send thither his 
brother Qentile in his stead, believing, that he would do as 
well for the Turk as Giovanni.* Having caused (Jentile, 
therefore, to make himself ready, they conducted him in 
their own galleys with all safety, to Constantinople, where, 
being presented to the Grand Turk by the lieutenant of 
the Signoria, he was received by him very willingly,® and, 

*• This Pope, who wm not known hj namo to VMaxi, wm Alexander IIL 
Thnl he aenred the monkt in the capacity of cook is probably a faUe. 

*' Sannto reoorda this ooonrrenoe onder the date 1479. 

M In Vaaaii'i time the Venetiana had eridently Uttle detailed reooUeetion 
of the Bellini, for QioTanni waa really theyoanger brother, and in 1479, when 
Gentile wait to Conatantinople, wai not mnch orer fifty. 

** Sannto reoofds thia fact nnder the date 1479, and in the following worda : 
** On the lit day of Angoat there eomea a Jewish orator with letters from 
the Grand Turk. He would hare the Signoria aend him a good painter who 
knew how to make portraits, and invites the Doge to the marriage of hia 
aon.** They replied, ** thanking him, and hsTC sent ZentU Bellini, an excel- 
Wnt painter, who .went with the galleys of Romania. **--Morelli, JVbliiio, 
d'apfre di diugno^ p. 99. 

M Bee L. Thnasne; OenHU BtUini et U SttUan Jfohtunmed II, I>xia, 
lasa Thia book is baaed on the ifiiloHa TVreAstMiU &<ovafiii<JVartoiifi. 



160 JAOOPO, GIOVANNI, AND GENTILfi BELLINI 

being something new^ was much caressed, more especially 
when he had presented Snltan Mahomet with a most 
charming picture, which that monarch admired exceedingly, 
scarcely finding it possible to conceive that a mere mortal 
•honldhaye in himself so much of the divinity as to be ca- 
pable of reproducing natural objects so faithfully. Gentile 
had been no long time in Constantinople before he por- 
trayed the Emperor Mahomet from the life, and so exactly, 
that it was considered a miracle. Then the Sultan, after 
having seen many proofs of his ability in that art, desired to 
know if the painter had courage to take his own likeness ? 
to which Oentile having replied that he had, many days had 
not elapsed before he had portrayed his own features, with 
the help of a mirror, so faithfully that the picture seemed 
to be alive,*^ This he brought to the Sultan, who was so 
amazed thereat that he could imagine no other but that the 
painter had some divine spirit in his service ; and if it had 
not been that the exercise of this art is forbidden to the 
Turks by their law, as we have said, that emperor would 
never have sufPered Gentile to leave him. But, whether 
the Sultan feared that murmurs might arise, or was moved 
by some other cause, he one day commanded the attendance 
of the painter, and having caused him first to be thanked 
for the courtesy he had displayed, and highly extolled him 
as a man of wonderful ability, he finally bade him demand 
whatever favour he might desire as a parting token, which 
should be presented to him without fail.® Gentile, who 

gtoUUo da Vieiiua^ one of the snite of MnstafA, eldest son of the Snltitei. 
Appftrently Mohammed ooUeoted both stataes and pictnies, which Bayaseid 
(Bajaiet), hia sncoeaeor, lold. 

*> Thflfe waa a portrait bust of Mohammed II. in the ooUeotion of the kta 
Sir Avaten Henry Layard. It ia dated NoTember 25, 1480. Sir Henry sajrs : 
'* It appean at one time to have been in the ooUeotion of portraits of remark- 
able men made by the oelebrated Italian historian, Paolo Oiovio.** It is said 
that this portrait wiU probably go to the National Gallery. There is also a* 
pen-and-ink drawing of Mohunmed II. and his Saltana in the British Mn-^ 
seam, and in the LonTxe there is a piotnre of a Venetian ambassador at tho 
Torkiah oonrt ; the aothorahip of the latter is not certain. 

"Ho waa sent home beoanae Mohammed bad decided to cany war into 



JAOOPO, GIOVANNI, AND GEHTILB BELLINI 101 

was a modest and npriglit mua, demanded no other thing 
than a letter of approval^ by which the Snlian should rec- 
ommend him to the most Serene Senate and most Ulns- 
trious Signoria of Venice^ his native city. This was written 
as cordially as was possible, after which he was dismissed 
with the most hononrable presents and with the dignity of 
knighthood. In addition to many privileges then conferred 
on Oentile by this monarch, and among the many gifts be- 
stowed on him, was a chain of gold, made after the Turkish 
fashion, and equal in weight to 250 scudi, which was placed 
around his neck ; this ornament is still in possession of his 
heirs at Venice." 

Departing from Constantinople, Oentile returned, after a 
most fortunate voyage, to Venice, where he was received by 
Giovanni, his brother, and by almost the whole city, with 
the utmost gladness, every one rejoicing at the honours 
paid to his talents by Sultan Mahomet. Proceeding on his 
arrival to present his duty to the Doge and the Signoria, he 
was very well received and commended, for that he had 
satisfied the Turkish emperor according to their desire. 
Furthermore, to the end that the great account in which 
they held the letters wherewith that prince had recom- 
mended him might be made manifest, they commanded a 
provision of 200 scudi a year to be made for him, which 
sum was paid him for the remainder of his life. 

(}entile performed but few works after his return from 
Constantinople," and at length, having nearly attained 

Bhodm, Bat TluiMiie, op. eU. A medal waa atraok in Gentile*a honor wlien 
ha raliifiiad from OonatantiiiopIaL One of theae madala ia on the framo of iha 
portraii of Mohamet H, referxed to in note 81. 

*• Ridolil, in hia ViU dei PUiori Veneti^ atatea tiuit one of the piotorea pro- 
aantad to Mohammed II. waa the Head of John the Baptist on a Charger. The 
Bnllan admired it, bnt remarked that ** the neck projected too mnoh from the 
head.** Aa Gentile aeamed sceptical he called aalaTO and had him decapitated 
by ona of hia attendants to prove the jostnesa of hia criticiama. Gentile waa 
extremely anziona to retam to Italy after this practical demonatcation. The 
troth of thia atoiy ia questionable. 

*« On tha oontnry, most of the eidatingwork of Gentile poatdatea hia re- 
%«n fWi Oonatantiiiopla Gentile often introdnoed T nrki a h and other orian« 



162 JACOPO, GIOVANNI, AND GENTILE BELLINI 

to the age of 80^ he passed to another life in the year 
1501 ;* and from his brother Giovanni he received honour- 
able interment in the Church of San Giovanni e Paolo. 

Thus deprived of his brother Gentile, whom he had most 
tenderly loved, Giovanni, although very old,* still cen- 
tal oostomea in hii later piotnres, showing that he mnit have made carefol 
■tndiefl in the East. Many of these studies still exist at Windsor Castle and 
elsewhere. The important picture of Saint Ifark Preaching at Alexandria, 
left onfinished by Gentile in 1507, and completed by his brother, is not men- 
tioned lyy Vasari in the Life of Giovanni Bellini It is now in the Brera at 
Milan Qentile Bellini, in his wUl, left the sketch-book of his father, Jaoopo 
Bellini, to GioTannl, provided he finished this picture. According to Mr. Ber- 
ensan*s list (Venetian Painters), London has four works of Gentile : National 
Gallery, S. Peter, Martyr, and a Portrait ; South Kensington Museum, a head 
of S. Dominick ; coUeoUon of Lady Bastlake, a Madonna Enthroned. Buda- 
Pesth has a portrait of Catarina Comaro ; Borne, a portrait of a Doge (Vat- 
ican) ; Venice a portrait of Lorenzo Giustiniani (Academy), and Paris has two 
heads (upon one canvas. Louvre) attributed to Gentile. 

M He died in 1507. GtontOe Bellini is the sober, dignified, and careful 
painter of processions, pageants, and masses of people, treated in a minute 
and rather dry manner, but warm and harmonious in color. He is an e xc ellent 
draughtsman, and some of his studies in black and red chalk, especiaUy of 
those made in Oonstantinople, are exceeding modem in their treatment His 
influence was a powerful one in the development of Venetian art, but he never 
rose to the height of such pictures as Giovannrs Madonnas of San Zaocaria 
and the Frari, or of his altar-piece from Sant* lobbe. He looked at the out- 
sides of things, and substituted for the thoughtfully arranged monumental 
groups of saints of the Florentines, and of his brother Giovanni, the acci- 
dental and changing groups of out-door life in Venice, seeing the dramas of 
universal history as enacted by Venetians in Venice, and making conceasiona 
only in the case of the Turks, whom he saw and reported faithfully. He is an 
eminent master, dignified and truthful, but as M. MOntz has said. Gentile 
Bellini*s was ** documentary painting rather than great art*' 

•« The celebrated letter of Albert Dttrer [1506] gives us an interesting glimps« 
of the art-life of the time : ** I have many good friends among the Italians 
who warn me not to eat and drink with their painters. Many also of them are 
my enemies ; they copy my things for the churches, picking them up wher- 
ever they can. Yet they abuse my style, sa3ring that it is not antique art, and 
therefore it is not good. But Giambellini has praised me much before many 
gentlemen ; he wishes to have something of mine ; he came to me and bogged 
me to do something for him, and is quite willing to pay for it And every- 
one gives him such a good character that I feel an affection for him. He is 
very old, and is yet the best in painting {der bett im ffemelt),^* M. MOnti, 
VAge cTOTy 177-180, shows that at- this time Flanders gave way to Nurem- 
burg and Oolmar in the attraction which northern painting exeroiMd over tht 



JAOOPO, OIOVANNT, AND GENTILE BELLINI 168 

tinned to work a little^ the better to pass his time^ and 
haying taken to execute portraits from the life, he intro- 
duced the custom into Venice, that whoever had attained 
to a certain degree of eminence should cause his likeness to 
be portrayed, either by himself or by some other master. 
Wherefore, in all Venetian houses, there are numerous 
portraits, and in many of those belonging to nobles, may 
be seen the fathers and grandfathers of the possessors, up 
to the fourth generation ; nay, in some of the most noble 
houses they go still farther back, a custom which is certainly 
most praiseworthy, and was in use even among the ancients. 
For who does not feel infinite contentment, to say nothing 
of the beauty and ornament resulting from them, at sight 
of the efiSgies of his ancestors, more particularly if they 
have been distinguished for their deeds in war or by their 
works in peace, or have rendered themselves illustrious by 
learning or other signal qualities and remarkable virtues, 
or by the part they have taken in the government of the 
state ? And to what other purpose, as has been remarked 
in another place, did the ancients place the statues of their 
great men, with honourable inscriptions, in the publio 

VenetiBai and Florentinet. Thvi Broole de* Roberti, Hioheluigel<\ Raphael, 
Fra Bartolommeo, copied or borrowed from works by Martin SchOnganer of 
Oohnar; while Del Sarto, Raphael, Pontormo, FialiiiA Veoohio, Titian (in 
hit landfloape baokgronnda), gave eqoal attention to the works of Dttrw. Oar- 
paooio took the hitter's Massacre of the Ten Thousand as the prototype of hit 
own treatment of the same subject, and Giovanni Bellini, in his Baoohanal 
(now at Alnwick), painted for the Duke of Ferrara, imitated a picture done by 
DOier in Venice. M. Milnts farther notioes the fact that while the engrav- 
ings of Mantogna and others inspired in (Germany works of a monumental 
size, D&rer's things were repeated by the Italians only in a size equal to, or 
amaller than, the originals. Oamenurius gives a curious and hardly credible 
aneedote of Bellini and Dttrer. The aged Venetian artist was particularly 
■truok with Dtkrer's painting of hair, and asked him for the brush with which 
be did such fine strokes. Darer did not understand, and offered him the 
choice of all his brushes. Bellini then explained that he only wanted the 
particular brush used in painting hair, as a mark of friendship. DOrer took 
np one of the brushes and executed a marvellously fine tress of woman's hair, 
thus showing tiuit it was not the brush but the artist which did the work. 
Dtlier was greatly pleased with Venice, and made long visits there both in 1498 
and 150&-1507. He says, '* I became a gentleman in Venice.** 



164 JAOOPO, QIOVANNI, AND GENTILS BELLIHI 

places^ if not to the end that they might awaken the lore 
of glory and excellence in those who were to come after ? 

Among the portraits ezecnted by Giovanni Bellini was 
that of a lady beloved by Messer Pietro Bembo^*^ before the 
latter went to Bome to Pope Leo X. ; and whom he por- 
trayed with so much truth and animation^ that as Simon of 
Siena was celebrated by the first Petrarch the Florentine, so 
was Giovanni by this second Petrarch the Venetian, as may 
be seen in the sonnet. 



<4 



imagme mia edeUe epura^ 



Wberein he says, in the commencement of the second qoa- 
tiaiiiy 

** Credo eh$ 7 mio BeOki eon lajtgura; ^ 

with that which follows. And what greater reward could 
our artists desire for their labours than that of seeing them- 
selves celebrated by the pens of illustrious poets, as the most 
excellent Titian, also, has been by the learned Messer Gio* 
ftimi della Casa, in that sonnet which begii 



**Ben veggo io TuOanOp in forme ntioV€; " 

And in that other : — 

**8(mqueete, Amor, le vaghe treede bUmde/* 

And was not this same Bellino enumerated among the 
best painters of his age by the renowned Ariosto, in the 
commencement of the thirty-third canto of the Orlando 
Furioso ? ** But to return to the works of Giovanni, to his 
principal works, that is to say, for it would detain us too 
long were I to make mention of the pictures and portraits 
which are in the houses of gentlemen in Venice, and other 
parts of the Venetian dominions. In Bimini he painted, 
for the Signer Sigismondo Malatesti, a large picture repre- 

*v This piotore ii lost 

M ** JT quH ehefuro ai noitri d<, o $on era 

Leonardo, Andrea ManUgna e Oian Bellino.^ 



JAOOPO, GIOVANNI, AND OBNTILS BSLLINI 160 

senting the Dead Christ supported by two children^ which is 
now in the church of San Francesco in that city ; * he also 
painted among other portraits, that of Bartolommeo da Li- 
yiano. Captain-general of the Venetians.** 
' Giovanni Bellini had many disciples^ seeing that he in- 
structed them all with great kindness. 
^ Giovanni Bellini died of old age when he had completed 
his ninetieth year/* leaving an undying memorial of his 
name in the works which he had executed in Venice and 
other partSy he was honourably buried in the same church 
and in the same tomb wherein he had deposited his brother 
Gentile ;^ ^ nor were there wanting in Venice those who, by 



•• Mr. Beromon (Venetian Painten) eatalogiiee the Dead Ohzist in Rimini 
as an early work. 

«• Bartolommeo d*AlTiano; the portnit is lot! 

«* Prohably in hie eighty-eighth year, in 1516). 

«t The portraite of Giovanni and Gentile are to be f onnd in The Sermon of 
St. Ifark, at the Brera. €^tUe is also said to be represented in one of the 
kneeling figures to the right of the reoorery of the relio in the series of paint- 
ings executed for the Scuola of San Giovanni Evangelista, and we possess an 
undoubted portrait in the medal struck to commemorate the painter*B return 
from Ck>nBtantinople, which does not resemble the head of the kneding fig- 
ure mentioned above. The portrait in the Capitol GaUery at Rome seems 
beither of, nor by Giovanni Bellini His portrait in the Due d* Aumale's col- 
lection is by a pupil ( Victor JHacipultu), MorelU affirms that the portrait 
of Giovanni in the Uffizi, and said to be by himself, is really by Rondinelli 

** Giovanni Bellini means, to the visitor to Italy, the paintcor of solenm en- 
throned Madonnas or of half-length Virgins between guardian saints, enyel- 
oped in an atmosphere of strong but golden odor. He developed so sloiHy 
that his masterpieces were the work of his latest years, and his Virgins <M( 
San Zaccaria and of the Frari were painted when he was already an old man. 
M. Milnts, L^Age (f Or, p. 780, lays special emphasis on the patience and 1»- 
boriousness of Giovanni, saying that he began with an incompleteness of Tision 
which amounted to obtnseness, and by force of perseverance attained an ideal 
which his pupils, with Titian among them, were unable to equaL It is difficult 
to wholly subscribe to this ; the sense of beauty in Giovanni may hare been 
douded, but it existed from the beginning of his career ; something there was 
in him which he did not create, nor even develop wholly by perseverance. He 
was not naturally a draughtsman, and his modelling has sometimes a flat,. un- 
certain and papery quality about it that gives a boneless look to his figures ; but 
this modelling was intended for the half-light of churches where its feebleness 
was largely counteracted. 

Like every Venetian painter he had '* the golden touch," but no one else had 



166 JAOOPO, GIOVANNI, AND GENTILS BBLLINI 

sonnets and epigrams^ sought to do him honour after hii 
deaths as he had done honour to himself and his oonntry 
daring his life. 

it quite so fully m he. Giorgione^i coloring maj be more thrilling, Titlvi't 
deeper chorded and more lonorous, if one may carry out the mniical oompar* 
iaon ; but no painter'e figoretf not even the people of Garpaccio or of Ghna^ 
ffwim in euch an atmosphere of pure gold aa eorrounde the Madonnai of San 
Zacoaria and the Frari Dignity Giovannrs Ifadonnae hare always, a dignity 
which becomes majesty with these two glorious enthroned Virgins ; but his 
divine mothers are proud rather than tender ; true to the Bysantine tradition 
they hold up the infant Christ to the people instead of clasping him to them- 
selTes ; they are Christophers, Christ-bearers, as has been well said, as they 
sit with their calm faces and their hooded mantles against the background ci 
liquid gold. 

Bellini brought the science of the fifteenth century to the old Greek pain- 
ters* ideal, and these Virgins are the descendants of the stately and imperioos 
Madonnas of the Byzantine mosaioa, as well as of the sad and mysterions 
Madonnas of Cimabue. They are so calm as to be often impassire, their 
features are sometimes pinched and mean, and much that has been written of 
their tenderness and beauty is exaggerated and uncriticaL Two or three of 
them are lorely, but generally it is not their ftydBX beauty that charms but 
their emembU^ their grave and simple dignity, their quiet, gMea breadth of 
treatment, the absence of all straining either for expression or technical hand- 
ling. It is, above all, in this last quality of achievement without visible 
effort, this unruffled quiet perfection, that Giovanni Bellini is a master of 
mastersL He is essentially contemplative, loving best to paint the enthroned 
M^ilftnn^ Mid yet he becomes intensely pathetic, and even dramatic, in his 
Pietd9y which are among the greatest Uiat the Renaissance has left us. He 
was stron^y affected by the art of Blantegna, upon which he himself reacted 
in turn, nntU these two painters fiUed the whole north of Itsly with their 
names and infhinnoes, and pieparad the way for Giorgiona and Tiiian and 
OoKTSggio* 



DOMENIOO GmBLANDAJO, FLORENTINE 

PAINTER* 

[Bom 1440 ; cUmI 1494.] 

BnuOQKAPBT.— Karl Woennaiin, Donunieo OMrlandqfo^ In the Dohme 
MfiM of Kumt und EUnttler de$ MUUUtUen und der NeuMeiL JfonwnetUi 
Artiitiei in San GimignanOy article bj Natale Baldoria, in the Arehi9io Sto- 
rUo delT ArU, lU. SSMMw 6. CasteUazsi, La boiUica di 8, THnitd, i iuoi 
Umpi td ilprogeUo del »uo reitanro^ Florence, 1837. R. Menard, Domenico 
OMrlandq^y in the Gazette dee Beaux Arte, IX., 2d eeriea, p. 816, Paria, 1874. 
Monograph on Domenico Ghirlandajo, by A. H. Layard ; a publication of the 
Amndel Society, London, IbfiQ. Bnrico Ridolfi, Giov^mna Tbrnabttoni e GU 
nevra dei Benei net Coro di Santa JfariaNbveUa in Firenxe, Florence, 1890. 
Milaneei considered that he had found, in the National lilNrary of Florence, a 
manaioript treatiae on painting written by Qhirlandajo himaelf. Herr von 
Fiabriciy has published, in the Arehivio Storico Italiano, 1891, a careful study 
of ihb said manuscript. 

DOMENICO> son of Tommaso del Ohirlandajo^ vrho, 
by i]ie pre-eminence of his talents and the impor- 
tance and number of his works, is entitled to be placed 
among the first and most excellent masters of his time, was 
formed by nature to be a painter, and followed the bent of 
his disposition, notwithstanding the determination to the 
oontnu^ of those who had him in charge. Impediments 
thus offered to the inclinations of youth, frequently nip the 
most promising fruits of genius in the bud, by compelling 
the attention to an ill-suited employment, and forcibly 

I His name waa Domenico di Tommaso di Currado Bigordi, and he was 
called '* il Ghirlandnjo,^ in Florentine dialect, GriUandqfo, the garland- 
makar. His father, Tommaso del Ohirlandajo, may have been son of a garland- 
maker, or haTC at one time exercised the art of a goldsmith, though he is 
known to hare become erentoally a broker ; he describes himself as such, and 
mentions that his sons, David and Domenico, are appfentioed to a goldsmith. 
Bee Layard's Kngler, L, p. 109, for a quotation from a document disoorered 
byMilaoeai 



188 DOMBNIOO OHIBLANDAJO 

tnming it from the Yocation to which there is a natural im« 
pnlse ; but Domenico, obeying the instinct of his nature^ as 
we have said^ obtained for himself the highest hononrs, 
secured great advantage to art, as well as to his kindred, 
and his contemporaries ; and became the joy and delight of 
hb age. Our artist was designed by his father to learn his 
own calling, that of a goldsmith,^ in which Tommaso was a 
more than respectable master ; the greater part of the vo- 
tiye vessels in silver, formerly preserved in the chnrch of the 
Annunciation at Florence, being from his hand, as were the 
silver lamps of the chapel, which were destroyed during 
the siege of the city in 1529; Tommaso del Ohirlandajo 
was the first who invented and made those ornaments worn 
on the head by the young girls of Florence, and called gar- 
lands (ghirlande),' whence Tommaso acquired the name of 
Ghirlandajo. Yet not for being the first inventor only, but 
also on account of the vast number and extraordinary beauty 
of those made by him, insomuch that none could please, 
as it should seem, but such as came from his workrooms. 

Being thus placed to learn the art of goldsmith therefore, 
Domenico, whom this occupation did not satisfy, employed 
himself perpetually in drawing ; he was endowed by nature 
with remarkable intelligence, and possessing* admirable 
taste, with a most correct judgment in all things related to 
painting ; although occupied as a goldsmith in his earliest- 
youth, he yet obtained extraordinary facility in design by 
continual practice, and was so quick as well as clever, that 
he is said to have drawn the likenesses of all who passed by 
his workshop, producing the most accurate resemblance. 
Of this ability there is a sufiScient proof in the numerons 
portraits to be found in his works, and which are truly an- 
imated likenesses.^ 

* Many funoas wrtUti were ftt fint goldsiiiithi, m Ohibeiti, BnmeUfliblii, 
Verrooohio, Lnoa delU RobbU, Orgagna, Andrea del Sarto, Oellini, Antonio 
del PoOajoolo and Bofctiodli 

* Tlieee garlanda were worn long before Ghirlandajo*! time. 

* €ttiirlanda)o*B Hxak master was either Aleaso BaldoTinetti or Ooeimo Boa> 
mIU. 



DOMENICO 6HIBLANDAJ0 169 

The first pictures painted by Domenico* were for the 
chapel of the Vespucci/ in the church of Ognissantiy where 
there is a Dead Ohrist with numerous Saints. Over an arch 
in the same chapel there is a Misericordia, wherein Do- 
menico has portrayed the likeness of Amerigo Vespucci, who 
sailed to the Indies ; and in the refectory of the convent 
(of Ognissanti) he painted a fresco of the Last Supper. In 
Santa Croce, at the entrance of the church on the right 
hand, Domenico painted the story of San Paolino, whereby, 
having acquired great reputation, and attained to high 
credit, he was commissioned by Francesco Sassetti to paint 
a chapel in Santa Trinita,' with stories from the life of San 
Francesco ; a work of great merit, and completed by Do- 
menico with infinite grace, tenderness, and love. In the 
first compartment of this picture is the representation of a 
miracle performed by St. Francis, and here the master has 

• The San Gimignano fretooes from the story of Santa Fina probably ante- 
date the year 1475 (see Natale Baldoria, in the Archivio Storieo delV Arte, 1S90, 
p. 66), bnt the earliest existing dooument oonceming any of his works (quoted 
by MUanesi) proves him to hare painted in the Vatican library in 1475, and is 
dated Norember 3Sth of that year. His only remaining pictnres done in Rome 
ve the Galling of Peter, in the Sistine Ghapel, and a fragment recently dis- 
corered by Herr Sohmarsow in the Vatican, representing the Doctors of the 
Ghnroh (see M. MOnts, VAge d'Or, p. 64S). A fresco in the ohnrch of S. An- 
drea, near Florenoe, is called one of his earliest works. It represents a Virgin 
and Ghild with two attendant saints, while aboTC is a Baptism of Ghrist. 

• The Vespaooi Ghapel was whitewashed in 1616. The story of San Ptelino 
is destroyed. The Cenacolo is sdll to be seen, and dates, as do the other free- 
ooea» from 1480. The head of Ghrist is much repainted. In this Cenacolo, 
and in that of San Msroo, Ohirlandajo has left importMit examples of the fif- 
tesnth-oentory oonoeption of the subject of the Last Supper, but they are not 
by any means his best works, and M. MQute has remarked of the San Marco 
fresco that in studying it one realises the gigantic progress made in the treat- 
ment of the same subject by Leonardo da Vinoi in Milan. 

' These freeooes, finished in 1485, rank among Domenioo*s most important 
works, and in such monumental cycles the painter is at his best ; here, sa in 
S. M. Noyella, we have oontempcHraneous portraiture not only of persons bnt 
of plaoes. Of late, and during several years, it has been difficult to see these 
frescoes well, as the chapel has been obstructed more or less by the scaffold- 
ings nsed in a careful and elaborate restoration of the interior of the church, 
a restoration iN^ch has given it back some of its ancient ohaiacter, especially 
as to polyohzomatio deootation. See Bibliography. 



170 DOMBNIOO 6HIBLAKDAJ0 

given an exact counterpart of the bridge of the Santa Trinita 
with the palace of the Spini ; in this work St. Francis ap- 
pears hoYering in the air^ and restores to life the child who 
had been dead ; among the women standing around are seen 
the different emotions of grief for his deaths as they are 
bearing him to the burial^ and of joy and amazement as they 
behold him resuscitated. Domenico has likewise shown 
the monks issuing from the church with the Becchini^ men 
whose office it is to bury the dead, following the cross and 
proceeding to the interment ; all exhibiting perfect truth to 
nature, as do other figures, who are expressing the amaze- 
ment they feel, or the happiness they experience, from the 
eyent they have just witnessed. In this picture are the por- 
traits of Maso degli Albizzi, Messer Agnolo Acciaiuoli, and 
Messer Palla Strozzi, all eminent citizens frequently cited 
in the history of Florence. 

A second picture represents St. Francis, when, in the 
presence of the vicar, he refuses to accept the inheritance 
dcYolying on him from his father, Pietro Bemardone, and 
assumes the habit of penitence, which he binds around him 
with the cord of discipline ; in another compartment the 
same saint is depicted as proceeding to Bome, where he ob- 
tains from Pope Honorius the confirmation of his rule, and 
presents to that Pontiff, roses blooming in the middle of 
January. In this story the master represents the Hall of 
the Consistory with the Cardinals seated around it, a fiight 
of steps leads up into the hall ; and, leaning on the balus- 
trade, are the half-length figures of yarious persons por- 
trayed from the life. Among the portraits in this work-is 
that of the illustrious Lorenzo de' Medici the elder. The 
master likewise depicts St. Francis receiving the Stigmata ; 
and in the last of the series here described, he represents the 
Saint dead, with his monks mourning around him. One 
among them kisses the hands of the departed, and the ex- 
pression in his case could not possibly be rendered more per- 
fect by the art of the painter. There is also a bishop, in his 
episcopal vestments and with spectacles on his nose ; he is 



DOMBNIOO GHIBLANDAJO 171 

chanting the prayers for the dead ; and the fact that we do 
not hear him^ alone demonstrates to us that he is not alive^ 
bat merely painted. On each side of the altar-piece are two 
compartments, in one of which Domenico painted the like- 
ness of Francesco Sassetti on his knees ; and in the other 
that of Madonna Nera his wife, with their children (but 
these last are in the story above, when the child is restored 
to life), and some other beantif al maidens of the same family, 
whose names I have not been able to discover, all wearing 
the dress and ornaments of that time, a circamstance which 
imparts no small pleasure to the beholder. On the vaulted 
ceiling of the chapel are four Sybils, and on the external 
wall® is the story of the Tiburtine Sybil, by whom the Em- 
peror Octavian is induced to worship Christ ; a fresco of ad- 
mirable execution, and exhibiting an animation of colour- 
ing which is very charming. To these works Domenico ad- 
ded a picture in tempera, wherein is the Nativity of Christ,* 
painted in such a manner as to astonish every one who is 
conversant with art ; in this work is the portrait of the mas- 
ter himself, with certain heads of shepherds, which are con- 
sidered wonderfully fine. In our book we have drawings of 
the Sybil, and of some other parts of that work, most ad- 
mirably executed in chiaro-scuro ; we have also the per- 
spective exhibiting the bridge of Santa Trinity. 

For the Brotherhood of the Ingesuati, Domenico painted 
the altar-piece of the high altar with various Saints Reeling 
around the Virgin, San Giusto, Bishop of Volterra namely, 
titular saint of that church ; San Zanobi, Bishop of Flor- 
ence ; the Angel Raphael, San Michele, in magnificent ar- 

• 1%6 fretooei on the exterior of the chapel, God the Father in Glory, and 
the Sibyl Ptophesying, were whitewashed, bat have been caiefdUy unoorered 
by Professor OontL 

• This is one of Ghirlandajo*B finest works; it was pahitedin 148S, and ia 
now in the Florentine Aoademy. In it we see the hand of a master ** who 
oombines with the toaehing nt^veU of a season of upgrowth a sober and pro- 
found soienoe.** It offers some of the closest and most solid work npon panel 
ol the fifteenth oentnry and shows bow admirable a painter of easel pictures 
Qhirlandajo oould hare been had he found time from his ^pe«ter work; m § 



172 DOMENIOO GHIRLANDAJO 

monr, with some others ; and of a truth Domenico merits 
praise for this work, seeing that he was the first who at- 
tempted to imitate borderings and ornaments of gold with 
colours, which had, up to that time, not been the custom.^ 
But Domenico did away in a great measure with those flour- 
ishes and scrolls formed with gypsum or bole and gold, 
which were better suited to the decorating of tapestry or 
hangings, than to the paintings of good masters. But more 
beautiful than any of the other figures is that of Our Lady, 
who has the Child in her arms, and four little Angels around 
her. This picture, than which nothing better could be 
executed in tempera, was at that time in the church belong- 
ing to the above-named friars, without the gate which opens 
on the road to Pinti ; but that building having been after- 
wards destroyed, as will be related elsewhere, it is now in 
the church of San Giovannino, within the gate of San Pie- 
tro Gattolini, where the convent of the Ingesuati is sita- 
ated. 

In the church of the Oestello,^^ Domenico commenced a 
picture which was completed by his brothers David and 
Benedetto ; the subject of this work is the Visitation of 
Our Lady, and in it there are certain female heads whioh 
are most graceful and beautiful. For the church of the 
Innocenti,^' Domenico painted a picture of the Magi, in 
tempera, which has been highly extolled ; here, too, are 



>• This piotore WM pftinied on wood, ind is a work of hia yontk Aftortbd 
destruction of the ohnroh, daring the funoos dege in 1S90, it wm taken to a 
smaller ohnrch oslled La Oalza, near the Porta Romana, and in 1857 was ow- 
ried from thenoe to the UfiBzi Grallery. San Giusto was Arohbbhop of hyom^ 

" This picture, painted in 1401, is in the Lonvre. 

» This picture, dated 14S8, and stUlin theohoroh, has been oarefoUy though 
rather briUiantly restored. It is an important composition, with manj fig- 
ores, and has more of religions sentiment than have most of Ghirlandajo^a 
piotores. A charming episodical feature is the presentation by attendaat 
saints of two Innocents (the patrons and protectors of the Innocenti hospital) ; 
the latter are haloed babies, who are kneeling nnmindfol of the wonnds whidi 
ooTer their heads and bodies. The workmanship is so minnte that the pioi- 
nre should bo seen from the head of the stairoaseo leading to the top of tke 
bigh^Hitt; 



DOMEKIOO OHIBLANDAJO 173 

Bumy Tery beantifol headB, both old and jonng, the atti- 
tude and expression finely Taried* In the oonnteDanoe of 
Our Lady, more particnlarly, there is the manifestation of 
all the modesty, grace, and beaaty that can be imparted to 
the Mother of the Son of God by the painter's art. There 
is likewise a work by this master in the chnrch of San 
Maioo^ in the middle aisle, with a Last Supper " in the 
strangers' refectory of the cloister, both executed with much 
care. In the palace of GioTanni Tomabuoni, Domenioo 
painted the Adoration of the Magi,* also very carefully 
executed.^ And in the smaller Hospital f he painted the 
Story of Vulcan for Lorenzo de' Medici ; >• in this work there 
are many figures undraped and wielding heavy hammers, as 
they labour in the fabrication of thunder-bolts for Jupiter. 
In the church of Ognissanti, in Florence, Domenioo painted, 
in competition with Sandro Botticelli, a St. Jerome, sur- 
rounded by various instruments and books, such as are 
used by the learned: this fresco is now beside the door 
which leads into the choir, having been removed, together 
with that of Botticelli, by the monks, who desired to make 
alterations in the choir; and being secured by means of 
iron bars, &c., they were both transported without injury 
into the centre of tiie church ; this was done at the moment 
when these Lives were in course of being printed for the 
second time.^ 

The lunette over the door of Santa Maria Ughi was 
painted by Domenico Ghirlandajo, who likewise executed a 
small Tabernacle for the guild of the Joiners, | and in the 

* The wordi, in nn Umth^ in a round (fonn), that is to aaj, painted npoB a 
oirouUr panel or canyaa, are omitted here. 

t Lo Spedaletto, here translated '* smaller hospital,** is the name of aoooft- 
iry house near Tolterra which now belongs to the Oorsini prineea. 

X Read flaz-merohants (Linaiiuoli), 

" The Last Sapper is in tolerable condition ; the work m ention e d bj VMiri 
as being in the middle aisle has perished. 

>« This picture went to the Palacao Pandolfini, and thtooe to Bn^Md; 
Hilaned, ToL lU, p. 258, note 5. 

>* These fresooes are badly damaged bnt stiU eziai 

M The St Jerome painted in 1480 stiU exists <n ftftk 



174 DOMENICO GHIBLANDAJO 

aboTe-mentioned church of Ognissanti, he painted a figure 
of St. George killing the Dragon^ which is very finely done. 
And of a troth this master was exceedingly well versed in 
the execution of mural paintings^ which he treated with 
extraordinary facility ; he was nevertheless remarkably 
careful in the composition* of his works. '^ 

Ghirlandajo was invited to Rome by Pope Sixtus lY., to 
take part with other masters in the painting of his chapel, 
and he there depicted Christ calling Peter and Andrew from 
their nets^ as also the Resurrection of the Saviour,^ which 
is now almost entirely ruined ; for being over a door, the 
architecture of which it has been found necessary to restore, 
the painting has suffered much damage. Francesco Tor- 
nabuoni, a rich and eminent merchant, who was a friend to 
Domenico, was at that time in Rome, and his wife, having 
died in childbirth, as has been related,^ in the life of 
Andrea Verrocchio, he, desiring to do her all the honour 
befitting their station, caused a tomb to be constructed in 
the church of the Minerva, and commissioned Domenico 
Ghirlandajo to paint the whole face of the wall around it.^ 
He likewise caused a small picture to be executed by that 
master for the same place. The mural paintings consisted 
of four stories, two from the life of John the Baptist, and 
two from that of Our Lady, which were all much extolled 
at the time. Francesco was so entirely satisfied with all 

* Reftd instead of *Hhe oompontion of his works, *^ the high finish of his 
works ; '* tul comporre U $ue eoae moUo Uccato ; ** leeeato means, UtenUj, 
Ucked. 

" The Lunette^ the Tabemaole, ind the Si George hare aU disappeared. 

>" Tlie Resorrection perished in the demolition of a waU. The Galling of 
Peter still exists. 11 MQntz, in the Hevtte ArcMologiqf*e^ states that David 
Ghirlandajo did maoh of the work in all of Domenioo^s Roman fcesooes. Beo- 
ords of payments in 1475 and 1476 exist, bat they are for other works done 
in the Vatican. For the wall-paintings of the Sistine Ohapel, see the Life of 
Botticelli, note 21. Ghirlandajo^s fresoo here is one of the best of the series ; 
bat, like the others, is hardly noticed, being overshadowed by Miohelaogelo's 
works in the vaalting. 

>* When Vasari changed the order of the LiTes in the seoood edition he for* 
got to alter '' has been " to ** wiU be.** 

*• These paintings haye disappeared. 



DOMBNIOO GHIRLANDAJO 176 

that Domenico had done^ that when the master returned to 
Florence with great honoar and large gains^ Tomabnoni 
recommended him by letters to his relation Oiovanni, in- 
forming the latter how well he had been served by Domen- 
ico in the matter of the tomb, and declaring that the Pope 
also was highly pleased with his pictures. When Oiovanni 
Tomabuoni heard these things, he began to consider how 
he might best employ the ability of the painter in some 
magnificent work, which should serve as a perpetual me- 
morial of himself, and at the same time bring renown and 
advantage to Domenico. 

Now it chanced that at this time the principal chapel of 
Santa Maria Novella, a monastery of the Preaching Friars, 
which had formerly been painted by Andrea Orgagna, was 
in many parts injured by the rains which had penetrated to 
the work, by reason of the roof being imperfectly covered. 
Many citizens had offered to restore the chapel or to paint it 
anew, but the owners, who were then of the Bicci family, 
would never agree to its being done, they not having means 
to supply the expense themselves, nor could they resolve on 
yielding the chapel to others who would do it, lest they 
should lose their right in it, and should see their arms, 
which had descended to them from their ancestors, removed 
from the place. But Oiovanni Tomabuoni, wishing much 
that Domenico should raise him this memorial, set to work 
in the matter, and sought by various devices to effect his 
purpose. At length he promised the Bicci, not only to take 
the whole expense on himself, and to make them a recom- 
pense in some other matter, but also assured them that he 
would have their arms emblazoned on the most conspicuous 
and most honourable place to be found in the chapel. On 
this condition they agreed, and a solemn contract was made, 
by means of an instrument carefully drawn up according to 
the tenor above described. Oiovanni then commissioned 
Domenico to execute the work, the same subjects being re- 
tained, as they had been originally painted by Orgagna, and 
the price agreed on was 1200 gold ducats ; but, in the event 



126 DOMENICO GHIBLAKDAJO 

of the paintings pleasing him, GioTanni promised to give 200 
more.* Domenico therefore set hard to the work, and did 
not cease nntil the fourth year, when he had entirely fin- 
ished it — this was in the year 1485. Giovanni was thoroughly 
satisfied and much pleased with the whole ; he admitted 
that he considered himself well serred, and confessed in- 
genuously that Domenico had gained the additional 200 
ducats, but added, that he would be glad if the painter 
would content himself with the price first agreed on. Ghir- 
landajo, who valued glory and honour much more than 
riches, immediately remitted all the remainder, declaring 
that he had it much more at heart to give Giovanni satis- 
faction, than to secure the additional payment for himself.* 
Giovanni Tomabuoni afterwards caused two large es- 

*> The works whidi to plMttd Tomabuoni no longer ezkt in tiie lGner?a. 
Af for the plotoreo in tiie olioir of & Maria Noyella, the oontraet for theee 
fr«eooea» dated September 1, 148S, is poblished by Milaneei in // BmomarraU, 
1887, n. 885-85a It mentionB the snbjeota, and itipnlates that the wvk 
•haU be finidied in foor jears from Maj, 1486| bj Domenioo and David 
CHudaiidaJa Before the oommenoement of the work the two brothers were 
to sobndt a sket^ whieh should be modified to suit the taste of TomaboonL 
floB M ol the enbjeeti m entioned in the oontraet were replaced by otheia. Tiie 
eoBtraet priee was 1,100 florina 

** Thk vast series ol fresooes may rsnk as Domemoo*B masterpieee, and as 
cae of the importaniand remaikable works of the Bensismnoe. It has pto- 
fobed the onfaTorable eritioism of Mr. Buskin and the enthusiasm of Tsine, 
the former esUing the artist only *' a goldsmith with a gift of portraiture,** 
the latter deolaring that '* one mif^ pass hoors in contemplating the figures 
of the women,** and praising** the diTineunoouthDess of their grsTity.** While 
rtanding bcCofe tiiein M. Leon Bonnit, the eminent Fienob paintsr, speak- 
ing to one ol the annotators of this work, emphasixed Taine*s words by the 
roBMik, **XiUi tont WMperbet maU^ un peu iawaget,^ This admiring but 
eritteal exolamation exactly eharaeterises the figares in theee frescoes. They 
an superb, and yet in their direct and lomewhat heaTy-handed simplicity oi 
•zeeutioB have that forceful rudeness which the famous French paintsr 
fiNmdinthem. They are all portraits, for it was as natural to Ghiriandajo to 
make a portrait of anyone whom he painted as it was to BottioelU to depart 
from indiridnal charaeteristios and generaUse a type of his own. The 
ehe^flr4ward diriaion of these frescoes into so many great reetangles, tc^iped 
on oithm' side of the choir by a lunMUy is not especiaUy deooratiTe, and the 
eolor is not interesting, being rather bridcy and abundant in tawny yellowa 
Tel when seen ckMsly, certain figures, for faistanoe the so-called OiiMTradir 
B«ei (see note S0), are better and more delicate in odor than they at fini 



DOMEKIOO GHIBLANDAJO 177 

oatcheons to be executed in stone, the one for the Toma- 
qainci, the other for the Tomabaoni : these he had erected 
on the two pilasters outside the chapel ; and in the lunette 
he placed other armorial bearings belonging to different 
branches of the same family, divided into various names and 
exhibiting different shields : — ^the escutcheons, that is, be- 
sides the two already named, of the Oiachinotti, Popoleschi, 
Marabottini, and Cardinal!. Finally, Domenico painted 
the altar-piece ; and beneath an arch in the gilt frame-work, 
Oiovanni caused a very beautiful tabernacle for the sacra- 
ment to be placed, as the completion of the whole work. In 
the pediment of the tabernacle he then commanded a small 
shield, a quarter of a braccio only, to be emblazoned with 
the arms of the owners of the chapel, the Bicci, namely. 

But the best was to come; for when the chapel was 
opened to view, the Bicci sought their arms with a great 
outcry, and at last, not seeing them, they hastened to the 
magistrates and laid their contract before the Council of 
Eight. Thereupon the Tomabuoni proved that they had 
placed the arms of the Bicci in the most conspicuous and 
most honourable part of the whole work, and although the 
latter complained that their escutcheon could not be seen, 
yet they were declared to be in the wrong, for since the 
Tomabuoni had caused it to be placed in a position so hon- 
ourable as the immediate vicinity of the most Holy Sacra- 
ment, they ought to be content ; it was therefore decided 
by the magistrates that so it should remain, as we see it to 
this day. And now if any man think this relation foreign 
to the life that I am writing, let not this disturb his quiet, 
for it chanced to present itself at the point of my pen, and 
if it be to no other purpose, will serve to show in what man- 
ner poverty becomes the prey of riches, and how riches, 
when accompanied by prudence, may attain without censure 
to the end desired by those who possess them. 

But to return to the beautiful works of Domenico. In 

Mtm, and a oarefol exminlnaiioii enablM one to lee, to a certain extent, throogfa 
th« Twiaer of oaadle amoka whioh haa obaoored and coaiaened them. 



178 DOMBNIOO GHIBLAKDAJO 

the ceiling of this chapel he first painted colossal figares of 
the four Evangelists^ and on the wall wherein is the window, 
he depicted stories representing San Domenico, San Pietro 
the Martyr, and San Oioyanni, proceeding into the Wilder- 
ness, with Oar Lady receiving the annunciation from the 
Angel : over the window are certain Saints (the patrons of 
Florence) on their knees, and beneath is the portrait of Oio- 
vanni Tomabnoni on the right hand, with that of his wife 
on the left, both said to be exact likenesses. On the wall to 
the right hand are seven stories in an equal number of com- 
partments, six beneath, which occupy the entire width of 
the wall, and one above, which has the width of two of those 
below, and is enclosed by the vaulted ceiling. On the op- 
posite wall are also seven stories, representing events in the 
life of St John the Baptist 

The first picture, on the wall to the right, exhibits Oio- 
vacchino driven from the Temple,* the patience with which 
he suffers is expressed in his countenance, while in the faces 
of the Jews, the contempt and hatred which they feel for 
those who, without having children, presume to approach 
the temple, are equally manifest. In this story, on the 
compartment towards the window, are four men portrayed 
from the life ; one of these, the old man with shaven heard 
and wearing a red capote, is Alesso Baldovinetti,^ Domen- 
ico's master in painting and mosaic ; the second, with un- 
covered head, who has his hand on his side and wears a red 
mantle with a blue vestment beneath, is Domenico himself, 
the author of the work, taken with his own hands by means 
of a mirror. The third, with long black hair and thick 
lips, is Bastiano, of San Oemignano, disciple and cousin of 
Domenico ; and the fourth, who turns his back and has a 
cap or barrett on the head, is the painter David Ohirlandajo, 
his brother. All these persons are said by those who knew 
them, to be very animated and faithful likenesses. 

** An apootyphal itory from the Protovangeliym Saneti Jaeobi. 
^ Or, aooording to Lundoooi, this U TommMO, the fitther of GhiiluidftjOk 
MilMieei fincb tnoee in this fresoo of the ooUsbonttion of Mahif xdi 



DOMEKIGO OHIBLATfDAJO 179 

In the second story is the Birth of the Virgin, painted 
with extraordinary care, and among other remarkable parts 
of this work may be mentioned a window of the building 
which gives light to the room, and which deceives all who 
look at it. While Santa Anna is in bed, and certain women 
are ministering to her, others are represented as washing the 
Madonna with great care,^ one brings water, another the 
swathing bands, one occapies herself with one service, an- 
other with something else, and while each is attending to 
that appertaining to her, one has taken the infant in her 
arms, and smiling into its face, is making it smile in return, 
with a feminine grace truly appropriate to a work of this 
character ; there are besides other and various expressions 
exhibited in most of those figures. In the third picture, 
which is the first in the upper compartment. Our Lady is 
seen ascending the steps of the temple,^ and in the back- 
ground there is a building which recedes from the eye in 
very correct proportion ; there is also an undraped figure, 
which at that time, as they were not frequently seen, was 
very much comiiiended, although there is not to be discov- 
ered in it that entire perfection of the proportions which we 
find in those painted in our own day. Near this story is 
that of the Marriage of the Virgin, when the anger of 
the suitors is seen to exhale itself in the act of breaking 
their rods, which do not blossom as does that of Joseph. 
The figures are in considerable numbers and appear in an 
appropriate building. In the fifth story, the Magi are seen 
to arrive in Bethlehem with a vast concourse of men, 
horses, dromedaries, and many other objects ; without 
doubt a well arranged picture.^ Near this is the sixth, 

** In thin frMOO may be notiloed the words Bighordi ind GrUlandai (early 
Florentine orthography), the real name and the nickname of the painter, apon 
the ornaments of the bed. From this interior with its carved wood, its 
panelling, and its Majolica friexe of Putti on a bine groand, we obtain an 
exoeUent idea of the bedchamber of a Florentine palace. The stndy for the 
maid-eerrant pouring water is in the UfifizL 

** M. Miintz {VAge cCOi") says that the Presentation at the Temple is prob- 
ably in great part by the hands of Ghirlandajo^s collaborators. 

" The central group is greatly injured by the humidity of the walla. 



180 DOnnOO OHIBLAKDAJO 



repretents the cmd wickednes piactiaed by Herod 
againft the JimocentB, and here we hare a most anhnatitd 
contest of women with the soldiers and horses, who strike 
and driTe them abont. Of all the stories we hare bj Do- 
menico Ohiilandajo, this is certainly the best, since it is 
executed with greskt judgment, ability, and art. The im- 
picas determination of those who kill those poor chiUr^i 
at the command of Herod, without regard to tiie mothers, 
is rendered most clearly yisible : among the babes is on^ 
still hanging to the breast of the mother, while it is dying 
of wounds receiyed in its throat, so Uiat it sucks, not to say 
drinks, blood no less than milk from the breast ; tiiis is a 
Tery striking thought, and by the art wiUi which it is rep- 
resented is well calculated to recall pity to life even in 
hearts wherein it had been long dead. There is, moreoTcr, 
a soldier who has forced a child from the mother, and as 
he is hurrying away wiUi it, he is killing the innocoit by 
crushing its breast ; the mother of the babe is seen hanging 
to his hair, which she has seized with fuiy, and forces him 
to bend back till his person forms an ardi — in this group 
three different effects are finely displayed, one the death <^ 
the child, who is seen to expire ; another, the cruelty of the 
soldier, who, feeling himself dragged as described, is ob- 
Tiously avenging himself on the in&nt; and the third is 
the determination manifested by the mother, who, seeing 
the death of her child, resoWes in her rage and despair that 
the murderer shall not depart without suffering : all this is 
in fact more after the manner of a deeply-thinking philoso- 
pher, than of a painter. There are, besides, many other 
passions and emotions rendered manifest in these stories, 
insomuch that he who examines them will infallibly per- 
ceiTC this master to hare been among the truly excellent 
ones of his time. Above these and in the seventh picture, 
which comprises the width of two of the lower ones, and is 
closed by the arch of the vault, Ghirlandajo has depicted 
the death of the Madonna and her Assumption ; she is sur- 
rounded by a large number of Angels, and there are various 



BOHENIGO GHIRLANDAJO 181 

figures^ landscapeB, and other ornaments, wherein Domen- 
ico, with his able manner and practised facility, always 
abounded. 

On the opposite wall are stories from the Life of John 
the Baptist. In the first, Zacharias is seen offering sacrifice 
in the temple, and the angel appears to him ; when he, not 
believing, is rendered dumb. In this pictare the painter 
has shown that the sacrifices of those times were resorted to 
by the most honourable of the people ; and this he has 
effected by placing among those offering sacrifices, the most 
distinguidied citizens of Florence, portrayed from those 
who then governed that state, more particularly the mem- 
bers of the Tomabuoni family, old and young. And in 
addition to this, desiring to make it obvious that his age 
abounded in every kind of talent, but more particularly in 
learning, Domenico painted a group of four figures in half 
length ; they stand conversing together in the foreground, 
and were the most learned men then to be found in Flor- 
ence. The first is Messer Marsilio Ficino, who wears the 
dress of a Oanon ; the second, in a red mantle, with a black 
band round his neck, is Oristofano Landino. The figure 
turning towards him is the Oreek Demetrius,* and he who, 
standing between them, somewhat raises his hand, is Messer 
Angelo Poliziano, all of whom are most animated and life- 
like portraits. In the second story, which is next to this, 
there follows the Visitation of Our Lady to St Elizabeth, 
they are accompanied by several women clothed in the dress 

n Tiie figure here oalled Demetrim OhaloondylAs ia Gentile de* Beochi, 
Blihop of Axeuo, and preoeptor to Lorenso the Hagnifieent Aooording to 
mUmed, ToL JTLi 260, »t the time that this fre«>o wm finiiriied a kind of key 
drawing of the Tarioot portrait heads, nnmhered and oatalogned, wae madei 
There were lereral oopioB of thin key drawing ; one ia still in the Tomaqoinoi 
famfly, another in the Baldorinetti family. Mllanesi, m., 206, gives the 
oomi^ete list of twenty-one names. See also Laf enestre and Bichtenherger, 
Jiforenee, p. 207. These names are principally of Tomabacni and Toma- 
qninoi, while the Popolesohi, Giachinottl, Laisetti, Bidolfi, and Hediei fami- 
lies are each represented hy a single member ; in addition to these there aze 
the famoos humanists, Landino, PoUiiano, and lidno, while eren the bnflbon, 
Benedetto Dei, is recorded. 



183 DOM£NiOO GHtBLANDAJO 

of those times, and among them is the portrait of Oinevra 
de' Benci, then a very beautif al maiden.* 

In the third story, which is above the first, is the Birth of 
St. John the Baptist, and in this there is a very pleasing 
circumstance. St. Elizabeth is in bed, and certain of her 
neighbours have come to visit her; the nurse is seated, 
feeding the child, when one of the women joyfully steps 
forward and takes him from her, to show to those around 
how fair a present the mistress of the house has made them 
in her old age, there is, besides, a peasant-woman bringing 
fruit and flasks of wine from the country, according to the 
custom in Florence : a very beautiful figure. In the fourth 
picture, which is beside this, is Zacharias, still dumb, but 
keeping good courage, and marvelling that the boy he is 
gazing at should be bom to him j the bystanders are desir- 
ing to know what his name is to be, and Zacharias, writing 
on his knee, while still fixing his eyes on his son, who is in 
the arms of a woman, who has reverently placed herself on 
her knees before him, marks with his pen on the leaf, Oio- 
vanni sard il sua name (John shall be his name), not with- 
out manifest astonishment on the part of those around, some 
of whom appear to be in doubt whether the thing be true 
or not. The fifth story follows, wherein John is seen 
preaching to the multitude and here the painter exhibits 
the attention which the populace ever gives when hearing 
some new thing : there is much expression in the heads of 
the Scribes who are listening to John, and whose mien and 
gestures betoken a kind of scorn, or rather hatred of what 
they hear. A large number of persons stand or sit around, 
men and women of different conditions and variously attired. 

In the sixth picture, St. John is seen baptizing Christ, 
the reverence displayed in whose countenance clearly shows 



*• Ginem de* Benoi waa dead mt this time ; Irat GioTanna d^U 
Jiancf€ of Lorenzo di GioTanni Tomabnoni, may be recognised, and the girl in 
gold brocade on the other side of the choir ia the aister of Lorenao. See Ri- 
dolfi, Giavanna Tomabaoni e Ginevra de^ Bend nd Coro di 8. Mi Ifo9€ttm, 
1890, dted by MM. Lafeneatre and Biohtenberger, Flortn^ p. 968. 



DOMENICO GHIRLANDAJO 183 

the fauth which we oaght to place in that sacrament^ and as 
this did not fail to produce a great effect, numerous figures^ 
already unclothed and barefoot, are seen waiting to be bap- 
tized, meanwhile showing the trust they entertain and the 
desire they feel in their countenances : one among these 
figures, who is drawing off his shoe, is life and movement 
itself. In the last story, that in the arch beneath the ceil- 
ing, is the sumptuous feast of Herod, and the dance of 
Herodias,^ with a vast number of attendants performing 
various services; the building, of extraordinary magnifi- 
cence, which is seen in perspective, clearly proves the ability 
of the master, as indeed do all these paintings. 

The altar-piece, which is entirely isolated, Domenico 
painted in tempera, as he did the other figures in the six 
pictures. Among these is Our Lady enthroned in the air 
with the Ghild in her arms, and with numerous saints 
around her. San Lorenzo, and San Stefano, namely, who 
are full of life, with San Vincenzio, and San Pietro. It 
is true that a portion of this work remained incomplete on 
account of Domenico's death ; but as he had made consider- 
able progress in it, the only part unfinished being certain 
figures in the back-ground of the Besurrection of Ghrist, 
with three more in other places, the whole was afterwards 
finished by his brothers Benedetto and David Ghirlandajo.^ 

This chapel was considered to be an extremely fine work, 
majestic and beautiful, charming by the vivacity of the 

** Salome rather. 

<* In 1804 the old altar waa taken to pieces and the altar-piece waa divided, 
part going to Munich and part to Berlin. The front portions, beliered to 
be by Domenico himself, and now in Munich, represent in a centre panel the 
Virgin and Child, with the Magdalen and St. Dominick ; in the right-hand 
panel is a Saint Catherine of Siena, in the left hand panel St. Lawrence as a 
deacon. The pictures from the back of the altar-piece, now in Berlin, show 
in the centre a Resorrection of Christ, at left and right Saints Antonio and 
Vincenxo Ferreri The BerUn pictures are said to be by David and Benedetto 
Oliirlandajo. Morelli seems rather to admit the attribution to Domenico. 
Two other figures of saints were sold to liucien Bonaparte in 1804, and the 
gradino is lost. The altar-piece dates from about 1490. See Milaneai, VoL 
m., p. 909, note. The choir window, designed by GUdrlandajo and executed 
by Saadro di Giovanni d* Andrea Agolanti, was completed in 148L 



184 DOMBKIOO GHIBLANBAJO 

oolouring, and admirable as maral painting for the fedlity 
of the treatment, and becaoae it received but very few 
tonohes a secco, to say nothing of the invention and compo- 
sition. The master, withoat doubt, deserves infinite com- 
mendation on all accounts, bnt most of all for the animation 
of the heads, which, being portrayed from nature, present 
to all who see them the most lively similitudes of many dis- 
tinguished persons. 

For the same Oiovanni Tomabuoni, Domenico painted a 
chapel at his villa of the Gasso Maccherelli,** situate at no 
great distance from the city, on the river TerzoUe, but 
which has since been destroyed by the encroachments of the 
torrent ; yet the paintings, although for many years un- 
covered, continually exposed to rain, and burnt by the sun, 
have maintained their freshness to such a degree, that one 
might believe they had been covered all the time— such 
are the effects of a judicious and careful execution in fresco, 
and of refraining from retouching the work when dry. Do- 
menico likewise painted numerous figures of Florentine 
Saints in the hall " wherein the wonderful clock of Lorenzo 
della Yolpaja stands,** adding many rich and beautiful em- 
bellishments. This artist found so much pleasure in his 
labours, and was so willing to satisfy all who desired to 
possess his works, that he commanded his scholars to accept 
whatever commission was brought to the Bottega, even 
though it were hoops for women's baskets, declaring that if 
they would not paint them he would do it himself, to the 
end that none might depart from his workshops dissatisfied. 
But when household cares were laid upon him, he com- 

** This ihoold be GhiaMO lUoeregli, onoe the TilU Tonabnoiii, now the 
YfXU Lemnd, from which eftme the famoiie Bottiodli f reecoe e in the LonTre. 

»In this fraeoo (1481-^486) Domenioo painted thiee trinmphal erehes 
with a Saint Zenobins enthroned between otherieinte. There axe alio fignree 
of Brntm, If oeftna Sonrola, Oamilhia, Deoina, Soipio, and Cioero, aa well aa a 
Madonna with angela abore. The hall is called, Tarionaly, AUa deW Orotogio 
(HaUof the Olock) and Sd/a df* <?^» (HaU of the Liliea), and is in the Fa- 
lano yeeehio of Florenoe. 

*«Tbia dock is now in the Florentine Hnaenm of Natural Hiatory. 



DOMBKIOO GHIRLANDAJO 186 

plained bitterly^ and committed the charge of all expendi- 
ture to his brother David, saying to him, ** Leaye me to 
work and do thou provide, for now that I have began to get 
into the spirit and comprehend the method of this art, I 
grudge that they do not commission me to paint the whole 
circnit of all the walls of Florence with stories ; '' thus 
proving the resolved and invincible character of his mind in 
whatever he undertook." 

In Lucca, Domenico painted a picture of San Pietro, and 
San Paolo, for the church of ^n Martino," and in the 
Abbey di Settimo, near Florence, he painted the principal 
chapel in fresco, with two pictures in tempera for the mid- 
dle aisle of the church.*' This master, moreover, executed 
various works for different parts of Florence, pictures 
round** and square, which are dispersed through the houses 
of the citizens, and are therefore not seen beyond them* In 
Pisa he adorned the recess above the high altar in the 
cathedral," and performed various works in different parts 
of the city, as, for example, at the house of the wardens, 
where he depicted a story on one of the walls, representing 
King Charles portrayed from the life, who recommends the 
city of Pisa to the friendly consideration of the Florentines." 
He also painted two pictures in distemper in the church of 
San Oirolamo, for the Frati G^suati, that of the high altar, 
namely, and another.^ In the same place there is, besides. 



** AnMag ilMM mliUMr wodn wer« fonr huge oandlwtiekB for 8. MMrla No- 

M This work is itOl in th« MMsistj of S«n Martiiio. 

^ In 1004 ohangM were made in Uie abbej of Settimo; perhape ihefreecoee 
periihed mt that time. They are not mentioned by Big. Marootti in hia long 
deaoription of the ahb^. Ouide^Sowotnir de Fhrenet^ 906-807. 

** Of theae round piotorea (tondi) ot Ghirlandajo the hurgeat and finest ia in 
the Ufki, and ia an Adoration of the Magi, painted in 1487. 

** ^le piotore in the Piaan Dnomo ia almost a oomplete restoration. 

^ Thia work ia loat ; it ia tnppoaed that it was painted to oommemorate the 
peace between Charlea VIIL and Florence, 1494. 

«> Tbi& Geanati ahoold be diatingnished from the Geaniti ( Jeanita), a different 
brotherhood. Aooording to Dal Morrona the two worka IRW^IoQ^ by Vaaari 
aie BOW in the dinroh ol Santa Anna. 



186 DOMENICO OHIRLANDAJO 

a picture representing San Bocco and San Sebastiano^ from 
the hand of this master ; it was presented to those fathers 
by I know not which of the Medici, and they have added to 
it, most probably on that account, the arms of Pope Leo X.^ 

Domenico is said to have possessed so accurate an eye, 
that when making drawings from the various antiquities of 
Borne, as triumphal arches, baths, columns, colossal figures, 
obelisks, amphitheatres, and aqueducts, he did all by the 
eye, using neither rule, nor compass, nor instruments of any 
kind ; but afterwards, measuring what he had done, every 
part was found to be correct, and in all respects as if he had 
measured them. He drew the Colosseum in this manner by 
the eye, placing a figure standing upright in the drawing, 
by measuring which, the proportions of all the building will 
be found ; this was tried by the masters after Domenico's 
death, and found to be rigidly correct. 

Over a door of the cemetery of Santa Maria Nuova, 
Domenico painted a San Michele armed, in fresco ; this is a 
very beautiful picture, and exhibits the reflection of light 
from the armour in a manner rarely seen before his time. 
For the abbey of Passignano, which belongs to the monks 
of Vallombrosa, Domenico executed certain works in com- 
pany with his brother David and Bastiano of Gemignano.** 
The two latter, finding themselves ill-treated and poorly fed 
by the monks before the arrival of Domenico, had recourse 
to the abbot, requesting him to give orders that they should 
have better food, since it was not decent that they should be 
treated like bricklayers* hod-men. This the abbot promised 
them to do, and excused himself by saying, that what they 
complained of had happened more from the ignorance of the 
monk who had the charge of strangers, than from evil in- 
tention. But when Domenico arrived, the same misman- 
agement still continued ; whereupon David, seeking the ab- 
bot once more, apologized for pressing him, with the 

«* This work has perished. 

** The San Miohele has perished, (wd the works painted at PlMsigiuiio urn 
no longer to be found. 



BOMEKIOO OHIBLANDAJO 187 

tssnrance that he did it not on his own account bnt for his 
brother's sake^ whose merits and abilities desenred considera- 
tion. The abbots however^ like an ignorant man as he was^ 
made no other reply. In the evening, therefore, when they 
sat down to supper, the monk entrusted with the care of 
strangers, came as usual with a board, whereon were por- 
ringers in the usual fashion, and coarse meats fit only for 
common labourers. Whereupon David rose in a rage, threw 
the soup over the friar, and seizing the great loaf from the 
board, he fell upon him therewith, and belaboured him in 
such a fashion that he was carried to his cell more dead 
than alive. The abbot, who had already gone to bed, arose 
on hearing the clamour, believing the monastery to be fall- 
ing down, and finding the monk in a bad condition, began 
to reproach David. But the latter replied in a fury, bid- 
ding him begone from his sight, and declaring the talents 
of Domenico to be worth more than all the hogs of abbots 
of his sort that had ever inhabited the monastery. The 
abbot being thus brought to his senses, did his best from that 
moment to treat them like honourable men as they were. 

Having completed his work at the abbey of Passignano, 
Domenico returned to Florence, where he painted a picture 
for the Signer di Garpi,^ with another which he sent to 
Bimini, to the Signer Carlo Malatesta, who caused it to be 
placed in his chapel in San Domenico. This picture was in 
tempera, and contained three singularly fine figures, with 
stories in smaller figures below, and others behind painted 
to imitate bronze, the whole displaying much judgment and 
art.^ Two pictures were likewise painted by this master 
for the abbey of San Giusto,^ outside Volterra, which be- 

«« Thifl work is l<Mi 

«• These works stiU exist si Bimini, in the F^Osbeo Pnbblioo. MeMrs. 
Crowe snd CsTsloaselle (History of Psinting) mention, smong other works of 
Ghirlsndsjo, two pictures in Berlin of the Virgin and Child. In one of these 
paintings the fignret of Saints John the Baptist, John the Brangelist, and 
two kniwUng «dnts were painted b j Granaooi 

. ** A piotore (I4d3) still remains on the altar of 8. Bomnaldo and in the <»a- 
tocy of 8. Ansano ; in Volterra there is another, while in the Cappella Ban 



188 DOMSNIOO OHIBLANDAJO 

longB to the order of Ganuddoli : these pictares, which are 
truly beautiful^ Domenico painted by command of the !!• 
Instrioas Lorenzo de' Medici^ the abbey being then held in 
conimendam by his son Giovanni^ Cardinal de' Medici^ who 
was afterwards Pope Leo : and it is bat a few years since^ 
that the same abbey was restored by the yery reyerend 
Messer Gioyan-Batista Baya^ of Volterra^ who also held it in 
cammendam to the before-mentioned Brotherhood of Gamal- 
doli. 

Being then inyited to Siena by the intenrention of Lo- 
renzo the Magnificent^ Domenico undertook to decorate the 
&9ade of the cathedral in mosaic, Lorenzo himself becom- 
ing his surety to the extent of 20,000 ducats,^ for the ex** 
ecution of the work, a labour which he commenced with 
much zeal and in a better manner than had oyer been seen 
before. But the work was interrupted by the death of the 
master, who left his task unfinished, as he had preyiously 
left the chapel of San Zanobi, which he had begun to adorn 
witb mosaic work in company with the miniature painter, 
Gherardo, but which was left incomplete on account of the 
death of the illustrious Lorenzo. 

Oyer that side door of Santa Maria del Fiore which leads 
into* the conyent of the Seryites, Domenico executed an 
Annunciation in mosaic,^ so finely done, that nothing bet- 
ter has eyer been produced by the modem masters in that 
art. Domenico was wont to say that painting was design, 
but that the true painting for eternity was mosaic.^ 

Among those who studied their art under Domenioo was 
Bastiano Mainardi of St. Gemignano, who became a yery 

Ondo of the Doomo is a MAdonna with the ChUd and 88. BmMooibmo aad 
Antonio AbaU (the Utter iwint is probably not by Gfairiandajo). 

* Rather Ufward than UUo the oonvent 

«f MUaned proTOt that Darid, not Domenioo, Ohirhuidajo oooiiaoted for 
theae moeaiot, and that Maseaino di Goro Mawraini, not Lorenao da* Medkl, 
waiinrety. The oontraot, made in 1488, waa not oanied out 

«• This monio, dating from 1460, ie still in plaoe. 

«• Mosaios for the ohapel of San Zanobi were otdsfod of the GtUkmdaJL 
BottioeDi, and two miniatore-painters, bnt were not ezeonted. 



BOMBNIOO OHIBLANDAJO 180 

able master in fresco ; wherefore, proceeding together to 
San G^mignano, Domenico and Bastiano painted the chapel 
of Santa Fina in company, and produced a work of much 
beauty."^ The faithful service and ready kindness of Bas- 
tiano, who always acquitted himself well, caused Domenico 
to judge him worthy to receiye one of his sisters in mar- 
riage, their friendship thus became relationship, the reward 
bestowed by an approving master in recompense of the la- 
bours and pains wherewith his disciple had attained to pro- 
ficiency in their art. In Santa Groce, Domenico caused 
Bastiano to paint an Assumption of Our Lady for the chapel 
of the Baroncelli and Bandini, with San Tommaso receiving 
the girdle below.^ This is an admirable fresco, but the 
cartoon wap prepared by Domenico himself. At Siena, in 
an apartment of the Spannocchi Palace, Domenico and 
Bastiano painted various stories in company, the work is in 
frescoe and the figures are small." In the cathedral of 
Pisa, likewise, in addition to the recess in the choir, of 
which I have before spoken, they adorned the whole arch 
of the same chapel with a numerous choir of angels : they 
also painted the doors which close the organ, and began to 
decorate the wood-work in gold. But at the moment when 
Domenico had many other great works in hand, both at 
Pisa and Siena, he fell sick of a violent fever, the pestif- 
erous nature of which deprived him in five days of his life. 
Hearing of his illness, the family of Tomabuoni sent him 
the gift of a hundred ducats, as a proof of the friendly 
consideration with which they acknowledged the services 
performed by Domenico for Giovanni, and the good will he 
had ever borne to all of that house. 
Domenico Ghirlandajo lived forty-four years, and was 

- This inlerMfehig MciMof frMooet, ilie history of Saute FiiiA, koonaidorad 
bjr M, Mttnti to be one of the eaiUeit worln of our artist, periiaps even aa- 
tedatiiig 1475. The oharming heads of ohoristers in these frescoes are espe- 
cially worthy of study. 

»> This work is in $Uh. 

** RGlanesi, who has studied fliooosc dooimieDtSi finds no wfPtlftii oC D^ 
i yifif<»5f fm tben. 



190 DOMENICO GHIBLANDAJO 

borne by his brothers David and Benedetto^ and Bidolfo hii 
son, with sorrowing hearts and many tears to his graye in 
Santa Maria Novella, wherein they deposited his remains 
with most honourable obsequies. The loss of Domenioo 
was a cause of great sorrow to his friends, and many emi- 
nent foreign painters, when they heard thereof, wrote to his 
relations to condole with them on his premature death. Of 
his disciples there remained David and Benedetto Ghir- 
landajo, Bastiano Mainardi of San Qemignano, and the 
Florentine Michael Angelo Buonarrotti, with Francesco 
Granaccio, Niccolo Gieco, Jacopo del Tedesco, Jacopo dell' 
Indaco, Buldino Baldinelli, and other masters, all Floren- 
tines. He died in the year 1495.* ** 
The art of painting in mosaic after the modei^ manner, 

n Domenioo died Janoary 11, 1494, probablj of the plague^ me he wmi fflonlf 
four dMjt, He wm buried in S. MarU NoToUa, ** on Saturday erening [Jan- 
nary 11, 1494], between the twenty-fourth hoar and the first** See intenet- 
ing details from the Florentine AxvhiTes in Milaneei, VoL IIL, 877-78. 

** In the trio of great Florentine painters whose works filled the last quar- 
ter of the fifteenth century Ohirlandajo is less original than Botticelli, less 
tender than Filippino Lippi, bat more powerfal than other of them and far 
more direct The note which he strikes is less thrilling, bat deeper ; the ^srpea 
he presents ace lees fascinating, bat more haman. The Florentine oitiaen, 
standing grare and dignified in his long gown, the Florentine woman, at once 
simple and stately in her stiff brocades or flowing mantle, are what he lored 
best to paint in all natoie. He was a portrait-painter by instinot ; it was as 
natoral to him to make hit painted personage lUce the model as it was to Saa- 
dro to see that model throagh the mediam of hii own artistic personality. 
In 6hirlandajo*8 work there is none of the mannerism of Botticelli, only a 
trace of the classicism of Filippino, and not a sign of the exaggerated moT*- 
ment of Signorelli Domenico*s fignres do not mince or swagger, they take 
the poses of weU-bred people sitting for their portraits, and stand natoraUy 
and qaietly on either side of his compositions looking oat at the spectator or 
at each other, not paying mnch attention to the drama or the miracle, in which 
Ohirlandajo himself takes bat little interest Oostame and bac kgr o un d are 
treated in the same sober spirit €k>ldsmith as he was, he did not fill his pici- 
nres with dainty details like Botticelli, who devised strange settings for jewels 
and patterns for brocades and carioasly intricate headgear ; with Ohirlandajo 
costume and backgroand are accessories, and are subordinated to the genenl 
effect He does not lack inrention, and can introduce charming enrisodea when 
he pleases, like the gracefal girls, real Renaissance Canepharae^ who poor 
water or carry baskets of fruit in the choir frescoes, or the group of graye, 
•weet, boy choristers in the Santa Pin* series at San Qemignaao. Pittoftsptht 



DOMBNIOO OHIELAKDAJO 191 

was enriched by Domenioo more than any other Tuscan 
of the numbers who have laboured therein^ as may be seen 
by his works^ even though they are but few ; wherefore he 
has well deserved to be honoured^ for his rich and varied 
talents^ with a high rank in art, and to be celebrated with 
the highest praises after his death. 

id«J figuTM are the weakest point in his piotorei (eee the ZeohariM and the 
angeU in the ohoir of Santa Maria NoTeUa), Just aa the contemporary Floren- 
tinea, atanding with hand on hip or folded arms, are apt to form the itrongeat 
portion of the oomponition. His drawing is Tery firm and frank, and he was 
the best all-fonnd draughtsman that had i^>peared np to his time ; the color 
in his fresooes tends to brioky reds and oohreSf in his tempera to strong and 
brilliant tones, which are oooasionally even gaudy. Woltmann and Woermann 
say well that in his school he represents the highest development of realism, 
**a realism kept in check by dignity of style." This robost naturalism is 
the complement in Tuscan art of Botticelli's subtle and somewhat morbid 
idealism. Where Sandxo or Filippino are subtle, ardent, introspective, seeing 
human natuxe throu|^ their own artistic temperaments, Ohirlandajo, a true 
painter, shows his subtlety in characterization, in differentiation of feature, 
in seudngthe personality of each model, in sympathetic comprehension of 
widely differing types of men. He occupies himself, like Masacoio, with the 
ektenud appearance of things, and, like Masacoio, orders his groups simply in 
halanoed masses, sacrificing the episode to the gensral effect, and his grave 
and virile style beoomes the link between Masacoio in the beginning and 
Raphael at the culmination of the art of painting. To the student of the 
Renaissance, of Fkcentine history, or of the '* human document,** Ghirlan- 
dajo*s portraits of the contemporaries of the magnificent Lorenzo and of Sa- 
vonarola are invaluable ; the old town still lives in these frescoes, and though 
the master was not given ** the walls of Florence to paint,** as he desired^ he 
povtiayed the worid within those walla 



ANTONIO AND PIEEO POLLAJOLI, PLOEEN- 
TINE PAINTERS AND SCULPT0E8 

(Bon 1«»; dM 149a] [Bom 1448 ; died in or before 140ft.] 

BanJOauPHT.— Uflmuum Ulmmnn, Jahrbueh der K. P. 5., XV., p. 2S0l 
X IModliiMW, AniOHio FoUaioio, dU lUUienUehsn SchaumUtuen der Funf- 
Mihnten Jmkr§9MHt; JaMmeh der K P, JS., UL, p. 20. Lnigi BorMri, An- 
tonUkdeiPMmiuohegU Onini, Rome, 189L M. MUnts, io his VAged'Or, 
pk 4501, refen iho ttadent of bronae OMting in the Renaiennoe to De ChAm- 
peenz, DielUmnairedet Fondeurt, CiMeUurt, ModeUurt en Bronu ei Jhreur*^ 
Plurie, 1885 ; to Molinier, Let Brontee de la Benaieeanee, and to Dnuy-Foii- 
Bam*e Onlftlogoe of the BrooMo in Sooth Kendngton Bzhibitioii. 

THESE are many who^ with a timid mind^ commenoe 
unimportant works, bnt whose oonrage afterwards in- 
creasing with the facility obtained from practice, their 
power and efiBciency increase in proportion, insomnch that, 
aspiring to more exalted laboars, they gradually raise them- 
selyes by the elevation of their thoughts almost to heaven 
itself. Favoured by fortune, they then often happily en- 
oounter some liberal prince who, finding his expectations 
amply satisfied, is compelled to remunerate their services in 
so liberal a manner, that their successors derive great ad- 
vantage and important immunities from the labours thus re- 
warded. Such men then proceed through life with so much 
honour to the end, that they leave memorials which awaken 
the admiration of the world, as did Antonio and Piero Pol- 
laiuolo, who in their time were highly esteemed and hon- 
oured, for the rare acquirements to which with labour and 
pains they had attained. 

These artists were bom in the city of Florence,* but few 
years after each other : their father was a man of low oon- 

* Reed ** one hat a lew yean after the other.** 



ANTONIO AND PIBBO POLLAJOU 193 

dition,^ and not in easy oironmBtances ; bat he perceived, by 
Tarioos indications, the clear and just intelligence of his 
sons, and not haying the means of obtaining a learned edu- 
cation for them,' he placed Antonio with Bartolnccio Ghi- 
berti, then a very eminent master in his calling, to learn the 
art of the goldnnith, and Piero he sent to stndy painting 
with Andrea dal Oastagno, who was at that time the best 
master in Florence.* Antonio, therefore, being bronght for- 
ward by Bartolnccio, employed himself, not only with the 
setting of jewels, and the preparation of silver enamelled in 
fire, bat was, moreover, hdd to be the best of all who han- 
dled the chisel in that vocation, and Lorenzo Ghiberti, who 
was then working at the gates of San Giovanni, having 
remarked the ability of Antonio, employed him with many 
other young men to assist himself, setting him to execute 
one of those festoons with which he was at the moment oc- 
cupied.^ Here Antonio produced a quail, which may still 
be seen, and is so beauif ul, nay, so perfect, that it wants 
nothing but the power of flight. Antonio had not spent 

• 

* Thflir naniM wwe, reipeotiTely, Antonio d* Jaoopo d* Antonio Benoi, called 
del Pdlajnolo, and Piero d* Jeoopo d* Antonio Benci, oelled del PoUaJnolo 
(FoDaiolo, or PoUainolo). In spite of the name dd PoUajnolo (the poulterer's 
■on), their origin leemi to hare been lest hnmUe thin Vattri woold hare it, 
as their father was a Florentine citisen. A certain Jaoopo d* Antonio worked 
upon Ohiberti*s gates, and as the father of the PoUajnoU bore that name and 
was a goldsmith, there is a presnmption, though no proof, that the more 
fMnona broChsfS were his sons. Messrs. Crowe and CavmloaseUe state that 
Antonio was articled to his father and dosed his apprenticeship tn 1450L 

* The Utcs of Antonio and Fieco hare been mnoh confused, and are not yet 
whoDy disentangled. Probably they never will be so, bat late inTcstigation 
has considerably enlarged the part taken by Piero in the collaboration of the 
brothers. 

* M orelU betteres that Alesso Baldovlnetti may hare been his first master ; 
some ecitlos accept Vasaci*8 s t a te m en t 

« Ghiberti i^iparently enqdoyed someone of the name of PoUaJnolo npon the 
omiamental bordering of flowers, fruits, and animals with which he sor- 
rmmded the Baptistery gate of Andrea Pisana The quail is placed in this 
bordering. As Antonio was only fonrteen years old when the last gate was 
oomplsted, there is reason to bdicTe that here Vassri means Jaoopo d* An- 
tonio, who was piobably the father of Antonia The Bartolnocio Ohiberti 
itioned was the step-father of Lorenao OhibertL 



194 ANTONIO AND PIEBO POLLAJOU 

many weeks at this occupation^ therefore^ before he was 
acknowledged to be the best of all who worked thereat^ 
whether for correctness in design, or patience in execution, 
and was, besides, more ingenious and more diligent than 
any other assistant of Lorenzo in that work. His ability and 
reputation thus increasing together, Antonio left Bartoluc- 
cio and Lorenzo, opening a large and handsome goldsmith's 
shop for himself on the Mercato Nuovo, in that same city of 
Florence. Here he pursued his occupation for several 
years, continually preparing new designs, and making chan- 
deliers in relief, and other fanciful works, which caused 
him in a short time to be justly reputed the first of his to- 
cation. 

There lived at the same time another goldsmith called 
Maso Finiguerra, who had a great name, and deservedly, 
since there had never been any master in engraving or ni- 
ello who had surpassed him in the number of figures which 
he could efficiently group together, whether in a larger or 
smaller space. Of this there is proof in the different patines 
executed by him, and which still remain in San Giovanni, in 
Florence, exhibiting stories from the life of Qiirist, which 
are most minutely elaborate. This master drew well and 
much ; in our book we have many specimens from his hand, 
figures namely, some undraped, others clothed, with stories 
in water-colour.' Li competition with Maso Finiguerra, 

• One of thaae pstons ii in the Uffid, where drawings by Mmo Finigaerra 
are alto preaerved. See alto Le» NidUi de TammoMO Finiguerra et de Dei^ 
in VAH, Maxoh 96, 1888, and Febmaiy 16, 1884. There are tome ten Uttle 
bronies in the Bargello, at Florenoe, which certain critics ascribe to Antonio 
PoUajQolo, and which he would not disdain, says 11 Andrtf Pirate {OazetU 
de$ Beaux Arte, 1890, Vol 71, 8d period^ pp. 834). M. MOnts, L'Age d^Or.p. 
459, claims that the bronsee of this epoch of the Renaissance are nowhere more 
briUiaiitly represented than in the private coUections of Paris, of MM. 6. 
Dreyfos, Bdonard Andrtf, Fonld, eta Those of the Spitser collection were 
famous. The hmowb plaque of the Omcifizion in the Florentine Baxgello is 
now claimed for Agostino di Dnooio, and M. Oonrajod {Oasette de$ Beaux 
Artgf 1888) belieTes the bronae door of the reUqnaiy containing the chains 
of St Peter (in the chnroh of San Pietro in Yinooli, Rome) to be a work id 
the Boman sohooL See R MOnts, L'Age d'Or, pp. 608-609. Sig. Umberto 
Bossi, n Jfu$eo NoMfonaU di Firenu nel Triennio, 1889-1891, in the ArcAM> 



ANTONIO AND PIBRO POLLAJOLI 196 

Antonio executed Tarious stories^ wherein he folly equalled 
his competitor in careful execution, while he surpassed him 
in beauty of design. The syndics of the guild of merchants 
being thus convinced of Antonio^s ability, and certain stories 
in silver being required for the altar of San Giovanni, for 
which it had ever been customary to prepare such, at dif- 
ferent times and by various masters, they resolved among 
themselves to employ Antonio for the purpose. This reso- 
lution was carried into effect, and the works executed in 
consequence were so excellent, that they were acknowledged 
to be the best of all that were to be seen there.* The sub- 
jects chosen were the Feast of Herod and the Dance of He- 
rodias ; ^ but more beautiful than all the rest is the St. 
John, in the centre of the altar, a work most highly extolled, 
and executed entirely with the chisel. The consuls then 
commissioned Antonio to prepare the silver chandeliers, 
three braccia high, with the cross in proportion, when the 
master enriched his work with such a profusion of chasing, 
and completed the whole to such a degree of perfection, 
that, whether by his countrymen or by foreigners, it has 
ever been considered a most wonderful and admirable work. 
Antonio Pollaiuolo bestowed the most unwearied pains on 
all his undertakings, whether in gold, enamel, or silver: 
among others, are certain patines in San Giovanni, coloured 
so beautifully, that these enamels, completed by the action 

JStorieo delV ArU, 1803, pp. 1-24, attributM to Antonio del PoUaJnolo four 
diilbrent bronxes of a Faon Playing a Pipe and a bronie ttatoette (repvodaoed 
pk 10| 9p, eiL) of a Manyaa. 

* Antonio executed only the Natirity ; the Feait and the Dance were i»- 
■pectiTely by Antonio di Salvi and Francetoo di OioTanni This ailrer Do9' 
$aU of the altar of San Giovanni ii kept in the guardcL-roba of the Opera del 
Dnomo (Huienm of Santa Maria del Fiore), bat is taken to the Baptistery 
once a year, on St John*s day, and there used in the service. The figure of 
Saint John npon the altar was by Michelozzo, and only the lower portion of 
the cross was by Antonio, working in oollaboration with fiCiliano di Domenioo 
DeL For long note referring to the sflver altar, see MilanesL There are 
•aperb reprodaotions of the silver-work of the altar, cross, etc., of San Gi- 
ovanni in Vol. IL, tables 8 and 4, of VArit Italiana DecorcUiva e InduHriaU 
(O^uniUo Boito). 

^Salome. 



196 ANTOKIO AKD PIBRO POLLAJOU 

of fire^ coald scarcely be more delicately finished eyen with 
the pencil. In other churches likewise in Florence and 
Borne^ as well as in other parts of Italy, his miracaloos 
enamels are to be seen. 

Antonio tanght his art to Mazzingo^ a Florentine, and to 
Giuliano del Facchino, who were tolerably good masters. 
He likewise imparted it to Gioranni Turini, of Siena, who 
greatly surpassed both his companions in that calling; 
wherein from Antonio di Salvi (who executed many good 
works, as, for example, a large cross in silver for the abbey 
of Florence, with other things), down to our own day, there 
has not been much done that can be considered extraordi* 
nary. But many of his works, as well as those of the 
Pollaiuoli, haye been broken and melted for the neoessitieB 
of the city in times of war. 

Eyentually, considering that this art did not secure a long 
life to the works of its masters, Antonio, desiring for his 
labours a more enduring memory, resolyed to deyote himself 
to it no longer ;* and his brother, Piero, being a painter, he 
joined himself to him for the purpose of learning the modes 
of proceeding in painting. He then found this to be an art 
so different from that of the goldsmith, that, had his resolu- 
tion to abandon the first entirely not been so hastily adopted, 
he might possibly have wished that he had neyer addressed 
himself to the other. But now, being impelled by shame 
rather than by the advantage to be obtained, he acquired a 
knowledge of the processes used in painting in the course of 
a few months, and became an excellent master. Haying 
joined himself entirely to Piero, they executed numerous 
paintings in concert ; among others, a picture in oil at San 
Miniato al Monte, for the cardinal of Portugal, who was a 



* On the oontmy, his Uf e*i work wms that of a goldonith, ooulptor, tad 
bronse-OMter ; his painting is of sooondArj inienst. IL Mllnts says this ei» 
of the Renaissanoe might be called the epoch of the goldsmiths, sinoe the guild 
of the goldworkers furnished so many great names to the list of FloirsiitiiM 
atUsts. The handsome new publication, VArU lUai/Uma l^aoerialiMi « Indmi^ 
triaU^ directed by Signor Camillo Boito, gires many fine ehioinolhliogia|iba fm 
oolor, gold, etc., of Italian metal-work of this and later epooha. 



AKTOKtO AND PIERO POLLAJOLt ld7 

great loyer of painting. This work * was placed on the altar 
of that prelate's ohapel^ the figures depicted in it are those 
of the apostle St. James^ Sanf Eastachio, and San Vincen- 
zio^ which haye all been greatly praised. Piero in particu- 
lar painted certain figures on the wall of the same chapel in 
oil^ the method of which he had learned from Andrea dal 
Gastagno. These were representations of some of the proph- 
ets^ and were executed in the angles beneath the archi- 
trave : in the lunette he painted an Annunciation, compris- 
ing three'* figures. For the Capitani di Parte, likewise, 
Piero painted a Virgin with the Child in her arms ; and 
surrounded by seraphim, also painted in oil." In San 
Michele in Orto, the two brothers painted a picture in oil 
representing the angel Baphael with Tobit ; '* and in the 
Mercatanzia of Florence they depicted figures of the Vir- 
tues ; in that part of the building, namely, where the tribu- 
nal of the court holds its sittings.** 

In the prohconsolate, where the portraits of Zanobi da 
Strada, a Florentine poet, of Donate Acciaiuoli, and of 
others, had before been painted by other masters, Antonio 
portrayed Messer Poggio, secretary to the Signoria of Flor- 
ence, and who continued the Florentine history after the 
death of Messer Leonardo d'Arezzo ; with Messer Giannozzo 
Manetti, a man of considerable learning, and held in much 
esteem ; both taken from the life.** For the chapel of the 



in 1470, the heftdi in diftemper, the reft in oil. It is now in tbe 
UlBii, And is generally attribated to Piero. Dr. Biohter (notes to Vsaari, 
p. 126) supports that author as to the collaboration of Antonio with Piero 
in this work. 

M Theve are eight half-length figures, partially destroyed ; also there aio 
figures of the BTsngelists and Doctors of the Church. Milsnesi says the An- 
BundAtion has two figures only, and nerer could hare had more. The figures 
in the yanlting are now generally attributed to BaldoTinetti, the AnnnnoiA- 
tion to Baldovinetti or Pieio. 

" This woriE is lost. 

» The picture which was in Or San Ifiohele is, aoooiding to Milanssi, Um 
one in the Pinaooteca of Turin. 

"These are now in the UffisL The ''Fortitude" is accredited to Botti- 
osUi, the others are by Pollajuola 

>«Thsss portraite are lost A portrait of Gakaiio MaxIa SforsA in tte 



i9S ANTONIO AND PIERO POLLAJOM 

Pucci in tlie church of San Sebastian of the Serrites, An^ 
tonio painted the altar piece — a remarkable and admirably 
executed work^ with numerous horses^ many undraped fig- 
ures^ and singularly beautiful foreshortenings. This pict- 
ure ^ likewise contains the portrait of St. Sebastian himself , 
taken from the life — from the face of Gino di Ludovico 
Gapponi^^* that is — the painting has been more extolled than 
any other ever executed by Antonio. He has evidently 
copied nature in this work to the utmost of his power^ as 
we perceive more particularly in one of the archers^ who, 
bending towards the earth, and resting his weapon against 

UflKd, and formerly attribated to Antonio, hM been restored to Piera See 
Big. Umberto Roaii, VArcK 8tor. deW Arte, L, 100. 

i^Thii piotore is in the National Gallery. Albertini in his MknwriaU ao- 
eredits it to Piero del PoUajnolo. Morelli attributes the design of the piot- 
nre to Antonio, the execution of the painting to Piero. Sir Henry Layaid 
says that the Tehiole used in this picture is indeterminate as yet, and that 
although it is not tempertL, it oannot be considered as an Italian oontlnnatioB 
of the Van Byck prooess of oU painting. This famous painting has incited 
one of Mr. Rnsldn's most indignant reflections in his Ariadne Florentina, sad 
a serere oondemnation of anatomical study in painting. See Taine*s Voyage 
en Ralie for an appreciation of the fifteenth-century artists* passion for anat- 
omy, of their feeling ** that to embellish life was to fidsify life,** that **a 
human being in whom they do not feel it (the bony and muscular structure) 
seems to them empty and unsubstantial " In fibct, the picture is a tjrpical ex- 
ample of the aims and methods of a whole group of Florentine realists, the 
sense of beauty being momentarily lost in the attempt to give a rendering of 
the muscular system, which, if hard and dry, shall be complete and apparent. 
For an important article on the pictures and drawings of the PoUajuoU see 
Hermann Ulmann, in the Jahrbuch der K. P. 5., XV., 220. As already men- 
tioned, Albertini, in his JfemoriaU (1510), attributes the St Sebastian to Piero. 
Reoent oritios also claim for him a fre«(co in Sta. Croce, formerly giren to 
Andrea dal Castagno, and representing Saints John and Francis. Pfero 
painted in 1488, in the choir of the CollegiaXe at San Gimignano, a Corona- 
tion of the Virgin, and there is a good Madonna and also a Tobias in the Na- 
tional Gallery, which are aooredited to him, while there are in diiKoent galleries 
pictures which critics attribute Tariously to Piero, to Verroochio, and others. 
Among these is the beautiful panel of the Florentine Academy, Tobias and 
the three Archangels (No. 84 in the Gallery), called by Morelli an inferior pict- 
ure. It is by Dr. Bode attributed to Verroochio, while MM. Lafeoestre an/ 
Richtenberger, in their Flarenee^ merely question the attribution to Botti- 
oelli, in the oatalogue of the Ghdlery. 

uOino Oapponidied in 1421; it is doubtful if Vaaari*s statement be 



ANTONIO AND PIEUO POLLAJOLI 199 

his breast, is employing all the force of a strong arm to 
prepare it for action ; the veins are swelling, the mnscles 
strained, and the man holds his breath as he applies all his 
strength to the effort. Nor is this the only figure execnted 
with care ; all the others are likewise well done, and in the 
diversity of their attitudes give clear proof of the artistes 
ability and of the labour bestowed by him on his work ; all 
which was fully acknowledged by Antonio Pucci, who gave 
him three hundred scudi for the picture, declaring at the 
same time that he was hardly paying him for the colours. 
This work was completed in the year 1475. The courage 
of Antonio was increased by this circumstance, and in San 
Miniato-fra-le-Torri, without the gate, he painted a St. 
Christopher ten braccia high — a work admirably executed in 
the modem manner, the figure being more correctly propor- 
tioned than any of such size that had then been seen. He 
afterwards painted a Crucifixion with Sant^ Antonino,on can- 
vas, which was placed in the chapel of that saint in the church 
of San Marco. In the palace of the Signoria of Florence, 
this master depicted a San Giovanni Batista, at the Porta 
della Catena ; and in the Medici Palace he painted three pict- 
ures for Lorenzo the elder, each containing a figure of 
Hercules, five braccia high.'' In the first is seen the hero 
strangling Antaeus, the figure of Hercules is very fine, and 
the force employed by him in crushing his antagonist is 

*' The St. Chriatopher is in the MptropoUtin Mapenxn of New York, and 
the Grncifixion with Sant* Antonino. once in San Marco, has disappeared ; so 
have the three pictnres painted for Lorenzo de* Medici, and containing each a 
figure of Hercnles ; so has the St. John Baptist of the Palace of the Signoria ; 
bnt two very small pictnres in the UfiBzi are repetitions of the subjects men- 
tioned by Vasan, namely, the Slaying of Antasus and of the Hydra. Sig. A. 
V' nturi, VArch. Stor. deW Arte^ V., £08 publishes in fac-simile a letter from 
Ant. Pollajnolo to Gtentile Virginio Orsini, mentioning tlie Labors of Her- 
cules, pain ted by Antonio and Piero, in 1460, tor Piero de' Medici, and also the 
monument to Sixtus IV. in St Peter's. The fresco SS. John and Francis, in 
Santa Croce, formerly ascribed to Andrea dal Castagno, is now ascribed to Pi- 
ero PoUajuola Milanesi cites a large picture of a Coronation of the Virgin, 
with aainti about her, painted by Piero in 1483 for Sant* Agostino at San Oi- 
iBJgnano, and now in the oollegiate church there. 



300 ANTONIO AND PIBRO POLLAJOLI 

dearly apparent^ every mnscle and nerve of the body being 
strained to ensure the destruction of his opponent. The 
teeth, firmly set, are in perfect accord with the expression 
of the other parts of the figure, all of which, even to the 
points of the feet on which he raises himself, give manifest 
intimation of the efforts used. Nor is less care displayed in 
the figure of Ant»us, who, pressed by the arms of Hercules, 
is seen to be sinking and deprived of all power of resist- 
ance, his mouth is open, he is breathing his last sigh. In 
the second figure, Hercules is killing the Lion ; he presses 
the left knee against the chest of the animal, whose jaws he 
has seized with both hands ; grinding his teeth and extending 
his arms, he tears the mouth open and rives the creature 
asunder by main force, although the lion defends him- 
self with his claws and is fiercely tearing the arm of his as- 
sailant. The third picture, in which the hero is destroying 
the Hydra, is indeed an admirable work, more especially 
as regwls the reptile, the colouring of which has so much 
animation and truth, that nothing more life-like could pos- 
sibly be seen ; the venomous nature, the fire, the ferocity, 
and the rage of the monster are so effectually displayed, that 
the master merits the highest encomiums, and deserves to 
be imitated in this respect by all good artists. 

For the brotherhood of Sant' Angelo in Arezzo, Antonio 
painted a banner in oil,^ with a Crucifix on one side, and 
St. Michael in combat with the Dragon on the other. This 
is as beautiful a work as ever proceeded from his hand. 
St. Michael seizes the Serpent with boldness, and, grinding 
his teeth and knitting his brows, he seems in truth to be 
sent frotii heaven as the avenger of God against the pride of 
Lucifer ; the whole picture is, without doubt, a most admir- 
able work. This master treated his nude figures in a man- 
ner which approaches more nearly to that of the modems 
than was ususJ with the artists who had preceded him ; he 
dissected many human bodies to study the anatomy, and was 
th« first who investigated the action of the muscles in this 

>• The bMUier of Suii' Ang^Io in Anno ii loft 



AKTONIO AND PIEBO POLLAJOLI 201 

manner^ that he might afterwards give them their due 
place and effect in his works. Antonio engraved on copper a 
combat of these nude figures^ all bound together by a chain,^* 
and at a later period produced many other engravings^ exe- 
cuted in a much better manner than had been exhibited by 
the masters who had preceded him in this branch of art. 

Haying rendered himself famous among artists, by all these 
works, Antonio was invited to Bome by Pope Innocent, on 
the death of Sixtus, his predecessor, and there he constructed 
a tomb in bronze for the first-mentioned pontiff. In this 
work ^ he portrayed Pope Innocent seated, and in the atti- 
tude of giving the benediction. Antonio likewise erected 
the sepulchrd monument of Pope Sixtus, which was con- 
structed at very great cost in the chapel called by the name 
of that pontiff.^ The tomb is richly decorated and stands 

>* Not all bound together by a dudn, bat niher in oonplea. Thisifaforoe- 
fnl, though fanoif ol, preientation of the fierce dnels in closed liste, ** a iUecaio 
thiuto,^ in which the Pope delighted. For a long article on the drawing! of 
the Pollajnoli, eee Hermann Ulmann, Jahrbuch der K. P, S,^ XV., p. 280. 
Milaned, UL, p. 287, note 8, taya that the antiquary Dei law, in 1756, in the 
Mani-Medici palace, a whole book of Ant<mio*B drawings, and suggeets that it 
may haTv since passed into the hands of the Vettori family. There has bean 
a f^imons oontroTcrsy between M. Louis Oourajod and MoreDi as to whether a 
pen-and-ink deagn of an equestrian figure in the Munich coUeotion, and prob- 
ably intended for the monument of Francesco Sfona, is by Ant. PoUajudo or 
Leonardo da VincL 

s* Both theee monuments are of bronxe ; that of Innocent (1498) is placed 
high up against the wall. 

» The tomb of Sixtus IV. (1480-1496) is in St Peter's^ M. Hflnts, 
while admitting the originality of the design, declares that nothing could 
be less aichiteotural than the monument of Sixtus or more completelj 
show the goldsmith in contradistinction to the sculptor. He condemns 
the figures of the Virtues on the tomb of Innocent as ^* absolutely dedamatoiy/* 
while Perkins cites again the name that has been giTcn to Antonio, of ** the 
Bernini of the QuiUtrocetUo,*^ In spite of their defects these two tombs are 
immensely striking from their originality and from the splendor of the bionse, 
in the casting of which Antonio was past master. The tomb of Sixtus es- 
pecially, spread like a magnificent mortuary doth of shining metsl upon the 
pavement of the church, is not soon forgotten. This monument was re- 
mored in 1635 horn, the chapel of Pope Sixtus to that of the choir. A portion 
of the tomb of Innocent was gilded, as were indeed Tcry many monuments of 
the time. The artist and bronie-caster were freqtiently sepanited, bot not kk 
the esse of Antonio. 



202 ANTONIO AND PIBRO POLLAJOLI 

entirely isolated : the figure of Sixtns, yery finely executed, 
is extended upon it. The monument of Pope Innocent was 
placed in the church of San Pietro, near the chapel in 
which the lance of Ohrisf is preserved. It is said that the 
same artist designed the Palace of the Belvedere for the 
above-named Pope Innocent^ although the fabric was erected 
by others, Antonio not having much experience in building. ** 
Finally, these brothers, having enriched themselves by their 
labours, died at a short distance of time, one after the other, 
in the year 1498 ; ^ they were buried by their kindred in 
San Pietro in Vincula, where a monument was raised to 
their memory near the middle door, and on the left as you 
enter the church. This consisted of the portraits of both 
brothers on two medallions in marble, with the following 
epitaph : — 

AfUonitts PvUarius patria Fforentinus piator imignU^ qtd dour, 
pent. XisH ei InnooenHi, acrea * tnonimeni. uttro qpttc.t eaqpre aii t 
refamil, eomposita ex test. Mc $e cum Fetrofi'atre oondi voluit. 

VixU An. Lzxn. Ohiii An. 8aL M . mx 

Antonio also executed a basso-rilievo in bronze, which 
was sent to Spain, but of which a cast in plaster may be seen 
in the possession of the Florentine artists. The subject is 
a combat of nude figures ; and after his death there were 
found the design and model for an equestrian statue of 
Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, which the master had 
made for Ludovico Sforza. This we have in our book de- 
picted in two different manners. In one he has the city of 
Verona beneath him ; in the other he is in full armour on a 
pedestal covered with battle-pieces, and is forcing his horse 
to leap on an armed man beneath it. The reason why this 
design was not carried into execution I have not been able 

* Aerea in the Milimeai edition. 
t Opi/le in Milaned edition. 

** The lo-caUed epeur of Longinna, with which he pierced the tide of Ohriit 
•* M. Mftnts nyi that although PoUajuolo very probably had some hand la 
this boilding, docoxnente mention only Giacomo da PietcamabL 
M Antonio died Febmary 4, 1496. Fievo wae itUl Uying at that time. 



AHTONIO AND PIERO POLLAJOLI 203 

to discover.* There are, moreover, several beautiful medals 
by Antonio ; among others one representing the conspiracy 
of the Pazzi. The heads of Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Med- 
ici are on the one side, and on the reverse is the Ohoir of 
Santa Maria del Fiore, with the whole of that event exactly 
as it occurred.* There are medals of various Popes also by 
the same master, with many other things which are well 
known to artists. 

. Antonio was seventy-two years old when he died, and 
Pietro died at the age of sixty-five.*' The former left many 
disciples, among whom was Andrea Sansovino. Antonio 
was a most fortunate man and led a very happy life, having 
met with rich pontiffs, and living when his native city was 
at the summit of prosperity and remarkable for its love of 
talent, wherefore he was highly esteemed ; but had he lived 
in less favourable times he might not have produced the 
rich fruits which we derive from his labours, for the cares 
of life are deadly enemies to the acquirement of such knowl- 
edge as is necessary to him who delights in and makes pro- 
fession of the fine arts. 

For San Giovanni in Florence there were made certain 
very rich ecclesiastical vestments* after the design of this 
master, two Dalmaticas namely, a Planeta or Ohasuble, and 
a Pluviale or Cope, all of double brocade, each woven of one 
entire piece and without seam, the bordering and ornaments 
being stories from the life of St. John, embroidered with 
the most subtle mastery of that art by Paolo da Verona, a 
man most eminent in his calling, and of incomparable in- 

•* Benvennto Cellini praises Antonio, especially as a draoghtsman. 

** The medal has ahead of Gloliano de* Medici on one side, with the inscrip- 
tion luliano Medices and Luctus piiblUnn. A head of Lorenzo is on the other 
side, with the inscription LanrentUtn Medices and Solus pvhliea. The ohoir 
of the charch is represented on hoth sides of the medal Herr J. Friedlftnder 
doubts if Pollajaolo ever executed medals. See Antonio PoUaiolo : IHe 
ItalUnUchen SehanmiinzBn der PUtifuhnten Jahretzeit^ Jahrbuch der K, P. 
8., III., 39. 

^ Sixty-nine and fifty-three, rather. 

** Portions of these Testinents are still presenrad in the mntenm of thf 
Opera del Duorao. 



204 ANTONIO AND PIEKO POLLAJOLI 

gennity : the figures are no less ably executed with the 
needle than they would have been if Antonio had painted 
them with the pencil ; and for this, we are largely indebted 
to the one master for his design^ as well as to the other for 
his patience in embroidering it.* ^ This work required 

•* The portrait of Antonio PoUajnolo is in FiUppino*i fretoo of S. PMd be* 
fore the Pcoooninl in the Branoacoi ohapeL Medallione of the two brothers 
are in the chorch of San Pietro in Vinooli, where they are buried. 

** Critioe have decided that, on the whole, the Pollajnoli were not great ar- 
tiats ; bat the brothers, especially Antonio, were important eontribotocs to 
the Renaissance moToment in the direction of anatomical study. Perkins 
aocnses him of *^ absence of imagination ** and ** affectation of originality ; ** 
Symonds of ** almost bmtal energy and bizarre realism ; ** M. MOnts finds that 
in his picture of St. Sebastian eyery one of the qualities which make up the 
Renaissance harmony, rhythm, beauty, ** is outrageously Tiolaied ; ** M. La- 
fenestre says that he is frank even to brutality, vigorous eren to fe roc i ty ; 
bnt«adds that his strange art ** impresses by its virility,** while each of these 
critics admits and praises his enthusiasm for anatomy. In short, the per- 
sonality of these artists, especially that of the elder, is marked and vivid, and 
the bronie tomb of Pope Sixtus, and the bust of a CondoUiere^ make too 
strong an impression to be wholly ** affected in their originality.** It was in 
the hands of craftsmen like the PoUajuoli, trained in the goldsmith's shop, 
familiar with the processes of sculpture, accustomed to work in the round, to 
handle an actual substance, that Florentine painting ceased to reproduce the 
boneless, flat images of the Oiottesehi and strove to represent the actual ap- 
pearances of things. The desire for exact presentation led naturally to 
the study of perspective, anatomy, and the nude. Art ceased to be symboUoal 
and became scientific ; to its age of fidth succeeded an age of inquiry, when 
the spirit of investigation conquered the force of tradition. To men like the 
Pollajuoli, an altar-piece or a fresco was simply a means of displaying the 
structure of a eertain number of human bodies, a pretext for applying their 
recently and painfully acquired knowledge, an opportunity for an exhibitioi& 
of correctly drawn attachments and well-indicated muscles, on which tho 
trained eye of the goldsmith or sculptor would linger with pleasure. It made 
no difference to them if the subject was unlovely, the color hard or odd, the 
movement exaggerated, the forms coarse ; oonstruotian was what i nt erested 
them, and as over-developed muscles, strained tendons, and violent action 
render the construction of the body more apparent, they were sought and 
recorded with strict veracity. As in all methods of scientific investigation, 
careful observation of &cts and a ^thf al record of them were the first re- 
quirements, and to refine or ennoble the model would have seemed to them 
not only an artistic infidelity, but an incomprehensible blunder. ** Man to 
the artists of this epoch was as yet only a form.** This feeling for constmo- 
tion, this preoccupation with tlhe real substance of objects, marks a oertsin 
stage of development not only in the evolution of a heiJthy and vital art, but 
in the individuiJ artist as weU. The processes of selection, elimination, gen- 



ANTONIO AND PIKBO POLLAJOU 206 

twenty-six years for its completion^ being wholly in the close 
stitch, which, to say nothing of its durability, makes the 
work appear as if it were a real picture limned with the pen- 
cil ; but the excellent method of which is now all but lost, 
the custom in these days being to make the stitches much 
longer, whereby the work is rendered less durable and much 
less pleasing of the eye. 

•rmlizatioiL, and the tmuH of these piooeMes which we hare agreed to term 
idealization, are developed later and are the result of the knowledge acquired 
daring this period of research. Antonio Pollajuolo, with his fierce enecgy and 
▼irile science, was a pioneer clearing the way for the artists of wider knowl- 
edge and of senner strength who were to follow in the paths he helped to 
find. 



SANDEO BOTTICELLI, PLOEBNTINB PAINTBB« 

(Born 1447 ; died 15ia] 

BnuoORAFHT.— Hermann Ulmann, Sandra SaUieiUi^ 18M. Kail Woar- 
mann, 8andro BoUieelU^ in the Dohme ■eriee of Kumt und KUmiler, J. A. 
Crowe, Sandro BottioeUi, OatHU de$ Beaux Artt, 1886, IL, pp. 177 and 408. 
OharleaBphmasi, La Divine Comidie^ lUutiriepar Sandro Bottieelli, OateUe 
dee Beaux Arte, 1885, 1., p. 404 ; IL. p. 43. Dr. Lodwig Volkmaan, BOdieehe 
DarUellungen zu Dante^t Divina Gammedia bit eum Auegangder Benaieeanee^ 
Leipsio, 1893. (There is a long review of thia work by Herr. O. von Fa- 
briosy, in VAreh, Star,, VU., p. 8^ ei teq.) Dr. Lippmann, Die 2Seiehnungen 
dee Sandro BoUieelU eur OdetUiehen Komoedie, Berlin, 1886. Nagler** EUnet- 
UrLexikon.eitioWBaceiO'BaldinL'' E.^iyntx^I^pr^tenduporiraUdenc 
de la Mirandole d la OaUriedee Offlcee in the Chronique dee Arie^ 1888, n. 41. 
Amadeo Padoa, Sandro BottieeUi ; di aleuni euoi dipinti in Firenge^ in Lei- 
tert ed Arti, 1890, n. 20. Profenor Sidney ColTin, article " Boitioelli, " in Bb- 
eydopndia Britannica. Richard Ftester, Die Verlaumdung dee Apellet in der 
Benaietanee, Jahrbuch der Koniglichen Preueaieehen Sainndungen., Yd. VIIL 
W. J. StiUmAo, Sandro Bottioelli, The Century Magasine, Yd. XK C M. 
Phillimore, Botticelli (Great Artist Series), 1894. See, too, for a rery sympa- 
thetic easay on the genins of Botticelli, Walter Pater*s Studies in the ffistory 
of the Renaissance, article '* Botticelli ; ** and for an admirable i^ypredatioii 
of the Botticelli frescoes of the YUla Lemmi, Yemen Lee*s Jnrenilia. C 
Bphmsai, Lu deux freequee du Mitede du Louvre attribudee d Sandro Bom' 
cfUi, OaeeUe dee Beaux Arte, Second Series, XXY., p. 475. A forthcoming 
life of Botticelli is promised by M. Andr6 P^rati. For special distinctiona 
between the works of Sandro and of his followers, see Richter's Italian Art 
in the National Gallery and MoreUi*s Italian Painters. 

IN the same time with the illustrions Lorenzo de' Medici 
the elder^ which was truly an age of gold for men of 
talent^ there flourished a certain Alessandro, called after 
onr castom Sandro^ and farther named Di Botticello, for a 
reason which we shall presently see. His father^ Mariano 
Filipepi, a Florentine citizen, bronght him np with care. 



> Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, called Bottioelli, waa bon in 1447. Wm 
fifcther was a tanner. 



8ANDR0 BOTTICBLLI 207 

and caused him to be instructed in all such things as are 
osnallj taught to children before they choose a calling. But 
although the boy readily acquired whatever he wished to 
leam^ yet was he constantly discontented ; neither would 
he take any pleasure in readings' writings or accounts, 
insomuch that the father, disturbed by the eccentric habits 
of his son, turned him oyer in despair to a gossip of his,* 
called Botticello, who was a goldsmith, and considered a very 
competent master of his art, to the intent that the boy 
might learn the same. 

There was at that time a close connexion and almost con- 
stant intercourse between the goldsmiths and the painters, 
wherefore Sandro, who possessed considerable ingenuity, 
and was strongly disposed to the arts of design, became en- 
amoured of painting, and resolved to devote himself entirely 
to that vocation. He acknowledged his purpose at once to 
his father, and the latter, who knew the force of his incli- 
nations, took him accordingly to the Carmelite monk, Fra 
Filippo, who was a most excellent painter of that time, with 
whom he placed him to study the art, as Sandro himself had 
desired. 

Devoting himself thereupon entirely to the vocation he 
had chosen, Sandro so closely followed the directions and 
imitated the manner of his master, that Fra Filippo con- 
ceived a great love for him, and instructed him so effectually, 
that Sandro rapidly attained to such a degree in art as none 
would have predicted for him. While still a youth he 
painted the figure of Fortitude,^ among those pictures of 
the Virtues which Antonio and Pietro Pollaiuolo were exe- 
cuting in the Mercatanzia, or Tribunal of Commerce in 

* BottioeUTi Mbetioii of sabjeota, and hii lobtle rendering of them pfror* 
how«T«r thfti he wae ■oraething of a soholar. 

* Sandio'e Inoiher, GioTaiini, was oaUed Bottioello, bat it doee not appear 
thai these was any goldsmith in Florenoe named Bottiedli 

* Now in the Uffiii ; it ie oonaidered a donbtfal piotnre. Mr. J. A. Orowe 
{Sandro BoUieetti, OatetU det Btaux Art$, 1886) is oonyinoed thai after the 
death of FIUppo Uppi, Sandro stodied with, or at least learned from, the Pol- 
l^noU. 



308 8AKDR0 BOTTICELLI 

Florence* In Santo Spirito, a church of the same city, he 
painted a picture' for the chapel of the Bardi family: 
this work he executed with great diligence, and finished it 
yery successfully, depicting certain oliye and palm-trees 
therein with extraordinary care. Sandro also painted a 
picture* in the Convent of the Convertites, with another for 
the nuns of San Bamaba.^ In the Church of Ognissanti he 
painted a Sant' Agostino, in fresco,* for the Vespucci : 
this is in the middle aisle, near the door which leads into 
the choir ; and here Sandro did his utmost to surpass all the 
masters who were painting at the time, but more particu- 
larly Domenico del Ohirlandajo, who had painted a figure 
of St. Jerome on the opposite side. Sparing no pains, he 
thus produced a work of extraordinary merit. In the 
countenance of the Saint he has clearly manifested that 
power of thought and acuteness of perception which is, for 
the most part, perceptible in those reflectiye and studious 
men who are constantly occupied with the inyestigation of 
exalted subjects and the pursuit of abstruse inquiries. This 
picture, as we have said in the life of Domenico Ghirlan- 
dajo, has this year (1561) been removed entire and without 
injury from the place where it was executed. 

Haying, in consequence of this work, obtained much 
credit and reputation, Sandro was appointed by the Guild of 
Porta Santa Maria to paint a picture in San Marco, the 
subject of which is the Coronation of Our Lady,* who is 

* B«1m?w1 to be tli« foUowing picture in the Berlin gkUerj : A Virgin and 
Child, with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Brangeliat, in a grove 
of pafana and oUvei. This gallery is ridi in examplea of BottioeUL 

* The fate of thia picture is unknown. 

^ This picture, which is in the Florentine Academy, represents the Madonna 
enthroned, holding the DiTine ChUd, with two angels on either side, and about 
the throne Saints Barnabas, Augustine (?), Oatharine of Alexandria, John, 
Ambrose, and Mirhael The upper part oi the picture is a modem addition 
by Veradni 

• This pictnze, executed in 1480, is still in the church. 

• This famous '* Ineoronata^** which has perhaps been more popularised by 
reproduction than any other work of Botticelli^ is in the Florentine Acad- 
emy ; it is a tofule, on panel 



8ANDB0 BOmOELLI 209 

rarroanded by a choir of angels^ the whole extremely well 
designed, and finished by the artist with infinite care. He 
execated yarions works in the Medici Palace for the elder 
Lorenzo, more particularly a fignre of Pallas '^ on a shield 
wreathed with yine branches, whence flames are proceeding : 
this he painted of the size of life. A San Sebastiano was 
also among the most remarkable of the works execnted for 
Lorenzo. ^^ In the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, in 

>• The diaooTeiy of a large piottize by BottioeUi, repTOBaoting Pallas with a 
Oentaar, has been one of the recent artistio aeniations of Floreooe. The ez- 
Utenoe of ench a pictnre in the Pitti collection was known ap to 1858, and the 
work had been engzaved by Frassinetti, 1837-4S, in La OaUeria PUti lUuUrata 
(see also a repcoduction of inch an engraving in M. Yriarte^s Florenct^ 1881). 
In 1856, upon the occasion of the marriage of the Arohdoke Ferdinand of 
Lorraine, certain rooms of the Pitti galleries being required as apartments, 
their pictures were dispersed through many different parts of the palace. 
Among these pictures was the Pallas, which, hung high in the apartments of 
the Duke of Aosta, was wholly forgotten and passed unnoticed for many years, 
until it was recently seen and noted by Mr. Spence, the English painter. That 
a famous picture should have completely disappeared from notice, and yet 
shoukl haye been hanging upon a wall within a few yards of the other paint- 
ings (or at aB events only a few rooms removed), shows how easily tempo- 
rary loss of even large and important works may come about, and is a whole 
sermon in &Tor of careful research in the unused rooms and storehouses of 
the monasteries and palaces of Italy. The question of the identity of Bot- 
ticelli's FfeUas has long been a mooted onei Several critics have even at- 
tempted a xeoonstmction of it. Signer Ridolfi believes that this Pallas of 
Yasaii km at last come to light, and thinks that the author's mention of 
bnminf bnmches was merely a calraless error. Mr. Bernard Berenson disagrees 
with him, and thinks that the fact that Vasari omitted the Centaur and 
mentioned the blanches is enough to prove that this picture is not identical 
with that dcMsribed in the life of Sandro Botticelli The subject of the 
newly found painting is referred to Lorenzo's return to Florence after his 
pacificatory visit to Naples, as suggesting the triumph of mind over matter, 
of Lorenao over the League. For details and reproductions see E. Ridolfi, 
in La Natione^ XXXVU, Na 61, and in VArchU/io Storico deW Arte ; 
Hermann Ulmann, in the Kumt Chronih, 21, 1895 ; Bernard Berenson, in 
the Gazette dee Beaux Art$^ June, 1895 ; W. A. OofOn, in Harper's Weekly, 
April IS, 1896w Mr. Berenson, using the Pallas as a basis for consideration 
of dates, assigns Botticelli's PHmavera to the year 1478, and the Birth of 
Venus to the spring of 1482, and the VUla Lemmi frescoes to a somewhat 
later date. 

» A Saint Sebastian, painted for S. Maria Maggiore in 1478, is the earliest 
leeorded work of Botticelli (see Oavalcaselle e Ciowe, Storia delta PiUura^ 
ToL YL, p. 20B). Theae anthers believe that the picture may have been 



210 SAKDRO BOmOELLI 

Florence^ is a Piet& with small figures by this master ; ^ this 
is placed beside the chapel of the Panciatichi, and is a very 
beautiful work. For different houses in various parts of 
the city Sandro painted many pictures of a round form^ with 
numerous figures of women undraped. Of these there are 
still two examples at Oastello, a yilla of the Duke Cosimo^ 
one representing the birth of Venus," who is borne to earth 
by the Loves and Zephyrs : the second also presenting the 
figure of Venus crowned with flowers by the Graces ; " she 

ordered by Ixnenzo for Santa liaria, and that it mmj be identified with tha 
Saint Sebaatiaa whioh ia in the Beilin Mnaeum, and ia there aaoribed .to 
Antonio del PoUajuolo. 

» Said to be the PUtd in the Pinaoothek of Mnnioh, Hilaned, lU, p. 912, 
note*3. 

" The Birth of Venns ia in the XJffisL Sandro*a mythologicai piotnrea, among 
which this ia probably aeoond in note, are thoae upon whioh he haa moat oom- 
pletely atamped hia peraonality, and which by their atonge faeoination, their 
indeterminate character, half-Benaiaaance, half-Mediaoval, and whoUy Botti- 
oellian, haye at once puzzled and ohanned the critics, and inspired a whole 
school of imitator8,'nntil the intrinsicaUy very real and great importanoa of 
their anther in the history of Italian Art has been exaggerated. 

i« This very famona picture, called La Primavera (Spring-time), ia in the 
Academy of Florence. (Mr. Bernard Berenson dates it aa of the year 1478.) 
The subject was probably suggested by Lucretiua, J)e Rerum Natura^ Ub. V. 
Many explanations have been given of the exact meaning of the picture ; one 
that it is a complicated philosophical allegory ; another that it is a Judgment 
of Pans ; stiU another that the central figure represents the goddess Venus 
in the person of some member of the Medici family, and that the other figurea 
Bymbdixe virtues attributed to her or to her people. ( The style and character 
of thia picture are so subtle snd fascinating aa to have made it perhapa the 
most famouB and the central work in Bottioelli*s achievement. TechnicaUy 
the drawing is exqnintely deUcate, the color aoft and grayish, much toned, 
and even dulled, by time. The composition of lines is admirable, but like so 
many Florentine works of the fifteenth century the Primantra can hardly 
be said to have any, color composition at all, the carmine drapery (with 
whitish lights) upon the oentral figure and upon the MerojiDry at the extreme 
left being much the strongest points of color, and confusing and bfeaking up 
the compoeition./ The Graces are all in a golden ochre tone, the shadows 
Uttle darker than the lights. All of the right-hand part of the picture ia 
grayer than the rest, and the figures there are more "enveloped." (^e 
flowers and grass which have been so greatly praised axe decorative, love^ 
and delicate in drawing, but very much cut out ; the sprigs upon the PHmO' 
9€ra^i gown are hard aa metal, while the stem drawing of the flowers in 
the grass makes a raised pattern like that upon embosaed leather. Mr. W. J. 
Stillman, *jk the Century Magaiine, August, 1800, p. 503, calls attentioQ to the 



8ANDEO BOTTICELLI Sll 

is here intended to denote the Springs and the allegory is 
expressed by the painter with extraordinary grace. 

In the Via de Servi and in the Palace of Giovanni Vespuc- 
ci^ which now belongs to Piero Salviati, this master paint- 
ed numerous pictures around one of the chambers : they 
are enclosed within a richly decorated frame-work of walnut 
wood, and contain many beautiful and animated figures.^ 
In Oasa Pucci," likewise, Sandro painted Boccaccio's No- 
yella of Nastagio degli Onesti, in four compartments ; the 
figures are small, but the work is very graceful and beauti- 
ful. He also depicted an Adoration of the Magi * in the 
same place. ^^ For the Monks of Gestello this master 

faot that notwithstanding the profusion of -flowers in this piotnre the anemone, 
which is so abundant axonnd Florence, is missing. 

* The translator has here omitted a few words. The original reads, "He paint- 
ed around piotnre of the Adoration of the Magi," ^'edinuntondo^ nSpifania,"* 
. >* These pictures no longer exist. Morelli (Itslian Painters) rejeota as not 
gennine the Coronation of Mary in the school of La Quiets and formerly in 
Ban Jaoopo di Ripoli This picture was formerly attributed to Domenioo 
Ghirlandajo. From tiie resemblanoe of the technique to the painting repre- 
senting the Adoration of the Magi in the Uffid, Bigg. OavalcaseUe and Crowe 
elass it among the works of Botticelli's youth. See Sioria delta Pittura in 

Jiatia, VL, p. ara 

1* These are pictures ** painted rather hastily ** in 14S7 for the marriage of 
Pier Francesco Bini; they have been in yarious private collections of London. 
The Miracles of Ban Zanobi, two youthful works of Botticelli, as well as certain 
other works, are in Bnglish private ooUeotions, while a Death of Virginia was 
left to the town of Bergamo by Benator MorellL Botticelli's subjecto of this 
class are interesting and oharaoteristio of the master ; they suggest the 
Calumny of the XJfKzi, and not infrequently, in spite of their beauty, ex- 
hibit somewhat of that "harsh and sprawling composition** which had been 
noted by a German oritia Nowhere outoide of Italy may so many pictures of 
the fifteenth-century masters be seen as in England, in the annual exhibitions 
of works from the galleries of private collectors. For some of these see the 
Knglish reviews, and articles in the Archivio Storieo, by Mr. Claude Phillips 
and by Costanza Joceljm Ff oulkes. 

IT Milanesi cannot account for this picture, and believes that Vasari may 
have confounded it with some other tondo. Mr. Bernard Berenson appears 
as. an admirable critic of Botticelli in his Florentine Painters of the Renais- 
sance, saying that no artist has been '^so indiflferent to representation, so 
intent upon presentation.** In emphasising Sandro*s instinctively decorative 
use not only of other material — flowers, flames, draperies — that yield them- 
sebres readily to such purpose, but especially of the human body, he saysi 
with a felicitous phraseology which must be followed in his book to be nndep> 



313 SAND BO BOTTIOBLLI 

painted ^^ a picture of the Annnnoiation in one of their 
chapels^ and in the church of San Pietro he executed one 
for Matteo Palmieri, with a yery large number of figures." 
The subject of this work^ which is near the side-door^ is 
the Assumption of Our Lady, and the zones or circles of 
heaven are there painted in their order. The Patriarchs, 

stood in its fuU developmeni, that Botticelli tmnaltttes **tBotile yalaet*' into 
**pare yalnet of moToment," and becomes unrlTaUod in the art of *^ lineal 
decoration." In this appreciation of Bottioelli^s intense preooonpation with 
the deooratiye snggestion of movement, Mr. Berenson's essay is a real oontri- 
bution to the critical literature of artb Vernon Lee (Bfiss F^iget) has said 
pictoresquely and forcefully in her Fancies and Studies in the Renaissanoe 
that Botticelli "uses the human form as so much pattern element** in *'hia 
strange arabesque, half-intelleotual, half-physical." Among works not men- 
tioned by Vasari and credited to Botticelli in Mr. Berenson's catalogue are 
three in Bergamo, Giuliano de* Medici, Head of Ohrist, Story of Virginia; 
Boston, collection of Mrs. Gardner, Death of Luoretia ; Dresden, life of Saa 
Zanobi ; London, a portrait of a man. Mars and Venus, two pictures of th« 
Adoration of the Magi, scenes from the Life of San Zanobi, in the Mond Ool« 
lection ; in Milan, Poldi-Pezzoli Collection, Madonna, Ambrosiana, Madonna 
with Angels ; in St. Petersburg, an Adoration of the MagL 

!■ Morelli says this Annunciation in the Uffizi is painted by a pnpU of Bot- 
tiosUi from his master^s sketch, but M Lafenestre admits the attribution to 
Sandro^ and Mr. J. A. Crowe, OazetU de* Beaux Arts^ Vol XXXIV., seems 
also to do so. It is a weU-known picture, with strong characteristics of th« 
master*s school Di; Bode and Dr. W. Schmidt attribute to Botticelli a 
small portoait in the Uffizi of a man holding a medal of Coeimo the AbcmbI 
This portrait, caUed Pico della Mirandola, really repr e se nts Piero ds* Madki 
(the younger). See M. P. Valton, Chronique df Arts, 1888, p. 821 

>* Now in the National Gallery, London. Matteo Palmieri, who ordered this 
picture from Botticelli, was author of a poem called ^*The City of life,** and 
which touched npon that heresy of Origen which holds that man is descended 
from an incarnation of those angels who remained neutral when Lncifer re- 
belled against God. For a long time this ** heretical ** picture was reUed and 
its altar was interdicted. (See Richa. Chiese Finrentitte^E. T. Cook, Hand- 
book to the National Gallery, and Walter Pater*s Renaissance, artide Bot- 
ticelli, for a mystical appreciation of the subject ) There is also in the Na- 
tional Gallery, London, a Natiyity, with an inscription in Ghreek at the top 
which says : ** This picture, I, Alexander, painted at the end of the year 1500, 
in the troubles of Italy, in the half-time after the time during the fulfilment 
of the elerenth of St John, in the second woe of the Apocalypse, in the loos- 
ing of the devil for three years and a half. Afterward he shall be chained, 
and we riiaU see him trodden down as in this picture.** The reference is, of 
oonrse, to the martyrdom of Savonarola. The angels welcome SaTonamla 
and Domenioo Bnonvioini, of Pescia, and Silyestro Mamffi, the two priasia 
who were bnmed with Savonarola. 



SANBBO BomOBLLt 313 

the Prophets^ the Apostles, the Eyangelists, the Martyrs, 
the Gonifessors, the Doctors, the Virgins, and the Kier- 
archies : all which was executed by Sandro according to the 
design famished to him by Matteo, who was a yery learned 
and able man. The whole work was condncted and finished 
with the most admirable skill and care : at the foot of it 
was the portrait of Matteo kneeling, with that of his wife. 
But although this picture is exceedingly beautiful and 
ought to have put envy to shame, yet there were found cer- 
tain maleyolent and censorious persons who, not being able 
to affix any other blame to the work, declared that Matteo 
and Sandro had erred grayely in that matter, and had fallen 
into grievous heresy. 

Now, whether this be true or not, let none expect the 
judgment of that question from me : it shall suffice me to 
note that the figures executed by Sandro in that work are 
entirely worthy of praise, and that the pains he took in 
depicting those circles of the heayens must haye been yery 
great, to say nothing of the angels mingled with the other 
figures, or of the various foreshortenings, all which are 
designed in a very good manner. About this time Sandro 
received a commission to paint a small picture with figures 
three parts of a braccio high, the subject an Adoration of 
the Magi ; ^ the work was placed between the two doors of 
the principal facade of Santa Maria Novella, and is on the 
left as you enter by the central door. In the face of the 
oldest of the kings, the one who first approaches, there is 
the most lively expression of tenderness as he kisses the foot 
of the Saviour, and a look of satisfaction also at having at- 
tained the purpose for which he had undertaken his long 
journey. This figure is the portrait of Gosimo de' Medici, 

•« Thii work is in tho Uffiii It waa identified by Gkrlo Pini with the piet- 
ue described by Vasari. It was formerly attributed to Domenioo Ohirian- 
dajo, but is one of Botticelli's finest works. The strong family resembbaoe 
of the Medici is leen in the H/oon of neaily aU of these admirahly striking 
figures; indeed this is the only picture in which Botticelli seems to haTs really 
painted portraits. A man who at one side of the picture turns almost fully 
toward the spectator is said to be a portrait of the painter himself. 



dl4 SAKDBO BOTTtOlCLLt 

the most faithful and animated likeness of all now knowc 
to exist of him. The second of the kings is the portrait of 
Oialiano de^ Medici> father of Pope Clement VII. ; and he 
offers adoration to the divine Child, presenting his gift at 
the same time, with an expression of the most deyont sin« 
cerity. The third, who is likewise kneeling, seems to be 
offering thanksgiving as well as adoration, and to confess 
that Christ is indeed the true Messiah : this is the likeness 
of Giovanni, the son of Cosimo. The beauty which Sandro 
has imparted to these heads cannot be adequately described, 
and all the figures in the work are represented in different 
attitudes : of some one sees the full face, of others the pro- 
file, some are turning the head almost entirely from the 
spectator, others are bent down ; and to all, the artist has 
given an appropriate and varied expression, whether old or 
young, exhibiting numerous peculiarities also, which prove 
the mastery that he possessed over his art. He has even 
distinguished the followers of each king in such a manner 
that it is easy to see which belongs to one court and which 
to another ; it is indeed a most admirable work : the com- 
position, the design, and the colouring are so beautiful that 
every artist who examines it is astonished, and at the time, 
it obtained so great a name in Florence and other places for 
the master, that Pope Sixtus IV., having erected the chapel 
built by him in his palace at Rome, and desiring to have it 
adorned with paintings, commanded that Sandro Botticelli 
should be appointed Superintendent of the work. He ac- 
cordingly executed various pictures there ; ^ among them 

»BottioeIli*t freaooet, painted in 1481, in the Sifltine Oliapel, itUl remain. 
They represent the stories of Moses, of Christ in the Wlldemessi, and of tha 
Destmction of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. The oompositioQ is confnaed, 
and is awkward in the distribution of the masses, bnt the frescoes are eplsodi- 
cally charming, and in spite of faults they giye at least as full a measore of 
BottioelU^s power as do his much more famous easel pictures. The fiMt is 
that the Tery noble series of wall-paintingB in the Sistine Ohapel is bnt little 
notioed because of the superlatiTe interest of the works of Michelangelo in 
the Taulting. Sig. D. Ondi, in the ArehMo Storico dtlV ArU, VL, Msroh- 
AprU, 1806, p. 198, publishes a document showing that RosselU, Bottieslli, 
Ghirlandajo^ and Peru^ino contracted '' to furnish ten storlea ** betweaa Oo* 



8ANDB0 BOTTICELLI 216 

the Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness, Moses slaying 
the Egyptian, Moses receiying drink from the Daughters of 
Jethro the Midianite, and the Descent of Fire from Heaven 
when the Sons of Aaron offered Sacrifice; with seyeral 
figures of holy Popes, in the niches above the paintings.^ 
By these works Botticelli obtained great honour and repu- 
tation among the many competitors who were labouring 
with him, whether Florentines or natives of other cities, 
and received from the Pope a considerable sum of money ; 
but this he consumed and squandered totally, during his 
residence in Bome, where he lived without due care, as was 
his habit.** Having completed the work assigned to him, 
he returned at once to Florence, where, being whimsical 
and eccentric, he occupied himself with commenting on a 
certain part of Dante, illustrating the Inferno^ and execut- 
ing prints, over which he wasted much time, and, neglect- 
ing his proper occupation, he did no work, and thereby 
caused infinite disorder in his affairs.^ He likewise en- 

tob«r S7, 1481, and the 15th of the following March. Two stories from the 
total number are left nnmentionecL in the oontraot, as is also the name of 
SignoreUi. 

** There are twenty-eight portraits of popes, most of which are attributed to 
BottioeUL 

** It is probable that Botticelli remained in Rome until 1484. If he re- 
oeived a conmiission to paint a hall in the, Palazzo Pubblioo of Florence in 
1483, together with Domenico Ghirlandajo, it \% doubtful whether he accepted 
it. See Gaje^s Carteggio^ L, Appendice^ IL, 67H. According to J. A. 
Crowe, Oaxettedei Beaux Arts for 1885, Sandro and Ghirlandajo were, in 1491, 
together commissioned to decorate with mosaic the chapel of San 2ieQobio in 
& M. del Fiore. 

** The Hamilton Tolnme of iUustrations to the Divine Comedy, now in 
the Berlin Museum, before it was taken to pieces was a folio of eighty-six 
leaTCB of fine parchment, meet of them thirty-two eerUimHra high and forty- 
seren wide. The illustrations commence with canto seventh; there are 
eighty-fonr designs in all, while eight others are said to be in the Vatican. 
One of them is painted in gouache^ in sombre colors ; it belongs to the eigh- 
teenth canto of the Inferno. These designs have been removed from the book 
and placed under glass. Milanesi has disooTered, in an anonymous manuscript 
of the National Library of Florence, that Botticelli illustrated a Dante on 
parchment for Lorenzo di Pioro Francesco de^ Medici. This Lorenzo (who 
Uvad about 1460-1506) was grand-nephew of Cosimo the elder. The first 
printed Florentine edition of the Divine Comedy was Chriatoforo Landino*s 



216 SAKDBO BOTTIOELU 

grayed many of the designs he had executed^ but in a very 
inferior manner^ the work being badly cut. The best at- 
tempt of this kind from his hand is the Triumph of Faith,* 
by Fra Girolamo Savonarola, of Ferrara, of whose sect our 
artist was so zealous a partizan that he totally abandoned 
painting, and not having any other means of living, he fell 
into very great difficulties. But his attachment to the 
party he had adopted increased ; he became what was then 
called a Piagnone,^ and abandoned all labour, insomuch 
that, finding himself at length become old, being also very 
poor, he must have died of hunger'' had he not been 

eonmMntftry, iasiud by ** Nioholo di Lorenxo deU* Magna, 1481 ; ** the diffarent 
oopiM of it oontain Taiioaaly from twenty-one engraTings down to two ; these 
hare, on the etrength of Vasari*B aesertion, been aaoribed to Baooio BaldinL 
The engiayings are evidently from the parchment originals of the Hamilton 
ooUeotion, but the engraver has been foroed by the size and shape of the book 
to ohange and simplify the designs, in one oase redaoing the nomber of per- 
sonages from forty-one to twelve. Bl Ch. Ephmssi, after careful study of 
tliese Hamilton iUnstrations of the Divine Comedy, expresses some disap- 
pointment, and is inclined to believe that we have in them not a finished work, 
but only a preparatory one ; a work carried certainly beyond the Umits of 
annotation, bat one far from completion. He bases this belief on the empty 
spaoea left upon so many of the pages, upon the dightness of the handling, 
the absence of perspective, the appearance of haste seen in what are really 
sketches. There is a single miniature in the collection, and this would furnish 
a very reasonable solution if we consider that the other drawings were studies 
intended for eventual development into such miniatures. (See Gazette de$ 
Beaux Arte, VoL XXXI., p. 404; Vol XXXIL, p. 48.) It has also been 
suggested that, on the oontrary, Botticelli having tried color, gave it up and 
decided to leave the designs in black and white. 

w According to Professor Sidney Oolvin (Article ''Botticelli," Encyck>- 
pedia Britannica) this engraving no longer exists. He adds that many early 
Florentine engravings have, upon pure surmise based on passages of Vasari, 
been attributed to Botticelli and Baooio Baldini. 

** Weepers, mourners, or grumblers. See Qustave Gruyer^s Lee lUuetra- 
Uone dee Aerite de Jdrwne SavonaroUy Paris. 1879. 

^ This is without doubt an exaggeration. Mr. J. A. Crowe says that as in 
1406 BotticelU owned a " lordly villa** outside the San Friano gate, it is dif- 
ficult to believe him so poor. He suggests that he may have been unfortu- 
nate either from sickness, or possibly from persecution as a follower of Savon- 
arola. His father was rich enough to buy a family tomb in the OgnissantL 
One may add that by the end of the fifteenth century Florentine taste was 
setting in the direction of the new school, and it is possible that the relative 
neglect of the older artists at the hands of the public ma/ have become tia- 



SANBBO BOTTICELLI 217 

supported by Lorenzo de' Medici> for whom he had worked 
at the small hospital * of Yolterra " and other places^ who 
assisted him while he lived, as did other friends and ad- 
mirers of his talents* 

In San Francesco, outside the gate of San Miniato, Botti- 
celli painted a Madonna, f the size of life, snrronnded by 
angels, which was considered a very beautiful picture.* 
Now Sandro was fond of jesting, and often amused himself 
at the expense of his disciples and friends. In allusion to 
this habit, it is related that one of his scholars, named Bi- 
agio,* had copied the above-mentioned picture very exactly, 
for the purpose of selling it : this Sandro did for him, hav- 
ing bargained with a citizen for six gold florins. When 
Biagio appeared, therefore, his master said to him, ^^ Well, 
Biagio, I\e sold thy picture for thee at last, but the buyer 
wishes to see it in a good light, so it must be hung up this 
eveiyng at a favourable height, and do thou go to the man^s 
house to-morrow morning and bring him here, that he may 
see it in its place ; he will then pay thee the money.'* " Oh, 
master,'' quoth Biagio, " how well you have done ; *' and 
having suspended the picture at the due height, he went his 
way. Thereupon Sandro and Jacopo, who was another of 
his disciples, prepared eight caps of pasteboard, such as 
those worn by the Florentine citizens, and these they fixed 

ditional, and hare been ezaggented into the idea that they anllered from 
aotoal wanl 

* Mn. Foater'a tranaktion of Lo SpeddUtto ^^smaU hospital,** thongh Ut- 
enU, is probably not a aatiafactory rendering, the name Lo SpedaUtto being 
frequently found in Italy as applied to houaeii or lillagea, and in anch oasea 
often indicating only the existence there of a hospital at remote timea. 

t Here again the translator has omitted the words ** in un tondo.^^ The 
xonnd picture became as popnlar toward the end of the fifteenth century as 
the triptych had been during the fourteenth centory. 

*• The grange of Lo Spedaletto, near Volterra, in which Vaaari says Botti- 
oeUi worked, stiU exists as a private house, and is in the possession of mem- 
bers of the Gorsini family. 

*• This work is lost The OagetU du Beaux Arts, 1896, noted an exception- 
ally fine Madonn* and Child, by Botticelli, as in the coUection of Lord 
Wemysa, in WngiMui It ia in the seoond manner of the artisi 

» ProbaUj Biagio d* Antonio Tuooi, 1446-1515. 



218 8ANDR0 BOTTICELLI 

with white wax on the heads of the eight angels^ who, in 
the painting in question^ were depicted around the Madonna. 
The morning being come, Biagio appears with the citizen 
who had bought the painting, and who was aware of the 
jest. Raising his eyes on entering the workshop, Blaise be- 
holds his Madonna, not surrounded by angels, but in the 
midst of the Signoria of Florence, and seated among those 
caps. He was about to break forth into outcries and excuse 
himself to the citizen, but as the latter made no obserration 
on the circumstance, and began to praise the picture, he 
remained silent himself. Ultimately, the citizen took him 
home to his house and paid him the six florins, which the 
master had bargained for, wherewith Biagio returned to the 
bottega (workshop), where he arrived just as Sandro and 
Jacopo had taken off the pasteboard head-dresses, and saw 
his angels as veritable angels again, and no longer citizens in 
their caps. Altogether astonished at what he beheld, the 
disciple turned to his master and said, ^^ Master mine, I 
know not whether I am dreaming, or whether the thing be 
really so, but when I came in just now, these angels had red 
caps on their heads, and now they have none ! What may 
this mean ? '^ ** Thou art out of thy wits, Blaise,'* quoth 
Sandro, ^^ this money hath made thy brain turn round ; if 
the thing were as thou hast said, dost thou think this citizen 
would have bought thy picture ? *' " That is true,'* re- 
plied Biagio, '* and he certainly said nothing about it, but 
for all that it seems a very strange matter. *' At last, all 
the other scholars getting round him, said so much that 
they made him believe the whole an imagination of his own. 
A weaver of cloth once came to live close to Sandro, and 
this man erected full eight looms, which, when all were at 
work, not only caused an intolerable din with the trampling 
of the weavers and the clang of the shuttles, insomuch that 
poor Sandro was deafened with it, but likewise produced 
such a trembling and shaking throughout the house, which 
was none too solidly built, that the painter, what with one 
and the other, could no more continue his work, nor even 



8ANDB0 BOTTIOBLLI 219 

remain in the honse. He had frequently requested his 
neighbour to put an end to this disturbance^ but the latter 
had replied^ that he both could and would do what he pleased 
in his own house. Being angered by this^ Sandro had an 
enormous mass of stone of great weighty and more than 
would fill a waggon^ placed in exact equilibrium on the wall 
of his own dwellings which was higher than that of his 
neighbour^ and not a very strong one ; this stone threatened 
to fall at the slightest shake given to the wall, when it must 
have crushed the root, floors, frames, and workmen, of the 
weaver to atoms. The man, terrified at the danger, has- 
tened to Sandro, from whom he received back his own reply 
in his own words, namely, that he both could and would do 
what he pleased in his own house ; whereupon, not being 
able to obtain any other answer, he was compelled to come 
to reasonable terms, and to make the painter a less trouble- 
some neighbour. 

We find it further related, that Sandro Botticelli once 
went to the vicar of his parish, and, iu jest, accused a friend 
of his own of heresy. The person inculpated having ap- 
peared, demanded to know by whom he was accused and of 
what. Being told that Sandro had declared him to hold the 
opinion of the Epicureans, to wit, that the soul dies with 
the body, he required that his accuser should be confronted 
with him before the judge. Sandro was summoned accord- 
ingly, when the accused man exclaimed, '^ It is true that I 
hold the opinion stated respecting the soul of this man, who 
is a blockhead ; nay, does he not appear to you to be a here- 
tic also ; for, without a grain of learning, scarcely knowing 
how to read, has he not undertaken to make a commentary 
on Dante, and does he not take his name in vain P '^ 

This master is said to have had an extraordinary love for 
those whom he knew to be zealous students in a^, and is 
affirmed to have gained considerable sums of money ; but 
being a bad manager and very careless, all came to nothing. 
Finally, having become old, unfit for work, and helpless, he 
was obliged to go on crutches, being unable to stand upright. 



320 SANBBO BOTTIOBLLI 

and 80 died^ after long illness and decrepitudei in his seventy- 
eighih year.*^ He was buried at Florence^ in the ohnroh of 
Ognissanti^ in the year 1515. 

In the Ouardaroba of the Signor Dnke Oosimo are two 
very beantif ul female heads in profile by this master^ one is 
said to be the portrait of an inamorata^ of Oinliano da 
Medici, brother of Lorenzo ; the other that of Madonna La- 
crezia Tomabaoni, Lorenzo's wife.® In the same place, and 
also by the hand of Sandro, is a Bacchus, raising a wine-flask 
to his lips with both hands, a truly animated figure.** In 

>i He died on 3iay 17, 1510, aged sixty-three or aizty^onr yeue, Moordfag m 
the date 1446 or 1447 beaooepted as the year of his birth. It is donbtfal if he 
died in snch poverty as Vasari woold have ns believe in, since his ftmily was 
able to put np a tomb in the Ognissanti church in the year of his death. 

** Simonetta Oattani. a Genoese, married to a Vespaoel, of FlonBoe, waa 
beloved by Ginliano de* Medid, who held a funoos joust in her honcc (See 
notes to the life of Verrocohia) Therearethreeso-Mlledportraitsof her, one 
in the Pitti, one in Berlin, one at ChantUly. These three hardly reoemble 
each other at all, and the ChantiUy portrait, inscribed ** SimofuUa JanunuU 
Veapuecia^^^ is generaUy considered to be the only genuine one. Dr. Frissoni, 
howerer, gives it to Piero di Oosimo, and believes it to be the Oleopatca umq- 
tioned by Vasari in the life of that artist 

*9 Lncreda Tomabaoni was Lorenzo*! mother ; his wife waa Clarice Oniai, 
a Roman. The Beriin gallery claims to possess this portrait, which bears 
some resemblance to the Simonetta (so-called) in the PittL There is a lovely 
portrait of a yonng girl in the museum of Frankfort-on-the-liain, which is as- 
cribed to BottioeUi Ifr. J. A. Crowe, while admitting that the Lueresia and 
the Chantilly Simonetta greatly resemble the manner of BotticeUi, is not whoUy 
prepared to consider either picture authentia Dr. Bode, in JH$ Graphiuhtti 
KUrutt, 1898, says that a portrait of a man by BottioeUi in the ooOectica of 
Prince Liechtenstein, at Vienna, is finer than any portrait attriboted to Sandra 
in Italy, though in the opinion of the author it is equalled by two h eads of 
women, one in the lonides cdlection of London, the other in that of Mrs. Sey- 
mour. The well-known Ginliano de' Medici left by MoreUi to the town of Ber- 
gamo has all of the Medici portrait characteristics, seen also in the heads of the 
members of that famous funily, with which BottioeUi has fiUed hb Adoration 
of the Magi in the UflBzL Sandro, however, was not a porixait-painter by incli- 
nation ; he saw aU faces through the medium of his own strong personality, 
and M. Mttnti has weU said that his ** was essentiaUy a lyrical temperament 
and unfitted to deal with portraiture.'* 

M This work is lost. Vasari does not mention the two frescoes which wtra 
acquired for the Louvre in 1883 ; they came from the Villa Lemmi, near Flof- 
ance, and were painted on the occasion of the marriage of Locenao AUtei 
with Giovanna Tomabuoni She is represented with the Graces or Virtoci^ 



r ■ 

8ANDR0 BOTTIOELLt 231 

the cathedral of Pisa was an Assumption of the Virgin, 
with a Choir of Angels, commenced by Botticelli for the 
chapel of the Impagliata, but the work not pleasing him, he 
left it unfinished."^ He also painted the picture of the high 
altar in the church of San Francesco, at Monteyarchi ; ^ and 
in the capitular church of Empoli he depicted two Angels, 
on the same side with the St. Sebastian of Bossellino.*' It 
was by Sandro Botticelli that the method of preparing ban- 
ners and standards, in what is called inlaid work, was in- 
vented ; and this he did that the colours might not sink 
through, showing the tint of the cloth on each side. The 
Baldachino of Orsanmichele is by this master, and is so 
treated, different figures of Our Lady are represented on it, 
all of which are varied and beautiful ; ® and this work serves 
to show how much more effectually that mode of proceeding 
preserves the cloth than do those mordants, which, corrod- 
ing the surface, allow but a short life to the work ; but as 
the mordants cost less, they are nevertheless more frequently 
used in our day than the first-named method. 

Sandro Botticelli drew remarkably well, insomuch that, 
for a long time after his death, artists took the utmost pains 
to procure examples of his drawings, and we have some in 
our book which are executed with extraordinary skill and 
judgment ; his stories were exceedingly rich in figures, as 
may be seen in the embroidered ornaments of the Cross 
borne in procession by the monks of Santa Maria Novella, 
and which were executed entirely after his designs.* This 
master was, in short, deserving of the highest praise for all 

uid ha with the Liberal Arte. For a a jmpathetio apprMiatioD of theae frea- 
ooea aee Vernon Lee*! Javenilia. 

u This work is lost. 

M Thii work is also lost. 

" The Angels stiU exist in the Piere of Bmpoli, and, aooording to Mestii. 
Crowe and Cavaloaselle, seem the work of a pnpil. The lower piotnrea are leaa 
carefaUy exeonted. 

M This BcHdaechino is lost. Fonr aUegodoal piotares are shown in the 
ohapel of Sant* Ansano. near Fiesole, and are attributed to Sandro, but MoreUi 
says they are not by him. 

** These works have probably perished. 



222 SAKDBO BornosLLi 

snoh works as he chose to execate with care and good will, 
as he did the Adoration of the Magi, in Santa Maria Novella, 
which is exceedingly beaatifnl. A small round picture by 
his hand, which may be seen in the apartments of the prior, 
in the monastery of the Angeli at Florence, is also very 
finely done ; the figares are small, but singalarly graceful, 
and finished with the most judicious care and delicacy.^ 
Similar in size to that of the ICagi just mentioned is a 
picture, now in the possession of the Florentine noble, Mes- 
ser Fabio Segni. The subject of this work is the Calumny 
of Apelles, and nothing more perfectly depicted could be im- 
agined.^ ^ Beneath this picture, which was presented by 

** This oironlar pietora it kMi. 

«> Now in the Uffizi; the lines qaoied by Vssari haTs peiislied. The snb- 
jeot was taken from Locian^s description of a picture bj Apelles of Alexan- 
dria. Alberti, in De Pietura^ probably written in 14SS. proposed this subject 
as a model. It was attempted by many Renaissance painterSi inolnding Bot- 
ticelli, Mantegna, Signorelli, Raphael, Dtlrer, and RembrandL Herr FOer-> 
ster has found thirteen of these compositions in Italian painting of the fifteenth 
and sixteenth ceoturies, and six among German or Flemish worka. (See his 
special work, entitled Lucian in der Henaiitance. ) Herr Thansing p<^ts oat 
that on the body of the throne of the judge is the represen t ati on of a bas-relief 
painted in gri$aitU, the subject being, with slight modifications, the Battle of 
the Centaurs of ZenxiB, as described by Ladan. There is a drawing for tha 
figure of Troth in the collection of the Ufl^ 

** No painter of the fifteenth century has been moie discnsaed than Botti- 
eellL The graoe, the melancholy, the affectation ersn of his figures aie 
ehanning. No one has created so intensely personal a type ; the Tory name of 
Bandro Botticelli calls up to one*8 mental vision the long, thin fMS ; tiie queru- 
lous month with its over-ripe lips ; the prominent chin, sometimes a little to 
one side ; the nose, thin at the root and full, often almost swollen at the noo- 
trils ; the heavy tress e s of ochre-colored hair, with the frequent tooches of 
gilding ; the lank limbs, and the delicately undulating outline of the lithe body, 
under its fantastically embroidered or semi-transparent vesture. This strange 
type eharms us by its introspective quality, its mournful ardour, its fragility, 
even by its morbidness, and it so charmed the painter that he reproduoed it con- 
tinuaUy, and saw it, or certain distinctive features of it, in every human crsat- 
ure that he painted. Like all the artists of his time his paganism was somo- 
what timid and aaoetio, his Christianity somewhat paganised and edectie, but to 
this fusion of the warring ideals, common to all the workers of his age, be 
added something of his own— 4i fantastic elfin quality as impossible to define as 
itistoresist. His M ado n nas, his god des ses, his saints have a touch of the sprite 
or the Undine in them; his ''Saint Augustine in his Study "is a Doctor FaaalM 
wiio has known forbidden lore ; his fsntastio people of the JV i im si ii a htiw9 



SAKDBO BOTTICBLLI 223 

Sandro himself to Antonio Segni^ his most intimate friend, 
are now to be read the following verses, written by the above- 
named Messer Fabio : — 

Indido quemquam nefciUa ketere* tmdmU 
Tirrarum rege$^ porta ktbella numei 

Bute iimilem JEgypti rtgi donanU ApeUn: 
RexfuU et dignus minere, mantis eo, 

dftnoed in the myttio ring. We feel in his punted folk and hie attitade toward 
them a rabtle dboord that ii at once poignant and alloring, the crowned Ma- 
donna (l*Incoronata) dieami somewhat dejectedly in the midst of her glories, 
and eeems rather the Mother of SoTon Sorrows than a trinmphant Qneen ; the 
Venae sailing oyer the flower-strewn sea is no radiant goddess, bat an anamic, 
nervona, mediBTal pmde longing for her mantle ; the Graces who accompany 
the bride in the Lemmi frescoes are highly stmng, self-conscious girls, who haTe 
grown up in the shadow of the doiiter, bnt to them all Botticelli has leni the 
■une subtle, snggestiTe eharm. No painter is more easUy understood to-day ; 
his sabjectirity, his intense personality, his languid distinction, his melan- 
eholy, whioh sometimes degenerates into peevishness, his touch of neurosis, 
render him the most modern of all the old masters, and perhi^ the most sym- 
patbetio to our restless, nerTona epoch. His technical limitations and the 
incompleteness of his artistic methods of expression offer a wide field for per- 
sonal interpretation and for criticism of a literary and psychological char- 
acter. Like all hyper-refined artists he is occasionally betrayed into over- 
eiaboiation of detail, a marking trait of the painter who had been trained in 
the goldsmiths* shops ; he loved trinkets and intricately writhed and plaited 
hair and complicated draperies. He was no portrait-painter, caring little for 
the differentiation of features ; even in his Adoration of the Magi, though his 
Mediei have fine faces, cleanly and doeely drawn, he has seen them through 
his own temperament and has added so much of his ideal type that they all re- 
semble one another, all suggest the portraits of Giuliano de* Medici, all are 
like elder brothers of the boy angels of the Inooronata. In color Sandro is usu- 
ally agreeable and delicate, with occasionally a golden warmth of tone, but 
. like most Tuscans he is in no sense a true colorist, and in composition of color 
he is confused and uneven. In composition of line he becomes a decorator of 
a very high order, but he has none of the sense of scenic distribution of 
groups which we find in Filippino*s Thomas Aquinas, none of GhirlandaJo*s 
noble ordering of the mssses ; his great frescoes of the Sistine are, as composi- 
tions, unbalanced even to awkvrardness, while they are episodically interesting 
beyond any of the series. His Madonnas in tomlo are perhaps his most charm- 
ing works, his mythological pictures are the most remarkable and famous ; but 
his Sistine frescoes, in spite of their failings, give the fullest measure of his 
capacity. He helped the evolution of art less than did some of his fellows, 
but no one created so intensely personal a type, and therefore no painter of the 
fifteenth century is more representative of that age of individual development. 

* Z,m«Ure in the Milanesi edition. 



BENEDETTO DA MAIANO, FLOBENTINE SOULP- 

TOE AND ABOHITEOT* 

[Bonil44S;diodUW.] 

BiBUOOftAPHT.— W. Bode, Bttudetto da Mt^ano^ in theDohsM MriM of 
Kuntt und KUmUer. (Dr. Bode ftlio pnbliahed in the Repertarium fUr 
Kumtwittetueht^ft^ VIL, for the year 1884^ a monograph upon the yoathfnl 
worln of Benedetto m a eonlptor.) Pietro Giannim, Benedetto da Mc^ano 
SeuUore in LoretOy Article in VArchUtio Storico deW Arte, IL, 170. H. 
Von Teohndi, IBine madonnenttatue von Benedetto da Jfq^ano^ artiole in the 
Jahrbttch der K. P. Kun$t$ammlungen, IX., i, ii Ugo Nomi, II tabemaeoh 
di Benedetto da Jfaiano a San Oimignano, Arte e Storia, n. 28, Florsnoe, 
Augott 16, 188& Jfonwnenii ArtittiH in San Oimignano, artiole by Natale 
BddociA, in the ArehUfio Storico delV Arte, IH, 85-68. O. von Fabriosy, 
Oiuliano da Mt^ano archUetto del duomo di Faenza, VArchinio Storico deW 
ArtCy lU, p. 441. The VerlagaftMtalt fOr Kunet und Wineneeh^ft, in Mu- 
nioh, ie at pceeent (1M)5) publiahing an important aeriee of phototypea in 
foliOi with qoarto text by W. Bode, DenhnSUr der BenaimmeCy Seulptur 
TMeana*9, 

THE Florentine sonlptor, Benedetto da Maiano^ was a 
carrer in wood in his first youth, and was consid- 
ered to be the best master in that calling who then 
took tool in hand : he was more especially excellent in the 
process which, as we have elsewhere related, was introduced 
at the time of Filippo Brunelleschi and Paolo Uccello, that, 
namely, of conjoining woods, tinted of different colours, 
and representing with these, buildings in perspective, foli- 
age, and various fantasies of different kinds. In this 
branch of art Benedetto da Maiano was, in his youth, as we 
have before said, the best master that could be found, and 
this we see clearly proved by the many works from his hand 
ttill to be seen in different parts of Florence. Among these 

> Bioedetio di Leonardo da ICaJano waa bom in 1448: 



B£N£D£!10 DA HAIANO 226 

are more partionlarly to be mentioned the Presses in the ^ 
sacristy of Santa Maria del Fiore^ all by him^ and finished, 
for the most part, after the death of his uncle, Oioliano : 
these are entirely covered with figures in the inlaid work, 
foliage, and other decorations, executed with consummate 
art and at immense cost.^ The novelty of this work hav- 
ing gained the master a very great name, he executed nu- 
merous examples thereof, which were sent to different 
princes and various places ; among others to Alfonso, king 
of Naples, who had an escritoire, which had been executed 
after the design of Oiuliano^ uncle of Benedetto, who had 
served that monarch in his architectural undertakings. 
Benedetto himself had been to Naples for the purposes of 
their joint works, but a residence in that city not being to 
his liking, he returned to Florence, where, no long time 
after, he executed a pair of exceedingly rich coffers for 
king Matthias of Hungary,' who had many Florentines in 
his court, and was a great admirer of all works of ingenuity. 
These coffers were decorated with the most difficult and 
beautiful workmanship, in coloured woods, inlaid, and the 
artist being pressingly invited by the Hungarian monarch, 
determined on proceeding with them to his court. Having 
packed up his coffers, therefore, and embarked with them 
in a ship, he departed to Hungary ; and having arrived 
there, he made his obeisance to the king, by whom he was 
very favourably received. Benedetto immediately caused 
the chests to be brought, and they were unpacked in pres- 
ence of that sovereign, who greatly desired to behold them ; 
but it was then discovered, that the humidity of the sea- 
voyage had softened the glues to such a degree, that when 

* Thaie an etfll in Um laoiifty, ezoept a few pieoes which are in the Opera 
del Dnoma Oioliano, who was Benedetto*! brother, not his nnole, was an 
aiohileot, Molptor, and inianiatore, 

* Through the protaotion of Filippo SooUuri (Kppo Spano), a Florentine ad- 
T itme i , who beoame a Hungarian magnate, many ^fnsoans obtained work in 
Hoagarj, where Matthias CkMrrinns was a famous art patron. Pellegrino di 
Terma, Ammanatfaii (il graaso Legnaioolo), and two nndes of BenTennto Cel* 
liai (Baoeio and Franoeeoo OelUni) aU foond favor at the Hnngsrian oonrt 



226 BEN£D£TTO DA HAIANO 

the waxed cloths in which the coffers had been wrapped 
were opened^ almost all the pieces were fonnd sticking to 
it, and so fell to the ground. Whether Benedetto stood 
amazed and confounded at such an event, in the presence 
of so many nobles, let every one judge for himself ; never- 
theless, having put the work together as well as he could, 
he so contrived it that the king was tolerably satisfied 
therewith ; but the master himself took a mortal aversion 
to the occupation, and for the shame it had brought him 
to, he could no longer endure it. Laying aside all doubt 
and timidity therefore, he resolved to devote himself ta 
sculpture, an art in which he had already made some at- 
tempts while at Loretto, with Oiuliano, his uncle ; he had 
executed the Lavatory of the Sacristy, for example, with 
several Angels in marble. Before he left Hungary, there- 
fore, he proved to the king, that if he had in the first 
instance been put to shame, the fault was in the inferior 
nature of the work, and not in his genius, which was a 
versatile and exalted one. Having executed many works, 
both in terra-cotta and marble, all which pleased the king 
greatly, Benedetto returned to Florence : he had no sooner 
arrived there than he was appointed by the Signoria to ex- 
ecute the decorations, in marble, for the door of their 
chamber of audience, where he sculptured figures of boys, 
which are very beautiful, supporting festoons of flowers 
with their arms ; but the most admirable portion of this 
work is the central figure, that of St. John, as a youth, 
which is held to be of singular beauty ; the height is two 
braccia : and to the end that the whole work should be by 
his own hand, Benedetto executed the wood-work ^ which 

* The door wm exeontod in 1481 ; the intartiatura ii not hj Benedetto^ bat 
by Gialiano and Franoesoo di Giorgio (D Francione), and was finiahed in 14S0. 
l%eitatae of Saint John (lor aome time attributed to DomateUo) is in the 
Bargella The two puUi holding oandelabra have been reoentlj diaooTcied, 
M has alio the Jnatioe (brooght lately from the UiBzi to its preeent plaoe 
in the muiemn). It ia a low relief resembling the Jnstioe of the Sala del 
Oambio at Pemgia, whioh latter is also attributed by Herr Sehmanow to 
Benedetta The above works (save the Perugian Justioe) are now In Iht 



BBNBDBTTO DA MAIANO 237 

encloses the door himself, representing figures in woods in- 
laid> on the folds, on each fold one, that is to say, the 
figure of Dante being on one side, and that of Petrarch on 
the other. To any who has seen no other work of this kind 
by Benedetto, these two figures alone may suffice to show 
how admirable and excellent a master in tarsia he was. 
The audi^ice-chamber has, in our day, been painted at the 
command of the Signer Duke Gosimo, by Francesco Sal- 
yiati, as will be related in its due place. 

In the church of Santa Maria Novella, at Florence, and 
in the chapel, painted by Filippino, Benedetto construct- 
ed a Sepulchral Monument' of black marble, for Filippo 
Strozzi, the elder ; he there represented the Madonna with 
Angels, executed very carefully. The portrait of Filippo 
Strozzi, in marble, prepared by Benedetto for the same 
place, is now in the Strozzi palace. For the elder Lorenzo 
de' Medici, the same artist executed a Bust of the Floren- 
tine painter Giotto ; it was placed in Santa Maria deV Fiore, 
over the inscription, of which we have spoken sufficiently 
in the life of Giotto. This work, which is in marble, is also 
considered to be a tolerably good one.* 



BargeUa See Sig: Umberto Roaai, II mtaeo naseUmaU tui trienniOy 18SM1, 
VArehMo Storifo delT ArU, VL 

• This mcmament (1491-1496) ii sfcUl in the Strosd ehapd, and Perkine 
(Tneoan Sonlpton, VoL L, p. 380) oalls the tondo of MadonnAi rapported by 
adoring angeU, not only Benedetto*8 maaterpieoef bnt one of the best works 
of the fifteenth oentazy. The bast of Filippo, after remaining for a long time 
in the Strozsi palace, was sold to the Lonrre. There is also a Strozii bust in 
Berlin, considered by Dr. Bode {Oaeette dea Beaux ArU, 1888) to be the 
terra-ootta maquette for the bast in the LouYre, and mnoh finer than the latter. 

* Aooording to Milanesl, the Ckymmnne, and not Lorenzo de* Medioi, pud for 
the Giotto and for a bnst of Antonio Sqnaroialnpi the organist, execated in 
the same year, 1490, and for the same place. See Dr. Bode on the yonthfol 
wocks of Benedetto in the Repertarium fUr Kufutioitieruch^ft^ VII., for 
the year 1881 Dr. Bode attributes to Benedetto in Loreto the ETangelists, 
lurutte zeliefs in terra'CotUi wnaUata ; two, howcTor of these lunettes haye 
been found to be modem substitutions. Sig. Pietro Gianuizii, Benedetto da 
JfqfaHO SeuUore in Loreto^ doubts if the lunettei be his, and thinks the lava- 
tory cannot be a youthful work, but that Benedetto was in Loreto between 
1484 and 1487. 



SSB BEKSDBTTO DA MAIANO 

Benedetto repaired^ at a later period^ to Naples, mim- 
moned thither on the death of his ancle Ginliano,^ to whom 
he was heir ; he there, in addition to certain works executed 
for the king, sculptured a relief in marble, for the Count of 
Terranuova,^ in the monastery belonging to the monks of 
Monte Oliyeto. The subject of this work is the Annuncia- 
tion ; * the Virgin is surrounded by Saints and beautiful 
Boys, who sustain garlands of flowers ; in the predella are 
several bassi-rilievi in a very good manner. In Faenza this 
master erected a magnificent marble tomb for the body of 
San Savino,^ and on this are six stories in bas-relief, repre- 
senting events from the life of that saint ; they show much 
power of invention, and are of most correct design, which is 
manifest in the buildings represented, as well as in the 
figures ; insomuch that, for this as well as for other works. 



V Aooording to M. Mttnti {VAge tPOr), Qiuliano dm Majuio, brothflr of 
Beoedetto, built the triomphftl aroh at Nsplei called Porta CSapnanai the 
VillaB of Poggio Reale and La Dnobeaoa, and planned the Doomo of Fiaensk 
He was for a time master of the works of the cathedral at Florenoe and of tiM 
tanctoary at Loreto. Vasari erroneonslj attributes to him, in the palaoe of 
Ban Bilaroo at Rome and in the Vatioan, work whioh was in reality dooe bj 
Gioliano da Ban Gallo. 

>A letter from the queen of Naples to Lofenio de* Medid, quoted bj 
Milanesi, shows that this monnment was oompleted in 1489. Benedetto also 
nndoabtedly was oommiasioned to exeouto sculptares for the Porta deW Area 
M Oastelnttcvo^ and left several unfinished fragments of this work at the 
time of his death, since such are mentioned in the inventory of his eflboto. 

* This bat^eli^i* in sUu, The baokgronnd, a palaoe in a garden, is treated 
in perspeotiye, and indirectly shows the inflaenoe of GhibertL See Peridna 
(Tuscan Sculptors), who also characterises the Madonna as pleasing, tha 
angel as violent and mannered. 

>• The altar of Ban Savino in the cathedral of Faenza is classed by Dr. Bode 
as an early work of 1471, and is now generally accepted as such. PerUni 
^Tuscan Sculptors) notes that the ba$-relitfa^ although pictures in marble, 
more nearly meet the requirements of sculpture than do many of Ghiberti*s 
r^efs. The altar has above it a lunette with a sarcophagus and statuettes of 
the Virgin and two Angels ; below are pilasters and six reli^ Other im- 
portout works by Benedetto (1490-08-94) are in San Qimignano, in the Ool- 
legiato church, and in Sant* Agostina In the latter church there is an altar of 
San Bartdo, with statuettes of Faith, Hope, and Charity, and a Madonna in 
tondo. The second work is a much less important altar of Santa Finii whilt 
HiMre is a bust of Onofrio Vanni in the sacristy of the Doono. 



BSKBDETTO DA HAIANO 3S9 

Benedetto was jastly acknowledged to be an excellent mas- 
ter in sculpture. Before he left Bomagna> lie was accord- 
ingly invited to execute the portrait of Gkdeotti Malatesta ; 
he also sculptured the likeness — ^but whether earlier or later 
I do not know— of Henry VII.^ king of England, which he 
did after a portrait on paper, furnished to him by certain 
Florentine merchants. The sketches of these two portraits 
were found in the house of Benedetto after his death. ^ 

Haying finally returned to Florence, he constructed for 
Pietro Mellini, a Florentine citizen, and at that time a very 
rich merchant, the pulpit of marble " which is still to be 
seen in the church of Santa Groce, a work considered to be 
one of the rarest excellence, and more beautiful than any 
other ever executed in that manner. The events from the 
life of St. Francis, which are there represented, are greatly 
extolled, and are, indeed, finished with so much skill and 
care, that nothing better in marble could possibly be de- 
sired, Benedetto having with consummate art sculptured 
rocks, trees, buildings, and various objects in perspective, 
with other things, brought out with marvellous freedom. 
There is besides a repetition of these decorations on a sepul- 
chral stone beneath the pulpit, and this is executed with so 
much ability that it would not be possible to praise it suffi- 
ciently. It is affirmed that in the progress of this work 
Benedetto had considerable difficulty with the wardens of 
the works in Santa Groce ; the cause whereof was, that he 
proposed to erect his pulpit against one of the columns 
which support some of the arches that sustain the roof, and 
intended to perforate the same in order to maj^e a place for 

n These bnete hsve Dot been traced. 

>* This pulpit is one of those funons and exquisite deoontiTe oompositione 
in which the Tuscans eyoeUed. In detail, the detached figoxes are graoefnl 
lather than powerful, and the reli^ which vary in excellence, fall below the 
great reli^a of the epoch. The bust of Pietro Bfellini by Benedetto (1474) is 
in the Bargella Three terr»-ootta boMxi for the panels of this pnlpit are in 
priTate coUeotions in Italy, a fourth, in the Berlin Mnseom, represents the 
dream of Pope Innocent and was never executed in marble, but was sepUotd 
in the pulpit by the **approTal of the Order of St FnnolB.*' 



230 BENEDETTO DA HAIANO 

his staircase^ and the entrance to the pulpit. Bat the wir- 
dens refused their consent, fearing that he might bo greatly 
weaken the column by the cavity required for the stairs^ as 
to cause the weight above to press too heavily upon it, there- 
by endangering the safety of that part of the church ; Mel* 
lini, however, having given a guarantee that the work 
should be completed without injury of any kind to the 
building, they finally agreed. Benedetto then first of all 
caused the column to be secured externally by strong bands 
of bronze, all that part, that is to say, which from the pul- 
pit downwards is covered with granite (jnetra forte) ; he 
then constructed the steps for ascending to the pulpit, and 
in proportion as he excavated the column within, did he 
add to it externally the granite above-mentioned, in the 
manner that we now see. He thus conducted this work to 
perfection, to the astonishment of all who beheld it, dis- 
playing in every part, and in all the parts together, the ut- 
most excellence that could be desired in such an enter- 
prize. 

Many afiirm that Filippo Strozzi the elder, when propos- 
ing to build his palace, requested the advice of Benedetto 
da Maiano, who thereupon constructed a model, after which 
the building was commenced; but the fabric was after- 
wards continued and completed by Oronaca, when Benedetto 
da Maiano was dead." 



>* This pftUoe, one of the grandest ever bnilt, is not inferior to the PaUuMO 
Mkdiei, in its impression of msss and weight ; at the same time it is ereii 
more picturesque in the distribution and varied sise of its openings, the ar- 
rangements of it#ring8, gratings, and hmterns. Onoe seen, it can no more be 
forgotten than can the Pitti, or the Palasso Veochio, and it is a worthy me- 
morial of its line of citizen^prinoes, the StrossL We can ask no more perfect 
and no more astonishing example of the breadth and depth of Renaissance 
culture than is displayed in the gamut which has at one end Benedetto the 
tntartiatare inlaying a chest for the King of Hungary, and at the other end, 
Benedetto the architect rearing this palace, wMch among all dwelling houses 
remains the most formidably imposing by its frowning mass, yet Is picta- 
resqne beyond many richer structures, and which in its skilfully graduated boe* 
sages, seems certainly not the work of a carver of delicate Madonnas, but 
rather of a Miohelangelesque energy. If Benedetto had been a painter-arekt- 



BENEDETTO DA MAIAKO 231 

Haying acquired snffioient to enable him to liye> Bene* 
detto wonld no longer undertake works in marble after those 
enumerated abore, except that he finished the Santa Maria 
Maddalena which had been commenced by Desiderio da 
Settignano> in the church of Santa Trinita> and executed 
the Grucifix which is aboye the altar in Santa Maria del 
Fiore> with some others of a similar kind.^^ 

With respects to architecture^ although this master un- 
dertook but a few works in that branch of art, he yet 
proyed his skill in those few no less than in sculpture, more 
especially in the management of certain alterations * un- 
dertaken at enormous cost under his direction and by his 
counsels, in the palace of the Signoria of Florence.^ The 
first f was that in the hall, now called the Hall of the Du- 
gento, oyer which the Signoria desired to erect, not one 
similar room, but two rooms, a hall and an audience cham- 
ber. A wall was thus required to be raised, and not a slight 
one either ; in this wall there was to be a marble door, and 
one of tolerable thickness, nor was less skill and judgment 
than were possessed by Benedetto required for the execution 
of such a work.** 

In order to ayoid diminishing the hall first-mentioned, 
therefore, and yet secure the proper diyision of those aboye, 
Benedetto proceeded in the following manner : on a beam of 
one braccio in thickness, and extending in length the whole 
breadth of the hall, he fastened another consisting of two 

teot inBtead of a soolptor-arohitect the obsenrer of the Stroni Palace would 
hare added, that a bnilding with such a play of light upon its sorfaoe was the 
work of a oolorist. Benedetto laid ita fonndations in 1489 ; Filippo Stroni 
died in 1491 ; the second range of windows was completed in 1496. 11 Cronaca 
fciishftd the building, but his beautiful cornice has nerer been carried out in 
its entire length. 
* Instead of ** certain alterations ** read " three ceilings ** {trgpalehfy 
t The translator has here omitted the word ceiling (palco), 
>« The wooden crucifix of 1490 still stands on the high altar of the Duomo. 
u This alteration of the Palazzo Vecohio consisted in the building, just 
abore the 8ala del Dugento^ of two new rooms— the Sola del Oriuolo and 
^b»8aladdV Udienxa. 

>* Milanesi is doubtful whether Benedetto was really the author of all this 
work, and Is inclined to credit it to Giuliano da Majano and 11 Frandoneu 



283 BSNEDBTTO DA MAIAKO 

pieces, and giyingan eleyation by its thickness of two-thirds 
of a braocio ; these being carefully secured and fastened at 
both ends> formed a projection of two braccia on each side 
of the wall, and were famished with clamps, in such a man- 
ner that an arch half a braccio thick, and constructed of 
double bricks, could be raised upon them, being supported, 
moreorer, by the principal walls. These beams were then 
dove-tailed together, and so firmly united by strong clamps 
and bands of iron, that they were no longer two, but one. 
But to the end that these beams should not have to bear 
more than the wall supporting the arch, while the arch itself 
should support all the rest, the master furthermore attached 
two strong iron bars to the arch, and these being firmly 
bolted into the lower part of the beams, upheld, and do up- 
hold them in such sort, that eyen though they did not suf- 
fice of themselves, yet the arch (by means of the two strong 
bands surrounding the beams, one on one side of the 
marble door and the other on the other) would be capable 
of upholding a much greater weight than that of the wall 
built upon it, which is of bricks, and half a braccio in thick- 
ness : he nevertheless caused the bricks of which the wall 
was constructed to be moulded in such a manner as to give 
increased breadth to the lower part of the wall, and thus 
impart greater stability to the whole. By these means, and 
thanks to the judicious management of Benedetto, the Hall 
of the Dugento retained all its extent, and above that hall, 
in the same space, by means of the partition wall, the hall 
called that of the Onuolo was constructed, with the cham- 
ber of audience wherein the triumph of Gamillus, by the hand 
of Salviati, is depicted. The ornamental work of the ceiling 
was executed in rich carving by Marco del Tasso, with the 
assistance of his brothers Domenico and Giuliano who like- 
wise decorated the ceiling of the hall of the Oriuolo, and 
that of the audience chamber. The marble door between 
these rooms had been made double : of the outer door and 
its decorations we have already spoken, and over the inner 
one Benedetto placed a seated figure of Justice, holding a 



BENEDETTO DA MAIAKO 383 

sword in one hand and the globe in the other ; aronnd the 
arch is the following inscription : Diligite Justitiam qui 
judicatis terrain. The whole work was condncted with ad- 
mirable^^ art, and finished with extreme care and dili- 
gence. 
For the chnrch of the Madonne delle Grazie, bnt a short 

distance without the city of Arezzo, Benedetto erected a 
portico with a flight of steps leading to the door of the en- 
trance.^ In the construction of this portico, Benedetto 
made the arches resting on the columns, and beneath the 
roof he placed an architraye, frieze and cornice entirely 
around the fabric. To the channel for conveying off the 
water, which projects to the extent of a braccio and a third, 
he gave the form of a chaplet of roses, cut in the hard stone 
called macignoj between the base of the eares and the den- 
ticulated and oviform ornaments beneath the channel, there 
is a space of two braccia and a half ; and this, with the half 
braccio added by the tiles, gives a projecting roof of about 
three braccia, a very useful, beautiful, rich, and ingenious 
work. In this portico, and in the peculiarities of its con- 
struction, there are many things worthy the consideration 
of artists ; for the master, desiring to give his roof so great 
a projection without modillions or corbels for its support, 
made the stones on which are the carved rosettes of such a 
size that the one half of them only stood forward, while the 
other half was firmly built into the wall ; being thus coun- 
terpoised, they were able to bear the whole weight afterwards 
laid on them without any danger of injury to the building, 
as they have done to the present day, and as the architect 
did not wish the roof of the portico to appear of many 
pieces, as it really was, he surrounded the whole, piece by 
pieces, with a cornice, which seems to form a base to the 

IV The itttiiie of Jmtiothu beoi replmoed by another, with nuoUe head and 
hands, and porphyry body ; a low reHef of a Jnetioe by Benedetto has reoently 
been diaooTered in the Uffisi and taken to the Bargello ; it is probably from 
0B6 of these doors of Benedetto. See note 4. 

M This beantifnl portioo still exists, but the staiioase baa been altavad. 



234 BBNEDBTTO DA KAIAKO 

chaplet of roBettes^ and this being fixed in coffer-work and 
well conjoined, united the whole in such a manner, that 
whoeyer sees the work believes it to be entirely of one 
piece. In the same place, Benedetto constnicted a leyel 
ceiling decorated with gilded rosettes, which is much ad- 
mired. 

Having purchased an estate at abont half a mile from 
Prato, beyond the gate leading towards Florence, Benedetto 
boilt a very beaatifal little chapel on the high-road, at no 
great distance from the gate. In a recess of this building 
he placed a figure of Our Lady with the Child in her arms, 
which is only in terra-cotta, and although of no other colour 
than that of the clay, is so admirably executed that its 
beauty is equal to that of marble. The same maybe said of 
two angels, each holding a light in his hand, placed by the 
artist over all, by way of ornament. The decoration of the 
altar consists of a Bead Christ, the Madonna, and San Gio- 
vanni, executed in marble, and singularly beautiful. At 
his death this master left in his house the commencement of 
many other works, both in terra-cotta and marble.^ 

** lOlaiiMi hM ihown that Benedetto and GioHmo had atfll another brothet; 
Gioranni, and that the thiee working together made, in 1480, thia taber- 
naole of the Madonna deU' UUto. The tabemaole and Madonna are now in 
the oathedial of Prato. The Berlin Maaenm has a painted terra-ootta Ma- 
donna and Child (aeeyol XXXVIIL, Seoond Period, p. 878, OiueUe dm Beaux 
Art$ for 1888), which, aooording to Dr. Bode, is rery like the Madonna deU* 
UUto, bnt larger and finer, and which he belieyes to be ondonbtedly by Bene- 
detto. Dr. Bode also ascribes to him another terra-ootta, a Madonna borne 
by Angels, and certain reZ^/k, all in the Berlin Moseom. Matteo OiTitaU, al- 
though not included by Vasari among his Iatcs, is a soolptor of great impor- 
tance and dosely affiliated with Benedetto of Maiano by the character of his 
works. M. Charles Triarte has written (Paris, 1886) an important monograph 
npon Matteo CiTitali, in which he daims that Matteo*s style unites the fif- 
teenth and sixteenth centuries, and that he is the last of those contained yet 
ferrent sculptors who instinetiTely avoided all yiolence of morement and aU 
oontortion. He was bom in 1486, and died in 1501, passing his life in Flor* 
enoe, Lucca, Pisa, Cenoa, Sarzana, and Carrara. Needy all his best works 
are in Lucca. These are the tomb of Pietro da Nooeto (cathedral of Lucca), 
a Fountain (church of San Michele), a Pietd (church of the Lammari), the 
pulpit and two fonts (in cathedral), a Madonna and Child (church of the 
Trinity), and Statue of the Virgin in the/afad# of San Midiele. Heiaaleoone 



BEKSDETTO DA MAIAKO 286 

Benedetto da M^dano ^ ^ drew extremely well> as may be 
seen by certain drawings preserved in our book. He died 

of the mod delioate and exqnUte imoog the niMten of ornament tee his 
Umpietto^ also hia altar of Sai^t Begalaa, both in the cathedral of Laooa, and 
hia Annimeiation in the Maaei;un. There are in the cathedral of Genoa aiz 
atatoea by Matteo Givitali representing Adam, Bre, Zachariah» EUabeth, and 
Abraham. A large relief in a lunstU with a loene from the life of St John 
Bi^tiit is also attribated to Matteo. 

M Benedetto, bom 1443, died May 24, 1497. 

*> When Benedetto da Maiano died Oosimo Rosteli was appointed adminis- 
trator. Thelittof books which Benedetto left is interesting, as showing iHiat 
works an artist of the time owned and nsed. They woe the Bible, the 
IHvina Cwnmedia^ the Vang^i e FioreUi of St Franois, Titos livins, the 
Chronicle of Florenoe, the Life of Alexander of Maoedon, lives of the Fathers, 
Boooaooio, S. Antonino, the Book of Vioes snd Virtoes, the HoveUinOy and 
LSbro di> Laudi. See Crowe and Cavalcaselle, History of Painting in Italy, 
m, 430, note 3, quoting a report of Cssare Gnasti, published in ArchUf, 
Star., VoL XYI., part Ist, p. 93. 

Benedetto da Maiano is a master who never rises to the greatest heights, 
but who is nem disappointing, is never inadequate, and who in his finest 
Madonnas (generally those in the tondi above sepulchral monuments), and 
especially in fais szchitectursl arrangement of pulpits, shrines, eto., attains the 
fidl measure of the best Florentine eclecticism ; with his bust of Pietro Mellini 
he holds an honorable place among the realistic portraitists of his epoch. In his 
relief 9 he had a tendency to follow Ghiberti, and when we see the relative 
weakness of relirfe in the hands of even such good sculptors aa Benedetto, 
we realise how easily pictorial sculpture might have triumphed and degen- 
erated had it not been for the corrective influence of Donatella Indeed it is 
by comparing the reli^ of the gates of San Giovanni with those of Benedetto, 
Antonio RosseUino, and others that we best realize the transcendent capacity 
of Lorenzo Ghiberti, advancing far beyond its epoch and being suflkient unto 
itsell Benedetto as an architect has an enduring title to fame in the Strozd 
Palace of Florence, as sculptor he has left no superlative masterpiece, al- 
though Vernon Lee and Pater have found material for admirable studies in 
his bust of Pietro MeUini ; \>ut, on the other hand, he produced works which 
call attention in nearly every medium that the Benaissance oflered to the 
sculptor-decorator. He is the all-round craftsman of the Quattrocento — 
marble-cutter, inlayer, worker in terra-cotta, stucoo, and carved wood, direct- 
ing a whole staff of workmen in his shop of the Via de* Servi (a shop which 
still shelters Florentine industry), and leaving us, in the inventory of his per- 
sonal estate, his furniture and books, material enough to give an exoellent 
idea of the simple and yet thoroughly artistic surroundings of the men who 
decorated fifteenth-century Florenoe. His books introduce us to a workman 
who knew, above all, his Bible and his Lives of the Saints, who read his Flor- 
entine History, Dante, and only added a few classical authors, since to him 
who worked for churches Madonna and the saints suifioed, and he who did the 
mythological deoorations for a study or palaoe oould ^ his scheme^ read^ 



386 BBNEDBTTO DA MAIAKO 

in the year 1498, in the fifty-fourth year of his age, and 
was interred by his friends in San Lorenzo, His property 
was bequeathed, after the death of certain relatiyes, to the 
brotherhood of the Bigallo. 

made, from tome hnmaniit and soholar. In ram, Benedetto in his beoi 
•oiiieTement is the comrade of the most ezoeUent eoleotic aoolpUna, in his 
minor works he is the representstiTS of the orsftsmflQ wlio sullied the artift* 
tio daily p^fdft of the Benaissanos^ 



ANDREA DEL VEBEOOOHIO, FLORENTINB PAINT- 
EB, GOLDSMITH, AND SCULPTOR* 

[Bom 1485; di«dl48a] 

BIBLIOORAPRT.— W. Bode, Italieniseher BOdhantr der Sen ai f mrn M, W. 
Bod«, BOdwerke dm Andrea dd Vtrroeehio, Jahrbuch der K, P, &, Vol lU, 
01, 88S. W. Bode, in the Dohme Seriea of Kutui und KUnatUr, Hennmim 
Ufanaim, U modeUo del Verrocehio per U rUievo del Doetale tFArgento^ PArch, 
8lor, delT Arte, VIL B. MUntz, Af%drea del Verroeehio et le tombeau de 
Franeeeca Tornabuoni, Oazette de* Beavx ArU, Third Period, YL, p. 377. 
Oomeliac von Fkbrioiy, Andrea del Verrocehio ai eervisi de^ Ifediel^ in ih0 
ArcMvio Storico delV Arte forlSOK, VIIL,p. 161 P. Fnmoeeohini, II DomOe 
d'Argenio dd tempio di S, Giovanni^ in Firenxe, Jfemoria Storiea^ Floraaoe, 
1894. n Libro di Antonio Bitti eUiue eopU neUa Bfblioteea Nagi^naU di 
Firente^ published by Ck>meliiiB Ton Fafariosy, alio oontaini oertun refer- 
enoee to Verrooohio. The warm advocate of Verroooliio, Dr. Bode, hae been as 
wanni J combated by Dz; Friaoni,who refiuea to accept many of the fonner'a 



THE Florentine, Andrea del Verrocehio, was at onoe 
a goldsmith, a master in perspective, a sculptor, a 
carver in wood, a painter, and a musician ; but it is 
true that he had a somewhat hard and crude manner in 
sculpture and painting, as one who had acquired those arts 
by infinite labour and study, rather than from a gift of 
nature. Had he possessed the facility arising from natural 
powers to an equal degree with the diligence and industry 
wherewith he was gifted, and which he bestowed on the 
arts he exercised, Andrea Verrocehio would have been 
among the most excellent of masters. But these arts re* 
quire the union of zealous study with natural qualities in 
their highest perfection, and where either fails, the artist 

* Andrea di Michele di FranoMoo CKone was bom in 1485 ; he was appvMi* 
ticed to Gioliano Verrocchi, and hence called del Verrooohia 



238 ANDREA DEL YBBBOOOHIO 

rarely attains to the first rank in his profession.* Yet 
study will conduct him to a certain eminence^ and therefore 
it is that Andrea^ who carried this to an extent beyond all 
other masters, is counted among the distinguished and 
eminent masters of our arts. 

In his youth Andrea Verrocchio gave considerable atten« 
tion to science, more especially to geometry. Wheo occu- 
pied in goldsmith's work he executed, among many other 
things, certain brooches or buttons for the copes used in 
the church of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, which are 
still in that cathedral,' with several larger works ; among 
these is a vase surrounded by figures of animals, garlands of 
fiowers, and yarious fantasies, a work known to all gold« 
smiths, with another of similar kind, on which there is a 
dance of children, which is very graceful and bcautifuL 

* Mesin. Crowe and OavaloMeUe obterra thai Venooohio in hu paintinf 
oombined the manners of several different masters — Fra Filippo Lippi, Andrea 
dal CastagnOf and Domenioo Venesiano. In spite of the wide dissimilaritj of 
the two sonlptors, Baldinacci*s statement that Verrooohio studied with Do- 
natello is thoroughly reasonable, as he learned maoh from his great prede- 
osisor, howerer long or short a time he may hare been aotnally his ptipiL 

* All these works have perished ; as a goldsmith Verrooohio is only known 
to ns by one b(u-rel^f upon the sUver altar of the Florentine Baptistery. 
Herr Gomelitis Ton Fafaricsy, in an article upon Andrea dd Verrooohio, in the 
■enrioe of the Medici, VAreh. Star, delT Arte, May-Jnne, 1895, pp. 164.17e, 
notes oar lack of knowledge oonoeming Andrea*s youth, and the faet that th« 
earliest works mentioned by Vasari (putting goldsmith^s work out of the 
question) do not antedate 1467, in which year he began the St Thomas of Or 
San Midiele, while most of the works named by Vasari were not begun befoM 
148S. Herr Ton Fabricsy shows that by 1461 Andrea had graduated from the 
goldsmith*s shop, and had become a competitor with Desiderio and Qiuliaao 
da Majano for a chapel or adieultu to be erected in the cathedral of Orrieto. 
(This chapel, which was erentuaUy built by Giovanni di Menooio da Siena, hat 
been destroyed.) Herr yon Fabricsy publishes in hu article a list (from a 
fifteenth-oentnry document) of works done by Andrea for the Medid; 
this includes, besides the Dayid and the PuUo of the Palasao Veoohio, a hel^ 
met, painted standards, and other objects executed for the jousts of Giuliano 
and Lorenxo de^ Medici Another entry in the list mentions the setting np of 
many ** antique** heads above the arches to the court-yard of the Medid ^1* 
aoe; anything done for this court-jrard, finished in 1454, would count amoof 
Andreses earliest works. The list, furthermore, shows that Verrooohio, like 
so many other artists of the Renaissance, superintended the arrangements of 
festivals and processions, or at all events executed decorations for the 



ANDREA DEL VERROOOHIO 339 

These works affording proof of his competence^ Andrea 
was appointed by the Oaild of the Merchants to prepare 
two ^ historical compositions in relief^ for the two ends of 
the altar of San Oioyanni ; these works are in silver^ and 
when completed acquired him high praise and a very great 
name. 

At that time^ some of those large figures of the Apostles, 
in silyer, which stand ordinarily on the altar of the Pope's 
chapel in Bome^ were wanting^ with other ornaments^ also 
in silver ; wherefore^ Andrea being sent f or^ the commission 
to prepare all that was required in that matter was given to 
him with great favour^ by Pope Sixtus, when the master 
conducted the whole work to completion, with remarkable 
judgment and much diligence.^ Meanwhile, Andrea, per- 
ceiving that great store was set by the many antique statues 
and other things of that kind discovered in Bome, seeing 
too that the Pope commanded the bronze horse* to be 
placed in San Oiovanni Laterano, and that even of such 
fragments as were daily found — to say nothing of entire 
works — ^great account was made ; observing all this, I say, 
he resolved to devote his attention to sculpture, and there- 
upon, abandoning altogether the calling of the goldsmith, 
he set himself to cast certain small figures in bronze, which 
were very much commended : taking courage from this, he 
soon afterwards began to work in marble also.^ 

Now it happened at this time that the wife of Francesco 
Tomabuoni^ died in child-bed, and her husband, who had 

* He made only ow of theee, circa 1477. The altur, kept ordinarily in the 
Opera del Doomo, ia need onoe a year in the Baptiatery. Two amaU aketchea 
in terra-ootta for thia ailTer relief belong to M. Adolphe de Bothadiild. M. 
Bperjeay, Anatrian Ambaaaador to Rome, haa a finer and more complete 
■iMtoh, alao in terra-ootta, of the aame sabjed See Herr Hennann Ulmann, 
PArch, Star., VIL, 60 (IdOi), 

* Bieonted 1471-1484, they were atolen about the middle of the laat oentory. 

* The horae of the Marona Anreliaa. 

V M. Mtinta {DAff ^Or^ p. 409), indsting upon the exaggeration of Vaaari, 
deebiea that Verrooohio'a admiration for antiqnity was alwaya purely Pla^ 
tonie. 

* Bana Ton Beomont eoneJdera that Gioranni, not lYanoeaoo Tomabnoni, 



340 AKDBEA BBL yBBBOOCHIO 

greatly lored her while liying, desired to do her all the hon- 
our in his power after her death ; he therefore commis- 
sioned Andrea to erect a monument to her memory^ and the 
master thereupon represented the lady herself on the stone 
which covered her tomb, with the birth of her infant, and 
her departure to another life ; he added three figures, rep- 
resenting three virtues, which were considered very beauti<* 
ful, being the first work that he had executed in mmrble.* 

Having then returned to Florence with money, fame, and 
honour, Andrea Yerrocchio was appointed to execute a figure 
of David in bronze,* two braccia and a half high, which, be- 
ing completed, was placed, to the great credit of the master, 
on the summit of the staircase, where the chain formerly 
was. While Andrea was occupied with the statue just de- 
scribed, he likewise made the figure of Our Lady, in marble, 
which is over the tomb of Messer Leonardo Bruni, of Arezzo, 
in the church of Santa Oroce ; ^ this he executed while still 
young, for the architect and sculptor, Bernardo Rossellino, 



donor of the mo&iiment, and believes that the tomb wm nerer taken from 
Florence to its Roman deatanataon. M. Mttnts thinks, from the style of the 
fcagmeots of thia tomb preserred in the Bargello, that the date of the work 
must hare been mnoh earlier than 14'27, the year of Franoesoo*s death, or else 
that the tomb was the work of a less skilf 111 artist than Verrooohia M.Mttnta 
disagrees with Von Renmont, and is conyineed that the tomb of Franeesoa 
was set np in 8. M. della Minerra, and was remoyed aboat 158S, when the 
Tomabooni fsmiljbeeameextinot, and the ohapel was given to the Nail The 
three Yirtoes from this tomb (together with a Jnstioe, added, thinks the oritio, 
for the sake of symmetry) have been identified by MM. Mtknta, Oonrajod, 
and Bode aa in the ooUeotion of Mme. R Andr6 in Paris. They are An- 
diea*s earliest statnes of anthentioated date. See Gazette dee Beaux Arte for 
1801, Third Period, YL 

* The translator has here omitted a few words, vis.: '* Which oepolbhze wat 
imt np in the WmiumJ" 

• The David executed in 1476 (n. a) stood first in tbePalauoVeoohio, bntis 
BOW in the Bargello. The fsoe is especially interesting, aa potentially con- 
taining the elements which developed into the type of Leonardo da Vind, and 
thvoogh the latter into that of Lniiii, BeltrafKo, and half the painters of Lom- 
baidy. 

>* A Madonna and Child in tondo, with angels on either side, the whole 
forming a lunette, Bnmi died in 1448, so that if Verrocchio was really borm 
in 1435, he mnst have ezeoated thia Madonna long after Bmni'i death. Bet 
lOkaeai, m., an, note 1. 



ANDBBA DBL YBBBOOOHIO S41 

who erected the whole work> which is in marble^ as we have 
before said. The same artist prepared a mezzo-relieyo in 
marble^ of Onr Lady with the Ohild in her arms, a half 
lengthy which was formerly in the Medici palace, ^^ and is 
now placed, as being a very beantifal thing, oyer a door in 
the apartments of the Dachess of Florence. The same mas- 
ter also executed two heads in metal, one representing Alex- 
ander the Oreat, taken in profile ; the other Darins, por- 
trayed after his own fancy ; each forming a separate picture 
by itself, both in mezzo-relievo, and raried in the crests, 
armour, and all other particulars. These were both sent to 
Matthias Gonrinus, King of Hungary, by the illustrious Lo- 
renzo de' Medici, the elder, with many other things, as will 
be related in the proper place. ^' 

Having by all these works acquired the name of an excel- 
lent master, more especially as regarded casting in bronze, 
wherein he took great delight, Andrea was appointed to 
execute the monument of Oiovanni and Piero, sons of Co- 
simo de' Medici, the decorations of which are in bronze, and 
in full relief. The sarcophagus is of porphyry, supported 
by four bronze consoles, which are decorated with foliage of 
great beauty, and finished with the most diligent care. 
This monument stands between the chapel of the sacrament 
and the sacristy,^ nor would it be possible to discover a 
more perfectly executed work, whether cast or chiselled ; on 
this occasion the master also gave proof of his skill in archi- 
tecture. Having erected the tomb in question within the 
embrasure of a window, five braccia in breadth, and about 

" There ii a fine terr»-ootto of thif nibjeoi in the mnsenin of the Hotpitel 
of & liarU Nqot% ai Florenoe. The fi^ of the work mentioned above ii 
unknown. 

** Milanem knowe nothing of theee works ezoept that a font was ordered of 
Andrea hf Matthias in 148& 

'* This weU-known tomb (1478) is stiU in Htu. A doonment printed bj 
Herr Oomelins von Fabnoqr, Andrea dd Verrocehio ai 9ervUi de Medici^ 
VAreh, Star. delV ArU^ May-Jnne, 1806. prores that Andrea also exeonted the 
yttj simpk monument to Gosimo de* Medioi the elder, in the same sacristy. 
The foontain or lavatory in the little room oifthe mcdtitj is Tarioosly attrib- 
vted to Verrooehio and to RosselUnft. 



242 AKDBBA DEL VBRBOOOHIO 

ten high^ and placed the sarcophagos on a basement whicli 
divides the above-named chapel of the sacrament from the 
old sacristy ; he then^ to close the aperture from the tomb 
to the ceilings constructed a grating in bronze, of an ovi- 
form pattern, representing most naturally a net work of 
ropes, which he adorned at intervals with festoons and other 
fanciful embellishments, the whole work evincing great 
powers of invention, extraordinary judgment, and consum- 
mate skill. 

Donatello had erected a tabernacle for the Council of Six 
of the Guild of Merchants (that which is now in the oratory 
of Or San Michele opposite to St. Michael), and there was 
likewise to have been made a San Tommaso in bronze, lay- 
ing his hand on the wound in the side of Christ : but this 
work was not proceeded with, because among those who had 
the charge of that matter, were some who would have it done 
by Donatello, while others would have Lorenzo Ghiberti, 
and thus the affair had remained while Donate and Lorenzo 
were living, but the two statues were finally entrusted to 
Andrea Yerrocchio. Having accordingly made the models 
and moulds, our artist cast the figures, when they came out 
so firm, complete, and beautiful, that the casting was con- 
sidered a most admirable one. Andrea then set himself to 
polish and finish his work, which he brought to the perfec- 
tion in which we now see it, and than which nothing better 
can be found. The incredulity of Thomas, and his too 
great desire to assure himself of the truth of the fact related 
to him, are clearly perceived in his countenance, but at the 
same time the love with which he lays his hand most ten- 
derly on the side of Ohrist is also manifest. Li the figure 
of the Saviour likewise, as he raises his arm with much free- 
dom of attitude, and opening his vesture, disperses the 
doubts of his incredulous disciple, there is all that grace and 
divinity, so to speak, which art can give to the form it repre- 
sents. The manner in which Andrea has clothed these fig- 
ures also, in beautiful and well arranged draperies, makes it 
manifest that he was no less intimately acquainted with his 



AKDRSA Dm. VERROGOmO 243 

art than were Donato, Lorenzo^ and the other masters who 
had preceded him : wherefore this work well deserved to be 
placed within a tabernacle made by Donate, and to be held, 
as it eyer has been, in the highest estimation. ^^ 

The reputation of Andrea could not now attain to any 
higher degree in this branch of art, and as he was one of 
those men who are not satisfied with excellence in one thing, 
but who desire to possess the same distinction in others also, 
he turned his attention to painting, and by means of study, 
produced the cartoon of a combat of undraped figures, yery 
well executed with the pen, to be afterwards painted on the 
fa9ade of a building.^ He prepared the cartoons in like 
manner for other pictures, historical pieces, &c., and after- 
wards began to put them into execution, but whatever may 
have been the cause, these works remained unfinished. 
There are some drawings by this master in our book, which 
display very great judgment and extraordinary patience ; 
among them are certain female heads, of which the features, 
expressions, and arrangement of the hair, were constantly 
imitated, for their exceeding beauty, by Leonardo da Vinci. ^* 
We have besides two horses, with the various measurements 
and the proportions according to which they are to be in- 
creased from a smaller to a larger size, all which are correct 
and free from error. There is also a rilievo in terra-cotta 
in my possession ; this is the head of a horse copied from 
the antique, and is a singularly beautiful thing. The 

>« The Christ with Si Thomas was oommenoed in 1478 and finished in 
148S. "SL MQntz, in praising the profound sentiment of this gronp, sees in its 
expression a foreshadowing of what Andrea^s great pupil, Leonardo, was to give 
to the world later in his latMk Snpper of Milan. C. C. Pezkins, while also em- 
phasising this sentiment, deplores what he finds to be exaggeration in the ex- 
prsssion and angularity of moyement and draperies alike. One may add that 
there is a oertain confusion in these draperies, and that the eye wanders over 
the entire group-instead of instinotiTely focusing one paramount and striking 
effeot. 

» This cartoon is kst 

>* Here the direct testimony of Vasaci is added to the indication seen in 
the face of the Darid, that Verroochio was the origmator of the type whioh 
baa become that of Leonardo da VinoL 



d44 A^Dt^&A DICL VEBROOOHIO 

venerable Don Yincenzio Borghini has likewise drawings in 
his book^ of which we have already spoken. Among others, 
there is the design for a sepulchral monument, erected by 
Andrea, in Venice, for a doge of that republic, with an 
Adoration of the Magi and a female head, all depicted on 
paper with the most finished delicacy. ^^ 

Andrea Verrocchio executed the figure in bronae of a boy 
strangling a fish, on the fountain of the yilla at Oareggi, 
for Lorenzo de' Medici. This the Signer Duke Gosimo has 
now caused to be placed, as we see, on the fountain in the 
court of his palace ; the boy is a truly admirable figure." 

At a later period, and when the erection of the cupola of 
Santa Maria del Fiore had been completed, it was resolved, 
after many discussions, that the copper ball, which, accord- 
ing to the directions left by Filippo Brunelleschi, was to 
be placed on the summit of that edifice, should be prepared. 
The order to do this was consequently given ^ to Andrea, 
who made the ball four braccia high, and fixing it on a disc 
of proportionate size, he chained and secured it in such a 
manner that the cross could afterwards be safely erected 
upon it, which operations being completed, the whole was 
put up amidst great festivities and with infinite rejoicing of 
the people. There was without doubt much skill and care 
required for the execution of this work, and the rather, ai 
it was needful so to contrive that the ball could be entered, 
as is in fact the case, from below, and also to secure it by 
various fastenings, in such a manner that storm and wind 
should not damage the construction.^ 

Andrea Verrocchio never gave himself rest ; he was per- 
petually occupied either with painting or sculpture, and 
sometimes changed from one to the other, to the end that 

" Most of the dzAwingfl mentkmod bj Vssari are lost 

M This little statue, stUl in the basin of the fountain of the PlUano Veo- 
chio, is one of the most charming works of the Benaissanoeii It la a o^jrios^ 
but a oaprioe fnU at onoe of sdenoe and of spontaneitj. 

>*Inl46& 

** After the bsU of Andrea was thrown down hy lightning, the prsiit one^ 
which is larger, was erected in its stead. 



Ain)B^ DBL VEBbOOOdlO ^46 

he might not weary himself by too long a continuance at 
one thing, as many do. And although he did not put the 
cartoons aboye described in execution, he nevertheless did 
paint some pictures ; among others, one for the nuns of San 
Domenico, in Florence, .a work in which it appeared to him 
that he had acquitted himself very well ; ^ wherefore, no 
long time after, he painted another in San Salyi, for the 
monks of Yallombrosa. The subject of this picture is the 
Baptism of Ghrist by St. John," and being assisted in it by 
Leonardo da Vinci, then a youth and Andrea^s disciple, the 
former painted therein the figure of an angel^ which was 
much superior to the other parts of the picture. Perceiy- 
ing this, Andrea resolved never again to take pencil in hand, 
since Leonardo, though still so young, had acquitted him* 
self in that art better than he had done." 
Oosimo de' Medici, having at this time many antiquities 

*> Ml. Berenson (Flor«nti]ie Painten of the BenaiaMoioe, New York, 1806) 
attribntei to Verrooohio an Annimoiation (UflBsi, 1288), a Madonna and Asfd 
(104a, Berlin), and, oonditionaUj, three profile porteaita of women (Ufl&d^ 
Berlin, Poldi-Pezioli of Milan) ; a Madonna and Angela (London), and a por- 
trait (Vienna, Liohtenatein). Herr Fabriosy, ^, ett., prorea that Venooohio 
painted a portrait of Lnoreaia Donati ; he thinka it may be identified with a 
portrait of a girl in the Berlin Moaeiim, there aaoribed to F. Gr^naod, or per- 
hapa with the profile portrait of a girl aooredited to BafflMllino del Ckrbo, in 
the Barker eoOeotion, London. 

** In the Florentine Aoademy. 

** Thia aeema like many of the fablet of the Benaiaaanoe ; bnt Dr. Biohter, 
in hia Leonardo da Vinoi, laya that not only the angel mentioned by Vaaari, 
bat alao the aeoond angel and the figure of Chriat are painted in oil, the 
favorite mediom of Leonardo, whereaa Andrea never departed from the nee of 
Umpera, M. Mttnti, in the igwue dm Deux Jfondsa^ 1887, VoL TiXXXITT., p> 
660, advooatea the theory that Verrocchio only really developed after contaet 
with hia great pupil Leonardo, from whom he learned quite as much aa Leonardo 
did from him. Dr. Bode, after a long and oarefnl eomparative itudy (aee hia 
Balieniaeher BUdhauer der Jienaii8ance)y attributea to Verrooohio a Madonna 
in the Berlin Mnieum, one in the Btlidel Inatitnte of Frankfort, the fine 
Tobiaa with the three arohangda in the Florentine Aoademy (aee Dr. Guatsve 
Frinoni, who oombata Dr. Bode in Vol L of the Arch, Star. delT Arte, p. 
002), and the Tobiaa with a tingle angel in the National €}«llery. He reatoreo 
indeed to Verrooohio a whole group of piotorea aooorded to him by Meoara. 
Crowe and Oavaloaaelle, but given by Morelli to the PollajnolL MM Lafe- 
neatre and Bichtenbergcr accredit to Verrooohio, and reproduce in their 
Fhrenee^ p. 20, a Virgin, enthroned with aainta, in the UiBaL 



346 ANDREA DSL VEEBOCOHIO 

broaght from Rome, in his possession, had caased an exceed* 
inglj beaatif al Marsyas, in white marble, fastened to a tree, 
and on the point of being flayed,^ to be placed within the 
door of this garden or court where it borders on the Via 
de Ginori. This, Lorenzo, his nephew, desired to see ac- 
companied by another Marsyas in pietra rosea (the torso 
and head of which had come into his hands), a work of high 
antiqaity, and much greater beauty than that first men- 
tioned ; but the figure being so extensively mutilated, he 
could not effect his purpose, whereupon he gave the torso 
and head to Andrea Yerrocchio,^ that this master might re- 
store it, and he completed it so perfectly, adding the legs, 
thighs, and arms that were wanting to that figure, in pieces 
of red marble, that Lorenzo was highly satisfied, and caused 
the statue to be placed in face of the other on the opposite 
side of the door. The antique torso of this Marsyas was 
executed with such minute care and thought, that certain 
slender white veins in the red stone had been turned to ac- 
count by the artist, and made to seem like those small nerves 
discovered in the human form when the skin has been re- 
moved, a circumstance that must have given this work a 
most life-like appearance when in its original perfection.* 

The Venetians at this time, desiring to do honour to the 
distinguished valour of Bartolommeo da Bergamo, who had 
obtained for them many great victories, resolved to raise a 
monument to his name, hoping thereby to encourage other 
leaders. Having heard the renown of Andrea, they there- 
fore invited him to Venice, where he was commissioned to 
execute an equestrian statue of the commander above-named, 

* ** Quando aveva U 9uo primUro pulimentQ ** ihoiLld be trmiuUted ** wImh 
it hftd iU fint polish.** 

^ See the Life of Donatello, p. 816 of Vol. L 

MM. MQntz expresses surprise that Lorenzo shonld hare set this task to a 
man so little in real sympathy with antique art as was Venooohia Milanesi 
doubts the attribution to Verrooohio, as restorer, of the seoond Marsysa in tha 
Ufliri, believing this Marsyas to be rather the one giyen by Don Virginio 
OrsinL (See Vol in., p. 867, note 1.) Herr ron Fabrioxy, op. cU., says that 
the two torti of Marsyas at present in the gallery are not thoae reatond 1^ 
Verrocdhio and Donatello. 



ANDBBA DEL VBBROOCHIO 247 

which was to be placed on the Piazza of SS. Giovanni and 
Paolo. The master accordingly^ having prepared the 
models was proceeding to take the necessary measares for 
casting it in bronze, when, by the favour of certain persons 
among the Venetian nobles, it was determined that Vellano 
of Padua should execute the figure of the general, and 
Andrea Verrocchio that of the horse only ; but the latter no 
sooner heard this, than having first broken the head and 
legs of his mould, he returned in great anger to Florence 
without saying a word. His departure being told to the 
Signoria, they caused him to understand that he should 
never dare again to enter Venice, for if he did so they would 
take off his head. To this menace the master wrote in re- 
ply, that he would take care not to return, seeing that 
when they had once taken off his head, it would be beyond 
their power to give him another, nor could they ever get as 
good a one put on the horse, whose head he had broken, as 
he would have made for it. Notwithstanding this reply, 
which did not displease those rulers, Andrea was afterwards 
induced to return to Venice, when his appointments were 
doubled. He then restored his first model, and cast it in 
bronze, but did not entirely finish it, for having taken cold, 
when he had exposed himself to much fatigue and heat in 
casting the work, he died in Venice after a few days^ ill- 
ness.* Nor was this' undertaking, which wanted but a little 

** The celebrated condottiere^ Baitolommeo Colleone, who was captain of the 
Venetian foroeR, died (1476), leaving to the republic 216,000 gold florina, be- 
aidea hoaaehold efTects, plate, hones, etc, on condition that his equestrian 
■tatne should be erected in the square of St. Mark. The Signory was per- 
plexed ; an old statute forbade the encumbering of the (then) small piazza with 
monuments, and Venetian jealousy grudged granting so great an honor to any 
individual ; but at length the Signory, always fertile in shifts and compromises, 
decided to place the statue on the square of the Seuola di San Marco, adjoin- 
ing the church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, thus adhering to the letter of the wiU 
and depriving the great piazza of a magnificent ornament. This statue of 
Colleone is one of the mysteries, as it is one of the triumphs, of the Renauh 
sance. How could Verrocchio, often so tentative and apparently hesitating, 
produce this magnificently sure and perfect masterpiece ? Much in it is cer- 
tainly characteristic of him, but combined with the life which is seen in his 
PuUo of the fountain of the Palazzo Vecchio, and something of the angularity 



248 ANDBEA DEL VEBROOCHIO 

to its completion^ and was placed in its destined position, 
the only one he thns left unfinished : ^ there was another 

of his DftTid, there ia » gEandear and » fire which he nerer «{iproMhee in hii 
other works. If Leopudi the VenetiMi, who finished snd signed it, de s er ves 
the greater part of the glorj, why do his other artistio creatioaa show no kin- 
ship with it ? Verrocohio^s will proves that he left the statue unfinished ; bat 
did he leave a model nearly completed, nearly ready for casting f He desired 
that Lorenso di Credi should finish his work, but the Senate allotted its com- 
pletion to Alessandro Leopardi Leopardi inscribed the surcingle under the 
horse*sbeUy with the words *^ Alexander Leopardm v./ opue.^ The v,f. 
maj mean vetutue fecit (made) or venetuefudit (cast). The Venetians called 
him'*delCaTa]lo/*andthe GounoQof Ten say in then registers, ''in behalf 
of this work we name and praise only our own Alesiandxo. ** This last has but 
little weight; any Venetian would hare said as much of any Florentine who 
entered the lists with another Venetian, and in this case it must be remem- 
bered that the Signory had quarrelled with Verrocchio, who had died very sud- 
denly after his return to Venice, as men were apt to do who were recalcitrant 
or rebellious. The inscription in S. Maria dell' Orto, on the grave of Leo- 
pardi, says that he was the maker of the pedestal, which is monumental and 
greatly enhances the effect of the statue. A document has been recently dis- 
covered in Florence which would seem to prove that Verrocchio really did 
leave a model which was sufficiently finished to be cast as his, Andrea's, work. 
In this document, dated October 7, 1488, Lorenso di Credi states, first, that 
the statues of horse and man had been ordered of Verrocchio, at a price of 
1,800 ducats ; secondly, that at the time of his death Verrocchio had only 
made the model in day for ikejlffures ofhoree and man^ for which 880 ducats 
had already been advanced ; thirdly, that he, Lorenzo, had taken in charge the 
continuation of the work ; fourthly, that he, Lorenso, had handed over the 
said work to Giovanni d' Andrea di Domenico, a Florentine, to be finiehed. 
Later the work upon the statue was put into the hands of Alessandro Leo- 
pard!, but the important point which is proved by the document is that Ver- 
rocchio left the figures of horse and man practically ready for casting. 
Symonds has probably come nearer to the truth than any one in calling the 
OoUeone '* the joint production of Florentine science and Venetian fervor ; ** 
but we may fairly reduce Leopardi's share to the pedestal, the casting, and to 
such additions as m»y have enhanced the character of the statue, but not 



^ Dr. W. Bode has identified, as by Andrea, a small bronae relief (a De- 
scent from the Cross) in the Church of the Carmine, Venice. From their re- 
semblance in style to this relief Dr. Bode attributes to Andrea the Judglnent 
of Pyuria in the Dreyfus collection, and the fine relief at 8. Kensington called 
the Disoordia. (See VArch. Stor., 1898, p. 79.) The lovely colored relief in 
the Rattier coUeotion, Phris, called a Scipio, is attributed by Dr. Bode to Ver- 
rocchio. See reproductions in MQnts, VAge ^Or^ and in VoL IIL of the 
Prussian Annuary {JoKrbueh der K P, 8,), This relief has also been ao« 
ere dl Ud to Leonaido. 



ANDREA DEL VBBBOOOHIO 249 

also, which he was ezecnting in Pistoja, the tomb of Oar- 
dinal Fortegnerra namely, adorned with figures of the three 
Theological Yirtaes, and that of God the Father aboye 
them. This monnment was afterwards completed by the 
Florentine sculptor, Lorenzetto." 

When Andrea Yerrocchio died, he had attained to his 
fifty-sixth year ;^ his death caused yery great sorrow to his 
friends and disciples, who were not a few, but more par- 
ticularly to the sculptor Nanni Orosso, a yery eccentric 
person, and peculiar in the exercise of his art, as well as in 
his^life. It is related of this artist, that he would neyer 
undertake any work out of his workshop, more particularly 
for monks or friars, but on condition that the door of the 
cellar, or whateyer place the wine was kept in, should be 
left constantly open, that he might go to drink wheneyer he 
pleased, without asking leaye from any one. It is also said, 
that haying once returned from the hospital of Santa Maria 

ehtnged it For the ehtracter of tliis magnifioent stetne ii VeEKOOohio't ; its 
•tem andTizilabMMttj and its maiiial dignity an as mnoh akin to the Floren- 
tine sobool as the Inxnriant and fseile style which Leopard! shows in his woiks 
elsewhere is ohaiaeteriatio of Venetian feeling. Certain critics hsTs need the 
word hratmra in writing of it, hat hen ii not bravura bat rather fire; some- 
thing of Venetian splendor Leopardi may have added to the eqoipment and 
armor, in the widely flanging sides to the helmet and spreading carre of the 
shonlder-pieoes, and something, too, he may hare oontribated of Venetian 
ftiperdia to the attitude of the amdoUiere as he tarns in his saddle. Some- 
thing of inq>ication may hare come from the character of the eddiw himself, 
whom Spina described in terse, monamental words, which mi^t be graven 
on the bronie, ** Soldo pat$Ot vitta m^erdo, retplendente per U rieehe ormi 
« p$nnaeM 9opra noMZ eartUre^ ocehi neri, nella guardatura ed aeuUmsa 
lisl lume^ vU/i, pmeirafUi o ierrlbUi^^* bat in spite of all this the stem and 
grare soldier rode forth from a Florentine brain, and the finest eqaestrian 
statae of the Renaissance remains to ns as the CtoUeone of Andrea del Ver- 
roochio. 

MThb was an honorary tomb, as he is baried in Borne. Itwasoommenoedin 
1474; it is still in tUu, Andrea himself soalptared only the fignres of Hope, 
and of God the Father ; perhaps, indeed, only made the models for them. For 
an interesting note regarding the prefer e nce shown by the operai of the Pis- 
tojan Dnomo for certain models of PoUajnolo orer those of Andrea, see 
llihmeei, HL, 809, note 1. Lorenao Lotti, the Lorenietto of Vasari, finiihed 
the tomb. 

*• Verrooohio was buried in the chnreh of Sant* Ambrogio, in Florence. 



250 ANDREA DEL VEBROCCHIO 

NnoTa^ perfectly cared of some illness^ I know not what, 
his reply to his friends when they came to visit and con- 
gratulate him was, " I am very ill/* *' 111 I '* they replied, 
''nay, you are perfectly cured/' ''And that is precisely 
wherefore I am ill,'' rejoined Nanni, " for I am in want of 
a little fever, that I might remain in the hospital, well 
attended and at my ease." When this artist was at the 
point of death, which happened in the hospital aforesaid, 
they placed a wooden crucifix before him, which was clumsy 
and ill executed, when he implored them to take it out of 
his sight and bring him one by Donate, declaring, that if 
they did not take that one from, before him, he should die 
despairing, so greatly did the sight of ill-executed works in 
his own art displease bin- . 

Among the disciples of Andrea Verrocchio were Piero 
Perugino and Leonardo da Vinci, of whom we shall speak 
in the proper place, as was also the Florentine Francesco di 
Simone, by whom there is a marble tomb, with numerous 
small figures, in the church of San Domenico, in Bologna ; 
the manner of this work is so exactly similar to that of 
Andrea, that it might be taken for his : the monument was 
erected for the doctor Messer Alessandro Tartaglia of Imola. 
Francesco likewise erected another for Messer Pietro Min- 
erbetti, in the church of San Pancrazio, in Florence; it 
stands between one of the chapels and the sacristy. Another 
disciple of Andrea Verrocchio was Agnolo di Polo, who 
worked in terra-cotta with great skill. The city is full of 
figures by his hand, and if he had devoted himself zeal- 
ously to the study of his art he would have produced ad- 
mirable works. But more than all his other disciples was 
Lorenzo di Credi beloved by his master, whose remains were 
by him conveyed from Venice, and deposited in the church 
of Sanf Ambrogio, in the sepulchre of Ser Michele di 
Clone, where the following words are engraved above the 
tombstone. 

• 

" Ser Michaelis de CiQUis et sxionim.'* 



ANDREA DEL VEBBOOOHIO 361 

And near them are the following : 

** Hio 088a jaoent Andre» Yerroohii qui 
Obiit Yenetiis, MOOOOLxxxyin.'' * 

Andrea took mach pleasure in making models of gypsum, 
from which he might take easts ; he made his moulds from 
a soft stone found in the neighbourhood of Volterra, Siena, 
and other parts of Italy, which, being burnt in the fire, 
pounded finely, and kneaded with water, is rendered so soft 
and smooth, that you may make it into whatever form you 
please ; but afterwards it becomes so close and hard, that 
entire figures may be cast in moulds formed of it. Andrea, 
(therefore, adopted the practice of casting in moulds thus 
prepared, such natural objects as he desired to have contin- 
ually before his eyes, for the better and more conyenient 
imitation of them in his works — ^hands, feet, the knee, the 
arm, the torso, &c. Artists afterwards — but in his time — 
began to make casts of the heads of those who died, a thing 
they could by this means do at but little cost ; ^ whence it 

* Thk insoriptioii had already disappeared in 1057, bat an old anthor olaima 
that Vaaari mistook for *"*■ Ser '* an S, which reaUy meant Sepidcrum, (See Bfi- 
Uneeiin. p., 872.) 

** He was not the first, though among the first, to make these masks. ** The 
iobriqoet of Fallimagini^ or Del Cere^uolo^ home by the Benintendi fam- 
ily in token of their profession, proves that such had been made in Florence 
before Verroochio^s day. These figures resembled those which the Romans, 
who had obtained the Ju$ imaginum, were accnstomed to place in the 
atria of their houses" (O. O. Perkins, Historical Handbook of Italian 
Sculpture). Perkins considers the subject of the invention of the modem 
system of making plaster-casts at length in his Tuscan Sculptors, IL, 200-dOS. 
In a list of works executed by Verrocchio for the Medici (see Oomelius tob 
Fabricay, VArcK 8tor. deW Arte, YUL, 106) there figures the foUowing 
entry : ** For twenty masks taken from nature ^ C^per ventj moiehere ritratti 
ai naiurale'*^). The only absolutely authenticated death-mask which has 
come down to us from the Renaissance is that of BruneUesohi, in the director*8 
office of the Opera del Duomo in Florence ; but there are in the museums of 
Aix. Chambery, Berlin, Bourges, Carpentras, Puy-en-V^y, and VilleneuTe 
les Avignon, as well as in South Kensington and in the collection of 11 L. Gou- 
rajod, certain heads in which only the face and anterior portion of the skuU 
are shown, and which undoubtedly were made from masks that were first taken 
directly as casta from the face, and were then retouched by the sculptor's tool 
qntU they became works of art The well-known busts of Sant* Antonino^ 



352 ANDREA DBL YEBROOOHIO 

is that one sees in every house in Florence yast numbers of 
these likenesses, over the chimneys, doors, windows, and 
cornices, many of them so well done and so natural that 
they seem alive ; and from that time forward this custom 
prevailed, nay, continues to do so, and has been of great 
value to us, by enablii^ us to procure the portraits of many, 
whose figures appear in the historical paintings executed 
for the palace of Duke Gosimo.^ We are indeed greatly 
indebted for this advantage to the skill of Andrea Yerroo- 
chio, who was one of the first to put the practice into exe- 
cution. 

From this commencement, artists proceeded to execute 
more perfectly-finished figures for those who required them 
for the performance of vows, not in Florence only, but in 
all places wherein men congregate for devotion, and where 
they offer votive pictures, or, as some call them, tniracoli, 
when they have received any particular favour or benefit^ 



in S. H KoTdU of Florenoe, lad of Gontettiiift de' Bardi (formidy oiUed 
Aimalena Viaconti), in the BargeUo, belong to this ume Mries. Serecml ciitios 
hare pointed oat the analogy eziiting between these mask-bnsts and the busts 
of Beatrice of Arragon (Dreyfus ooUection), Marietta Stroni (Beriln), and 
Battista Bfona (BargeUo). The only actual waxen image left to ns is the ^mj 
beaatifal one in the Mns6e Wioar of lalle, where it was fmc a time atCcibated 
to RaphaeL Herr ron Fabricsy notes that certain writers, baaing their theory 
upon a fifteenth-oentnry drawing in the Albertina of Vienna, which seems to 
have heem taken from the features of a dead girl, connect this bust in IAD» 
with ttie series of death-masks ; but he adds that the intrinsic character of the 
work at Lille shows it to be of the end of the sixteenth, or eren of the begin- 
ning of the seventeenth, century. 

*> Vasari described these works at some length in his Sagianammio Prim^^ 
CMomata Seeonda. 

** It is needless to say that the wax images have perished. There is, how* 
erer, a most extraordinary collection of these rotire figures, which still re- 
mains in a church founded by one of the Visconti a few miles outside of Msb- 
tua^ Sereral bays on either side of the nare of the church, from the pointed 
▼anlting to the parement, are filled with life-size Totive figures of men and 
women ; there are images of lords and ladies, burgesses, and of angels who are 
teking part in rarious miraculous events. Originally these figures wore the 
dresses and armor of the fifteenth century, but as the stuib have fsllen away 
they hare been in part replaced by cheaper ^brics, so that cambric and ealioo 
piece out the tattered brocades. Bach wax figure is in its nidie, and each 
niche is bordered with waxen fruits and flowers. The efleet is itnage and 



ANDBBA DBL VBBBOOOHIO 2B8 

For whereas these miracoli were preyionsly made in nlyer, 
yery small^ or^ if larger, in coarse pictures only, or made 
most clamsily in wax, they began in the time of Andrea to 
make them in a much better manner ; wherefore Verrocchio, 
being the intimate friend of Orsino, a worker in wax, who 
was considered in Florence to be very skilf nl in his Tocation, 
undertook to show him how he might render himself emi- 
nent. It chanced that an occasion for the display of Orsino^s 
skill soon presented itself, for on the death of Giuliano de' 
Medici,^ and the danger incurred by his brother Lorenzo, 
who was wounded at the same time, in Santa Maria del 
Fiore, it was ordained by the friends and relations of Lo* 
renzo that many figures of him should be made and set up 
in yarious places, by way of thanksgiying to God for his 
safety* Then Orsino, among others, with the help of An- 
drea, made three figures in wax, of the size of life, form- 
ing the skeleton in wood, as we haye before described, and 
completing it with split reeds. This frame-work was then 
coyered with waxed cloth, folded and arranged with so much 
beauty and elegance that nothing better or more true to 
nature could be seen. The head, hands, and feet were after- 
wards formed in wax of greater thickness, but hollow 
within ; the features were copied from the life, and the 
whole was painted in oil with such ornaments and additions 
of the hair and other things as were required, all which 
being entirely natural and perfectly well done, no longer 
appeared to be figures of wax, but liying men, as may be 
seen in each of the three here alluded to. One of these is 
in the church which belongs to the Nuns of Ghiarito, in 
the Via di San Gallo : it stands before the Crucifix by which 
miracles are performed, and is clothed in the habiliments 
worn by Lorenzo when, wounded in the throat and with that 
part bound up, he appeared at the window of his palace to 
show himself to the people, who had flocked thither to 

latlier gxialy ; but ih« whole exhiUtioii is an interMting mrrifal, thoofhllis 
Mdly in need at IfMstro Onino*! reeloEing hand. 
M In U7S» in the Pani oonq^Msaoj. 



364 ANDBEA DEL VEBROOOHIO 

assure themselves whether he were alive, as they desired, 
or whether he were dead, to the end that in the latter 
case they might avenge him. The second figure of Lorenzo 
is attired in the lucco, which is a dress peculiar to the Flor- 
entine citizens, and this is in the church of the Servites, 
the Nunziata, namely : it stands over the smaller door 
where the wax lights are sold. The third was sent to 
Assisi for the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, and was 
placed before the Madonna of that place ^ where the same 
Lorenzo de^ Medici, as we have related, had caused the 
whole road to be paved with bricks all the way from Santa 
Maria to that gate of Assisi which leads towards San Fran- 
cesco. He had likewise restored the fountains which Gos- 
imo, his grandfather, had caused to be constructed there* 
But to return to the waxen images. All those in the 
Church of the Servites which have a capital in the base, 
with the letter R within it and a cross above, are by the 
hand of Orsino, and are all exceedingly beautiful ; there 
are, indeed, very few who have equalled them. This art, 
although it has maintained its existence to our own times, 
is nevertheless rather on the decline than otherwise, either 
because there is less devotion than formerly, or for some 
other cause. 

We will now return to Verrocchio. In addition to all 
that we have already enumerated, this master executed 
crucifixes in wood, with various works in terra-cotta.*^ In 

*« See the life of Ifiohelozio Miohelosii, p. 15, note 38, of the preeent 
Tolnme. 

M In (he TBrions coUeotioiis of Europe a great nmnber of works are attrihated 
to Verrocohio. Dr. Bode and H. ron Tsohadi attribute to him many in the 
Mneeum of Berlin. According to Dt, Bode the latter muaenm has sereral m«« 
queues by Verrocohio, among which are a study for the Dayid of the Bargello, 
a larger stndy of a Sleeping Youth, a painted and gilded Praying Magdalen, and 
a smaU reliefs the Entombment, two reoombent children (reprodnoed in the 
artistes sketch-book) at Chantilly, and portraits in relitfci Matthias Corrinns 
and Beatrice of Arragon. A statuette of Si Jerome and a Gmoiilz, in the 
Mnsenm of South Kensington, are attributed to him, while in the ooUeoUon ol 
M. GustaTe Dreyfus two terra-cottas, a child and a bust of Ginliano de* Med- 
ioi, and a marble bust of a young woman are also accredited to Yerrvoohlob 



ANDBEA DEL YEBROOOHIO 366 

this last he was an excellent artist^ as may be seen from the 
models for the reliefs of the altar of San Giovanni, as also 
from certain very beautiful figures of children and a bust 
of St. Jerome, which is considered most admirable. By 
the hand of the same master is the figure of the boy on the 
clock of the Mercato Nuovo (New Market), the arm of 
which is left free, in a manner which permits the figure to 
raise it for the purpose of striking the hours with the ham- 
mer which it holds in the hand. This was in those times 
considered a beautiful and fanciful work. 

And here shall be the end of the life of the excellent 
sculptor Andrea Verrocchio.* "^ " 

*• TIm prinoiiMl popUs of Vorrooohio were Leonardo da Viiusi, Pemgino, 
Loremo di Credi, ^ranoeeoo di Simone Ferraooi, Agnolo di Polo, and Naiini 
Groteo. 

*^ Thflie ia in the Uffixi a portrait of Verrocohio by Lorenzo di Credi Thia 
work waa formerly ooniidered a portrait of Martin Luther by Holbein the 
Tonnger ; in 1784 the attribution was restored to Lorenso di Credi, and Mi- 
laneii reoognized it as a portrait of Verrocohio after comparing the featorea 
with those which Vasari had engraved after thia rery picture. (See Lafenestn 
and Bichtenberger, Florence, p. 84. ) 

w Andrea ia the investigator-artiat, the experimentalist, the man with 
whom science ia a passion, and therein he ia qnintessentially Florentine. He 
ia a realist in the flat arms and shins, the salient collar-bone and thick knees 
of his David, and is thereby attractive to the modem student of art ; bat 
while he is an intent observer he is also intensely personal, and in his choice 
of a facial type is so individual as to have become the genesis of that of Leo- 
nardo da VinoL His science sometimes became genius, for, interesting in his 
David, he is charming in his Boy with the Dolphin, inspiring and inspired in 
his magnificent OoUeone, who rides straight to immorUlity aa the Magitter 
EquUwn of the Renaissance. Verrocchio the painter, again an experimental- 
ist, was an innovator in landscape, saya Mr. Bernard Berenson in his Floren- 
tine Fisinters of the Renaissance, adding "a vision of ptein r<{r," even though 
a vagne one, ** seems to have hovered before*' Verrocchio, and that he felt the 
possibilities of expression offered by twilight, and for that reason deUberately 
chose the closing hoars of the day in rendering the background of his Annun- 
ciation in the UffizL Like Browning's PoUajuolo, Andrea was *' thrice a 
craftsman,'* and was one of the last of those typical ** all-around artists'* who 
stand upon the threshold of a time when the greatest talent is about to in- 
attnctively ran into the channel of painting alone with Botticelli, Signorelli, 
Ghlrlandajo, and Perngino, and no artist moie admirably represents the 
period of the Middle Renalssanoe. 



THE MANTUAN PAINTEB, ANDEBA 

MANTEGNA » 

[Bofnil4Sl; died 1500.] 

BauOGRArsT.^Sul Merito Artittieo del JfanUgna, da P, E. MvoliM, 
Pftdiift, ISM. Mikuied baset his notes to the life of Ifant^giiA apon tbeee re- 
eeerches of the Maxqais P. R Selvfttioo, the latter having placed the nnpab- 
Ushed results of his stadies in the hands of the former author. Armand 
Bawbet {QautU de$ Beaux ArU, First Period, XX., May, 1866), bj his 
Beehtrehei de documenU d'Art et d'Bistoire dans le$ Ar^i»ts de Man- 
toue €t analyse de lettree indditee regardantee Afidri Mdntegna^ became 
the pioneer of the later biographers of Andrea, and P^ Hants followed 
with his admiiable series of articles in the Gazette dee Beawt Arte^ Seoood 
Period, XXX., pp. 5, 177, 480; XXXIV., pp. 6, 107, 208, 875. Seardeone'i 
AntiquUatee Pataeinae (1585) is an early source ; see also Ridolfi, I^e Mara- 
viglie deW Arte, and among the modem works are Alfred Woltmann's Andrea 
JfantegnaiRitMDohmeuaiMoiKunMtundKiinetler. Waagen, Ueber Leben, 
WIrken u, Werke der Maler A, Mdntegna und L, SignoreUi, Banmer*s SieL 
Taeehenbueh, 185a Carlo d'Aroo, DeUe Arti e degli Arteitci di ManUnta, 
1867-a O. Dnplessis, (Bwtre ife Mdntegna^ Paris, 187a BraghiioUi, Aleuni 
J>oeumenti relatUfi ad A, Mdntegna^ Oiomale d*SrudiMi4meArtietita, Vol. 
L, p. 184, Pemgia, 1878. Charles Yriarte, Lee Oonzaguee dans les Freeques 
du Mdntegna au Caatello Veechio de Mantoue^ Gazette des Beaux Arts^ 18M, 
U, pp. 5, 115. Charles Triarte, Indbella d'Bste et les Artistes de son temps^ 
Gazette des Beaux Arts for 18()5. Julia Cartwright, Mantegna and Franoia, 
London, 1881. B. MOntz, Andrea Mdntegna e Piero delta Franresea stndto 
sulla predeUa deUapala di San Zeno nel museo del Louvre e in quello di 
Ihurs, VAreMtfio Storieo delV Arte^ £1., 278. Karl Brun, Neue Docwnente 
%U>er Andrea Mantegna, in the ZeitsehHft fUr BUdende kunst. Vol XL, 
Leipeio, 18754(. Poctioli, La Chiesa e la MadonnadeUa Vittoria di A, Man' 
tegna in ManUwa, MantuA, 1888. Cornelius Ton Fabrioxy, 11 husto in 
rUie90 di Mantegna attrilmito alio Sperandio, artide in L'Arehivio Storieo 
delT Arte, I., 428. C. von Fabriosy, Sur le busts de Mantegna et sur 
une midaiUe de Sperandio, in the Courrier de PArt, 1888, n. 42. Yieomte 
Henri Ddsborde, La graeure en Italie aoant Mare Antoine, S. Dsvari, 
Lo stemma di Andrea Mantegna, article in VArehieio Storieo delP Arte, L, 
81. Porthsim, JahrbuehderX, P. S, YIL, saadB^ertoriumfHrKunstwissen' 



ANDREA MANTBQNA 267 

tehqft, 188S. Li Arii in Soma m>Uo tt pontifieato tPInnoeemo VlIZ 
a484-1400), trtidA hj B. Mfinte In VArehUfio Starieo ddP Arte, IL, 479-48S. 
H. Diiln, Triumph of Jnliiu Omnr, etc, London, 1868L 

THE powerful effect prodaced on talent by reward, is 
known to every man who, having laboured conscien- 
tiously, has received the due return for his works. He 
who has ground to hope for honour and reward from the 
effort he is making, feels no inconvenience, suffers no pain, 
acknowledges no weariness ; he becomes daily more con« 
firmed in power, and his talents attain evermore increased 
worth and brightness. It is, indeed, true that merit does 
not always find those who perceive and estimate its value, as 
did that of Andrea Mantegna. Bom in the neighbourhood 
of Mantua, of a very lowly race,^ and occupied during his 
childhood in the tending of flocks, he was eventually so ex- 
alted by fate and his own abilities that he at length at- 
tained the condition of knighthood, as in its due place will 
be related. When he had nearly reached his full growth 
Andrea was taken to the city, where he studied painting 
under Jacopo Squarcione,' of Padua, who took him into his 
own house, and in a short time after, perceiving his remark- 
able abilities, adopted him as his son. This we learn from 

> mi nftme wm AndrM cU Bar Biagio, and Gomm. B. Oeoohotti oitea » doon- 
BMnt of Jannaij S, 1462 (Areh. Ven., Fa$e. 67, 1885, p. 196), whkh men- 
Uoiit AndrM not asftPiidajui bat m a Vioentino. He qnotoi ^*Andream 
BUiiU JfenUgna de Vincentia pictorem.'^ Another MS. oitea the painter 
aa Andreoi ManUgna q, honarandi 8er Blaxii, He was therefore not of ei- 
paelally *' lowly laoe,** as Vaaari has il 11 MOnts donbto the exaotneM of 
•oeh fifteenth-oentnry doonmcnts and inclines to beliere Andrea a Fladuan. 

s Andrea appears to haTe been regnlarlj adopted in 1441 by Franoeeco (not 
Jaoopo) Sqna r ei o o e , who was the most popular teacher in North Italy, haTing, 
like a modem French master, a studio fall of pupils (he had one hundred and 
tUrty-seren seholan, says Maaselli). Messrs. Crowe and CaTaloaseUe call him 
** an fn^presorio,*' and in fiiot his coUeotion of antiquities, put, as it waa, to ue 
uses of his pupOs ; and his pupils themielvea, Mantegna espeoially, haTe given 
him fsr more odebdty than hare any of his own works. Squardone was 
bem in Padna in 1804, and died there in 1474. The two works which, accord- 
ing to Mllaneal, may with certainty be ascribed to this painter, belong to the 
Laoaii family of Bidna, and are reproduced by Milaneai in Franee$eo SquaT" 
€km$^ 8hidU> Starieo-eriUeo^ F^ua, 1888. 



368 ANBBEA MANTEGKA 

a letter written in Latin by MeBser Girolamo Campagnnola 
to Messer Lionico Timeo, a Greek philosopher ; ' wherein 
he gives the latter notices respecting certain old painters 
who had executed works for the Carrara family^ of Padua. 
Bat as Squarcione knew himself to be not the most dis- 
tinguished painter in the worlds and to the end that An- 
drea might know more than he did himself^ he caused him 
to work diligently from casts moulded on antique statues, 
and after pictures on canvas, which he had brought from 
yarious places, more particularly from Tuscany and Home. 
By these and other methods of the same kind Andrea 
Mantegna acquired a fair amount of knowledge in his 
youth : he was also assisted and stimulated in no slight de- 
gree by his emulation of Marco Zoppo, of Bologna, Dario, 
of Treviso, and Niccold Pizzolo, of Padua, all disciples of 
his adoptive father and master.^ Mantegna was not more 
than seventeen years old when he painted the picture for 
the High Altar in the Ghurch of Santa Sofia,' in Padua, a 
work which might be taken for that of an old experienced 
master rather than that of a youth, and Squarcione, who 
was then commissioned to paint the Ghapel of San Ghristo- 
fano (one of those in the Church of the ^' Eremite Broth- 
ers ''* of Sanf Agostino, in Padua), gave this work to the 
above-named Niccold Pizzolo and to Andrea.* For his part, 

*B«MlJKr»mttani. 

* Tomeo, not Timao, wm an Albanian, and b«oame prof eaior of Gioak at 
F^na. 

* Sqtiazoiono waa his fint master ; hli brothers-in-law, the Bellini, in- 
floenoed him ; he imitated Piero della Franoesoa in at least one picture — 
the Resnrreotion ; Paolo Uooello initiated him into linear perspeotiTe and 
foreshortening; bat Donatello impressed him more strongly than did any 
other of his predecessors or oontemporaries, so that, aooording to M. MOnti, 
^ the principal pnpil of the great sonlptor, the one who does him the most 
honor, is Mantegna ; that is to say a painter,** 

* This piotore, now lost, was once inscribed, AnOreM mantinea pat4KHnu9 
ann, $eptem et decern natue^ sua manupinxU 1U8* It thns prored that the 
painter was bom in 148t. 

•This series of paintings oonstitntes Mantegna's chief wcA in fresoa 
The subjects, painted in the Ohapel of Saints James and Christopher in the 
Ohnroh of the Augnstinians (the Sremitani), Padoa, are as follows : The 



ANDREA MANTEQNA 269 

Niocold painted a figare of God the Father enthroned in 
majesty between the Doctors of the Ghurch, and this part of 
the work was considered to be no less meritorious than that 
executed by Andrea. There is^ indeed^ no doubt that Nic- 
cold, who produced very little, but all whose works are very 
good, would have been an excellent master had he delighted 
in painting as he did in martial exercises : in that case he 
might besides have lived much longer than he did ; but 
having constantly arms in his hands, and making many 
enemies, he was one day attacked as he returned from his 
work and treacherously slain. He left no other production, 
that I am acquainted with, but a second figure of Ood the 
Father, which is in the Chapel of Urbano Prefetto.* 

Andrea Mantegna ^ was then left alone to complete the 
chapel, and he painted there the figures of the four Evan- 
gelists, which are considered very beautiful.^ These and 

TempUtioii of Si. James, The CaUing of St. James, St. James Baptising, St 
James Before the Plref eot, St. James Led to Execution, The Martyrdom of St. 
James, The Martyrdom of St. Ghristopher, The Removal of the Body of 
St. Christopher. There are other frescoes in the chapel, among which the fine 
works in the choir are attribnted by Woltmann and Woerman to Nicoold Pia- 
lola They accredit to Marco Zoppo the two upper pictures on the right wall, 
81 Christopher Bfeeting the King, and St Christopher Dispating with 
the King ; while the St Christopher Adored by Warriors is by Ansnino da 
ForU. Bnono, a Ferrarese painter, is also accredited by Milanesi with part of 
the work on the upper walls. Milanesi considers these frescoes to haye been 
executed between 1458-1459 ; M. M&nts says between 1448-1460 ; Paul Biants 
says ** somewhat later than 1458.*' Crowe and Cavaloaselle (Hirtory of Painting 
in North Italy, L, 806-349) giro a long description of the paintings and deotde 
that the Taolting frescoes are not by Mantegna. The frescoes of Andrea here 
form a marking series in the history of Italian art, so that the Chapel of the 
Hkemitani became a sort of Branoacci Chapel of the North, that is to say, 
a school-room for the study of style. The word frescoes is for couTenience 
used throughout the Ufe of Mantegna, but it is to be noted that his waU- 
paitttings are not in real fresco but are painted in tempera upon a dry mortar 
surfMS {tAueeo lueido). See Morelli, Italian Painters, II., p. 176, note 8. 

* Vasari has Urbano Prtfetto ; it should read instead, Pr^etto OrbanOf the 
Urban Prefect PisEolo*s fresco is an Assumption. 

'The young soldier who holds a spear and stands dose by the St 
Christopher bound to a tree is supposed to represent Andrea Mantegna him- 
■eH 

* The real author of the Brangelists is unknown ; Messrs. Crowe and OaTal- 



1 



360 AlfBBEA ICANTBOIf A 

other works caused great expectations to be awakened 
specting the fntore excellence of their author, and hopes 
were then conceived that he would in time attain the emi- 
nence to which he afterwards did, in fact, rise. Measures 
were therefore adopted by the Venetian painter, Jaoopo 
Bellini, father of Oentile and Giovanni, and rival of Squar- 
cione, to the end that Andrea might take his daughter and 
the sister of Gentile for his wife.* But when this was told 
to Squarcione he was so much displeased with Andrea that 
they were ever afterwards enemies : and whereas Squar- 
cione had previously much extolled the works of Andrea, 
he from that time dways publicly censured them with vio- 
lence equal to his former warmth. He found fault more 
especially with those in the above - named Chapel of San 
Cristofano, affirming that they had nothing good in them 
because Andrea had therein copied from antique marbles, 
from which no man can perfectly acquire the art of paint- 
ing, seeing that stone must ever attain somewhat of the 
rigidity of its nature, and never displays that tender soft- 
ness proper to flesh and natural forms, which are pliant and 
exhibit various movements. He added that Andrea would 
have done much better with those figures if he had given 
them the tint of marble and not all those colours : they 
would then have been nearer to perfection, since they had 
no resemblance to the life, but were rather imitations of an- 
cient statues in marble, and so forth. ^ Andrea was deeply 



OMelle miggest ICftroo Zoppa FmiI Mante {OaM$tU det BtawtArU^ 1SS8) 
produoet three panele in IL Bdmond Aiidr6*t oolleotioii In Pteii» ihowiaf 
■oenes from the Bremiteni freeooea, and thinka they msy be the panela men- 
tioned by MoreUi*a Afumtmo aa in Gaaa Contarini, Venioe. 

* He married Kiocoloaa (or IHoooloBia) Bellini aomewhere b e t wee n 146a» 
5Ql Manti leea in the two Bremitani freiooea the Martyrdom and the Fa- 
neral of St. Ohiiitopher, a progxeia in oolor whioh he aaoribea indireotly to 
tbia marriage, and directly to the oolor inflnenoe of Kioooloia'a father and 
brothen. 

>* The faot remains that in theae fresooes Ifant^piA anddenly relinqoiahed 
his Boman ooatomea and retomed to the drees of thefifUenth oentary. Tliia 
change was probably due not to 8qnaroione*8 reproaohea bat to AndrM*a Ib* 
tsrco n r s e with the Bellini, artiata who inatinctiT«ly copied oontemponMieoai 



ANDREA HANTBGKA 361 

woanded by these disparaging remarks^ but they were^ never- 
theless, of great service to him in some respects ; for, know* 
ing that there was mnch tmth in what Squarcione said, he 
began to draw from the life, and soon obtained so much 
advantage from the practice, that in a painting which still 
remained to be executed in ' the Chapel of San Oristofano, 
he proved himself no less capable of reproducing and ex- 
tracting the best parts from living and natural objects than 
from those formed by art. But notwithstanding this, An- 
drea was always of opinion that good antique statues were 
more perfect and displayed more beauty in the different 
parts than is exhibited by nature, which rarely assembles 
and unites every beauty in one single form, wherefore it be- 
comes necessary to take one part from one and another part 
from another. He thought, moreover, that the muscles, 
veins, nerves, and other minute particulars were more dis- 
tinctly marked and more clearly defined in statues than in 
nature, wherein the tenderness and softness of the flesh, 
concealing and covering a certain sharpness of outline, thus 
causes them to be less apparent. There is, without doubt, 
an exception, in the case of old and much attenuated forms, 
but these are avoided by artists from respect to other con- 
siderations. That Andrea was firmly wedded to his opinion 
is, indeed, obvious from his works, the manner of which is 
certainly somewhat hard, and not unf requently recalls the 
idea of stone rather than of living fiesh. But, be this as it 
may, in the last of the paintings above described he gave 
infirdte satiBfaction ; audVamong other figureB, he there de- 
lineated that of Squarcione himself, a large corpulent man, 
having a spear in one hand and a sword in the other. ^^ In 
the same work he portrayed the Florentine Noferi, son of 
Messer Palla Strozzi, with Messer Girolamo della Yalle, an 
eminent physician ; Messer Bonifazio Fuzimeliga, doctor of 

Ufe (ai weU ai the lemami of mntiqnity). Sqnaroione probftUy r eie nU d 
AndxM*! freqaenthig the rival sohooL It is not definitely known, howefw, 
whether any raptare took plaoe between maater and pnpiL 
» Sqnaroiooe la the soldier dressed in green. 



262 ANDRSA KANTEGNA 

laws ; Niccold, goldsmith to Pope Innocent VIII., and Bal* 
dassane da Leccio, all of whom were his intimate friends* 
These figures Mantegna clothed in glittering armour, shin- 
ing and polished precisely as armour is in reality, and this 
picture is certainly in a very fine manner. The cavalier 
Messer Bonramino,'' is also among the portraits in this work, 
as is, moreover, a certain Hungarian Bishop, a man alto- 
gether witless, who went rambling about Bome all day, and 
at night would go to sleep in the stable with the beasts. In 
the same chapel Andrea likewise depicted Marsilio Pazzo 
in the figure of the executioner, who cuts off the head of 
San Jacopo, together with a likeness of himseU. The ex- 
cellence of this work, in fine, obtained a very high reputa- 
tion for its author. 

While Andrea was occupied with the paintings of the 
Chapel of San Oristofano, he also executed a picture which 
was placed on the Altar of San Luca, in the Church of 
Santa Justina, and he afterwards painted the Arch over the 
door of Sant^ Antonino, in fresco, a work to which he af- 
fixed his name.^ 

In Verona he painted the altar-piece of San Cristofano 
and that of Sant' Antonio, with certain figures on one side 
of the Piazza della Paglia.^^ In Santa Maria in Organo, 

1* Noferi (Onofrio) wu son of the Florontine exile Falla Stroui Girolamo 
delU Valle was a famous doctor^ orator, and Latin poet of the Padnan Uni- 
▼ersity ; Boni&zio Frigimelioa (not Fusimeliga) was a doctor of laws ; Bon- 
ramino was undonbtedly a Borromeo, perhaps Antonio the theologian. See 
Milanfi qaoting Selvatioa 

" The work for Santa Ginstina, Padna, was an altar-pieoe in many oompart- 
ments, painted 1453-1454, and now in the Brera at Milan. The insoription 
over the door of SanV Antonio is believed by Selvatioo to have been added by 
the monks, not by Andrea, and reads as foUowa : Andreat Mantifua optums 
favente numine perfeeU anno ms, 

^* As to the works in Verona, nothing is known regarding the altar-pieot 
of Saints Christopher and Anthony, nor of the fresooes in any so-caUed 
Piasza della PagHa. Andrea painted a picture for Santa Maria de^ Orgaai 
in 1407. See following note. Certain frescoes on the ontsides of bnildings in 
Verooai, and notably a combat of Tritons, are pointed ont by the gaides ■• by 
Mantegna, but most of them do not resemble his work and doonmentary eH- 
denoe is lacking. A Madonna with Saints, painted 1495-1497, in Verona, ia 
now in Caaa TriTolsi, Milan. See Milaned, UL, 806, note 1. 



ANDREA MANTEGNA 263 

/bidrea Mantegna painted the picture of the high altar for 
«he monks of Monte Oliveto^ an exceedingly beantifal thing ; 
and in like manner he executed that for the altar of San 
Zeno.^ Among other works performed by Andrea daring 
his stay in Verona, were many which he sent into different 
places : one of these, obtained by an abbot of the abbey of 
Fiesole,^* his friend and relation, was a half-length figare 
of Onr Lady with the Child in her arms, and heads of 
angels singing, which are painted with infinite grace : 
this picture is now in the library of the abbey, and has 
always been considered an extraordinary work. At the 
time when he was living in Mantua, ^^ Andrea had been fre- 

>* Ptdntod probably between 1457 and 1459 by order of the Protonotary, 
Oregorio Goner. See Baschet, GazetU des Beaux Arts, May, 1866. This 
pioiore waa taken to Paiia in 1797, and restored to itn place in 1840 ; the pre^ 
dttta remained in f^nce ; the oentre portion, a Cmoifizion, being in the 
Lonyre, the tide pan^, Christ in the Garden and the Resurreotion, in the 
mnteom of Tours. The altar-pieoe is a Madonna enthroned, with angels above 
and saints on either side, in an arohitectnral framing resembling that so mnoh 
alleoted by QiambeUino at Venice. The design and the oompoflition of lines 
and msines are dignified and noble ; the style that of Mantegna at his best ; 
the ooior, though not lacking in strength and depth, is very eccentric in com- 
position and scattered in effect. 

i« This picture is lost A letter of July 5, 1466, from an Aldobrandini to 
LndoTico Gonsaga prores that Andrea visited Florence in that year. A pict- 
ure of a Madonna and Child surrounded by angels, now in the Brera Gallery, 
passed for a work of the school of the Bellini until it was cleaned, when it 
prored to be a fine Mantegna. Big. Gustavo Frizzoni thinks it may be the 
picture painted in 1485 for the Duchess of Ferrara. Paul Mants finds thte 
assumption far-fetched. It is possibly identical with the Fiesole Bfadonna, 
but nothing explains the journeys which it must perforce have made either 
from Ferrara or Fiesole. See V Ulustrazione Italiana^ January 10, 1886; 
OtuttOe det Beaux Arte, May 1, 1886 ; G. Frizzoni, ZeUechrift fUr BOdende 
XuMt, February, 1886, and A. MeUni in L'Art for 1886. 

" Sig. B. Davari {VArch, Stor., I., 81-2) quotes a Ma proving that Andrea 
was a familiar figure of the Mantuan Court by January 80, 1469. Andrea waa 
invited to Mantua as early as 1456, but probably did not begin work there be- 
fore 1460. The duke conferred upon him, to be used publicly, the arms of 
theGonzaga fiunUy (with slight changes, *•* modicum differenie^^), viz.: the 
son and the motto, ^* Par un desir^^"* arms assumed by Gonzaga after the bat- 
tle of Caravaggio. Armand Bascbet showed that Mantegna arrived in Mantua 
about the end of 1460; in 1466 he returned to Mantua from a visit to Flor- 
enoe, and in 1472 visited Bologna and Cardinal Gonzaga. From 1499 to 160$ 
tl>e MvotuMi arohives are silent regarding Andrem 



264 ANDBEA MAKTEGNA 

qnently employed by the Marquis LndoTioo Oonzaga, who 
always fitvoured him and esteemed his talents very highly. 
That noble caused him therefore to painty among other 
works^ a small picture for the chapel in the castle of Man- 
tua ; ^ the figures in this work are not yery large, but are 
exceedingly beautiful. In the same painting * are various 
forms, which, as seen from below, are foreshortened in a 
manner that has been much extolled ; ^' and although the 
draperies are somewhat hard, and the work has a certain 
dryness of manner, the whole is nevertheless seen to be ex- 
ecuted with much art and great care. For the same mar- 
quis, Andrea painted the Triumph of Osssar (1492), in a 
hall of the palace of San Sebastiano,. in Mantua. This is 
the best work ever executed by his hand.* Here are seen 

* The word painting in Bin. Foster's tmulatioii ii luogo in the originel, 
and ■honld be tnnaUted plaee^ thus lertocing the lenae, linoe ^*the omU 
ptetiue ** for the chapel has no connection with the large figores of the Cmnerm 
dsglitpoti, 

>* ProbftUy identical with the triptjrch containing the Adoration of the 
Magi, the Cixoomdaionf and the Besorreotion, painted in 1461, and now in 
the UflBsL The right-hand panel is a ehef-cTmuvre^ and one of the beet worin 
of the Renaissance. 

1* This is the room known as the Camera degli »po9if a chamber now the 
ArchUfio dei notari in the dncal palace of Mantua. The frescoes were prob- 
ably not finished before 1484. Two walls are mined, a third greatly injured, 
a foorth, well preserred, shows Lndovioo Gonsaga, Marqnis of Mantoa, third 
of thst name, and one of the most enlightened art patrons of the Renaissance, 
with his wife, Barbara of Brandenburg, and his children and conrtiera. On 
another wall is a second family group. The ceiling is fairly pr es et i e J , the 
dormers hsye mythological subjects; eight medaUions in the coTings hsTS 
monochrome heads of emperors surrounded by wreaths held by winged boys 
{amarini). Through a circle in the centre, figures in riolent foreahortenitig 
against a painted sky look down orer a balustrade. These fresooes show 
Mantegna as a realist. The portrait figurea are of a monumental ugliness, which 
impresses at once by its sincerity, and a dignity that is half -grotesque and 
half-majestia It is interesting to compare this solemn realistic ugliness with 
the solemn ideal beauty of Mantegna's Judith in the Academy ; it has only 
been giyen te three or four masters to run audi a gamut. The foieahortened 
figures in the ceiling, in their moremento and drawing, prepare the way for 
Oorreggio, and aflbrd a precedent to the Venetians for their eflbcts of trompt 
VceU, See Ln OonMogttet dam le» Fretguu du JfanUgna^ etc O. Yriarte, 
QatetU dei Beaux Arte, II., 1894. 

•• C%T*Fr^t ^ Lettere Ifisd., gires a letter from Wgismondo Cantefano to the 



ANDREA MAKTBGNA 266 

in moBt admirable arrangement the rich and beantifnl tri- 
umphal oar with the figure^ who is yitnperating the trium- 
phant hero ; as also the kindred^ the perfumes^ the incense- 
bearers, the booty, and treasures seized by the soldiers, the 
well-ordered phalanx, the elephants, the spoils of arts the 
Tictories, cities, and fortresses, exhibited in admirably 
counterfeited forms, on huge cars, the numerous trophies 
borne aloft on spears, an infinite variety of helmets, corslets, 
and arms of all kinds, with ornaments, vases, and rich 
vessels innumerable. Among the multitude of spectators. 



Dnktt of Femrm (Febrouy, 1501) which detoribet the performsnoe of the 
^^Adelphi** of Terenoe and oomedies of Plftatas in the Caitle of Mftntiuk 
The theatre waa a long leotangnlar room decorated with arabeeqaes, the 
■tage waa hnng with liz pictures of the Triumph of CSnear, and the hall con- 
tained other worka by Mantegna. Ifeasra. Crowe and CaTalcaaelle think that 
the oartoona could hardly have been intended for thia expreia purpose or for 
theatrioal decoration, as their paleness was rather adapted for daylight than 
for the light of lampa and oandlea. See their History of Painting in North 
Italy, L, 4O61. Sooh a oritioism hardly holds. Paleness of coloring would 
show well by torohlightf but the multiplicity of delicate detail in the cartoons 
would, on the other hand, weaken the general effect The Triumphs of Pe- 
trarch, also by Mantegna, which decorated the parapet of the stage, haye 
perished. The Triumph of Onsar has been imitated by Giulio Romano in 
hia cartoons for tapestry, by Holbein m his Triumph of Poverty and Riches, 
and by Le Brun. See M. MOnta, UAgt tPOr, 601. This Triumph «f Onsar, 
one of the greatest works of the Renussance, was painted in tempera in nine 
oartoona, each about nine feet square, and was already begun in 1488 and 
Hi^^aKftl in 1402. It is now in Hampton Court Palace, England. Milaneal 
(IIL, 899) quotes doonments discovered by W. Neil Sainbourg in the BngUsh 
arohires, and others found by Basohet in the Hantuan archivea, proving that 
the cartoons were not stolen in the sack of Mantua in 1630, but sold a little 
eailier {eirca 1626) by the Gonzaghe to King Charles L of England. After 
hia death they were held by the nation, and in the eighteenth century were 
much disfigured by a ** restorer,** who altered the character of many of the 
heads. Andrea has himself engraved some of the subjects from the Triumph. 
Milanesi proves that he commenced it before his visit to Rome, quoting a 
letter in which Mantegna recommends that the windows shall be repaired and 
the oartoona protected, since " I really am not ashamed of having painted 
them.** These cartoons are a superb exposition of what Andrea loved best to 
atudy and express ; they are the very quintessence of his genius. Symonds, in 
his History at the Renaiasance, becomes eloquent over the man who ** could 
move thus majestically beneath the weight of painfully accumulated erudi- 
tion, converting an antiquarian motive into a theme for melodies conceived in 
the grave Dorian mood." 



1 



266 ANDREA MANTEOITA 

there is a woman who holds a child by the hand, the boy 
has got a thorn in his foot, and this he shows weeping 
to his mother, with mnch grace and in a very nataral 
manner. 

This master, as I haye remarked elsewhere, has displayed 
mnch judgment and forethonght in this work, for the 
plane on which the figares stand being higher than the 
point of sight, he therefore placed the feet of the foremost 
on the first line of the plane, causing the others to recede 
gradually, so that their feet and legs are lost to yiew in the 
exact proportions required ; and in like manner with the 
spoils, vases, and other accessories and ornaments, of which 
he permits only the lower part to be seen, the upper part 
being lost to view, as the rules of perspective demand, — a 
precaution observed with equal care by Andrea degr Im- 
piccati in the Last Supper, which he painted in the refec- 
tory of Santa Maria Nuova.^ We perceive, then, that 
these excellent masters carefully enquired into the various 
properties of natural objects, and imitated the life with 
studious care. As to this work of Mantegna, to say all in 
one word, it could not possibly be superior or more perfectly 
executed, wherefore if the marquis esteemed our artist be- 
fore, he valued and honoured him much more highly ever 

*i YMtfi does not mentioii Mmntogna's important ■o-caUed IMunph of 
Sdpio, which is in reality a Soiplo Naaioa, f oUowed by other figares and ad* 
Tanoing to meet the image of the mother of the god& It it as Roman as his 
Triumph of Oeaar« bat is a work of his old age, and, says Paal MantSi shows 
here and there that his hand was somewhat tired. He oontraoted in 1604 to 
paint it for Franoesoo Oornaro, the Venetian patrician who daimed desoeni 
from the Comelisn getu. The Scipio wss painted after Andreses Roman 
Joarney, at a time when his works showed an almost monochromatic Mistwity 
of color. It is in the National Gallery, as are also another monochrome, 8am* 
son and DeliUh, a large altar-piece (Virgin with Saints), and a Christ in the 
Garden, painted in 1459 for Giaoomo Maroello, Podestit of Padaa. At about 
the same time, though with no apparent mutual relation, Andrea Mantegna 
and Mdnzzo da Forli began the manner of painting ceilings called ** di •oUo 
In ttf ** (from below upward), as if real objects were seen from bdow. Oor* 
reggio carried this principle into his frescoes of Panna, and Tiolent foreshort- 
ening in ceilings obtained lazgely throogliout the later siitemtb, B^fftnta<nl^^ 
and eighteenth centuries. 



AKBBBA MANTSGNA 267 

after."* But what is more^ Andrea so increased his repu- 
tation thereby^ that Pope Innocent YIII.^ having finished 
the building of the Belvidere, and haying been informed 
respecting the excellence of this master in paintings hear- 
ing also of the other good qualities with which he was ad- 
mirably endowed sent for him, as he did for many other 
artists, to the end that he might adorn the fabric with his 
paintings. 

Bepairing to Bome, therefore, Andrea Mantegna went 
much favoured and highly recommended by the marquis, 
who, to do him the more honour made him a knight.^ He 
was very amicably received by the pontiff, by whom he was 
immediately commissioned to decorate a small chapel ** 
which is in the palace. This he accomplished with so much 
care and good-will, that the walls and ceiling, minutely and 
elaborately adorned as they are, would rather seem to be 
painted in miniature, than decorated in fresco. The larg- 
est figures of this work, like all the rest in fresco, are 
those above the altar, where the master has depicted the 
Baptism of Christ by St. John : around the principal fig- 
ures are numbers of people who, divesting themselves of 
their clothing, show their intention to be baptized. Among 
others^ there is one, who. is attempting to draw off his 
stocking, but the dampness of the skin from the heat of his 
person, causing it to cling to the leg, he has turned it over, 
laying his foot over the other leg, and drawing off the stock- 

** Mantegna probably painted many fresooei at Tarions hunting-seats and 
▼iUas of the Gonzagh& One of these places, Karmirolo (or Marmimolo), was 
still remarkable in Lonis XIV/s time for ** apparUtmenUy peintureM^ etjar- 
dindges.^ A letter of Bernardo Ghisnlfo, July 16, 1491, says that oertain 
artists, named Tondo and Francesco, had commenced to reproduce the Tri- 
umph of Gsesar in a loggia at Marmirolo. See Paul Mants, Gazette de$ Beaux 
ArU for 1888. 

** He was made a knight before be went to Rome. See the inscription 
Andreas Mantinea Oivia Patavinut Equee aurata milUUt pinxit^ Milanesi, 
m., 400, note Z. 

*4 In this '' small chapel,*' painted 1488, besides the Baptism of Christ 
above the altar, there were upon the walls a Virgin Bnthroned, a Nativity, 
and an Adoration of the MagL Pope Pins VL destroyed chapel and freeop^ 
when the Braecio Ntuwo of the Vatican Ckdleries w«e b^il^ 



368 ANDBBA MANTEONA 

ing with snch labour and difficulty, that both are clearly 
apparent in his countenance — a curious conceit which at 
the time awakened admiration in all who saw it. We are 
told that the pope, occupied with his numerous avocations, 
neglected to give money to Mantegna so often as he could 
have desired it. The artist, therefore, having to paint 
certain Virtues in terretta among the figures of his work, 
represented that of Discretion with the rest ; and the Pope, 
going one day to see the work, inquired of Andrea what 
that figure might be. To which Mantegna, replied, '^ That 
is Discretion. '^ Whereupon the pontiff rejoined : '^ If thou 
wouldst have her to be well accompanied, set Patience beside 
her.'' The painter understood what his holiness intended 
to convey, and never afterwards uttered a word ; but when 
the work was finished, the Pope dismissed him with much 
favour, and sent him back to the duke with honourable 
rewards. 

While Andrea, worked in Rome, he painted, besides the 
chapel above named, a small picture of Our Lady with the 
Ohild sleeping in her arms.^ The landscape is a moun- 
tainous country with caverns, wherein are stone-cutters pre- 
paring stone for various kinds of work ; all which is so 
elaborately depicted, and finished with so much patience, that 
one finds it difficult to conceive how so much can be effected 
by the point of a pencil. This picture is now in the posses- 
sion of the most illustrious Signer Don Francesco Medici, 
prince of Florence, by whom it is accounted among his most 
valued rarities.^ Among the drawings in my book, is one 

M Fldntad in 1488, now in the Vf&d ; the Child is not deeping, bnt awake. 

**A 8t Sebastian, larger than life, feeble in color, snpeib in dzawing, 
was lately sold bj the Scarpa family at La Motta in Frinli. MoreU 
calls this a ^^repolsiTe pictore.*' A second St. Sebastian is in Vienna; 
a third one, also larger than life, and snperb in drawing, is, according 
to Hants (see reproduction, OcutetU det B0aux ArU^ Second Period, 
Vol XXXIY., Une Toumie en Auvergne)^ in an apsidal chapel of 
the Uttle chorch of Aigneperse in Anyergne. Hants accounts for its 
presence there by the foot that Chiara Gonsaga, sister of Ftanoesco Qon* 
saga, married Gilbert de Bourbon, Gomte de Hontpensier, Seigneur of Aigna- 



ANDREA KANTEONA 269 

in chiaroHBcnro, on a half sheet (royal folio)^ by the hand of 
Mantegna ; the sabject, a Judith placing the head of Holo- 
f ernes in a wallet held by a black slave.'' The manner of 
the chiaro-scuro there adopted is one no longer used, the 
artist having left the white paper to serve for the lights^ and 
this is done with so much delicacy, that the separate hairs 
and other minatiss are as clearly distinguishable as they 
could have been, if ever so carefully executed with the pen- 
cil ; insomuch that one might in a certain sense rather call 
this a painting than a drawing. 

Andrea Mantegna found great pleasure, as did also Pollai- 
uolo, in engraving on copper ; and, among other things, he 
engraved his Triumphs — ^a work of which much account was 
then made, because better engravings had not then been 
seen.® One of the last works executed by this artist, was a 
picture painted at Santa Maria della Vittoria, a church buUt 
after the design and under the direction of Andrea, for the 

*> This raperb drawing, dated Febmazy, 1491, is in the UifizL The Louvre 
has, too, a fine Jndith, given bj M. Gkttteanz (Morelli considers it a oopy), and 
a Judgment of Solomon. The Berlin Jndith« attributed by Selvatioo to Andrea 
as a work of 1488, is now proved to be a Dom. Gbirlandajo of 1489. A draw- 
ing in the British Museum, the subject of which is suggested by the calumny 
of Apelles, is Andrea*s interpretation of a motive treated by so many Be- 
naJMance artists. 

*• Paul Mantz considers that in the present state of our knowledge any at- 
tempt at serious historical classification of Mantegna*s engravings would be 
rash. The engravings after his Triumphs are very free renderings indeed. 
See the prints from the fifth, sixth, and seventh groups. These are considered 
by R. Fisher (Introduction to a Catalogue of £aily Italian Prints in Brit- 
ish Museum) to be copies by an inferior hand from preliminary studies of 
Mantegna. For controversial details as to the date and porpose of some of the 
undoubted originals among these engravings from the Triumph see the Ti- 
comte Delsborde, La gravure en Italie avant Mare Antoine^ pp. 9(^06w 
The British Moseiun contains the largest existing coUeetion of Mantegna*s 
drawings. Sig. A. Rubbiani (VArch, Stor. delV Arte, May-June, 189S, p. 880) 
says tliat upon a house in Bologna, numbered 128, Borgo San Pietro, is a 
terra cotta-frieze of the fifteenth century, made up of oblong reliefs which re- 
peat exactly, over and over again, two figures from a fitmous engraving of 
Mantegna, namely, the two fighting gods seated upon sea-horses in Andiea*s 
Conta degli Dei Afarini, See the Vicomte Delsborde (op. ^., Appendix) cit- 
ing M F. Lenormant and Mr. Palgrave to show that this combat of sea fo d a 
was inspired by a bas-relief which is now in San Vitale at Bavenna. 



S70 AVBKXA MAHTBeVA 

MaidiMe Fnnoetoo, in admowfedgmeat of ilie Tictoiy* 
obtained by the latter on the rirer Tuo, when he wit ci^ 
tain-genenl of the V^ietians against the French. In this 
pictore, which was jdaoed cm the hi^ altw, is the ^^igin 
with the Chfld, seated on a pedestal, and at her feet are St. 
Michad the archangel^ St. Anna, and Joadiim ; they are 
recommending the marqais — ^who is portrayed from the life 
so admirably well, that he seems aliTo — ^to the |Nraiection of 
Oar Lady, who extends her hand towards him. And this 
work, as it th^i pleased cTeryone, and still continues to 
please all who behold it, so it satisfied the marqnis himself 
80 entirely, that he rewarded the skill and labour of Andrea 
most libmUy, and the artist being wed recompensed by 
princes for all his works, was enabled honourably to main- 
tain his condition of a cavalier to the end of his days.* 



s* This impocteni pietan, paated in l4St^ and bvw fm Hm Lown, reaOy 
< wiinniwM in>ted a defeat, iHuch was cb i»fd «>>viototy^Go»MSabeo itt ^ 
piDaged the enemy's easftp hefen Iha battle tamed afaiiiat htm. Beren of 
hu feoifly leauoed vpon the fidd, ao that Iha saOaiilqr •€ the Gou^ha oer- 
tainlj deaerred perpetoatioB. A letter of 1486^ qaotad Iqr MOsMri, aaya that 
the saints who su p putt tha Yirfln^a mantle are MSrharf and Geoige (not Jen- 
ehim, aa Vaaaii hmm it) ; Saints Andrew, Longiniis. and KHihfth alao appear 
in the piotore, together with a littfo StJohn. In tha Madonna deOa l^t- 
toon, ifantegnaoha ugceli oMihia almost moaoohroniatiooologof tha "Mnmiph 



of 8d]No to a tnatment wfaioh ia, says Faal Hants, **at onoe anatefe and 
•amptaona.** For a ooiioos note ooneendng tha original dwtiiMitlon of thia 
pietm, aee Milanesi, VoL IH, p. 408w 

**Tbe ngly thoogh powerfol for e eh o rte ned Cliiist whioh resMinedin An- 
dren's stndio at the time of hie death (now in the Brera Glallery), ia regarded 
by MoieDiasoneof Mantegna's kst works (after 1506). Meears. Gkowe and 
CSaTaleaseOe say it was painted after 1474. M. lAfenestre bdieres it a work of 
his yootfa, painted before his arriTal m Hantoa. The Christ on the Monnt of 
OUres, in tiie National GaDezy, London, is inqiired directly by Jaoopo 
Bays M. O. Grooan, Gaxette det Bettmx ArU^ Febmary, 1806w XordU, in 
Italian Fsintera, pages 17^177, gires a complete list of the works of Mantogna 
wliiefa be admits as genuine. It indades the foQowing panel piotnres in Italy: 
the Santa Ginstina altar-pieoe, now in the Brera Gallery ; the Madonna with 
Singing Angels in the same gallery ; the & Zeno Madonna of Verona ; the St 
George, in the Academy of Venice ; the triptych of the UlBsi ; a Preaentatkm 
in the Temple, in the (^nerini StampaKa ooUectionin Venioe; a Madonna with 
Saints, in the gallery of Verona; a similar subject in the Tnrin Qalkqr*aBd n 
Madonna and (Christ Child, in a rocky landicape, in theUlBil; the three ooa- 
pariments in Fuia and Tonrs of the pr§d$lU to the & Zioo Madonan; ia 



ANDREA MANTBGKA 371 

One of the competitors of Andrea was Lorenzo da Lendi- 
nara, who was considered by the people of Padua to be an 

London, the Agony iu the Ckrden ; the Soamnpi portrait in Berlin ; the Si. 
Behaitiiin in Vienn*; the Eooe Homo in Copenhagen. The pictnret upon 
eanTaa aooepted hj the lame critic are : the Triumph of Cesar; the Bnthroned 
Madonna in London (National Gallery) ; Samaon and Delilah in the aame gal- 
lery ; the Madonna of Beigamo ; the Poldi-Pezaoli Madonna of Milan ; in the 
Lonrre, the two well-known allegories and the Madonna of Victory ; the 
Dresden Madonna ; the TriTolsi Madonna of Ifilan ; two picture* in the chnioh 
and laeiitty of S. Andrea at Mantna; a Baptism of Christ and a Madonna with 
Saints (t h e se two laotDxes are accredited by Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle 
and Dr. Bode to Francesco Mantegna) ; the Triomph of Scipio in the Na- 
tional Gallery; the St Sebastian of La Motta, called by Morelli an ''abso- 
lutely lepolsiTe picture ; ** the Pietd of the Brera ; the Salvator Mundi of 
the Mond collection, London; a Madonna belonging to the heirs of the 
Yioomte Both de Tauzia, late director of the LouTre. Morelli rejects the Death 
of the Madonna in the Ptado ; Summer and Autumn in the National Gallery ; 
the Berlin Madonna numbered 97; the BUsabetta Cronsaga of the Uffizi ; the 
Staedel Si. Mark, at Frankfort ; the Transfiguration in the Correr Museum of 
Yenioe ; the S. Bufemia of Naples ; the Pietd in the Vatican; the Resurrec- 
tion and the Saints Jerome and Alexis at Bergamo ; the Vespasiano Gonsaga 
poctraii in the same gallery ; the Bfadonna of the Sootti Palace at Milan. He 
admits the fresooes of the Bremitani and the Ducal Palace of Mantua, as well 
as the figures over the door of Sant* Antonio of Padua, and he mentions as 
charaeterislic and genuine the following drawings : a Judgment of Solomon 
(LooTxe), Mneins ScsTola (Munich), Christ with Saints Andrea and Longinns 
(Madeh). In the British Museum he accepts the following : the Oafammgr ; 
Mift and Venus ; an Bnthroned Madonna ; a Dying Man Lying Upon 11m 
Giomid ; the Judith in the UflKsi (the same subject in the Louvre is set down 
as a oopy, by MoielU). See the commentary of Milanesi, IU, 416-426, for 
BoAs on the Melzi Madonna of Andrea (1401), as also for the aneona of the 
Brera, the Daniel in the Lions* Den (Ambroaiana of Milan), the Judith, and 
other pietnres in the Berlin Gallery attributed to Andrea. See also the same 
for long note on the Triyuhd Madonna of MUan, also the Critto al Sepolcro in 
the Vatican Gallery, and upon the remains of two ruined frescoes upon the two 
fcn^adn of Saints Andrea and Sebastian at Mantua again ; upon the portraits 
in ooUeetions at London, Bergamo (Lochia collection), and elsewhere ; lastly, 
npon the loar pictures (beside the Triumph of Cssar) presenred at Hampton 
Court. Sig. G. FrisMni, VAreh. 8tor., IV., l(J0-7l, / ProgretH delta OrUiea 
Arii&tUa^ takes 1^> this commoitary as a proof of the advance of art criticism, 
and shows that the Melsi Madcmna, the Annunciation of Dresden, the Daniel« 
the Medea, the Vespasiano Gonsaga (in Lochia collection), the Abundance (in 
the D'Avmak ooneotion), and the Dead Clirist of the Vatican, are not by An- 
drea, while Dr. Meyer has proved the Dead Christ Sustained by Angels (Ber- 
lin), aseribed to Mantegna, to be by Bellini The Battle (^ Amaions, in the 
Borromeo Gall«y, Mihuii, is not by Andrea, but is an old oopy after Hnol* 



273 AKBRSA MANTBONA 

excellent painter^ and executed varioas works in terra-cotta 
alflo^ for the chnrch of Sant' Antonio in that city. There 
were, besides, some others who flourished at the same time 
but of no great eminence. With Dario da Treviso and 
Marco Zoppo, of Bologna, Andrea Mantegna constantly 
maintained the most friendly relations, having been brought 
up with them under the discipline of Squarcione. For the 
Friars Minors, this Marco painted a Loggia in Padua, which 
serves them for a chapter -house ; and in Pesaro he painted 
a picture which is now in the new church of San Giovanni 
Evangelista, with a portrait of Ouido Baldo da Montefeltro, 
who was at that time captain-general of the Florentines. 
The Ferrarese painter, Stefano, was also a friend of Man- 
tegna ; the works of this artist are few, but all tolerably 
good. The ornaments of the Sarcophagus of Sanf Anto- 
nio, in Padua, are by his hand ; and he likewise painted a 
Madonna, which is called the Virgin of the Pillar. 

But to return to Andrea ; this master built and adorned 
with paintings a most beautiful house in Mantua^ for his 

*> Andrea wu girea the gzoimd in 1476, mnd Ridolfi sayii he deoorated the 
honee with fresooet. It wme eaoked at the taking of Mantoa, in 1630. Man- 
tegna finally sold his Paduan house in 1490L His expenditnies upon bis Man- 
toan hoose, his tomb, and the chapel of Sant* Andrea embarraseed him finan- 
daUy, and only a month before his death he sold to the Marohicmess Isabella, 
one of his best beloved possessions, a bust of Faustina. Isabella d*Bste, who 
appears in a Tery nnsympathetio light in this transaction, was neyertheless a 
good patron to Andrea. He painted for her (before 1405) the Pamassos and 
the Wisdom Triumphing over Vice, now in the Louvre ; and in 1606, according 
to a letter of Jacopo Oalendario, of July 15, 1506, he had commenced for her 
a Comus, a picture with many figures. See Pkul Mants, OatetU de$ Bemwc 
ArU, 18S6. M. Charles Triarte, OatetU d€$ Beaux Art$ for 1805, in an ar- 
tioU called JkabeUe tPBite et U$ Arti$t€$ de 9on Tempt, treats especially of 
these pictures of Mantegna, and refers to certain opueculei of Sig. Alessandro 
Luzio and M. Benier upon Isabella d*Este. See also A. Luzio upon the 
tame subject in VArchUfio Starieo dell ^Arte. M. Yriarte is oonTinoed that 
Mantegna painted the Parnassus and the Wisdom for Isabella's Orotta in tha 
Bonaccolsi Pdace, now Corie Veeehia, and that they were afterward taken to 
her JStwUolo or later residence. The great Marchionesses manner of giving an 
order for a picture was interesting: She first chose her subject, then had it 
lonnolated in all its bearings, allegorical, eta, by some humanist of her court. 
Next she took tho first painter at hand and ordered him to make a sketch of 
tiM fob)ect| she meanwhUe dictating the placing of the figures and presoxib- 



ANDBBA MANTEGNA 273 

own use : this he enjoyed whUe he lived. He departed to a 
better life in the year 1517> and was buried with honourable 
obsequies in Sant' Andrea ; on his tomb^ over which is his 
likeness in bronze,^ was placed the following epitaph: — 

** Sue harem * h%mc notis,^ n nonprceponU ApeUi 
JEkisa Mantinea qui 9imulaora vides,** " 

Andrea Mantegna was so kindly in all his actions^ and in 
every way so estimable, that his memory must ever be held 
in cordial respect, not only in his own country, but through 
the whole world ; he therefore well merited, no less for the 
purity of his life and gentle courtesy of his manners,^ than 

iiif the dirtribation of the Ught She then eent this aketch to Mmntegna, 
Pemgino, or whaterer great master she had selected, and upon it he was ex- 
pected to baee his work. In regard to the dimensions she was verj particuUr, 
■inoe the piotnres were to suit the panels of her Orotta^ and as the measure- 
ments of yarious prorinoes differed, she sent always two pieces of riband, one 
measuring the height, the other the length of the picture. The portrait of 
SUsabetta Gonzaga, ascribed to Ifantegna, in the Uffizi, is attributed to other 
painters by Friuoni, Bnrokhaidt, and Crowe and OavaloaseUe. 

* Partm in the Milanesi edition. 

t IforU in the Milanesi edition. 

** He died September 18, 1506i Upon the walls of the mortuary chapel, 
frescoes by Francesco Mantegna, and others of Mantegna*s school, haye re- 
cently been freed from whitewash and restored by Sig. F. Fisoali Sig. 
Natale Baldoria, ArcK Stor.y lU, 288, thinks one of these frescoes, a Holy 
Family, may be by Andrea. 

•* The superb bronse bust of Andrea, which we are told ** had once diamond 
^es,** was for a long time attributed to one Sperandio Meglioli, bat this con- 
fused attribution, which combined two names in one, has been replaced by the 
attribution to Bartolommeo di Virgilio MegUoli, and Signor Rossi now sug- 
gests Oian BCarco Caralli as the sculptor of the bust ; see Bossi*8 Medaglitti 
M Rinateimmto, and see also Dr. Bode, in the Jahrbuch der JC P. /S., X., Sa 
Lo Scardeone (see Milanesi, IIL, 408, note 3), says that Andrea cast the bust 
himself. He did understand bronze casting, and besides the brash and the 
burin he handled the modeUer's tods, while a sonnet by him has been pre- 
serred in the ArchMo Segreto of Mantua. 

*4 Existing correspondence prores, on the contrary, that this master, so dig- 
nified in all that pertained to his art, was quarrelsome and litigious in matters 
of daily life. Perhaps we may rather beUeye that he was nerrous, irritable, 
easily disturbed when at work, and sometimes childishly ready to attribute 
importance to trifling matters. When his engrarings were pirated he could 
bt fleree enough ; see Herr Karl Bnm, N€M€ DokununU iiber Andrea Man" 



274 AKBRSA MAKTEOVA 

for the excellence of his paintmgB, the dktmction of being 
celebrated by Arioeto, who, in the commencement of his 
xxxiii canto, enamerates him among the moet illastriona 
painters of his time, as thus : 

<' Leonardo, Andrea Momtegna, Oian BeOmar ^ 

This master tanght a much improved method of execut- 
ing the foreshortening of figures from below upwards which 
was, without doubt, a remarkable and difficult invention. 
He also took great pleasure, as we have rekted before, in 
the reproduction of figures by engraving on copper, which is 
indeed a truly valuable acquisition to art ; * "^ • • for by this 

Uffna, ZeiUehrifl fUr BOdends Kunti, YoL XI Riehtfd FUmt (p. ISS 
of an Introdookion to a Catelogue of the Eaily ItiJian Prints in the Britnb 
Hmeom) tranalatee and pnbUahes this document from Bran, whieh provea 
that one Zoan Andna, and hia assistant, Ardizumi of Eeggio^ who had stoka 
the master*s work, were beaten bj Mantegna*B people and left for dead. 

** See note in the Lives of the Bellini, page 164 of the present ▼otaimeu 

** Woltmann remarks that Mantegna was the first North Italian wiio took 
advantage in the interest of engraving of that constant interooorse whieh ex- 
isted between Gernumy and the Peninsula. He beUeved that Andrea found 
in the north the copper^ates whieh served as prototypes for his own, and 
emphasises the fact that instead of multiplying the works of others, he was 
**the true painter-engraver, embodying his own inventions in this ledkfiigiM;.** 

" Albert DOrer tells us that he had planned a journey to Mantna for the 
purpose of meeting Andrea, and that the hitter's death on the eve of this visit 
was one of the great disappointments of his (Dttrer's) Ufa 

** ICantegna made a design (see reproduction in the OazHU det BettuxArU, 
Vol XX.), for a projected statue of Virgil, which was never ecected. 

** Immediately after the five or six greatest names in the history of Italian 
art comes that of Andrea Mantegna ; he stands at the head of tiie group of 
secondary painters which counted Ghirlandajo, BotticeUi, and FUippino, Bel- 
lini, Signorelli, and Perugino among its membersi His name brings with it 
the memory of a lofty and intensely charaotexiBed style, of figures of legion- 
aries long and lean as North American Indians, Roman iu their costume, 
medisval in their sharp, dry silhouette; of saints, hard and meagre, but 
statuesquely meagre; of figures stern almost to fieroeness yet ezquisitdy re- 
fined in the delicacy of their outline ; of realistic Mantnan nobles impressive 
in their ugliness ; of stately Biadonnas ; of charming boy angels flying or hold- 
ing up festoons of flowers and fruits ; of delicate, youthful figures with kmg 
curling hair and crinkled drapery, where every tiny fold is finished as if in a 
miniature ; of canvases filled with long files <d captivea, with chariots loaded 
with treasure, with sky lines broken by standards and trophiea, with armored 



AKDRBA MAKTKGKA :^/t) 

means not only has the whole world obtained the power of 
seeing many of his works, as, for example, the Bacchanalia, 

kgioiuaiM, onrrettiDg hones, elephants with jewelled frontlets sad with 
statues towering ahove the crowd ; of processions where the magnificent vol- 
garity of ancient Rome and the confused layishneas of an antique " triumph ** 
are snbdned to measured harmonies and sculptural lines. 

Mantegna^s was a dual artiitic personality ; poshed a little further in one 
direction, his Judith of the UfBzi might form part of a Greek vase painting ; 
poshed a little further in the opposite direction, his Gonxaghe nobles of the 
Mantuan Cattello would become caricatures. Though an earnest student of 
the antique marbles, he was' a keen observer of contemporary life as welL 
If OTing in this wide gamut of eleyated realism and noble idealism, he always 
preserred a loftiness of feeling which made him at times a peer of Michel- 
angelo, while he possessed a terribUUd of his own a quarter of a century before 
the great Tuscan began to work at aU. His love of sculptural repose and dig- 
nity did not prevent him from being intensely dramatic in hiBpredella of the 
San Zeno Madonna, and although his figures, like those of Giovanni Bellini in 
his Pistd^ often grimace and distort their features yet the contortion which 
became pathos with Giovanni deepened into tragedy with Andrea. He was a 
past-master of line and of linear composition ; he understood, too, astomshing- 
ly well, the effect of light falling upon objects in the round, yet it cannot be 
said that he ** enveloped ** his figures, for he seemed to see everything in nat- 
ure droumscribed by a pure line. As might have been predicted, this lover 
of sculpture was lacking in feeling for color, a deficiency which few critics 
have noted, and which the late Paul Mantz has expressed admirably, remark- 
ing that Mantegna was a " brilUant but rather venturesome colorist," and that 
** tones which are fine, if considered by themselves, are heard above the general 
hannony of the music, and are rather autonomous than diiciplined.** For ex- 
ample, the colors in the Madonna of St. Zeno are rich and beautiful in them- 
selves, but Andrea has placed a brilliant corn-colored robe in the left-hand 
lower comer of one of the shutters of the triptych, which distracts the ^e 
from the really important portions of the picture, while branches of vermilion 
eoial and yellow fruits are dispersed here and there among his decorative 
accessories without any suggestion of choice as to their place, or of relation to 
the effect on the composition as a whole. In his earlier works, the frescoes of 
the Bremitani of Padua, Andrea is in his coloring like a child with a toy 
paint-box, spotting out impartially here a yellow mantle and there a green 
tunic without reference to any general scheme of color. He learned later 
from Bellini to use rich, strong tones in the Madonnas of Ssn Zeno at Verona, 
and of Victory in the Louvre, but on the whole this mighty master of style 
and of composition of lines was almost wholly lacking in the sense of color- 
composition. Indeed it could hardly be expected that the same temperament 
which could so keenly perceive, and so adequately render the grave music of 
pure and exquisite line could be equally susceptible to the deep-chorded har- 
monies of rich and subdued color. Mantegna^s is essentially a virile genius ; 
he does not charm by suggestiveness, nor plesse by tnorbidegxa ; he lacks 
facile grace and feelbig for &cial beauty ; he is often cold, sometimes eiveo 



276 ANDBEA MANTSGKA 

the Battle of Marine Monsters, the Deposition from the 
Gross, the Sepulture of Christ, and his Resurrection, with 
Longinus and Sant' Andrea, all engraved by Mantegna him- 
self, but in like manner every one is now enabled to judge 
of the manner of all the masters who have ever lived. 

banh and omde, and in hk dikbun for prettmms and hia aomewhat hanghtj 
diatixiction, he occasionally impresses us with a rathar painful Mnae of anpe- 
riority. Something of the antique statues that he loved and studied and ool- 
leoted entered into his own nature and his work. As Angelioo waa the Saint, 
and Leonardo the Magician, Mantegna waa the Ancient Roman of Art. Hia 
were the Roman yirtues — sobriety, dignity, self-restraint, diadpline^ and a 
certain masterliness, aa indescribable as it is impreasiTe — and to those who 
appreciate austere beauty and the pure harmonies of ezquiaite linet Man- 
tegna^s art will always appeal. 

Not half enough haa been said or written about the friendship of Mantegna 
and Bellini ; the two great painters were brothers-in-law, each had qnalitiea 
which the other lacked, and acquired to some extent from contact and their 
reaction upon each other was invaluable. Although Andrea's frescoes In 
Rome have been destroyed, his life's work which has come down to us is vary 
considerable; his cyde of the Eremitani in Padua, his wall- p ai n t in gs of tha 
Mantuan Ducal Palace, where the decorative idealism of the ceiling anpple- 
ments the realism of the walls, show him as freteanU ; his Madonnas of St 
ZeDo and the Lonvre acquaint ua with the painter of monnmeotal easel pict- 
ures, while the triptych of the UflKzi is almost the work of a muuatnrist, and 
his panoramically magnificent Triumph of Caear, at Hampton Oofoi, la fol- 
lowed by the long series of his drawings and engravinfa CSarcfol atady of 
his work compels so much enthusiasm that M Bf&nta e on e ln dee a review of 
the painter's work by asking, ** who knowa if we may not ev«n oaU Andna 
Mantegna the prinoa ef diainhhMnw of all timey " 



PEUPPO LIPPI, PLOEENTINB PAINTEB* 

[Bam 1497; dtodlSOl] 

BiBLiOGBAPHT.— Karl Woermann, FUippino JAppi in the Dohme MriM of 
Kunxt und KUmtler de» MUUHaUen und der NewteU. Sir A. H. Layard, 
The Branoaooi Chapel and MaBolino, Maiaoftio and Filippino Idppi, a pnbU- 
oation of the Anmdel Sooietj, London, 1868. Le arte in Roma $oUo U pon~ 
tificato <f InnocenMo VIIl. (1484-148S), artide by B. MOnts, in PArchivic 
Storico dsW Arte, IL 478-485. Bee alio the kmg oommentaiy by Milaaeai in 
his edition of Vaaari'a lavea. 



THEBE lived at the same time in Florence a painter of 
very fine genius and admirable powers of invention^ 
Filippo namely, son of Fra Filippo del Carmine,* 
who, following the steps of his deceased father in the art of 
painting, was brought np and instracted, being still a yonth 
at his father's death, by Sandro Botticello,* although the 
father on perceiving his death approaching, had given him 
in charge to Fra Diamante, his most intimate friend, nay, 
almost brother. Filippo was endowed with much origi« 

I FQippino Lippi eigne himielf in eereral waya aa Filippo di Filippo lippi* 
PhiUpoa, Philippinoe de Lippis, Fhilipns de Lipii, Filippo Filippi, Filippo^ 
alterioe FUippi 

* Filippo Lippl was bom in 1467 at Frato. The docnments oited by Mi- 
laneei make it probable that he was really the ion of the friar by Lnoreda 
Bati, and he eeems to have been oonddered ai anoh dniing the Benakiinee. 
Bee the life of Fra Filippo lippi, page 70 of the pceaent f>olnBe. He was 
ninally oaUed Filippino lippi, to disfeingnish him from fail father. In a will 
made in 1488 he left piop ei tj to hii " mother, Lnoreda BntL** 

* Filippino*! father was undoubtedly his fint initmotor in painting, al- 
though he died whUe Filippino was itiU Tery young ; the boy*i education was 
then oontinued by Fra Diamante and finished under Bottioelli, or Tory 
probably, ai Morelli itatei (Italian Painters, H, 260), Fra Diamante was only 
his guardian and Botticelli was his sole master after the death of Fra lippo. 
Unfortunately the date of Fllippino's registry in the guild of Florantine 
painten is illegible. 



278 f^lLIPPO LIPPI 

nality ; he displayed the most copious invention in hift 
paintings, and the ornaments he added were so new> so 
fanciful, and so richly varied, that he must be considered 
the first ^ who taught the moderns the new method of giv- 
ing variety to the habiliments, and who first embellished 
his figures by adprning them with vestments after the an- 
tique. Filippo was also the first who employed the gro- 
tesque masks, executed in the manner of the ancients, and 
which he used as decorations in friezes or frame-works, 
in terretta, and coloured, displaying more correct draw- 
ing and a more finished grace than any of the masters 
who preceded him had done. It was indeed a wonderful 
thing to see the extraordinary fancies exhibited in painting 
by this artist ; but what is more, Filippo never executed 
any work whatever wherein he did not avail himself of 
Boman antiquities, which he studied with unwearied dil- 
igence. Helmets, for example, banners, trophies, vases, 
buskins, ornaments of the Temples, head-dresses of various 
kinds, draperies of different sorts, mantles, armour, the 
toga, swords, scimitars, and other matters of similar kind, 
so varied and beautiful, that those who follow are under 
great and perpetual obligation to Filippo for the rich em- 
bellishment which he has thus added to this department 
of art. 

While yet in his first youth, this master completed the 
Chapel of the Brancacci,' in the church of the Carmine, at 

* Or rather among the firsi Vasari more than oDoe ihowa that he was 
much impreeied by Filippino*! archaologioal knowledge. 

* Filippino probibly worked in the Brancacoi chapel aboat 1484-14SS, after 
he had already completed the San Bernardo for Hero del Pnglieee and tlM 
Ferranti San Qirolamo, and was twenty-idz years old. Afilanesi c oi ncides with 
Romohr in the opinion that Filippino when yery yonng (twenty-two yean 
old) painted the twelve little InnetUt in the oratorio of the Booonomini di 
San Martino, in Florence, abont the year 14S2. M. MQnti, L* Age df Or, Wi, 
cites a series of scenes from the story of Bsther, painted on a marriage ooftr 
of the Torrigiani €kdlery of Florence, as an early work of FiUppina MoftlU 
declares that these Torrigiani panels, recently sold in France, aie by Sandfo 
Bottioeni, and states farther, that the St. Jerome of the UfBii, aoovedited to 
FiUppino, is also by Sandro. 



FILIPPO LIPPI 279 

Florence, which had been commenced by Masolino, and 
oontinned but not entirely finished by Masaccio, who was 
also interrupted in his labours by death. It was thus from 
the hand of Filippo that the work received its ultimate per- 
fection, that master completing what remained to be accom- 
plished of an unfinished picture, representing SS. Pietro 
and Paolo, who restore the nephew of the emperor from 
the dead. In the figure of the undraped youth, Filippo 
portrayed the features of the painter Francesco Oranacci, 
then yery young ; he also depicted that of the Cavalier, 
Messer Tommaso Soderini, in this work, with those of Piero 
Gnicciardini, father of Messer Francesco, who has written 
the Storie ; of Piero del Pugliese, of the poet Lnigi Pucci, 
of Antonio PoUaiuolo, and finally of himself, as a youth, 
which he then was ; the last-mentioned portrait he never 
painted again in all the rest of his life, for which cause it 
has not been possible to procure a likeness of him at a more 
advanced age.* In the story following this, Filippo painted 
the portrait of his master, Sandro Botticello, with many 
other friends and distinguished men ; among these was the 
broker, Baggio,^ a man of singular talent and very witty, 
the same who executed the whole Inferno of Dante, in re- 
lief, on a shell, with all the '^ circles'' and divisions of its 
dark caverns, and, finally, its lowest deep, all the figures, 
and every other minutia, are measured in their exact pro- 
portions, and all as they had been most ingeniously imag- 
ined and described by that great poet, which was at the 
time considered an admirable performance.* Filippo after- 
wards painted a picture in tempera for the chapel of Fran- 
cesco del Pugliese at Campora, a place belonging to the 

* The portraits of Antonio and Filippo are not in the piotnre mentioned, 
Irat in that of St. Peter Ck>ndenined to Death. Vasari probably gioaped the 
two snbjeots together as a single work. 

V PoMiblj Raggio di Noferi Raggl, bom about 1470. 

* Milanesi devotes a long commentary to proving that the stories of Saints 
Peter and Paul raising the nephew of the emperor from the dead, and St 
Peter emoified, in the Brancaooi chapel, are by Filippino, and not by Ma- 



880 FIUPPO LIPPI 

monkfl of the abbey^ ontdde the gate of Florence.* The 
■abject of this work is San Bernardo, who is in a wood 
writing, and to whom Our Lady appears, sarronnded by 
Angels ; it has been mnch admired for the yarioos acces- 
sories introdnced by the painter; as, for example, the 
rocks, trees, and shrubs, the books, and similar things ; 
there is, besides, the portrait of the aboye-named Francesco, 
so tmly natural, that it wants nothing bnt the power of 
speech to be aliye.^ This picture was remoyed from its 
place during the siege, and was deposited for safety in the 
abbey of Florence. In the church of San Spirito " in the 
same city, Filippino painted a picture for Tanai de' Nerli, 
the subject is the Virgin, with San Martino, San Niccolo, 
and Santa Caterina ; he executed another in the church of 
San Brancazio (Pancrazio), for the chapel of the Bucellai 
family, with a Crucifix,^ and two figures on a gold ground 
for the church of San BafEaello.* ^ In the church of San 



* San RniTello In VMari*i first edition. 

* This picture, painted for Piero (not Franeesco) di Francesoo Pogliese in 
148D, ii now in the ohnroh of the BadiA, Florenoe ; it is one of Filippino*s 
most famous pictures, and is in its quiet depth of feeling unexcelled, and in- 
deed hardly equalled, by any work of his oontemporaries. The picture has 
sniteed grefttly from changes in the pigment or from retouching, the color 
being in parts crude and hard, in parts delicate and transparent, and, on the 
whole, the work, like so many other Tuscan pictures, can hardly be said to 
hATe any espedal eompoiition of color. 

19 On the contrary, thii is the weakest part of the picture. 

» This work is still in its place. Tanai and his wife kneel in the fore- 
ground. Saints Blartin and Catharine ptesent tiiem to the Virgin, and in the 
background, where there is a riew of the Borgo San Frediano, and the Gate, 
Tanai is again seen. Just alighted from his horse and embracing his little 
daughter. This is one of the best of Filippino*s works, but cannot be well 
examined in the darkness of the choir-aisle. 

>* Now in the National Gallery, London. It represents tiie Madonna and 
Child, with Saints Jerome and Dominick ; in the same collection ii an Ador- 
ing Angel— « fragment of a fresca Milanesi cites also the tondo^ Madonna 
and Child, with angels, in the Corsini Gallery at Florence, and two tondi 
in the Palasio Pubblico of San Gemignano. 

>* BeUered to bejk picture in the Bedin Museum, representing Christ on the 
Cross, with angels who hold chalices to catch his blood, while below are 
Saints Mary and Frauds. 



FILIPPO LIPPI 281 

Franoesoo, ritnate without the gate of San Miniato, there is 
a picture by Filippino in front of the Sacristy ; it repre- 
sents the Almighty Father with children around him;^^ 
and at the Paloo^ a house of the barefooted monks outside 
the city of Prato,^ there is also a picture by this master. 
In the same place there is a small painting by Filippo> 
which has been greatly extolled ; it is in the audience- 
chamber of the prior, and represents Our Lady, with San 
Stefano and San Oiovanni Batista.'* This master likewise 
painted '^ a Tabernacle in fresco at the comer of the Mer- 
catele (also in Prato), opposite to the conyent of Santa 
Margherita, and near some houses belonging to the nuns. 
In this work there is an exceedingly beautiful figure of the 
Virgin, in the midst of a choir of seraphim, the whole 
group is surrounded by a brilliant light; and among 
other peculiarities of this picture may be remarked the art 
and judgment displayed in the Dragon, which is beneath 
the feet of Santa Margareta, a monster of aspect so horribly 
strange and loathsome, that one sees clearly the abode of 
yenom, fire, and death in that frightful figure. The whole 
of the work is, moreoyer, remarkable for the freshness and 
animation of the colouring, qualities for which it merits 
the highest praise. 

Filippino also executed paintings in Lucca ; among these 
is a picture for one of the chapels in the church of San 
Ponziano, belonging to the monks of Monte Oliyeto.^ In 

>«ThispiekireUkMt 

>* BxMmted in 1405 ; it ie now in Mnnioh, and repr ei e n ti Ohrirt appearing 
in the okmda to his mother, while ahore ia God the Fatiier. 

I* This picture, which has been injured by time, was ordered bj tiie oommttne 
of Praio in 1501, and was finished in 1508. It is now in the small galleiy of 
the Falaiao del Commone, Prato. San Stefano, howerer, does not appear in 
it 

>T Painted in 1498; this piotnre is stiU in place. In the sides of the taber- 
nacle are Saints Stefano and Oaterina at the right, Margherita and Antonio 
tibats at the left ; in the centre are the Virgin and Child, with angels. 

>* These works are lost ; but in San Miohele, at Lnoca, is a picture by Filip- 
pino, with Saints Boobna, Sebastian, Jerome, and Helena, in a meadow filled 
withilowsrsi 



282 FILIPPO LIPPI 

the centre of this chapel there is also a yery beantifnl 
relief by the hand of that most excellent sculptor, Andrea 
Sansoyino ; it is within a recess, and exhibits the figure of 
Sant^ Antonio. 

Being invited to Hungary by King Matthias, Filippo de- 
clined to go thither, but painted two yery beautiful pictures 
in Florence for that monarch, which were sent to him, and 
in one of which was the portrait of Matthias, as he appears 
on the medals.'* Filippo likewise sent various works to 
Oenoa,^ and for the church of San Domenico, in Bologna, 
he painted a picture of San Sebastiano, which is worthy of 
the utmost praise ; it is on the left of the chapel of the high 
altar.^ For Tanai de' Nerli Filippo painted a second pict- 
ure in the church of San Salyadore, near Florence, and for 
his friend Piero del Pugliese be executed a story in small 
figures, finished with so much art and care, that on being 
requested by another citizen to paint a similar one for him, 
the master refused to attempt it, declaring that it was im- 
possible for him to produce such another.* 

After completing these works, Filippo undertook an im- 
portant one in Rome for the Neapolitan Cardinal, Oliyieri 
Caraffa, being entreated thereto by Lorenzo de' Medici the 
elder, who was a friend of the cardinaFs. On his way to 
Rome for this purpose, Filippo passed through Spoleto at 
the request of the same Lorenzo, to make arrangements for 
the construction of a marble tomb for his father, Fra Fi- 
lippo, which Lorenzo had determined to erect at his own 
cost, since he could not obtain from the people of Spoleto 

>* In 1488 ; the piotnres exeonted for Matthias are probably loci 

*« Fdreter etatee that there ii a St. Sebastian between St. John the Baptisl 
and St. Francis in the church of San Teodoro in Genoa^ 

" This picture, which wss painted in 1501, is stUl in its place. It represents 
the marriage of Si Catherine, and contains several figures of saintSi among 
them a St. Sebastian. 

** No authentic account of tbene pictures, or their whereabouts, can now be 
obtained. Milanesi nays that San Bhranoesco outside the San Hiniato gate was 
once called San Salvadore, and thinks this picture may be identical with the 
one mentioned by Vasari as painted for that ohnroh. Nothing is known of 
the " story " painted tp? Pugliew. 



FILIPPO LIPPI 283 

the remains of Fra Filippo> to deposit them in Florence as 
he had desired. Filippino prepared a design accordingly 
in a Tery good manner ; ^ and^ after that design^ Lorenzo 
caused tiie monument to be richly and handsomely con* 
structed, as we have already related. Arrived in Borne Fi- 
lippo painted a Chapel for the above-named Cardinal Caraffa, 
in the church of the Minerva ; he there depicted events 
from the Life of St. Thomas Aquinas, with certain poetical 
compositions, all of which were ingeniously invented by 
himself, to whom Nature was at all times propitious in 
such matters. Here, then, we find Faith, by whom Infi- 
delity, with all heretics and sceptics, has been made prisoner. 
Despair is, in like manner, seen to be vanquished by Hope, 
and other Virtues also subjugate the Vices which are their 
opposite. In another compartment St. Thomas is seated in 
the Professor's chair, defending the Church against a School 
of heretics, and beneath his feet lie conquered Sabellius, 
Arian, Averroes and others ; the draperies of all these fig- 
ures are exceedingly graceful and appropriate. ** In our 
book of drawings we have the whole of the story above de- 
scribed,* by Filippo himself, with several others by the 
same hand, all so ably executed that they could not be im- 
proved. There is besides in this chapel the delineation of 
that event in the life of St. Thomas, when the saint being 
in prayer, was addressed by the crucifix, which said to him, 
— Bene scripsisH di me Thoma, A companion of St Thom- 
as, hearing the Crucifix thus speaking, stands utterly con- 
founded and almost beside himself. On the altar-piece is 

** 8oe the Life of Fn FOippo Lippi, page 76 of the preeent Tolume. 

** These freeooee were probably finished circa 1490. Some of the paintiiigs 
of the Virtaes and Vioes were destroyed when the monument of Pope Panl 
rV. was erected. M. MOntz {VAg^i d'Or) thinks that np to tiie time of these 
fkesooes no punter had shown suoh sentiment of the mUe en tchu^ and declares 
that Filippino*s eomposition here prepares the way for Raphael. In the back- 
gnmnd of the Triumph of St Thomas Aqoinas, the balcony or balostrade, 
crowded with spectators, appears ; a prototype of those introdnoed later and 
so frequently by the Venetian painters. 

** The preparatory sketch of tiie Ditputa of St. Thomas is in the print-room 
of the British Moaenm. 



284 FILIPPO LIPPI 

the Virgin receiving the Annunciation from the Angel €te- 
briel^ and on the principal wall is the Assumption of oar 
Lady, with the twelve Apostles ronnd her tomb. The whole 
work was and is considered extremely fine, and for a painting 
in fresco is admirably executed. The above-named Olivieri 
CarafFa, Cardinal and Bishop of Ostia, is portrayed in it* 
from the life, and that prelate was deposited in the chapel 
on his death, in the year 1511,'^ but was afterwards taken 
to Naples, and interred in the Episcopal chapel. 

Having returned to Florence, Filippo undertook to paint, 
at his leisure, the chapel belonging to Filippo Stroszi the 
elder, in the church of Santa Maria Novella, but having 
completed the ceiling he was obliged to return to Rome ; 
here, for the same Cardinal CarafFa, he constructed a Tomb 
with ornaments of stucco, as also certain figures in the re- 
cess of a small chapel beside that above described, in the 
church of the Minerva, with other figures, some of which 
were, in part, executed by Filippo's disciple, Raflaellino del 
Garbo. The chapel of the tomb was estimated by Maestro 
Lanzilago, of Padua,^ and by the Boman, Antonio called 
Antoniasso two of the best painters then in Rome, at two 
thousand gold ducats, exclusive of the cost of ultra-marine 
and the expenses of the master's assistants. When Filippo, 
therefore, had received the sum he returned to Florence, 
where he completed the before-mentioned chapel of the 

** Ovaflk is painted In tiie altar-pieoe of the AnnvndtttioiL 
" As Osrdinal OliTiero Oaraffiii died in 1661, VaMuri*s date, 1611, is imqiie»- 
tiooably an error of the press. Filippino was warmly reoommended to OsiaA 
by Lorenzo de* Medioi, and another painter having been proposed by someone 
else, the Cardinal said : *' No, sinoe he has been sent me by the Magnifloo, I 
wonld not exohange him for an Apelles, or for all Italy.** See the letter of 
OttalRK September 2, 148S, to Don Gabbriello, of Montesoalari. cited by WJkr 
nesi, m., p. 409, and printed inits entirety by H MOnts, in DAn^Mo SUr- 
ieo diW Arte, 1880, p. 484. 

*• MoteUi thinks that Lansilago may hare been mistaken for a esrtaift 
ResQao ; Milanesi beUeres, however, that a real Lansilago, a Padoaa paintec; 
is the man mentioned. Antoniasso di Benedetto Aqnilio was a Boman paini- 
er ; Milanesi dtes notioes of him from Orowe and OaTaloaaello, MAalii and 
Ooataatino OorviaierL 



PILIPPO LIPPI 285 

Strozzi,* with so much judgment and such admirable de- 
sign, that the work awakens astonishment in all who behold 
it, and not for those qualities only, bnt also for the noyelty 
and yariety of the many fanciful objects depicted in it ; 
among these may be enumerated men in armour, temples, 
yases, helmets, with their crests, and other arms, trophies, 
banners, spears, draperies of yarious kinds, buskins, orna- 
ments for the head, sacerdotal yestments, and other things, 
all painted in so admirable a manner, that they merit tiie 
highest commendation.^ Among the eyents depicted in 
this work is the Resurrection of Drusiana by St. John the 
eyangelist," and the amazement experienced by the sur- 
rounding people, at the sight of a man who restores life to 
the dead by a simple sign of the cross, is expressed with the 
utmost force and truth ; this is more particularly manifest 
in the face of a priest or philosopher, for he may be either, 
who stands near, in the yery extremity of astonishment : 

M This work was ordered in 1487^ finished in 1602, and restored in 1758. 

*• While in Rome Filippino improved hit opportonities to study classioal 
models. In his Antobiograph j Benyennto GeUini sajs that Fianceaoo lippi, 
son of Filippino, had a nmnber of his father's books, whioh oontained sketohea 
from the antique; they consisted of the azabesqnes and traoery work, which 
were called *^grote9gue$,^^ 

•> In certain of theee fresooes, notably in the Resurrection of Dnudana, tlM 
•peotator haidly recognizes the Filippino of earlier times. The painter of the 
dignified Carmine frescoes, tiie delicate and f enrid St Bernard, has suddenly 
grown undignified and very nearly coarse ; his figures gesticulate and JosUe in 
almost delirious activity ; their faces are contorted and grimacing, theinotnTa 
is fairly smothered with accessories, classical or pseudo-classical, and the bat' 
relUff and caryatides take part in the action and have a wholly undue impor- 
tance, ooming forward beyond their proper atmospheric planes. Brery scarf 
or strap or veil is waving violentiy in the air, as if a great wind were blowing 
along the walL And yet all this exaggeration has not made Filippino forget 
that he is a master ; the composition, although in artists* parlance fuU of 
hides, that is, lacking repose and mass, does not want balance, and these same 
streaming draperies and straps are made to curl and wave in strict aooo r danoe 
with the decorative filling of spaces. Taking them altogether, the fresooes of 
the Stroisi chapel are astonishing examples of the evolution of a man who 
holds fast to quattroeetUo naturalism with one hand (see the inconsonant epi- 
sode of the child and dog), and grasps eclecticism with the other ; who is violent 
in trying to be dramatic, and yet who has pcophetio gUmpsss of the grefti 
monumental compositions that are vo como> 



286 FUJPPO Lippi 

he is dressed after the antique^ and bears a yaee in his hands. 
In the same story, moreoyer, and among the nomenras iBg- 
ores of women, varionsly apparelled, is a boy, who, terrified 
by the attack of a little red and white spaniel, which has 
seized him by his tonic, turns round to the mother, and, 
hiding himself among the folds of her garments, seems as 
entirely possessed by his fear of being bitten by the dog, 
as the woman is with her amazement, and a sort of dread 
and horror, as she witnesses the resurrection of Drusiana.** 
Near this, and where San Gioyanni is seen boiled in oil, the 
expression of rage in the countenance of the judge, who 
commands that the fire shall be increased, is rendered 
with extraordinary power ; the reflection of the flames on the 
face of him who blows the fire is also fine, and all the fig- 
ures are painted in yaried and beautiful attitudes. On the 
opposite side is represented San Filippo in the Temple of 
Mars, causing to come forth from beneath the altar the 
Serpent, which has killed the son of the king by the foetid 
odours emitted from it. The master here painted, on one of 
the steps of the altar, a cleft, through which the serpent 
crawls from beneath it, and the fracture thus depicted is so 
natural, that one eyening a scholar of Filippo, desiring to 
hide something, I know not what, that it might not be seen 
by some one who was knocking at the door, ran in haste to 
this hole to conceal what he held within it, but was foiled of 
his purpose. Filippo displayed equal art in the Serpent it- 
self, insomuch that the yenom, the foetid breath, and the 
fire, seems rather to be real than merely painted. The in- 
yention of the picture, in which the saint is crucified, has 
also been much commended ; the artist would seem to haye 
figured to himself that San Filippo had been fastened to the 
cross while it lay extended on the earth, and to haye been 
then raised and dragged aloft by means of ropes, cords, and 
stakes ; these ropes being carried around the fragments of 
old buildings, as pillars, basements, and the like, and then 

n 11 Mttnts in referring to tiieee freeooee of the Strossi ehapel mji tlul 
FOippino may eren figure mmong the anoeetors of the Boooooc 



OTLIPPO LIPPI S87 

drawn by nnmerons assistants. The weight of the cross 
and of the nndraped saint extended npon it, is supported 
on the other side by two men, one of whom upholds the 
end of the cross by means of a ladder which he has placed 
beneath it ; the other supports the part he holds with the 
help of a stake, while two more, moving the foot of the cross 
with a leyer, are gradually bringing it to the hole wherein 
it is to be placed upright. Nor would it be possible to ex- 
ecute all this better than it is here done (whether we con- 
sider the inyention or design), whatever art or industry 
might be applied to the work. There are, besides, numer- 
ous accessories of different kinds painted in chiaro-scuro to 
resemble marble, all exhibiting the richest variety and the 
most admirable design. 

In San Donate, near Florence, called the Scopeto, Filippo 
painted an Adoration of the Magi for the Scopetine friars. 
This picture he executed with great care, and in the figure 
of an Astrologer, holding a quadrant in his hand, he pour- 
trayed the likeness of Pier Francesco de' Medici, the elder, 
son of Lorenzo di Bicci, with that of Giovanni, father of the 
Signer Giovanni de' Medici ; that of another Pier Fran- 
cesco, brother of the above-named Signor Giovanni, and 
those of many other distinguished personages.*^ In this 
work there are Moors and Indians, in singularly arranged 
dresses, and a hut or cabin, of the most fanciful character 
imaginable. In a Loggia, at Poggio a Gaiano, Filippo com- 

** Kow in the Ui&a ; the picture ie gigned (on tiie back) FUipput mepintU 
di JJpU FlorentiHUM^ addi 29 di Marto 1496. The Fierfranoetoo named hi 
the text, and who holds a quadrant in the pictore, is the son of Lorenso di 
OioTanni d* Ayerardo, oalled Biod (de* Medici). The joung king, standing, 
ia the portrait of Giovanni di Pierfranoeeco, father of Gioyanni delle Bande 
NiTM, Another Pierfranoeeoo, cousin (not brother) of Gioyanni, is painted as 
a blond, long-haired youth who holds out a ohalioe. See Bfilaneei, m. 478, 
note 1. A eommisiion for this subject was given to Leonardo da Vinci (1480), 
bnt he failed to cany it ont, and it fell to Filippino LippL Big. A. Ventnxi, 
in his tozt to Adolf Braun^s publication on the Pitti Gallery, says the Umdo 
847, attributed to Filippino, is reaUy by an unknown painter. Filippino^s pas- 
•iim for quaint acoessories led him, in later lile^ far away from the dignified 
itinpliflity of his Branoaooi frescoes. 



288 PILIPPO LiPPi 

menced a Sacrifice, in fresco, for Lorenzo de' Medici, but 
this work remained unfinished.^ For the nuns of San 
Oirolamo, on the acclivity of San Giorgio, in Florence, he 
also commenced a picture for the high altar ; this was sno- 
oessfally continued after his death by the Spanish painter 
Alonzo Berughetta, but was finished by other artists, the 
Spaniard having returned to his native land before its com- 
pletion. * The painting in that hall" of the palace of the 
Signoria, wherein the Council of Eight hold their sittings, 
was executed by Filippo, who prepared the drawings for 
another large picture, with its decorations, to be placed in 
the Hall of the Council ; but the death of the master ensu- 
ing soon after, this design was never put into execution, 
although the ornament or frame-work was already carved, 
and is now in the possession of Messer Baccio Baldini, an 
eminent physician and natural philosopher, who is a lover 
of all the arts. For the church of the abbey of Florence, 
Filippo painted a very beautiful figure of San Girolamo ; ^ 
and commenced a Deposition from the Cross, for the friars 
of the Nunziata : " of this latter work he finished the figures 

M StiU in exiftenott. •* This work ii lort. 

» Now in the UfBsi, cUted Fabnuffy 20, 1485-* Yii^n and Child En- 
throned, with two angela above, and at the aides Saints John, Victor, Bemazd, 
•ndZenofains. 

» This fxiotore is probably lost ; it was painted in 1480 for the Femnti 
fMuily. See Milaned, m. 475. 

** This work was oonunenoed in 1506. The lower part of the pictore (not 
of the figures) was left unfinished by Filippo, and was painted by Pemgino. 
It is now in the Florentine Aoademy. Morelli, in his Italian Painters, says 
that Madrid, Vienna, Dresden, and Paris have no pictures by Filippino, al- 
though he believes No. 1114, in the Louvre, painted by Albertinelli, was com- 
menoed by FiUppino ; the St. Jerome showing evidences of having been drawn 
by Lippi's own hand. In Munich, Morelli credits to Filippino No. 568, Christ 
Appearing to his Mother. No. 588, attributed to Ghirlandajo by the catalogue, 
to Filippino by Crowe and Cavalcaselle, is given by Frizsoni and Morelli to 
BaffiMllino del Garbo. MoreUi further accredits to Idppi a tondo in Oxford, 
Cupid Weeping, and Na 206 in the National Gallery. He admits that BerUn 
has several Lippis, among which he especially mentions 82 and 101, each a 
Madonna with the Infant Christ ; he rejects, in the Pitti Gallery of Florenoe, 
the Death of Virginia, and No. 847, a Madonna and Christ with angels, and 
aooepts only Na 886 catalogued as by an unknown artist In Venice he ao- 
oepts at by Filippino the picture attributed to Crespi in the Seminario Vea- 



FILIPPO LIPPI 289 

from the middle upward only^ seeing that he was then at- 
tacked by a violent f ever, and by that constriction of the 
throat commonly called quinsy, or squinancia, of which he 
died in a few days^ in the forty-fifth year of his age.* 

Haying been ever conrteons, obliging, and friendly, 
Filippo was lamented by all who had known him, bnt more 
particularly by the youth of Florence, his noble natiye city ; 
who, in the public festivals, masks, and other spectacles, 
were always glad to avail themselves of his readiness and in- 
ventive genius, for in these matters this artist has never had 
his equal. Filippo gave proof of so much excellence, in all 
his actions, as to have entirely efiEaced the stain (to what- 
ever extent it may have existed) left to him by his father — 
efhced it I say, not only by the eminence he attained in art, 
wherein he was inferior to none of his contemporaries — ^but 
also by the modest propriety of his life, and above all by an 
obliging and friendly disposition, the efFect of which on 
every heart, and its power to conciliate all minds, can be 
fully known to those only who have experienced it. Filippo 
was buried by his sons in San Michele Bisdomini, on the 
13th of April, 1505 ; ^^ ^ and while the funeral procession 

oorili^ and he noommends for rtndy of the chAraoteristice of Fflippino the 
foOoiHiic dnwinge : Uffisi, 189, head of the Badia Madonna; 186, eketch for 
one of the Steoni freiooee ; Amhroaiaiia, head of a Ifagian king ; Lille od- 
leetioo, a drawing attrihnted to Biaeaocio ; Dreiden, two studies aooredited 
there to BosselH, and in the LonTre a man seated, resting his head on his left 
hand, attribated to Fra Illippa One may add, as among the works ao- 
oredited b J Messra Crowe and OavaloaseUe to Silippino, the Meeting of Jo- 
aehim and Blisabeth (Copenhagen) ; Madonna and Saints (Ban Domenioo at 
Bologna) ; and the fiunoos examples in the Florentine galleries, in the Badia, 
and in the Santo Spirito. 

•* In the forty-aerenth year of his age. ^ In 1504 rather. 

^ Filippino painted his own portrait as weU as those of Pollajnolo and 
fiaadxo BottloeUi in the fresoo of the Martyrdom of 81 Peter, in the Bran- 
eaooi ehanel. 

«* Few masters ran sneh a gamut as Filippino Lippi ; his preoodty was ui- 
eqoalled, for he completed the decoration of the Branoaooi ohapel when he 
was only twenty -seTe n years old ; this howerer was not phenomenal precocity 
bnt the zeanlt of good fortone. He had the art inheritance of his fisher, Fia 
lippo, he had the oompanionship of Botticelli, he had tiie legacy of Masaccio, 
and he walked in the patlM which that great master had traced, foliUling the 



290 FILIPPO LIPPI 

was passings all the shops in the Via de' Send were closed^ 
as is done for the most part at the funerals of princes only* 

talk which MaMCoio had begnn. Even before he worked in the Braacacci, 
Filippino had painted the St. Bernard for del Puglieee, and thua, at hia verj 
beginning, he achieyed the things which were intriniioally his beat, for the 
St. Bernard sorpaasee Botticelli in ferror and the frescoes of the Branoaoei 
are as grave as 6hirlandajo*s works and even approach those of Masaocio. 
The early years of Filippino*s life were of that partionlar time whmi the 
greatest artistic talent hegtai to ran instinctively into the channel of painting 
alone ; men like Ghirlandajo, Botticelli, Pemgino, Signorelli, who, twenty- 
five years earlier, would have been sculptor-painters, like Veirocchio and Pol- 
lajuolo, now handled the brush only ; it was the epoch of painting, but toward 
the end of Filippino^s life came the trying years of a violent change in manner 
— a new order of artists of the type of Raphael, Michelangelo, Andrea del 
Sarto was to arise. Only a few fortunate men were bom at just the right 
moment to be flung to the crest of the wave, and those great artists of the old 
manner, tiiose at least who did not die young enough to escape the transi- 
tion, as did Ghirlandajo, were in a measure stranded. Pemgino and SignorelU 
zetumed from Florence and Rome to their native Umbria and the towna- 
men who still faithfully admired their pictures. Botticelli, we are told, was 
neglected, but Filippino swam bravely with the stream, for he was almost as 
instinctively an aasimilator as was Raphael His was an especially interesting 
evolution ; for this man, stUl young, and having shown that he could worthily 
represent fifteenth -century art in its full development was a forerunner d 
Fra Bartolommeo and Raphael; he had prophetic visions of what was to 
come, and in his almost geometrically ordered "Triumph of St. Thomas 
Aquinas** he was the precursor of the painters of Santa Maria Nnovaand 
of the Stanze, He always advanced, but toward the end of his life it was 
in the direction of thought rather than of observation. He became more than 
ever a factor in the evolution of Italian art, but it was at the sacrifice of 
much of hia depth and spontaneity. He still found charming episodes (see his 
children in the frescoes of tiie Strozd chapel), and his somewhat fantastical 
antiquarianism and his abuse of Roman detail in the same frescoes showed 
him still as a qucUtrocentiato. On the whole his change of manner was more 
admirable than attractive, and where we may praise him most for his ■**^"g 
after monumental composition, we find least room for sympathy with his 
work itself. He remains to us as the third of the great FlOTentine trio ol 
Middle Renaissance painters ; but while Qhirlandajo and Botticelli were al- 
ways intensely personal, and always developed along the same lines, Filippino 
seems to be three men at three difibrent times ; first, the painter of St Ber- 
nard, equalling Botticelli in grace and surpassing him in a certain fervor of 
feeling ; secondly, tiie painter of the Brancacd frescoes, imitating Maaacdo, 
passing beyond him in scientifio acquirement, but falling fsr behind hia 
grand style; and last of all, the painter of the cyde of St. Thomas, leaving 
behind him his quattrocento charm, still retaining some of his quattrocento 
awkwardness, but attaining dramatic oompositioQ and becoming a preouraoc 
of Raphael 



BEBNAEDO PINTUEICCHIO, PAINTER OP PE- 

RUGIA.> 

[Bom 1454 ; died 15ia] 

BiBUOGBAFHT.— Venniglioli, Memorie di Pinturieehio^ PerugiA, 1887. A. 
Bohmariow, RapJuul und Pinturiechio in Siena^ Stuttgart, 1880. A. Sohnutf- 
■ow, FifUurieehio in Ront, Stattgart, 1882. Gaattani, Quiidri nelV Appari. 
Borgia, Borne, 1890. The FxeBooee of Bemurdo Pinturioobio in the Coll^:iAte 
Church of & Maria Maggiore at Spello, by A. H. Lajrard, Arundel Society, 
1868. S. Volpini, VAppariamento Borgia nel Vaticano^ Rome, 1887. G. 
W. Kitchin, Life of Pope Pius IL, as illuitrated by Pinturiechio** Freecoee in 
the Picoolomini Library at Siena, Arundel Society, 1881. R MUnts, Hiatoire 
de VArt ptndant la Renaissance, VoL XL; VAge d*Or, pp. 724-782. This la 
one of the beet appreciations of Pinturiechio, and though severe, it is admira- 
ble criticism. See B. MUuts, Baphael, pp. 117-128, for a discussion of the fres- 
coes of the library of Siena. Giovanni Morelli*s Italian Masters in German 
GaUeries is important for its consideration of Pintnricchio's authorship of the 
Sistine frescoes, and also for its long, critical discussion of the so-called Ba- 
phael^s sketch-book in Venioe. 

AS many are aided by fortune, without being endowed 
with extraordinary ability, so are there numbers of able 
men, on the contrary, who are constantly persecuted 
by an adverse destiny. From this we perceiye clearly, that 
fortune's fayourite children are those who depend on her only, 
unaided by ability of any kind, for it pleases her to exalt such 
by her fayour, as would never have made themselves known 
by means of their own merit, and of this we have an instance 
in Pinturiechio, of Perugia ; ' who, although he performed 

> Bernardino di Benedetto di Biagio, called il Pinturiechio, Pintoriochio. or 
Pintoricdo, the Little Painter, or, as a French critic has more picturesquely 
translated it| ** Le petit Peinturlureur, " He was also sometimes called 11 8or* 
diehiOy on account of his deafness. 

* Many art writers have pointed out the injustice of Vasari^s judgment of 
Pinturiechio, a judgment which is, however, based upon facts, but which the 
biographer oooasionally allows to become distorted through exaggeration. 



398 BSBNABDO PINTUBIOOHIO 

many labonrs, and received aid from many persons, had 
nevertheless a much greater name than was merited by his 
works. Pintnricchio did indeed obtain mnch opportunity 
for practice, and had considerable facility in the execution of 
works of a large kind ; he constantly kept about him a large 
number of assistants, from whom he had much help in his 
works. Having painted many pictures in his youth, under 
Pietro Perugino, his master, for which he obtained the third 
part of all the gains made by them ; Pinturicchio was in- 
vited to Siena, where he was employed by Cardinal Fran- 
cesco Piccolomini to paint the library which had been 
erected in the cathedral of that city by Pope Pius 11.^ It 
is indeed true, that the sketches and cartoons for all tiie 
stories which he executed in that place were by the hand of 
Baffaello da IJrbino,^ then a youth, who had been his com- 

* It WM Cardinal Picoolomini who built the lAhmy^ not hit nnde, Fins U 

* There haa beeo much oontroTeny about these fretooea and Baphael's work 
for them. M. M&ntz, in his Life of Raphael, conolndes that thelatter made the 
ftadies for the cartoons. These designs are superior in moTsment, graoe, and 
style to the frescoes. Reproductions of these preUminary drawings from the 
Uffizi, in Florence ; from the Oasa Baldeschi, in Pemgia ; firom the Doke of !>•▼- 
onshire*s collection, at Chatsworth, are placed side by side with the freeeoss of 
the Libreria in Herr Schmarsow's Raphael und Pinturieehio <f» 9i$na^ Stvtt- 
gart, 1880. Herm Grimm and Schmarsow are oosfinced that they hate dls- 
ooyered the signatare of Riq>hael in the inscription on the design (now in the 
UflBai)fortlieDep&rtQreof iEneasSyMnswiththeOardinalOaprsaica. Mo- 
ttAM ascribed all these drawings to Pintozicchio himself, and found it improb- 
able that Pinturicchio, a man fifty years old, who had done important week in 
Rome, should hare allowed a youth of twenty to make the sketches and cartoooa 
for the Library. Mr. J. H. Middleton, in the HncydopmUa Aitannica, de- 
cided, after an examination of the testimony pro and con, ** that the eridenoe 
which would giye Raphael an important share in the execution of these fine 
paintings amounts to yery little. '* In the original contract between the painter 
and the Gardfaial Francesco Piccolomini (giyen in full by Milanesi, m., p. 519) 
it was specially provided that the arabesques of the ceiling, the drawing of the 
cartoons, and their transference to the walls should be done by Pinturicchio 
himself, and that all the A^odi should be painted by his own hand. The positicn 
of the Oardlnal*s ooat-of-arms and the number of the compositions were agreed 
upon ; the artist pledged himself to use gold, ultnunarine, pale blue, and gieen 
paint of a good quality, to work on the wet plaster {aifr€$eo), and to retoooh 
when the walls were dry {a geeeo). Mr. Middleton, in the BncydopmUa Bri- 
tannioa. draws attention to the fact that thou^ these paintings are laid in 
with true fresco colors, but little /tsmo buono is visible in them. Thaj haf* 



BBBKABDO PINTUBIOOHIO 398 

panion and fellow-disciple with the aboYe-named Pietro, 
whose manner had been perfectly acquired by BafEaello.* 
One of these Cartoons is still to be seen in Siena, and some 
of the sketches, by the hand of Ba£Faello, are in our book. 
In this work, which is divided into ten compartments or 
stories, Pintaricchio was aided by numerous disciples and 
assistants, all of the school of Pietro Perugino.* The first 
diyision or picture represents the birth of Pope Pius 11.,^ 

been pointed over later with brighter colon than ooold haye been need on the 
damp plaster. Thii retouching, common to aU/WtcaiUi, was more freqnentlj 
employed by Pmtaricohio than by most artieta In the case of the fretooee c^ 
the Library it haa produced lo brilliant an eflbot that erery Tidtor is astonished 
by what seems to him the almost incredible state of preserration of the work. 

* Pemgino was only ei|^t years older than Pintaricchio. The latter was 
probably a popU of BonfigU or IKorenso di Lorenza In the little pictoies by 
the latter, of which a whole series ezista in the Pinacoteca of Pemgia, the 
aneodotio tendencies and the entertaining use of the most inctnresqoe contem- 
poraneons costome offer a precedent to Pintnricohio which the most casual ob> 
serrer must notice. Here, too, is the dryness of Pintnricohio, the same 
aridity of badkgroond, in artist*s parlance the same lack of enyelopmenl 
Had Pemgino been Pinturicchio*s original master, he would surely haTe don* 
away with, or at least modified, this hardness in his pupil's work. 

•1602-1500. 

"* The birth of iEneas SyMus does not form the sn bjea l idasaj one of the 
frsseoea The first panel re pr es en ts the De partur e of iEneee SyMus with Osf- 
dinal Capranica for the Council of Bssle. The series of frescoes impriissea 
the Tiritor as the best presenred in Italy. Such wonderful preserration, 
although immensely effeotiye, does not necessarily infer in this eilectiTenees 
the presence of those qualities which in i^frmeanU may be accounted as ctcb 
technically the highest. The liberal retouohing a §eeeo, that is to lay, the 
repainting (by Pinturicchio) with dry color after the first true freeco had 
been absorbed by the platter has giren to the works an astonishing brightness 
and an occasional regUding of the parts originally touched with gold has added 
to this brightnen, until some of these figures appear to haTe been painted 
only yesterday. But it must be understood that, for the mkib of this bright- 
ness, Pinturicchio saorificed transparency and harmony. The a meeo retouch- 
ing produces an opacity of color whereyer It is used ; in a word, the painter 
has sacrificed true richness of color to that fsotitiotts richness which is only 
brilliancy of surfikce. The impression afforded by the Sieneee library, whioh 
is genuine snd abiding, is that of decoratiye completeness, of homogeneous- 
ness, and of a certain splendid gayety. The secular impreerion is, abore all, 
surprising, as one passes through the doorway whioh opens directly from the 
cathedral into the Library. The Duomo of Siena, in spite of its nobility and 
oeanty, is too sumptuous, too much of a museum to be accounted among the 
moot solemn of shrines y but it is solemn indeed if compared with its neigh. 



294 BEBNABDO PIKTUBIOOHIO 

which took place in the year 1405 ; he was the son of Silvio 
Piccolomini and Victoria his wife, the baptismal name of 
Pope Pins II. was Eneas, and he was bom in Valdorcia, in 
the castle of Gorsignana, now called Pienza, from his name 
of Pins, he having afterwards elevated the place to the rank 
of a city. In this pictnre are portraits from the life of the 
above-named Silvio and Victoria, and in the same work the 
Pope is himself seen as he proceeds with Domenioo, cardinal 
of Gapranica, to cross the Alps, which are covered with ice 
and snow, on his way to the Council of Basle. 

In the second pictnre is the same Eneas, when sent by the 
council on various embassies and to different legations ; to 
Strasburg namely, whither he proceeded three times ; to 
Trent, to Gonstance, to Frankfort, and into Savoy. In the 
third picture is Eneas, when despatched by the Anti-pope 
Felix, as ambassador to the Emperor Frederick III. With 
this sovereign, the grace, address, and eloquence of Eneas 
found so much favour, that he was crowned with laurel as 
a poet by Frederick, who appointed him protonotary, re- 

bor, the Libnry, which standi at its aide, and indeed abnoit within it, UIm 
a pretty aoolyte at the elbow of aome gorgeonsly robed arohbiahop. Hera 
the Renaiaaanoe haa faU play in the carved pilasters, in the acroU-work of 
the vaulting, and even in the stained glass, and here, more than anywhere, M. 
Mttntz, in eritioiaing Pintnriochio, may justifiably use his clever quotation of 
the tombal inscription to the child who had danoed for the Romans twelvia 
hundred years before, ^^$aU<tvit et placuU.^^ But the painter, though no 
stylist, is a true decorator in the abundance of his cheerful motivea, in hia 
choice of entertaining material, and the realization of a most picturesque 
effect ; by right of all thia, plaruU truly, but by right of it, also, he plea s es 
still, and will alwaya please. He is no dramatist, but he is a delightful story- 
teller, and, like thv medieval aingers of interminable romance, he ramblea 
far afield, and often loses the thread of his narrative in a labyrinth of epi- 
sodes. But as the eye wanders with a certain pleased curiosity from a jew- 
elled caparison to a quaintly slashed jerkin ; from a youthful, wistful face, to 
a white castellated town half-hidden in sombre verdure, we pardon thia wealth 
of detail The lovely adolescents, with their vague, wide-eyed glance and their 
dreamy, distant smile ; the sumptuous yet exquisite costumes ; above all, tha 
aenae of inexhaustible, facile invention blind us at first to the defecta in ilia 
drawing, and to the iaolation of the painted personagea who, each one of 
them, seems to be leading a separate existence of his own and haa UtUe or bo 
relation to the other figurea in the same oompositioii. 



BEBlfARDO PINTUBIGCHIO 296 

ceired him into the number of his friends^ and made him his 
principal secretary.^ In the fourth picture Eneas is sent by 
the Emperor Frederick to Pope Eugenius IV., by whom he 
was first made bishop of Trieste, and afterwards archbishop 
of Siena, his native city.* In the next compartment (the 
fifth) is the same Emperor, who is proceeding into Italy, to 
receive the crown of the empire, and who therefore dis- 
patches Eneas to Telamone, a port belonging to the Sienese, 
for the purpose of meeting Leonora his consort, who was to 
come thither from Portugal.'^ In the sixth picture Eneas 
is sent by the Emperor to Pope Galixtus III., in order to 
induce the latter to make war against the Turks ; and in 
this compartment there also appears the above-named Pon- 
tiff, by whom Eneas is entrusted with the task of negociat- 
ing conditions of peace at Siena ; which city had been at- 
tacked by the Count of Pitigliano and others, at the 
instigation of Alfonso, King of Naples." The peace thus 
sought being secured, war against the people of the east is 
determined on, and Eneas, having returned to Rome, is made 
cardinal by the Pope above-named. In the seventh picture 
Eneas is seen exalted, on the death of Galixtus, to be him- 
self Pope, and takes the name of Pius II. In the eighth, 
the Pope proceeds to Mantua, where the council respecting 
the expedition against the Turks is held, and where he is re- 
ceived by the Marquis of Mantua with the most splendid fes- 
tivities, and a magnificence almost inconceivable. In the 

•Inl445i 

* iBDCM WM made Biihop, noi Arohbuhop, of Siena, by NiobolM V., tbe 
■aooeMor of BagenioB IV., in 1449. 

>* The fifth piotnxe repreRents the nuuria^ of the Emperor with Eleanor 
of Portugal, before the Porta Camollia, at Siena. 

» The dxth fresco representa iEneai being made a CSardinal by P<^ Nicho- 
laa v., not by his snocessor, Calixtos IIL It contains, or is beUeved to oon- 
tain, the portraits of Pintnricchio and Raphael, then a youth. For the con- 
tfo ? ersy regarding the presence of the latter in Siena, and especially concerning 
the authenticity of the so-called Raphael's sketch-book in the Academy of 
Venice, Morelli, MiliDts, Schmarsow, and other critics should be read. Mo- 
rslU is the warm defender of what he considscs to be Pintnrioohio's rights in 
tliematttr. 



390 BEBNABDO PINTUBICOHIO 

ninth compartment, the same Pope places in the catalogue 
of saints, or as they call it, canonizes, Santa Catarina of 
Siena, a holy woman, and a Nun of the Dominican Order. 
In the tenth and last. Pope Pins, while preparing an im- 
mense armada against the Turks, with the help and con- 
currence of all Christian princes, is overtaken by death at 
Ancona ; when a hermit of Gamaldoli, a holy man, sees the 
soul of his Holiness borne to heaven by angels at the very 
moment of his death, as may be found duly recorded. In 
another part of the same picture, the remains of Pope Pius 
n. are borne from Ancona to Bome by a most honourable 
company of prelates and nobles innumerable, who bewail the 
death of so great a man and so holy a Pontiff. The whole 
of this work is rich in portraits from the life, of which 
there are so many, that it would be a long story even to re- 
count the names." The pictures are all painted with the 
finest and most animated colours, they are besides decorated 
with ornaments in gold, and the ceiling is divided into very 
well designed compartments. Beneath each story is a Latin 
inscription, explaining the contents of the picture above. 
In the centre of the same library. Cardinal Francesco Picco- 
lomini, nephew to Pope Pius II., caused a beautiful antique 
group, in marble, to be placed. This represents the three 
graces, and was one of the first antiquities which at that 
time began to be held in esteem." This library, in which 

>' The imI ordflir of the tabjeoU of iheee fraooM is as foUows: 1. iEness 
SyMos sooompeoies Ctudinsl Oapranioa to the Ck>imcU of Bssle. 2l He 
sppeers before the King of SootUnd as enroj from the Ck>aiioil of Bade. 8. 
The Emperor IVedeiick IIL crowns him with the poet*s UozeL 4. He is 
sent by the Bmperor to Pope Bogenios IV. 5. The Shnperor Frederick mar- 
ries Bleanora of Portngsl oatside the Oamollia gate at Siena. S. iBneas 8 jl- 
Tins is made Cardinal by Pope Niohobw V. 7. He beoomes Pope« nnder tiie 
name of PinsU 8L Heassembles theltsUansin Mantoa fora omsade against 
the Turk. 0. He canonises Saint Gaihertne of Siena. 10. He arrives at An- 
cona to urge on the omsade 

1* This group of the Three Graces remained in the Library nntU 1857, when 
it was remored by the request of Pins DL It is now in tlie Opera del Duoma 
A replica of this groop has besa recently discorered in the Oolonna Gardens 
on the QnirinaL See the American AroluBologioal Jonmal, IL, p. 82S. Mo- 
feOi. Italian Masters in German Galleries, pu 897, ascribes to Pintoxioehio 



BERNARDO PIKTUBICCHIO 297 

were placed all the books left by Pope Pins U.^ was not en- 
tirely completed when the abov^e-named Cardinal Francesco^ 
nephew of Pins II., was himself elected Pope. In memory 
of his nncle he determined to take the name of Pins III., 
and the same Pintnricchio was then commissioned to depict 
the coronation of Pope Pius III., in a very large painting, 
over that door of the library which opens into the cathe- 
dral. This picture occupies the whole extent of the wall ; 
it has many portraits from the life, and beneath it is the fol- 
lowing inscription : — 

Pius III. $enen$tB, Pii TL nepos MDm. SeptembrU xa, c^peHU 
deCtus iuffragiiiy octavo octdbris eoroncUus est. 

While Pintnricchio was working in Rome with Pietro 
Peragino, during the pontificate of Pope Sixtns, he had 
been also in the service of Domenico della Bovere, Cardinal 
of San Clemente, wherefore that prelate having built a very 
fine palace in the Borgo Vecchio, determined that the whole 
should be painted by Pintnricchio, who was commanded to 
place on the fa9ade of the building the arms of Pope Sixtus, 
with two boys for supporters. ^^ The same artist also exe- 
cuted certain works for Sciarra Colonna, in the palace of 
Sanf Apostolo ; ^ and no long time after, in the year 1484 
that is to say. Pope Innocent VIII., who was a Oenoese, 
caused Pintnricchio to paint some of the halls and loggie in 
the palace of the Belvidere.'* In this building, among 
other things, he painted a Loggia entirely with landscapes, 
according to the command of the same Pope, and depicted 
therein Some, Milan, Genoa, Florence, Venice, and Naples, 
after the manner of the Flemings, and this, being a thing 
not then customary, gave considerable satisfaction. In the 

the drawing of two of the fignree of the Gnoei. Other orftict attribate th« 
latter to Raphael. See M. Mttntx, Raphael, p. ISS. 

*« Aooording to MOaneei aome vestigea of the OaxcUnal'a aana are all thai 
if left of theee painttnga. 

>* Theee worka are deatrojed. 

>* In Rome. 



398 BBBKARDO PIKTUBIOOHIO 

same place^ Pintnriochio painted a figure of the Virgin in 
fresco, oyer the principal door.'^ 

In San Pietro, for the chapel wherein the spear which 
pierced the side of Christ is preserred, Pintnricchio painted 
a picture in tempera, hy command of Pope Innocent VIIL, 
being a figare of the Virgin, larger than life ; ^ and in the 
chnrch of Santa Maria del Popolo,^ he painted two chapels, 
one for the aboye-named Domenioo della Boyere, cardinal 
of San Olemente, in which he was buried,'^ and the other, 
for the Cardinal Innocenzio Cibo, wherein he also was after- 
wards interred.^ In each of these chapels was placed the 
portrait of the cardinal, who had caased it to be adorned 
with paintings. In the palace of the Pope, Pintnricchio 
painted certain apartments which look upon the Court of 
St. Peter, the wood-work and paintings of which were re- 
newed some few years since by Pope Pius IV. In the same 
palace, Pope Alexander VI. caused Pinturicchio to deco- 
rate all the rooms inhabited by himself, together with the 
whole of the Torre Borgia,^ where the artist painted stories 

" Tftja, Deicrigiofu del Vatieano^ 1700, defloribet thett piotarei. Th^ 
w«re restored nnder Pins VIL 

f This piotore has perished. 

» 1488-148S. 

*• There are a Pre$q>io (Prtmepittm), a San Girqlomo, and six luneitei with 
stories from the lives of the saints. These are in the Borere, now Vennti 
(first) ohapel, in right aisle. In the third ohapel are a Madonna andSaints, 
a figure of God the Father, and soenes from the life of the Virgin. . The 
ohoir of the ohmrch has a oeiling bj Pintorioohio, the Virgin and the Sarioor 
with the BrangeUsts, the Sibyls and the Fathers of the Chnroh ; these are 
some of Pinttiricchio*s most important works. The Sibjls are peonliarlj Am- 
tastioal and fsaoinating in their mixed character of medisralism and pssodo- 
dassicism. 

** Oyer the high altar in this chapel was an Adoration of the Kings. The 
Ifadonna in the picture was, according to MoreUi, identical with a dnwing in 
the collection of the so-called Raphael Sketch-book in Venice. This picture, 
however, was painted in 14S8, the year of Raphaers birth. The Cibo Oh^>el 
was modernised in 1700 and the Pintnricchio frescoes destroyed. 

** The scenes painted in these rooms are somewhat differently catalogoed by 
diflbrent writers. M. Miints gives them as follows : Hall ** of the Pontifb,** 
decorated under Leo X. by Giovanni da Udine and Perino del Vaga. 2. HaD 
'*of the Virgin and Christ** {Sola deUe JiUeellanee), the Annunciation; the 
Nativity; the Adoration of the Magi ; the Resorrection (with a kneeling flf- 



BEBKARDO PINTURIOOHIO 299 

of the liberal arts in one of the rooms^ and adorned all the 
ceilings with ornaments in stucco-work and gold ; bat the 
methods now practised in stucco were not known at that 
time, and the above-mentioned ornaments are for the most 
part ruined. Oyer the door of one of the rooms in the same 
palace, Pinturicchio portrayed the Signora Oiulia Famese 

nreof Alexander VL) ; aUo eight half -length fignree. Z. Hall "of the lives 
of the Saints ** {Sola deUe Stampe)^ S. Catherine of Alexandria before Vale- 
rian ; the Viaitatioo ; the Deathof Sainta Barbara and Jnliana ; the Martyrdom 
of S. Sebastian ; Alexander VI. adoring the Virgin (this figure ia aappoaed to 
be a portrait of the Pope's mittresa, Ginlia Fameae ; it ihonld be oompaied 
with another portrait of this celebrated beauty, the statue, whioh, onoe nude, 
now ooTored by painted tin draperies, stiU remains in Saint Peter's on the tomb 
of her brother, Pope Paul III.)* On the vaulting of the Sola delU Stamps is 
the story of Osiris, the Egyptian legend having been apparently uaed in order 
that the saored bull, Apis, might suggest the bull which figured upon the es- 
cutcheon of the Borgia. Still more remote aUusions have been referred to by 
Herr Schmarsow, as, for instance, the story of Jupiter and lo. Such far- 
fetched eofwelH were common enough in the Renaissance, when patrons and 
painters were alike familiar with a fantastic language of symbol and emblem. 
4. Hall " of the Sciences and Liberal Arts** {Sola dei Clauid) contains vari- 
ous groups with fignres personifying the diflerent liberal arts ; a dramatic 
episode, the Justice of Trajan, and scenes from the stories of Lot and of 
Jacob ; the latter were repainted in the sixteenth oentury. M. MOnti cata- 
logues a fifth hall '*of the Credo,** or of the Libri Tedetehi, but he does not 
specify its decoration, mentioning as ** the last haU ** the one called ** of the 
Sibyls,** and also ** deUe Storie^^* which contains twenty-four half-length sibyls 
and prophets and personificationa of the planeta. The deoorations of the 
first haU are by G. da Udine and P. del Vaga, those of the last are attributed 
to various masters ; the decorations of aU the other rooms are by Pinturicchio 
himsell These frescoes of the Borgia apartments, which have untU re- 
oently been seen by few traveUers are remarkable for their fresoo color, 
which is probably the richest In Italy. Not that there is any specially thought- 
ful teheme of color, but a bold opposition of brilliant tones plentifully 
sprinkled with gold, abounding in ultramarine, and the whole made rich, soft, 
and splendid by the toning of nearly four centuries. The restorer has here, as 
elsewhere, done something to preserve and much to harm ; but these remark- 
able rooms should be seen by every special student of decoration, and indeed 
by any one who wishes to realise how rich fresoo color can become under 
certain favorable conditions of vigorous first painting, use of gold, fading, 
and disintegration. Here, as in the church of Assisi (though with a far less 
solemn effect), the fresco almost reaches the richness and force of mosaic It 
is probable that, as usual, Pintaricchio*s original work here was somewhat 
opaque and crude from retouching a $eeeo^ but in its present condition it is 
magnificent, and its actual state is aU that the student need ask as a lesson in 
the production of a splendid effeck % 



300 BERNARDO PINTURICOHIO 

in the face of a Madonna ; and in the same picture is a fig* 
nre in adoration of the Virgin^ the head of which is a por- 
trait of Pope Alexander. 

Bernardino was mnch in the habit of decorating his pict- 
nres with ornaments in relief covered with gold^ for the 
satisfaction of persons who nnderstood bat little of such 
matters, to the end that they might have a more showy ap- 
pearance, a thing which is most nnsnitable to painting." 
Haying depicted a story from the life of Santa Catarina in 
the above named apartments, he executed the triumphal 
arches of Borne therefore in relief, and painted the figures 
in such a manner that the objects which should diminish 
are brought more prominently forward than those which 
should be larger to the eye, a grievous heresy in our art. 

In the Castle of St. Angelo, Pinturicchio painted a large 
number of rooms in what are called grottesche, but in the 
lower part of the great tower in the garden, he painted 
events from the life of Pope Alexander, wherein he por- 
trayed Isabella the Catholic Queen (Isabella of Spain) Nic- 
cold Orsino, Count of Pitigliano, and Oianiacomo Triulzi, 
with many other relations and friends of the same Pope, 
in particular CsBsar Borgia, his brother and sisters,** with 
many learned or otherwise distinguished men of that time. 



** This ii oaptioiu critioicm. RaiBed onuunents in rtnooo and gflding 
mad in their piotnres by Bottioelli, Gozsoli, and oUier painten whom Vaaaii 
praiflM ; yet it mutt be admitted that he alao oredita Ghirlandajo with haring 
rejected gold ornament aa nnneoeaaadly goigeoaa. Tlie great objeotiofi to 
any object modelled in aotnal relief upon the flftt rar&oe of a freaco is that it 
nerer takes ita natural place in the pictnre, bnt remaini always in adranoa 
eren of the first plane. 

*« Ocsar Borgia had one sister, the celebrated Laoresia and two broihars, 
Gioranni, whom he is supposed to haye murdered, and GiuAr^ These pici- 
mes for Sant* Angelo have perished. Lorenso Behaim, cited by Kilanwri, IIL, 
p. 500, note S; describes them as a glorification of Pope Alexander aa trinm- 
phant o?er Chailes VUI. of France. There were six compositions : L Chaika 
Kneeling before the Pope. 2. C^harles Proffering Obedience to the Oonaistory. 
8. The Creation of two French Cardinals. 4. Charles Assisting thePiope, who 
Bays Haas in S. Peter'a. ft. Oharies in the Suite of the Pope during the Pro- 
cession of San Paolo. 6. Charles Starting for Napka, aooompaaiad by 
Boigia and Djem, the brother of the Sultan. 



BBBNARDO PIICTURIOOHIO 801 

At Monte Oliveto^ in Naples^ there is a picture of the 
ABsnmption^ in the chapel of Paolo Tolosa, by the hand of 
Pintnricohio^* who executed a large number of works in 
different parts of Italy^ but as they were not of any great 
distinction, although displaying facility, I pass them orer in 
silence. Pinturicchio used to say that the highest excel- 
lence attained by the painter was ever to be found in such 
works as were executed from his own inspiration, without 
the interrention of princes or others. This artist worked 
also in Perugia, but on few occasions only.^ In the church 
of Ara Coeli,''he painted the chapel of San Bernardino, 

M xiiis is ooniidered to be one of his beet worke. 

** There is a Holy Funily in the Pineooteoa of Perogi*, md ilao a emaU 
pietnre which once belonged to the Society of Sant* Agoitmo. A Omoiiizioii 
painted for the ohuroh of San Franoeaoo if now in Parii, and in the Vatieea 
Gallery ie a Ooronation of the Virgin, brought from Penigian territory. For 
docmnente concerning the latter, tee VArchivio Storieo delT Arie, UL 46S, and 
alio A. Venturi, La OalUria Vatieana^ ISOa Mordii, in hie Italian Ptdntere, 
L, p. Hi, aeoribet to Pinturioohio, in the Borghese Gallery of Rome, a Cmoi- 
fijoon (attributed to CriTelli), and a S. Bartholomew (attributed to Gior. 
Spagna), while he rejects the two ceuaoni pictures attributed to Pinturicchio 
by the catalogue. 

** These l^eeooes, executed ftx the Bufalini of Cittk di OasteDo, in the Aia 
OoeU at Borne, are injured, but important examples of the master's work. 
Vasari does not mention the remarkable series (ISC^) in the Baglioni chapel 
of the church of Santa Alaria Maggiore at Spello, a small town on the road 
from Aasisi to Foligna These frescoes, which represent the Annunciation, 
the Adoration of the Magi, and Christ among the Doctors, are among the most 
important works of the artist, and are larger in style than are his other pict- 
ures. Morelli has lately made a strong and oonyindng plea for Pinturieohio, 
in which he restores to that painter two of the great frescoes of the Sistiae 
Ohapel, long ascribed to Perugino, namely, the Baptism of Christ and Moses 
Learing Bgypt (see *' Italian Masters in German Galleries,** pp. 265-969). Mo- 
relli bases his attribution upon the '* poetical landscape-backgrounds,** the 
orercrowding of the composition, the character of some of the ohildren*s fig- 
ures (to be compared with children in the Ara Coeli fresooeeX the bearded 
men at the extreme right of the Baptism of Christ, the angels, the youth in gold 
brocade, and the naked youths in the centre of the comporition. Morelli in- 
sists particularly upon the poetry of Pinturiochio*s landscapes ; he was noted 
for the latter, as is proved by Vasari*s text, bat it is hard to reconcile great 
sentiment of landscape with the lack of feeling for atmosphere which is 
shown in the painter*s frequent retouching a secco. In any case, the Bisline 
frescoes add greatly to the dignity and importance of Pinturioohia as an ar* 

tut 



303 BERNARDO PINTURIOOHIO 

and in Santa Maria del Popolo, where^ as we hare already 
said^ he painted two chapels ; he likewise ezecnted figurea 
of the four Doctors of the Churchy on the ceiling of the 
principal chapel.* 

When Pintaricchio had attained the age of fifty-nine, he 
received a commission to paint a pictare of the Birth of the 
Virgin for San Francesco, in Siena,* and having com- 
menced the work, a room was appropriated to his nse by 
the monks, which was given up to him, as he desired it 
shoald be, entirely empty and denuded of every thing, a 
massive old chest alone excepted ; this they left in its place, 
finding it too heavy for removal. Bat Pintnricchio, like a 
strange self-willed man as he was, made so much clamonr, 
and repeated his ontcries so often, that the monks set them- 
selves at last, in very desperation, to carry the chest away. 
Now in dragging it forth, such was their good fortune, that 
one of the sides was broken, when a sum of 500 ducats in 
gold was brought to light : this discovery caused Pinturic- 
chio so much vexation, and he took the good fortune of 
those poor friars so much to heart, that he could think of 
nothing else, and so grievously did this oppress him, that 
not being able to get it out of his thoughts, he finally died 
of vexation.''^ His paintings were executed about the year 
1513. 

And this shall be the end of the life of Pinturiochio, who 

•* There are aleo four Brangelists, a Ooronaiion of the Virgin, and four 
Sibjla, the latter fantaiUcaUy charming, half-medusral, half-RenaiManoei and 
wholly deoorative. 

•• Destroyed by fire in 1655. See MOaneri, lEL, pp. 600-501, for a bng note 
on Pintiiriochio*s work at Orvieto, whioh was began but never finished, and of 
which next to nothing remains. Delia VaUe states that there was a qoarrel 
with the cathedral board about the wine which the artist required, and, abort 
all, about the vast quantities of ultramarine whioh he used in his work. 

** Vasari's aooount of the cause of Pinturiochio** death is contradieted by 
the testimony of Sigismondo Tisio, a Sienese historian who liyed in the same 
parish with the anfortunate painter. Tizio writes that the women of the 
neighborhood told him that when Pinturiochio was ill, his wife, Graaia, and 
her loTcr, a Pemgian soldier, shut him up in the house and left him to die of 
hunger and neglect, nor did she aUow any of the neighbors who heaid hia 
eriee to go to his assistanoe. He died on the 11th of December, 1S18. 



BBBICABDO PINTURIOOHIO 808 

among other qualities^ possessed that of giving considera- 
ble satisfaction to princes and nobles, because he quickly 
brought the works commanded by them to an end, as they 
like to have done, although such works may, perchance, be 
less excellent than those of masters who proceed more 
slowly, and with greater consideration.'* 

** Pintmioohio is one of the yerj few pftinten— perhaps Sodoma is the only 
other— to whom Vasari does injustice. It is quite tme that his draoghts- 
manship is affeoted with a oertain poTerty, a oertain pinched and dry qnal- 
ity ; true also that he had little ikiU in composing masses ; that his composi- 
tions aie often, in artists* phrase, f oU of holes ; nerertheless the &ct remains 
that he had a very strong decorative sense, for wherever he has oovered a waU 
with his work he had left an etumihle which is eminently decorative. As 
regards his oolor in the Borgia apartments, he has left the richest, and in tha 
Uhrary of Siena the best preserved series of frescoes of the Renaissance. It 
must be admitted that even his decorative sense is not of the highest order ; 
he had none of that noble subordination of line and mass to the circumscrib- 
ing azohiteotural form which afterward made the monumental painting of his 
yonng comrade Raphael the most perfectly decorative work in Italy, but 
within his limitations Pinturiochio was aUto a true deoorator. His thin- 
limbed, sweet-faced youths, rather mincing in their parti-colored doublets 
and striped hose, very treasures to the stndentof costume, do not combine into 
imposing masses and make a sort of open-work pattern upon the backgrounds 
that suggests a lack of solidity and dignity (the same fault in a lees degree 
may sometimes be found in Perugino), yet they never fail to please ; architec- 
tore, landscape, animals, gold ornaments in abundance, and the floods of ultra- 
marine which frightened the cathedral wardens of Orvieto, all make np a 
oharming whole. There is little of imagination in this work, but there is (and 
it ia iooiigh) aa ever-p ro ian t , tireless fsnoy, a joyous and fertile inTsntiveneM. 



FRANCESCO PEANCIA, THE BOLOGNESE, GOLD- 
SMITH AND PAINTEB» 

[Bocn 1460 ; diad 1517.] 

BrauooBAPSr— Jaoopo Alennndzo Calyi, MemorU deUa vUa ed open <K 
Frtmemeo RaiMini, B^ogna, 1812. Oarlo CeMure Malvadis Feliina FUiritt, 
BolofDA, 184L Oftetttio Giordani, Caialogo dei Quadri ddla PiHmeoisem, 
Bdogiia, 1841. O. PrisaoDi, Gli Affrttehi di Santa CeeOia im BoUtgna, 
Bologna, 187A. IfarchoM A. B. Amorini, ViUdH PittoH 0d Art^fiei Bolofh 
ne$i, Bdogiia, 1841-4a Julia Otriwxight, Mantegna and Franoia, London, 
1881. G. W. Beid« Solootioni from tho BngrayiDgi of Franoeaoo Fianoia and 
of liaie Antonio Baimondi, London, 187L The repiodnotiona are in aolo> 

FRANCESCO FBANCIA was bom in Bologna, in the 
year 1450> of parents in the rank of artisans, bnt 
respectable and well-conducted people. In his first 
youth he was destined to the calling of the goldsmith ; and 
labouring at the same with ability and good-willj^his prog- 
ress in his art kept fair proportion with his increase of 
stature. His manner and conversation were so gentle and 
obliging, that he kept all around him in good humour, and 
had the gift of dissipating the heavy thoughts of the most 
melancholy by the charms of his conversation : for these 
reasons he was not only beloved by all who were acquainted 
with him, but in the course of time he obtained the favour 
of many princes and nobles, Italian and others. While still 
working at his trade of a goldsmith,' Francesco applied 
himself to design, in which he took much pleasure, and the 

> Ffaneeieo di Xaroo di Giaoomo Baibottni, oaUed Franoeaoo Fimnoia or U 
Vruioia. 

•Franoiabeoameatowardof the Goldnniiha' Guild in 1488. He took tho 
■amoof hia master, a oelebnitedgoldamith Duo, oaUed Franoia (Milaned, IH, 
88Q. 



FBAKOESOO FBANOIA 806 

desire for greater things becoming awakened within him^ 
he made extraordinary progress therein^ as may still be seen 
in his native city of Bologna^ from the many works he there 
executed in silver^ more particularly from certain specimens 
of niello^' which are most excellent. In this branch of art 
Francesco often grouped twenty well-proportioned and 
beautiful figures together^ within a space only two inches 
high^ and but little more in length ; he also produced many 
works in silver enamelled, but these were destroyed at the 
time of the ruin and exile of the Bentivoglio ; and to say 
all in a word, he executed every thing that is most beautiful, 
and which can be performed in that art, more perfectly 
than any other master had ever done. 

But that in which Francesco delighted above all else, and 
in which he was indeed excellent, was cutting dies for 
medals ; in this he was highly distinguished, and his works 
are most admirable, as may be judged from some, on which 
is the head of Pope Julius 11.,^ so life-like, that these medals 
will bear comparison with those of Garadosso : ^ he also 
struck medals of Signer Giovanni Bentivoglio, which seem 
to be alive ; and of a vast number of princes, who, passing 
through Bologna, made a certain delay, when he took their 
portraits in wax, and afterwards, having finished the ma- 
trices for the dies, he despatched these to their destination, 

* Nielio WM a piooeM of daoofftting an incited metal plate. A black com- 
ponnd, oonaiiting largely of copper, lead, rolphnr, ammonium chloride, and 
borax waa introdnced into the linea, forming at a high temperature an enamel. 
The plate waa then poUahed, learing the black linea on a light ground ; ocoa- 
aionaUy other colors were introduced. This prooeea is of peculiar interest, aa 
it is believed that intaglio engraving had its rite in the paper proofs which 
were taken at intervala to judge of the progreee of the work. See B. David^a 
JBiHcire d$ la Oravure^ 18^ and Vicomte Henri Delaborde, Im ffravure #n 
ItalU avant Mdre-Antoins^ Paria 

«Gaetano Giordani in 1841 ezpooed the miitakea of Vasari and Cicognara 
regarding the elBgiee of thli pope, and described the real and rare coins struck 
by Fiancia. There are two pyxes, adorned with nieUo work by Francia, in 
the Bolognese Academy of Fine Arts. 

* Ambrogio Foppa, called Garadosso, waa a natire of Pavia. He ia, how- 
ever, nsnally classed with the artists of Milan. He was noted for the ex« 
eellenee of his dies and his goldsmith's work. 



806 FRAK0B800 FBAKOIA 

whereby he obtained^ not only the immortality of fame, but 
also very handsome presents. 

During the better part of his life^ Francesco was Director 
of the Mint at Bologna ; all the dies for the coins, used at 
the time when the Bentivogli goyemed there, were prepared 
by him, as were those stmck for Pope Julius II., after their 
departure and during the whole of that Pontiff's after life : 
of these may be instanced the money coined by the Pope on 
his entrance into the city, and which bears the head of his 
Holiness, taken from the life on one side, with the inscrip- 
tion, Bononiaper JuUum a Tyranno liber ata, on the other. 
And so excellent was Francesco considered to be in this 
matter, that he continued to make the dies for the coinage, 
even down to the time of Pope Leo ; the impress of his dies 
is, indeed, in such esteem, and so highly are they valued by 
those who possess them, that they are not now to be obtained 
for money.* 

But Francia still became desirous of greater glory ; where- 
fore, having been acquainted with Andrea Mantegna and 
many other painters, who had attained to riches and honours 
by means of their art, he resolved to try whether he could 
not succeed in that part of painting which belongs to 
colour, seeing that he had reached to such a point in design, 
that he might safely assume a place beside any one of them. 
By way of making an attempt, therefore, he executed a 
few portraits and other small things, entertaining masters 
of the art many months in his house, to the end that they 
might teach him the method and processes of colouring. 
In this manner Francesco, who had remarkable intelligence 
and excellent judgment, very rapidly acquired the requisite 
practice.^ The first work which he executed was a picture 

* FrtneU made ooliui in 1 60S with the eflBgy of the Pope. Aeerieeoffaronie 
ooiae b j him bean the head of QioTamii BentiToglio IL 

' He probably beoame aoqnaiiited with Mantegna in 1478. It ia thought 
that he studied painting nnder Lorenso Ooeta, with whom he ooonpied a 
home in Bologna; other eritiea oonaider that he studied nnder Ifaioo Zoppo, 
bat the balanoe of evidenoe eeema to be in favor of Ootta. Layard thinka 
it probable that .Franoia abandoned the goldamith't art l^ the advioe of 



FBANCESOO FRANCIA 807 

of no great size, for Messer Bartolommeo Felicini,* who 
placed it in the Misericordia, a charch just without the gate 
of Bologna. The sabject of this painting is a Madonna 
seated, with many figures around her ; among whom is 
Messer Bartolommeo, portrayed from the life.^ This work 
was executed in oil with great care, and when it was finished, 
in the year 1490, it gave so much satisfaction in Bologna, 
that Messer Oioyanni Bentiyoglio became desirous to see his 
chapel in the church of San Jacopo, of that city, adorned 
with the works of this new painter ; he therefore commis- 
sioned Francia to execute a picture, the subject of which 
was Our Lady appearing in the heavens, with a figure on 
each side, and two Angels, playing on musical instruments 
below.* This picture also was so admirably painted by 
Francia, that he not only received many praises from Messer 
Oioyanni, but also a very handsome and most honourable 
gift. The merits of this work, meanwhile, induced Monsig- 
nore de' Bentivogli to give the master a commission for a 
picture, to be placed over the high altar of the Misericordia.'® 
The subject of this painting is the Birth of Christ ; it has 
been highly extolled, and the drawing is very fine, while the 
invention and colouring are also worthy of praise. The por- 
trait of Monsignore de' Bentivogli is given in the picture, 
and, according to those who know him, is an excellent like- 

Cottft. The Mine Mithoritj belieyes that he wm inflnenoed bj Broole 
Boberti de* Grandi, who was also in Bologna at thia time. Piotnrei of 
Penigino were oarried to Bologna, and Francia adopted the Perugineaqae 
etjle. There leema to be no oonneotion other than thii between Pemgino 
and Franoia. See Meairs. Orowe and CaTalcaeeUe^a History of Pidnting in 
North Italy, I., 55& 

* This name, written Feliainl in the MilaneBi edition of the LiTee, if also 
written Felioini in Milanesi's Notes to Franoia. 

* This piotore, which was ezeoated in 1400, as mentioned by Vasari, is in 
the Aoademy at Bologna. 

*Bxeonted in 1400; it is now in the Cappella BentiTogli of San Giaoomo 
Maggiore in Bologna. It is one of Franoia*s best works, and is inscribed 
** Johanni Bentivoglio II Francia A urifex p inxit. ** 

>• Painted in 1406-00; it is in the Academy at Bologna. The figoxe with 
folded hands, usually called the St. Francis, is snppoeed to be the portrait of 
Franoia. 



806 tHANOBSOO S'BAKOIA 

noes ; he wears the drees of a pilgrim, in which he had Te« 
tnmed from Jerusalem.^^ For the church of the Nnnziata, 
outside the gate of San Mammolo, Francesco painted a pict- 
ure, representing the Virgin, when receiying the Annuncia- 
tion from the Angel : on each side of Our Lady stands a 
figure, and this work also is esteemed to be yery well ex- 
ecuted." 

While the works of Francia were thus increasing his fame^ 
he determined, finding that painting in oil had brought him 
so much honour and profit, to try if he could obtain equal 
success in fresco. Now at the time Messer Giovanni Benti- 
YOglio had caused his palace to be decorated with paintings 
by different masters from Ferrara, Bologna, and Modena ; 
but having seen the attempts of Francia in fresco, he re- 
solved that the latter should paint the walls of an apartment 
which was one of those used by himself. Here the master 
represented the Gamp of Holofemes, with numerous Senti- 
nels on foot and on horseback, who are watching the tents. 
While the attention of these guards is given to other parts, 
a woman, clothed in the garb of a widow, is seen to approach 
the sleeping Holof ernes ; she has seized his hair, heavy 
with the damps of sleep and the heat of wine, in her left 
hand, and with the right she is striking the blow that is to 
destroy her enemy ; close beside her there stands an old 
wrinkled handmaid, in whose face there .is, of a truth, the 
expression of most Mthful servitude ; she fixes her eyea 
intently on those of her mistress, whom she seeks to en- 
courage, and she bends herself down as she holds a basket^ 
in which to receive the head of the sleeping lover. This 
was considered one of the best and most finely executed pict- 
ures ever painted by Francia, but was destroyed when the 
palace was demolished, on the departure of the Bentivogli,^ 
together with one in the apartment above. The subject of 

" Antonio €hJaftno, ion of QioTanni II ; he wean the diMs of % kniglii 
of tbo Rod CroM, not of a pilgrim. 
>• This work, ezeooted in 1500, it stiU over the high altw. 
" Tho BentiTOglio funilj wm oziled in 1607. 



^BANOSSOO FRANOIA S09 

the last-mentioned work^ which was coloured to resemble 
bronze, was a disputation of philosophers ; it was admirably 
executed, and expressed the thought of the master with 
great effect. All these works caused Francia to be held in 
the highest esteem and admiration by Messer Oioyanni and 
every one of his house, nay, not only by them, but by all 
the citizens of Bologna. 

In the chapel of Santa Cecilia, which is attached to the 
church of San Jacopo, Francesco painted two historical 
pictures in fresco ; in one of these he represented Our Lady, 
espoused by Joseph ; and in the other the death of Santa 
Cecilia,*^ a work held in very great estimation by the people 
of Bologna ; " and of a truth, Francia acquired so much 
facility, and was so much encouraged by seeing his produc- 
tions attain to the perfection he desired for them, that he 
executed numberless paintings, of which I cannot record 
the particulars, it must suffice me to indicate to those who 
may wish to see his works, the most celebrated and best 
only.^* Nor did he permit his painting to interfere with his 
other works in medals, or to prevent him from giving his 
attention to the affairs of the mint, as he had done from the 
beginning. The departure of Messer Giovanni Bentivoglio 
from the city, caused Francia great sorrow, as it is. said ; the 
exile of one from whom he had received such important 
benefits grieving him exceedingly ; but yet, like a prudent 
and moderate person as he was, he continued to pursue his 
labours with his usual assiduity. After Messer Oiovanni 
had gone therefore, he painted three pictures, which were 

i« The Huriage of Si CeoUia wHh Valexiaa nther. Tbe Moond piotnvt it 
th« Buul of 81 CeofluL 

** Two of the fresooM in the muJl oii»pel or oniory of 8i. Oeoilia are hj 
Fnnoeaoo Fraaoift, two hj Costa, the others are hy Gtaeomo Praaeia, 
Chiodarolo, and Aipertini. They repraaent eeenee ftam the legend of Si 
Oeoilia. The fresooee hare been restored by Signor CaTenaghi ef MHaa, 
under the immediate direction of the Ute Gioranni MoreUi These works 
are Franoia*s only extant frescoes. See G. Frinoni, Oli ^^VetcAi di Santa 
CeeUia in Bologtia in 11 Buonarroti for 187S. 

>* lCohelangelo*s coarse jest and his many sarcasms on F^tanoia*s work wws 
published in the first and omitted in the second edition of Vasari's lifea. 



3lO FftANCESOO J^RAl^OIA 

taken to Modena ; in one of these is the Baptism '^ of Ohrist 
hy St. John, in the second a most beautiful Annunciation,^ 
and in the third a Madonna in the heavens, with many other 
figures ; this last was placed in the church belonging to the 
Frati delV Osservanza.^ 

By such works, the fame of this excellent master became 
bruited abroad, and the different cities contended with each 
other for the possession of his pictures ; accordingly he exe- 
cuted one in Parma, for the Black Friars of San Oiovanni ; 
the subject is the Pieti, or Christ lying dead in the lap of 
the Virgin, with numerous figures around. This work is 
uniyersally admitted to be most beautiful.^ The same 
monks, therefore, considering themselves well served in this 
matter, determined that Francia should paint another in a 
house of theirs at Beggio in Lombardy, where he also de- 
picted a Madonna with many figures. At Gesena likewise, 
in a church belonging to the Black Friars, this master 
painted a Circumcision of Christ, the colouring of which is 
exceedingly beautiful." Nor would the people of Ferrara 
consent to remain behind their neighbours, but determined 
to adorn their cathedral with the works of Francia ; where- 
upon they commissioned him to paint a picture with a large 
number of figures, and this they entitled the picture of 
Ognissanti (All Saints).^ For the church of San Lorenzo, 
in Bologna, Francia painted a Madonna, with two figures 
on each side, and two children beneath.^ This work was 
highly extolled, and he had scarcely completed it, when he 
was called on to execute another in Sant' lobbe (Job), rep- 

" This picture, ezeonted in 1509, is in the Draaden OalUiy. It wm injured 
in the bembeidment of Dzeeden in 1760. 

1* Thii piotme ie in the Brerm. Mibmod etatee that the Mune eobjeot In 
Modena, oQoe in the Palano Dnoale and now in the GaUcvy, ie b j the Mod i eee 
painter Ferrari, and was finished by Scaooieri (1518). 

>• Bzeonted in 1508 ; it is now in the Berlin Gallery and is badly repainted. 

** It is in the Gallery of Parma. 

*> It is in the Palano Pnbblioo of Cesena and is mach injured. 

** A Coronation of the Virgin, still in the oathedraL 

^ This piotnze is at the Hermitage, Si Petersburg ; it was painted in ISOd 



FBANOESOO FBANOIA 311 

resenting a Omcifiz^* with Sant' lobbe kneeling at the 
foot, and two figures at the sides. ^ 

The fame and works of this master were effectnally ex- 
tended oyer Lombardy^ and from Tuscany also he receiyed 
applications for his paintings, as he did from Lucca, whither 
he dispatched a picture representing Sant' Anna, Our Lady, 
and many other figures, with Christ lying dead in the lap of 
the Virgin Mother. This work is in the Church of San 
Fridiano, f and is considered by the people of Lucca to be 
one of great yalue.* For the Church of the Nunziata, in 
Bologna, this master painted two pictures, which were yery 
carefully executed,^ and for the Misericordia, outside the 
gate of 8trh CasHone, he also painted one, at the request 
of a lady of the Manzuoli family : in this he depicted Our 
Lady with the Child in her arms, San Giorgio, San Oioyanni 
Batista, San Stefano, and Sant' Agostino, with an angel 
beneath : the hands of the last mentioned are folded in an 
attitude of so much grace that beseems, indeed, to belong to 
Paradise.^ For the Brotherhood of San Francesco, in the 
same city, Francia painted a picture,^ as he also did one 
for the Brotherhood of San Girolamo.^ This master liyed 
in close intimacy with Messer Polo Zambeccaro, and, for 
the sake of that friendship, the latter requested him, as a 
memorial of himself, to paint a tolerably large picture repre- 



* Re«d OrnoifizioiL 

t The ohnroh was dedicated to San Frediano, not Fridiana 

** Now in the Lonvie. 

*• This piotnre, a Virgin ESnthroned, scirronnded by Saints, is now in the Na- 
tional Gallery, London. The Pietd is in the lunette. See Sig. A. Ventnri, 
VArch, Star, deW Arte^ H, 441-54, and La gaUeria del CampidogliOf Rome, 
1890, for a notice of a pictnre by Francia (a Presentation of the Virgin) in the 
Capitoline Gallery, Rome, and see also Sig. G. Gantalamessa, Lettere e Arte^ 
Na 7, for a Madonna, brooght from Cagliari to Bologna. 

*• There is a Madonna with saints in the Scappi chapel of the Nnniiata, and 
a Cmcifizion in the Graffi chapel MUanesi, ILL, p. MS. 

^ In the Academy at Bologna. 

*• Said to be in the Berlin Gallery, though there is some doabt whether thit 
partionlar picture mentioned by Vasari is the one in Berlin. 

^ ^ the Academy at Bologna. 



812 FRAKOESOO FBANOIA 

senting the Birth of Ghrist : this work was much extolled,* 
and is among the most celebrated of his performances, for 
which cause Messer Polo commissioned him to paint two 
figares in fresco, at his villa, and these also are exceedingly 
beantifol.*^ 

Another admirable work in fresco was executed by Francia 
in the Palace of Messer Geronimo Bolognino : it comprises 
many yaried and beautiful figures, and all these things had 
obtained for the master so extraordinary a degree of rever- 
ence in that city that he was held to be a kind of gody** 
more particularly after he had painted a set of caparisons 
for the Duke of tlrbino, on which he depicted a great forest 
all on fire, and whence there rushes forth an immense 
number of every kind of animal, with several human figures. 
This terrific, yet truly beautiful representation, was all the . 
more highly esteemed for the time that had been expended 
on it, in the plumage of the birds and other minuti», in the 
delineation of the different animals, and in the diversity o) 
the branches and leaves of the various trees seen therein : 
the work was rewarded with gifts of great value, and the 
duke always considered himself obliged to the master, more- 
over, for tiie great commendations that were constantly be- 
stowed on it." The Duke Ouido Baldo has also a picture 
by the hand of this master: it represents the Roman 
Lucretia ; it is much esteemed by the duke, and is in his 
guardaroba, with many other pictures, of which mention 
will be made in the proper place. * 

After these things Francia painted a picture for the Altar 
of the Madonna in the Church of San Vitale and Sanf Ag- 
ricola: in this there are two angels playing on the lute, 
which are very beautiful." Of the paintings scattered 
throughout Bologna, in the houses of the citizens, I will not 

** In the MnBemn of Forli 

*> Theie works have perished. 

*■ These works hare also perished. 

M Nothing is now known of these wodtai. 

M This work is also lost 

•* This picture is stiU in the ohoreh. 



FBAN0X800 FBA170IA 813 

epenk, still less of the vast number of portraits painted by 
this master ; for I should thus become too prolix. Let it 
suffice to say they were very numerous. 

While Francia was thus living in so much glory, and was 
peacefully enjoying the fruits of his labours, Baffaello da 
TTrbino was working in Home, where there daily flocked 
around him numerous foreigners from various parts, and 
among them many gentlemen of Bologna, anxious to see 
the works of that master. And as it most commonly hap- 
pens that every one is ready to extol the distinguished per- 
sons of his native place, so these Bolognese began to enter- 
tain Raphael with praises of the life, genius, and works of 
Francia, until so much friendship was established between 
those two masters, by means of words, that they saluted 
each other by letter.^ Then Francia, having heard so much 
discourse concerning the divine paintings of Raphael, de- 
sired to see his works, but he was now old and enjoying his 
ease in his beloved Bologna. It so chanced, however, that 
Raphael painted a picture of St. Cecilia in Rome, for the 
Oi^dinal of Pucci Santi Quattro, and this was to be sent to 
Bologna, there to be placed in one of the chapels of San 
Oiovanni-in-Monte,^ where the tomb of the Beata Elena 
dell' Olio is to be seen. Having packed up his work, there- 
fore, Raphael addressed it to the care of Francia, who, as 
being his friend, was to see it placed on the altar of the 
chapel for which the picture was destined ; with the proper 
framework and ornaments, which had been already prepared 
for it. This was an office which pleased Francia greatly, 
since he would thus have the long-desired opportunity of 
seeing the works of Raphael. Wherefore, having opened 
the letter written to him by the latter, wherein that master 
begged him to repair any scratch that might be found on 

•• Th^ w«ie fizrt pablkhed in MalTuia't FeUifia PiUrice. The origlxiali 
hftTO ikBwm been prodnoed. They are oonsidflKed hy the beet aathoritiee to be 
oomparatiTely modem foigeriee. Big. Minghetti, in his Rt^adio^ states that 
the style is not that of the sixteenth oentory. Messrs. Crowe and OaTalcaseOe 
think it probable that RH>hael and Francia met in Bologna in IQOCMl 

** In the Academy at Bologna. 



814 FBANOESOO FRANOIA 

the painting, and further requested, that, if he perceiyed 
any defect, he would, as a friend, correct it for him, Fran- 
cia caused the picture, with the greatest joy, to be taken 
into a good light, and had it removed from its case. But 
such was the astonishment it caused him, and so great was 
his admiration for it, that, perceiving his own error and the 
foolish presumption with which he had weakly believed in 
his own superiority, he took it deeply to heart, and, falling 
ill with his grief, in a very short time he died of its effects." 
The picture of Raphael was, indeed, divine— not painted, 
but absolutely alive : he had executed and finished it to 
such perfection that among all the admirable works per- 
formed by him in his whole life, though every one is beauti- 
ful, this may well be called the most exquisite. Comparing 
the beauties of this most exquisite picture with his own 
works, which he saw around him, Francia felt as one terri- 
fied and half deprived of life : he was, indeed, utterly con- 
founded, but, nevertheless, caused the painting to be placed, 
with all care and diligence, in the chapel for which it was 
intended in the church of San Oiovanni-in-Monte ; but, 
having become like a man beside himself, he took to his bed 
a few days after, appearing to himself to be now almost as 
nothing in art, when compared with what he had believed 
himself, and what he had always been considered. Thus he 
died, as many believe, of grief and vexation, incurring the 
same fate from so earnestly contemplating the living picture 
of Raphael, as that which befell Fivizzano, from too fixedly 
regarding his own beautiful painting of Death, and on which 
the following epigram was composed : — 

Me verampictor divinus merUe reoepU, 
Admota est apein deindeperita monuf, 

Dnmque opere in facto defigit lumina pidor^ 
Inteniua nimium, paUuH et moritur. 

Viva igiiur sum nnyrs, non moriua mortis imago 
Si/ungor, quo mors fungitur officio, 

** Undoobtedly a fable. Similar romantic storiea were told of Mrenl «f 
the RenaiBeanoe artiste. 



FBANOESOO FBANOIA. 816 

There are^ nevertheless^ many who declare his death to 
have been so sadden as to give rise to the belief^ which was 
confirmed by yarions appearances^ that it was caused by 
poison or apoplexy, rather than anything else. Francia was 
a man of great pmdence : he led a most regular lif e> and 
was of a robust constitution. At his death, in the year 1518, 
he received honourable interment from his sons in Bologna." 

** Franoift repraaanto the lohool of Bologna at its beat ; grayo and deeply 
idigiona, he ia aometimet quite noble by foroe of thia eameat grarity. Hia 
oolor ia Umbrian in ita atrength and richneas, but ia a little heavier than that 
of Pemgino ; he is as ainoerely rererent as Perngino at hia beet, yet haa not 
qnite the aame charm, nor yet any of the latter*a affectati(». He ii more 
natural and aimi^e than the Umbrian ; hia art ia atamped with the honeat, nn- 
aifocted, biflgher piety of Bologna La Qraua^ rather than with the perforid 
eoataay of myatioal and aavage Perogia. Hia typea are eren homely, bat hia 
roond-headed, short-bearded aainta are beantifnl in the noi/ linoecity of their 
expreaaion ; hia anob-noaed, heavy-chinned, very eameat, bat aometimea rather 
doU Madonnaa look aa though 6iotto*a women had been perfected by fifteenth- 
oentory techniqae npon oar master*a panels. Aa a portnut - painter hia 
aimplioity and direotneaa, cloaeneaa of modelling, and exoellent color help to 
make him admirable and eren impreaaiTe. There ia nothing very aalient in 
hia long liat of worka ; his St. Cecilia frescoes are rather entertaining by their 
qoaint costames than great by other qnaHtiea, bat his easel pictures see sus- 
tained and admirable. In the choir of the Benaissanoe, his note is grsTe and 
instinct with quiet feeling ; he has no roukuUs nor flourishes, but among aU 
the painters of the Emilia and the F ena r cse , Costa and Cossa, Tura and the 
two Brcoles, Boberti and Giaadi, hy far the fullest chord is struck by Fran- 



PIETEO PEEUGINO,* PAINTBB 

[Bom 1440; dtodllSSM.] 

BiBLiocnuPST.^A. ICenaiiofcle, /MZa VUa • ddU opwf 41 PMtv Vmmed 
4a Oatietlo dOla Pie9€, Tmen^ 1986. B, Onisd, VUa 4 Blogio 44tr ^gr^gh 
Pitt4>rePietroPerHgino4d^8eolaH4imao^FtKQ^l9(^ UaaAa^IM^ 
ter€ PUU>riche Ftntgim, Ftmooh, VUa 4t^ PtttoH F^ntginL BoMooi Bni- 
namonfti (Alinda), Fietro Perugino e VArU nmftro, in tbs BMtU C^nUm- 
poran4a. Anno L, 1880, Fate. 2. O. CSdlotti, Lo tOU 4i PUtro^P^ntgino • 
VimdiriMMO dOP ArU Modema, Bologna, 1887. J. D. Pmrntswrnot, Sn>hmel 
d'Urbin H «m phr€ Oiovanni Santi, Pwia, 1800, VoL L, Appendiji, EmtA 
9ur let Peiniret de P Ombrie, ppt 445 to 40L Bn^uroUi, JToHmU « do m n m Ui 
insdmintomoaPietro Fantieei, FtongiA, 1874. R. ICaroheii, il CbmHo ii< P#- 
m^, P»to^ 1868. A.BionA^8t<friaartittiead€lCambiodiP^rugUi^FvQ^ 
1874. BoMi-SooUi, Ouida lUuttrata di Perugia, Pcragift, 187a A. H. 
Laymid, Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, painted in freioo bj Pietn F»- 
nigino, in the ohapel of the laint, at Panicele. Anmdel Soeietj Poblioa* 
tion, London, 1860. 0. Triarte, JeabeOa d^StU tt U$ ariitteideeon tempe; Le 
Stwttoto, Perugino et ledbettOy Oatette de$ Beaux Arte, Angoet 1, 1806w 
VcnnigBoU, Memorie di Bernardino Pinturieehio (fall of detaUt oonoeninf 
Pemgino). See alio for mnoh inteceetbg diflerentiation of tho works of Pa- 
rogino from those of the yoong RH>hael Morelli^s ItaUan Masters in Ger- 
msn QaOeiies. For short hot ezoellent remsiks open Peragino's s^yle^ and 
for a pqrohokgiosl appreciation of the man, see 8jrmonds*s Fine Arts (the 
Benalaanos) and his '*Pemgia*' in Sketches and Studies in Sonthscn Bovopa. 

THE benefits derived by some men of distinction from 
the poYerty of their youth, and how potent an assist- 
ant poverty i^metimes proves in the cultivation of the 
faculties and for the attainment of excellence, may be 
clearly perceived in the history of Pietro Perugino. This 
artist, seeking to escape from the extreme of penury in Pe- 

> Pietro di Ohristofsno Vsnnooi, called Penigino, was bom, 1440, atOasteUo 
(now Oitti) della Pieve. He sometimes signs his works '' Petrtie de Oa$(ro Pie* 
hie, ** For many diflbrent signatures and for various orthography see the App«i- 
dix to Passayant's BaphaO. M. MUntc, in his BaphaHl, calls attention to the 
faet that Pemgino, who was onlettered, made a point of signing and datisfhia 
woiksin Latin, and, strange to say, made no mi s t a kfs , 



piBTBO PEBUonro 317 

rngia, departed to Florence^ hoping, by means of his abili- 
tiesy to attain to some distinction. He there remained many 
months withont even a bed to lie on, and miserably took 
his sleep npon a chest ; bat, taming night into day, and 
labonring withoat intermission, he devoted himself most 
ferrently to the stady of his profession. Oontinnal labour 
thas became the habit of his life : he knew no other pleas- 
are than that of toiling incessantly in his Yocation, and, 
therefore, painted perpetnally. 

Having the prospect and terrors of poverty constantly 
before his eyes, Pietro nndertook works for gain, on which 
he wonld probably not have cast his eyes if he had possessed 
wherewith to snpport himself ; bat it is very possible that 
riches woald have closed the path to eminence offered by 
his talents, as eflectaally as it was opened to him by poverty 
and by the impnlse received from his need, for he was 
thereby impelled to straggle, that he might escape from so 
wretched and debased a condition, and, at least, secure the 
means of life, if he might not hope to attain to the highest 
eminence. With this in view he did not permit himself to 
r^ard cold, hanger, fatigae, or privation of any kind, nor 
was he ashamed to perform any work that might help to 
}>romote his object, which was to obtain the power of some 
day living in ease and quietness. It was his wont to say, 
and almost in the manner of a proverb, that after bfid 
weather the good must come ; and that when it is fair 
weather, a man must build his house, that he may thus be 
under shelter when he most needs it. 

But to the end that the progress of this artist may be the 
better understood, I begin with his beginning, and relate that, 
according to common report, there was bom in the city of 
Peragia, to a poor man called Christofano,' of Castello della 
Pieve,' a son, whom, at his baptism, they named Pietro. 

* Tbefunily of Pietro, though poor, wm not of low eonditioii, hftTing «i- 
Joyodtho righU of dtisenship tinoe 1427. See Mwiottl. UtUr$ PttloHc*# 
Pemgine, p, 121. 

> OMteUo deUA Piere is now Cittk dcIU Picm 



818 PIETBO PEBUGINO 

This ohild^ brought np in penury and want, was given by 
his father to be the shop-drudge of a painter in Perugia, 
who was not particularly distinguished in his calling, but 
held the art in great veneration and highly honoured the 
men who excelled therein ; * nor did he ever cease to set be- 
fore Pietro the great advantages and honours that were to 
be obtained from painting, by all who acquired the power of 
labouring in it effectually ; recounting to him all the re- 
wards bestowed on the various masters, ancient and modem, 
thereby encouraging Pietro to the study of his art : inso- 
much that he kindled in the mind of the latter the desire to 
become one of those masters, as he resolved, if fortune were 
propitious to him, that he would do. The boy would thus 
often inquire of such persons as he knew to have seen the 
world, in what city the best artists were formed P This 
question he addressed more particularly to his instructor, 
from whom he constantly received the same reply, namely, 
that Florence was the place, above all others, wherein men 
attain to perfection in all the arts, but more especially in 
painting. And to this, he said, they were impeUed by three 
causes : first, by the censure freely expressed by so many 
persons and in such various modes, for the air of that city 
gives a natural quickness and freedom to the perceptions of 
men,' so that they cannot content themselves with medioc- 
rity in the works presented to them, which they always 
judge with reference to the honour of the good and beauti- 
ful in art, rather than with respect to, or consideration for, 
the man who has produced them : next, that, to obtain the 
means of life in Florence, a man must be industrious, which 

* MordH (ItiliAn Peters, I., p. 107) bfllierea Perngino to haye lewned llnl 
from Fiorenxo di Lorenzo at PemgiA, then of Pino della FranooMa at AresBO^ 
and thinks that he was a finished artist when he went, soon after 14701, to 
Fkrenoe. He has been called the popU of Verrooohio in the Utter eity, hot 
Morelli finds no trace of Andrea^s inflnenoe in Psmgino's eady work, tad 
thinks that Pietro*s Thndo in the Loavre recalls Fiorenao, while his PiM and 
altar-piece of the Calsa show the inflnenoe of Bignorelli Some critics hmw 
named BonfigK and Alnnno as his masters. 

* The Florentines seem to hare shared with the ancient Athsaiana this be- 
lief in the efficacy of the natiye air. 



PIETRO PERUOINO 819 

if as nmch as to say that he mnst keep his skill and judgment 
in perpetual activity^ must be ever ready and rapid in his 
proceedings ; must know^ in shorty how to gain money^ see- 
ing that Florence, not haying a rich and abundant domain 
around her, cannot supply the means of life to those who 
abide within her walls, at light cost, as can be done in 
countries where produce abounds largely. The third cause, 
which is, perhaps, not less effectual than the other two, is 
the desire for glory and honour, which is powerfully gener- 
ated by the air of that place, in the men of every profession, 
and whereby all who possess talent are impelled to struggle, 
that they may not remain in the same grade with those 
whom they perceiye to be only men like themselves (much 
less will any consent to remain behind another), even though 
they may acknowledge such to be indeed Masters ; but all 
labour by every means to be foremost, insomuch that some 
desire their own exaltation so eagerly as to become thankless 
for benefits, censorious of their competitors, and, in many 
ways, evil minded, unless that effect be prevented by natur^ 
excellence and sense of jirstice. It is, however, true that 
when a man has acquired sufScient for his purposes in Flor- 
ence, if he wish to effect more than merely to live from day 
to day, as do the beasts that perish, and desire to become rich, 
he must depart from her boundaries and seek another market 
for the excellence of his works and for the reputation con- 
ferred by that city ; as the learned derive profit from the re- 
nown obtained by their studies. For the city of Florence 
treats her artists as Time treats his works, which, having 
perfected he destroys, and, by little and little, gradually 
consumes. 

Influenced by these counsels, therefore, and moved by 
the persuasions of various persons, Pietro repaired to Flor- 
ence with the determination to attain excellence, and in this 
he succeeded well, for, at that time, works in his manner 
were held in the highest esteem. He studied under the dis- 
cipline of Andrea Yerrocchio,* and the first figures paintei 

•8m note i. 



320 PIBTBO PEBUQINO 

by him were executed for the Nans of San Martino^ at a 
conyent without the gate of Prato^ bat which has now been 
ruined by the wars. At the Carthusian Monastery, also, he 
painted a San Oirolamo in fresco, which was then highly 
esteemed by the Florentines, and is often cited by them with 
commendation, because the saint was represented as old, 
meagre, and wan, with the eyes fixed on the cross ; nay, he 
was depicted as worn and consumed by fasting to such a 
degree that he was little more than a skeleton, as may be 
still seen from a copy of that picture which is now in the 
possession of the before-mentioned Bartolommeo Gondi.^ 
In a few years Pietro attained to such a height of repu- 
tation, that his works were dispersed, not only through 
Florence and all over Italy, but in France, Spain, and other 
countries, whither they had been despatched. His paint- 
ings being thus held in high estimation, and bearing a very 
great price, the merchants began to make purchases of 
them and to send them into different lands, to their great 
gain and adyantage. 

For the Nuns of Santa Chiara* Pietro painted a picture 
of the Dead Christ,' the colouring of which was so beautiful 
as well as new, that it awakened in the artists of the time 
an expectation of the excellence which Pietro was destined 
to attain. In this work there are some most admirable 
heads of old men, and the Maries also, having ceased to 
weep, are contemplating the departed Saviour with an ex- 
pression of reverence and love which is singularly fine: 

V Both the original and the oopy hMiW diMppeared. 

• Thia FUtd, exeonted in 1495, ia in iha Pitti, and there azethxeeatndiea for 
it in blaok and white in the UfBai Perngino waa one of the first masters in 
oentral Ital j to handle the new oil medium aaooessfnU j, as ia shown in thia 
Pietd, The fiM)t helps to expkin the quantity and oommereial popularity of 
his panel piotoies. In 140S he had not as yet mastered the new medium, but 
the portrait of Franeesoo delle Opere in the VfSbd. (and there oalled a portrait 
of Perngino by himself) waa painted in oU in 1494. (MIL Lafenestre and 
Riehtenbemer, tfartnee^ quota the date as 1491), but Morelli haa shown that 
Pietro probably learned to work in oil in Venioe, circa 1494, and haa pub* 
Uahed a letter of the Duke of Mihui, Ludoyioo Bfom, written in 1496^ ptor* 
ing that the latter wiahed to take Perugino into his own serrioai 



PIBTBO PERUOINO 821 

there is, besides, a landscape, which was then considered to 
be exceedingly beantifnl ; the tme method of treating hmd- 
scapes, which was afterwards discovered, not haying then 
been adopted. It is related that Francesco del Pugliese 
offered to give the Nnns three times as much as they had 
paid Pietro for that picture, and to canse another exactly 
like it to be executed for them by the same hand ; but they 
would not consent, because Pietro had told them that he 
did not think he could equal the one they possessed.* 

In the convent of the Frati-Gesuati, also, beyond the 
Pinti Grate, there were various works by this master, and as 
that monastery and church are both destroyed, I will not 
refuse the labour of describing them, but will take this oc- 
casion, before proceeding further with the life before me, 
to say a few words concerning them.^ The architecture 
of the church was due to Antonio di Giorgio, of Settigna- 
no; it was forty braccia long and twenty broad. At the 
upper end, four steps or stairs conducted to a platform of 
six braccia, on which stood the high altar, magnificently 
decorated with ornaments of cut stone ; and over this al- 
tar, also in a richly adorned frame- work, was a picture by 
the hand of Domenico Ghirlandajo, as we have before 
related. In the midst of the church was a screen, or 
wall of separation, in the centre of which was a door 
worked in open work from the middle upwards. On each 
side of this door stood an altar, and over each altar was a 
picture by the hand of Pietro Perugino, as will be related 
hereafter. Over the door, also, was a most beautiful Gru- 
cifix by Benedetto da Maiano, on one side of which was a 
Madonna, and on the other a figure of San Giovanni, both 
in relief. Before the platform of the high altar, and against 
the screen above mentioned, was a choir of the Doric order, 
admirably carved in walnut wood, and over the principal 

• Bomobr {liaL Foneh., II., p. 845) calls attention to the fMt that Vanxi 
li deaoribing a matwe work aa one of Pietro*s youth. Perugino was in Flor* 
aa early aa 1470, the Pktd is of 1406. 
** Thia oonTent was deatroyed in the dege of Florence in 15001 



823 PIETBO PBBUOINO 

door of the chnroh was another choir^ or gallery^ supported 
on a strong wood-work^ the under part of which as seen 
from below represented a canopy^ overlaid with a rich dec- 
oration in beantifnlly arranged compartments ; a balustrade 
was added^ by way of defence to that part which was op- 
posite to the high altar. This choir was exceedingly com- 
modious for the friars of that convent during the perform- 
ance of their nocturnal serrices^ or when engaged in their 
private devotions : it was^ besides^ very useful to them on 
all festivals and holidays. Over the principal door of the 
churchy which was amply decorated with beautiful orna- 
ments in stone^ and with a portico reposing on fine columns^ 
which extended even to the door of the convent^ was the 
figure of the Bishop San Giusto^ in a lunette^ with an an- 
gel on each side^ by the hand of the master in miniature^ 
Oherardo ; a very fine work^ and placed there because the 
church was dedicated to San Giusto. Within the building 
there was a relic preserved by those friars^ an arm of the 
saint> namely. At the entrance to the convent was a small 
cloister^ the extent of which was exactly equal to that of 
the church, forty braccia long that is, and twenty broad. The 
arches and vaulting of this cloister were supported by col- 
umns of stone, and the whole formed a spacious and very 
commodious loggia, or gallery, entirely around the build- 
ing. In the centre of the court of the cloister, which was 
neatly paved all over with cut stones, was an extremely 
beautiful fountain, with a loggia above it, also built on 
stone columns, which made a rich and handsome ornament 
to the place. In this cloister was the chapter-house of the 
monks, with the lateral door of the church and the stairs 
which ascended to the upper stories, where were dormi- 
tories and other apartments for the use of the brotherhood. 
On the further side of the cloister, and exactly opposite to 
the principal door of the convent, was a spacious avenue, 
the length of which was equal to that of the chapter-house 
and the chancery : this avenue led to a cloister which was 
larger and more beautiful than the first. All this line, the 



METRO PERUGINO 338 

forty braccia of the loggia belonging to the first cloister^ 
that is^ with the length of the avenue and that of the 
loggia of the second cloister^ formed a very long and most 
beautiful succession of arcades^ the view of which was more 
delightful than words could easily describe. And the effect 
was all the finer from the circumstance that^ beyond the 
last cloister^ and in the same direction^ there extended one 
of the walks of the convent garden^ which was two hun- 
dred braccia in length ; all of which^ as seen by those who 
came from the principal door of the convent^ formed a view 
that was admirably beautiful. In the second cloister was a 
refectory sixty braccia long and eighteen wide ; with all the 
requisite chambers, or as monks call them, offices, which, in 
such a convent, are demanded. Over this was a dormitory 
in the form of the letter T, one part of which, the direct line, 
or principal part namely, which was sixty braccia long, was 
double, having cells on each side that is to say, and at the 
upper end, in a space of fifteen braccia, was an oratory, above 
the altar of which was a picture by the hand of Pietro Peru- 
j^QO. Over the door of this oratory, also, was another work 
tj this master, the latter being in fresco, as will be related 
hereafter. On the same fioor, but over the chapter-house, 
was a large room which those fathers used for the purpose 
of their glass-painting, and where they had their furnaces 
and other things needful to such an occupation. Pietro 
was therein very useful to them, for as while he lived he 
prepared them their cartoons for these works ; so all that * 
they performed in his time were excellent. The garden of 
this convent, moreover, was so well kept and so beautiful, 
the vines were so finely trained around the cloister, and all 
watt so well managed, that nothing better could be seen 
either in Florence or around it. In like manner the place 
whevein the monks distilled odoriferous waters and pre- 
pared medicinal extracts, as was their custom, was supplied 
with all the conveniences that could possibly be imagined. 
This convent, in fine, was one of the most beautiful, most 
commodious, and best managed houses of religion in the 



3M PDCTBO PSBUGIKO 

whole state of Florence ; wherefore it is that I haye re- 
soWed to make this mention of the same : and this I have 
done the rather becaose the greater part of the paintings 
therein were by the hand of Pietro Pemgino. 

But retomingy at lengthy to this Pietro, I proceed to mj, 
that of the works performed by him in the iUK>Te-de8cribed 
conyenty nothing has been preserved but the pictures ex- 
ecuted on panel, seeing that all those in fresco were de- 
stroyed in the si^;e of Florence, when the building was 
wholly demolished. The panel pictures, howerer, were car- 
ried to the gate of San Pier (Jattolini, where those monks were 
provided with a refuge in the church and convent of San 
Giovannino.^^ Of the two pictures by Pietro which were on 
the screen, the one represented Ohrist in the Garden with 
the Apostles, who are sleeping : in this work Pietro shows 
how ^ectual a refuge is sleep from the cares and pains of 
life, he having depicted the disciples of Christ in attitudes 
of the most perfect ease and repose.'^ The other painting 
is a Pieti, the Sayiour lying dead that is, in the lap of Our 
Lady, around whom are four figures not inferior to others 
executed in the manner of that master." Among the vari- 
ous characteristics of this work, it is to be remarked that 
the figure of the Dead Ohrist here described is benumbed 
and stiffened, as if it had been so long on the cross that 
the time and cold had brought it to that appearance. St. 
John and the Magdalen, in heavy aflSiction, are weeping as 
they support the body. 

in another picture, executed with infinite care, is the 
Saviour on the Oroes, at the foot of which is the Magdalen, 
with St. Jerome, St. John the Baptist, and the Beato 
GioTanni Oolombini, the founder of that order to which 
the monks belonged. ^^ These three pictures haye suffered 

u This ii now the ohoroh of L» GblsL 

M In the Florentine AoAdemy; it wm pointed between 140S and 14001 
>* In the Florentine Acedemy : it wee painted in 1496. 
'« This work is now in the choreh of LaOdsi. It baa been oonaidered a 
donbtfol piotnxe. Measra. Crowe and OaTakaaelle aay of it: '* It ia dilBooH 



PIBTBO PBBUGIKO 836 

considerably ; in the shadows and on all the dark parts there 
are numerous cracks^ and this has happened from the cir- 
cnmstance^ that when the first colour was laid on the 
ground, it had not perfectly dried before the second (for 
there are three coats of colour given one oyer the other) 
was applied, wherefore, in the gradual drying by time, they 
haye become drawn throughout their thickness, with a 
force that has sufficed to produce these cracks ; a fact that 
Pietro could not know or anticipate, since it was but in his 
time that the practice of painting well in oil first com- 
menced. The works of Pietro being much extolled by the 
Florentines, as we haye said, a Prior of the same conyent 
of the Ingesuati,^ who took great pleasure in the art, com- 
missioned him to paint a Nativity on the walls of the first 
cloister, with the Adoration of the Magi, the figures ex- 
tremely small, and this work he conducted to perfection 
.with much grace and elegance. Among the heads, which 
are infinitely varied, are portraits from the life not a few,^* 
one of these is the likeness of Andrea Verrocchio, Pie- 
tro^s master. In the same court, and over the arches 
resting on the columns, our artist executed a frieze wherein 
were heads of the size of life, and among them was that 
of the Prior himself, so life-like, and painted in so good a 
manner, that the best judges among artists have declared it 
to be the most perfect work ever performed by this master. 
In the second cloister, over the door leading into the refec- 
tory, he was likewise commissioned to paint an historical 
picture, the subject of which was Pope Boniface, confirm- 
ing to the Beato Giovanni Oolombino, the habit of his 
Order. Here Pietro painted the portraits of eight of the 
monks, with a most beautiful perspective, receding in a 
manner which was greatly extolled, and deservedly so, for to 

to Moribe this i^Me eiUier to Pemgino or to SignofellL*' Again th^ itato 
that whUo portioiia of the work bear the impreM of Pemgino, other parte 
would appear to liaTO been ezeooted b j SignorellL 

>*Aa this Ingeanati oonyeot waadeatrojed the frewo imdonbtedlj per- 
iahed. 

>* For Pemgino aa a portrait painter, aee note Sa 



326 PIETEO PEBUOIlfO 

these matters Pietro gave partioular attention. Beneath 
this picture he commenced a second, representing the Birth 
of Christ, with angels and shepherds, the colouring of 
which was exceedingly fresh and lively. Over the door of 
the above described oratory also, he painted three half* 
length figures of Our Lady, St. Jerome, and the Beato 
Giovanni, in so fine a manner, that this was esteemed 
among the best of the mural paintings executed by Pietro.^ 
The Prior of this cloister, as I have been told, was very 
successful in the preparation of ultra-marine blues, and 
having them, from this circumstance, in good store, he 
therefore desired that Pietro should use them frequently in 
all the above-mentioned works; he was nevertheless so 
mean and mistrustful that he dared not confide the colour 
to Pietro, but would always be present when the latter was 
using the azure blue. The master therefore, who was by 
nature upright and honest, nor in any way covetous of an- 
other man's goods, took the distrust of the Prior very ill, 
and determined to make him ashamed of it. He accord- 
ingly placed a bowl of water beside him whenever he had 
prepared draperies or other parts of the picture to be 
painted in blue and white, calling every now and then on 
the Prior (who turned grudgingly to his little bag of the 
colour), to put ultra-marine into the vase or bottle wherein 
it was tempered with water : then setting to work, at every 
second pencil-full he washed his brush into the bowl beside 
him, wherein there remained by this means, more colour 
than the painter had bestowed on his work. The Prior find- 
ing his bag becoming empty, while the work made but little 
show, cried out once and again, time after time, — *' Oh, what 
a quantity of ultra-mariue is swallowed up by this plaster. '^ 
•' You see for yourself how it is,'* replied Pietro, and the 
Prior went away. AVlien he was gone, the master gathered 
the ultra-marine from the bottom of the bowl, and when he 
thought the proper time for doing so was come, he returned 
it to the Prior, — saying to him, ''This belongs to you, 

>' Thete wodn woe dertroyed. 



PISTBO PEBUGINO 327 

father, learn to trust honest men, for such never deceive 
those who confide in them, although they well know how 
to circumyent distrustful persons like yourself, when they 
desire to do so/^ 

By the works here executed and many others, Pietro ac- 
quired 80 great a reputation, that he was almost compelled 
to go to Siena, where he painted a very large picture in the 
church of San Francesco, which was considered to be ex- 
tremely beautiful,^ as was another by his hand in that of 
Sant^ Agostino; the latter representing Christ Crucified, 
with certain Saints.^* A short time after this, Pietro 
painted a picture of St. Jerome *' in penitence,*' for the 
church of San Gkdlo in Florence, but this work is now in 
San Jacopo-tra-Fossi, at the comer of the Alberti, where 
those monks now have their abode.* Pietro likewise re- 
ceived a commission to paint a figure representing the Dead 
Saviour, with the Madonna, and San Oiovanni, above the 
steps leading to the side door of San Pietro Maggiore, and 
this he executed in such a manner, that, exposed as it is to 
wind and weather, it has nevertheless maintained such 
freshness, as to have the appearance of being but just 
finished by the hand of the master.*^ Pietro Perugino cer- 
tainly proved himself well acquainted with the management 
of colours, in fresco as well as in oil, insomuch, that the 
most able artists are largely indebted to him for the knowl- 
edge to be obtained by means of his works, more especially 
as regards the lights. 

In the church of Santa Groce, in the same city, this mas- 
ter painted a Madonna mourning over the body of Christ, 
which she sustains on her bosom ; in this picture there are 
two figures, the sight of which awakens astonishment, not 

>• This picture, a Nativity, painted 150S-9, periihed in a fire in the Mren- 
teenth oentarj. 
>• StiU in the chorob. 
M This work it lost. 

*> It was taken to the chapel of the Albizzi Palace, Florence, after the dem- 
of the charch. 



3S8 PIETSO PSBUGOrO 

80 much indeed for their excellence, as for thdr freshnen ; 
that a painting in fresco should have remained so new- 
looking and liyely for so long a time is surprising." From 
Bernardino de' Rossi, Pietro received a commission to paint 
a San Sebastiano to be sent into France, and the price agreed 
on was to be one hundred gold crowns, but the picture was 
sold by Bernardino to the King of France for four hundred 
gold ducats. At Yallombrosa, this artist painted a figure 
for the High Altar," with another for the Certoea or Car- 
thusian Monastery at Pavia, for the same monks. '^ 



•• This wofk if lort. ABwrtlnf ■ ifim»Hay> ipeahi of > pmal by Ptt^i— 
in Sinta Oroo«. 

** In the Flore&tine Aoftdemy. It mm czMuted in 1500 uul is a large pioi- 
un of Uie Aiwimptioa with Saint Michael the Archangel, & Benedetto. & Gio- 
vanni Gnalberto, and & Benardo degli UbertL In the same gallery are two 
fittle portrait heads of monks seid to hare been the donors of the altar-pieoa 
They are Don Biagio Milsnesi, genenl of the order of VaUombrooa, and Don 
Beldaaarre, and in their marreDoos delieaoy and withal breadth of modelling, 
these are two of the finest portrait heads in Biuope, showing Pemgino hi 
^piite a new Ugfat and proving what he coold have done in portr aiinr e l»d his 
ordflcs lor ohoroh pictoiee not proTsnted him from the ezeontlon of seoolar 
works. Fessavant and Gmyer both attribute the profile portraits of the 
two monks to Raphael, Morelli refoses the attribation, and the heads are 
now aooredited to Pemglna The position in profile with nptozned Isoes 
may perhaps be explained by the fsot that theee heads formed part of the 
snr roonding to the altar-pieoe. See MM. Lsfenestre and Riohtenberger, 
M<trenee, p. 212L See also as examples of bis portraits Paragino*s head of 
himself in the Sala del Cambio and his Franoesco delle Opere in the UIBsL 

** Messrs. Crowe and Oavaloaselle think this picture was painted abont 
1504in Fknenoe, and, as it woe, nnder the eye of Leonardo da Vinoi Morelli 
(Italian Masters in German Galleries, pp. 288-80) cites Penigino*s joam&f to 
the north e<rea 1494, and shows that the piotnre was moofa more probably com- 
missioned at abont that time, and was possibly painted in the oonrent itself, 
where a portion of it stQl remains, while the principal panels, the centre, a 
Virgin with Angels, and the right and left hand panels, R a ph ael with yoong 
Tobias, and Ifiohael, are in the National Gallery. It is Pemgino*! finest altar- 
pieoe, and the master may claim by right of this pietore a parity of exoel- 
lence of panel painting and fresco work rarely fonnd in one and the same artiitb 
Of snoh pictures as the triptych of Paris and the Pazzl Crucifixion of Florence, 
one may quote Symonds (Renaiisanoe in Italy, tbe Fine Arts) : ** In his best 
work the Renaissance set the seal of absolute perfection upon pietistie art.** 

MoreDi's abstract (ItaUsn Masters in German Galleries, pp. 267, 288, 260) 
upon Pietro*s early wanderings in the north of Italy is as fbUows : Pemgiuo 
was in yflnioeinl404, and finished, probably in Cremona itself, his pietore for 



PIBTBO PBBUOINO 329 

For the High Altar of the episcopal ohorch in Naples, 
Pietro was commissioned by Cardinal OarafiEa, to paint an 
Assumption of Oar Lady, with the Apostles in adoration 
around the tomb,* and for the Abbot, Simone de' Graziani 
of Borgo San Sepolcro, he painted a large picture which was 
executed in Florence ; being afterwards transported to the 
church of San Oilio at Borgo, on the backs of porters, at 
yery heayy cost** To Bologna Pietro sent a picture for the 
church of San Giovanni-in-Monte ; in this there are two 
figures standing upright, with the Virgin appearing in the 
heavens aboTe them.^ 

By all these works the fame of the master became so 
widely diffused throughout Italy and in foreign lands, that 
he was invited to Home, by Pope Sixtus lY., to his great 
glory ; here he was appointed to work in the Sistine chapel, 
together with the other eminent artists who had also been 
invited by that Pontiff ; and in company with Don Bar- 
tolommeo della (Jatta, Abbot of San Glemente in Arez20,he 
painted the story of Christ delivering the keys to Peter.* 
The Nativity of the Saviour, his Baptism with the Birth of 

the ehareh of Si Augustine there ; Muroh S, t49S, he oonteaoted in Fenicfak 
to p«int for the monke of CaMino the Assumption which is now in Lyons, in 
the SMM year and plaoe (Perngia) he painted the Entombment (Pitti), in 
1486 the Marriage of Mary (Caen), and in that year was again in Tenioe^ 
MordU dates the triptych of F^ria (National Gallery) as between 1404-149S, 
and refoseo to aooept the yonng Raphael as oolUborstor in it In 1407 Pietro 
pahited at Fano the hurge Dnranti altar-pieoe in the ohnroh of S. Marin 
NaoTn. In 1406 he executed for 8. Domenioo of Perngia his Madonna and six 
kneeling brethren ; 1400-1500 he worked at Vallombrosa npon an Assomp- 
tion (Academy of Florence), and perhaps at the same time painted the two fine 
profile portraits of monks. Morelli deduces from all these wanderings that 
the young Raphael cannot haye been Pietro*s pupil till about 150(X 

M StiU in the cathedraL 

M StiU in the Dnoma A Ohrist with angels is in the npperptrt of the 
picture ; the IHrgin among the Apostles is in the lower portion. 

■v It is in the Academy at Bologna. It represents a Virgin in the olonda 
with Saints Michael, Oatharine, ApoUonia, and John the Brangelist. Some 
of the figures are representatiye at once of the master's most mannered style 
and yet of his greatest charm. 

•* Perugino finished his Sistine frescoes in 1406. Only the DeliTory of the 
Keya ttiU remains. Morelli, basing himself npon a careful stylistic compari* 



830 PISTBO PERUGINO 

MoB6s> and his discovery by the daughter of Pharaoh, who 
takes him from the little ark of balmshes, were also painted 
by this master. On the side whereon is the altar likewise, 
Pietro executed a mural painting of the Assumption of the 
Virgin, and in this he placed the portrait of Pope Sixtus, in 
a kneeling position. But these last mentioned works were 
destroyed during the pontificate of Pope Paul III., when 
the divine Michelagnolo painted his picture of the Last 
Judgment in that chapel.^ In the palace of the Pope, 
Pietro painted a ceiling in one of the apartments of the 
Torre Borgia ; here he depicted certain stories from the 
life of Christ, with ornaments of foliage in chiaro-scuro, a 
work reputed at the time, to be one of extraordinary ex- 
cellence.® In the church of San Marco, also in Home, he 
painted an historical piece beside the chapel of the Sacra- 
ment representing two martyrs : this is accounted among 
the good works executed by Pietro while in Rome." For 
Sciarra Golonna he painted a Loggia with several chambers, 
in the Palace of Sant' Apostolo and all these works placed 

•on, giT6s the freBOoes of tho Baptism of Christ and Moms kaTing Egypt to 
Pintnrioohio ; see the life of that master^ note 27. Morelli finds no tntoe of a 
strange hand in the fresco of the DeUvery of the Keys, and refers the oo- 
operation of Delia Gatta, if it oocnrred at idl, to some of the moral pafaitihga 
whioh hare perished ; while certain critios eren discredit the existence of 
Don Bartolommeo as a worker in the Sistina. 

** The frescoes destroyed were the Assumption, the Katiyity, and the finding 
of the child Moses. It is greatly to be deplored that no replica has been pre- 
■erred, for the Deliyery of the Keys, painted at the same time, is, as a composi- 
tion, nneqnalled by any fifteenth-century fresco in the Sistine Chapel ; its bal- 
ance and restraint csn indeed be paralleled by yery few works eyen of the 
golden period of the first years of the sixteoith century. The worst that can 
be said of it is that it is slightly academic, and that the tiny figures of the 
background make spots which attract the eye away from t)ie main acticm. 

** In the Camera deW Incendio Raphael spared Perugino*s ceiling, which 
represents in so many tondi what Milanesi, HL 579, note 8, calls four poetiosl 
wad symbolical scenes in whioh figure the Btemal Father, angels, and allegor- 
ical figures. By the side of the great works of the Urbinate they seem insignifi- 
cant, but nerertheless they are not lacking in deooratiye charm. 

*> This work has perished. There is, howeyer, a figure of St Mark in the 
ohnroh which is still assigned to Pemgino, but Messrs. Crowe and Cayalcaaelle, 
History of Paintingin Italy, m. 191, note 1, mj that it it a work of the 
Venetian School of the ViyarinL 



PLETEO PEEUGINO 331 

him in possession of a very large sum of money ; ^ Pietro^ 
therefore, determined to remain no longer in Bome, and de- 
parted thence with the good favour of all the court. He 
then returned to his native city of Perugia, and there exe- 
cuted various frescoes and pictures in different parts of the 
city, more particularly in the palace of the Signori, where 
he painted a picture in oil, for the chapel of that building, 
representing the Virgin with other saints." 

In the church of San Francesco-del-Monte, Pietro painted 
two chapels in fresco, the Adoration of the Magi in one, and 
in the other the Martyrdom of certain Monks of the Fran- 
ciscan order, who, having proceeded to the Sultan of Baby- 
lon, were there put to death.^ In San Francesco del Con- 
vento, this master painted two pictures in oil, in one of 
which he depicted the resurrection of Jesus Christ,^ and in 
the other San Giovanni Batista, with other saints." For 
the church of the Servites also,*^ Pietro likewise painted two 
pictures, one representing the Transfiguration of Our Lord, 
and the other, which is beside the sacristy, the Adoration 
of the Magi." But as these works are not of equal excel- 
lence with some others by this master, it is considered cer- 
tain that they are among the first which he executed. In 
San Lorenzo, which is the cathedral of that city (Perugia), 
there is a Madonna by the hand of Pietro, in the chapel of 



** ThflM works are lost There is, however, a painting of » 8w Sebaitlano 
left in the Sciarra palaoe. 

** It ie now in the Vatican, it waa executed in 1496i. 

^ These frescoes have been remoTed to the Pinaooteoa of Pemgia. 

** The Resurrection is in the Vatican. Raphael is said to have worked on 
this picture, but the story that the portraits of Raphael and Perugino may 
be seen in the sleeping figure at the left and in the fleeing soldier is doubtfuL 
Morelli, Italian Masters in Grerman Gkdleries, p. 814, refuses to beUeve that 
Raphael ever had anything to do with the picture, and is inclined to belicTe 
that it was painted by Giovanni Spagna from a cartoon by Pemgina 

** In the Pinacoteca of Perugia. 

" The church of the Bervitos is now S. Maria Nuova. Pemgian writers 
daim that there are stUl other woiks of Perugino in the church. — Milanesi, 
m., 581, noto a 

** The Transfiguration and the Adoration are in the Museum of Perugia, 



332 PIETRO PERUGINO 

the Orocifisso, with the Maries^ San Oioyannl^ San Lo* 
renzo> San Jacopo^ and other saints.^ 

For the altar of the sacrament, where the ring with which 
the Virgin Mary was espoused is preserred, this master 
painted an altar-piece representing the Marriage of Our 
Lady.*> 

At a later period, Pietro painted the Hall of Audience in 
the Exchange of Perugia entirely in fresco.^ The compart- 

** No longer in the oathedraL 

** TbU 8poializiO| now in the Musenm of CSaen, has always been oonadeied 
an original Peragino,and the prototype of Ri^hael*B SposaUdo (Brera). Mr. 
Bemhard Berenion {OoEeUedes Beaux Arts^ April, 1890) belieToa that the 
Spoializio of Caen was painted by Lo Spagna, and ii a BonTenir, not a pcoto- 
type, of Raphaers Marriage of the Virgin. 

4> Pemgino began thii cycle in 1499, and eeems to hare finished it in 1500i« 
thongh he was not entirely paid till 1507. The Sala del Oambio shows ns ez* 
aotly what the men of the fifteenth century asked and obtained as a oomplete 
system of decoration, carried ont at one time and under the direction of ona 
mind. As such alone it would be a priceless lesson, but the coincidence of the 
deooration with one of the best periods of the Renaissance and of the direction 
with one of its best masters adds such intrinsic Tslue that the little Perngiaa 
Exchange deserves to rank among the treasuries of European art Upon en- 
tering it the first impression is one of completeness. Nothing has been taken 
away and little added since the first years of the sixteenth oentury, a time at 
onoe of culmination and of transition. In the Sala del Oambio the frame 
equals the picture, or rather there is no distinction between the two; the 
whole hall is a setting ; the gulden brown of the inlaid benches, the oool gray 
lights and strong shadows of the carred wood, continue and reliere the warm 
grays, the amber, and the tawny reds and yellows of the fresooes ; the paye- 
ment is in harmony below, and the vaulting above is covered with that oom- 
binati<m of flat-painted figures and scroll-work which is so distinctive of a 
good art epoch, and is much more truly decorative than are the heavOy carved 
ceilings that prevailed a half century later. Not one of the frescoes of the 
Oambio equals the Orucifixion of S. Maddalena de* Pazsi, or the Delivery of 
the Keys in the Sistine, but each is richer in color than are the latter and mora 
famous works, while taken together the series shows ns Perngino in nearly all 
his phasea A second impression is one of amused surprise at the frankly hy- 
brid character of the frescoes, the result of a medisBval hospitality afforded to 
a classical new-comer, who could only be an interloper in Umbria. Eiven here, 
in the strong^ld of pietism, the humanist had come, and had prescribed to 
Pemgmo his list of antique virtues and antique prototjrpes. We may still read 
the Latin legends of the walla repeated in the manuscript of Ibranoesco Matu* 
rsasio. Ptorugino has accepted the preemption and has treated the sages and 
heroes of antiquity like so many Renaissance playing-cards, at least as fsr aa 
Ihfir decorative side is oonoemed, not attempting any oompoiitioni but §•!• 



PIBTBO PSBUGINO 833 

ments of the ceilings that is to say^ which he decorated with 
the seyen planets, each drawn in a kind of chariot by dif- 
ferent animals, according to the old manner ; on the wall 
opposite to the door of entrance he depicted the Birth and 
Resurrection of Christ ; ^ and on panel he represented San 
Oiovanni, in the midst of other saints.^ On the side wall 
of the building Pietro then painted figures in his own man- 
ner, those on one side represent Fabius Mazimus, Socrates, 
Numa Pompilius, Fulvius Camillus, Pythagoras,^ Trajan, 
L. Licinius, the Spartan Leonidas, Horatius Cocles, Fabius 
Sempronius,^ the Athenian Pericles, and Cincinnatus : on 
the opposite wall are figures of the prophets ; Isaiah, Moses, 
and Daniel namely ; with David, Jeremiah, and Solomon ; the 
master likewise added those of the Sybils ; the Erythrae- 
an, the Lybian, the Tiburtine, the Delphic, and the others. 

iing hii ohantotera formally lide by dde, each with hit label ai bj> elbow. 
The heroea have vigorona toraoa and apindling lege, oloae-fitting armora, and 
helmets with extraordinary branching scroll- work plomea; the sagea wear 
long gowns and fantastical head-dzesses, and the faoes of sagea and heroea alike, 
when not bearded, look as though they might hare oome oat of the many nim- 
nenes of Pemgia — sweet, gentle, girlish faoea. The Nativity and Transfignra- 
tion show na the Perugino whom we know in altar-pieoea, bnt the prophets 
and sibyls haTe as figures a vigor and a breadth which differentiate them from 
most of the painter's personagesw Pasaavant (see also Perkins* Raphael and 
Micbael Angelo) has suggested that the vaulting ia earlier than the reat of the 
decoration, and is not by Perugino at all ; its little people are thoroughly quat^ 
trocentOf almost mediasval ; indeed the Sala del Cambio of Pemgia^ the li- 
brary of Siena, and the Borgia Apartments of the Vatican are so many differ- 
ent panaagea of the swan song of that frankly deoorative painting which 
revelled in scroll-work and flying ribands and gilded pattema, and whioh ten 
years later gave way once and forever to the new order of things that came in 
with the Stanteoi the Vatican. Symonds (Sketches and Studiea in Southem 
Europe : Pemgia) says of these frescoes and of Perqgino that the ** eharm of 
his style is that everything is thought out and rendered visible in one deoor- 
ous key. The worst that can be said of it is that its suavity inclines to mawk- 
ishness and its quietism borders on sleepiness. We find it diflBcult not to 
accuse him of affectation. At the same time we are forced to allow that what 
he did and what he refrained from doing was determined by a pnrpoae.** 

«* The Transfiguration, rather. 

«> This is in the room next the Sala del Cambio, and haa a Chriat with angab 
(not saints), and with people who await baptiam. 

^ PittacuB, rather. 

4* PabUos Soipio, rather. 



SS4 PiKTBo PSBUonro 

BeDMitli mth of tiieie fignraB b a aentenee in the manner of 
a motto, taken from tiio writingi inr aajingB of the person- 
age rqpreeraited aboTe, and appropriate in some eort to the 
place wherein the artist has painted it. In one of the onia> 
ments of this w<Mrk Pietro jdaced his own 'portnii, whidi 
has a Tery animated appearance, and beneath it he wrote 
his name in the following manner :* 



ArtHto M/mermi fimgmuh kie ritafiT 
D. 



This work, an exceedingly fine one, and which has been 
more highly extolled than any other execnted by Pietro in 
Peragia,^ is still held in great estimation by the people of 
that city, as the memorial of so renowned an artist of their 
natiye place. In the chnroh of Sant* Agostino, also in Pe- 
rugia, he painted the Baptism of the Sayionr by St. John, 
in the principal chapel ; this is a yery large picture, entire- 
ly isolated, and sorronnded by a very rich '^ ornament" or 

• TIm imriptioo ahoold rend : 

P<iCnif Ptrmtinmi Jjjnyita Pkior, 

PtrdUm tifutrmt pingemdL 

Bie rtttOU mrUnL 

JK nM9qumm in»enim mt^ 

HmeUnmt ipmdedU^ 

Anno Saint, MLD, 

8m Idned, m., 583. BoteS. 

«• P«nigi]io WM miited to pbwe hk portndi hsra, » lan Immt wnm, in aa 
•podi and with a people wfaieh honored ite pttinten. 

^ The freeoo of the Triomph of Bdigion, with Prophets and Sihjla, k le- 
marlnble lor a hieedth in the design which is nnlike Pemgino, and eoold oaly 
belong to hie meet fortonate period. There is eomethiog in the dMiaeter cKf 
this work whioh shows more of the inilnenoe of his great oontanponriea tliaa 
do eyen his finer cmnpodtions of the Sistine and o^ the Maddakna de* Pted. 
Some of the figoxes are really ponling in a oertdb freedom iHdeh does bo4 
seem Femgino^s own, yet which oonld haidlj he found in the work of any 
yoathfol popil or asnstant. Next the Sala is the chapel, also Tory plesring in 
its deooratiTe sdieme. It was painted hj Gianniooola Manni, while the aMar- 
pieee is hj Pemgina 



PIBTRO PBRUGINO 835 

frame work, and on the back, or that side opposite to the 
choir, the master further depicted the Birth of Christ, 
with heads of saints in the upper part of the painting ; in 
the predella are several historical scenes, represented by 
small figures very carefully executed.^ In the chapel of 
San Niccold, in the same church, he painted a picture for 
Messer Benedetto Calera.' 

Haying afterwards returned to Florence, Pietro painted 
a picture for the monks of the Cestello, representing San 
Bernardo ;^ as he also did another with our Saviour on the 
Gross, the Virgin, San Benedetto, San Bernardo, and San 
Qiovanni, for the Chapter House.'^ At Fiesole, in the 

** Tha BaptUm if In th« ICofleam of Perugia, other portions are in French 
proTineial mnaeoma. It was oommenoed in 1602, bat not finished tiU many 
jeara after. A fiunons piotore by Peragino which haa alao fonnd ita way to 
France, and la In the LonTre, Is the Oombat between Lotc and Chastity, 
painted In 1505 for Isabella d^Bste. For an example of her manner of order- 
inf a painting, see in the Life of Mantegna a reference to his piotnze painted 
alao for her Hudiolo of Mantua, where it became the companion of the Pera- 
gino and Lorenao Gosta'a ^* Loye Crowning Isabella d'Este.** AU three of the 
works are In the Lonvre. The Dachesa Is said to hare been dissatiafied with 
Pcmgino*8 pictare. 

«t Filippo di Benedetto Oapra, rather. Thepiotare la stiU In the ohazoh. 
Tha predMa, which baa disappoued, waa once dated 1500.— Milanesi, m., 
684,notet 

M The San Bernardo painted In 1488 haa been lost 

•1 The Omciflzion in the secalariied Chapter Hoose of S. H. Maddalena dei 
Paaii, once theCestello, waa ordered in 1498 by Pocoio da Dionisio Pacd and 
hia wife Cliovanna, and waa finished Apnl 30, 1406k In the centre is the cni- 
dfied Christ and below is the ICagdalen ; at the left are the Virgin and St Ber- 
nard, at the right are St John and 8t Benedict By its solemn breadth of 
treslmant, its largeness, its wide air-filled spaces, this fresco is Peragino*s mas- 
terpiece, and one of the greatest works of the Renaissance, wliile in prodncing 
the mazimam of affect with the minimam of means, it does not yield to any 
one amcog them. There are only six figures, bat their effect can scarcely be 
reaUsad nnleas seen ; they are standing qaietly nnder the three painted arches 
which seem to open the Chapter Hoose apon a wide horizon of monntains not 
peaked like the Apenninea of Carrara, bat sweeping in the long nndalating 
linea of the Umbrian Monntains that line the yaUeys where Tiber and Amo 
rise almost aide by sldei AU this is so traly the Peragian ooantry that at 
flrat one beUeres that Pengia itaelf compelled Peragino to see and feel land- 
acape In Jnat thla way ; bat Pengia held Fiorenao di Lorenao too, and Lnca 
Bignorslli looksd npon needy the same mountain lines from Cortona, yet in 
kia ail aaw only and always the hnman body. Half the painters In Umbria 



336 PtBTRO l^ERlTGtKO 

church of San Domenico^ he painted a picture of the Ma* 
donna^ in the second chapel on the right hand ;^ there are 
besides three figures in this work^ one of which^ a San Se- 
bastiano namely is worthy of the highest praise. 

Pietro had worked so much^ and received such perpetual 
demands for his works, that he frequently used one and the 
same object or figure several times in different pictures, his 
theory and mode of treatment in art had, indeed, become 
so mannered, that he gave all his figures the same expres- 
sion. Now Michelagnolo was, by this time, coming forward 
to his place, and Pietro earnestly desired to see his works, 
because of the great praise bestowed on them by the artists, 
but as he perceived that the greatness of the name which 
he had himself acquired in all places began to be obscured 
by others, he sought much to lower and mortify all who 
were then labouring to distinguish themselves, by the 
caustic severity of his remarks. This caused him to receive 
various offences from different artists, and Michelagnolo 
told him publicly, that he was but a dolt and blockhead in 
art. But Pietro could not endure so grievous an affront, 

■od TuMtny were dweUen apon a Mount of Virion, but each oonld be a leer 
only in his own way. Pemgino was not alone an Umbrian, but was the first 
man who was fitted to see and feel and register the solemn impression of the 
Tast sky, the wide Talleys that canopy and set the town which eren in Italy is 
nneqnaUed in its manreUons rite. In remembering Verona and Siena, Spoleto, 
and many other places, it seems hard to say that any city of the peninsula 
Is picturesque beyond its fellows, and yet that little quarter of Perugia which 
•nrronnds San Severo, where Raphael, still almost a boy, painted his fresco 
of the Ghrist in Olory, is perhaps unequalled. The streets fairly climb orer 
•aoh other's backs, some are tunnelled under palaces, some are steep staircases, 
not one is level. Before you as you go people seem to rise up out of the earth, 
and they disappear into it again down some narrow alley which leads to their 
homes, or to other and deeper alleys. You pass along a little street, and at its 
end a terrace drops away. Yon hare the top of a taU church-tower below 
your feet, and before yon the city dopes down in amphitheatre to where miles 
of rolling country dotted with towns are bounded by snow-covered mountains. 
This uplifted hiU city, with its low horison and its ever present background 
of light-filled sky, was Pemgino*s best master, and he, in turn, of all her ar« 
tists, was the first one to see the nobility of Umbria and the glory of her land* 



M It was painted in UOS. and is now in the Uflri. 



PIETRO PEBUGINO 887 

and the two artists presented themselyes before the Council 
of Eighty whence Ketro withdrew, however, with very little 
honour. Meanwhile the Servite Monks of Florence desired 
to have the picture for their high altar painted by some 
master of great renown, and had given the commission for 
it to Filippo Lippi on account of the departure of Leon- 
ardo da Vinci to France, but the former, when he had com- 
pleted the half of one, out of the two pictures, of which the 
Altar-piece was to be composed, departed to another life ; 
whereupon the monks, moved by the faith they had placed 
in Pietro, confided the whole work to his care. In this 
painting, wherein Filippino had begun to represent the 
Deposition of Christ from the Cross, that master had 
finished the upper part, where Nicodemus is lowering the 
body ; Pietro therefore continued the work by painting the 
lower part, the swooning of Our Lady namely, with certain 
other figures. And as this work was to consist of two 
pictures, the one to be turned towards the choir of the 
monks, and the other towards the body of the church, the 
monks proposed to have the Deposition towards the choir 
with an Assumption of the Virgin towards the church, but 
Pietro executed the latter in so ordinary a manner, that 
they determined to have the Deposition in front, and the 
Assumption towards the choir ; both have now been re- 
moved to other altars in the same church, and the Taber- 
nacle of the Sacrament has been erected in their place.® 
Of this work, therefore, six small pictures** only have re- 
mained at the high altar, certain saints namely, which were 
painted in niches by Pietro. I find it related, that when the 
painting was first uncovered, all the new artists censured it 
greatly, principally because Pietro had again adopted the 
same figures that had been previously painted in other of his 

** The piotore, ptiated In part by Rlippino, ii in the Academy. The As- 
■omption is itiU in the ohnroh in the Babatta chapeL—Milaneai, UL 586^ 
Hotel. 

*« The lix lainta have been aold. Hihuiesi, IIL, p. 586, note 2» aayi two of 
them remained in a prirate ooUeotion of Florence. 



338 PiSTBo PKBUonro 

works, for wluch Us friends reproached him not a little, 
declAring that he had taken no pains, bat whether induced 
by ayarice, or by the desire to spare his time, had departed 
from his usoal good manner ; to all which Pietro replied, 
" I hare painted in this work the figures that yon formerly 
commended, and which then pleased yon greatly ; if they 
now displease yon, and yon no longer extol them, what can 
I do ? ^ " This did not prerent many from amailing him 
sharply with satirical Yorsee, and offending him pnblidy in 
yarions ways ; wherefore, haying now become old, he left 
Florence altogether, and returned to Pemgia." 

In the church of San Seyero, in that city, he then exe- 
cuted yarious works in fresco, for the Carthusian monks, to 
whom it belongs : there Raffaello da Urbino, while still 
young, and when he was the disciple of Pietro, had painted 
certain figures,"' as will be related in the proper place. 
Pietro likewise worked at Montone," at the Fratta,* and at 
many other places in the neighbourhood of Perugia, but 
more particularly in Assisi, in the church of Santa Maria 

•• Idaiieri dies the three irictnres of the Serri of Bocgo Sea Sepokro, and 
of Valkmibroee M piDvmg Pietzo's nedineea to oee the ■erne figoxee o^ 
both eogels aad i^KMtlee dcrfiig double aenrioe in them. 

*• But for the offionoee thus zeoeiTed Pietro woold eeem to have diqioeed 
hie afturs for peering the remainder of hie days in Floreooe, when he had 
alio pnrchaaed a borial-plaoe for himaelf and hit deeoeodanta, in the ehnxoh 
of the Ammnmta>— ifa»gy<, quoted in Hm Foeter*s notea. 

•^ Raphael began this freaoo of San Serero, a Ohriat in Gloff7« and left it nn- 
finiehed. Pemgino pamted (1501) the eainta in the lower part of the pietore. 
They hare been the sab|ect of eome sharp eritioiam, perhape nndnlj ahaipi 
for if iomewhat feeUe thej are not Tnlgar, and they do not Jar with the reet 
of the eompoaition. 

•• A Virgin and C3iild, with Sainta Mm the Baptist, Gregory, John the 
Bvangehet, and Franoia, with KpredeUa representing the Birth of the Virgin, 
her Marriage and her Asanrnption, a picture formerly at Montone and paintfd 
in 1507, is lost See Meesrs. Crowe and Oaraleaseae's History of Planting in 
Italy, m. p. 233, note 2. Orsini, VUa di Pietro Perugino, p. 20e, saya this 
piotare was taken to the palace of the Odardi family, at AaoolL See Mi- 
lanesi, p. 5S7, note 8. 

** The piotore from the ohoroh of the Fratta (now Umbertide) of Fengia, 
was a Coronation of the Virgin, painted toward 1500^ by Pintariechio, not 
Pemgino; it ia now in the Vatican. See A. Ventori, La OalUria FoMmm, 
p.4i. 



PIETRO PERUGINO 330 

degli Angeli namely^ where he painted in fresco the wall 
behind the chapel of the Madonna^ which stands opposite to 
the choir of the monks, depicting the Saviour on the Cross, 
with several figures.* In the church of San Pietro, an 
Abbey in Perugia, which belongs to the Black Friars, he 
painted a very large picture for the high altar ; the sub- 
ject of this work is the Ascension of Jesus, with the Apos- 
tles beneath, looking up to heaven.^^ On the predella of 
the picture are three stories, executed with much care, the 
Adoration of the Magi that is to say, the Baptism of the 
Saviour and his Besurrection ; the whole of this work is 
replete with evidences of thought and care, insomuch that 
it is one of the best paintings in oil executed by Pietro in 
Perugia ; he also commenced a work in fresco, of no small 
importance, at Castello della Pieve, but did not finish it.® 

** The upper put of this painting was destroyed in 1700, the lower portion 
was restored by Castellani in 1880. See Pbre Bamab^. La PorzioncuU, Bk- 
toire de SaitUe Jfarie de$ Ange$, and Olorie della Sacra PorziuncolOy oom" 
pendio Storieo di 8. Mi degli Angeli, Pemgia, IBSS. 

*' The oentre-pieoe, painted 1495 or 1496, was presented by Pope Pins VIL 
to the Mnsenm of Lyons ; the predella pictures are in the Museum at Rouen. 
Rre little panehi from this work, with figures of saints, remain in the ohuroh 
of San Pietro, while the Vatican has three half-length figures, which possibly 
also belonged to the same altar-piece. The general composition represented 
an Ascension of Ohristw, Morelli, in his Italian Masters, admits among the 
pictures which he catalogues as by Perugino, a Madonna (Munich, 1066), '*a 
feeble picture ; ** Vision of St. Bernard (Munich, No. 1034), called by MorelU 
a " beautiful picture," and attributed by Vasari to Baffaellino del Garbo ; Na 
1085. Munich, '* feeble *' and ** superficial ; " two predellcu (Munich, Nos. 
1087, 1088) ; a head called the Nan of Leonardo da Vinci (Pitti, No. 140), as- 
eribed by Dr. Bode to Franciabigio ; the so-called Alessandro Bracoesi (por- 
trait of a youth, No. 1317, in the Ufl&zi, and there attributed to Lorenxo di 
Credi ) ; Morelli unreservedly pronounces the Apollo and Marsyas bought of 
Mr. Morris Moore by the Louvre (see life of Raphael), to be not by Raphael, 
but by some master whose style has close afiKnity with that of Perug^o (Ital- 
ian Masters in German Galleries, p. 806). Morelli mentions as characteristic 
drawings by Perugino and worth studying as such, a Monk Reading (Uffizi), 
pen-drawing; full-length study for the Socrates of the Oambio (Ufi&si); 
two male figures, one shooting, one bending a bow, pen-drawing, in Due 
d*Anmale*s collection ; study of Putti (Uffizi), pen drawing. 

** Fragments of a Descent from the Cross, dated 1517, still exist in S. 
Maria de* Senrl See Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle^s History of Painting 
in Italy, m. 287. There is an Adoration of the Magi at Gitti dfiUaPiere^ 



d40 PtBTBO PBBUGIKO 

It was the custom of Pietro^ who was a man that did not 
confide in any one, when going or retaming from the above 
named CasteUo to Pemgia, to carry all the money which he 
possessed at the time about his person ; this being known, 
certain men waylaid him at a place on the road, and robbed 
him of all that he had, bnt, at his earnest entreaty, they 
spared his life for the love of God. By means of the 
measures adopted, and the assistance of his friends, of 
whom he had a good number, notwithstanding what has 
been said, he recovered a great part of the money that had 
been taken from him ; he was nevertheless very near dying 
of grief for this misfortune. Pietro possessed but very little 
religion," and could never be made to believe in the immor- 
tality of the soul, nay, most obstinately did he reject all 
good counsel, with words suited to the stubbornness of his 
marble-hard brain. He placed all his hopes in the goods 
of fortune, and would have undertaken any thing for 
money ;^ he gained great riches indeed^ and bought, as 

where there is w1m> a 8t Anthony in a Agortino {Ibid, WL 2261, 996), and 
A work in 8. Gemtaio {Ibid. UL 236). The fresoo formerly in the choreh of 
Fontignano, near Oittli dells Piere, by Perogino, has been Mwn from the 
walla, and ia now in the Sonth Kensington Moseom, London. 

** Whatever the general critic may imply by ** irreligiona,** Penigino mnst 
have been as a painter at onoe reverent and sincere daring a long period of hia 
life, for his work proves this nnmistakably. He was certainly an interesting 
psychological problem, a protagonist of pietistio art, and yet taxed as an in- 
fidel; a man capable of the most dignified and monomental oompodtiona, 
yet willing to repeat himself and to coin money by the nse of worn-out ma- 
terial. Hia snrronndings were as inoongmons as the qualities found in his 
work and attributed to his character, since Perugia was at once the home of 
religious painting and the dosed lists of the most rufllanly nobles in Italy, the 
Baglioni Taine is inclined to place Penigino among those who were changed 
and made sceptical by the apparent failure of Savonarola's propheoiea. On 
his portnut of Francesco deUe Opere is inscribed Timete Deum^ and after all 
is sud neither avarice nor repetition of motives in hia pictures proves ir- 
religion in Pemgino ; as to his infidelity we have only Vasari's assertion, based 
doubtless on some such local tradition as Pietro*s burial under the oak of 
Fontignano. Other stories, and even documents, tend to absolve him, and the 
oauses of Perugino's artistic decline may probably be found in the conditions 
which governed the evolution of Italian painting. See note 6S. 

•4 Among the instances which go far toward disproving the stories of Pecn- 
^no'saTarioe and irrdigion, is that of hia ceding to S. Maria de' Biaiiohi,«t Oaa- 



well as built, several large houses in Florence ; at Pemgia 
also, and at Gastello della Pieve, he bought a considerable 
amount of property. Pietro took a very beautiful girl to 
wife, and she bore him children ;«m^> he is said to have 



tello deUa Piere, a piotare at one-ihird the origiiiftl prioe. Again, lie painted 
a S. Sebastian for the ohnioh of Panioale ; he aaked but a very iman iiiin for 
the picture, and two years later, having lent fourteen painted banners to the 
same village, he added to the loan the condition that in ease the yillagers did 
not oare to return him the banners they were to pay the remainder of the sum 
due on the S. Sebastian. In a word, it was a way of presenting the banners to 
Panioale. See Fsssavant, Baphael cT Urbin, I., Appendix, pp., 458, 469. On 
the other hand, Pietro sometimes undertook to drive a hard bargain even with 
the wardens of a cathedral, as at Orvieto, and in Venice demanded lor fresooes 
to be done in the Ducal Palace more than double what afterward satisfied 
Titian, who eventually did the work. 

** In 1498 he married Ohiara Fancelli, daughter of an architect and seulptor 
in the service of the Marquis of Mantua. She is said to have been the model 
for tiie Angel with Tobias in the National Grallery. 

** It is a matter of local tradition that Perugino was interred beneath an 
oak in the neighborhood of Fontignano, on account of his refusal to receive 
the last sacraments of the church, but this story has been refuted by Mariotti 
{Letters Perttgine)^ who cites a contract between the sons of Pemgino and the 
Augustinians of Perugia for the trausferring of the body of Perugino to their 
ohurch. At the time that Perugino died all funerals were forbidden for san- 
itary reasons, on account of an epidemic, so that the body was taken to the 
church at a later time. It is indeed questionable whether this transference 
took place, but there is no doubt of the contract. Pemgino died in 152S, at 
Fontignano, half-way between Perugia and Gastello della Pieve. 

•7 The portrait of Perugino is found in the Sala del Cambio at Perugia 
For a long time the figure which stands by the side of that of Baphael in a 
fresco of the Vatican stanze was called Perugino. MoreUi thinks that it ia 
rather the portrait of Sodoma ; Herr Mdndler believed that a picture, num- 
bered 997, in the Borghese gallery, was a portrait of Perugino by himself ; Mo- 
reUi, on the contrary, thought it to be by Raphael, and not to represent F^ 
mgino but some other person, perhaps Pinturicchio. See Italian Painters, 
Vol L, pp. 188, 189. 

M Until within the last twenty-five years the histories of Italian art have, 
as it were, wreaked themselves upon easel pictures, and yet the true glory of 
tiie Italians has been in nearly every case their mural paintings. No artist 
has suffered more misapprehension by this separation of easel painting from 
monumental work than has Perugino. He was one of the first to successfully 
handle the new medium of oil. The depth and transparency, as well as the 
novelty of the latter, combined with the painter's own personal and tempera- 
mental contribution to make his work popular.and the facility attainable in oil, 
resulted in an enormous multiplication of his pictures. This redupiioation baa 



343 PIETBO PEBUGUrO 

had 80 much pleasure in seeing her wear becoming head* 
dresses, both abroad and at home, that he was ocoasionaHy 



hortoorerthniteof P6rogiDomtwow»y»;fii»t»har«nM>monf iQ] 
leUtiTely low are of the fini order ; aeooodly, b eome e their g r e at immlMr 
hie OMieed their Mithor to be lecarded almtut wholly ee a peiiitwr e€ ■■mJI 
peneU or eenTmeee» wheieei only > few of hia eaeel piotaree lUieu n onrnperiKi 
with hie works in fraeeo, end even when we OTamine the most beentifnl of 
his penek, sneh as those of the triptych of PatTia^ we most admit that their 
qoaUties are repeated opon a grander scale on the walls of the Bistine 
Chapel and of the iiaddalena de' Flusi chapter-hoooe. Neverthd«s» both 
as painter of fresooee and of panels his technioal capacity was cf a high order. 
As aooloristPeragino was a typical Umbrian ; his color was waim^ transparent, 
golden ; Leonardo*! was more d el i c ate, and of the latter^s msgieal ohiarosooro 
Pemgino had no knowledge ; he never even gave a thought to it ; but Leca- 
ardo's very seeking after that same light and shadow tamed his color to 
Maokness, while Pemgino^s remained transparent and admirably fitted to his 
purpose of fi ipi'wion . In this last quality of expreesion he was past-msater, 
hot althoogh it made him lor a while the most popular painter in Italy, and 
reached great heights of fervor and pathos, it descended also to aftmtstion 
and even to mawkishness. As a draoghtsman he was elegant but rarely foroe- 
fol, and sometimes feeble ; his oomporitions when at their best were fall of 
dignity, bat more often they were conventional and thin, being lacking in a 
feeling for the di^KMitimi of mass, while, on the other hand, they were always 
restrained and never overcrowded. Pemgino, like Filippino lippi, did his 
finest work in the esrlier part of his osreer ; but he did not, like flUppino, 
gradnally exchange the symiMtthetic quality in his painting for the resaaroh, 
and striving of a pioneer. On the contrary, he sank to an uniformity of ex- 
ecution which, if often sweet, was often spiritless, and does not always merit 
our respect. Outraged critios, and among them Vssari, have sought for a 
direct reason for this, and have cried avarice and irreligion. This aoousation 
does not seem wholly reasonable. In a man with the fear of hdl befoie 
his eyes, avarice might be compatible with the painting of pictnres for rsHf- 
ions confraternities for little or no pay, but it could not be eo with an irre- 
ligious msn. Bither Perog^o may have been avaricious and fearful of the 
future, or he may have been irreligious and recklessly generous with monka 
and churches. The former condition of things would dear his repotaticn fer 
orthodoxy, the latter condition does not seem likely, and Penigino*s artistia 
decline in middle life is much more probably the result of external than of 
internal canees. In his earlier years the mastery of the oil medium, which he 
achieved sooner than other men, and the intrinsic charm of his work, made 
him one of the most popular masters not merely in Italy bat in Baropai 
Later, after he had formed his style, there came upon all the sehools of Italy 
a complete change of manner ; the gentle and amiable spirit of Raphael still 
found something to admire in the work of sudi painters as Pemgino and 
Franda, but Kichelangdo and the men of the new school fieredy contemned tt. 
Bignordli retired to the provincial patronage of his native Umbria. VaMii 



PIBTBO PEBUGINO 343 

known to arrange this part of her toilet with his own hands. 
Finally, having attained to the age of seventy-eight, Pietro 
finished the course of his life in the Castello della Pieve, 
where he was honourably buried in the year 1524. 

iaiUfl OS that BottioeUi wm poor and needy, mad therein probably ezaggetatea 
Ml neglect at the hands of new-oomert and woriEen in new waya It is quite 
possible that Pemgino, finding his pictores despised by the fanums artists 
and eagerly sooght for by laymen, gave up striying and became the commer- 
cial painter which we know him to haire been in later years, and that, without 
mors of avarice or of irreligion than were to be found in his fellows. The 
fact remains that the earlier works of Perugino are his best, and that multi- 
plication of his pictures has hurt his reputation because the tendency is to 
Judge him by his average, that is to say, when the art knrer thinks of Perugino 
a number of inferior works crowd into his mind ; but if he will go through a 
mental process of elimination and recall the Delivery of the Keys in the Sis- 
tine^ the Crucifixion in S. Maddalena de* Passi, the cycle of the Cambio at 
Pteugia, as the representation of the painter as/rescant«, then will remember 
the two wonderful profile heads of monks in the Florentine Academy, and 
consider what Pietro could do as portraitist when he chose to take the time 
lor such work ; lastly, if he will review the best panel pictures, the triptych of 
Pavia, the Vision of St Bernard, an Enthroned Madonna at Bologna, and 
not a few others, the student will assuredly give to this master one of the 
highest places in the secondary group, and wiU admit that the man who in 
quaUroeento com p osition could in his Delivery of the Keys say the last word 
before the new order of things came in with the tianu of the Vatican, and 
who could in his Pasd Crucifixion exhibit a new feeling for land80^>e, was 
WQfthy to become the master of Raphael 



VrPTORE SOAEPAOOIA* 

[Bom 1450 (?) died 1522 (?)] 

BiBUOOBAPHT.— P. Molmenti, Carpa/c€io 9on Tempi et ton (Swrre^ Yen- 
ioe, 1808. A oarefnl And elabonte monogn^h. See alio the same author in 
VArt, 1880, VoL XXTTT., pp. 1-9, and again in his work, La Patria di Car- 
paeeio^ Venice, 1898. Bemaid Betenaon, Venetian Painters of the Renaia- 
■ance. New York, 1896l Andri P^t^ Carpaeeio^ article in the Orande 
JBncydop^ie^ VoL OC M. F. Mabel Robinson, Carpaocio, article in the 
|ffft g*w niA of Art, Angost, 1884. Mr. John Raskin's St Mark's Rest (the 
Shrine of the SlaTes) oontains a charming and poetical descriptioii of the series 
of pictures from the lives of Saints George and Jerome, and recently (1896) 
the entire aeries has been pablished in Rome in photogzavnre to accompany 
an edition of Mr. Raskin's text For works attributed to Carpaodo in the 
dties of the eastern littoral of the Adriatic, see Madonizza, Ouida del Viag- 
giatore in leiria^ in the Almanaeco Ittr.^ Oapo d'Istria, 1864, and Gostavo 
Frinoni, Una Steunione Artittiea a Capodietria^ in Arte e Storia^ Florence, 
Joly 29, 1888. 

THE earliest piotares of this master ^ were painted in the 
Scuola di Sanf Ursula, where the principal part of the 
stories on eanvas, representing the life and death of 

> Vitkon Oarpaceio is called by Vasari Scarpaoda ; in the Venetian dialect 
Scarpaso. This life of Oarpaceio is a mere paragraph from a confused chapter 
in which Vasari gives an exceedingly brief and frequently incorrect mention 
of many Venetian painters of more or less importance. No other chapter in 
Vasari is ao meagre and so wholly unsatisfactory. Bridently at the time that 
the author risited Venice the traditions of the early sixteenth century were 
fiwt passing away, and he was able to obtain little information. 

* For the discussion of the much-rexed question of the birthplace of Oar- 
paceio see Molmenti, cited above, and P. StancoTioh, Biog. degli uomini die- 
tinti detr Tttria, Trieste, 1829. The exact place of his birth and the dates of 
his birth and death have not been determined with certainty ; it is probable, 
howcTer, that he was bom at Capo d'lstria about 1450 (see the catalogue of 
the Brera). Oarpaceio is placed with the Venetian painters, and he signs his 
works ^^ Victor^ Charpatius (or Carpatitu)^ Venetue,** also Carpathiwt, Car- 
paehtiy and Carptua (see Nagler, Der Ifonogrammisten, cited by Molmenti, 
i9>. d^., p. 82). SUt MrUest work is dated 1490 ; hU latest 1622, or, according 



VITTOBB 80ABPA0CIA 845 

that sainty are by his hand.' The labours of this undertak- 
ing he conducted with so much skill and assiduity^ that he 

to Mdmeiiti, 153L He wm a pupil of Gentile BelliDi, and probably alio of 
yiwini Like the BelUni he abandoned tempera^ and all his later works 
are ezeonted in the oU medinm. Ab he had ao marked a preference for Ori- 
ental ooetomei it hai been tlumght that Carpaooio may have aooompanied 
Gentile Bellini, when that artist was lent to Constantinople to paint the Snl- 
taa*s portraits This is, howerer, unlikely ; no proofs exist, Turkish costumes 
were not hard to find and study in the streets of either Venice or the Istrian 
cities, and Big. Molmenti is not disposed to giro the story credence. 

* Oarpacoio painted these pictures for the Scuola (see Mdmenti, C<trp€ueio, p. 
98) founded ** in honor and to the glory of the All-Powerful and of the Virgin, 
of Saint Dominick, Confessor, and of St. Peter, Martyr, but especially of Mad- 
ame St Ursula, Virgin, with all her company of blessed virgins and glorious 
martyrs,'* and in his choice of subject and the treatment of some of the scenes 
he has shown how straight was the road that led in ihe fifteenth century from 
the canal cities of the north to the city of the lagunes by the Adriatic. The 
Chdtiey which is the jewel of the Hospital of St. John in Bruges, testifies to a 
deeper and moie reverent feeling in Hsns Memling, but Carpaocio's work is 
ampler, and if gayer it is earnest, too, and earnest with a Flemish quaintness 
that sharpens the profiles of his councillors as they dt a-row, and almost 
makes us believe for a moment that we are in the galleries of Brussels or of 
Antwerp. Bxcept in two or three of the more serious passages the gayety is 
gentle end sustained ; the painter loves the parti-colored costumes and slsdies 
of his fifteenth century ; his pages hurry upon their scarlet and white legs 
across green stretches of turf ; strange, tsU-hulled ships anchor in his back- 
grounds against rich and &nciful architecture till the picture has almost the 
air of being a charming toy. It is the very stuff of which painted stories 
should be made, and the visitor who has seen the Legend of St Ursula in the 
Academy of Venice carries away an ineffiftoeable impression of it The St Ur- 
sula series, which was ordered of Carpaccio in 1490, consists of nine pictures. 
They ere as follows : 1. The Ambassadors of the Bnglish King visit King 
Haurus of Brittany, and ask the hand of his Daughter for the Son of their 
Monarch. At the right is seen a separate picture of Maurus conferring with 
his Daughter (and which is inferior to the other paintings of the series). 2L 
King Maurus bids fsreweU to the Ambassadors. 3. The Ambassadors bring 
back the answer to the Bnglish King. 4. The English Prince leaves his Father ; 
in a second scene the Prince meets Ursula ; in a third the Royal Couple bid 
fitfeweU to the English King before embarking. The picture is signed and 
dated MCCCCLXXXXV. 5. Pope Cyriacus meets Ursuhi and her Virgins 
outside the gates of Rome. 6. The Dream of St Ursula. This work is dated 
1495, and by the side of the name of Carpaooio are seen the words CartU 
ntM IL {restauravU) 1759L 7. St Ursula arrives with her Virgins at Cologne, 
which is besieged by the Huns. The work is signed Op. Victarii CarpatU> 
JfCOOCLZXXX., Jt Septembris. S. The Martyrdom of St Ursula. At 
the right-hand end of the picture is seen the funeral of the saint 9. St 
Ursula in glory receives the crown of MartyrdoiQ. Tl^ pioturo is dated 



846 VITTOBE SCABPACCIA 

acquired from them the reputation of being an able and ex- 
perienced master ; and this, as it is said, induced the Milan- 
ese people to give him the commission for a picture in tem- 
pera, containing numerous figures, to be placed in the chapel 
of Sant' Ambrogio, which belonged to the Friars-Minors.^ 
For the Altar of the Besurrection of Christ in the church of 
Sanf Antonio, this master depicted the appearance of the Sa- 
viour to Mary Magdalen, and the other Maries, with the per- 
spective view of a distant landscape, which diminishes very 
finely.' In another chapel Yittore painted the EUstory of the 
Martjrrs, their crucifixion that is to say, and in this work 
there are more than three hundred figures large and small, 
with many horses and numerous trees ; the opening heavens, 
the various attitudes of the figures, clothed and nude, the 
many foreshortenings, and the multitude of other objects 
represented in this painting, prove that the master could 
not have executed his work but with extraordinary labour 
and care.* 

MCOCCIiXXXXT. Of theie Turions piotoret the dresm of Unola it the 
moot naively ohanning, the Boene of the Amhaasadors the mott sober and 
oloAely etudiedf that of the meeting of the Prinoe and Urania ia the moat pio- 
torial and entertaining. The latter pictore haa been the anbjeot of a good deal 
of nndiacriminating admiration as to the great beanty of the faoea of the laint 
and of her initor ; they are, in reaUty, the profiles of charming paper doUa. If 
we oompare them with the homely features of the ambassadors to King Manms, 
or of the oonncillors who sit in a row, we shaU see that the heads of piinoe 
and saint alike, graoefol ss they are, laok any oonstmotion, and axe abnormal, 
or very neady so, as to cranial development. A special iUnstnted edition 
of Molmenti, op. cU.^ contains a dozen photo-reprodnctions of these scenes, as 
well as of three other works by Oarpaooio. See, also, a long description of the 
St. Ursula piotnrea in Oharles L. Eastlake's Notes to the Venetian Academy, 
London, 188a 

« This pictnre is in the ohnroh of the Frari, at Venioe. Riddfi and Zanotti 
state that the picture was finished only by Carpaccio. Moschini dtee an in- 
scription on the picture itself which declares it to hare been oommeooed by 
one of the ViTanni, and completed by Marco Basaiti. Milanesi bsHeres thb 
inscription genuin& In the upper part of the picture is the Coronation of the 
Virgin, in the lower are San Girolamo and other saints with two angioUUi, 

* This work is lost. The painting of Alexander IIL celebrating mass in 
San Msico, executed drca 1501, perished in the great fire. 

* Now in the Venetian Academy. It ia the Crucifixion of the Ten Thoosand 
Mar^rrs on Moont Ararat. It was exeout^ in 151S, and is a most dissgreea 



VITTORE 8CARPACCIA 347 

For the altar of Oar Lady in the chnrch of St. Job^ in 
Canareio^ Vittore painted the Madonna presenting the infant 
Ghrist to Simeon ;^ the Virgin is depicted as standing up- 
right^ and Simeon, in the Cope or Pluyial, is placed between 
two ministering priests^ who are clothed as cardinals ; be- 
hind the Virgin are two women, one of whom holds a pair 
of doves, and beneath are three boys sounding musical in- 
struments, the first a lute, the second a wind instrument of 
a spiral form, and the third a lyre or kind of viol ; the col- 
ouring of all this picture is exceedingly pleasing and grace- 
ful. Vittore was without doubt a very diligent and able 
master ; * many of the pictures executed by him in Venice 

U« and uiiMtitfftotory pioiaxtt^ hftTing maoh of Flomiah oglineM and nothing 
of Flomish beaut j. 

* This picture, dated 1510, ii the A^eentation in the Temple, painted for 
the altar of the Sanudo family in the ohoroh of San Giobbe. It ia now in the 
Aoademy, where it !■ one of a trinity of magnificent altar-pieces by OioTanni 
Bellini, Cima, and Garpaooio. The Oarpaccio is a little less golden than the 
Bellini, a little blacker, nevertheless it is his masterpiece, and is a perfect type 
of what the Venetian quaUroesrUitti^ and early cinqueeerUitti felt to be fit- 
ting for an altar-picture. Notice especially the greater height, in relation to the 
width of the panel, than was commonly accorded to Florentine sltar-pieoes. 
As to its color the picture, while rich and mellow, if compared with many 
Tuscan altar - pictures, falls distinctly below Oarpacoio's best woA; also 
there is a certain papery and thin modelling, which would have been less no- 
ticeable in the half-light of the church than it is in its present position, but the 
dignity and beauty of the treatment, as a whole, more than make up for 
this laisk of color. The embroidered cope of St. Simeon oilers that delightful 
sincerity of workmanship in detail which is half -Gothic, even in the case of 
this Italian master, whUe the angioUtto seated on the steps is one of those 
rare figures which charm the ignorant, the dilettante, and the artist at 
once. 

• After the Legend of St. Ursula the frieze of subjects painted by Carpacdo 
for the Dalmatian Scuola of Saints G^rge and Tryphonius may oount as sec- 
ond in importance. The Scuola is attached to the church of San Giorgio degU 
Sohiavoni, that George (see Molmentl, op, eit.. p. 116), who was Bishop of 
Salona, and is patron of the isle of Pago and all of Dalmatia. Part of the 
work illustrates the legendary history of the saint, whUe three of the pictures 
are devoted to the life of St Jerome as a native of Stridonia in Dalmatia* 
The various scenes represented upon one wall are : St. Jerome in his Study, 
the Death of St. Jerome, St. Jerome and the Lion, the Conversion of Bfatthew 
the Publican, and the Agony in the Garden. Upon the other wall are : St. 
Tryphonius Slaying the BasUisk ; and King Aia and his Wife Baptised by St 



348 YITTOBE 80ARPACCIA 

and other places/ with numerons portraits from the life bj 
his hand are held in great esteem as works of that time. 

G«orfft in LjbU. Tbe thhd waU hM St G«orfft kflUng Um Dngon, nid 8t 
G«orge drAwing the dying Dragon into the City. 

In these pieturet, erm more then in the UnnU aeriee, one reoognliee Oar- 
pacoio at the teller of legenda and of fairy talea. Thia Saint George rides 
straight oot of the Seven Championa of Oluriatendom ; he is wtgy famooa 
among aathetee and artists, and has been praised so highly that he hna had 
perhaps a little more than his deeerts. Rising in his stirmpsi bending for- 
ward at the waist, painted as by one iHio knew how real knights at real jonst- 
ings looked, and how they aat their horses, this ilaxen-haired, blaok-aimored 
hero is a most ohaiming militant aaint, bat his horse, though it gallops with 
plenty of moTement, is a hobbyhorse after all, and to plaoe the San Giorgio 
on a par with the OoUeooe or the Gattemelata would be to mistske the nntnre 
of art oritioism. 

• Between 1511 and 1515 Carpaooio exeooted a third ^>isodioal l«gsndazy 
series of pictures from the life of St Stephen, consisting of four esnTasen and 
an altar-paneL Of these, one, the Preaohing of St Stephen at Jemsalem, is 
in the LouTre, the Ordination of St Stephen (1511) is in Beriin, the Diapvle 
between St Stephen and the Doctors is in Milan. M. Mttnts {La Fin d$ 
la Ii4nai»9ane4, p. 503) oalla these three works ** ethnographioal paotoieBi'* in 
which the master haa giren especial attention to the delineation of exotio 
typea. The foorth picture, the Stoning of St Stephen (1515), is in the 
museum of Stuttgart The altar-piece haa disappeared (see Molmenti, op. 
cit, p. 94). The gallery of Vienna has a Christ Adoced by Angela, which is 
signed and dated 1490, as also (see Molmenti, op. cU.^ p. 85) a Communioii 
of St Jerome and the Burial of St Jerome. These three worka, msntioiied 
1^ Ridolfi in his Mera»iglU deUe Artif came from the SouoU of & JerooM 
at Venice. Tliey have all greatly suffered from the eflbcts of time and b»- 
touching. The gallery of Stuttgart has also a St Stephen in CHory. Londce 
has the Mocenigo Madonna. The cathedral of Capo d*IstriA haa, a oeoi din f 
to Sig. Molmenti, a Madonna and Child, with the six patron sainta of the eity, 
and the town-hall possesses a picture of the Entry of a PodeatiL Both pioi- 
nres haTe been badly damaged by rentoration. The work of Molmenti mny 
be consulted also for descriptions of the picture of the Platriareh of <3rado 
healing one possessed of the Deril ( Accademia delle BeUe Art!) ; the Meetinc 
of Joachim and Anna, a small picture of monks carrying the oroas in the in- 
terior of a church (Accademia) ; a Lion of St Mark in the Dnoal Bdaoe, and 
a St Ursula with her Father, which belonged to the collection of Sir Hemy 
Layaid (Mr. Bernard Berenaon, op, city adds to thia piotuxe two othera in tlie 
aame collection, an Asaumption of the ^Hrgin, and an Augustua with the Sibyl). 
In the Museo Correr of Venice are a half-length figure of a youth, aSalntalioii, 
and the two Venetian Ladies witii their Pets, which Mr. Buskin finds the most 
beautiful picture in the world Why« haTing the Ursula pictures, the St 
George and the Presentation, to choone from, to apeak only of the works ef 
Carpaooio, be should make such a selection may surprise many loren ol Italian 
art The church of San Vitale, just at the head of the iron bodge aenM tha 



VITTORE 8GARPACCIA 849 

Scarpaccia taught his art to two of his brothers/* both of 
whom imitated him closely ; one of these was called Lazzaro, 
the other Sebastiano. There is a picture by these artists in 
the church belonging to the nuns of the Corpus Domini^ it 
stands on the altar of the Virgin^ and represents her seated 
with St Catherine on one side and St. Martha on the other : 
there are besides other saints^ with two angels playing musi- 
cal instruments^ and a perspective view of buildings^ which 

oanal, has a onrioas picture, in which, among other fignree, ii an equestrian one 
of the patron saint. The letter, with short beard, bald forehead, and hair fall- 
ing about his neck, looks like a fifteenth-century (Garibaldi ; while his singu- 
larity is heightened by the fact that| although on horseback, he carries a hal- 
berd instead of a lance. About him are Saints James, John, PAuUnua, Geoige, 
Gerrasius, and Protasius, while the Madonna and Child appear, and also an 
mngel playing a musical instrument. The piotoie was painted in 1614. A 
Coronation of the Virgin in SS. Giovanni e Paolo is eritioised by M. Mttnti 
(who seems to admit the attribution to Carpaooio) as rather elegant than im- 
posing. 8ig. Molmenti, cp, c«. , p. 9i, would appear to infer that no genuine 
Carpaooio now exists in the said church. In the church of Sent* AlTise, Away 
out i^ion the northern edge of the city, are % number of little square panel 
pictures which Mr. Buskin considers to hftve been the work of Carpaooio idiile 
he was still a child. Sig. Molmenti does not admit the attribution. In Big. 
Molmenti*s interesting chapter on the works of Carpaooio outside of Venice^ 
he gives % reproduction (p. 87) of an ancons in fire compartments, painted in 
1518, and now in the ohnrch of Poizali in Cadorei He also mentions a Vir- 
gin, with six saints, hi the church of 8. Francesco di Firano. He cites Bishop 
Fkolo Naldini (1700) and others as claiming the existence of pictures by Car- 
paooio in yarious Istrian village churches, but documentary evidence conoeni- 
ing Carpaooio is almost non-existent. One famous letter to the Gonnga of 
Mantua has been recently discovered. It is dated August 15, 1511, and in it 
the master describes his painting. The Jerusalem, as most e xc el l en t in quality 
and dim€n»\Km». See Molmenti, cp, cit, pp. 07-89. 

>• Milanesi, m., 643, note 8, feels sure that these two '* brothers ** of Car- 
paooio are really one and the same pcnon, Lasiaro Sebastiani. A Benedetto 
Carpaooio has left signed pictures at Capo d*Istria. 

In a single paragraph of ten lines, which f oUows the account of Carpaodo, 
Vasari dismisses the great Giovanni Battista C^a of Conegliano, who well 
deserved a biography to himself. The anther mentions only one of his pict- 
ures, the St. Peter Martyr, now in the Brera, and one of the most impressive 
works of any Italian school There is a fine Baptism of Christ by Cima in S. 
Giovanni in Bragora at Venice, as well as panel pictures of Constantine and 
Helena ; the Carmine has a Tobias, and the Academy possesses several works, 
but Cima*8 masterpieces are the Peter Martyr, of Milan, and his Saint John 
at the Orta Not even the Florentines, with all their cultus of their patron 
••int^ surpassed this Venetian in his reaKiation of the type of the Fkeoonw. 



360 vrrroRs soaspaooia 

fonns the backgnmnd of the whole work and it ibtj beMiti- 
foL Of this we have the drswingi by the hands of the 
masters ihemselYee in our book." 



"CbipMeio is tlMminstvd, the tele-taller; move thai e^ ^ tin etiMn of 
faw ichool of VflBioe he fMfinitiTt end entortehiB. Hk eanveeas deUgfai urn 
with what eeene a rtraage and wooderfol mhtgHny ta f fiU i e i of the Bible and 
•f the Anbiaa mgfata, jet hit piefe]r is naeHeeted and hw gajety is steadied 
bj a flavor d Flemish camestness. He is a tme Veoetian of Venioei, that 
marrelkms hybrid in the Arts, with ite Bynntine eease of oolor, tte qnaini 
overlay of Borthsm inllnwioe, ite solid ttsUan good eease and wKsm, and it 
ia partly beeaoae he teDs as with the sinoerity of one who is still te a eertaia 
extent a primitive master, the wonderftil story of tUs nieefing of Bast and 
Weet and Horth, that his irietnres hold OB so long. like Gentile BsDiBi, he 
loves a panoEsmie development of a sab||eetwith a r^gnlar arehiteetnal set- 
ting and a foregroond filled with busy fignree ; bat althoa^ he ia a mneh 
less skQfiil dranghtaman than Gentile, he has far mote invention and poetie 
sensa Indeed, thoogh be is inferior te Giovanni in depth of feeliaf, or ]ofli> 
ness of style, he onitee in a very happy way the qnalitiee of the great Beffini 
brothera His drawing is often faolty ; Ms fignres spindle-dianksd, short- 
bodied, and someCinies oloven almost to the waist 1^ their long legs; hie 
faces are frequently homely, others of them are laekiag in oonatmetkn, bat 
the oharm of bis work makes op for all, while the ligfatnees of treatment of 
hii saored legends is qnalified and ennobled by eome of the eteaieat and 
golden odor to be foond in the whole nnge of art 



LUOA SIGNOEELLI,« OP COBTONA, PAINTEB 

[Bom Aboai 1441 ; died 1638] 

BnuoosATBT.— Bobert yitoh«r, lAtea Signor^Ui und dU JlalUnU^ 1U» 
mmimane€^ Leipaio, 1879. Laoa Signonlli, by Robert ViMher, in tbo Biif- 
liih editioii of ih* Dohme Serial, tnuuUted by A. H. Keaae, London, 1880. 
Wufm, U^0r Ltben, Wirken und Werke dtr mdUr Andrea JfanUgna und 
Luea aignorMi^ from Rinmer't Iiiitori$eh€a Toiehmbueh, 1860. Wugen. 
XUim Sehri/Un, Btattgari, 1875. L. Menoaid, La ChapelU San Britto a 
Ontido, OoM^tU dm Beattx ArU, 8d eeriee, XL (1875), fx 90S. L. Lwd, II 
Jhtmnod^On/isio^ Flortnoe, 18(M. Delia YaUe, Storia dd Duomo di OrvUia. 
J. h, BeTire, Vleitor'e Qnide to Orrieta Anaelmo Aneelmi, Sieerca di una 
tatfota dipinia in Aremtla da Luea SignoreUi; artiole in PArehUfio Storiea 
dtW ArU, ULf 157. 4"— '"y^ Aneelmi, Sopra un nuovo e piik cofW4nleni$ 
eoUocatnmUo dH due quadri di Luea SignoreUi e delP aUare nMHano in S, 
Medardo^Areeitia: in iir<e e iStoria f<» 1888, n. da Pale d'altare del Signo-^ 
rem ad Areevia, by O. H., in PArchMo Storico delP Arte, IL 4S8. Jeieen, 
Die JkureteUung dee WeUgeriehte hie auf JHehdangelo, Berlin, 1888. The no- 
tioe of BignoieUi in M. Bog. Mants*B, X*ii^ <f Or, Vol IL , of the Bietoire de 
rAripendanilaBenaieea$ieel»mcopi!oaBimt. See also hie ii TVoMft Is 2be. 
MUM in Le Ibur du Mbnde^ Kay, 1888, pp. 806-310, for Lnoa** piotniee at Oor- 
tooa. Symonda haa an intereiting ehapter upon Orvieto in hie Sketohea and 
Btodiea fai Sonthen Bnrope, and the appreoiation of SignoreUi, in hie Hietory 
of tha Renaiaeanoe, Tolnme on the Fine Arte, ia an eepedally admirable and 
Bompleta one, and Profeaeor Sidney OolTin, in the Comhill MagaiJne, ia also 
to be oonanlted npon SignoreUi A new work xtpoa SignoreUi by M. H. Meren 
haa been reoently promiaed. 

THE excellent painter, Lnca SignoreUi, of whom, ac- 
cording to the order of time, we are now to speak, 
was, in his day most highly renowned through all 
Italy, and his words were held in more esteem than those of 
any other master have been at any time, seeing that in his 
paintings he showed the true mode of depicting the nude 

* Imoa d'Sgidio di Loea di Yentora SignoreUi, nanaUy oalled Looa Signo- 
nUi or Loeada Oortona. Tha date of SignoreUi^a birth haa not been 
tdned with oertaSnty. 



963 LUOA SIGNOBELLI 

form, and proved that it can be made, although not with- 
ont consummate art and much difficulty, to appear as does 
the actual life. This artist was the creature and disciple of 
Pietro del Borgo-a-San Sepolcro,^ and much did he labor 
in his youth to imitate, or rather to surpass, his master.' 
While working with the latter in Arezzo, he was receiyed 
into the house of Lazzaro Yasari, his uncle,^ as we have said, 
and there copied the manner of Pietro with such exactitude 
that it was difficult to distinguish the works of one from 
those of the other. 

The first works' of Luca were performed in Arezzo, 
where he painted the chapel of Santa Barbara, in the 
church of San Lorenzo : this he did in the year 1472.' For 
the Brotherhood of Santa Gaterina he painted, on canvas 
and in oil, the banner which is borne by that company in 
procession, as he did the banner for the Trinity ; although 
this does not seem to be by the hand of Luca so much as by 
that of Pietro dal Borgo.^ In the same city, Luca Signo- 
relli painted the picture of San Niccold da Tolentino for the 

* Pi«ro delU FnnoeHO^ 

* Rvmohr {lUtl Foraeh., IL 888) beUeyes that SignorelU Btadied with Vio- 
TCDio di Lorenio, but oritios are generally agreed that Luca owes most of hia 
tnining to Piero della Ftanoesoa. His Soonrging of Christ, am early picture 
(in tha Bnca), strongly saggests Piero, aays II MOnts {VAffe iTOr, p, 099), 
Imt is a Tery medioore work. 

* Yaiaii mentions this in the Life of Lanaro VasarL The mother of I^ua 
was a sister of Lauaro Vasari, the great-grandfather of our author, 

* We first hear of SignoreUi as painting at Cortona (ohnrch of S. Fran- 
oesoo), in 1470, and not at Areszo, as stated by Yasari. Luca did not paint at 
Aresm until 1478. The works in the ehapel of Santa Barbara have disap- 
peared. 

* If stin SMoeiftted with Piero in 1473 Luca was undoubtedly rather a 
fellow-worker, efen if dependent, than a pupil. 

^ The banner seems to have been an important featnre in the prooessions 
of the Renaissance. Lucaappears to have been a famous painter of these ban- 
ners. In additicm to those of Arezso, and which have been lost, he executed 
one for Citt&di CasteUo in 1488, and in 1494 another, which stiU remams in the 
ehuroh of San Spixito at Urbino ; the latter oiTers as its two subjects theDe- 
■oentof the Holy Ghost and the Women weeping over the dead Ohrisi A 
third processional standard, in the Municipal Palace of Borgo 8. Sepohno, 
is praised by MorelU (Italian Masters, U., p. 92). 



LUOA 8IOKOBELLI 353 

ohnrch of Sant' Agostino : the very beantifnl little stories 
of this work display excellent design and rich inyention.* 
In the same place onr artist painted two angels * in fresco, 
for the chapel of the Sacrament. In the church of San 
Francesco, and in the chapel of the Accolti family, he 
painted a pictnre for Messer Francesco/* doctor of laws, 
wherein he depicted the portraits of the said Messer Fran- 
cesco, with others of persons who were of his kindred. In 
this work is a figare of St. Michael weighing the souls of 
the departed, which is most admirable ; and here Luca has 
displayed the knowledge he had acquired in the brilliancy 
of the arms, the reflected lights to be seen therein, and, in 
short, throughout every part of the work : in the hand of 
the archangel he has placed a balance, or pair of scales, in 
which the nude forms, some rising as the others sink, are 
foreshortened to admiration, and, among other ingenious 
things in this picture is a nude figure, most skilfully trans- 
formed into a fiend, with a lizard sucking the blood from a 
wound in its body. The Madonna is also present, with the 
Divine Ohild in her arms : Our Lady is accompanied by 
San Stefano, San Lorenzo, and Santa Oaterina : there are, 
besides, two angels, one of whom is playing on a lute, the 
other on a small cithern, or rebeck. All these figures are 
so beautifully clothed, and adorned in a manner so judi- 
cious, that they awaken the utmost admiration. But the 
most extraordinary part of this painting is the predella, 
which is covered with small figures representing the Monks * 
of St. Catherine. '' 
In Perugia, also, Luca Signorelli executed many works ; 

•The hi^iiMMiwotd»''faitididetta Santa (\ileHna,*' ihoiild U trmndatod 
**th« deodi of the eaid St. Catherine." 

* The ehnrch wis snppreiaed and the piotoree ouried to the refectory ; they 
hATO dnoe diaappeaied. 

* Theee angela have alio diiappeared 

>«ThitiaFnuioeeooAocolti, thelegirt, who died at Siena in 1488 ; his por- 
trait in the Uflizi is belieTed to haTe been oopied from thia piotore. Sea 
MOaiMBi, m. 6M» note & 

" TUa work ia loat 



354 LUOA SIQNOBELLI 

among others^ one in the cathedral^ painted by command 
of the Bishop, Messer Jacopo Vannucci, of Cortona : in this 
picture is the Virgin, with Sanf Onofrio, Sant' Ercolano, 
San Gioyanni Battista, and San Stefano : there is also an 
exceedingly beautiful angel tuning a lute." In the church 
of San Francesco, in Volterra, this master painted a fres- 
co," representing the Circumcision of Christ, this also is 
considered a wonderfully beautiful picture, but the Child 
haying been injured by the damp, was repaired by Sodoma, 
whereby the beauty was much diminished. And, of a truth, 
it would often be much better to retain the works of excel- 
lent masters, though half spoiled, than suffer them to be re- 
touched by less capable artists. In the same city Luca Sig- 
norelli painted a picture in tempera, for the church of Sanf 
Agostino,^ and coyered the predella with small figures rep- 
resenting the Crucifixion of Christ : this work has eyer been 
considered to be one of extraordinary beauty. At Monte-a- 
Santa Maria he painted a picture, also in tempera, of the 
Dead Christ," and at Citti di Castello, a Natiyity of the 
Sayiour, for San Francesco,^ with another in San Domen- 



>* This wodc if still in tUu^ in the ohapd of Ssnt* Onofrio ; it was exeonted 
in 1481 

II This panel (not fresco), is in the National QaHeiy, London. The Infant 
has been heavily repainted, probably beoanse its realism offended, there is no 
reason for believing that Sodoma had anything to do with the repainting. 
Bee Dr. J. P. Riohtefs notes to Mrs. Foster's Vasari, VL, p. 15L Mr. K T. 
Cook, in his Handbook to the National Gallery, oalls attention to the fact 
that one of the principal figores in this work resemUes the portrait of Signo- 
relli in the Orvieto frescoes. 

^* Possibly the Adoration, painted in 1483, and now in the Lonrre ; bnt 
nothing is proved since no subject is given by Vasari M. Mttnts, L*Ag€ <f Or, 
p. 700, says that the Adoration of the Magi, which is in the Louvre, was painted, 
toward 1489, for the church of Sant* Agostino at Oittii di Castello. He adds 
that in 1493 the citizens of that town ordered a second Adoratioii of the 
Magi of the painter. 

» This work is lost. 

u ^e demand for votiye pictures was so constant in the little mountain 
cities of the fiercely emotional province of Umbria, and indeed in those of 
Tuscany as well, that it created a kind of involuntary pwipatetie school of 
widely different masters ; and we find SignoreUi, Perugino^ and Pinturioohio 



LUOA 8IGK0BELLI 3S6 

ico> the gnbject of which is San Sebastiano." At Cortona, 
his natiye city, this master painted a Dead Christ/* in the 
chnrch of Santa Margherita, which belongs to the bare- 
footed Friars ; it is accounted one of his best works. In 
the same city he painted three pictures for the Society of 
Jesus ; of these that which is placed at the high altar is 
most admirable ; the subject is the Saviour, who administers 
the sa(»rament to the apostles, when Judas places the host in 
the money-bag.** In the Capitular Church, which is now 
called the Episcopate, our artist painted certain Prophets of 
the natural size, in fresco, for the chapel of the Sacrament ; 
around the tabernacle, moreoyer, are numerous Angels 
erecting a pavilion, and on each side are figures, one of St. 
Jerome, the other of St. Thomas Aquinas.^ For the high 
altar of the same church, he painted a most beautiful As- 
sumption on panel,^ and the designs for the pictures in the 
principal window of the church were prepared by his hand ; 
the cartoons of Signorelli being executed by Stagio Sassoli, 
of Arezzo. At Castiglione, in the territory of Arezzo, Luca 
Signorelli painted a Dead Christ, with the Maries, over the 

hurrying About from one hiU town to another, nntil VaMuri*8 Life of Signorelli 
beoomei, in thie portion, » oonfneed oatelogae of nAmee and places, ohnrohea 
and ottiea. Citti di Oaatello seems to have been one of Lnca's espeoial fields of 
aotiyity. In 14SS, after painting a banner representing the Madonna, he was 
giTen the freedom of the dtj. In 1880 there was a piotore of the Katiritj, 
in the possession of Signor Manoini at Citth di Castello, whioh may possibly 
have been the work referred to by VaaarL 

" Still in the Broszi ohapel in San Domenioo, now oalled Borbon del 
Monte. It was exeonted in 1496. 

M In the ohoir of the Oathedral of Cortona; the prtdtUa contains : Ghriat 
in the Garden, the Last Sapper, the Kiss of Judas, the Taking of Christ, 
and the Flagellation.— Milaaesi, m, p. 6S6, note 5. 

It Qihia picture is now in the Oathedral of Cortona. The other two pictures 
(still in the church of the Gesh) are an Adoration of the Shepherds, and a Con- 
ception of the Virgin Mary. Miknesi, m., 086, note 6. 

** This picture has disappeared, probably when the altar was modemiied 
in the middle of the eighteenth century. 

*> Said to be a picture belonging to the heirs of Cav. Luca Tommasi, of Cor- 
tona ; it represents the Assumption of the Virgin with four saints below and 
angds abore. See Crowe and Cavaloaselle^s History of Painting in Italy, 
m., p. 88, and Milaneei, IIL, p. 687, noted. 



866 LUOA SIGNORBLLI 

chapel of the Sacrament,^ and in San Franoesoo at Lndg* 
nano he decorated the folding doors of a press^ wherein 
there is deposited a branch of coral, on the summit of which 
is formed a cross.^ At Siena he painted a pictnre for the 
chapel of San Gristofano, in the chnrch of St. Agostino,^ 
wherein are certain saints, in the midst of whom is a figore 
of San Gristofano in relief. 

From Siena, Lnca Signorelli repaired to Florence for the 
purpose of beholding the works of the living masters, as 
well as those of the departed : he there depicted nude fig- 
ares of the Gods,^ on canvas, for Lorenzo de' Medici, a 
work which was highly extolled, and a pictnre of Oar 
Lady, with two prophets, small figures in terretta. This is 
now at Gastello, a villa belonging to the Signer Duke Oosi- 
mo.* Both of these works he presented to the above- 
named Lorenzo, who never suffered himself to be surpassed 
in liberality and generosity by any man. This master like- 
wise painted a round picture of Our Lady, which is in the 

ta This freeoo in the Collegiate oharcli, itOl exists. 

s* These works sre lost, but the carious reliqnarj of oorsl and gddsmith't 
work finished by GabrieUo d' Antonio da Siena, in 1471 (bat oommenoed In 
1850), is described at length by MHaned as stiU existing. See VoL ULy p. 
687, note& 

^ The side panels of this altar-piece are in Berlin, tl^y contain life-sise 
figures of Saints Clara, Catherine of Alexandria, Jerome, Aogostine, and An- 
thony of Padna. 11 Hants {UA^e ePOr, 704) calls them far saperior to the 
figures in most of Looa's ohoroh piotarei. The date, according to Tisio, is 
1518. Horelli, Italian Masters, IL, p. 03, mentions a Visitation at Berlin, a 
late work, bought from the Patrizi of Borne. In the latter city there is still, 
according to the same author, a little picture of the Holy Family in the Ossino 
Bospigliosi. While in Siena Signordli executed important frescoes for the 
palace of Pandolfo PetruccL See Crowe and CaTaloaselle, History of Pant- 
ing in Itsly.IIL, 167. Of these, Coriolanns before Rome and the Triumph 
of Chastity are in the National Gallery. Dr. Bichter donbts the aathentidtiy 
of the Triumph. 

•• Theao-called ''School of Pkn** hi the Berlin Gallery. H. HOnti, L'Ag9 
tTOr, j^ 700, finds that while the picture has neither rhythm nor harmony, 
and is only an opportunity for Luoa to show his anatomical knowledge, that it 
does not lack style and '' a certain wild grace.** 

** It is now in the UffisL There are four nude figures in the baekgionad. 
Critics hsTC traced the influence which this picture had on BGdielaDgeb fm 
his only authentic easel picture— the Holy Family, now also in the UiBfL 



LUOA SIGNOBBLU 867 

Andience-Ohamber belonging to the Chiefs of the Gnelphic 
Connoil, and is exceedingly beantifuL'' At Chiosari, in 
the territory of Siena^ one of the principal abodes of the 
Monks of Monte Oliveto,^ Laca painted eleven historical 

** It it now in the Uffizi and repretentf » Holy Fftmilj, with » iMuhc^e 
bftokgroond. 

•• In the monaetery of Monte OUyeto whioh ia in the monntaina, ifteen 
milea from the oitj of Bienai SignoreUi painted eight freaooea reprea^itinf 
aoenea from tha life of Saint Benediotb Bio oonaidera theae to be the great- 
eat of Signorelli'a worfca, and Viacher aeta them down aa perhapa the pooreat 
of them. Neither oriticia n^t. bat the latter ia theleaa mirtaken of the two. 
11 Mtlnts wondera that Lnoa did not *'begin at the beginning,** that ia to 
Bay, by the atoriea from the childhood of the aaint, atoriei whioh in aotoal ar- 
rangement oommenoe the aeriea — although they wese painted by «<*4'*iif«ft 
who waa Looa'a aoooeaaor. It was only natural, howerer, that Looa ahonld 
aeleot thoae aoenea whioh were aympathetio to him; atoriea in whioh ha oonld 
introdnoe his bat-winged demona, and par^-oolored lafi9qu4H$U—§gaif in 
fact whioh afford opportimity for the display of the body, and varied the mon- 
otony of the eternal monk'a robe whioh i^ipeara in neariy all of the freeooea. 
He left the aoenea from the boyhood of Benedict to the more facile and ami- 
able genina of Batri, and painted the interriew between the saint and the 
eaqoire of Totila, and a second interriew with the Gothic king himself; the 
Temptation of a YonngMonk ; the Destmotion of an Idcd ; the Chastisement 
of the Bril Honk Florentiaa ; the BeanrreotioQ of a Monk ; Satan Interfering 
with other Monka who are trying to raisea great atone ; and the Disobedience 
of Two Tmanta who escape from the oonTenl 8ignore]li*s ragged strength and 
imaginatiTC power were oat of tonch with theee petty miradea and childish 
snbjecta, and it ia not aarprising that lie gave op the aeriea when half fin- 
ished and pasaed on to Orrieto. Bren the best of theae freaooea, the aoene 
in an inn or hostelry, and the aobjecta which introdnoe the Gotha, are hard and 
ofl^ in color, and haye a certain coaraenesa of ezecntlon that ia not Tolgar, 
bat ia nererthelesa disagreeable. The gothio soldiers are, howerer, excellent, 
for after a node body Laca liked nothing so well as a awashbackling {oMsgua- 
fui with dose-fitting donblet and tighta that showed moscolar conatraction, 
attitadea that oAred bold strong ontlines, and braced the man firmly npon 
both feet planted wide apart, or else propped him npon hia heavy lance 
on one hand, threw oat a hip at an abrapt angle and set the other arm akimbo 
— the hand resting on the pommel of a sword. Theee Goths are aimply the 
braiH of the Baglioni and Yitelli, or thoae Gaacons whom Laca may have aeen 
tramping down the peninsola at the heels of Charlea VIIL 

The freaooea are badly damaged, hot are now protected by glaaa. Thooewho 
are deairoaa of making **either a literary or artiatic stady ** of the freaooea al 
Monte Oliveto may obtain at the School of Fine Arte of Siena, the permiaaimi 
to paaa aeyeral days and nights at the convent, and the viait is well worth 
while, not only for the fiescoes of ^gnorelli and of Bani, and the terra cottaa 
of the BobMa, bntfor the ^orioaascsnery and thevaat monaatety itaell The 



S68 LUOA 8IQN0BBLU 

scenes on one side of the cloister, representing therein 
events from the life of San Benedetto. From Cortona our 
artist sent certain of his works to Montepuloiano,* and to 
Foiano^ he sent an altar-piece, which is now on the high 
altar of the Capitular church ; other pictures were, in like 
manner, sent to other places in the Valdichiana. In the 
Madonna * of Oryieto, which is the principal church of that 
city, Luca Signorelli finished the chapel which had been 
commenced by Fra Giovanni da Fiesole.^ He there repre- 

Chiusori mentUmed by Vuari is in reftUtj far above the monasteiy, at the top 
of a still higher mountain ; it is a poor little Castello, bnt is <iign^<M by the 
same of Lan Ponenna as its repated founder. 

* The Italian word Madonna should here be translated cathedral, or ehiudi 
«l Oar Lady. 

** Apredella oontaaning the Annnnoiation, the Nativity, and the Adotatka 
of the Magi, from the ohnrch of Santa Lnoia in Montepnloiano, is in the V^mL 
The other pictures are supposed to be lost. 

M Executed in 1533. The altar-piece, stUl in tUu, represents the Virgin and 
Child with angds and saints, and in UMpredeUa are scenes from the life of 
Baint Martin. 

*> More than one master who is rich in fame would be oomparatiTely poor 
if a single monument had been destroyed ; bat not one wonld have suiTered 
greater ed^pee than would have Signorelli, if the cbi^ of San Briiio in the 
Cathedral of Orvieto, had in some one of the accidents of sixteenth century 
Italy perished like the chapel of Mantegna in the Vatican, the frescoes ef 
PisaneUo in the Lateran, the decorations of the Bellini in the Ducal PaUce of 
Venice— to cite but three out of many examples Masacdo has left only the 
fiescoes of the Carmine, Leonardo the fresco of S. Maria deUe Grade, but in 
seeing these we feel that, had their authors left other wall-paintings, the 
latter too must have been great. With Signorelli it is different, his paintings, 
excepting always his fresco of the Sistine, only emphasize the value of his Or- 
Tietaa wall-pictures and enhance their importance as representative of what 
the artist could da Bven the Moses of the Sistine, ss an exponent of Lnea*s 
capacity, cannot be ctmipared with the frescoes at Orvieta Signorelli did not 
care for the draped figure, although it must be admitted that his sentiment of 
grandeur sometimes showed itself in his arrangements of drsperies, suavity 
too was foreign to his artistic nature, and all throogh his life the Umbriam 
had asked him for suave saints and heavily drsped madonnas. 

At last, when he was sixty years old, came the opportunity to do what he 
loved, to paint the naked human body. Here in the Chapel of the MadciH» 
of San Brizio, in the Duomo of Orvieto, four great walls were given him, and 
for a subject the last day, when all flesh should be raised again, and with 
these bodies emergent from the earth the painter too has put on immoftalitgr. 

Here Signorelli becomes one of th«t little band of artiata, whose penwnal 



LUOA SIONORBLLI 369 

sented scenes descriptive of the Last Judgment, with most 
singalar and fanciful invention. Angels, demons, earth- 

oontrilmtioii to the art evolution waa so distinct, that eaoh man*s share 
may have its separate classification ss a factor. Thus as Leonardo added 
ohiarasenro (in its developed form), and Fra Bartolommeo added the prin- 
olplea of monomental composition, so Signorelli contribated the naked body 
as a decorative motive. Hj created a great drama, in which expression by 
mnsonlar constniction and movement, not only played the leading r6le bnt the 
only rftle. The whole scheme is grandly thought out and clearly ordered, but 
the naked bodies of men and women are the painter^s unique material Not 
only does he in his Last Judgment strip off and throw away all the gowns and 
crowns and robes which Orgagna, a great imaginative artist too in his day, 
bad used, bnt when he comes to the framing of his scenes, in the pilasters 
which other men had filled with tripods and garlands, sphinxes and birds, he 
diwards aU decorative accessories and bending his naked people into the 
strangest attitudes, builds up his decoration with them alone. He uses his 
sphinxes and beasts indeed, but in other portions of his scroll work and only 
as accessory to the ever-present human figure. ^* His play,** says Symonds, 
** was the pastime of a Prometheus ; ** "he made, as it were, a parade of hard 
and rugged ^pes, scorning to introduce an element of beauty, whether sensu- 
ous or ideal, that should distract him from the study of the body in and for 
itsell** The fame author, John Addington Symonds, in his admirable pas- 
sages upon Signorelli (The Renaissance, Fine Arts, pp. 878-04), adds that 
we may differentiate ^' four distinct grades of corporeal expression *' in Luca*s 
work: First **t]ie abstract nude, iUustrated by the Resurrection and the ara- 
besques at Orvieto. Oontemporary life [the second grade], with aU its pomp 
of costume and insolence of ruffling youth, is depicted in the fulminati at 
Orvieto, and in the soldiers of Totila at Monte OUveto.** '' Third in degree, 
we find the highly idealized adolescence reserved by Signorelli for his angels. 
All his science and sympathy with real life are here subordinated to poetic 
feeling.** In the fourth grade are the demons, whom Signorelli ^' created by 
exaggerating the more grotesque qualities of the nude developed in his sra- 
besqnes.** In Symonds's delightful appreciation of the frescoes, it is difficult to 
wholly agree with what he sajrs of the draped angels in the clouds above the 
elect. *' Hie grave and solemn sense of beauty ** is there, the two flying 
angeb are admirably draped ; so are two of the seated ones, but with the 
others, one does not feel the oonstruotion of their bodies ; a drapery seems to 
have hampered Signorelli, either through indifference or impatience, he rarely 
stopped to paint or study it The faoes, too, are nnindividual, are all alike, 
although they approach more nearly to a grave gentleness than do most of the 
faces of a master habitually indifferent to physiognomy. 

The commission for these frescoes was given April 5, 1499, and the last pay- 
asent for them is dated December 5, 1504. They were therefore completed be- 
tween these years. They are painted upon the vaulting and walls of the Ghapd 
of tlie Madofma di San BrUio, in the Duomo of Orvieta On the vaulthig 
(beside the work of Angelico) are Angels, Ptophets with the Virgin, Patriarchs 
and Fbtbeca of the Church, Martyrs and Virgins. In a niche is a PM) and on 



360 



LUOA 6IGN0RELU 



quakes^ nuns, fires, miracles of Antichrist, and many other 
objects of similar kind, are depicted in this work, with 

tlM walk are four great eompodtknis, namely : The Preaohing of Antiehriat| 
Th» Benirreotioii, Hdl. and Faradiae. In the four pendentiTea are The End 
of the World, and the Rain of Fire, while Hell and Paradiae appear a aeoond 
time. Upon the bordera below are oiroolar piotnrea containing the poeU of 
antiquity, probaUy Grid, C^aadian, Virgil, Homer, Horace, and alao Dante, 
in the nddat of a whole mate of deooratife figoret, mjrtbologioal and allegori- 
caL Theee ace in monoohrome, while then ia a half-length fignre of Heaiod 
painted in color, and there ace chiaroaonro aoenea from Dante*8 PurgaJtorio 
and Orid'i Metamorphoeee. Lnoaezeoated alao a Saint Mary Magdalen for the 
oathedral, which ia now in the rooma of the Opera del Doomo. Two Wdrtem- 
berg paintera, Botbe and Pfannenaohmidt, in 1S45 reatored the Chapel of San 
Brisio at their own ezpenae and were made honorary dtiiena of Orneto. See 
the aooompanying ron^ fdan of the chapel : 



O. 



F. 





JK 



«. Ohriat in gkry among Angela. 
b. The Pkopheto (by Fr» Angelioo). 
e. Madonna with the Apoitleii 
d. Judgment Angela. 
«. TheMartyiB. 
/. The Patriarch!. 
g. The Father! of the Ohnreh. 
h. TheBlcMedVirgfaiB. 
X L^ waU. Preaohing of Anti- 
ohriii 



(7. 



A One aide of door. Propheta and 
Sibyla announcing Jndgment. 

C. Derib aeising their Tiotimi. 

D. The Reanrreotion. 
JB, The Damned. 

F. Sabaidiary gronpa of HeU and 

Paradiae. 
0, Snbaidiazy gronpa of HflU and 

Paradiae. 
M, TheBleaaod. 



LUCA SIQNOBBLLI 861 

nude formSj varied forefihortenings^ and many beautifol fig- 
ures, the master haying imagined to himself all that shall 
go to make up the terrors of that last and tremendous day. 
By this performance the artist enlightened the minds of all 
who came after him, for whom he has, indeed, greatly di- 
minished the difficulties attendant on that mode of repre- 
sentation : nor am I surprised that the works of Luca were 
ever highly extolled by Michelagnolo^ or that for his divine 
work of the Last Judgment, painted in the chapel (Sistine), 
he should have courteously availed himself, to a certain 
extent, of the inventions of that artist, as, for example, in 
the angels and demons, in the divisions of the heavens, and 
some other parts, wherein Michelagnolo imitated the mode 
of treatment adopted by Luca, as may be seen by every one. 

In the work here alluded to are numerous portraits of the 
friends of Luca, as also his own : among others are those 
of Ificcold, Paolo, and Vitellozzo Vitelli, Giovan-Paolo and 
Orazio Baglioni, and many others, whose names are not 
known. In Santa Maria di Loretto, Signorelli painted cer- 
tain frescoes in the Sacristy, the Four Evangelists namely, 
with the Four Doctors, and other Saints, all very beautiful : 
for this work he was most liberally remunerated by Pope 
Sixtus.** 

It is related of Luca Signorelli that he had a son killed in 
Gortona, a youth of singular beauty in face and person, 
whom he had tenderly loved. In his deep grief, the father 
caused the child to be despoiled of his clothing, and, with 
extraordinary constancy of soul, uttering no complaint and 
shedding no tear, he painted the portrait of his dead child, 

** Beddes the snbjeoii enumerated b j Vaeari, two of the waUs haTe piot- 
uree of the Oonyenion of Paul and the Incrednlity of Thomas ; fiye of the 
walk (the laoristy ia octagonal) haye each two apostlea The eighth waU ia 
fiUed by the window. In the naye he painted in gritaglio twenty-six seated 
figures of Doctors and of Prophets in medallions. H. HttntSf VAgeePOr^ 
p. 099, dates these frescoes as haying been executed between 1476 and 1479. 
They count as one of the four great works of Signocelli as freBcante^ the 
others being the series at Mount Oliyeto and Oryieto and the fresco of the 
Bistine OhapeL 



362 LUOA 8IGN0BELLI 

to the end that he might still haye the power of contem- 
plating^ by means of the work of his own hands, that which 
nature had giyen him, but which an adverse fortune had 
taken away. 

Being invited by Pope Sixtus to work in the chapel of his 
palace in competition with the numerons masters occupied 
there, Luca painted two pictures" in that place accord- 
ingly, and these, even among so many, are considered the 
best : the first represents the Parting Bequest of Moses to 
the Hebrew people, after he had obtained a view of the 
promised land ; tibe second exhibits the Death of that Law- 
giver. 

Finally, having executed works for almost all the princes 
of Italy, and having become old, Luca Signorelli returned to 
Oortona, where, in his last years, he worked for his pleas- 
ure, rather than from any other motive, and because, hav- 
ing ever been accustomed to labour, he could not prevail on 
himself to live in idleness. In this his old age then he 
painted a picture for the Nuns of Santa Marghereta, in 
Arezzo,^ and one for the brotherhood of San Girolamo, the 

** He painted bat one piotnre in the Sittina, though it indades in itwlf mt- 
•nJ epiiodes from the History of Moses and is one of the finest works in the 
series. It is likely that Luca worked in the ohapel many years after Pemgino ; 
Bottioelli and the others finished (in 1484) their frescoes there. Sig. Gn6^ in 
r ArehUtio Siorieo delV Arte, qaotes a passage in Paolo Oortese, de CardinO' 
latUy 1510 ; making it probable that Signorelli painted in the Sirtine Ohi^el 
under Julins IL, i.e., after 1503. 

^ The piotnre for the nuns of Santa Margherita has noTer been identified, as 
Vasari does not mention the subject of it. A Virgin and Child enthroned 
with S. Simeone, S. Giaoomo Haggiore, S. Bonayentura and B. F^anoeso(\ 
painted by Luoa for the church of Aroeyia, has been found at Figino near 
Milan and taken to the Brera ; it will be completed by a lunette (€}od the 
Father) and mpredella (scenes from the life of the Virgin), these having been 
sold to an antiquary by the Filippini heira The oil restorations have been 
remoyed by Sig. Cayenaghi, and the picture is highly praised by Sig. Frinoni 
Citt^ di Castello BtQl possesses a martyrdom of S. Sebastian in the church of 
8. Domenico. Florence has (see MM. Lafenestre and Bichtenberger, Flot'- 
true) in the UflOsi a Virgin and Child, aHoly Family, a Triptych ; in the Pitti 
a Holy Family ; in the Academy a Crucifixion and a "^rgin and Child with 
saints ; in the Palauo Corsini a Virgin and Child. The Louyre (see the same 
authoo, Le Louvre) has an Adoration of the Magi, a Birth of the Virgin, 



LUOA SIONOBELLI 363 

last being partly at the cost of Messer Niccolo Gamnrrini^ 
doctor of laws and auditor of the Baota^ whose portrait^ 
taken from the life, is in the picture ; he is kneeling before 
the Madonna, to whose protection he is recommended by 
San Niccolo, who is also depicted in the same painting. In 
the same work are figures of San Donate and San Stefano, 
with that of San Oirolamo (St. Jerome) undraped, be- 
neath ; there is likewise a figure of Dayid, singing to a 
Psaltery, with two Prophets, who are seen, by the written 
scrolls which they hold in their hands, to be engaged in a 
conference on the conception of the Virgin. This work 
was transported from Gortona to Arezzo by the members of 
that brotherhood, who bore it on their shoulders from the 
first-named city to the last, when Luca also, old as he was, 
determined on repairing to Arezzo, to see the picture in its 
place, and also that he might visit his kindred and friends. 
During his stay in Arezzo his abode was in the ^^Gasa 
Vasari,'' where I was then a little child of eight years old, 
and I remember that the good old man, who was exceed- 
ingly courteous and agreeable, haying heard from the mas- 
ter who was teaching me my first lessons, that I attended 
to nothing in school but drawing figures, turned round to 
Antonio, my father, and said to him, ^' Antonio, let little 
George (Georgino) by all means learn to draw, that he may 
not degenerate, for even though he should hereafter devote 
himself to learning, yet the knowledge of design, if not 
profitable, cannot fail to be honourable and advantageous. '' 
Then turning to me, who was standing immediately before 
him, he said, " Study well, little kinsman." He said many 
other things respecting me, which I refrain from repeating, 
because I know that I have been far from justifying the 
opinion which that good old man had of me. Being told 
that I suffered, as was the case at that age, so severely from 

and a fragment of a oomposition. Horelli, Italian Masters, p. 261, thinks 
that the panels (86 and 87) in Dresden, attributed to Lnoa, are really by pupils. 
He notes the oharooal stndy for the Last Judgment of four nude figures ia ^« 
same gallery. 



864 LTIOA SIGNOBELLI 

bleeding at the nose, as sometimes to be left fainting and 
half dead thereby, he bound a jasper round my neck with 
his own hand, and with infinite tenderness : this recollec- 
tion of Luca will never depart while I live.® Having 
placed his picture in its destined position, Luca returned to 
Cortona, being accompanied to a considerable distance on 
his road by many of the citizens, as well as by his friends 
and relations, and this was an honour well merited by the 
excellences and endowments of this master, who dways 
lived rather in the manner of a noble and a gentleman than 
in that of a painter. 

About the same time Silvio Passerini, Cardinal of Cor- 
tona, had built a palace about half a mile distant from the 
city, after the design of the painter, Benedetto ^ Caporali 
of Perugia, who took great delight in architecture, and had 
written a commentary on Yitruvius but a short time before. 
This palace the cardinal determined to have amply deco- 
rated with paintings, wherefore Benedetto set himself to 
work, and being assisted by Maso Papacello, of Cortona, 
who was his disciple, and had studied under Oiulio Bomano 
likewise, as will be related hereafter ; and by Tommaso, as 
well as other disciples and workmen, he did not cease until 
he had painted almost the whole of the building in fresco. 
But the Cardinal desired to have a picture from the hand 
of Luca also, whereupon the latter, although very old and 

** A onrioni little domestic piotnie ii giyen by Symonds, who eiies a letter of 
MicheUngelo, in which the latter telle how Master Luca ^gnorelli came to see 
him in Rome, while he, Michelangelo, was blocking oat the figore of a man 
with his hands bonnd behind him (one of the captives now in the Lonire), 
and how Luca borrowed forty gialios which Michelangelo fetched from above 
stairs and gave to him, in presence of the Bolognese maid-senrant and of 80- 
tIo the Apprentice. Tears after Michelangelo, stating that the debt had 
not been repaid, wrote a complaining letter to the magistrates of Omrtona. 
Lnoa in turn claimed that he had repaid it, and in riew of the fact that the 
money might easily have gone astray on the road in days when tiie machinery 
of payment was much less sore than now, it is possible that both artists were 
honest in their claim, and unfortunate that the not over-patient Miohdangelo 
■honld have written. 

9* Q|oviMi9i Sattista, not Benedetta 



LUOA 8IGN0BELLI 866 

afflicted with palsy, depicted the Baptism of Christ by St. 
John, in fresco, on the wall of the palace,'^ on that side 
namely whereon the altar stands ; bat he conld not entirely 
finish it, seeing that while still working at this picture he 
died, haying attained the eighty-second year of his age. 

Laca Signorelli was a man of the most upright life, sin- 
cere in all things, affectionate to his friends, mild and ami- 
able in his dealings with all, most especially courteous to 
every one who desired his works, and very efficient as well 
as kind in the instruction of his disciples. He lived very 
splendidly, took much pleasure in clothing himself in hand- 
some vestments, and was always held in the highest esteem 
for his many good qualities, both in his own country and in 
others. 

And now, with the close of this master^s life, which took 
place in 1521," we will bring this second part of our work 
to an end, terminating with Luca,*^ as the master who, in 

•f IniUu in the diapel of the Villa Pftuerini, oijled U PoUumom. 

*• In 1528, rather in the night of the last of November and firat of Decem- 
ber. 

** The portrait of Laca Signorelli bj himself is in one of the flrescoei al 
Orrieto (in the Preaching of Antichrist). The Torrigiani Gallerj in Flor- 
ence contains a life-size portrait by Signorelli of a man in a red cap and Test, 
which is supposed to be the painter himself. Laca held a magistracy in his 
native town, for terms of two months, in the years 1488, 1496, 1497, 1500, 1504, 
1530, and 1524. 

** Oortona lies midway between Umbria and Tosoany, and for forty yean 
Laca SignorelU, its greatest painter, halted between the schools of tiie two 
provinces, taming at last to that of Florence, and triumphantly vindicating 
his choice. Signordli in his altar-pieces and in his frescoes, or rather in his 
small and his large work, had two wholly different manners. In the latter he 
was oompetent, powerfal, sore ; in the former, hesitating m his ohoioe of 
types, nnoertain in their expression, and fumbling in the handling of his 
material This is general critioiBm. Sometimes a figure in a composition, some 
tarutquenei in dose fitting costnme, or naked &un, gives a promise of what 
Lnca could do with congenial subject-matter ; and a tew of his altar-pieoes 
and small works have real grandeur and show the spirit of Orvieta M. Mtlnts 
says that in his altar-pieoes Lnoa tried to change his style and Imitate Pe- 
rugina This in itself would have quite sufficiently hindered his snocessfnl 
expression, for he had little natural feeling for color and need crude opposi- 
tions of light and shade completely foreign to Peragino*s methoda He has 
been obaraotericed as a master, with a mingling of omde reaUsm and imagina- 



866 LUCA 8IGN0RELLI 

the fundamental principles of design^ more especially in the 
nude form^ and by the grace of his inventions^ as well as 
the disposition of the events he depicted, laid open to all 
succeeding artists the path to the ultimate perfection of 
arty that perfection^ to the highest summit of which those 
who followed him^ and of whom we are henceforward to 
speaky were afterwards enabled to attain. 

tiT0 power, but he was a realiBt only in hii deeire to imitate ezaotly the 
maedes of the naked human body, a thorax bending or straining, legs braoed 
widely apart, arms tossing or lifting. And even here it was oonstrootion 
that he soaght rather than subtlety of modelling. In his altar-pieces the 
figures were often inadeqoate and weak, their &oes generalized and lacking 
in character. He did not quite seem to know what he wished to expresa, In 
his Orrietan frescoes, on the contraiy, he knew exactly what he wanted to 
say, and said it with a power which made the cycle of the MMiinmytft of g^i 
Brizio one of the most remarkable of the epoch. There is no moie notable 
example of an artist saooeeding in what he liked to do, and failing in the at- 
tempt at what he did not like to do. In many of his pictures at Gortona and 
certain cities of Umbria he left only the souvenir of a powerful, hasty, hesitat- 
ing, and iuoomplete artist, though giving at times magnificent promise; as a 
fireacante^ he was unequal at Monte Oliveto, but at Orvieto he found the no- 
tarial for his lifers work and made himself an immortal name. 

His color was crude, chalky in the whites, and bricky in the flesh tones; 
he did not really care for color, nor did he greatly care for faces either, ex- 
cept as the Tehides for expression, not indindual but general expressioii, aa, 
for instance, of joy in his elect, of ferocity in his demons. Expression by 
muscular constmotion and movement was what he loved beet in the world ; 
the bending of a body at the hips, the bracing of the legs, the turning of a 
head or throat ; he liked to strongly indicata the ridge of a backbone or the 
edge of a shoulder-blade by sharp oontrasto of light and shade, and bis hand- 
ling of surfaces, if not exactly brutal, and certainly not vulgar, has a coarse- 
ness, because while as a painter he was not fadle he was impatienti and 
thereby worked with a kind of violence. 

CriUoism generally has echoed Vasari, that Luca was a precursor of Michel- 
angelo, which he was indeed rather than a prototype. Michelangelo formed his 
style on Donatello and on Jaoopo della Queroia, but it was the decorative in- 
spiration of the great Cortonese in Orvieto that taught the great Florentine 
in Rome to suspend his naked youths against the pendentives of the Sistine 
Ghapd, and to make the undraped human body subject and means at once, 
priudpal and accessory. The trumpeta of the Judgment of Orvieto sounded 
the end of the old and ushered in the triumphal entrance of the new *'jiand 
manner.*' 



LEONABDO DA VINCI/ FLORENTINE PAINTER 

AND SCULPTOR 

[Bom 1459; died 1519.] 

BiBUOOBAPHT. — The most important literary Bonrces for the itndy of Leo- 
nardo d» Vinci are hia own writings. These are so encyclopsMUo aa to have 
oalled for the united study of speoiaUsts in many directions. They are so dif- 
ficult to decipher, being written backward, that is from right to left, and so fall 
of valuAble memoranda in the shape of diagrams and sketches, that they have 
been xeprodnced for pablication by the modem photo-mechanical processes, 
and they are so considerable in bulk that their reproduction has been under- 
taken by societies and under royal patronage. Two editions of Leonardo*s 
celebrated TratttUo delia PUtura have come down to us, one (abridged) of 
905 chapters, one of 912 chapters. The first printed edition was published in 
Paris in 1651 ; the unabridged work was published in 1817, after the discovery 
by Maasi in the Vatican libiary of a transcript of the original There have 
been many subsequent editions, including the Florentine of 1792 and the 
Milanese of 1804, with an important life of Leonardo by Carlo Amoretti. 
The latest and most complete edition of Leonardo's literary works, an edition 
in which the Italian text and English translation confront each other, is Dr: 
Jean Paul Richter*s Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci, London, 1888 (il- 
lustrated with fine plates). The original MS. of the celebrated Trattato delta 
PUtura is lost, but Dr. Richter (see Vol. L, p. xvii., Literary Works of Le- 
onardo da Vinci) has found an original fragment of one of the best known 
portions of the said Trattato in the collection of Lord Asbbumham. This 
Trattato is considered by students to be a compilation of scattered facts 
relaliYe to painting, and taken from the notes and manuscripts of Leonardo, 
possibly by MeM or Alazzenta. Other MS3. by Leonardo are in Rome, Milan« 
Holkham Hall, Windsor, and South KensiugtoM ; the British Museum con- 
tains a Tolnme of notes by him. conrsting of 283 pages, written backward. 
The splendid manuscripts in the Biblioth^ve de VlnstUut and the Bibliothiqtf 
Nationals at Paris, Ulustrated with sketches which have careful explanatory 
notes upon them, have been reproduced in fctc-tdmUe by M. Gh. Ravaisson- 

> Leonardo di Ser Fiero d* Antonio di Ser Piero di Ser Guide da Vinci, called 
Leonardo d» VinoL The orthography ^* Lionardo ** does not occur in the 
nanuaoripts or signatnraa. 



868 LEOKAKDO DA VlKOl 

Mollien. The Oodex AtlarUUut, in the AmbroeUn Library at HOaB, oonaiiU 
of 903 leavflt and 1,750 drawings. The index of Leonardo's MSSi it giTen in J. 
P. Riohter'tLitecary Works of Leonardo da Vinci, London, 1888. Other pnb- 
Koatiops ace as follows : Charles Bavaisson-MoUien, Let Jfanu$crU$ de Lnmard 
d€ Vinei, de UBibliothiqHederin»tUuid€ Parity pvblUt em fae-^tmOm wtee 
traneeription lUUraUy traduction^ prifaee et table mdthodique^ par Chartet 
HavaUton-Mdllien, 6 vols., Paris, Quantin Press. Jl Cfodiee AtlarUico di Le- 
onardo da Vittei^ riprodoUo epvbblieato dalla Begia Aceademia dei Lineei 
eoUogli auepiei del Re et del Oovemo, Milan, 1895, with 1,750 drawings on 
800 large sheets, reproduoed by heliotype plates ; besides the phototype repro- 
duction of the M8S. notes there is a transcription by Dr. Qiovanni Pinmati, 
and a dictionary of obsolete terms by Laos lieltrami Saggio delle Opere di 
Leonardo da Vinei (a work in which a number of Italian tavantt have collab- 
orated), Biihoi, 1872. Lnoa Beltrami, // Codice di Leonardo da Vinei, nella 
BiblioUca del prineipe TrUfuhio in JiUano, traeeriUo ed annotato^ Ifilan, 
1801. This is a photographic reproduction and is volume V. of the Aroonati 
donation. Leonardo da Vinei^ TraUato delta piUura eondoUo $ul eodiee 
Vatieano Urbinaie 1270, eofi prt^azione di Marco Tabarrini^ preeeduto deUa 
vita di Leonardo eeritta da Oiorgio Vaaairi, eon nuowe note e eommentario 
di Oaetano MUaneti^ Home. / matioecritti di Leonardo da Vincit Codiee 
$ul 9olo degli UceUi e varie altre moterie, pvbblieato da Tkodoro Sabachnikoff^ 
traterisione e note di Giovanni Piumati traduzione in lingua franceee di 
Carlo Sataiteon-JfoUien, Paris, 1808. (This work is reviewed in the Oaxette 
detJ^anx iirei, 1894, IL, 845, by Baron H. Von GeymOUei:) J.P. Bichter, 
Bibliographie der Handechr^ften Leonardo^ ZeitechHft far bildende Kuntt, 
Xym., pp^ 88, 127, 154, 100. Docio, Degli ScriUi e ditegni di Leonardo da 
FlMci, lOlan, 1871. Jordan, Dae Malerbueh dee Leonardo da Vinei^ Leipaic. 
Constantin Winterberg, Z. da VincVt Malerbuch und teine WUteneehe^iehe 
und Praktiet^ Bedeutung—on important article in VoL VIL of the Jahr- 
hueh der K.P, 8, H. Ludwig, L. da Vinci Das Buck von der Jfaierei, Vi- 
enna, 1882. O. Bavaisson, Dee Arite de LSonard de Vinci^ Gazette dee Beaux 
Arte, XXIIL, 2d series. O. BaTaisson-MolIien, Lee 6crUe de Leonard de 
Vinei^ plaquette in 8to, Paris. Grothe, Leonardo da Vinci ate Ingenieur u. 
Philoeoph^ Berlin. AH the above publications refer directly to soine of Le- 
onardo's own writings ; the works mentioned in the following list are of a 
more general character. O. Amoretti, Memorie Storiche eu la vita gli etue^ e 
le opere di Leonardo da Vltici^ MiUn, 1804. Fumagalli« Scuola di Leonardo 
da Vinei, 1811. J. W. Brown, Life of Leonardo da Yind, London, 1828. 
Oonnt Hugo Gallenberg, L. da Vinci, Leipsic, 18S4. R D^^luie, Saggio 
intomoa L, da Vinci, Siena, 1844. A. F. Rio, Leonardo da VinH e la Sua 
Scuola, MiUn. 1857. C. Bknc, Ufte PHnture de Leonard de VinH {Saint 
Sdbaetien), GatetU dee Beaux Arte, first series, EL, p^ 65, Paris, 1850. C. P. 
Milaneai, Documentt inediti riguardanti Leonardo da Vinci, Florence. 1872. 
G. Usielli, Ricerehe intomo a Leonardo da ViuH, 2d Ed.. Turin, 1806. A. 
Hoossaye, Hietoire de Uonard de Vinci, Paris, 18Ta Mrs. Heaton, Life of 
Leonardo da Vinci, London, 1^4. J. P. Richter, L<K>nardo da Vinoi, Lon- 
don, 1880. C. Bi-un, Leonardo da Vinci, in the Dobme Series of Kunet und 
KUnetler, Oamillo Boito, Leonardo e Jfichelatigelo, Mikn, 1870. Camilla 



LEONARDO DA VINOI 869 

Boito, Leonardo, ittehOangeh, Andrea PaUadio, Studii artUtiei, Miln, 1888. 
A Grayer, Leonard de Vinci au Louere, serieB of artioles in the Oaxette dee 
Beaux Arte for 1887. J. BoasMfto, Leonard de Vinei, BnuMla, 1888. B. 
MtintK, SerieB of BMayt in VArt, 188e» 1887, 1888, 1889, and Beeue dee Deux 
Mondee^ October, 1887. Bemhwd Bereoaon, Florentine Painters of the Renais- 
tanoe. New York, 1890. P. Milller- Walde, Leonardoda Vinci Lebenekiexe und 
Fareehungen uber JSein Verhdltniee sur Florentiner Kumt und mu Rc^ael, 
Miinioh, 1889. Nuovi Documenti eu Leonardo da Vinci^ by A. Ventari, in 
VArchwio Storico deW Arte, L, 45. O. Bavainon-MoUien, Pagee et npo- 
cryphee de LSoftard de Vinci, Nogent-le-Rotron, 1888. Carlo de Blasis, Leo- 
nardo da Vinri, Milan, 187"^ Bmilio Motta, Anibrogio Preda e fjeonardo 
da Vinci, Nmvi Documenti, Milan, 1891 Gabriel SCailles, L/onard de 
Vinci V Artiste et U Savant, Paria, 1893. Dino Padelletti, Le Opere Sci^ 
enti/lche di Leonardo da Vinei, NH>lea, 1885w The following are either 
upon some especial side of the artist's aohieyement or else refer directly to 
special works ; they are arranged rather according to snbjeot than accord- 
ing to dates of publication. G. d' Adda, Leonard de Vinci, la gravvre MUa- 
naiee et Paeeavant, Gazette dee Beaux ArU, XXV., p. 123, 1868. Champfleury, 
UAnatomie du Laid dCaprh Lionard de Vinci, Gaxette dee Beaux Arte, 2d 
series, XIV., 1879. G. Bossi, DeUe Oplnioni di Leonardo da VinH intomo 
alia einametria de Corpl Utnani^ Milan, 1811. H. von Geymttller, La Vierge 
d raUlet, peinture attribute d Leonard de Vinci, in the Gazette dee Beaux 
Arte for Angnst, 1890. W. Bloopman, Die Madonna von der Felegrotte in 
Pctrie und in London, in the Repertorium fiir bUdende Kunet, 1891, p. 858. 
Uh guadro di Leonardo da Vinci, note by 0. von Fabriozy, in VArcMeio 
Storico deW Arte, U, 888. G. Fxiiioni, Leonardo da Vincfe und ffane HoU 
beiH*e deej&ngeren Handzeichnungen in Windeor, in the ZeiUchrift fUr bit- 
dende Eunet^ Neue Folge, L, 9. J. W. von Goethe, Abendmahl von Leonardo 
da VineL G. Bossi, Del CJenacolo di Leonardo da Vinci, Mihui, 18ia Jo- 
achim Sighart, Leonardo da Vind und eein letztee Abendmahl, Munich, 1867. 
H. Riegel, Ueber die DarsUUung dee Abendmahlee, Leipsic, 1869. A. Marks, 
St. Anne of Leonardo da Vind, London, 1883. Transactions of the Royal 
Society of Literature; see also VArt, 1888, Vol U, p. 8, and the M^g^t^^ 
of Art, VII., i4& L Courajod, Leonard de Vinci et la Statue de Franceeco 
J^orxa, 1879. B. MOntz, VAH, 1889, Vol I, p. 134, etc. (for the cartoon of 
the Battle of Anghiari). Gustavo Uzielli, Leonardo da Vinci e le AlpL Gus- 
tavo Urielli, Leonardo da Vinci e tre Qentildonne MUaneei dot Secolo XV. 
B. Mfinti, Studi Leonardeechi, in VArchivio Storico deW AHe, V., p. 26, with 
reproductions. W. Bode, Sin Bildniee der xweiten GentaMin Kaieer JfaximH' 
iene, Bianca Maria ^orza, von Ambrogio de Predie^ in the Jahrbuch der 
l9$ft. preueeichen Kuneteammlungen, X. Band, IL Sl^, Berlin, 1889. C. 
Yriarte, Lee relatione d^Tedbelle ^Bete avec Lionard da Vinci d'aprie dee Do» 
eumente iniditepar Armand Baechet, in iheGazette dee Beaux Arte, XXX VIL, 
Fbbmary 1, 18^ Ancora Leonardo da Vinci e leabeUa d'Bete, Nuovi Do- 
cumenti, published by Alessandro Luzio in VArehUfio Storico delT A*^e, L, 
181. & Mttnti, U^ne iducation d'artiete du XV* SiMe; Lajeuneeee de Leo- 
nard da Vinci, in the Refme dee Deux Mondee, October 1, 1887. B. MQnts, 
Beeherehee eur Andrea Salaino, 4Uve de Leonard de Vinci, in the Oourrier de 



370 LEONARDO DA VINCI 

VAH^ 1889, noi. 9S, 27. A. Hoiusaje, ttudw tur JUonard de Finci, 5m 
Bi»torien$, VAriitU^ 1865, % series of artioles; also, La Cine tU Uonard de 
Vinci, VArtiete, 1867; LouU JUL et Lhnard de Vinci, L* Artiste, 1867; 
La Jeuneue de Leonard de Vinci, UAHiete, 1868 ; La Cour dee Sforxa, 
VArtUU, 1860 (VoL XL). W. Pttter, Notes on L. cU Vind, from the Fort- 
nightly Reyiew, 1869. H. Ton Geymiiller, Let demiere Travawc deL.de 
VinH, in the GauiU dee Beaux Arte, 3d Series, XXXHL, p. 867 ; XXXIY., 
pp. 143, 274. A. Honssaye, Leonard de Vinci et lee FouiUee d'Ambaiee, VAr- 
tiite, 1868, VoL IL, p. 249; 1864, VoL L, pp. 8, 35, 49,97. A. HoosMye,!^. 
eowferte du Ibmbeau de Leonard de Vinei, Lacroix, Revue dee Arte, 
XIX., p. 105. A. OhampoUion, De la Tradition relatiee d la MbH de L. da 
Vinci, Laeroix, Revue dee Arts, VoL IIL, 1866i Oioseppe Campori, Nuavi 
Doeumenti per la vita di Leonardo da Vinci, Modena, 1865. The fsmons 
Latin historian, Paolo Oiovio, wrote a life of Leonardo, which possibly ante- 
dates Vaaari*s, and for an early anonymous biographer see note 30l 

THE richest gifts are occasionally seen to be showered, 
as by celestial influence, on certain human beings, 
nay, they sometimes supematarally and marvellously 
congregate in one sole person ; beauty, grace, and talent be- 
ing united in such a manner, that to whatever the man thus 
favoured may turn himself, his every action is so divine as 
to leave all other men far behind him, and manifestly to 
prove that he has been specially endowed by the hand of 
God himself, and has not obtained his pre-eminence by 
human teaching, or the power of man. This was seen and 
acknowledged by all men in the case of Leonardo da Vinci, 
in whom, to say nothing of his beauty of person, which yet 
was such that it has never been sufficiently extolled, there 
was a grace beyond expression which was rendered manifest 
without thought or effort in every act and deed, and who 
had besides so rare a gift of talent and ability, that to what- 
ever subject he turned his attention, however difficult, he 
presently made himself absolute master of it. Extraordi- 
nary power was in his case conjoined with remarkable facility, 
a mind of regal boldness and magnanimous daring ; his gifts 
were such that the celebrity of his name extended most 
widely, and he was held in the highest estimation, not in 
his own time only, but also, and even to a greater extent, 
after his death, nay, this he has continued, and will oon* 
tinue to be by all succeeding ages. 



LBONARDO DA VIKOI STL 

Truly admirable^ indeed, and divinely endowed was Leo- 
nardo da Vinci ; this artist was the son of Ser Piero da 
Vinci ; ' he would without doubt have made great progress 
in learning and knowledge of the sciences, had he not been 
so versatile and changeful, but the instability of his charac- 
ter caused him to undertake many things which having com- 
menced he afterwards abandoned. In arithmetic, for ex- 
ample, he made such rapid progress in the short time 
during which he gave his attention to it, that he often con- 
founded the master who was teaching him, by the perpetual 
doubts he started, and by the difficulty of the questions he 
proposed. He also commenced the study of music, and re- 
solved to acquire the art of playing the lute, when, being by 
nature of an exalted imagination and full of the most grace- 
ful vivacity, he sang to that instrument most divinely, im- 
provising at once the verses and the music. 
/ But, though dividing his attention among pursuits so 
I varied, he never abandoned his drawing, and employed him- 
\ self much in works of relief, that being the occupation 
which attracted him more than any other. His father, Ser 
Piero, observing this, and considering the extraordinary 
character of his son's genius, one day took some of his 
drawings and showed them to Andrea del Verrocchio, who 
was a very intimate friend of his, begging him earnestly to 
tell him whether he thought that Leonardo would be likely 
to secure success if he devoted himself to the arts of design. 
Andrea Verrocchio was amazed as he beheld the remarkable 
commencement made by Leonardo, and advised Ser Piero to 
see that he attached himself to that calling, whereupon the 
latter took his measures accordingly, and sent Leonardo to 
study in the bottega or workshop of Andrea. Thither the 
boy resorted therefore, with the utmost re^iness, and not 

* Leonardo wm bom at the OaiiteUo of Vind, near Bmpoli in the Yal 
d'Amo in 1453. He was the natural eon of Ser Piero Antonio da Vinoi, a 
notary to the Florentine Signoria. It is impossible to state with oertainty 
whether Leonardo was legitimized or not, bat it is probable that he was, at 
an early age, although no documents are in evidence. Leonardo was bconght 
ttp in the house of his father, who manied four times. 



372 lifiOKAM)0 DA VlKOl 

only gave Us attention to one branch of art^ bat to all the 
others^ of which design made a portion. Endowed with 
such admirable inteUigence, and being also an excellent ge- 
ometrician, Leonardo not only worked in sculptore (haying 
executed certain heads in terra -cotta, of women smiling, 
even in his first youth, which are now reproduced in gyp- 
sum, and also others of children which might be supposed to 
have proceeded from the hand of a master) ; but in archi- 
tecture likewise he prepared various designs for ground-plans, 
and the construction of entire buildings : he too it was who, 
though still but a youth, first suggested the formation of a 
canal from Pisa to Florence, by means of certain changes to 
be effected on the river Arno.' Leonardo likewise made de- 
signs for mills, fulling machines, and other engines, which 
were to be acted on by means of water ; but as he had re- 
solved to make painting his profession, he gave the larger 
portion of time to drawing from nature. He sometimes 
formed models of different figures in clay, on which he 
would arrange fragments of soft drapery dipped in plaster ;^ 
from these he would then set himself patiently to draw on 
very fine cambric or linen that had already been used and 
rendered smooth, these he executed in black and white with 
the point of the pencil in a most admirable manner, as may 
be seen by certain specimens from his own hand which I 
have in my book of drawings. He drew on paper also with 
so much care and so perfectly, that no one has ever equalled 
him in this respect. I have a head by him in chiaro-scuro, 
which is incomparably beautiful. Leonardo was indeed so 
imbued with power and grace by the hand of Ood, and was 
endowed with so marvellous a facility in reproducing his 
conceptions ; his memory also was always so ready and so 
efficient in the service of his intellect, that in discourse he 

* In 1600, when we first he^r of him m stnd jing this problem, be WM lortf- 
eigbt ymn M. ; and in 1008 he went to the neighborhood of Pin to a ctmanlt^ 
Hon. for ohanging the ooone of the Amo (Mibmed abridged). Aooordinc to 
Bottari this work was executed about two hundred J9»3n Uitt bj Yinoflndo 
ViTiani, a disciple of Galilea 

* NatuiaUy these modebwere soon desttojed. 



lsokabdo da viNoi ^ 

won all men by Us reasonings^ and confonnded every antag- 
onist^ however powerful^ by the foroe of his arguments. 

This master was also frequently occapied -with the con- 
struction of models and the preparation of designs for the 
removal or the perforation of mountains^ to the end that 
they might thus be easily passed from one plain to another. 
By means of levers, cranes, and screws, he likewise showed 
how great weights might be raised or drawn ; in what man- 
ner ports and havens might be cleansed and kept in order, 
and how water might be obtained from the lowest deeps. 
From speculations of this kind he never gave himself rest,* 

• Leonardo cU Vinoi was the moet oniTenal genioa of the Benaiaaance, per- 
hapa of all time. He was painter, aonlptor, arohitect, engineer, mnsidan, phi- 
kMOfdier, ohemiat^ botanist^ and geologbt He was the first great link between 
Archimedes and the modem scientist. (See Draper's Intelleotnal Derelop- 
ment of Borope, IL, 269.) He was acquainted with the earth's annual motion, 
knew the laws of friction and the principle of yirtaal velocitiea, studied the 
fall of bodiea and times of descent along inclined planes and oiroular area. 
He considered the laws of combustion and respiration, first explained the 
true nature of f ossU shells, foreshadowed the hypotheaii of the deration of 
oontinenta, suggested the use of steam as a motive power in naTigation, and 
left a aketoh of a steam-cannon in his Oodex AtUuUieui. He (probably) 
studied anatomy under Marco della Torre, and we have some reason to bdiere 
that he was acquainted with the circulation of the blood. He helped the 
mathematician, Luca Pacioli, in one of his works, and is rather doubtfully 
credited with inventing the algebraical signs -|- and — . He collected plants, 
pressed them, and made herbaria; he also devised a method of taking 
leaf printa, which is in use to-day. In optics, heat, and magnetism, he is 
eredited with important discoveries, including the inventicm of the oamerm 
»bscura* and the hydrc»meter. In physical geogrm|Ay and meteorology his 
achievements were no less wonderful, embracing studies upon magnetic at- 
traction and the efiect of the moon on the tides. In pure mechanics he re- 
stored the laws of the lever. Sig. Lombardini {I>eir Origine e del Progremo 
detta Seietua idrauliea, 3lilan, 1873) considers him as the originator of the fc(- 
«fiee of hydraulics, ffis system for the canalization of rivers is stiU of practi- 
cal Taluei The boring of tunnels, the erection of derricks and fortifications, 
I4;»paratua for raising buildings, aU came in for a share of attention, and sketohet 

* In Dr. Richter's Literary Works of Leonardo d» Vinci, L, 44, note, proofs 
are brought forward against the claim made for Leonardo, that he was the in- 
ventor of the camera obecura. It is possible that lie was the first to explain 
the action of the human eyei Bee Saggio delle Opere di Leonardo da Finely 
Milan, 1873. Leonardo is commonly credited with the invention of the aid to 
drawing, known as the vertical plane. See R von BrQcke in his BmchUueke 
MM der TkeorU der bUdender KiintUy Leipeic, 1877. 



3^4 LfiOlTARDO DA VttrOl 

and of the results of these labours and meditations iher6 Afd 
numberless examples in drawings^ &c., dispersed among 
those who practise our arts : I have myself seen very many 
of them. Besides all this he wasted not a little time, to 
the degree of even designing a series of cords, curiously in- 
tertwined, but of which any separate strand may be distin- 
guished from one end to the other, the whole forming a 
complete circle : a very curiously complicated and exceed- 
ingly difficult specimen of these coils may be seen engraved ;* 
in the midst of it are the following words : — Leonardus 
Vind Academia? Among these models and drawings there 



for them, with explanatory notes written backward in a crabbed hand, itiU ] 
main. The breech-loading cannon which antedated Leonardo, was impro?ed 
by him. The obelisks on the Thames embankment, London, and at Centod 
Park, New York, 'were raised to position by a mechanism sMnilar to that de- 
signed by Leonardo for precisely the same purpose. His machinery for rope- 
making (see Grothe, Leonardo da Vind als higefiieur und PhUom>ph, Berlin, 
1874) was very ingenious, as were also his stone sawing-maohine, his roasting- 
jack, his color-grinding machine, his door-spring, and his wheelbarrow. The 
automatic file-catting machine invented by Leonardo was a worthy predeces- 
sor of that which is in use to-day. This inventor of labor-saving mechanisms 
was also a poet^ a philosopher, and a student of the classics, and yet in spite 
of the almost world-embracing reach of his speculations he seems to have ** re- 
garded painting as his work in life." 

* Albert DQrer made patterns for embroidery, or, as he called them, ** the 
six knots.*' They are the same pattern as in the designs made by Leonardo, 
or (see Dr. Richter) Diirer simply copied Leonardo's ornaments, and, omit* 
ting the inscription, added his own monogram. The decorations of the vaulted 
ceiling of the sacristy of Santa Maria delle Grazie resemble the meshes of a 
net On this very slight connection an attempt has been made to show that 
relations existed between DUrer and Leonardo da Vinci See Thansing*s Dii- 
rer. For the decorations of S. Maria delle Grade, see G. Mongeri, VArit in 
MUano^ p. 815. Original blocks for the twisted ornaments are preserved in 
the print room of the Biblioth«^iue Nationale in Pkria. Lecmardo ii credited 
with many engravings (see Clement's MicheUAnge^ TJonard de Rnei, iSo- 
phael, p. 881), but the Marchese G. D'Adda {Uonard de Vlnei la Grwmrt 
JliUanaiae et PauavarU) only admits the authenticity of one engraving in the 
British Museum (profile of a boy), and one containing figures of horses, and 
belonging to Sig. Angioleni, of BfiUn. See also Bfilanesi, IV., 81, note 8. 

^ Of this academy formed by Leonardo, very little is known ; but it is be- 
lieved by some critics that a large part of the scattered notes on all subjects 
which have come down to us were lecture notes, and it is even thought thai 
the Treatise on Painting was composed to assist in teaching, but several para- 
graphs on a sbc^e page refer to difierent subjects, and this would tend to die» 



LEONARDO DA VINCI 876 

is one^ bj means of which Leonardo often sought to prove 
to the different citizens — many of them men of great dis- 
cernment — who then governed Florence, that the chnrch of 
San Giovanni in that city could be raised, and steps placed 
beneath it without injury to the edifice : he supported his 
assertions with reasons so persuasive, that while he spoke 
the undertaking seemed feasible, although every one of his 
hearers, when he had departed, could see for himself that 
such a thing was impossible. In conversation Leonardo was 
indeed so pleasing that he won the hearts of all hearers, and 
though possessing so small a patrimony only that it might 
almost be called nothing, while he yet work^ very little, he 
still constantly kept many servants and horses, taking extra- 
ordinary delight in the latter : he was indeed fond of all ani- 
mals, ever treating them with infinite kindness and consider- 
ation ; as a proof of this it is related, that when he passed 
places where birds were sold, he would frequently take them 
from their cages, and having paid the price demanded for 
them by the sellers, would then let them fly into the air, thus 
restoring to them the liberty they had lost.^ Leonardo was 
in all things so highly favoured by nature, that to whatever 

proTe the theory. Dr. Riohter has aooomplished the diffionlt work of olaiai- 
f ying these notes. Leonardo was eridently the head of the Aoademy, and may 
have heen the sole professor in it. See H. 016ment*s MkheUAnge^ Leonard de 
Vinci, Raphael This is probably the first recorded instanoe of an institution 
of the kind. The artists were, however, nsnally members of a compagnia de* 
pittoH, whose object was to protect art interests in general The Fabhriea di 
San Lnca^ established in Rome in 1470, is an example of one of these associa- 
tions. See H. MQntz, Len Artndla Cour dee Papee, 

■ It is possible that Leonardo's freeing the birds arose from another motive. 
Leonardo was intensely interested in their flight, and among his papers axe 
many sketches of fljring-macbines and attempts to analyse atrial flighty includ- 
ing the motion of the wings of birds, so that it is reasonable to suppose that 
the birds which were released assirted him in his investigations. In the Aero- 
nautical Annual for 1806 there is an interesting article on Leonardo's Treatise 
on the Flight of Birds ( Codiee eul volo degli uceeUi), which has been recently 
puUished in Paris (1803). See Bibliography. 

Bzaroples are given in Dr. Ricbter's literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci, 
of Leonardo's philosophical maxims, morals, polemics, speculations, studies 
on the life and habits of animals, fables, jests, and tales, letters and notes on 
books and authors. 



876 LEONARDO DA YUfOI 

he tarned his thoaghtSy mind, and spirit, lie gave proof in 
all of Buch admirable power and perfection, that whateyer 
he did bore an impress of harmony, truthfulness, goodness, 
sweetness and grace, wherein no Other man could ever equal 
him. 

Leonardo, with his profound intelligence of art, com* 
menced yarious undertakings, many of which he never com- 
pleted, because it appeared to him that the hand could neyer 
give its due perfection to the object or purpose which he 
had in his thoughts, or beheld in his imagination ; seeing 
that in his mind he frequently formed the idea of some diffi- 
cult enterprise, so subtle and so wonderful that, by means 
of hands, however excellent or able, the full reality could 
never be worthily executed and entirely realized. His con- 
ceptions were varied to infinity ; philosophizing over natural 
objects ; among others, he set himself to investigate the 
properties of plants, to make observations on the heavenly 
bodies, to follow the movements of the planets, the varia- 
tions of the moon, and the coarse of the sun. 

Having been placed then by Ser Piero in his childhood 
with Andrea Yerrocchio,* as we have said, to learn the art 
of the painter, that master was engaged on a picture the 
subject of which was San Giovanni baptizing Jesus Christ ; 
in this Leonardo painted an angel holding some vestments ; 
and although he was but a youth, he completed that figure 
in such a manner, that the angel of Leonardo was much 
better than the portion executed by his master, which 
caused the latter never to touch colours more, so much was 
he displeased to find that a mere child could do more than 
himself.^^ 

* Hie date of Leonardo's entey into Verrooebio*t bctUga ie uknowii. He 
was working there in 1479. See IClanesi, IV., 23, note 2. 

1* The etory that Verrooohio waa disooniaged by hie pnpiTs talent and 
abandoned painting it abeord, and findi its eoimterpart in the legend that 
Franeia died of grief after seeing Raphael's Saint Oeoilia. Leonardo was 
admitted to the Guild of Fsinters in 1472« or, as M. Clement would have nsbe- 
liere, in 1468, and in 147S he had already reoeired an independent commission 
from the Signoria of Florenoe. The painting of the angel in the Aoademy 



LBONABDO DA VINCI 377 

Leonardo received a commission to prepare the cartoon for 
the hangings of a door which was to be woven in silk and 
gold in Flanders, thence to be despatched to the king of 
Portugal ; the subject was the sin of oar first parents in 
Paradise: here the artist depicted a meadow in chiaro- 
scuro, the high lights being in white lead, displaying an 
immense variety of vegetation and numerous animals, re- 
specting which it may be truly said, that for careful exe- 
cution and fidelity to nature, they are such that there is no 
genius in the world, however Ood-like, which could produce 
similar objects with equal truth. In the fig-tree, for ex- 
ample, the foreshortening of the leaves, and the disposition 
of the branches are executed with so much care, that one 
finds it difficult to conceive how any man could have so 
much patience ; there is besides a palm-tree, in which the 
roundness of the fan-like leaves is exhibited to such admi- 
rable perfection and with so much art, that nothing Bhort 
of the genius and patience of Leonardo could have effected 
it : but the work for which the cartoon was prepared was 
never carried into execution, the drawing therefore remained 
in Florence, and is now in the fortunate house of the illus- 
trious Ottaviano de' Medici, to whom it was presented, no 
long time since, by the uncle of Leonardo. ^^ 

It is related that Ser Piero da Vinci, being at his country 
house, was there visited by one of the peasantd on his estate, 
who, having cut down a fig-tree on his farm, had made a 
shield from part of it with his own hands, and then brought 

datat perliaiw from 1480 to 1489. Dr. Biditar, Leooaido dik Vind, pi 7, 
Myt thai in the '* B»ptiim ** of Venooohio not only the aa^ laoribed by 
Vanri to Tieonarto, bat the eeoood angel, the Chriat, and the backgroond are 
painted in oil, a medinm whioh Leonardo always employed, while Verrooohio 
invariably naed Umpera, This statement pushed to its logical oondnsioii 
gireo ns in the ^'Baptism** a wotk painted mainly by Leonardo da Vind 
from the design of the older master. So mnoh repainting has oooorred in the 
oaee of nearly all old pictures that it is always difficult to arrive at hard-and- 
fsst oonelnslona, bat no one can doubt that the immense capaoity of the 
yoothfol Leonardo most have stnu^ Verrooohio Mid lolliMiioed bat 
tainly not di i c oar aged him. 
» This cartoon is lost. 



378 LEONARDO DA VINCI 

it to Ser Piero, begging that he would be pleased to canse 
the same to be painted for him in Florence. This the lat- 
ter very willingly promised to do^ the countryman having 
great skill in taking birds and in fishing, and being often 
very serviceable to Ser Piero in such matters. Having 
taken the shield with him to Florence therefore, without 
saying any thing to Leonardo as to whom it was for, he de- 
sired the latter to paint something upon it. Accordingly, 
he one day took it in hand, but finding it crooked, coarse, 
and badly made, he straightened it at the fire, and giving it 
to a turner, it was brought back to him smooth and deli- 
cately rounded, instead of the rude and shapeless form in 
which he had received it. He then covered it with gyp- 
sum, and having prepared it to his liking, he began to con- 
sider what he could paint upon it that might best and most 
effectually terrify whomsoever might approach it, produc- 
ing the same effect with that formerly attributed to the 
head of Medusa. For this purpose therefore, Leonardo car- 
ried to one of his rooms, into which no one but himself 
ever entered, a number of lizards, hedgehogs, newts, ser- 
pents, dragon-flies, locusts, bats, glow-worms, and every 
other sort of strange animal of similar kind on which he 
could lay his hands ; from this assemblage, variously 
adapted and joined together, he formed a hideous and ap- 
palling monster, breathing poison and flames, and sur- 
rounded by an atmosphere of fire ; this he caused to issue 
from a dark and rifted rock, with poison reeking from the 
cavernous throat, fiames darfcing from the eyes, and vapours 
rising from the nostrils in such sort that the result was in- 
deed a most fearful and monstrous creature : at this he 
laboured until the odours arising from all those dead ani- 
mals filled the room with a mortal fetor, to which the zeal 
of Leonardo and the love which he bore to art rendered him 
insensible or indifferent. When this work, which neither 
the countryman nor Ser Piero any longer inquired for, was 
completed, Leonardo went to his father and told him that 
he might send for the shield at his earliest convenience^ 



LEONABDO DA VINCI 379 

since so far as he was concerned^ the work was finished ; 
Ser Piero went accordingly one morning to the room for 
the shield, and having knocked at the door, Leonardo 
opened it to him, telling him nevertheless to wait a little 
without, and having returned into the room he placed the 
shield on the easel, and shading the window so that the 
light falling on the painting was somewhat dimmed, he 
made Ser Piero step within to look at it. But the latter, 
not expecting any sach thing, drew back, startled at the first 
glance, not supposing that to be the shield, or believing 
the monster he beheld to be a painting, he therefore turned 
to rush out, but Leonardo withheld him, saying: — ^The 
shield Mrill serve the purpose for which it has been executed, 
take it therefore and carry it away, for this is the effect it 
was designed to produce. The work seemed something more 
than wonderful to Ser Piero, and he highly commended 
the fanciful idea of Leonardo, but he afterwards silently 
bought from a merchant another shield, whereon there was 
painted a heart transfixed with an arrow, and this he gave 
to the countryman, who considered himself obliged to him 
for it to the end of his life. Some time after Ser Piero 
secretly sold the shield painted by Leonardo to certain mer- 
chants for one hundred ducats, and it subsequently fell into 
the hands of the Duke of Milan, sold to him by the same 
merchants for three hundred ducats.'^ 

No long time after Leonardo painted an admirable picture 
of Our Lady," which was greatly prized by Pope Clement 
VU.; among the accessories of this work was a bottle filled 
with water in which some fiowers were placed, and not only 
were these fiowers most vividly natural, but there were 
dewdrops on the leaves, which were so true to nature that 
they appeared to be the actual reality. For Antonio Segni 

>* It it hardly neoessary to My that thii shield it lost ; it la snppoaed to have 
been painted in 1473. 

I* This was the VUrge d la Caraft, In the seventeenth oentnry it was in 
the Vatican, hat its present whereabonts is not known. The painting of the 
same snbjeot in the Villa Borghese is stated by Mr. Sidney Ck>lTia to be 1^ Iio- 
rfpiQ di Oredi 



380 LEONABDO DA VIKOI 

who was his intimate friend^ Leonardo delineated on paper 
a Neptune ^^ in his chariot drawn by sea-horses^ and de- 
picted with so mnch animation that he seems to be indeed 
alive ; the tnrbnlent waves also^ the varions phantasms sur- 
rounding the chariot, with the monsters of the deep, the 
winds, and admirable heads of marine deities, all contrib- 
ute to the beauty of the work, which was presented by 
Fabio Segni, the son of Antonio, to Messer Oiovanni 
Gaddi," with the following lines : 

PinxU Virgilius Neptunum, pinxil Homerusf 
Dttm maris undisoniper vadafledU €quo$. 

Mente quidem votes ilium oonspexU uterque^ 
Vincius ast oculis ; jureque vincU eos, 

Leonardo also had a fancy to paint the head of a Medusa 
in oil, to which he gave a circlet of twining serpents by way 
of head-dress ; the most strange and extravagant invention 
that could possibly be conceived : but as this was a work re- 
quiring time, so it happened to the Medusa as to so many 
other of his works, it was never finished.'* The head here 
described is now among the most distinguished possessions 
in the palace of the Duke Cosimo, together with the half 
length figure of an angel raising one arm in the air ; this 
arm, being foreshortened from the shoulder to the elbow, 
comes forward, while the hand of the other arm is laid on 
the breast." It is worthy of admiration that this great gen- 

>« There i» a rough sketch in bUtok chalk for a similar lobjeoi at Windtor. 
Bee Dr. Ricbter, Leonardo da Vind, p. 9. 

>* The €teddi ooUection was sold, and the whereabouts of these works is 
unknown. 

>* The head of the Medusa in the Uflizi is not by Leonardo, and was proba- 
bly painted from Vasari's description, perhaps by one of the CSaraooi Dc 
Mttndler suggests the ^filanese Lomaszo as the author of this woric, and points 
out that it was executed by a trained hand. In the ooUeotion of drawings at 
Windsor and at Vienna are some charming arrangements of braided hair, 
which were possibly suggested by the Medusa with curls of live snakes, as de- 
scribed in the Odyssey. See Theodore Child's Wimples and Crisping-Ffns, 
pp. 106-6. 

n iffUmiiiirf^ VoL IV., p. as, states that a picture which was sold in FkreoM 
to a Boisian odlleotoar was claimed by the seller as being identkal with Um 



LEONABDO DA YINOI 881 

ins, desiring to give the utmost possible relief to the works 
executed by him, laboured constantly, not content with his 
darkest shadows, to discover the ground tone of others still 
darker ; thus he sought a black that should produce a deeper 
shadow, and be yet darker than all other known blacks, 
to the end that the lights might by these means be rendered 
still more lucid, until he finally produced that totally dark 
shade, in which there is absolutely no light left, and objects 
hare more the appearance of things seen by night, than the 
clearness of forms perceived by the light of day, but all this 
was done with the purpose of giving greater relief, and of 
discovering and attaining to the ultimate perfection of art. 

Leonardo was so much pleased when he encountered faces 
of extraordinary character, or heads, beards or hair of un- 
usual appearance, that he would follow any such, more than 
commonly attractive, through the whole day, until the fig- 
ure of the person would become so well impressed on his 
mind that, having returned home, he would draw him as 
readily as though he stood before him." Of heads thus ob- 

hftlf-length figure of an angel mentioned by Yasari. The picture wai 
greatly repainted and its aathenticity oannot be proved. Thcoe is a Bt. 
Jerome in the Vatican gallery believed to be authentic (eee A. Yentori, Lm 
OalleiHa VatioMneif p. 16), which had strange adve n t ni e a . Oaidinal Fesoh 
fonnd a portion of the picture, the torso, used as a box cover, and long after- 
ward discovered in a shoemaker's shop, the head which belonged to the torsow 
Pope Pius IX. eventually bought the picture, which is generaUy considered to 
be a youthful work of Leonardo. 

>* Many of Leonsido's sketches bear out this statement. Tiomanio, in hit 
TnUt€Uo deUa PUtura^ gives a curious anecdote of a supper which he himself 
attended. Leonardo had invited a number of peasants, whom he amused by 
stories until they irere conTuleed with laughter ; he then withdrew and pro- 
duced faces 80 distorted and comical that no one could look at them without 
laughter. Mil«««i^^ ly., p. 27, note 2, dies several engraved oolleotioiis of 
these caricatures— one signed Weneetloi BoUar.^ Boh,, 1745 ; unother signed 
Jaeobo 8andr€ti% BatUfbontB, 1664, as also the reeueU engraved hy U O, d4 C. 
(Ctomte de Oaylus), 1780L Leonardo was fond of attending ezeontiona to 
watch the facial contortions of criminals in their death-throes. His intsrest 
was probably largely anatomicaL In the coUectimi of H L^on Bonnftt, at 
Paris, there ia an interesting study of a oonspixator with a rope aroond fail 
neck. 

Yasari makes no mention of Leonardo's remarkable miUtaxy mapa, six 
of which aio in the Boyal Library at Windsor. In one, rnpresenHng tlis com- 



382 LBONABDO DA YINOI 

tidned there exist many, both masculine and feminine, and 
I have myself several of them drawn with a pen by his own 
hand, in the book of drawings so frequently cited. Among 
these is the head of Amerigo Vespucci, which is a very beau- 
tiful one of an old man, done with charcoal, as also that of 
the Qypsy Captain Scaramuccia, which had been left by 
GianbuUari to Messer Donate Valdambrini, of Arezzo, 
Canon of San Lorenzo. A picture representing the Adora- 
tion of the Magi was likewise commenced by Leonardo, and 
is among the best of his works, more especially as regards 
the heads ; it was in the house of Amerigo Benci, opposite 
the Loggia of the Peruzzi, but like so many of the other 
works of Leonardo, this also remained unfinished.^ 

On the death of Giovanni Qaleazzo, Duke of Milan, in 
the year 1493, Ludovico Sforza was chosen in the same year 
to be his successor, when Leonardo was invited with great 
honour to Milan by the Duke, who delighted greatly in the 
music of the lute, to the end that the master might play be- 
fore him ; ** Leonardo therefore took with him a certain in- 

tiy between Florenoef Perugia, and Siena, the towns are giren in raoh detail 
that Aresso, Voiterra, Siena, eta, can be easily recognised without using the 
text Another is of the Apennines to the east, and of the ooast about Gor- 
•neto to the west. Others are of the course of the Amo, of the Pontine Marshes^ 
the Yolseian Mountains, and the environs of Imola. They were probably OM- 
outed when Leonardo was acting as engineer for Oesar Borgia in 1502. 

** This work, which is now in the Uffia, is considered authentio. It ii 
painted in monochrome tempera (bistre) upon wood on a get$o or ohalk 
ground. Milanesi considers that it is the picture oommenoed by Leonaido In 
1481 for the monks of San Donate a Scopeto outside of Floienoe. Other erities 
think it was ordered in 1478, for the chapel of the Palasao Veoohio. See MM. 
Lafenestre*s and Biohtenbergcr*s Florenee^ p. 28. There has been oonsiderabU 
controTersy regarding the date of this picture, which was nerer finished, and 
IL Mantz,£*^^tf(f Or, p. 660, thinks it was not begun till toward 1500. F^re- 
paratory drawings for it exist in the Louyre, the Galichon collection, and at 
Cologne. 

A picture of the Annunciation (from Monte OUTeto), also in the Ufliii, 
▼aiiously attributed to Ridolfo Ghirlandajo and di Gredi, is giren by De 
Liphart and Dr. Bode to Leonarda If by the latter master it is a yonthfol 
work. Mr. Berenson in his catalogue attributes it to Leonardo*s master An* 
dsea del Verrocohio ; see The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance, p. 180. 

** An anonymous anthor (see Dr. Bichter, Leonardo da Vinci, p. 18) teQa na 



LEONARDO DA VINCI 383 

strnment which he had himself constracted almost wholly 
of silver, and in the shape of a horee's head,* a new and fan- 
thai Leonardo wm sent in 1483, with Ata1ant4> Migliorofcti, to take a Inte to 
the Duke of Milan. This Duke wonlt) have been Gian Galeazzo Sforza, not 
Lodovioo, and the date 14)^ is more probable than is Vaaari^s later one of H9^. 
By 1487 Leonardo was cert^iinlv s^ttl'd in Milan. This letter first published 
by Amoretti is said by M Ravaisson (see Appendix) to be not in lieonardo^s 
own handwriting, but whether a dictation or a forgery, it must directly or in* 
directly have been inspired by lieonardo. Such a letter could only hare been 
inspired by the s^lf-confidenoe or the exploitn of a Vinci. M. Clement gives 
14M as the date of this letter, but it was probably of a very mnoh earlier time. 
It mna at follows : 

**MOfT ILLU8TBIOU8 SlOKOB, 

'* Having seen and sufficiently oonsideired the works of aU thos« who lepnt* 
themselTea to be masters and inventors of instruments for war, and found that . 
the form and operation of these works are in no way difTerent from those in 
common use, I permit myself, without seeking to detract from the merit of 
any other, to make known to your Excellency the secrets I have discovered, at 
the same time offering, with fitting opportunity, and at your good pleasure, 
to perlbrm all thoae things which, for the present, I will but briefly note be- 
low. 

** 1. I haye a method of oonstrncting very light and portable bridges, to be 
used in the pursuit of, or retreat from, the enemy, with others of a stronger 
lort, proof against fire or force, and easy to fix or remove. I have also means 
for burning and destroying those of the enemy. 

'* 2. For the servioe of sieges, I am prepared to remove the water from the 
ditohea, and to make an infinite variety of fasdnea, scaling-ladders, Ac., with 
engines of other kinds proper to the purposes of a siege. 

**8. If the height of the defences or the strength of the position should be 
■uoh that the place cannot be effectually bombarded, I have other meana, 
whereby any fortress may be destroyed, provided it be not founded on stone. 

**4. I have also most convenient and portable bomba, proper for throwing 
showers of small missiles, and with the smoke thereof causing great terror to 
the enemy, to his imminent loss and confusion. 

**S. By means of excavations made without noise, and forming tortnoua 

and narrow ways, I have means of reaching any given..... (point?) even 

though-it be neoessary to paas beneath ditches or under a river. 

'*& I can also oonstruct covered wagons, secure and indestructible, 
which, entering among the enemy, will break the strongest bodies of men ; 
and behind these the in&ntry can follow in safety and without impedi- 
ment 

** 7. I can, if needful, also make bombs, mortars, and field-pieoee of beauti- 
ful and useful ihape, entirely diffsrent from those in common use. 

" 8. Where the use of bombs is not practicable, I can make crossbows, man- 
gondi, balistsB, and other machines of extraordinary efficiency and quite out of 

* Tlie Italian word Utchio should be translated aknll. 



884 LEONARDO DA VINCI 

cifnl form calcnlated to give more force and sweetness to the 
sound. Here Leonardo surpassed all the musicians who had 
assembled to perform before the Duke ; *^ he was besides one 
of the best improvisatori in verse existing at that time^ and 
the Duke, enchanted with the admirable conyersation of 
Leonardo, was so charmed by his varied gifts that he de- 
lighted beyond measure in his society, and prevailed on him 
to paint an altar-piece, the subject of which was the Nativity 
of Christ, which was sent by the Duke as a present to the 

tilt oomimoii way. In fine, m the oiroamstuioee of the OMd tludl demand, I 
oen prepeie enginet of offenoe for eU piupoees. 

"9. In o«M of the oonfliot having to be maintained at aea, I haye methods 
for making nnmerooa inttromenta, offenidve and defensive, with yessels that 
■haU xesist the foroe of the meet powerfol bombs. I can also make powders 
or Ti^ors for the offenoe of the enemy. 

** 10. In time of peace, I beUeve that I coold equal any other, as regards 
works in arohiteotore. I can prepare designs for buildings, whether publie or 
priTate, and also oondnot water from one plaoe to another. 

«* Furthermore, I oan execute works in sculpture, marble, bronze, or terra- 
cotta. In painting also I oan do what may be done, as weUas any other, be he 
who he may. 

** I can likewise undertake the execution of the brome horse, which is a 
monoment that will be to the perpetual glory and immortal honor of my lord 
yonr father of happy memory, and of the illustrious house of Sf orza. 

'* And if any of the above-named things shall seem to any man to be impoe- 
sible and impracticable, I am perfectly ready to make trial of them in your 
Bxoel1eney*s park, or in whatever other plaoe you shaU be pleased to command, 
oommending myself to you with all possible humility.** 

(The translation of this astonishing letter in which Leonardo quite simply 
and concisely offers the Arts of War and Peace, and promises to enUst them 
in the service of the house of Sfona, is taken from Mrs. Foster's notes.) 

** Milanesi dtes from Amoretti, p. 83, a note signed Q. R., on page 28 of the 
Oodtx AUantictit in the Ambrosian Library, which shows Leonsrdo*s interest 
in the invention of musical instruments. He slso mentions a parchment (one 
oi the Trivuhd oolleotion) containing a treatise on music, by a Florentine 
priest ; this traiUUo has a frontispiece which shows Leonardo himself with a 
Into (chitarra) in his hand. See along description of this frontispiece, ICla- 
nesi, IV., p. 98, note Sl Certain miniatures in another Trivulzian codex are 
ascribed to Leonardo. Milanesi gives them to Fra Antonio da Moua. 
Dr. Riohter soggests that an excellent reason for Leonardo's saying nothing of 
bis music in the letter to Sf orza was the fact that he was sent by Loienao de* 
Medici especially to take a lute to the Dake of Milan, and that therefore hii 
mnsical profieiency needed no proclaiming. 



LEONABDO DA VINGI 386 

Emperor.^ For the Dominican monks of Santa Maria delle 
Qrazie at Milan^ he also painted a Last Supper^ which is a 
most beantifal and admirable work ; to the heads of the 
Apostles in this picture the master gave so much beanty and 
majesty that he was constrained to leave that of Christ un- 
finished,'' being convinced that he could not impart to it 
the divinity which should appertain to and distinguish an 
image of the Redeemer. But this work, remaining thus in 
its unfinished state, has been ever held in the highest esti- 
mation by the Milanese, and not by them only, but by for- 
eigners also : Leonardo succeeded to perfection in express- 
ing the doubts and anxiety experienced by the Apostles, and 
the desire felt by them to know by whom their Master is to 
be betrayed ; in the faces of all appear love, terror, anger, 
or grief and bewilderment, unable as they are to fathom the 
meaning of their Lord. Xor is the spectator less struck 
with admiration by the force and truth with which, on the 

M fihiM work hM diaappeMred. 

>* YaMri^B ftotement ihat Leonardo neyer finiahod the bead of Ohrirt it falaOi 
If taken in a literal aenae. The painter carried it at leaat aa far aa he did the 
ether heada, bat he nndonbtedly felt that it nerer waa, and never could be, oom- 
pleted to his own perfect aatiafaction. Dr. Richter belieyea that atodiea of tho 
finiahed heada for the liatthew, Simon, and Jndaa, can be recognized in tho 
Wlndaor ooDeotion, and that the atndy for the Chriat in the Breca ia genuine ; 
Ha anthentioity haa been doabted, but from an artiaVa point of view the draw- 
ing mnat be prononnoed beantifQl and aabtle enoii|^ to be an original and by a 
gnat maater. There haa been much controveray regarding ten heada of Apoatlea 
atWeimaE. They are larger than are the heada in the freaoo. Theyareinblaok 
ehalk, whereaa the original atndiea were cited by Lomszao aa in red chalk, and 
atodiea of the handa are to be aeen on aome of the aame aheeta with the heada. 
Thna althongh critica of known ability haye decided in their favor, the balance 
of eridenoe aeema to be againat them. Dr. Goatavo Frizzoni, VArcK Stor. dell 
ArU, Vn., 41-49, thinka they may perhapa be by SoUurL If so, they are a val- 
uable ocmtribntion to the atady of the piotnre. Theae Weimar heada are ar- 
ranged aa foUowa : Sainta Bartholomew, Jamea (Minor), and Andrew together 
aide by aide ; St. liatthew on a aeparate aheet ; St. Peter and Jndaa together ; 
Sainta John, Thomaa, and Jamea (Major) together ; St. Philip alone. There are 
pen-and-ink aketohea by Leonardo in the Loavre, which probably refer to the 
Laat Sapper. One of them ia a very intereatingly compoaed gronp of nndee, 
five in number, at a taUe. There are two other pen aketohea at Windsor, and 
» red chalk atady <Kf doubtful anthenticity in the Academy at Venioei See 
Dr. Biehter'a Leonardo da Vinei, pp. 38, 139. 



386 LEOKABDO DA VINOI 

other hand, the master has exhibited the impious determina- 
tion, hatred, and treachery of Judas. The whole work in* 
deed is executed with inexpressible diligence even in its 
most minute part, among other things may be mentioned 
the table-cloth, the texture of which is copied with such ex- 
actitude, that the linen-cloth itself could scarcely look more 
real. 

It is related that the Prior of the Monastery was exces- 
sively importunate in pressing Leonardo to complete the 
picture; he could in no way comprehend wherefore the 
artist should sometimes remain half a day together absorbed 
in thought before his work, without making any progress 
that he could see ; this seemed to him a strange waste of 
time, and he would fain have had him work away as he 
could make the men do who were digging in his garden, 
never laying the pencil out of his hand. Not content with 
seeking to hasten Leonardo, the Prior even complained to 
the Duke, and tormented him to such a degree that the lat- 
ter was at length compelled to send for Leonardo, whom he 
courteously entreated to let the work be finished, assuring 
him nevertheless that he did so because compelled by the 
importunities of the Prior. Leonardo, knowing the Prince 
to be intelligent and judicious, determined to explain him- 
self fully on the subject with him, although he had never 
chosen to do so with the Prior. He therefore discoursed 
with him at some length respecting art, and made it per- 
fectly manifest to his comprehension, that men of genius 
are sometimes producing most when they seem to be labour- 
ing least, their minds being occupied in the elucidation of 
their ideas, and in the completion of those conceptions to 
which they afterwards give form and expression with the 
hand. He further informed the Duke that there were still 
wanting to him two heads, one of which, that of the Sav- 
iour, he could not hope to find on earth, and had not yet at- 
tained the power of presenting it to himself in imagination, 
with all that perfection of beauty and celestial grace which 
appeared to him to be demanded for the due representation 



LEONARDO DA VINOI 887 

of ibe Divinity incarnate. The second head still wanting 
was that of Judas^ which also caused him some anxiety^ since 
he did not think it possible to imagine a form of feature 
that should properly render the countenance of a man who^ 
after so many benefits received from his master^ had pos- 
sessed a heart so depraved as to be capable of betraying his 
Lord and the Creator of the world ; with regard to that sec- 
ond> however^ he would make search^ and, after all — if he 
could find no better, he need never be at any great loss, for 
there would always be the head of that troublesome and 
impertinent Prior. This made the Duke laugh with all 
his hearty he declared Leonardo to be completely in the 
right, and the poor Prior, utterly confounded, went away 
to drive on the digging in his garden, and left Leonardo in 
peace : the head of Judas was then finished so successfully, 
that it is indeed the true image of treachery and wickedness ; 
but that of the Bedeemer remained, as we have said, in- 
complete. The admirable excellence of this picture, the 
beauty of its composition, and the care with which it was 
executed, awakened in the King of France,^ a desire to have 
it removed into his own kingdom, insomuch that he made 
many attempts to discover architects, who might be able to 
secure it by defences of wood and iron, that it might be 
transported without injury. He was not to be deterred by 
any consideration of the cost that might be incurred, but 
the painting, being on the wall, his Majesty was compelled 
to forego his desire, and the Milanese retfdned their pict- 
ure.* 

•«FimnoisL 

** The liMt Snpper waa, aooording to Luca Faoioli, completed in 1498, bnt 
it ii impossible to say when it was begun. Dr. Ricbter suggests that it was 
oommenoed later than 1491 From a letter of Lndovioo Sforza, of June 80, 
1497, it appears that the commission for the picture came both from him as 
Dnke of Milan and from the monks of the convent. 

Leonardo mixed his colors with oil, a medium which he did not yet foUy 
understand, and his pnpil, Lomaszo, tells ns that already in his time *' the 
painting was completely ndned ; ** when Vasari saw it in 1566 it was covered 
with spots ; Bellotti repainted it in 1726, and Masza in 1770. Carlo Amoretti 
■aid that in 1804 it oonld only be distinguished when viewed from a distance, 



888 LEONARDO DA VINOI 

In the same refectory, and while oocnpied with the Last 
Supper, Leonardo painted the portrait of the above-named 
Duke Ladovico, with that of his first-bom son, Maximil- 
ian : those are on the wall opposite to that of the Last Sup- 
per, and where there is a Crucifixion painted after the old 
manner. On the other side of the Duke is the portrait of 
the Duchess Beatrice, with that of Francesco, their second 

•U detail being destroyed when the pictore was aeen near at hand. The monka 
eat a doorway through the lower part of the freaoo, and when the lef ectoiy 
beoanie a banaoks the French dragoona pelted the apoatles' heads with stones. 
Binoe 1804 further restorations have taken place, and to-day our best knowl- 
edge of Leonardo's Last Sapper as it originally existed can only be had 
through early copies. 

These copies abound; nearly a oentary ago Bossi (7/ Cnuwoto di Leth- 
nardo da Vinci) cited some fifty of them. Many of the old copies are at- 
tributed to Marco d*Oggionno (d*Oggione, d'Uggioni), a papil of Leonaida 
There is one of these ancient cojnes at Ponte a Oapriasca, near Logana Big. 
G. Frizzoni (JJArcli. Stor. delV Arte, 1890, p. 187) suggests 1530 as its date. 
The Tery famous copy in the Diploma Gallery of the Royal Academy, London, 
is said by Dr. Bichter (Leonardo da Vind, p. 26) to be probably by Gian Pie- 
trini, also a pupU of Leonardo. In the refectory of S. Maria, with the origi- 
nal, is a copy by Antonio da Gessate, 1506, found in the Ospedale Maggiofe, of 
IGlan, and another by Oesare Magnis, the latter being probably of the epoch 
of Luini and Sc^aii (see VArch. Stor. ddV Arte, IIL, p. 410). A relief by 
Tollio Lombardo, in 8. Maria dei Miraodi at Venice, has been recognised by 
fiUg. G. Friasoni {VAreK Stor. deW ArU, IL 184) as one of the earliest 
(free) copies of the Cenacolo. The famous engraving by Raphael Morghen 
(1800), generally reputed to be the best substitute for the original, was, ac- 
cording to Dr. Richter (Leonardo da Vind, p. 26), not copied by Moigfaeii 
from the original, but was executed in Florence from a drawing made in 
Milan by Teodoro Matteini, who was sent to Lombardy by the Grand Duke of 
Tuscany to make the study. Amoretti is sure that Matteini, finding the orig- 
inal too badly injured for possible transcription, based himself upon d*Oggi- 
onno*s copy. Bernardino Luini, according to De FligaTe, made a copy (since 
lost) for Louii XII., of France, and Rnbens in turn copied the picture, put- 
ting much of hii own manner into the rendering. 

The original, in spite of the destruction done to it by time and by men, 
remains, says Dr. Riiditer, **tbe most perfect composition in the hi^ory of 
painting of all ages.** The same author finds that among all the preoorsora 
who had painted the same subject, Andrea dal Gastagno is the one who most in- 
fluenced Leonardo. See Dr. Richter*s comparison of the two artists and hie 
descriptive analysii of the composition of the Cenaeolo in his Leonardo da 
Vind, pp. 90-25, and especially his translation, on page 29, of Leonardo's own 
manuscript notes regarding the Last Supper, notes which were bequea t h e d in 
1870 \tj John Forster to the South Kemdngton Museom. 



L1BOKARDO DA VIKOI S8d 

son : both of these princes were afterwards Dnkes of Milan : 
the portraits are most admirably done.^ 

While still engaged with the paintings of the refectory^ 
Leonardo proposed to the Duke to cast a horse in bronze of 
colossal size^ and to place on it a figure of the Dnke^'' by 
way of monument to his memory : this he commenced^ but 
finished the model on so large a scale that it never could be 
completed^ and there were many ready to declare (for the 
judgments of men are various, and are sometimes rendered 
malignant by envy) that Leonardo had begun it, as he did 
others of his labours, without intending ever to finish it 
The size of the work being such, insuperable difi&culties 
presented themselves, as I have said, when it came to be 
cast ; nay, the casting could not be effected in one piece, and 
it is very probable that, when this result was known, many 
were led to form the opinion alluded to above, from the fact 
that 80 many of Leonardo's works had failed to receive com- 
pletion. But of a truth, there is good reason to believe that 
the very greatness of his most exalted mind, aiming at 
more than could be effected, was itself an impediment ; per- 
petually seeking to add excellence to excellence, and per- 
fection to perfection ; this was, without doubt, the true 
hindrance, so that, as our Petrarch has it, the work was re- 
tarded by desire. All who saw the large model in clay which 

M lUi Cmoifizkm, datod 1495, is by QioTanni Donato MoDiofCaiia Leo- 
nardo is belieTed to haye painted at left and right of the lower pottion of this 
piotore, the portraite of Lodovico Sforza, hie wife Beatrioe d*Eete, two of 
Ihiir ehlldien, and Tariooa lainti (lee the ourioos article, with reproduotiona. 
In DArthMo Storieo deW Arte for January-April, 1895). The abofo- 
mwitionad poctraita have been nearly effitced by time and dampneia. 

There are two fine heade in the Amfaroeian library whioh are attributed to 
Leonardo. This attribution is refused by Horelli, who ascribea the portrait 
of the woman to Ambrogio de Prodis. Borckhardt (edited by Dr. Bode) en- 
thnsiastioally gives this latter portrait, whioh has been called Bianoa liaria 
Sforsa, to Leonardo. M. MQnts agrees with this asoription, as also with the 
belief that it represents rather some other princess than the Sforsa. IL 
MOnts also accepts the so-called Belle Ferronni^re of tbo LoaTre as an origi- 
nal Leonardo. 

•'A status^ that is, of Francesco Sfona, father of tbo reigning Dnke^ La. 

dofioo. 



390 LEONARDO DA VINOI 

Leonardo made for this work^ declared that they had neTer 
seen anything more beautiful or more majestic ; this model 
remained as he had left it until the French, with their King 
Louis, came to Milan, when they destroyed it totally.* A 
small model of the same work, executed in wax, and which 



** No other artuil*s works baye loffered from snch a triple tragedy as 
suited in the sncoessiTe destmction of Leonardo's three masterpieoes, tlie 
CenaeolOy the oartoon of the Battle of Anghiari, and the equestrian statn* 
of Franoesoo Sforsa. The latter, which was the work of many yean, wai 
apparently oommenoed shortly after the artist's arrival in Milao, and was tha 
sabjeot of many sketches in the flat and in relief (wax and day) by Leonaxda 
According to M. Mttnta, one of the latter may be that eristing in the ooUeo- 
tion of Madame Edooard Andr6e« of Paris. As for the former, a sketch in 
the Oodex Ailantieui, and another in the Ambrodan Lilnary, have been sug- 
gested as possible designs for the Sforsa, while Messrs. Ooorajod and MoteUi 
had a long controversy regarding a pen study in the Munich collections. Tha 
latter, representing a mounted warrior trampling upon a fallen man, was by 
M. Oourajod attributed to Da Vinci ; by Morelli to Antonio del Pdlajnolo. 
The Windsor collection of sketches contains many studies, not only for tha 
hone and rider but for the pedestal, together with manuscript notes regard- 
ing both of the above and concerning also the casting of the statae ; the latter 
was to have been done in three separate pieces. For interesting notes regard- 
ing bronze-casting and gun-founding see Dr. J. P. Richter*s Literary Wocki 
of Leonardo da Vinci, II., pp. 20-24. In all of the studies exo^ the one at- 
tributed by Morelli to PoUajuolo, and catslogiied as by the latter (see Italian 
Masters), the horse is walking, as in' the statues of Gattamelata at Padua and 
CoUeone at Venice (see reprodaction by Dr. Richter, op. cU.^ page 86 of the 
sketch, which from the copious manuscript notes regarding it, he considers to 
have been the one adopted). 

Dr. Richter believes that Leonardo took part in some quite early competi- 
tion for this statue, in which PoUajuolo alfK) probably competed, and that 
the statement of Sabba da Castiglione, that Leonardo devoted sixteen yeara 
to it, means only that sixteen years elapsed between the competition and tha 
final setting up of the model. This colostsal model for the statue, which if 
completed would have been twenty-six and a half feet high, was in ten years 
after its commencement sufficiently advanced to adorn the festival held at the 
marriage of Bianca Maria Sforza with Maximilian of Germany. The fiJl of 
Lndovico Sforza put an epd to work on the statue, and although Louis XIL 
admired the latter greatly, his Gascon oroBs-bowmen are said to have made a 
target of it. They could hardly have destroyed it, since afterwards the Duke 
of Ferrara tried vainly to obtain the model for his own uses. At all events 
it finaUy disappeared, either at once or under the gradual effect of time and 
weather. If it had been spared, the Gattamelata of Donatello and the Ool- 
leone of Verrocchio would together with it have shown us Renaiisanoe sculp- 
ture of the first, second, and third periods as applied to colossal eqneetriaa 
atatoea. 



LEONARDO DA VINCI 391 

was considered perfect, was also lost, with a book containing 
studies of the anatomy of the horse, which Leonardo had 
prepared for his own use. He afterwards gave his attention, 
and with increased earnestness, to the anatomy of the hu- 
man frame, a study wherein Messer Marcantonio della Torre, 
an eminent philosopher, and himself, did mutually assist 
and encourage each other.^ Messer Marcantonio was at 
that time holding lectures in Pavia, and wrote on the same 
subject ; he was one of the first, as I have heard say, who 
began to apply the doctrines of Galen to the elucidation of 
medical science, and to diffuse light oyer the science of 
anatomy, which, up to that time, had been involyed in the 
almost total darkness of ignorance. In this attempt Marc- 
antonio was wonderfully aided by the genius and labour of 
Leonardo, who filled a book with drawings in red crayons, 
outlined with the pen, all copies made with the utmost care 
[from bodies] ^ dissected by his own hand. In this book he 
set forth the entire structure, arrangement, and disposition 
of the bones, to which he afterwards added all the nerves, 
in their due order, and next supplied the muscles, of which 
the first are affixed to the bones, the second give the power 
of cohesion or holding firmly, and the third impart that of 
motion. Of each separate part he wrote an explanation in 
rude characters, written backwards and with the left-hand, so 
that whoerer is not practised iu reading cannot understand 
them, since they are only to be read with a mirror. ** Of 

** Dr. Riobter (Literary Works, etc , IL 106), is nnable to diBoorer any 
nMDiion of deUa Torre in the manusoripts of Leonardo, altbongfa he thinks it 
not impossible that the two may have worked together. This famous anato- 
mist, a Veronese, died when only thirty years old. 

** At this point the original of Yasari lacks a word to make sense of his 
■entenoe, and Milanesi has suggested the words ** human bodies,*^ corpi hu- 
mani^ which the translator has intercalated. 

** Pacioli, who was probably the first to comment upon Leonazdo*s rerersed 
method of writing, mentions it in his De Divina Proportioned Venice, 1500, 
saying also that Leonardo drew with his left hand. Padoli was accustomed 
to read the rerersed writing by turning the paper around and looking through 
il Dr. Richter is of opinion that a mirror is too fatiguing to be adyis- 
ftU^ He 1^ note* the fi^ that in almost all of Iieoiiardo*« authenticated 



898 LEONARDO DA VINOI 

these anatomical drawings of the human form^"* a great 
part is now in the possession of Messer Francesco da Melzo>" 
a Milanese gentleman^ who, in the time of Leonardo, was a 
child of remarkable beauty, much beloved by him, and is 
now a handsome and amiable old man, who sets great store 
by these drawings, and treasures them as relics, together 
with the portrait of Leonardo of blessed memory. ** To all 
who read these writings it must appear almost incredible 
that this sublime genius could, at the same time, discourse, 
as he has done, of art, and of the muscles, nerves, veins, and 
every other part of the frame, all treated with equal dili- 
gence and success. There are, besides, certain other writ- 
ings of Leonardo, also written with the left-hand, in the 
possession of N. N.,* a painter of Milan ; they treat of 
painting, of design generally, and of colouring."^ This 
artist came to see me in Florence no long time since ; he 
then had an intention of publishing this work, and took it 
with him to Rome, there to give this purpose effect, but 
what was the end of the matter I do not know. 

dzmwings, wherever they are shaded, the itrokes Ue downward (from left to 
right), aa if they were drawn with the left hand. It has been snggested thai 
Leonardo adopted this peonliar form of writing to make the pnblioation of 
the notes diffioaH Leonardo, howerer, wished to have his writings known 
and read, though not of ooorse in the form in which they have oome down to 
ns, and his writing backward was begun when he was a jmaog man. The 
orthography of Leonardo was also peonliar, and he used many abbseviatioiia ; 
oooasionally he wrote in the ordinary way. 

• The name of the painter is omitted in the original woik of VasarL It 
was probably Anrelio LoinL 

** Many of the anatomical studies are in Qnglsnd. Leonardo's mannsodpt 
treatise on the anatomy of the horse exists in part in the Qneen*s labraiy at 
H^ndaor. Some of his other anatomical drawings have been preserved and 
are f»i superior to the engravings in the scientific books of the time. Tho 
celebrated surgeon, William Hunter, said, '*I am fully persuaded that Leo- 
nardo was the best anatomist at that time in the world.** Blumenbaoh also 
esteemed the drawings highly. 

** M elii was also a pupil <k Leonardoi, painting well though not frequently. 
A colossal Madonna in fresco, at Vaprio, a palaoe of the Mebi fsmfly, is at- 
tributed to him. 

•« Tlie latest modem oriticiam is disposed to aooept the drawing in the Bojal 
Library at Turin as the only authentio and original portrait of LeooardOb 

•• See Bibliography. 



LEONARDO DA VINCI S93 

But to retnm to the labours of Leonardo. Daring his 
time the King of France came to Milan^"* whereupon he 
(Leonardo) was entreated to prepare something very ex- 
traordinary for his reception. He therefore constmcted a 
lion, and this figare, after haring made a few steps, opened 
its breast, which was discovered to be entirely filled full of 
lilies. While in Milan, Leonardo took the Milanese Salai" 
for his disciple; this was a youth of singular grace and 
beauty of person, with curled and waving hair, a feature of 
personal beauty by which Leonardo was always greatly 
pleased. This Salai he instructed in various matters relat- 
ing to art, and certain works still in Milan, and said to be 
by Salai, were retouched by Leonardo himself. 

Having returned to Florence " he found that the Servite 
Monks had commissioned Filippino to paint the altar-pieoe 
for the principal ch2q>el in their church of the Nunziata, 
when he declared that he would himself very willingly have 
undertaken such a work. This being repeated to Filippino, 
he, like the amiable man that he was, withdrew himself at 
once, when the Monks gave the picture to Leonardo. And 
to the end that he might make progress with it, they took 
him into their own abode with all his household, supplying 
the expenses of the whole, and so he kept them attending on 
him for a long time, but did not make any commencement ; 
at length, however, he prepared a cartoon, with the Ma- 
donna, Sant' Anna, and the infant Christ, so admirably de- 
picted that it not only caused astonishment in every artist 
who saw it, but, when finished, the chamber wherein it 
stood was crowded for two days by men and women, old and 

** Aooocding to Lommxzo this was Franoii L He oam« to ^GUa in 151S. 

'^ Salaino niher ; he wm both aohoUr and Mmnt of Leonardo. Serecalof 
hia piotnrea are in the Brera galleiy. 

** In the year 1490, when Lodovioo Sfoiza lost hia dnohy, Leonaido, after 
Tidting Hantoa and Yenioe, retnmed to Florence with the mathematician Fra 
Lnoa Fadoli, and there made the deaigna for the treatiae Ih DMna Propor- 
tions, FiacioU liTed in Milan from 1496 to 1499 on terms of intimacy with 
Iieonardo da Vinci, and Meaara. Crowe and GavalcaseOe suggest that Leo- 
nardo m*y have obtained some of his scientific knowledge from Fieio deUa 
Franoeaca through F^MiioU; see their History of Fating in Italy, IL 687. 



394 LEONARDO DA VINOI 

young ; a conconrse^ in short, snch as one sees flocking to 
the most solemn festivals, all hastening to behold the won- 
ders produced by Leonardo, and which awakened amaze- 
ment in the whole people. Nor was this without good 
cause, seeing that in the countenance of that Virgin there 
is all the simplicity and loveliness which can be conceived 
as giving grace and beauty to the Mother of Ohrist, the 
artist proposing to show in her the modesty and humility of 
the virgin, filled with joy and gladness as she contemplates 
the beauty of her Son, whom she is tenderly supporting in 
her lap. And while Our Lady, with eyes modestly bent 
down, is looking at a little San Giovanni, who is playing 
with a lamb, Sant^ Anna, at the summit of delight, is ob- 
serving the group with a smile of happiness, rejoicing as 
she sees that her terrestrial progeny have become divine ; 
all which is entirely worthy of the mind and genius of Leo- 
nardo : * this cartoon was subsequently taken to France, as 
will be related hereafter.^ Leonardo then painted the por- 

** M. MttntK, VAg€ (f Or^ p. 796, ooniiden that this cartoon is identioal with 
the St Anne of the Lonvre, and that the cartoon in the Diploma Grallery of 
the Royal Academy, London, is an earlier study with Tariations for this same 
cartoon. Other critics, among them Dr. Riohter, consider the London exam- 
ple to be the work mentioned by Vasari. Evidently both compositions are 
sofficiently similar to refer to the text of the author ; see note 52 and also *' a 
Oartoon by Leonardo " in the Ifagazine of Art, Vn., p. 44S. Mr. Bernard 
Berenson, in his Florentine Painters of the Renaissanoe (New York, 1896), 
catalognes the St. Anne of the Loayre as " in part** by Leonardo, and ascribes 
the London cartoon to him anqaaUfiedly. Mr. Berenson, whose essay npon 
da Vinci is admirable though short, attributes to the painter the Annuncia- 
tion in the Louvre numbered 1,265, and in Rome a portrait of a girl (Donna 
Laura Minghetti). He also adds to his list of attributions, though this tima 
with a question mark, the wax head of a Girl in Lille, see Yerrocchio's Lilsu 

«* The Vi$Tgt aux Roehers (not mentioned by Vasari) ** marks an epoch in 
the annals of Florentine art Here Leonardo has broken with the traditional 
hardness and dryness of contemporaneous easel pictures.** The Louvre and 
the National Gallery both possess examples of this picture, and there has been 
almost unending controversy as to which of the two is by the hand of Leo- 
nardo. The balance of criticism is in favor of the one in the Loavre, which is 
harder in outline and more severe in character than the other. Both picture! 
have a pedigree ; that of the Louvre has come down from the epoch and col- 
lections of Francis L ; the one in the National Gallery is proved by Sag. 
SSmiBo Motta [Anibrogio Preda 9 Leonard da Vinci) to have stood at om 



LEONARDO DA VINOI 395 

tndt of Ginevra, the wife of Amerigo Benci,** a most beau- 
tiful things and abandoned the commission entrusted to him 
by the Servite Monks who once more confided it to Filip- 
pino, but neither could the last-named master complete it, 
because his death supervened before he had time to do so.^ 
For Francesco del Oiocondo. Leonardo undertook to 
paint the portrait of Mona Lisa, his wife, but, after loiter- 
ing over it for four years, he finally left it unfinished. 
This work is now in the possession of King Francis of 
France, and is at Fontainebleau.^ Whoever shall desire to 

lime in the obuoh of San F^inoesoo »t MilaiL Sig. Friszoni belieTes that 
the piotore in the National Qallery is a rspliea^ made to stand in the churoh 
and take the place of the original after the latter had been remoTed and 
■ent to France. Some G^eiman critics — Passavant, Waagen, MttUer-Walde 
— haye doubted the genuineness of the Vierge aux Boehert^ bat Herr MflUer- 
Walde now appeals to agree with M. Mttnts that the picture antedatee Leo- 
nardo's d^Nurture (from Florence) for Milan. The latter crido says that in 
the HoeherB picture, when it is compared with the Cena or the SarW Anna^ 
Iieonardo seems a primitiTe master and ** almost his own precursor" (quoH 
precunore di m 9Uii$o), M. Mdnts agrees with M. Anatole Gruyer that the 
work in the National GhJlery was painted under the direction of Leonardo, 
and that it is grazio9o^ while the one in the Louvre is hard and seyere {duro 
d*atpetto e di tono a*pro). Dr. Riohter (see hii Italian Art in the National 
Gallery) compares the two pictures of the VUrge aux Rochen, The eridenoe 
seems to him to be in &Tor of the authenticity of the one in the Lonrre. The 
picture bought by Lord Suffolk was undoubtedly (see Motta as noted abore) 
that cited by Lomazso as ui original da Vinci and as located at the end of the 
sixteenth oentury in the church of San Francesco at Milan. It was bought 
as a copy, in 1796, by the painter Hamilton. See also Dr. GustaTo Frizzoni, 
Gazette des Beaux ArU, 1884, p. 230. The two fine angels which stood at the 
sides of the National Gallery picture when it was in San Franoesco at Milan 
passed into the collection of the Duca Melsi in that city. 

«i Nothing is proved regarding the whereabouts of the Ginevra ; for contro- 
▼ersial details see Milaned, YoL IV., p. 89, note 2 ; also Die OraphiMchen 
Kiinste^ VoL XV., 1892, in which Dr. Bode, agreeing to the attribution to the 
youthful Leonardo of a portrait of a young girl in the Liechtenstein ooUeo- 
tion at Vienna, thinks it may be the Ginevra de* Benci Sig. Gustavo Uiielli, 
in his Iieonardo da Vinei e ire gentUdonne del Secolo XV. (published at Pi- 
nerolo in 1890), treats of Beatrice d'Bste, Cecilia (Jallerani, and Luoreiia 
OriveUt 

** It was completed by Pletro Perugino, see the life of that painter. 

** Probably the most famous portrait in the world ii that called the Mona 
Lisa (Madonna Lisa) and also La Gioconda of Leonardo da Vinci It is in 
the Lonvre, and is the portrait of Lisa di Anton Maria di Noldo Ghecardini, 



396 LEONARDO DA YUrCI 

see how far art can imitate nature^ may do so to perf ectioii 
in this head, wherein erery peculiari^ that conld be de- 
pioted by the ntmost subtlety of the pencil has been faith- 
fully reproduced. The eyes hare the lustrous brightness 
and moisture which is seen in life, and around them are 
those pale, red, and slightly lirid circles, also proper to 
nature, with the lashes, which can only be copied, as these 
are, with the greatest di£9culty ; the eyebrows also are rep- 
resented with the closest exactitude, where fuller and where 
more thinly set, with the separate hairs delineated as they 
issue from the skin, every turn being followed, and all the 
pores exhibited in a manner that could not be more natural 
than it is : the nose, with its beautiful and delicately roee- 
ate nostrils, might be easily beliered to bealire ; the mouth, 
admirable in its outline, has the lips uniting the rose^tints 
of their colour with that of the foce, in the utmost perfec- 
tion, and the carnation of the cheek does not appear to be 
painted, but truly of flesh and blood : he who looks ear- 
nestly at the pit of the throat cannot but believe that he sees 
the beating of the pulses, and it may be truly said that this 
work is painted in a manner well calculated to make the 
boldest master tremble, and astonishes all who behold it» 
however well accustomed to the marvels of art. Mona Lisa 

nanMiB 1406, m tldrd wife of Fnaeetoo di Bartolommeo cU ZaiiobI d«l Gio* 
oeiido. Laoiuurdo ii nid io liATe worked upon this piohm four jmn (ISOO to 
150A). BWdently he fcnmd in the Giooonda ezaofcly thai type whii^ wm mofll 
■jmpftlhetie and intereetmg to him, for the lAm is the in cw natioii of iht 
Leonardeaqae unile, a smile of eyee and moath, and first set apon easTas in aU 
its sohtletj bj Leonardo after other painters had been oontent to make a pof- 
tiait simply graTs and lifelike, that is to say, to zeoord the abiding whera Leo- 
nardo stfore to perpetoate the eyaneseeni. We most not forget, howiTer, 
that though this is a snpersnbtle rendering of it, the Leooardesqaa smik, 
wlii^ meets ns tlirongliont the north of Italy upon the oanrases of a whole 
sehool, ii found also npon the features of the statne of Daiid, soolptared bj 
Lsoaardo*B master, Verrooehio. The portrait in the Pitti Galleiy, of Flortnosii 
odled La Mbnaea, has been endlessly disoossed. Dr. Bode attribntes it to 
Franoiabigio, MorsUi to Pemgino. Big. Bnrioo RidoU {DAreh. Star. MP 
Art4, 1S91, p. 440) dedareo that none of the reoent attrUmtiooB are well 
fsonded, and retains the attribntioa to Leonardo natU soma real proof to tht 
IsadTMioed. 



LSOKABDO BA VINOI 397 

was exceedingly beantif nl^ and wliile Leonardo waa painting 
her portrait, he took the precaution of keeping some one 
constantly near her, to sing or play on instruments, or to 
jest and otherwise amuse her, to the end that she might 
continue cheerful, and so that her face might not exhibit 
the melancholy expression often imparted by painters to the 
likenesses they take. In this portrait of Leonardo^ on the 
contrary, there is so pleasing an expression, and a smile so 
sweet, that while looking at it one thinks it rather dirine 
than human, and it has ever been esteemed a wonderful 
work, since life itself could exhibit no other appearance. 

The excellent productions of this diyine artist ^ had so 
greatly increased and extended his fame, that all men who 
delighted in the arts (nay, the whole city of Florence) were 
anxious that he should leare behind him some memorial of 
himself, and there was much discussion everywhere in re- 
spect to some great and important work to be executed by 
him, to the end that the commonwealth might have the 
glory, and the city the ornament, imparted by the genius, 
grace, and judgment of Leonardo, to all that he did. At 
that time the great Hall of the council had been constructed 
anew, the architecture being after designs by Oiuliano d* 
San GMo, Simone Pollaiuoli, called Cronaca, Michelagnolo 

^ Dr. Biohter beUevM (fee Leonaido da Tinei, p. 71) thsl a relief ef two 
naked yoathe in the Palano Commnnale of Piitojn, daled 1404, been Ihe 
etemp of Leonardo^e etyle, and thinke be bad a ebaie in the deeign, pefbape in 
the ezeontlon. The author fbele that faktrigne and Jealoney on the part ef 
other artiete bad mnoh to do with Leonanlo*e reeeiTinf eo UtUe eneonrafe* 
ment to remain in Florence and Borne. Dr. Bidhter ii probably ri^t, end 
wonld no donbt willingly add that Iieonardo*to impatient epirit of inqaiij 
eondnoed to his matecial nnenooen, for materially we must admit that be waa 
fw leee ■n oo ee efa l than he deeerred to be. Onsar Borgia, ai may be eee» 
from hia orders to his Uentenanto, seems to bate Taloed Ids great engineer 
highly, bnt bis serriee was short Both Leonardo's dncal patrons, Valentittoli 
and Sfocsa, failed ntteriy, and if Lndorioo Bfom at Loehea was a priaoae g , 
Leonardo at Amboiae must baTO sometimee felt like an ezQe, in spite of the 
faror of King F^anois, for no lanrela of Milan or of Franee erer st wn sd qnlte 
eo green to a Tnsosn aa thoee which grew by the Amo. It is poetical Jnsttea 
that the nation which has been meet progressiTe in the modern arts ihanld 
baro harbored Leonardo, and shonld baTc the largest p res ent wsterial inhetH- 
aoce of the woiks of this most advanced of aU tha sons ef Flccenoe. 



398 LEONABDO DA YIKd 

Buonarroti, and Baccio d' Agnolo, as will be related in the 
proper place. The building having been completed with 
great rapidity, as was determined between the Gonfaloniere 
and the more distinguished citizens, it was then commanded 
by public decree that Leonardo should depict some fine work 
therein. The said hall was entrusted, accordingly, to that 
master by Piero Soderini, then Gt>nf aloniere of Justice, and 
he, very willing to undertake the work, commenced a car- 
toon' in the very hall of the Pope, an apartment so called, 
in Santa Maria Novella. Herein he represented the History 
of Niccold Piccinino, Oaptain-General to the Duke Filippo 
of Milan, in which he depicted a troop of horsemen fighting 
around a standard, and struggling for the possession thereof. 
This painting was considered to be a most excellent one, . 

** Berenl so-OAUad copies of the oartoon exist One, a psintiiif , registered 
in an inrentofy of ISSfi, as by Leonardo hlmiielf. Mllan^ri, who disoorered it 
in the Gnardaioba, does not beUeye in its anthentioitj. A seoond is an cn- 
graTing made in 1668. Another is an engraTing bj RdelinoV from a yery free 
rendering bj Rabens. These all differ, as do siiU others whioh are ohdmed at 
copies. Manosoript notes by Leonardo referring to the painting of battlea 
stiU exist. 

This short-liyed csrtoon was one of the epooh-making works of the Renais- 
sanoe, and diTided with MioheLsngelo*s battle of Pisa the attention of all 
£lorenoe. The great haU of the Five Hundred was to haTO been adorned 
by- these two works, bat the Itq;mblioan spirit, whioh ihsphred and hastened 
the building of the hall and dictated the snbjeots of the cartoons, was wholly 
hateful to the Medici princes, who, shortly after the Sola was bnilt, returned 
to Florence and ruled it. Both the paintings and th» drawings of Leonardo 
and Michebngelo disappeared, and ib» hall was completely altered and pahited 
with subjects referring to the reigning fiumly. How much this anti-ropnbU- 
ean feeling of the Medici may have had to do with so complete a disappearance 
of all souTenirs of Soderini^s goremment will neyer bo known. 

Leonardo, as usual, seems to have tried a new medium (encanstic) in th» ex- 
ecution of the carto<m, and to haTO regretted his experiment It was pMtTiiwI 
1608 to 1506, and in 1618 enough of it wss stiU exis^ to be worth protecting, 
sinoe certain moneys were spent by the city al that time lor its p i es ei i a tion 
from injury at the hsnds of Tisitors to the palaoe. In May, 1500, Leonardo 
was called to Milan by Charles d*Amboise, the goTcmor of that city lor King 
Louis XU, and went there with the permission of the Signory lor absence 
during a fixed period of time. Later this kaye of absence was extended by 
special lequest of the King, and afterward we hear nothing further of the car- 
toon or painting in the Pahttso Publico. See MHanesi, IF., 48-46^ aottb te 
oopions details regarding the contracts, pennisrions, etc 



LSONABDO DA VINOI 399 

eyincing great mastery in the admirable qualities of the <k>m* 
position^ as well as in the power with which the whole work 
is treated. Among other peculiarities of this scene^ it is to 
be remarked that not only are rage, disdain, and the desire 
for revenge apparent in the men, but in the horses also ; 
two of these animals, with their fore-legs intertwined, are 
attacking each other with their teeth, no less fiercely than 
do the cavaliers who are fighting for the standard. One of 
the combatants has seized the object of their strife with 
both hands, and is urging his horse to its speed, while he, 
lending the whole weight of his person to the effort, clings 
with his utmost strength to the shaft of the banner, and 
strives to tear it by main force from the hands of four others, 
who are all labouring to defend it with uplifted swords, 
which each brandishes in the attempt to divide the shaft 
with one of his hands, while he grasps the cause of conten- 
tion with the other. An old soldier, with a red cap on his 
head, has also seized the standard with one hand, and rais- 
ing a curved scimitar in the other, is uttering cries of rage, 
and fiercely dealing a blow, by which he is endeavouring to 
cut off the hands of two of his opponents, who, grinding 
their teeth, are struggling in an attitude of fixed determina- 
tion to defend their banner. On the earth, among the feet 
of the horses, are two other figures foreshortened, who are 
obstinately fighting in that position ; one has been hurled 
to the ground, while the other has thrown himself upon 
him, and, raising his arm to its utmost height, is bringing 
down his dagger with all his force to the throat of his 
enemy ; the latter, meanwhile, struggling mightily with 
arms and feet, is defending himself from the impending 
death.^ It would be scarcely possible adequately to describe 
the skill shown by Leonardo in this work, or to do justice 
to the beauty of design with which he has depicted the war- 
like habiliments of the soldiers, with their helmets, crests, 
and other ornaments, infinitely varied as they are ; or the 
wonderful mastery he exhibits in the forms and move- 

^ YMMi detoribMoiily a part of Um ortooo, ih« Bfttti* for ih« Standttd. 



400 LBOKABDO DA YlirCI 

ments of the hones ; these animals were, indeed, more admi* 
rably treated by Leonardo than by any other master ; the 
mascnlar development, the animation of their movements, 
and their exquisite beaaty, are rendered with the ntmost 

It is said that, for the execution of this cartoon, Leonardo 
caused a most elaborate scaffolding to be constructed, which 
oould be increased in height by being drawn together, or ren* 
dered wider by being lowered : it was his intention to paint 
the picture in oil, on the wall, but he made a composition for 
the intonaco, or ground, which was so coarse that, after he 
had painted for a certain time, the work b^;an to sink in 
such a manner as to induce Leonardo very shortly to aban* 
don it altogether, since he saw that it was becoming spoiled. 

Leonardo da Vinci was a man of very high spirit, and was 
very generous in all his actions : it is related of him that, 
having once gone to the bank to receive Uie salary which 
Piero Soderini caused to be paid to him every month, the 
cashier was about to give him certain paper packets of 
pence, but Leonardo refused to receive them, remarking, at 
the same time, '' I am no penny-painter/' Not completing 
the picture, he was chai^S^ ^^^ having deceived Piero 
Soderini, and was reproached accordingly ; when Leonardo 
so wrought with his friends, that they collected the sums 
which he had received and took the money to Piero Soderini 
with offers of restoration, but Piero would not accept them. 

On the exaltation of Pope Leo X. to the chair of St 
Peter,^ Leonardo accompanied the Duke Ginliano de' Med- 
ici to Bome : ^ the Pontiff was much inclined to philosophy 
ical inquiry, and was more especially addicted to the study 
of alchemy : Leonardo, therefore, having composed a kind 

^ Vuui h&n leapt from 1504 to 1614 ; dnring Uuti time Leonardo tsmDed 
btlweeii Flofenee and lOlaa, and was biuy with hydraulic worka in the latter 
eify. In 1501 he had lettera-patent from Oaear Borgia, aa hie engineer aad 
aiehiteet, and made important nutpm^ whioh are referred to in note 18L 

** The diiordered oonditieo of Lombardy pat an end to all artistic work lor 
the time being, and waa the came of Leonardo's leading ih» north and goiqg 



LEONARDO DA VINOI 401 

erf paite from wax, made of this^ while it was still in its 
half-liqaid state, certain figures of animals, entirely hollow 
and exceedingly slight in teztare, which he th^n fiUed with 
air. When he blew into these figures he could make them 
fly through the air, but when the air within had escaped 
from them they fell to the earth. One day the yine-dresser 
of the Belredere found a yery curious lizard, and for this 
creature Leonardo constructed wings, made from the skins 
of other lisards, flayed for the purpose ; into these wings he 
put quicksilyer, so that when the animal walked, the wings 
moyed also, with a tremulous motion : he then made eyes^ 
hotuB, and a beard for the creature, which he tamed and 
kept in a case ; he would then show it to the friends who 
came to yisit him, and all who saw it ran away terrified. He 
more than once, likewise, caused the intestines of a sheep to 
be cleansed and scraped until they were brought into such a 
state of tenuity that they could be held within the hollow 
of the hand, haying then placed in a neighbouring chamber 
a pair of blacksmith's bellows, to which he had made &st 
one end of the intestines, he would blow into them until he 
caused them to fill the whole room, which was a yery large 
one, insomuch that whoeyer might be therein was compelled 
to take refuge in a comer : he thus showed them transpar- 
ent and full of wind, remarking that, whereas they had 
preyiously been contained within a small compass, they 
were now filling all space, and this, he would say, was a fit 
emblem of talent or genius. He made numbers of these 
follies in yarious kinds, occupied himself much with mirrors 
and optical instruments, and made the most singular exper- 
iments in seeking oils for painting, and yamishes to pre- 
senre the work when executed. About this time he painted 
a small picture for Messer Baldassare Turini, of Pescia, who 
was Datary to Pope Leo : the subject of this work was Our 
Lady, with the Child in her arms, and it was executed by 
Leonardo with infinite care and art, but whether from the 
carelessness of those who prepared the ground, or because of 
its peculiar and fanciful mixtures for colours, yi 



402 LEONARDO DA VINOI 

&c,, it is now maoh deteriorated* In another small pietnre 
he painted a little Ohild> which is gracef al and beantilnl to 
a miracle. These paintings are both in Pescia^ in the pos- 
session of Messer Gialio Turini.* It is related that Leo- 
nardo, haying received a commission for a certain picture 
from Pope Leo, immediately began to distil oils and herbs 
for the yamish, whereapon the pontiff remarked, " Alas ! 
the while, this man will assnredly do nothing at all, since he 
is thinking of the end before he has made a beginning to 
his work/' ^ There was perpetual discord between Michel- 
agnolo Buonarroti and Leonardo," and the competition be- 
tween them caused Michelagnolo to leaye Florence, the 
Duke Giuliano framing an excuse for him, the pretext for 
his departure being that he was summoned to Rome by the 
Pope for the Facade of San Lorenzo. When Leonardo 
heard of this, he also departed and went to France, where 
the king, already possessing seyeral of his works, was most 
kindly disposed towards him, and wished him to paint the 
cartoon of Sanf Anna, but Leonardo, according to his 

«*Bothof tlieteworksarebelieTadtobeUwi. Mf1»n<«i, IV. 47, note 1, n- 
fen one of tbem hjrpothetioaUy to the gmllerj of DOueldorf. Dr. Bode claims 
for Leonaido^ in the gallery of Berlin, a Christ arising from the Tomb, with 
Saints Lacy and Leonard kneeling at either side. The Vierge d POeiUH 
(Monich) ii attribnted by the Baron H. von Gejrm&ller to Leonardo ; other 
critics diipnte him. See VArehivio Storieo delT ArU, IV., p. 06. 

** It is suggested that the pictore painted for Leo X. may be the Holy Fam- 
fly at the Hermitage. The St. Oatherine in this picture is said to be a portrait 
of the dster-in-law of Leo X. M. Clement does not believe that the work is 
by Leonardo, nor does Morelli admit it. The Madonna in SanV Onofrio at 
Rome is no longer ascribed to Leonardo ; IC Marcd Rejrmond attributes it to 
€esare da Sesta It is nsoally, howerer, accredited to Boltraffio. 

*' The anonymons biographer of LeoDardo teUs an anecdote of a wordy en- 
counter in Flofence. Leonardo, accompanied by G. de Gavina, met a party of 
notables who were discussing a pasaage of Dante. They asked Leonardo to 
explain the paiiage. As Michelangelo was also present Leonardo said, '*Micbel- 
angdo will be able to tdl what it means.** The great sculptor replied : ^\ Nay, 
do thou explain it thyielf, horse-modeUer that thou art, who, unable to cast a 
statue in bronxe wast forced by shame to giro up the attempt.** He then 
tumdS his back on the assembly and departed. This is one of a series of 
similar anecdotes told of Michelangelo, who though he could be geoerons 
enough at times seems often to have giyen free rein to his peoonal disUkea. 



LEONARDO DA VINOI 403 

onstom^ kept the king® a long time waiting with nothing 
better than words. Finally, having become old, he lay sick 
for many months, and, finding himself near death, wrought 
diligently to make himself acqaainted with the Oatholic 
ritual, and with the good and holy path of the Ohristian 
religion : " he then confessed with great penitence and 
many tears, and although he could not support himself on 
his feet, yet, being sustained in the arms of his servants and 
friends, he devoutly received the Holy Sacrament, while 
thus out of his bed. The king, who was accustomed fre- 
quently and affectionately to visit him, came immediately 
afterwards to his room, and he, causing himself out of rev- 
erence to be raised up, sat in his bed describing his malady 
and the different circumstances connected with it, lament- 
ing, besides, that he had offended God and man, inasmuch 
as that he had not laboured in art as he ought to have done. 
He was then seized with a violent paroxysm, the forerunner 
of death, when the king, rising and supporting his head to 
give him such assistance and do him such favour as he 
could, in the hope of alleviating his sufferings, the spirit of 
Leonardo, which was most divine, conscious that he could 
attain to no greater honour, departed in the arms of the 
monarch>^ being at that time in the seventy-fifth year of 
his age. 

M Dr. Riohter (Leonardo da Yinoi, p. 100), layt of ihe St Anne in the 
LoQTre that it it anthentio. It is aUaded to in a eixteenth-century aonnet by 
Girolamo Gado de* Medioi and by Giovio in his biography of Leonardo, who 
nya that Francis I. bought the picture. There is no record of it among the 
inventoriet of the king's property, and it most have returned to Italy since 
Richelien purchased it in 1639 in Lombardy. Dr. Richter thinks that the 
fact that it was often copied by Milanese contemporaries of Leonardo shows 
that it oould not have been painted in France as has been asserted. See note 
89 for the cartoon of a St Anne existing in London. The critic classes the 
8t John in the Louvre as also a genuine work of Leonardo. 

** Soientific investigators were apt to be looked upon as possibly heretical, 
bnt Leonardo in his last will recommended his soul **to our Lord Almighty 
■Gtod and to the Glorious Virgin Ifary, to our Lord Saint liiohael, to all the 
blessed Angels and Saints, male and female, in Paradise,** besides ordering 
■masses to be said for the repose of his soul. 

** The story that Leonardo died in the arms of the long is evidently falaau 



404 LBONABDO DA VINOI 

The death of Leonardo cansed great sorrow to all who had 
known him, nor was there ever an artist who did more hon- 
our to the art of painting. The radianoe of his ooonte- 
nance, which was splendidly beautiful, brought cheerfulness 
to the heart of the most melancholy, and the power of his 
word could move the most obstinate to say, '' No,'' or '^ Yet,'' 
as he desired ; he possessed so great a degree of physical 
strength, that he was capable of restraining the moi^ im- 
petuous yiolence, and was able to bend one of the iron rings 
used for the knockers of doors, or a horse-shoe, as if it were 
lead : with the generous liberality of his nature, he extended 
shelter and hospitality to eyery friend, rich or poor, proyided 
only that he were distinguished by talent or excellence ; the 
poorest and most insignificant abode was rendered beautiful 
and honourable by his works ; and as the city of Florence 
receiyed a great gift in the birth of Leonardo, so did it suf • 
fer a more than grieyous loss at his death. To the art of 
painting in oil this master contributed the discoyery of a 
certain mode of deepening the shadows, whereby the later 
artists haye been enabled to giye great foroe and relief to 
their figures. His abilities in statuary were proyed by three 
figures in bronze, which are oyer the north door of Sm Gio- 

Aooordiiig to the JoanuJ of FnntAn I, ttOl in the KatUMial Libnty «l Pterie, 
the king and oonrt were at Saint-l^ermain-en-Laye, near Paris, on Bfagr 8» ISlt, 
when Leonardo died at Oloox, near Amhoiiie, in Tonraine. The letter written 
by Franoesoo Melii to Leonaido^a relatioBBi immediately after hie deatk makea 
no mention of th» preeenoe of the king. H. Herlniaon, in hie Admd^Amt cMI 
d^ArtitUt yWittf ait, glTes the bnrial reoord from the arohiTee of the Beyil 
COiapel at AmboiM: ''Fut inhwn^ dant U doiitre de cetU i^Ue Mr JM- 
fkircl d« RfMy, mMkiU JiUlanoii^ l^ peintre H inghtt^ur it mrehUeeU 4m 
Royy fMt^uuniMehien d^^ttui €t at%chisn direcUur depehUure du due de MUtM, 
Oe fut faiiet le dove* jour d'aoutt^ 1519.** Apparently Leonardo waa buried 
in the ohoir of the ohnrch of Saint Flortntin. Tradition aays that after the 
oonspiraey of Amboiae the tombe and ooffins in the ohnroh were deetooyed 
M. Hoossaye, in 1S6S, made ezoayations upon the plaoe where ih» tomb waa 
eoppoied to hare been and found a skeleton, and dose by it fragments of stone 
inaoribed as fbUows: Leo-^ne^Leo—du^-^Vinc-^* Miianesi states the above. 
Ihl891weiaw, intheohapelleSt Hubert— the ohapel of the OhAteand*Am- 
bofse— « tombal slab which ooyered the plaoe where the skeleton diseoversd 
in the ohnroh haa been finally deposited, but nothing really satisfaetory 
to be ptored in the matter, and no anthoritatiTe statement oan be madsii 



LBOKABDO DA VIKOI 400 

Tanni ; they were cast by Gio. Francesco Bostici, but con* 
ducted under the advice of Leonardo, and are, without doubts 
the most beautiful castings that have been seen in these later 
days, whether for design or finish." 

We are indebted to Leonardo for a work on the anatomy 
of the horse, and for another much more valuable, on that 
of man ; wherefore, for the many admirable qualities with 
which he was so richly endowed, although he laboured much 
more by his word than in fact and by deed, his name and 
fame can never be extinguished."^ For all these things Mes* 

MStm in place. 

M For L«Auurdo*t uehitMinnl works Mt Dr. J. P. Biohto't JAUnrj 
Worki of Leonardo da Vinci, IL, 26-104, end Baron Henry tob QeymaUer, 
Lm Prqf4t$ primU^ pour la BtuUique d4 SL Pi§rre d€ Bom; Buon (kar- 
miiller has arranged and elocidated the texts under the heads which have heea 
adopted in Dr. IUchter*s work. No hoilding is known with oertainty to have 
heen planned and exeonted by Leonardo, bat his drawings and writings Isad 
•ne to infer that he was more than an amateur. Leonardo seems to Imto had 
in mind a pn^Jeot for writing a oomplete treatise on arohitectore, bat the iao> 
lated notes which hsTc oome down to as appear to relate only to certain pteb- 
kms in which he took an interest Baron QeymUller thinks that sereral of the 
important buildings of Lombaidy, which were built from 1472 to 1409, by on* 
known arohitecte, are of such great merit that it ii not improbable thai either 
Leonardo or Bramante may hsTC been concerned in their constroction. Leo- 
nardo's architectural designs consist of plans of towns, derioes lor moring 
booses, plans of Tillas, castles, loggU^ foontalns, domed hnildinga, ehnrohes 
(both hi the form of the Greek and Latin cross), a mansoleom, palaoee, forti- 
l&ed buildings, staUes, and scaflUds. ICsny of his stadiee on the details of 
architecture would be to-day called studies on the ^^etrength of materials.** 

•^Vasari was eridently ignorant of Leonardo's RastemtcaTels. Ph)iisseor Od* 
Tin, in the Kncyolopwdia Britannioa, states that according to recent inTCstiga* 
tions of Leonardo'sMBa it is certain that he took ssrrioee as engineer with the 
Sultan of Babylon, wliioh in the strange geographical nomenclature of thoee 
days meant Oaira He is supposed to hsTe Tisited Egypt, Qypms, the ooasts 
of Asia Minor, and Constantinopls. The probable date of these tiaTels in the 
Lerant is between 1480 and 1488-^ PnrfessorOolrin suggests that hi the Bait 
he may have acquired the mode of writing backward, but Leonardo appears to 
hsTO had this habitat an earlier date. The Tory remarkable letters to the Def- 
terdar of Syria are published by Dr. Bichter (Literary Works, etc., IL,885a»d 
following). In theee letters Leonardo q>eaks of having stayed in the moon* 
tainsof Armenia. Dr. Bichter (IL, 882) feds conrinced of the anthwtisity 
of thoee letters, and regards Leonardo's trayeb in the Bast as an establishsa 
fact M. Mttnts, in his articles upon the propa g anda of the Benaissanes in 
the Bast during the fifteenth century ((7asiM« tf« JKratHK iirCi, TMid Period, 



406 LEONARDO DA VIKOI 

86r Qio. Batista Strozzi has spoken to his praise in the fol* 
lowing words :- 

Vines cestui pur solo 
Tutti dUri^ e vince Fidia, e vines Apdle, 
E tuUo il lor viUorioso stuolo. ** ** 



Vlll., 374 et 8eq.), thinks that it is doubtful whether thete letters are xeoordi 
of Leonardo's travels, and are not rather copies made by him of the letters of 
some other traveller. Such a theory would not conflict with the authenticity 
of the letters as the handiwork of Leonardo, but would do away with the 
travels. Signer Usielli, in his Leonardo da Vitiei e le Alpi^ gives a curious 
study upon Leonardo's excursions and believes that he may have ascended 
Monte Rosa. 

*" Among the scholars of Leonardo were Antonio BeltrafBo, Marco d' Oggi- 
onno, Salai or Salaino, and Cesare da Sesto. He had a great influence over a 
large number of painters who cannot be called his pupils, as Sodoma, Andrea 
SolariOf and Bernardino Luini 

** With Leonardo da Vinci we reach the culmination of art. All the paint- 
en that preceded him are admirable in relation to their period, each one by 
some quality makes a step upward. But with Leonardo, Raphael, and Michel- 
angelo we attain the period of achievement, and stand upon the summit 
They take their place with the undisputed masters of masters — ^with Titian, 
Oorreggio, and DQrer, Rembrandt, and Velasquez. Of these painters, by nat- 
ure of his art, as well as by the date of his birth, Leonardo is the earliest. 
Technically he is still, if we consider his early work, a primitive master, at 
least far more so than are the other four greatest exponents of the culmina- 
tion — Bfichelangelo, Raphael, Correggio, Titian. His drawing is dose, care- 
ful, brimful of 8t3^e, but aiming at subtlety rather than at breadth of hand- 
ling ; in his St Anne and his Vierge aux Hochers it is even hard. It is how- 
ever so true and above all so perfectly and completely expressive, that his 
contemporaries (Michelangelo and Raphael really postdate him) were left 
hopelessly far behind him. CSompare one of his most important drawings with 
the beet of Botticelli's, Ghirlandajo*s, Pemgino's, Signorelli'a, and we see 
that Leonardo's work although done with enormous expenditure of care and 
thou^t is done easily^ that is to say, without strain. In composition Leo- 
nardo as the painter of the Cenacolo is unsurpassed. Raphael performed more 
varied feats of composition but did nothing better. His color, as far as the 
misfortunes incident to the new media which he essayed will permit us to 
know it, is suave and silvery, it would have pleased Andrea del Sarto ; per- 
haps at its best it might have inspired something in Correggio's cooler gamut 
of odor, but it could never have satisfied a Venetian. What did inspire a 
Venetian, and that one of the greatest, Giorgione, what did inspire Correggio 
and Fra Bartolommeo was Leonardo's wonderful gift of chiaroscuro, his cap- 
ture of the light, the feat by which he truly became what Symonds has called 
him, ** the enchanter and wizard of the Renaissance." Widespread as the 
Leonardesque type of face became in the hands of his many pupils, and of