when artists work in competition with each other there is no doubt
that men's abilities, being stimulated by constant study, discover
new things every day to satisfy the varied tastes of man. Thus in
painting, some introduce obscure and eccentric things into their work
and by a mastery of the difficulties display the brightness of their
talent in the midst of darkness. Others employ themselves on soft and
delicate things conceiving that these should be more pleasing to the
eye of the beholder; so that they pleasantly attract the greater
number of men. Others again paint smoothly, softening the colours and
confining the lights and shades of the figures to their places, for
which they merit the highest praise, displaying their intention with
wonderful skill. This smooth style is always apparent in the works of
Tommaso di Stefano, called Giottino, who was born in the year 1324,
and after he had learned the elements of painting from his father, he
resolved while still a youth, that he would most carefully imitate
Giotto's style rather than that of Stefano. He succeeded so well in
this that he won thereby in addition to the style, which was much
finer than his master's, the nickname of Giottino, which he always
retained. Hence many, misled by his manner and name, believed him to
be Giotto's son, but they fell into a very great error, for it is
certain, or rather highly probable (since no one can affirm such
things absolutely), that he was the son of Stefano, painter of
Florence. Tommaso was so diligent in painting and so fond of it, that
although not many of his works have been found, yet those which are
extant are good and in excellent style. For the draperies, hair,
beards, and other details are executed and composed with such grace
and care that they prove him to have possessed a far better idea of
unity in art than was to be found in the works of Giotto, master of
Stefano his father. In his youth Giottino painted in S. Stefano at
the Ponte Vecchio at Florence, a chapel by the side door, and
although it has suffered a great deal from the damp, yet enough
remains to prove the skill and genius of the craftsman. He next did
SS. Cosmo and Damian beside the mills in the Frati Ermini, of which
but little can now be seen owing to the ravages of time. He did a
chapel in fresco in the old S. Spirito of that city, which was
afterwards destroyed at the burning of that church. Over the
principal door of the same church he painted in fresco the Descent of
the Holy Spirit, and on the piazza of the church, leading to the side
of the Cuculia, next the convent, he did the tabernacle which may
still be seen there, with Our Lady and other saints about her, who in
their heads and other parts approach very closely to the modern
style, because Tommaso endeavoured to vary and change the flesh tints
and to combine a graceful and judicious treatment of the figures with
variety in the colouring and in the draperies. In the chapel of St
Silvester at S. Croce he did the history of Constantine with great
care, with many fine ideas in the gestures of the figures. His next
work was to be placed behind a marble ornament made for the tomb of
M. Bettino de' Bardi, a man of eminent military rank of the time. He
represented him from life, in armour, rising on his knees from the
tomb, summoned by the Last Trump sounded by two angels who accompany
a Christ in the clouds, very well done. At the entrance to S.
Pancrazio, on the right hand side, he did a Christ carrying the
cross, and some saints near, markedly in Giotto's style. In S.
Gallo, a convent outside the gate of that name, and which was
destroyed at the siege, he painted a Pieta in fresco in a cloister, a
copy of which is in S. Pancrazio mentioned above, on a pilaster
beside the principal chapel. He painted SS. Cosmo and Damian in
fresco in S. Maria Novella at the chapel of St Lorenzo de' Giuochi,
at the entry of the church by the right hand door, on the front wall.
In Ognissanti he did a St Christopher and a St George, which were
ruined by bad weather and were restored by some ignorant painters. An
uninjured work of Tommaso in the same church is in the tympanum over
the sacristy door, which contains a Madonna in fresco, with the child
in her arms; it is a good thing as he took pains with it.
By means of these works Giottino acquired so much renown, imitating
his master, as I have said, both in design and in inventions, that
the spirit of Giotto himself was said to be in him, owing to the
freshness of his colouring and to his skill in design. Now, on 2nd
July 1343, when the Duke of Athens was hunted from Florence, and had
by oath renounced the government and rendered the Florentines their
liberty, Giottino was constrained by the Twelve Reformers of the
State, and especially by the prayers of M. Agnolo Acciaiuoli, then a
very distinguished citizen, who had great influence over him, to
paint on the tower of the Podesta Palace the duke and his followers,
M. Ceritieri Visdomini, M. Maladiasse, his Conservator and M. Ranieri
da S. Gimignano, all with mitres of Justice on their heads,
represented thus shamefully as a sign of contempt. About the duke's
head he painted many beasts of prey and other sorts, indicative of
his nature and quality; and one of these counsellors had in his hand
the palace of the priors of the city, which he was offering to the
duke, like a false traitor. Beneath everyone of them were the arms
and insignia of their families, with inscriptions which can now only
be read with difficulty owing to the ravages of time. This work,
because it was well designed and very carefully executed, gave
universal satisfaction, and the method of the artist pleased
everyone. He next made a St Cosmo and a St Damian at the Campora, a
place of the black monks outside the gate of S. Piero Gattolini.
These were afterwards destroyed in whitewashing the church. On the
bridge at Romiti in Valdarno he did the tabernacle which is built in
the middle, painting it in fresco in a very fine style. It is
recorded by many writers that Tommaso practised sculpture, and did a
marble figure four braccia high for the campanile of S. Maria del
Fiore at Florence, towards the place where the orphan asylum now
stands. At Rome again he successfully completed a scene in S. John
Lateran in which he represented the pope in various dignities, but
the painting is now much damaged and eaten by time. In the house of
the Orsini he did a hall full of famous men, and a very fine St Louis
on a pilaster at Araceli, on the right-hand side at the high altar.
Above the pulpit in the lower church of S. Francesco at Assisi, that
being the only place left undecorated, he painted a coronation of Our
Lady, in an arch, surrounded by many angels, so graceful, with such
beautiful faces, so soft and so delicate, exhibiting that union of
colours customary in the artist, and which constitutes his peculiar
excellence, that he may clearly be compared with any of his
predecessors. About this arch he did some stories of St Nicholas.
Similarly, in the middle of the church, in the monastery of S.
Chiara, in the same city, he painted a scene in fresco of St Clare,
upheld in the air by two angels, represented with much life, raising
a dead child, whilst many beautiful women standing about are filled
with amazement, all being dressed in very graceful costumes of the
time. In the same city of Assisi, in an arch over the inside of the
city door which leads to the Duomo, he did a Madonna and child with
so much care that she seems alive, and a very fine St Francis, with
other saints. These two works, although the scene with St Clare is
unfinished, for Tommaso returned sick to Florence, are perfect and
worthy of all praise.
It is said that Tommaso was a melancholy and solitary man, but very
diligent and fond of his art. This is clearly shown in a picture of
his in tempera in the church of S. Romeo at Florence, placed on the
screen on the right-hand side, for nothing was ever better done on
wood. It represents a dead Christ with Mary and Nicodemus,
accompanied with other figures, who are weeping bitterly for the
dead. Their gentleness and sweetness are remarkable as they twist
their hands and beat themselves, showing in their faces the bitter
sorrow that our sins should cost so dear. It is a marvellous thing,
not that Tommaso could rise to this height of imagination, but that
he could express his thought so well with his brush. Consequently
this work deserves the highest praise, not so much because of the
subject and conception as for the art in which he exhibited the heads
of some who are weeping, for although the brows, eyes, nose and mouth
are distorted by the emotion, yet this does not mar or destroy the
beauty of his faces, which usually suffers much at the hands of those
who represent weeping if they are not versed in the good methods of
art. But it is no wonder that Giottino was so successful with this
picture, because the object of all his labour was rather fame and
glory than any other reward or desire of gain, which causes the
masters of our own time to be less careful and good. Not only Tommaso
did not endeavour to acquire great wealth, but he went without many
of the comforts of life, living in poverty, seeking rather to please
others than to live at ease; so managing badly and working hard, he
died of phthisis at the age of thirty-two, and was buried by his
relations outside S. Maria Novella at the gate of Martello, near the
tomb of Bontura.
The pupils of Giottino, who left more fame than property, were
Giovanni Tossicani of Arezzo, Michelino, Giovanni dal Ponte, and
Lippo, who were meritorious masters of the art. Giovanni Tossicani
excelled the others, and after Tommaso's death he executed many works
in that same style, in all Tuscany, and particularly in the Pieve of
Arezzo, where he did the chapel of St Maria Maddalena of the
Tuccerelli, and in the Pieve of Empoli, where he did a St James on a
pilaster. Again, he did some things in the Duomo at Pisa, which were
afterwards removed to make way for modern works. His last work was
executed in a chapel of the Vescovado of Arezzo, for the Countess
Giovanna, wife of Tarlato di Pietramala, and represented an
Annunciation, with St James and St Philip. As this work was on a
wall, the back of which is exposed to the north, it was almost
destroyed by the damp, when Master Agnolo di Lorenzo of Arezzo
restored the Annunciation, and Giorgio Vasari, then a youth,
restored the SS. James and Philip, to his great advantage, as he
learnt a great deal which he had not been able to obtain from other
masters, by observing Giovanni's methods, and from the shadows and
colours of this work, damaged as it was. The following words of the
epitaph to the Countess, who caused the work to be done, may still be
read: Anno Domini 1335 de mense Augusti hanc capellam constitui fecit
nobilis Domina comitissa Joanna de Sancta Flora uxor nobilis militis
Domini Tarlati de Petramela ad honorem Beatæ Mariæ Virginis.
I make no mention of the works of the other pupils of Giottino,
because they are quite ordinary and bear little resemblance to those
of their master and of Giovanni Tossicani, their fellow-pupil.
Tommaso drew very well, as appears by some sheets by his hand which
are in our book, which are very carefully executed.
Giovanni da Ponte, Painter of Florence.
Although the old proverb that a bon vivant never lacks means is
untrue and unworthy of confidence, the contrary being the case, since
a man who does not live within his means comes at last to live in
want, and dies in misery; yet it sometimes happens that Fortune
rather assists those who throw away without reserve than those who
are orderly and careful in all things. When the favour of Fortune is
wanting, Death frequently repairs the defect and remedies the
consequences of men's thoughtlessness, for it comes at the very
moment when they would begin to realise, with sorrow, how wretched a
thing it is to have squandered everything when young to pass one's
age on shortened means in poverty and toil. This would have been the
fate of Giovanni da S. Stefano a Ponte of Florence, if, after he had
devoured his patrimony as well as the gains which came into his hand,
rather through good fortune than by his desserts, and some legacies
which came to him from unexpected quarters, he had not reached the
end of his life at the very time when he had exhausted his means. He
was a pupil of Buonamico Buffalmacco, and imitated his master more in
following worldly pleasures than in endeavouring to make himself a
skilful painter. He was born in the year 1307, and was Buffalmacco's
pupil in his youth. He executed his first works in fresco in the
Pieve of Empoli in the chapel of St Laurence, painting many scenes
from the life of that saint with such care, that so good a beginning
was considered to promise much better things in the future.
Accordingly he was invited in the year 1344 to Arezzo, where he did
an Assumption in a chapel in S. Francesco. Being in some credit in
that city, for lack of other artists, he next painted in the Pieve
the chapel of St Onofrio and that of St Anthony, ruined to-day by the
damp. He left other paintings in S. Giustina and S. Matteo, which
were pulled down with the churches when Duke Cosimo was fortifying
the city. Almost on this very spot, near S. Giustina, at the foot of
the abutment of an ancient bridge, at the point where the river
enters the city, they there found a fine marble head of Appius
Ciccus, and one of his son, with an ancient epitaph, which are now in
the Duke's wardrobe. When Giovanni returned to Florence, at the time
when the middle arch of the Ponte a S. Trinita was being completed,
he decorated a chapel built on a pile, and dedicated to St Michael
the Archangel, an ancient and beautiful building, doing many figures,
both inside and out, and the whole of the principal front. This
chapel was carried away, together with the bridge, in the flood of
1557. Some assert that he owed his name of Giovanni dal Ponte to
these works. In Pisa, in the year 1335, he did some scenes in fresco
behind the altar in the principal chapel of St Paolo a ripa d'Arno,
which are now ruined by damp and time. Another work of his is the
chapel of the Scali in S. Trinita at Florence, and another beside it,
as well as one of the stories of St Paul beside the principal chapel,
which contains the tomb of Maestro Paolo, the astrologer. In S.
Stefano, at the Ponte Vecchio, he did a panel and other paintings in
tempera and fresco for Florence and elsewhere, which won him
considerable renown. He was beloved by his friends, but rather in his
pleasures than in his labours, and he was a friend of men of letters,
and especially of all those who were studying his own art in the hope
of excelling in it; and although he had not troubled to acquire for
himself what he desired for others, he never ceased to advise others
to work diligently. At length, when he had lived fifty-nine years, he
departed this life in a few days in consequence of a disorder of the
chest. Had he lived a little longer, he would have suffered much
inconvenience, as there remained hardly sufficient in his house to
afford him decent burial in S. Stefano dal Ponte Vecchio. His works
were executed about 1345.
Our book of designs of various ancient and modern masters contains a
water-colour by Giovanni representing St George on horseback killing
a serpent; also a skeleton, the two affording an excellent
illustration of his method and his style in designing.
Agnolo Gaddi, Painter of Florence.
The virtue and husbandry of Taddeo Gaddi afford an excellent
illustration of the advantages and honours accruing from excellence
in a noble art, for by his industry and labour he provided a
considerable property, and left the affairs of his family so ordered
that when he passed to the other life his sons Agnolo and Giovanni
were enabled without difficulty to lay the foundations of the vast
wealth and distinction of the house of Gaddi, which is now amongst
the noblest in Florence and of high repute in all Christendom. Indeed
it was no more than reasonable, after Gaddo, Taddeo, Agnolo and
Giovanni had adorned with their art and talents so many considerable
churches, that their descendants should be decorated with the highest
ecclesiastical dignities by the Holy Roman Church and her Pontiffs.
Taddeo, whose life we have already written, left two sons, Agnolo and
Giovanni, among his many pupils, and he hoped that Agnolo in
particular would attain to considerable excellence in painting. But
although Agnolo when a youth promised to far surpass his father, he
did not realise the good opinions which were then formed about him.
Being born and brought up in ease, which is often a hindrance to
application, he was more devoted to trading and commerce than to the
art of painting. This is no new or strange circumstance, for avarice
almost invariably proves a bar to those geniuses who would have
attained the summit of their powers, had not the desire of gain stood
in their way in their first and best years.
In his youth Andrea did a small scene for S. Jacopo tra fossi at
Florence, in figures of little more than a braccia high, representing
the Resurrection of Lazarus, who had been four days dead. Considering
the corrupt state of the body, which had been in the tomb three days,
he presented the grave clothes bound about him as soiled by the
putrefaction of the flesh, and certain livid and yellowish marks in
the flesh about the eyes, between quick and dead, very well
considered. He also shows the astonishment of the disciples and other
figures, who in varied and remarkable attitudes are holding their
garments to their noses so as not to smell the stench of the corrupt
body, and exhibit every shade of fear and terror at this marvellous
event, as well as the joy and delight of Mary and Martha at seeing
the dead body of their brother return to life. This work was deemed
so excellent that there were many who thought that the talents of
Andrea would prove superior to those of all the pupils of Taddeo and
even to those of the master himself. But the event proved otherwise,
for as in youth will conquers every difficulty in the effort after
fame, so it often happens that the years bring with them a certain
heedlessness which causes men to go backwards instead of forwards, as
was the case with Agnolo. Owing to the high repute of his ability,
the family of the Soderini, expecting a great deal, allotted to him
the principal chapel of the Carmine, where he painted the whole of
the life of Our Lady, but in a style so inferior to the Resurrection
of Lazarus that anyone could perceive that he had little desire to
devote all his energies to the study of painting. In the whole of
this great work there is not more than a single good scene, namely,
that in which Our Lady is in an apartment surrounded by a number of
maidens, whose habits and headdresses vary according to the divers
customs of the time, and who are engaged in various employments, some
spinning, some sewing, some winding silk, and some weaving and doing
other things, all very well conceived and executed by Agnolo.
Similarly in painting in fresco the principal chapel of the church of
S. Croce for the noble family of the Alberti, he represented the
incidents which took place on the finding of the Cross, executing the
work with much skill, though it is somewhat lacking in design, the
colouring alone being meritorious. He succeeded much better
afterwards in some other paintings in fresco in the chapel of the
Bardi, and in some stories of St Louis in the same church. He worked
capriciously, sometimes with great care and sometimes with little.
Thus in S. Spirito at Florence, where he did the inside of a door
leading from the piazza to the convent, and above another door a
Madonna and child, with St Augustine and St Nicholas, all in
fresco--they are all so well done that they look as if they had been
painted yesterday. The secret of working in mosaic had as it were
descended to Agnolo by inheritance, and in his house he had the
instruments and other apparatus used by his grandfather Gaddo;
accordingly to para the time, and for one reason or another, he did
some things in mosaic when he had the whim. Thus since many of the
marble facings of the exterior of S. Giovanni were wasted by time,
and as the damp had pierced through and done considerable injury to
the mosaics previously executed there by Andrea Tafi, the Consuls of
the Art of the Merchants proposed to restore the greater part of this
marble covering, in order that no further damage should be done, and
also to repair the mosaics. The commission for this was given to
Agnolo, and in the year 1346 he caused the building to be covered
with new marble, overlaying the joints to a distance of two fingers
with great care, notching the half of each stone as far as the
middle. He then cemented them together with a mixture of mastic and
wax, and completed the whole with such care that from that time
forward neither the vaulting nor the roof has ever suffered any harm
from the water. His subsequent restoration of the mosaics led by his
advice to the reconstruction from his well-devised plans of the whole
of the cornice of the church above the marble, under the roof, in its
present form, whereas it was originally much smaller and by no means
remarkable. He also directed the construction of the vaulting for the
hall of the Podesta palace, where an ordinary roof had formerly
existed, so that in addition to the added beauty which it gave the
room, it rendered it proof against damage by fire, which it had
frequently suffered before. By his advice the present battlements
were added to the palace, where nothing of the kind had previously
existed.
While these works were proceeding, he did not entirely abandon
painting, but executed in tempera a picture of Our Lady for the high
altar of S. Pancrazio, with St John the Baptist, St John the
Evangelist, the brothers St Nereus, Achilleus, and Prancrazius, and
other saints hard by. But the best part of this work, and indeed the
only part of it which is really good, is the predella filled with
small figures, divided into eight scenes dealing with the Madonna and
St Reparata. Subsequently in a picture for the high altar of S. Maria
Novella at Florence, executed for Barone Capelli in 1348, he made a
very fair group of angels about a Coronation of the Virgin. Shortly
afterwards he painted in fresco a series of subjects from the life of
the Virgin in the Pieve of Prato, which had been rebuilt under the
direction of Giovanni Pisano in 1312, as has been said above, in the
chapel where Our Lady's girdle was deposited, and he did a number of
other works in other churches of that same country which is full of
very considerable monasteries and convents. In Florence he next
painted the arch over the gate of S. Romeo, and in Orto S. Michele
did in tempera a Christ disputing with the doctors in the temple. At
the same time for the enlargement of the piazza of the Signori a
large number of buildings was pulled down, and notably the church of
S. Romolo, which was rebuilt from Agnolo's plans. In the churches of
this city many pictures by his hand may be seen, and a quantity of
his works may be met with in the lordship. These he produced with
great advantage to himself, although he worked rather for the sake of
following in the steps of his ancestors than from any inclination of
his own; for he had devoted all his attention to trading, which was
of great service to him, as appeared when his sons, who did not wish
to live by painting any longer, devoted themselves entirely to
commerce, opening an establishment at Venice in conjunction with
their father, who after a certain time abandoned painting altogether,
only to take it up as an amusement and pastime. By dint of trading
and practising his art, Agnolo had amassed considerable wealth when
he came to die in the sixty-third year of his life, succumbing to a
malignant fever which carried him off in a few days. His pupils were
Maestro Antonio da Ferrara, who did many fine works in Urbino and at
Citta di Castello, and Stefano da Verona, who painted with the
greatest perfection in fresco, as may be seen in several places in
his native Verona, and at Mantua, where his works are numerous. Among
other things he excelled in beautifully rendering the expressions of
the faces of children, women and old men, as his works show, which
were all imitated and copied by that Piero da Perugia, miniature
painter, who illuminated all the books in the library of Pope Pius in
the Duomo of Siena, and who was a skilful colourist in fresco. Other
pupils of Agnolo were Michaele da Milano and his own brother
Giovanni, who in the cloister of S. Spirito, where the arches of
Gaddo and Taddeo are, painted the dispute of Christ with the doctors
in the temple, the Purification of the Virgin, the Temptation of
Christ in the wilderness, and the baptism of John, but after having
given rise to the highest expectations he died. Cennino di Drea
Cennini da Colle of Valdelsa also learned painting from Andrea. He
was very fond of his art and wrote a book describing the methods of
working in fresco, in tempera, in glue and in gum, and also how to
illuminate and all the ways of laying on gold. This book is in the
possession of Giuliano, goldsmith of Siena, an excellent master and
fond of that art. The first part of the book deals with the nature of
colours, both minerals and earths, as he had learned it of Agnolo his
master. As he did not perhaps succeed in painting with perfection, he
was at least anxious to know the peculiarities of the colours, the
temperas, the glues and of chalks, and what colours one ought to
avoid mixing as injurious, and in short many other hints which I need
not dilate upon, since all these matters, which he then considered
very great secrets, are now universally known. But I must not omit to
note that he makes no mention of some earth colours, such as dark
terra rossa, cinnabar and some greens in glass, perhaps because they
were not in use. In like manner umber, yellow-lake, the smalts in
fresco and in oil, and some greens and yellows in glass which the
painters of that age lacked, have since been discovered. The end of
the treatise deals with mosaics, with the grinding of colours in oil
to make red, blue, green and other kinds of grounds, and with
mordants for the application of gold but not at that time for
figures. Besides the works which he produced with his master in
Florence, there is a Madonna with saints by his hand under the loggia
of the hospital of Bonifazio Lupi, of such style and colouring that
it has been very well preserved up to the present day.