bore upon it Caesar Augustus, the Lord of the Universe, accompanied by
six couples of Poets on horseback, all crowned, as was also Caesar,
with laurel, and dressed in costumes varying according to their
provinces; and these were there because poets were always much
favoured by Caesar Augustus, whom they exalted with their works to the
heavens. And to the end that they might be recognized, each of them
had across his forehead a scroll after the manner of a fillet, on
which was his name.
On the sixth car, drawn by four pairs of heifers richly draped, was
Trajan, that just Emperor, before whom, as he sat on the car, which
was painted very well by Pontormo, there rode upon beautiful and
finely caparisoned horses six couples of Doctors of Law, with togas
reaching to their feet and with capes of miniver, such as it was the
ancient custom for Doctors to wear. The grooms who carried their
torches, a great number, were scriveners, copyists, and notaries, with
books and writings in their hands.
After these six came the car, or rather, triumphal chariot, of the Age
or Era of Gold, wrought with the richest and most beautiful artistry,
with many figures in relief executed by Baccio Bandinelli, and very
beautiful paintings by the hand of Pontormo; among those in relief the
four Cardinal Virtues being highly extolled. From the centre of the
car rose a great sphere in the form of a globe of the world, upon
which there lay prostrate on his face, as if dead, a man clad in
armour all eaten with rust, who had the back open and cleft, and from
the fissure there issued a child all naked and gilded, who
represented the new birth of the age of gold and the end of the age of
iron, from which he was coming forth into that new birth by reason of
the election of that Pontiff; and this same significance had the dry
trunk putting forth new leaves, although some said that the matter of
that dry trunk was an allusion to the Lorenzo de' Medici who became
Duke of Urbino. I should mention that the gilded boy, who was the son
of a baker, died shortly afterwards through the sufferings that he
endured in order to gain ten crowns.
The chant that was sung in that masquerade, as is the custom, was
composed by the above-named Jacopo Nardi, and the first stanza ran
thus:
Colui che da le leggi alla Natura
E i varii stati e secoli dispone,
D'ogni bene e cagione;
E il mal, quanto permette, al Mondo dura;
Onde questa figura
Contemplando si vede,
Come con certo piede
L'un secol dopo l'altro al Mondo viene
E muta il bene in male, e 'l male in bene.
From the works that he executed for this festival Pontormo gained,
besides the profit, so much praise, that probably few young men of his
age ever gained as much in that city; wherefore, Pope Leo himself
afterwards coming to Florence, he was much employed in the festive
preparations that were made, for he had attached himself to Baccio da
Montelupo, a sculptor advanced in years, who made an arch of wood at
the head of the Via del Palagio, at the steps of the Badia, and
Pontormo painted it all with very beautiful scenes, which afterwards
came to an evil end through the scant diligence of those who had
charge of them. Only one remained, that in which Pallas is tuning an
instrument into accord with the lyre of Apollo, with great grace and
beauty; from which scene one is able to judge what excellence and
perfection were in the other works and figures. For the same
festivities Ridolfo Ghirlandajo had received the task of fitting up
and embellishing the Sala del Papa, which is attached to the Convent
of S. Maria Novella, and was formerly the residence of the Pontiffs in
the city of Florence; but being pressed for time, he was forced to
avail himself in some things of the work of others, and thus, after
having adorned all the other rooms, he laid on Jacopo da Pontormo the
charge of executing some pictures in fresco in the chapel where his
Holiness was to hear Mass every morning. Whereupon, setting his hand
to the work, Jacopo painted there a God the Father with many little
Angels, and a Veronica who had the Sudarium with the image of Jesus
Christ; which work, thus executed by Jacopo in so short a time, was
much extolled.
He then painted in fresco, in a chapel of the Church of S. Ruffillo,
behind the Archbishop's Palace in Florence, Our Lady with her Son in
her arms between S. Michelagnolo and S. Lucia, and two other Saints
kneeling; and, in the lunette of the chapel, a God the Father with
some Seraphim about Him. Next, having been commissioned by Maestro
Jacopo, a Servite friar, as he had greatly desired, to paint a part of
the court of the Servites, because Andrea del Sarto had gone off to
France and left the work of that court unfinished, he set himself with
much study to make the cartoons. But since he was poorly provided with
the things of this world, and was obliged, while studying in order to
win honour, to have something to live upon, he executed over the door
of the Hospital for Women--behind the Church of the Priest's Hospital,
between the Piazza di S. Marco and the Via di S. Gallo, and exactly
opposite to the wall of the Sisters of S. Catharine of Siena--two most
beautiful figures in chiaroscuro, with Christ in the guise of a
pilgrim awaiting certain women in order to give them hospitality and
lodging; which work was deservedly much extolled in those days, as it
still is, by all good judges. At this same time he painted some
pictures and little scenes in oils for the Masters of the Mint, on the
Carro della Moneta, which goes every year in the procession of S.
John; the workmanship of which car was by the hand of Marco del Tasso.
And over the door of the Company of Cecilia, on the heights of
Fiesole, he painted a S. Cecilia with some roses in her hand, coloured
in fresco, and so beautiful and so well suited to that place, that,
for a work of that kind, it is one of the best paintings in fresco
that there are to be seen.
These works having been seen by the above-named Servite friar, Maestro
Jacopo, he became even more ardent in his desire, and he determined at
all costs to cause Jacopo to finish the work in that court of the
Servites, thinking that in emulation of the other masters who had
worked there he would execute something of extraordinary beauty in the
part that remained to be painted. Having therefore set his hand to it,
from a desire no less of glory and honour than of gain, Jacopo painted
the scene of the Visitation of the Madonna, in a manner a little freer
and more lively than had been his wont up to that time; which
circumstance gave an infinite excellence to the work, in addition to
its other extraordinary beauties, in that the women, little boys,
youths, and old men are executed in fresco with such softness and such
harmony of colouring, that it is a thing to marvel at, and the
flesh-colours of a little boy who is seated on some steps, and,
indeed, those likewise of all the other figures, are such that they
could not be done better or with more softness in fresco. This work,
then, after the others that Jacopo had executed, gave a sure earnest
of his future perfection to the craftsmen, comparing them with those
of Andrea del Sarto and Franciabigio. Jacopo delivered the work
finished in the year 1516, and received in payment sixteen crowns and
no more.
Having then been allotted by Francesco Pucci, if I remember rightly,
the altar-piece of a chapel that he had caused to be built in S.
Michele Bisdomini in the Via de' Servi, Jacopo executed the work in so
beautiful a manner, and with a colouring so vivid, that it seems
almost impossible to credit it. In this altar-piece Our Lady, who is
seated, is handing the Infant Jesus to S. Joseph, in whose countenance
there is a smile so animated and so lifelike that it is a marvel; and
very beautiful, likewise, is a little boy painted to represent S. John
the Baptist, and also two other little children, naked, who are
upholding a canopy. There may be seen also a S. John the Evangelist, a
most beautiful old man, and a S. Francis kneeling, who is absolutely
alive, for, with the fingers of one hand interlocked with those of the
other, and wholly intent in contemplating fixedly with his eyes and
his mind the Virgin and her Son, he appears really to be breathing.
And no less beautiful is the S. James who may be seen beside the
others. Wherefore it is no marvel that this is the most beautiful
altar-piece that was ever executed by this truly rare painter.
I used to believe that it was after this work, and not before, that
the same Jacopo had painted in fresco the two most lovely and graceful
little boys who are supporting a coat of arms over a door within a
passage on the Lungarno, between the Ponte S. Trinita and the Ponte
alla Carraja, for Bartolommeo Lanfredini; but since Bronzino, who may
be supposed to know the truth about these matters, declares that they
were among the first works that Jacopo executed, we must believe that
this is so without a doubt, and praise Pontormo for them all the more,
seeing that they are so beautiful that they cannot be matched, and yet
were among the earliest works that he did.
But to resume the order of our story: after these works, Jacopo
executed for the men of Pontormo an altar-piece wherein are S.
Michelagnolo and S. John the Evangelist, which was placed in the
Chapel of the Madonna in S. Agnolo, their principal church. At this
time one of two young men who were working under Jacopo--that is,
Giovan Maria Pichi of Borgo a S. Sepolcro, who was acquitting himself
passing well, and who afterwards became a Servite friar, and executed
some works in the Borgo and in the Pieve a S. Stefano--while still
working, I say, under Jacopo, painted in a large picture a nude S.
Quentin in martyrdom, in order to send it to the Borgo. But since
Jacopo, like a loving master to his disciple, desired that Giovan
Maria should win honour and praise, he set himself to retouch it, and
so, not being able to take his hands off it, and retouching one day
the head, the next day the arms, and the day after the body, the
retouching became such that it may almost be said that the work is
entirely by his hand. Wherefore it is no marvel that this picture,
which is now in the Church of the Observantine Friars of S. Francis in
the Borgo, is most beautiful.
[Illustration: JOSEPH AND HIS KINDRED IN EGYPT
(_After the painting by =Jacopo da Pontormo=. London: National Gallery,
1131_)
_Hanfstaengl_]
The second of the two young men, who was Giovanni Antonio Lappoli of
Arezzo, of whom there has been an account in another place, like a
vain fellow had taken a portrait of himself with a mirror, also while
he was working under Jacopo. But his master, thinking that the
portrait was a poor likeness, took it in hand himself, and executed
a portrait that is so good that it has the appearance of life; which
portrait is now at Arezzo, in the house of the heirs of that Giovanni
Antonio.
Pontormo also portrayed in one and the same picture two of his dearest
friends--one the son-in-law of Beccuccio Bicchieraio, and another,
whose name likewise I do not know; it is enough that the portraits are
by the hand of Pontormo. He then executed for Bartolommeo Ginori, in
anticipation of his death, a string of pennons, according to the
custom of the Florentines; and in the upper part of all these, on the
white taffeta, he painted a Madonna with the Child, and on the
coloured fringe below he painted the arms of that family, as is the
custom. For the centre of the string, which was of twenty-four
pennons, he made two all of white taffeta without any fringe, on which
he painted two figures of S. Bartholomew, each two braccia high. The
size of all these pennons and their almost novel manner caused all the
others that had been made up to that time to appear poor and mean; and
this was the reason that they began to be made of the size that they
are at the present day, with great grace and much less expense for
gold.
At the head of the garden and vineyard of the Friars of S. Gallo,
without the gate that is called after that Saint, in a chapel that is
in a line with the central entrance, he painted a Dead Christ, a
Madonna weeping, and two little Angels in the air, one of whom was
holding the Chalice of the Passion in his hands, and the other was
supporting the fallen head of Christ. On one side was S. John the
Evangelist, all tearful, with the arms stretched out, and on the other
S. Augustine in episcopal robes, who, leaning with the left hand on
the pastoral staff, stood in an attitude truly full of sorrow,
contemplating the Dead Saviour. And for Messer Spina, the familiar
friend of Giovanni Salviati, he executed in a courtyard, opposite to
the principal door of his house, the coat of arms of that Giovanni
(who had been made a Cardinal in those days by Pope Leo), with the red
hat above and two little boys standing--works in fresco which are very
beautiful, and much esteemed by Messer Filippo Spina, as being by the
hand of Pontormo.
Jacopo also worked, in competition with other masters, on the
ornamentation in wood that was formerly executed in a magnificent
manner, as has been related elsewhere, in some apartments of Pier
Francesco Borgherini; and, in particular, he painted there with his
own hand on two coffers some stories from the life of Joseph in little
figures, which were truly most beautiful. And whoever wishes to see
the best work that he ever did in all his life, in order to consider
how able and masterly was Jacopo in giving liveliness to heads, in
grouping figures, in varying attitudes, and in beauty of invention,
let him look at a scene of some size, likewise in little figures, in
the corner on the left hand as one enters through the door, in the
chamber of Borgherini, who was a nobleman of Florence; in which scene
is Joseph in Egypt, as it were a Prince or a King, in the act of
receiving his father Jacob with all his brethren, the sons of that
Jacob, with extraordinary affection. Among these figures he portrayed
at the foot of the scene, seated upon some steps, Il Bronzino, who was
then a boy and his disciple--a figure with a basket, which is lifelike
and beautiful to a marvel. And if this scene were on a greater scale,
on a large panel or a wall, instead of being small, I would venture to
say that it would not be possible to find another picture executed
with the grace, excellence, and even perfection wherewith this one was
painted by Jacopo; wherefore it was rightly regarded by all craftsmen
as the most beautiful picture that Pontormo ever executed. Nor is it
to be wondered at that Borgherini should have prized it as he did, and
should have been besought to sell it by great persons as a present for
mighty lords and princes.
[Illustration: VERTUMNUS FRESCO (DETAIL)
(_After =Jacopo da Pontormo=. Poggio a Caiano: Villa Reale_)
_Alinari_]
On account of the siege of Florence Pier Francesco retired to Lucca,
and Giovan Battista della Palla, who desired to obtain, together with
other things that he was transporting into France, the decorations of
this chamber, so that they might be presented to King Francis in the
name of the Signoria, received such favours, and went to work so
effectively with both words and deeds, that the Gonfalonier granted a
commission that they should be taken away after payment to the wife of
Pier Francesco. Whereupon some others went with Giovan Battista to
execute the will of the Signori; but, when they arrived at the house
of Pier Francesco, his wife, who was in the house, poured on Giovan
Battista the greatest abuse that was ever spoken to any man. "So you
make bold, Giovan Battista," said she, "you vile slop-dealer, you
little twopenny pedlar, to strip the ornaments from the chambers of
noblemen and despoil our city of her richest and most honoured
treasures, as you have done and are always doing, in order to
embellish with them the countries of foreigners, our enemies! At you I
do not marvel, you, a base plebeian and the enemy of your country, but
at the magistrates of this city, who aid and abet you in these
shameful rascalities. This bed, which you would seize for your own
private interest and for greed of gain, although you keep your evil
purpose cloaked with a veil of righteousness, this is the bed of my
nuptials, in honour of which my husband's father, Salvi, made all
these magnificent and regal decorations, which I revere in memory of
him and from love for my husband, and mean to defend with my very
blood and with life itself. Out of this house with these your
cut-throats, Giovan Battista, and go to those who sent you with orders
that these things should be removed from their places, for I am not
the woman to suffer a single thing to be moved from here. If they who
believe in you, a vile creature of no account, wish to make presents
to King Francis of France, let them go and strip their own houses, and
take the ornaments and beds from their own chambers, and send them to
him. And you, if you are ever again so bold as to come to this house
on such an errand, I will make you smart sorely for it, and teach you
what respect should be paid by such as you to the houses of noblemen."
Thus spoke Madonna Margherita, the wife of Pier Francesco Borgherini,
and the daughter of Ruberto Acciaiuoli, a most noble and wise citizen;
and she, a truly courageous woman and a worthy daughter of such a
father, with her noble ardour and spirit, was the reason that those
gems are still preserved in that house.
Giovan Maria Benintendi, about this same time, had adorned an
antechamber in his house with many pictures by the hands of various
able men; and after the work executed for Borgherini, incited by
hearing Jacopo da Pontormo very highly praised, he caused a picture to
be painted by him with the Adoration of the Magi, who went to
Bethlehem to see Christ; which work, since Jacopo devoted to it much
study and diligence, proved to be well varied and beautiful in the
heads and in every other part, and to be truly worthy of all praise.
Afterwards he executed for Messer Goro da Pistoia, then Secretary to
the Medici, a picture with the portrait of the Magnificent Cosimo de'
Medici, the elder, from the knees upwards, which is indeed worthy to
be extolled; and this portrait is now in the house of Messer Ottaviano
de' Medici, in the possession of his son, Messer Alessandro, a young
man--besides the distinction and nobility of his blood--of most
upright character, well lettered, and the worthy son of the
Magnificent Ottaviano and of Madonna Francesca, the daughter of Jacopo
Salviati and the maternal aunt of the Lord Duke Cosimo.
By means of this work, and particularly this head of Cosimo, Pontormo
became the friend of Messer Ottaviano; and the Great Hall at Poggio a
Caiano having then to be painted, there were given to him to paint the
two ends where the round openings are that give light--that is, the
windows--from the vaulting down to the floor. Whereupon, desiring to
do himself honour even beyond his wont, both from regard for the place
and from emulation of the other painters who were working there, he
set himself to study with such diligence, that he overshot the mark,
for the reason that, destroying and doing over again every day what he
had done the day before, he racked his brains in such a manner that it
was a tragedy; but all the time he was always making new discoveries,
which brought credit to himself and beauty to the work. Thus, having
to execute a Vertumnus with his husbandmen, he painted a peasant
seated with a vine-pruner in his hand, which is so beautiful and so
well done that it is a very rare thing, even as certain children that
are there are lifelike and natural beyond all belief. On the other
side he painted Pomona and Diana, with other Goddesses, enveloping
them perhaps too abundantly with draperies. However, the work as a
whole is beautiful and much extolled; but while it was being executed
Leo was overtaken by death, and so it remained unfinished, like many
other similar works at Rome, Florence, Loreto, and other places; nay,
the whole world was left poor, being robbed of the true Maecenas of men
of talent.
[Illustration: VERTUMNUS FRESCO (DETAIL)
(_After =Jacopo da Pontormo=. Poggio a Caiano: Villa Reale_)
_Alinari_]
Having returned to Florence, Jacopo painted in a picture a seated
figure of S. Augustine as a Bishop, who is giving the benediction,
with two little nude Angels flying through the air, who are very
beautiful; which picture is over an altar in the little Church of the
Sisters of S. Clemente in the Via di S. Gallo. He carried to
completion, likewise, a picture of a Pieta with certain nude Angels,
which was a very beautiful work, and held very dear by certain
merchants of Ragusa, for whom he painted it; but most beautiful of all
in this picture was a landscape taken for the most part from an
engraving by Albrecht Duerer. He also painted a picture of Our Lady
with the Child in her arms, and some little Angels about her, which is
now in the house of Alessandro Neroni; and for certain Spaniards he
executed another like it--that is, of the Madonna--but different from
the one described above and in another manner, which picture, being
for sale in a second-hand dealer's shop many years after, was bought
by Bartolommeo Panciatichi at the suggestion of Bronzino.
Then, in the year 1522, there being a slight outbreak of plague in
Florence, and many persons therefore departing in order to avoid that
most infectious sickness and to save themselves, an occasion presented
itself to Jacopo of flying the city and removing himself to some
distance, for a certain Prior of the Certosa, a place built by the
Acciaiuoli three miles away from Florence, had to have some pictures
painted in fresco at the corners of a very large and beautiful
cloister that surrounds a lawn, and Jacopo was brought to his notice;
whereupon the Prior had him sought out, and he, having accepted the
work very willingly at such a time, went off to Certosa, taking with
him only Bronzino. There, after a trial of that mode of life, that
quiet, that silence, and that solitude--all things after the taste and
nature of Jacopo--he thought with such an occasion to make a special
effort in the matters of art, and to show to the world that he had
acquired greater perfection and a different manner since those works
that he had executed before. Now not long before there had come from
Germany to Florence many sheets printed from engravings done with
great subtlety with the burin by Albrecht Duerer, a most excellent
German painter and a rare engraver of plates on copper and on wood;
and, among others, many scenes, both large and small, of the Passion
of Jesus Christ, in which was all the perfection and excellence of
engraving with the burin that could ever be achieved, what with the
beauty and variety of the vestments and the invention. Jacopo, having
to paint at the corners of those cloisters scenes from the Passion of
the Saviour, thought to avail himself of the above-named inventions of
Albrecht Duerer, in the firm belief that he would satisfy not only
himself but also the greater part of the craftsmen of Florence, who
were all proclaiming with one voice and with common consent and
agreement the beauty of those engravings and the excellence of
Albrecht. Setting himself therefore to imitate that manner, and
seeking to give to the expressions of the heads of his figures that
liveliness and variety which Albrecht had given to his, he caught it
so thoroughly, that the charm of his own early manner, which had been
given to him by nature, all full of sweetness and grace, suffered a
great change from that new study and labour, and was so impaired
through his stumbling on that German manner, that in all these works,
although they are all beautiful, there is but a sorry remnant to be
seen of that excellence and grace that he had given up to that time to
all his figures.