in order to win fame, deserve a better fate than the placing of their
works in obscure and unhonoured places where they may be blamed by
persons whose knowledge of the subject is not considerable. Their
productions ought to be so prominently placed with plenty of light
and air that they may be properly seen and examined by every one.
This is the case of the public work of Taddeo Bartoli, painter of
Siena for the chapel of the palace of the Signoria at Siena. Taddeo
was the son of Bartoli son of the master Fredi, who was a mediocre
painter in his day, and painted scenes from the Old Testament on a
wall of the Pieve of S. Gimignano, on the left hand side on entering.
In the middle of this work, which if the truth must be told was not
very good, the following inscription may still be read: _Ann: Dom
1356 Bartolus magistri Fredi de Senis me pinxit_. Bartoli must have
been young at the time, for there is a picture of his of the year
1388, in S. Agostino of the same district, on the left hand side on
entering the principal door. The subject is the Circumcision of our
Lord with certain saints, and it is in a far better style both as
regards design and colouring, some of the heads being really fine
although the feet of the figures are in the ancient style. In fact
many other works of Bartoli may be seen about that district. But to
return to Taddeo, as the best master of the time, he received a
commission, as I have said, to paint the chapel of the palace of the
Signoria for his native place, and he executed it with such
diligence, with consideration for so honoured a place, and he was so
richly rewarded by the Signoria, that he greatly increased his glory
and renown. Thus not only did he afterwards make many pictures for
his native land, to his great honour and benefit, but he was invited
and asked of the Signoria of Siena as a great favour by Francesco da
Carrara, lord of Padua, to go there, as he did, and do some things in
that most noble city. He did some pictures and other things there,
notably in the Arena and in the Santo with great care, to his own
great honour and to the infinite satisfaction of the said lord and of
the whole city. Returning subsequently to Tuscany he did a picture in
tempera in S. Gimignano, which is something in the style of Ugolino
of Siena and is now behind the high altar of the Pieve facing the
choir of the priests. He next went to Siena, but did not remain long
there as he was summoned to Pisa by one of the Lanfranchi, a warden
of the Duomo. Having proceeded thither he did for the chapel of the
Nunziata the scene where the Madonna is ascending the steps of the
temple, where the priest in his pontificals is awaiting her, a highly
finished work. The face of the priest is the portrait of the man who
had invited him, while his own is hard by. On the completion of this
work, the same patron induced him to paint over the chapel in the
Campo Santo, the Coronation of Our Lady by Jesus Christ, with many
angels, in most beautiful attitudes and very finely coloured. For the
chapel of the sacristy of St Francesco at Pisa, Taddeo also painted a
picture in tempera of the Madonna and some saints, signing his name
to it and the year 1394. About the same time he did some pictures in
tempera at Volterra, and another picture at Monte Oliveto, while on
the wall he did an Inferno, following the arrangement of Dante as
regards the division of the damned and the nature of their
punishment, but as regards the site he either could not or would not
imitate him, or perhaps he lacked the necessary knowledge. He also
sent to Arezzo a picture which is in S. Agostino containing a
portrait of Pope Gregory IX., the one who returned to Italy after the
papal court had been so many decades in France. After these things he
returned to Siena, but did not make a long stay there as he was
invited to Perugia to work in the church of S. Domenico. Here he
painted the whole of the life of St Catherine in the chapel dedicated
to that saint, and did some figures in S. Francesco beside the
sacristy door, which may still be discerned to-day, and are
recognisable as being by Taddeo, because he always retained the same
manner. Shortly after, in the year 1398, Biroldo, lord of Perugia,
was assassinated. Taddeo accordingly returned to Siena, where he
devoted constant work and steady application to the study of art, in
order to make himself a worthy painter. It may be affirmed that if he
did not perhaps attain his purpose, it was not on account of any
defect or negligence on his part, but solely because of an
obstructive malady which prevented him from ever realising his
desire. Taddeo died at the age of fifty-nine, after having taught the
art to a nephew of his called Domenico. His paintings were done about
the year of grace 1410. Thus, as I have said, he left Domenico
Bartoli, his nephew and pupil, who devoted himself to the art of
painting, and painted with superior skill. In the subjects which he
represented he exhibited much more wealth and variety in various
matters than his uncle had done. In the hall of the pilgrims of the
great hospital of Siena there are two large scenes in fresco by
Domenico, which contain prospectives and other ornaments, composed
with considerable ingenuity. It is said that Domenico was modest and
gentle and of a singularly amiable and liberal courtesy, which did no
less honour to his name than the art of painting itself. His works
were executed about the year of our Lord 1436, and the last were in
S. Trinita at Florence, a picture of the Annunciation and the high
altar picture in the church of the Carmine.
Alvaro di Piero of Portugal flourished at the same time, and adopted
a very similar style, but made his colouring more clear and his
figures shorter. In Volterra he did several pictures, and there is
one in S. Antonio at Pisa and others in various places, but as they
are of no great excellence it is not necessary to mention them. In
our book there is a sheet of drawings by Taddeo, containing a Christ
and two angels, etc., very skilfully executed.
Lorenzo di Bicci, Painter of Florence.
When those who excel in any honourable employment, no matter what,
unite with their skill as craftsmen, a gentleness of manners and of
good breeding, and especially courtesy, serving those who employ them
with speed and goodwill, there is no doubt that they are pursuing to
their great honour and advantage almost everything which can be
desired in this world. This was the case with Lorenzo di Bicci,
painter of Florence, born in Florence in the year 1400, at the very
moment when Italy was beginning to be disturbed by the wars which
ended so badly for her, was in very good credit from his earliest
years; for under his father's discipline he learned good manners, and
from Spinello's instruction he acquired the art of painting, so that
he had a reputation not only of being an excellent painter, but of
being a most courteous and able man. While he was still a youth,
Lorenzo did some works in fresco at Florence and outside to gain
facility, and Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, having remarked the
excellence of his style, employed him to paint in the hall of the old
house of the Medici, which afterwards was left to Lorenzo, natural
brother of Cosmo the Ancient, after the great palace was built, all
those famous men who may still be seen in a fairly good state of
preservation. This work being completed, Lorenzo di Bicci was
anxious, like the doctors who experiment in their art on the skins of
poor rustics, to have practice in the art of painting in a place
where things are not so closely criticised, and for some time he
accepted everything which presented itself; hence, outside the gate
of S. Friano at the ponte a Scandicci, he painted a tabernacle, as it
may now be seen, and at Cerbaia under a portico he painted very
agreeably a Madonna and many saints on a wall. Afterwards a chapel in
S. Marco at Florence was allotted to him by the family of the
Martini, and on the walls he painted in fresco a number of scenes
from the life of Our Lady, and on the altar picture the Virgin
herself in the midst of many saints. In the same church over the
chapel of St John the Evangelist, of the family of the Landi, he
painted in fresco the angel Raphael and Tobias. In the year 1418 for
Ricciardo di M. Niccolo Spinello, on the piazza front of the convent
of S. Croce he painted a large scene in fresco of St Thomas examining
the wounds of Jesus Christ in the presence of all the other apostles
who are kneeling reverently at the sight. Next to this scene and also
in fresco he did a St Christopher, twelve and a half braccia high,
which is a rare thing, because with the exception of the St
Christopher of Buffalmacco, a larger figure had never been seen, and
although the style is not good it is the most meritorious and best
proportioned representation of the saint. Besides this the pictures
were executed with such skill that although they have been exposed to
the air for many years, and being turned to the north, they have
suffered the violence of rain and storm, yet they have never lost the
brilliancy of their colouring and are in no wise injured by these
accidents. Lorenzo also made a crucifix with many figures inside the
door which is in the middle of these figures, called the door of the
knocker, at the request of the same Ricciardo and of the superior of
the convent, and on the encircling wall he did the confirmation of
the rule of St Francis by Pope Honorius, and then the martyrdom of
some friars of that order, who are going to preach the faith to the
Saracens. In the arches and on the vaulting he did some kings of
France, friars and followers of St Francis, drawing them from life,
as well as many learned men of the order, distinguished by their
several dignities of bishop, cardinal and pope. Among these are the
portraits from life of Popes Nicholas IV. and Alexander V., in
medallions. For all these figures Lorenzo made the grey habits, but
with variety owing to his skill in workmanship, so that they all
differ from one another, some inclining towards red, others to blue,
some being dark and others more light, so that all are varied and
worthy of consideration. What is more, it is said that he produced
these works with such facility and speed that when the superior, who
paid his expenses in designing, called him one day, when he had just
made the colour for a figure and was beginning it, he answered, "Make
the soup and I will come when I have finished this figure."
Accordingly it is said with a great show of reason that no one ever
exhibited such quickness of the hands, such skill in colouring, or
was so resolute as he. By his hand also is the tabernacle in fresco
which is beside the nunnery of Foligno and the Madonna and saints
over the door of the church of that nunnery, among them being a St
Francis espousing Poverty. In the church of Camaldoli at Florence, he
painted for the company of the Martyrs some scenes of the martyrdom
of certain saints, and decorated the chapels on either side of the
principal chapel. As these paintings gave considerable satisfaction
to the whole city, he was commissioned on their completion, to paint
a wall of the church in the Carmine for the family of the
Salvestrini, now almost extinct, there being so far as I know, no
other surviving member than a friar of the Angeli at Florence, called
Fra Nemesio, a good and courteous monk. Here he did the martyrs, when
they are condemned to death, being stripped naked and made to walk
bare-footed on thorns sown by the servants of the tyrants, whilst
they are on the way to be crucified, and higher up they are
represented on the cross in varied and extraordinary attitudes. In
this work, the largest which had ever been produced, everything is
done with great skill and design, according to the knowledge of the
time, being full of the expressions showing the divers ways of dying
of those who are put to death with violence. For this cause I am not
surprised that many men of ability have made use of some things found
in this picture. After this Lorenzo did many other figures in the
same church, and decorated two chapels in the screen. At the same
time he did the tabernacle on the side of the Cuculia, and the one in
the via de' Martelli on the wall of the houses, and over the knocker
door of S. Spirito he did a St Augustine in fresco, who is giving the
rule to his brethren. In S. Trinita in the chapel of Neri Capponi he
painted in fresco the life of St John Gualbert. In the principal
chapel of S. Lucia in the via de' Bardi he did some scenes in fresco
from the life of St Lucy for Niccolo da Uzzano, whose portrait he
introduced there from life together with those of some other
citizens. This Niccolo with the assistance and model of Lorenzo,
built his own palace near the church, and began a magnificent college
or studium between the convent of the Servites and that of S. Marco,
that is to say, where the lions now are. This truly magnificent work,
rather worthy of a prince than of a private citizen, was not
completed, because the immense sum of money which Niccolo left in his
bank at Florence for the building and endowment of it were expended
by the Florentines on war and other needs of the city. Although
Fortune can never obscure the memory and greatness of the spirit of
Niccolo da Uzzano, the community suffered a great loss by the
non-completion of the work. Therefore, let anyone who desires to help
the world in such a manner, and to leave an honourable memorial of
himself, do so himself in his life-time, and not trust to the
faithfulness of posterity and of his heirs, as it very rarely happens
that a thing is carried out where it is left to successors. But to
return to Lorenzo. Besides what has been already mentioned, he
painted a Madonna and certain saints very fairly in a tabernacle on
the ponte Rubaconte in fresco. Not long after, Ser Michele di
Fruosino, master of the hospital of S. Maria Nuova at Florence, a
building founded by Folco Portinari, citizen of Florence, proposed,
as the property of the hospital had increased, to enlarge his church
outside Florence, dedicated to St Giles, which was of small
importance. Accordingly he consulted Lorenzo di Bicci, his close
friend, and on 5th September 1418 he began the new church, which was
completed in its present form in a year, and then solemnly
consecrated by Pope Martin V. at the request of Ser Michele, who was
the eighth master and a member of the family of the Portinari.
Lorenzo afterwards painted this consecration, at the desire of Ser
Michele, on the front of the church, introducing the portrait of the
Pope and of some cardinals. This work was then much admired as
something new and beautiful. For this cause Lorenzo was judged worthy
to be the first to paint in the principal church of his native city,
that is S. Maria del Fiore, where, under the windows of each chapel,
he did the saints to which they are dedicated; and afterwards, on the
pillars and through the church, he did the twelve Apostles with the
crosses of the consecration, as the church was solemnly consecrated
in that very year by Pope Eugenius IV. of Venice. In the same church
the wardens, by a public ordinance, employed him to paint on the wall
in fresco a deposition, finished in marble, in memory of the Cardinal
de' Corsini, whose effigy is there, upon the sarcophagus. Above this
is another like it, in memory of Master Luigi Marsili, a most famous
theologian, who went as ambassador with M. Luigi Giuccardini and M.
Guccio di Gino, most honoured knights, to the Duke of Anjou. Lorenzo
was afterwards invited to Arezzo by D. Laurentino, abbot of S.
Bernardo, a monastery of the order of Monte Oliveto, where he painted
scenes from the life of St Bernard in fresco for the principal chapel
for M. Carlo Marsupino. But as he was about to paint the life of St
Benedict in the cloister of the convent, after he had painted the
principal chapel of the church of S. Francesco, for Francesco de'
Bacci, the elder, where he alone did the vaulting and half the
tympanum, he fell sick of a chest affection. Accordingly he caused
himself to be carried to Florence, and left instructions that Marco
da Montepulciano, his pupil, should do these scenes from the life of
St Benedict in the cloister, from a design which he had made and left
with D. Laurentino. These Marco did to the best of his ability,
completing them in the year 1448 on 24th April, the whole work being
in chiaroscuro, and his name may be seen written there, with verses
which are not less rude than the painting. Lorenzo returned to his
country, and, having recovered, he painted on the same wall of the
convent of S. Croce, where he had done the St Christopher, the
Assumption of Our Lady surrounded in Heaven by a choir of angels, and
below a St Thomas receiving the girdle. In the execution of this
work, as Lorenzo was sick, he was assisted by Donatello, then quite a
youth, and by means of such effective aid it was completed in the
year 1450, so that I believe it to be the best work both in design
and in colouring that Lorenzo ever produced. Not long after, being an
old man and worn out, he died at the age of about sixty years,
leaving two sons who practised painting, one of whom, named Bicci,
assisted him in many of his works, and the other, called Neri, drew
the portraits of his father and himself in the chapel of the Lenzi in
Ognissanti, in two medallions, with letters about them giving the
names of both. In this same chapel Neri did some stories of Our Lady,
and took great pains to copy many of the costumes of his day, both of
men and women. He did the altar picture for the chapel in tempera,
and painted some pictures in the Abbey of S. Felice, of the
Camaldoline order, on the piazza of Florence, as well as the high
altar of S. Michele of Arezzo of the same order. Outside Arezzo, at
S. Maria delle Grazie, in the church of S. Bernardino, he did a
Madonna with the people of Arezzo under her mantle, and on one side
St Bernardino is kneeling, with a wooden cross in his hand, such as
he was accustomed to carry when he went through Arezzo preaching; and
on the other side are St Nicholas and St Michael the Archangel. The
predella contains the acts of St Bernardino and the miracles which,
he performed, especially those done in that place. The same Neri did
the high altar picture for S. Romolo at Florence, and in the chapel
of the Spini in S. Trinita he did the life of St John Gualbert in
fresco, as well as the picture in tempera which is above the altar.
From these works it is clear that if Neri had lived, instead of dying
at the age of thirty-six, he would have done many better and more
numerous works than his father Lorenzo. The latter was the last
master to adopt the old manner of Giotto, and accordingly his life
will be the last in this first part, which I have now completed, with
God's help.
Notes
PAGE LINE
xxiii. 5. "braccia," may be considered roughly to represent
about two feet; literally translated it means an arm.
7. 6. "fresco," Painting _al fresco_, upon fresh or wet
ground is executed with mineral and earthy pigments
upon a freshly laid stucco ground of lime or
gypsum.--_Fairholt_.
9. 28. "old king Charles of Anjou," the brother of St Louis,
crowned king of Sicily in 1266.
10. 10. "tempera," a method in which the pigments are mixed
with chalk or clay and diluted with size.
11. 19. "Credette," etc.
"Cimabue thought
To lord it over painting's field; and now
The cry is Giotto's, and his name eclips'd."--_Cary_.
15. 13. "drawings." It is stated that the knight Gaddi sold
five volumes of drawings to some merchants for
several thousands of scudi, which composed Vasari's
famous book, so often referred to by h m. Card.
Leopold de' Medici collected several of those by the
most famous artists. This collection was sent to the
Uffizi gallery in 1700, where they are merged with
the other drawings.
25. 11. "bridge which still bears his name." M. Rubaconte was
podesta of Florence in 1237 and in addition to laying
the foundation stone of this bridge, he also caused
the city to be paved. _Villani_, vi. 26. The bridge
is now known as the Ponte alle Grazie.
45. 32. "Frederick Barbarossa." Impossible, for Barbarossa
died two centuries before. Perhaps Vasari means the
Emperor Frederick III.
51. 31. "Ser Ciappelletto," the hero of the first story in
Boccaccio's _Decameron_, forger, murderer,
blasphemer, fornicator, drunkard and gambler, "he was
probably the worst man who was ever born," to crown
all, he so deceived the priest to whom he confessed
that he was canonised.
55. 23. "S. Giovanni." Bk. i., cap. 42. Villani states that
it was originally built by the Romans in the time of
Octavian as a temple to Mars.
67. 25. "M. Farinata degli Uberti."_Cf_, p. 30 above. After
the battle of Montaperti in 1260, in which the
Sienese aided by the Ghibelline exiles of Florence
won a complete victory over the Florentines, a
council was held in which it was proposed to destroy
Florence utterly. The project was defeated by
Farinata, one of the most prominent of the victorious
Florentines. _Villani_, bk. vi., cap. 81. _Cf_, Dante
_Inferno_, x. 1. 92.
75. 19. "M. Forese da Rabatta," _Decameron_, 6th Day,
Novella 5.
81. 23. "life of the patient Job." It is now a well
established fact that these frescoes were painted by
Francesco da Volterra in 1371, several years after
Giotto's death.
85. 10. "Oh dissi lui," etc.
"Oh," I exclaimed,
"Art thou not Oderigi, art not thou
Agobbio's glory, glory of that art
Which they of Paris call the limner's skill?
Brother, said he, with tints that gayer smile,
Bolognian Franco's pencil lines the leaves.
His all the honour now; mine borrowed light."
--Cary.
102. 4. "Franco Sacchetti," born at Florence in 1335. His
Novelle were considered the best after those of
Boccaccio.
110. 24. Where the Giglion joins the Chiassa
There did my ancestors flourish
Who bear six golden stones on azure ground.
151. 14. "An eagle on the back of a lion." The bishop was a
prominent Ghibelline, whose figure was the imperial
eagle, while the lion signified the opposing Guelph
party. Buffalmacco as a Florentine would belong to
the latter faction.
155. 5. "Voi che avvisate," etc.
Ye who behold this painting
Think, weigh and consider
Upon the merciful God, supreme creator,
Who made all things in love.
He fashioned that angelic nature in new orders,
In that resplendent empire of heaven.
Motionless Himself yet the source of all motion
He made everything good and pure.
Raise the eyes of your mind,
Reflect upon the ordering
Of the entire globe and reverently
Praise Him who has created so well.
Think that you also may taste the delight
Of living among the angels, where all are blessed.
In this scene also we see the glory of the world,
The base, the mean, and the lofty.
188. ii. "arts of Florence." The arts or guilds of Florence
formed the basis of the government of the city. They
were of two orders, the greater and the lesser. The
seven greater arts were: Lawyers (St Luke), the
Calimara or dealers in foreign cloth (St John
Baptist), money-changers (St Matthew), woollen
manufacturers (St Thomas), physicians (Virgin Mary),
silk manufacturers (St John the Divine), and the
furriers (St James). The lesser arts were fourteen
in number, including armourers (St George),
locksmiths (St Mark), farriers (St Eloi), drapers
(St Stephen), shoemakers (St Philip), butchers
(St Peter). They were admitted to the full
citizenship in 1378.
199. 21. "Da che prosperitade," etc.
"Since every happiness has abandoned us,
Come death, the cure of every grief,
Come and give us our last meal."
200. 3. "Ischermo di saveri," etc.
"Knowledge and wealth,
Birth and valour, all
Are alike powerless against his strokes."
212. 10. "the Duke of Athens." Walter de Brienne, a
Frenchman, elected captain and protector of
Florence in June 1342;. he endeavoured to become
master of the city, but was expelled in the popular
rising referred to.
239. 31. "the Bavarian." Louis of Bavaria, the emperor who
died in 1347.
241. 3 "_a secco_." Fresco painting in secco is that kind
which absorbs the colours into the plaster and
gives them a dry sunken appearance.--_Fairholt_.
263. 31 "affair of the Ciompi": the name given to the
rising of the lesser people against the powerful
guilds, resulting in a wider distribution of the
powers of government. The lower classes won and
appointed Michele del Lando as their Gonfaloniere.
Ciompi means the lowest classes.
265. 14. "200,000 scudi," worth about £44,444, 9s.