time with Duke Alessandro in Florence, until his patron Cardinal
Ippolito should return from Hungary; and he had received rooms in the
Convent of the Servites, that he might make a beginning with the
execution of certain scenes in fresco from the life of Caesar in the
chamber at the corner of the Medici Palace, where Giovanni da Udine
had decorated the ceiling with stucco-work and pictures. Now
Cristofano, having made Giorgio's acquaintance at the Borgo in the
year 1528, when he went to see Rosso in that place, where he had
shown him much kindness, resolved that he would attach himself to
Vasari and thus find much more opportunity for giving attention to art
than he had done in the past. Giorgio, then, after a year's
intercourse with him as his companion, finding that he was likely to
make an able master, and that he was pleasant and gentle in manners
and a man after his own heart, conceived an extraordinary affection
for him. Wherefore, having to go not long afterwards, at the
commission of Duke Alessandro, to Citta di Castello, in company with
Antonio da San Gallo and Pier Francesco da Viterbo (who had been in
Florence to build the castle, or rather, citadel, and on their return
were taking the road by Citta di Castello), in order to repair the
walls of the above-mentioned garden of Vitelli, which were threatening
to fall, he took Cristofano with him, to the end that after Vasari
himself had designed and distributed in their due order the friezes
that were to be executed in certain apartments, and likewise the
scenes and compartments of a bath-room, and other sketches for the
walls of the loggia, Gherardi and the above-named Battista might carry
the whole to completion. All this they did so well and with such
grace, and particularly Cristofano, that a past master in art, well
practised in his work, could not have done so much; and, what is more,
experimenting in that work, he became facile and able to a marvel in
drawing and colouring.
Then, in the year 1536, the Emperor Charles V coming to Italy and to
Florence, as has been related in other places, the most magnificent
festive preparations were ordained, among which Vasari, by order of
Duke Alessandro, received the charge of the decorations of the Porta a
S. Piero Gattolini, of the facade at S. Felice in Piazza, at the head
of the Via Maggio, and of the pediment that was erected over the door
of S. Maria del Fiore; and, in addition, of a standard of cloth for
the castle, fifteen braccia in depth and forty in length, into the
gilding of which there went fifty thousand leaves of gold. Now the
Florentine painters and others who were employed in these
preparations, thinking that Vasari was too much in favour with Duke
Alessandro, and wishing to leave him disgraced in that part of the
decorations--a part truly great and laborious--which had fallen to
him, so went to work that he was not able to enlist the services of
any master of architectural painting, whether young or old, among all
those that were in the city, to assist him in any single thing. Of
which having become aware, Vasari sent for Cristofano, Raffaello dal
Colle, and Stefano Veltroni of Monte Sansovino, his kinsman; and with
their assistance and that of other painters from Arezzo and other
places, he executed the works mentioned above, in which Cristofano
acquitted himself in such a manner, that he caused everyone to marvel,
doing honour to himself and also to Vasari, who was much extolled for
those works. After they were finished, Cristofano remained many days
in Florence, assisting the same Vasari in the preparations that were
made in the Palace of Messer Ottaviano de' Medici for the nuptials of
Duke Alessandro; wherein, among other things, Cristofano executed the
coat of arms of the Duchess Margherita of Austria, with the balls,
upheld by a most beautiful eagle, with some boys, very well done.
Not long afterwards, when Duke Alessandro had been assassinated, a
compact was made in the Borgo to hand over one of the gates of the
city to Piero Strozzi, when he came to Sestino, and letters were
therefore written to Cristofano by some soldiers exiled from the
Borgo, entreating him that he should consent to help them in this:
which letters received, although Cristofano did not grant their
request, yet, in order not to do a mischief to the soldiers, he chose
rather to tear them up, as he did, than to lay them, as according to
the laws and edicts he should have done, before Gherardo Gherardi, who
was then Commissioner for the Lord Duke Cosimo in the Borgo. When the
troubles were over and the matter became known, many citizens of the
Borgo were exiled as rebels, and among them Doceno; and Signor
Alessandro Vitelli, who knew the truth of this affair and could have
helped him, did not do so, to the end that Cristofano might be as it
were forced to serve him in the work of his garden at Citta di
Castello, of which we have spoken above.
After having consumed much time in this service, without any profit or
advantage, Cristofano finally took refuge, almost in despair, with
other exiles, in the village of S. Giustino in the States of the
Church, a mile and a half distant from the Borgo and very near the
Florentine frontier. In that place, although he stayed there at his
peril, he painted for Abbot Bufolini of Citta di Castello, who has
most beautiful and commodious apartments there, a chamber in a tower,
with a pattern of little boys and figures very well foreshortened to
be seen from below, and with grotesques, festoons, and masks, the most
lovely and the most bizarre that could be imagined. This chamber, when
finished, so pleased the Abbot that he caused him to do another, in
which, desiring to make some ornaments of stucco, and not having
marble to grind into powder for mixing it, for this purpose he found a
very good substitute in some stones from a river-bed, veined with
white, the powder from which took a good and very firm hold. And
within these ornaments of stucco Cristofano then painted some scenes
from Roman history, executing them so well in fresco that it was a
marvel.
At that time Giorgio Vasari was painting in fresco the upper part of
the tramezzo[4] of the Abbey of Camaldoli, and two panel-pictures for
the lower part; and, wishing to make about these last an ornament in
fresco full of scenes, he would have liked to have Cristofano with
him, no less to restore him to the favour of the Duke than to make use
of him. But, although Messer Ottaviano de' Medici pleaded strongly
with the Duke, it proved impossible to bend him, so ugly was the
information that had been given to him about the behaviour of
Cristofano. Not having succeeded in this, therefore, Vasari, as one
who loved Cristofano, set himself to contrive to remove him at least
from S. Giustino, where he, with other exiles, was living in the
greatest peril. In the year 1539, then, having to execute for the
Monks of Monte Oliveto, for the head of a great refectory in the
Monastery of S. Michele in Bosco without Bologna, three panel-pictures
in oils with three scenes each four braccia in length, and a frieze in
fresco three braccia high all round with twenty stories of the
Apocalypse in little figures, and all the monasteries of that Order
copied from the reality, with partitions of grotesques, and round each
window fourteen braccia of festoons with fruits copied from nature,
Giorgio wrote straightway to Cristofano that he should go from S.
Giustino to Bologna, together with Battista Cungi of the Borgo, his
compatriot, who had also served Vasari for seven years. These men,
therefore, having gone to Bologna, where Giorgio had not yet
arrived--for he was still at Camaldoli, where, having finished the
tramezzo, he was drawing the cartoon for a Deposition from the Cross,
which was afterwards executed by him and set up on the high-altar in
that same place--set themselves to prime the said three panels with
gesso and to lay on the ground, until such time as Giorgio should
arrive.
[Footnote 4: See note on p. 57, Vol. I.]
Now Vasari had given a commission to Dattero, a Jew, the friend of
Messer Ottaviano de' Medici, who was then a banker in Bologna, that he
should provide Cristofano and Battista with everything that they
required. And since this Dattero was very obliging and most courteous,
he did them a thousand favours and courtesies; wherefore those two at
times went about Bologna in his company in very familiar fashion, and,
Battista having prominent eyes and Cristofano a great speck in one of
his, they were thus taken for Jews, as Dattero was in fact. One
morning, therefore, a shoemaker, who had to bring a pair of new shoes
at the commission of the above-named Jew to Cristofano, arriving at
the monastery, said to Cristofano himself, who was standing at the
gate looking on at the distribution of alms, "Sir, could you show me
the rooms of those two Jew painters who are working in there?" "Jews
or no Jews," said Cristofano, "what have you to do with them?" "I have
to give these shoes," he answered, "to one of them called Cristofano."
"I am he," replied Cristofano, "an honest man and a better Christian
than you are." "You may be what you please," answered the shoemaker.
"I called you Jews, because, besides that you are held and known as
Jews by everyone, that look of yours, which is not of our country,
convinced me of it." "Enough," said Cristofano, "you shall see that we
do the work of Christians."
[Illustration: THE SUPPER OF S. GREGORY THE GREAT
(_After the panel by =Giorgio Vasari=, with details by =Cristofano
Gherardi [Doceno]=. Bologna: Accademia, 198_)
_Poppi_]
But to return to the work: Vasari having arrived in Bologna, not a
month had passed before, Giorgio designing, and Cristofano and
Battista laying in the panels in colour, all three were completely
laid in, with great credit to Cristofano, who acquitted himself in
this excellently well. The laying in of the panels being finished,
work was begun on the frieze, in which Cristofano had a companion,
although he was to have executed it all by himself; for there came
from Camaldoli to Bologna the cousin of Vasari, Stefano Veltroni of
Monte Sansovino, who had laid in the panel-picture of the Deposition,
and the two executed that work together, and that so well, that it
proved a marvel. Cristofano painted grotesques so well, that there was
nothing better to be seen, but he did not give them that particular
finish that would have made them perfect; and Stefano, on the
contrary, was wanting in resolution and grace, for the reason that his
brush-strokes did not fix his subjects in their places at one sweep,
but, since he was very patient, in the end, although he endured
greater labour, he used to execute his grotesques with more neatness
and delicacy. Labouring in competition, then, at the work of this
frieze, these two took such pains, both the one and the other, that
Cristofano learned to finish from Stefano, and Stefano learned from
Cristofano to be more resolute and to work like a master.
Work being then begun on the broad festoons that were to run in
clusters round the windows, Vasari made one with his own hand, keeping
real fruits in front of him, that he might copy them from nature. This
done, he ordained that Cristofano and Stefano should go on with the
rest, holding to the same design, one on one side of the window, and
the other on the other side, and should thus, one by one, proceed to
finish them all; promising to him who might prove at the end of the
work to have acquitted himself best a pair of scarlet hose. And so,
competing lovingly for both honour and profit, they set themselves to
copy everything, from the large things down to the most minute, such
as millet-seed, hemp-seed, bunches of fennel, and the like, in such a
manner that those festoons proved to be very beautiful; and both of
them received from Vasari the prize of the scarlet hose.
Giorgio took great pains to persuade Cristofano to execute by himself
part of the designs for the scenes that were to go into the frieze,
but he would never do it. Wherefore, the while that Giorgio was
drawing them himself, Gherardi executed the buildings in two of the
panel-pictures, with much grace and beauty of manner, and such
perfection, that a master of great judgment, even if he had had the
cartoons before him, could not have done what Cristofano did. And, in
truth, there never was a painter who could do by himself, and without
study, the things that he contrived to do. After having finished the
execution of the buildings in the two panel-pictures, the while that
Vasari was carrying to completion the twenty stories from the
Apocalypse for the above-mentioned frieze, Cristofano, taking in hand
the panel-picture in which S. Gregory (whose head is a portrait of
Pope Clement VII) is eating with his twelve poor men, executed the
whole service of the table, all very lifelike and most natural. Then,
a beginning having been made with the third panel-picture, while
Stefano was occupied with the gilding of the ornamental frames of the
other two, a staging was erected upon two trestles of wood, from
which, while Vasari was painting on one side, in a glory of sunlight,
the three Angels that appeared to Abraham in the Valley of Mamre,
Cristofano painted some buildings on the other side. But he was always
making some contraption with stools and tables, and at times with
basins and pans upside down, on which he would climb, like the casual
creature that he was; and once it happened that, seeking to draw back
in order to look at what he had done, one of his feet gave way under
him, the whole contraption turned topsy-turvy, and he fell from a
height of five braccia, bruising himself so grievously that he had to
be bled and properly nursed, or he would have died. And, what was
worse, being the sort of careless fellow that he was, one night there
slipped off the bandages that were on the arm from which the blood had
been drawn, to the great danger of his life, so that, if Stefano, who
was sleeping with him, had not noticed this, it would have been all up
with him; and even so Stefano had something to do to revive him, for
the bed was a lake of blood, and he himself was reduced almost to his
last gasp. Vasari, therefore, taking him under his own particular
charge, as if he had been his brother, had him tended with the
greatest possible care, than which, indeed, nothing less would have
sufficed; and with all this he was not restored until that work was
completely finished. After that, returning to S. Giustino, Cristofano
completed some of the apartments of the Abbot there, which had been
left unfinished, and then executed at Citta di Castello, all with his
own hand, an altar-piece that had been allotted to Battista, his
dearest friend, and a lunette that is over the side-door of S.
Fiorido, containing three figures in fresco.
Giorgio being afterwards summoned to Venice at the instance of Messer
Pietro Aretino, in order to arrange and execute for the nobles and
gentlemen of the Company of the Calza the setting for a most sumptuous
and magnificent festival, and the scenery of a comedy written by that
same Messer Pietro Aretino for those gentlemen, Giorgio, I say,
knowing that he was not able to carry out so great a work by himself
alone, sent for Cristofano and the above-mentioned Battista Cungi. And
they, having finally arrived in Venice after being carried by the
chances of the sea to Sclavonia, found that Vasari not only had
arrived there before them, but had already designed everything, so
that there was nothing for them to do but to set hand to painting. Now
the said gentlemen of the Calza had taken at the end of the Canareio a
large house which was not finished--it had nothing, indeed, save the
main walls and the roof--and in a space forming an apartment seventy
braccia long and sixteen braccia wide, Giorgio caused to be made two
ranges of wooden steps, four braccia in height from the floor, on
which the ladies were to be seated. The walls at the sides he divided
each into four square spaces of ten braccia, separated by niches each
four braccia in breadth, within which were figures, and these niches
had each on either side a terminal figure in relief, nine braccia
high; insomuch that the niches on either side were five and the
terminal figures ten, and in the whole apartment there were altogether
ten niches, twenty terminal figures, and eight square pictures with
scenes. In the first of these pictures (which were all in
chiaroscuro), that on the right hand, next the stage, there was,
representing Venice, a most beautiful figure of Adria depicted as
seated upon a rock in the midst of the sea, with a branch of coral in
the hand. Around her stood Neptune, Thetis, Proteus, Nereus, Glaucus,
Palaemon, and other sea gods and nymphs, who were presenting to her
jewels, pearls, gold, and other riches of the sea; and besides this
there were some Loves that were shooting arrows, and others that were
flying through the air and scattering flowers, and the rest of the
field of the picture was all most beautiful palms. In the second
picture were the Rivers Drava and Sava naked, with their vases. In the
third was the Po, conceived as large and corpulent, with seven sons,
representing the seven branches which, issuing from the Po, pour into
the sea as if each of them were a kingly river. In the fourth was the
Brenta, with other rivers of Friuli. On the other wall, opposite to
the Adria, was the Island of Candia, wherein was to be seen Jove being
suckled by the Goat, with many Nymphs around. Beside this, and
opposite to the Drava, were the River Tagliamento and the Mountains of
Cadore. Beyond this, opposite to the Po, were Lake Benacus and the
Mincio, which were pouring their waters into the Po; and beside them,
opposite to the Brenta, were the Adige and the Tesino, falling into
the sea. The pictures on the right-hand side were divided by these
Virtues, placed in the niches--Liberality, Concord, Compassion, Peace,
and Religion; and opposite to these, on the other wall, were
Fortitude, Civic Wisdom, Justice, a Victory with War beneath her, and,
lastly, a Charity. Above all, then, were a large cornice and
architrave, and a frieze full of lights and of glass globes filled
with distilled waters, to the end that these, having lights behind
them, might illuminate the whole apartment. Next, the ceiling was
divided into four quadrangular compartments, each ten braccia wide in
one direction and eight braccia in the other; and, with a width equal
to that of the niches of four braccia, there was a frieze which ran
right round the cornice, while in a line with the niches there came in
the middle of all the spaces a compartment three braccia square. These
compartments were in all twenty-three, without counting one of double
size that was above the stage, which brought the number up to
twenty-four; and in them were the Hours, twelve of the night, namely,
and twelve of the day. In the first of the compartments ten braccia in
length, which was above the stage, was Time, who was arranging the
Hours in their places, accompanied by AEolus, God of the Winds, by
Juno, and by Iris. In another compartment, at the door of entrance,
was the Car of Aurora, who, rising from the arms of Tithonus, was
scattering roses, while the Car itself was being drawn by some Cocks.
In the third was the Chariot of the Sun; and in the fourth was the
Chariot of Night, drawn by Owls, and Night had the Moon upon her head,
some Bats in front of her, and all around her darkness.
Of these pictures Cristofano executed the greater part, and he
acquitted himself so well, that everyone stood marvelling at them:
particularly in the Chariot of Night, wherein he did in the way of
oil-sketches that which was, in a manner of speaking, not possible.
And in the picture of Adria, likewise, he painted those monsters of
the sea with such beauty and variety, that whoever looked at them was
struck with astonishment that a craftsman of his rank should have
shown such knowledge. In short, in all this work he bore himself
beyond all expectation like an able and well-practised painter, and
particularly in the foliage and grotesques.
After finishing the preparations for that festival, Vasari and
Cristofano stayed some months in Venice, painting for the Magnificent
Messer Giovanni Cornaro the ceiling, or rather, soffit, of an
apartment, into which there went nine large pictures in oils. Vasari
being then entreated by the Veronese architect, Michele San Michele,
to stay in Venice, he might perhaps have consented to remain there for
a year or two; but Cristofano always dissuaded him from it, saying
that it was not a good thing to stay in Venice, where no account was
taken of design, nor did the painters in that city make any use of it,
not to mention that those painters themselves were the reason that no
attention was paid there to the labours of the arts; and he declared
that it would be better to return to Rome, the true school of noble
arts, where ability was recognized much more than in Venice. The
dissuasions of Cristofano being thus added to the little desire that
Vasari had to stay there, they went off together. But, since
Cristofano, being an exile from the State of Florence, was not able to
follow Giorgio, he returned to S. Giustino, where he did not remain
long, doing some work all the time for the above-mentioned Abbot,
before he went to Perugia on the first occasion when Pope Paul III
went there after the war waged with the people of that city. There, in
the festive preparations that were made to receive his Holiness, he
acquitted himself very well in several works, and particularly in the
portal called after Frate Rinieri, where, at the wish of Monsignore
della Barba, who was then governor there, Cristofano executed a large
Jove in Anger and another Pacified, which are two most beautiful
figures, and on the other side he painted an Atlas with the world on
his back, between two women, one of whom had a sword and the other a
pair of scales. These works, with many others that Cristofano executed
for those festivities, were the reason that afterwards, when the
citadel had been built in Perugia by order of the same Pontiff, Messer
Tiberio Crispo, who was governor and castellan at that time, when
causing many of the rooms to be painted, desired that Cristofano, in
addition to that which Lattanzio, a painter of the March, had executed
in them up to that time, should also work there. Whereupon Cristofano
not only assisted the above-named Lattanzio, but afterwards executed
with his own hand the greater part of the best works that are painted
in the apartments of that fortress, in which there also worked
Raffaello dal Colle and Adone Doni of Assisi, an able and
well-practised painter, who has executed many things in his native
city and in other places. Tommaso Papacello also worked there; but the
best that there was among them, and the one who gained most praise
there, was Cristofano, on which account he was recommended by
Lattanzio to the favour of the said Crispo, and was ever afterwards
much employed by him.
Meanwhile, that same Crispo having built in Perugia a new little
church known as S. Maria del Popolo, but first called Del Mercato,
Lattanzio had begun for it an altar-piece in oils, and in this
Cristofano painted with his own hand all the upper part, which is
indeed most beautiful and worthy of great praise. Then, Lattanzio
having been changed from a painter into the Constable of Perugia,
Cristofano returned to S. Giustino, where he stayed many months, again
working for the above-named Lord Abbot Bufolini.