of the drains in the city of Florence, ordained in that capacity that
the drain in the old Piazza di S. Maria Novella should be raised from
the ground, in such a way that, becoming more capacious, it might be
better able to receive all the waters that ran into it from various
quarters. For this work, then, he commissioned Vinci to make the model
of a great mask of three braccia, which with its open mouth might
swallow all the rain-water. Afterwards, by order of the Ufficiali
della Torre, the work was allotted to Vinci, who, in order to execute
it more quickly, summoned to his aid the sculptor Lorenzo Marignolli.
In company with this master he finished it, making it from a block of
hard-stone; and the work is such that it adorns the whole Piazza, with
no small advantage to the city.
It now appeared to Vinci that he had made such proficience in art,
that it would be a great benefit to him to see the principal works in
Rome, and to associate with the most excellent craftsmen living there;
wherefore, an occasion to go there presenting itself, he seized it
readily. There had arrived from Rome an intimate friend of
Michelagnolo Buonarroti, Francesco Bandini, who, having come to know
Vinci by means of Luca Martini, and having praised him highly, caused
him to make a model of wax for a tomb of marble that he wished to
erect in his chapel in S. Croce; and shortly afterwards, on returning
to Rome, Vinci having spoken his mind to Luca Martini, Bandini took
him in his company. There Vinci remained a year, studying all the
time, and executed some works worthy of remembrance. The first was a
Christ on the Cross in low-relief, rendering up His spirit to His
Father, which was copied from a design done by Michelagnolo. For
Cardinal Ridolfi he added to an antique head a breast in bronze, and
made a Venus of marble in low-relief, which was much extolled. For
Francesco Bandini he restored an ancient horse, of which many pieces
were wanting, and made it complete. And in order to give some proof of
gratitude, where he could, to Luca Martini, who was writing to him by
every courier, and continually recommending him to Bandini, it seemed
good to Vinci to make a copy in wax, in the round and two-thirds (of a
braccio) in height, of the Moses of Michelagnolo that is on the tomb
of Pope Julius II in S. Pietro in Vincula, than which there is no more
beautiful work to be seen; and so, having made the Moses of wax, he
sent it as a present to Luca Martini.
At the time when Vinci was living in Rome and executing the works
mentioned above, Luca Martini was made by the Duke of Florence
proveditor of Pisa, and in his office he did not forget his friend,
and therefore wrote to him that he was preparing a room for him and
was providing a block of marble of three braccia, so that he might
return from Rome at his pleasure, seeing that while with him he should
want for nothing. Vinci, attracted by this prospect and by the love
that he bore to Luca, resolved to depart from Rome and to take up his
abode for some time in Pisa, where he looked to find opportunities of
practising his hand and making trial of his ability. Having therefore
gone to Pisa, he found that the marble was already in his room,
prepared according to the orders of Luca; but, on proceeding to begin
to carve from it an upright figure, he perceived that the marble had
in it a crack that diminished it by a braccio. Wherefore, having
resolved to change it into a recumbent figure, he made a young River
God holding a vase that is pouring out water, the vase being upheld by
three children, who are assisting the River God to pour the water
forth; and beneath his feet runs a copious stream of water, in which
may be seen fishes darting about and water-fowl flying in various
parts. This River God finished, Vinci made a present of it to Luca,
who presented it to the Duchess, to whom it was very dear; and then,
her brother Don Garzia di Toledo being at that time in Pisa, whither
he had gone by galley, she gave it to that brother, who accepted it
with much pleasure for the fountains of his garden in the Chiaia at
Naples.
In those days Luca Martini was writing some observations on the
Commedia of Dante, and he pointed out to Vinci the cruelty described
by Dante, which the Pisans and Archbishop Ruggieri showed towards
Count Ugolino della Gherardesca, causing him to die of hunger with his
four sons in the tower that is therefore called the Tower of Hunger;
whereby he offered to Vinci the occasion for a new work and the idea
of a new design. Wherefore, while he was still working at the River
God described above, he set his hand to making a scene in wax more
than a braccio in height and three-quarters in breadth, to be cast in
bronze, in which he represented two of the Count's sons already dead,
one in the act of expiring, and the fourth overcome by hunger and near
his end, but not yet reduced to the last breath; with the father in a
pitiful and miserable attitude, blind and heavy with grief, and
groping over the wretched bodies of his sons stretched upon the
ground. In this work Vinci displayed the excellence of design no less
than did Dante the perfection of poetry in his verses, for no less
compassion is stirred by the attitudes shaped in wax by the sculptor
in him who beholds them, than is roused in him who listens to the
words and accents imprinted on the living page by the poet. And in
order to mark the place where the event happened, he made at the foot
of the scene the River Arno, which occupies its whole width, for the
above-named tower is not far distant from the river in Pisa; while
upon that tower he placed an old woman, naked, withered, and fearsome,
representing Hunger, much after the manner wherein Ovid describes her.
The wax model finished, he cast the scene in bronze, and it gave
consummate satisfaction, being held by the Court and by everyone to be
no ordinary work.
Duke Cosimo was then intent on enriching and beautifying the city of
Pisa, and he had already caused the Piazza del Mercato to be built
anew, with a great number of shops around it, and had placed in the
centre a column ten braccia high, upon which, according to the design
of Luca, was to stand a statue representing Abundance. Martini,
therefore, having spoken to the Duke and presented Vinci to his
notice, easily obtained for him from his Excellency the commission for
that statue, the Duke being always eager to assist men of talent and
to bring fine intellects forward. Vinci executed a statue of
travertine, three braccia and a half in height, which was much
extolled by everyone; for at the feet of the figure he placed a little
child, who assists her to support the Cornucopia, carved with much
softness and facility, although the stone is rough and difficult to
work.
[Illustration: UGOLINO DELLA GHERARDESCA AND HIS SONS IN THE TOWER OF
FAMINE
(_After the wax relief by =Pierino [Piero] da Vinci=. Oxford: Ashmolean
Museum_)
_Reproduced by permission of the Visitors of the Ashmolean Museum._]
Luca afterwards sent to Carrara to have a block of marble quarried
five braccia in height and three in breadth, from which Vinci, who had
once seen some sketches by Michelagnolo of Samson slaying a Philistine
with the jawbone of an ass, proposed to make two figures of five
braccia from his own fancy, after that subject. Whereupon, while the
marble was on its way, he set himself to make several models, all
varying one from another, and then fixed on one of them; and after the
block had arrived he began to carve it, and carried it well on,
imitating Michelagnolo in cutting his conception and design little
by little out of the stone, without spoiling it or making any sort of
error. He executed all the perforation in this work, whether undercut
or at an easy angle, with great facility, laborious as it was, and the
manner of the whole work was very delicate. But since the labour was
very fatiguing, he sought to distract himself with other studies and
works of less importance; and thus he executed during the same time a
little tablet of marble in low-relief, in which he represented Our
Lady with Christ, S. John, and S. Elizabeth, which was held, as it
still is, to be a rare work. This came into the hands of the most
illustrious Duchess, and it is now among the choice things in the
study of the Duke.
He then set his hand to a scene of marble, one braccio high and one
and a half wide, partly in half-relief and partly in low-relief, in
which he represented the restoration of Pisa by the Duke, who is in
the work present in person at the restoration of that city, which is
being pressed forward by his presence. Round the Duke are figures of
his virtues; in particular a Minerva representing his wisdom and also
the arts revived by him in that city of Pisa, who is surrounded by
many evils and natural defects of the site, which besiege her on every
side, and afflict her in the manner of enemies; but from all these
that city has since been delivered by the above-mentioned virtues of
the Duke. All these virtues round the Duke, with all the evils round
Pisa, were portrayed by Vinci in his scene with most beautiful
gestures and attitudes; but he left it unfinished, to the great regret
of those who saw it, on account of the perfection of the things in it
that were completed.
The fame of Vinci having grown and spread abroad by reason of these
works, the heirs of Messer Baldassarre Turini da Pescia besought him
that he should make a model of a marble tomb for Messer Baldassarre;
which finished, it pleased them, whereupon they made an agreement that
the tomb should be executed, and Vinci sent Francesco del Tadda, an
able master of marble-carving, to have the marble quarried at Carrara.
And when that master had sent him a block of marble, Vinci began a
statue, and carved out of the stone a figure blocked out in such a
manner that one who knew not the circumstances would have said that
it was certainly blocked out by Michelagnolo.
The name of Vinci was now very great, and his genius was admired by
all, being much more perfect than could have been expected in one so
young, and it was likely to grow even more and to become greater, and
to equal that of any other man in his art, as his own works bear
witness, without any other testimony; when the term prescribed for him
by Heaven, being now close at hand, interrupted all his plans, and
caused his rapid progress to cease at one blow, not suffering that he
should climb any higher, and depriving the world of many excellent
works of art with which, had Vinci lived, it would have been adorned.
It happened at this time, while Vinci was intent on the tomb of
another, not knowing that his own was preparing, that the Duke had to
send Luca Martini to Genoa on affairs of importance; and Luca, both
because he loved Vinci and wished to have him in his company, and also
in order to give him some diversion and recreation, and to enable him
to see Genoa, took him with him on his journey. There, while Martini
was transacting his business, at his suggestion Messer Adamo
Centurioni commissioned Vinci to execute a figure of S. John the
Baptist, of which he made the model. But soon he was attacked by
fever, and, to increase his distress, at the same time his friend was
also taken away from him; perchance to provide a way in which fate
might be fulfilled in the life of Vinci. For it became necessary that
Luca, in the interests of the business entrusted to him, should go to
Florence to find the Duke; wherefore he parted from his sick friend,
to the great grief of both the one and the other, leaving him in the
house of the Abate Nero, to whom he straitly recommended him, although
Piero was very unwilling to remain in Genoa. But Vinci, feeling
himself growing worse every day, resolved to have himself removed from
Genoa; and, having caused an assistant of his own, called Tiberio
Cavalieri, to come from Pisa, with his help he had himself carried to
Livorno by water, and from Livorno to Pisa in a litter. Arriving in
Pisa at the twenty-second hour in the evening, all exhausted and
broken by the journey, the sea-voyage, and the fever, during the night
he had no repose, and the next morning, at the break of day, he passed
to the other life, not having yet reached the age of twenty-three.
The death of Vinci was a great grief to all his friends, and to Luca
Martini beyond measure; and it grieved all those who had hoped to see
from his hands such works as are not often seen. And Messer Benedetto
Varchi, who was much the friend of his abilities and of those of every
master, afterwards wrote the following sonnet in memory of his fame:
Come potro da me, se tu non presti
O forza, o tregua al mio gran duolo interno,
Soffrirlo in pace mai, Signor superno,
Che fin qui nuova ognor pena mi desti?
Dunque de' miei piu cari or quegli, or questi,
Verde sen voli all'alto Asilo eterno,
Ed io canuto in questo basso inferno
A pianger sempre e lamentarmi resti?
Sciolgami almen tua gran bontade quinci,
Or che reo fato nostro, o sua ventura,
Ch' era ben degno d' altra vita, e gente,
Per far piu ricco il cielo, e la scultura
Men bella, e me col buon Martin dolente,
N' ha privi, o pieta, del secondo Vinci.
BACCIO BANDINELLI
LIFE OF BACCIO BANDINELLI
SCULPTOR OF FLORENCE
In the days when the arts of design flourished in Florence by the
favour and assistance of the elder Lorenzo de' Medici the Magnificent,
there lived in the city a goldsmith called Michelagnolo di Viviano of
Gaiuole, who worked excellently well at chasing and incavo for enamels
and niello, and was very skilful in every sort of work in gold and
silver plate. This Michelagnolo had a great knowledge of jewels, and
set them very well; and on account of his talents and his versatility
all the foreign masters of his art used to have recourse to him, and
he gave them hospitality, as well as to the young men of the city,
insomuch that his workshop was held to be, as it was, the first in
Florence. Of him the Magnificent Lorenzo and all the house of Medici
availed themselves; and for the tourney that Giuliano, the brother of
that Magnificent Lorenzo, held on the Piazza di S. Croce, he executed
with subtle craftsmanship all the ornaments of helmets, crests, and
devices. Wherefore he acquired a great name and much intimacy with the
sons of the Magnificent Lorenzo, to whom his work was ever afterwards
very dear, and no less useful to him their acquaintance and
friendship, by reason of which, and also by the many works that he
executed throughout the whole city and dominion, he became a man of
substance as well as one of much repute in his art. To this
Michelagnolo the Medici, on their departure from Florence in the year
1494, entrusted much plate in silver and gold, which was all kept in
safe hiding by him and faithfully preserved until their return, when
he was much extolled by them for his fidelity, and afterwards
recompensed with rewards.
In the year 1487 there was born to Michelagnolo a son, whom he called
Bartolommeo, but afterwards, according to the Florentine custom, he
was called by everyone Baccio. Michelagnolo, desiring to leave his son
heir to his art and connection, took him into his own workshop in
company with other young men who were learning to draw; for that was
the custom in those times, and no one was held to be a good goldsmith
who was not a good draughtsman and able to work well in relief.
Baccio, then, in his first years, gave his attention to design
according to the teaching of his father, being assisted no less to
make proficience by the competition of the other lads, among whom he
chose as his particular companion one called Piloto, who afterwards
became an able goldsmith; and with him he often went about the
churches drawing the works of the good painters, but also mingling
work in relief with his drawing, and counterfeiting in wax certain
sculptures of Donato and Verrocchio, besides executing some works in
clay, in the round.
While still a boy in age, Baccio frequented at times the workshop of
Girolamo del Buda, a commonplace painter, on the Piazza di S.
Pulinari. There, at one time during the winter, a great quantity of
snow had fallen, which had been thrown afterwards by the people into a
heap in that piazza; and Girolamo, turning to Baccio, said to him
jestingly: "Baccio, if this snow were marble, could we not carve a
fine giant out of it, such as a Marforio lying down?" "We could so,"
answered Baccio, "and I suggest that we should act as if it were
marble." And immediately, throwing off his cloak, he set his hands to
the snow, and, assisted by other boys, taking away the snow where
there was too much, and adding some in other places, he made a rough
figure of Marforio lying down, eight braccia in length. Whereupon the
painter and all the others stood marvelling, not so much at what he
had done as at the spirit with which he had set his hand to a work so
vast, and he so young and so small.
Baccio, indeed, having more love for sculpture than for goldsmith's
work, gave many proofs of this; and when he went to Pinzirimonte, a
villa bought by his father, he would often plant himself before the
naked labourers and draw them with great eagerness, and he did the
same with the cattle on the farm. At this time he continued for many
days to go in the morning to Prato, which was near the villa, where he
stayed the whole day drawing in the Chapel of the Pieve from the work
of Fra Filippo Lippi, and he did not cease until he had drawn it all,
imitating the draperies of that master, who did them very well. And
already he handled with great skill the style and the pen, and also
chalk both red and black, which last is a soft stone that comes from
the mountains of France, and with it, when cut to a point, drawings
can be executed with great delicacy.
These things making clear to Michelagnolo the mind and inclination of
his son, he also changed his intention, like the boy himself, and,
being likewise advised by his friends, placed him under the care of
Giovan Francesco Rustici, one of the best sculptors in the city, whose
workshop was still constantly frequented by Leonardo da Vinci.
Leonardo, seeing the drawings of Baccio and being pleased with them,
exhorted him to persevere and to take to working in relief; and he
recommended strongly to him the works of Donato, saying also that he
should execute something in marble, such as a head or a low-relief.
Baccio, encouraged by the comforting advice of Leonardo, set himself
to copy in marble an antique head of a woman, of which he had shaped a
model from one that is in the house of the Medici. This, for his first
work, he executed passing well, and it was held very dear by Andrea
Carnesecchi, who received it as a present from Baccio's father and
placed it in his house in the Via Larga, over that door in the centre
of the court which leads into the garden. Now, Baccio continuing to
make other models of figures in clay in the round, his father, wishing
not to fail in his duty towards the praiseworthy zeal of his son, sent
for some blocks of marble from Carrara, and caused to be built for
him, at the end of his house at Pinti, a room with lights arranged for
working, which looked out upon the Via Fiesolana. Whereupon he set
himself to block out various figures in those marbles, and one, among
others, he carried well on from a piece of marble of two braccia and a
half, which was a Hercules that is holding the dead Cacus beneath him,
between his legs. These sketches were left in the same place in memory
of him.
At this time was thrown open to view the cartoon of Michelagnolo
Buonarroti, full of nude figures, which Michelagnolo had executed at
the commission of Piero Soderini for the Great Council Chamber, and,
as has been related in another place, all the craftsmen flocked
together to draw it on account of its excellence. Among these came
Baccio, and no long time passed before he outstripped them all, for
the reason that he understood nudes, and outlined, shaded, and
finished them, better than any of the other draughtsmen, among whom
were Jacopo Sansovino, Andrea del Sarto, Il Rosso, who was then very
young, and Alfonso Berughetta the Spaniard, together with many other
famous craftsmen. Baccio frequented the place more than any of the
others, and had a counterfeit key; and it happened that, Piero
Soderini having been deposed from the government about this time, in
the year 1512, and the house of Medici having been restored to power,
during the confusion caused in the Palace by the change of government,
Baccio entered in secret, all by himself, and tore the cartoon into
many pieces. Of which not knowing the reason, some said that Baccio
had torn it up in order to have some pieces of the cartoon in his
possession for his own convenience, some declared that he wished to
deprive the other young men of that advantage, so that they might not
be able to profit by it and make themselves a name in art, others said
that he was moved to do this by his affection for Leonardo da Vinci,
from whom Michelagnolo's cartoon had taken much of his reputation, and
others, again, perhaps interpreting his action better, attributed it
to the hatred which he felt against Michelagnolo and afterwards
demonstrated as long as he lived. The loss of the cartoon was no light
one for the city, and very heavy the blame that was rightly laid upon
Baccio by everyone, as an envious and malicious person.
Baccio then executed some pieces of cartoon with lead-white and
charcoal, among which was a very beautiful one of a nude Cleopatra,
which he presented to the goldsmith Piloto. Having already acquired a
name as a great draughtsman, he was desirous of learning to paint in
colours, having a firm belief that he would not only equal Buonarroti,
but even greatly surpass him in both fields of art. Now he had
executed a cartoon of a Leda, in which Castor and Pollux were issuing
from the egg of the swan embraced by her, and he wished to colour it
in oils, in such a way as to make it appear that the methods of
handling the colours and mixing them together in order to make the
various tints, with the lights and shades, had not been taught to him
by others, but that he had found them by himself, and, after pondering
how he could do this, he thought of the following expedient. He
besought Andrea del Sarto, who was much his friend, that he should
paint a portrait of him in oils, flattering himself that he would
thereby gain two advantages in accordance with his purpose; one was
that he would see the method of mixing the colours, and the other was
that the painted picture would remain in his hands, which, having seen
it executed and understanding it, would assist him and serve him as a
pattern. But Andrea perceived Baccio's intention as he made his
request, and was angry at his want of confidence and astuteness, for
he would have been willing to show him what he desired, if Baccio had
asked him as a friend; wherefore, without making any sign that he had
found him out, and refraining from mixing the colours into tints, he
placed every sort of colour on his palette and mingled them together
with the brush, and, taking some now from one and now from another
with great dexterity of hand, counterfeited in this way the vivid
colouring of Baccio's face. The latter, both through the artfulness of
Andrea and because he had to sit still where he was if he wished to be
painted, was never able to see or learn anything that he wished: and
it was a fine notion of Andrea's, thus at the same time to punish the
deceitfulness of his friend and to display with this method of
painting, like a well-practised master, even greater ability and
experience in art.