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LIVES OF THE MOST EMINENT PAINTERS SCULPTORS AND ARCHITECTS BY GIORGIO
VASARI:
VOLUME VIII. BASTIANO TO TADDEO ZUCCHERO 1914
NEWLY TRANSLATED BY GASTON Du C. DE VERE. WITH FIVE HUNDRED
ILLUSTRATIONS: IN TEN VOLUMES
[Illustration: 1511-1574]
PHILIP LEE WARNER, PUBLISHER TO THE MEDICI SOCIETY, LIMITED 7 GRAFTON
ST. LONDON, W. 1912-15
CONTENTS OF VOLUME VIII
PAGE
BASTIANO DA SAN GALLO, CALLED ARISTOTILE 3
BENVENUTO GAROFALO AND GIROLAMO DA CARPI, AND OTHER LOMBARDS 23
RIDOLFO, DAVID, AND BENEDETTO GHIRLANDAJO 59
GIOVANNI DA UDINE 73
BATTISTA FRANCO 89
GIOVAN FRANCESCO RUSTICI 111
FRA GIOVANNI AGNOLO MONTORSOLI 133
FRANCESCO SALVIATI 161
DANIELLO RICCIARELLI 197
TADDEO ZUCCHERO 215
INDEX OF NAMES 265
ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME VIII
PLATES IN COLOUR
FACING PAGE
ALESSANDRO BONVICINO (MORETTO DA BRESCIA)
S. Justina
Vienna: Imperial Gallery, 218 22
GAUDENZIO FERRARI
Madonna and Child
Milan: Brera, 277 56
RIDOLFO GHIRLANDAJO
Portrait of a Lady
Florence: Pitti, 224 64
JACOPO TINTORETTO
Bacchus and Ariadne
Venice: Doges' Palace, Sala Anticollegio 96
PLATES IN MONOCHROME
FRANCESCO UBERTINI (IL BACCHIACCA)
The Baptist in Jordan
Berlin: Kaiser Friedrich Museum, 267 18
BENVENUTO GAROFALO
The Madonna and Child with Saints
Ferrara: Pinacoteca, 1514 24
BENVENUTO GAROFALO
The Massacre of the Innocents
Ferrara: Pinacoteca, 1519 26
BENVENUTO GAROFALO
The Adoration of the Magi
Ferrara: Pinacoteca, 1537 30
NICCOLO (NICCOLO DELL'ABATE)
Scene from the AEneid
Modena: Reale Galleria Estense 34
IL MODENA (ANTONIO BEGARELLI)
The Madonna and Child with S. John
Modena: Museo Civico 38
IL MODENA (ANTONIO BEGARELLI)
Four Saints
Modena: S. Pietro 40
GIULIO CAMPO
The Purification of the Virgin
Cremona: S. Margherita 42
SOFONISBA ANGUISCIUOLA
Portrait of the Artist
Vienna: Imperial Gallery, 109 44
GIROLAMO ROMANINO
The Madonna and Child with Saints
Brescia: S. Francesco 46
ALESSANDRO BONVICINO (MORETTO DA BRESCIA)
The Coronation of the Virgin
Brescia: SS. Nazzaro e Celso 48
GIAN GIROLAMO BRESCIANO (SAVOLDO)
The Adoration of the Shepherds
Brescia: Palazzo Martinengo 50
BRAMANTINO
The Holy Family
Milan: Brera, 279 50
BRAMANTINO
A Warrior
Milan: Brera, 494 52
CESARE DA SESTO
Salome
Vienna: Imperial Gallery, 91 54
GAUDENZIO (GAUDENZIO FERRARI)
S. Paul
Paris: Louvre, 1285 56
RIDOLFO GHIRLANDAJO
Christ bearing the Cross
London: N. G., 1143 60
RIDOLFO GHIRLANDAJO
The Miracle of S. Zanobi
Florence: Uffizi, 1275 62
ANTONIO DEL CERAIOLO
The Crucifixion with SS. Francis and Mary Magdalene
Florence: Accademia, 163 66
RIDOLFO GHIRLANDAJO
The Madonna giving the Girdle to S. Thomas
Prato: Duomo 70
GIOVANNI DA UDINE
Arabesques
Rome: The Vatican, Loggia di Raffaello 78
JACOPO TINTORETTO
The Pool of Bethesda
Venice: S. Rocco 98
JACOPO TINTORETTO
The Last Judgment
Venice: S. Maria dell'Orto 102
JACOPO TINTORETTO
The Miracle of S. Mark
Venice: Accademia 104
JACOPO TINTORETTO
The Apotheosis of S. Rocco
Venice: Scuola di S. Rocco 106
GIOVAN FRANCESCO RUSTICI
S. John Preaching
Florence: The Baptistry 114
FRA GIOVANNI AGNOLO MONTORSOLI
S. Cosmas
Florence: S. Lorenzo, Medici Chapel 136
FRA GIOVANNI AGNOLO MONTORSOLI
Tomb of Andrea Doria
Genoa: S. Matteo 144
FRA GIOVANNI AGNOLO MONTORSOLI
Fountain of Neptune
Messina: Piazza del Duomo 146
FRA GIOVANNI AGNOLO MONTORSOLI
High Altar
Bologna: S. Maria dei Servi 150
FRANCESCO SALVIATI (FRANCESCO DE' ROSSI)
Portrait of a Man
Florence: Uffizi, 1256 162
FRANCESCO SALVIATI (FRANCESCO DE' ROSSI)
Justice
Florence: Bargello 174
FRANCESCO SALVIATI (FRANCESCO DE' ROSSI)
The Deposition
Florence: S. Croce, the Refectory 180
FRANCESCO DAL PRATO
Medal of Pope Clement VII.
London: British Museum 190
GIUSEPPE DEL SALVIATI (GIUSEPPE PORTA)
The Reconciliation of Pope Alexander III and
Frederick Barbarossa
Rome: The Vatican, Sala Regia 192
DANIELLO RICCIARELLI
The Descent from the Cross
Rome: SS. Trinita dei Monti 200
DANIELLO RICCIARELLI
The Massacre of the Innocents
Florence: Uffizi, 1107 208
FEDERIGO ZUCCHERO
Portrait of the Artist
Florence: Uffizi, 270 226
BASTIANO DA SAN GALLO, CALLED ARISTOTILE
LIFE OF BASTIANO DA SAN GALLO, CALLED ARISTOTILE,
PAINTER AND SCULPTOR OF FLORENCE
When Pietro Perugino, by that time an old man, was painting the
altar-piece of the high-altar of the Servites at Florence, a nephew of
Giuliano and Antonio da San Gallo, called Bastiano, was placed with him
to learn the art of painting. But the boy had not been long with
Perugino, when he saw the manner of Michelagnolo in the cartoon for the
Hall, of which we have already spoken so many times, in the house of the
Medici, and was so struck with admiration, that he would not return any
more to Pietro's workshop, considering that his manner, beside that of
Buonarroti, was dry, petty, and by no means worthy to be imitated. And
since, among those who used to go to paint that cartoon, which was for a
time the school of all who wished to attend to painting, the most able
of all was held to be Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, Bastiano chose him as his
companion, in order to learn colouring from him, and so they became fast
friends. But not ceasing therefore to give his attention to that cartoon
and to work at those nudes, Bastiano copied all together in a little
cartoon the whole composition of that mass of figures, which not one of
all those who had worked at it had ever drawn as a whole. And since he
applied himself to it with all the earnestness that was in him, it
proved that he was afterwards able on any occasion to render an account
of the attitudes, muscles, and movements of those figures, and of the
reasons that had caused Buonarroti to depict certain difficult postures;
in doing which he would speak slowly and sententiously, with great
gravity, so that a company of able craftsmen gave him the name of
Aristotile, which, moreover, sat upon him all the better because it
appeared that according to an ancient portrait of that supreme
philosopher and confidant of Nature, Bastiano much resembled him.
But to return to the little cartoon drawn by Aristotile; he held it
always so dear, that, after Buonarroti's original had perished, he would
never let it go either at a price or on any other terms, or allow it to
be copied; indeed, he would not show it, save only as a man shows
precious things to his dearest friends, as a favour. Afterwards, in the
year 1542, this drawing was copied in oils by Aristotile, at the
persuasion of Giorgio Vasari, who was much his friend, in a picture in
chiaroscuro, which was sent through Monsignor Giovio to King Francis of
France, who held it very dear, and gave a handsome reward to San Gallo.
This Vasari did in order that the memory of that work might be
preserved, seeing that drawings perish very readily.
In his youth, then, Aristotile delighted, as the others of his house
have done, in the matters of architecture, and he therefore gave his
attention to measuring the ground-plans of buildings and with great
diligence to the study of perspective; in doing which he was much
assisted by a brother of his, called Giovan Francesco, who was employed
as architect in the building of S. Pietro, under Giuliano Leno, the
proveditor. Giovan Francesco, having drawn Aristotile to Rome, employed
him to keep the accounts in a great business that he had of furnaces for
lime and works in pozzolana and tufa, which brought him very large
profits; and in this way Bastiano lived for a time, without doing
anything but draw in the Chapel of Michelagnolo, and resort, by means of
M. Giannozzo Pandolfini, Bishop of Troia, to the house of Raffaello da
Urbino. After a time, Raffaello having made for that Bishop the design
of a palace which he wished to erect in the Via di S. Gallo at Florence,
the above-named Giovan Francesco was sent to put it into execution,
which he did with all the diligence wherewith it is possible for such a
work to be carried out. But in the year 1530, Giovan Francesco being
dead, and the siege of Florence in progress, that work, as we shall
relate, was left unfinished. Its completion was afterwards entrusted to
his brother Aristotile, who, as will be told, had returned to Florence
many and many a year before, after having amassed a large sum of money
under the above-named Giuliano Leno, in the business that his brother
had left him in Rome; with a part of which money Aristotile bought, at
the persuasion of Luigi Alamanni and Zanobi Buondelmonte, who were much
his friends, a site for a house behind the Convent of the Servites, near
Andrea del Sarto, where, with the intention of taking a wife and living
at leisure, he afterwards built a very commodious little house.
After returning to Florence, then, Aristotile, being much inclined to
perspective, to which he had given his attention under Bramante in Rome,
appeared to delight in scarcely any other thing; but nevertheless,
besides executing a portrait or two from the life, he painted in oils,
on two large canvases, the Eating of the Fruit by Adam and Eve and their
Expulsion from Paradise, which he did after copies that he had made from
the works painted by Michelagnolo on the vaulting of the Chapel in Rome.
These two canvases of Aristotile's, because of his having taken them
bodily from that place, were little extolled; but, on the other hand, he
was well praised for all that he did in Florence for the entry of Pope
Leo, making, in company with Francesco Granacci, a triumphal arch
opposite to the door of the Badia, with many scenes, which was very
beautiful. In like manner, at the nuptials of Duke Lorenzo de' Medici,
he was of great assistance in all the festive preparations, and
particularly in some prospect-views for comedies, to Franciabigio and
Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, who had charge of everything.
He afterwards executed many pictures of Our Lady in oils, partly from
his own fancy, and partly copied from the works of others; and among
them he painted one similar to that which Raffaello executed for S.
Maria del Popolo in Rome, with the Madonna covering the Child with a
veil, which now belongs to Filippo dell'Antella. And another is in the
possession of the heirs of Messer Ottaviano de' Medici, together with
the portrait of the above-named Lorenzo, which Aristotile copied from
that which Raffaello had executed. Many other pictures he painted about
the same time, which were sent to England. But, recognizing that he had
no invention, and how much study and good grounding in design painting
required, and that for lack of these qualities he would not be able to
achieve any great excellence, Aristotile resolved that his profession
should be architecture and perspective, executing scenery for comedies,
to which he was much inclined, on every occasion that might present
itself to him. And so, the above-mentioned Bishop of Troia having once
more set his hand to his palace in the Via di S. Gallo, the charge of
this was given to Aristotile, who in time carried it with much credit to
himself to the condition in which it is now to be seen.
Meanwhile Aristotile had formed a great friendship with Andrea del
Sarto, his neighbour, from whom he learned to do many things to
perfection, attending with much study to perspective; wherefore he was
afterwards employed in many festivals that were held by certain
companies of gentlemen who were living at Florence in those peaceful
times. Thus, when the Mandragola, a most amusing comedy, was to be
performed by the Company of the Cazzuola in the house of Bernardino di
Giordano, on the Canto a Monteloro, Andrea del Sarto and Aristotile
executed the scenery, which was very beautiful; and not long afterwards
Aristotile executed the scenery for another comedy by the same author,
in the house of the furnace-master Jacopo at the Porta S. Friano. From
that kind of scenery and prospect-views, which much pleased the citizens
in general, and in particular Signor Alessandro and Signor Ippolito de'
Medici (who were in Florence at that time, under the care of Silvio
Passerini, Cardinal of Cortona), Aristotile acquired so great a name,
that it was ever afterwards his principal profession; indeed, so some
will have it, his name of Aristotile was given him because he appeared
in truth to be in perspective what Aristotle was in philosophy.
But, as it often happens that from the height of peace and tranquillity
one falls into wars and discords, with the year 1527 all peace and
gladness in Florence were changed into sorrow and distress, for by that
time the Medici had been driven out, and then came the plague and the
siege, and for many years life was anything but gay; wherefore no good
could be done then by craftsmen, and Aristotile lived in those days
always in his own house, attending to his studies and fantasies.
Afterwards, however, when Duke Alessandro had assumed the government of
Florence, and matters were beginning to clear up a little, the young men
of the Company of the Children of the Purification, which is opposite to
S. Marco, arranged to perform a tragi-comedy taken from the Book of
Kings, of the tribulations that ensued from the violation of Tamar,
which had been composed by Giovan Maria Primerani. Thereupon the charge
of the scenery and prospect-views was given to Aristotile, and he
prepared the most beautiful scenery, considering the capacity of the
place, that had ever been made. And since, besides the beauty of the
setting, the tragi-comedy was beautiful in itself and well performed,
and very pleasing to Duke Alessandro and his sister, who heard it, their
Excellencies caused the author, who was in prison, to be liberated, on
the condition that he should write another comedy, but after his own
fancy. Which having been done by him, Aristotile made in the loggia of
the garden of the Medici, on the Piazza di S. Marco, a very beautiful
scene and prospect-view, full of colonnades, niches, tabernacles,
statues, and many other fanciful things that had not been used up to
that time in festive settings of that kind; which all gave infinite
satisfaction, and greatly enriched that sort of painting. The subject of
the piece was Joseph falsely accused of having sought to violate his
mistress, and therefore imprisoned, and then liberated after his
interpretation of the King's dream.
This scenery having also much pleased the Duke, he ordained, when the
time came, that for his nuptials with Madama Margherita of Austria
another comedy should be performed, with scenery by Aristotile, in the
Company of Weavers, which is joined to the house of the Magnificent
Ottaviano de' Medici, in the Via di S. Gallo. To which having set his
hand with all the study, diligence, and labour of which he was capable,
Aristotile executed all those preparations to perfection. Now Lorenzo di
Pier Francesco de' Medici, having himself written the piece that was to
be performed, had charge of the whole representation and the music; and,
being such a man that he was always thinking in what way he might be
able to kill the Duke, by whom he was so much favoured and beloved, he
thought to find a way of bringing him to his end in the preparations for
the play. And so, where the steps of the prospect-view and the floor of
the stage ended, he caused the wing-walls on either side to be thrown
down to the height of eighteen braccia, intending to build up in that
space a room in the form of a purse-shaped recess, which was to be of
considerable size, and a stage on a level with the stage proper, which
might serve for the choral music. Above this first stage he wished to
make another for harpsichords, organs, and other suchlike instruments
that cannot be moved or changed about with ease; and the space where he
had pulled down the walls, in front, he wished to have covered with
curtains painted with prospect-views and buildings. All which pleased
Aristotile, because it enriched the proscenium, and left the stage free
of musicians, but he was by no means pleased that the rafters upholding
the roof, which had been left without the walls below to support them,
should be arranged otherwise than with a great double arch, which should
be very strong; whereas Lorenzo wished that it should be sustained by
some props, and by nothing else that could in any way interfere with the
music. Aristotile, knowing that this was a trap certain to fall headlong
down on a multitude of people, would not on any account agree in the
matter with Lorenzo, who in truth had no other intention but to kill the
Duke in that catastrophe. Wherefore, perceiving that he could not drive
his excellent reasons into Lorenzo's head, he had determined that he
would withdraw from the whole affair, when Giorgio Vasari, who was the
protege of Ottaviano de' Medici, and was at that time, although a mere
lad, working in the service of Duke Alessandro, hearing, while he was
painting on that scenery, the disputes and differences of opinion that
there were between Lorenzo and Aristotile, set himself dexterously
between them, and, after hearing both the one and the other and
perceiving the danger that Lorenzo's method involved, showed that
without making any arch or interfering in any other way with the stage
for the music, those rafters of the roof could be arranged easily
enough. Two double beams of wood, he said, each of fifteen braccia,
should be placed along the wall, and fastened firmly with clamps of iron
beside the other rafters, and upon them the central rafter could be
securely placed, for in that way it would lie as safely as upon an arch,
neither more nor less. But Lorenzo, refusing to believe either Giorgio,
who proposed the plan, or Aristotile, who approved it, did nothing but
oppose them with his cavillings, which made his evil intention known to
everyone. Whereupon Giorgio, having seen what a terrible disaster might
result from this, and that it was nothing less than an attempt to kill
three hundred persons, said that come what might he would speak of it to
the Duke, to the end that he might send to examine and render safe the
whole fabric. Hearing this, and fearing to betray himself, Lorenzo,
after many words, gave leave to Aristotile that he should follow the
advice of Giorgio; and so it was done. This scenery, then, was the most
beautiful not only of all that Aristotile had executed up to that time,
but also of all that had ever been made by others, for he made in it
many corner-pieces in relief, and also, in the opening of the stage, a
representation of a most beautiful triumphal arch in imitation of
marble, covered with scenes and statues, not to mention the streets
receding into the distance, and many other things wrought with
marvellous invention and incredible diligence and study.
After Duke Alessandro had been killed by the above-named Lorenzo, and
Cosimo had been elected Duke; in 1536, there came to be married to him
Signora Leonora di Toledo, a lady in truth most rare, and of such great
and incomparable worth, that she may be likened without question, and
perchance preferred, to the most celebrated and renowned woman in
ancient history. And for the nuptials, which took place on the 27th of
June in the year 1539, Aristotile made in the great court of the Medici
Palace, where the fountain is, another scenic setting that represented
Pisa, in which he surpassed himself, ever improving and achieving
variety; wherefore it will never be possible to put together a more
varied arrangement of doors and windows, or facades of palaces more
fantastic and bizarre, or streets and distant views that recede more
beautifully and comply more perfectly with the rules of perspective. And
he depicted there, besides all this, the Leaning Tower of the Duomo, the
Cupola, and the round Temple of S. Giovanni, with other features of that
city. Of the flights of steps that he made in the work, and how everyone
was deceived by them, I shall say nothing, lest I should appear to be
saying the same that has been said at other times; save only this, that
the flight of steps which appeared to rise from the ground to the stage
was octagonal in the centre and quadrangular at the sides--an artifice
extraordinary in its simplicity, which gave such grace to the
prospect-view above, that it would not be possible to find anything
better of that kind. He then arranged with much ingenuity a lantern of
wood in the manner of an arch, behind all the buildings, with a sun one
braccio high, in the form of a ball of crystal filled with distilled
water, behind which were two lighted torches, which rendered the sky of
the scenery and prospect-view so luminous, that it had the appearance of
the real and natural sun. This sun, which had around it an ornament of
golden rays that covered the curtain, was drawn little by little by
means of a small windlass that was there, in such a manner that at the
beginning of the performance the sun appeared to be rising, and then,
having climbed to the centre of the arch, it so descended that at the
end of the piece it was setting and sinking below the horizon.
The author of the piece was Antonio Landi, a gentleman of Florence, and
the interludes and music were in the hands of Giovan Battista Strozzi, a
man of very beautiful genius, who was then very young. But since enough
was written at that time about the other things that adorned the
performance, such as the interludes and music, I shall do no more than
mention who they were who executed certain pictures, and it must suffice
for the present to know that all the other things were carried out by
the above-named Giovan Battista Strozzi, Tribolo, and Aristotile. Below
the scenery of the comedy, the walls at the sides were divided into six
painted pictures, each eight braccia in height and five in breadth, and
each having around it an ornamental border one braccio and two-thirds in
width, which formed a frieze about it and was moulded on the side next
the picture, containing four medallions in the form of a cross, with two
Latin mottoes for each scene, and in the rest were suitable devices.
Over all, right round, ran a frieze of blue baize, save where the scene
was, above which was a canopy, likewise of baize, which covered the
whole court. On that frieze of baize, above every painted story, were
the arms of some of the most illustrious families with which the house
of Medici had kinship.
Beginning with the eastern side, then, next to the stage, in the first
picture, which was by the hand of Francesco Ubertini, called Il
Bacchiacca, was the Return from Exile of the Magnificent Cosimo de'
Medici; the device consisted of two Doves on a Golden Bough, and the
arms in the frieze were those of Duke Cosimo. In the second, which was
by the same hand, was the Journey of the Magnificent Lorenzo to Naples;
the device a Pelican, and the arms those of Duke Lorenzo--namely, Medici
and Savoy. In the third picture, painted by Pier Francesco di Jacopo di
Sandro, was Pope Leo X on his visit to Florence, being carried by his
fellow-citizens under the baldachin; the device was an Upright Arm, and
the arms those of Duke Giuliano--Medici and Savoy. In the fourth
picture, by the same hand, was Biegrassa taken by Signor Giovanni, who
was to be seen issuing victorious from that city; the device was Jove's
Thunderbolt, and the arms in the frieze were those of Duke
Alessandro--Austria and Medici. In the fifth, Pope Clement was crowning
Charles V at Bologna; the device was a Serpent that was biting its own
tail, and the arms were those of France and Medici. That picture was by
the hand of Domenico Conti, the disciple of Andrea del Sarto, who proved
that he had no great ability, being deprived of the assistance of
certain young men whose services he had thought to use, since all, both
good and bad, were employed; wherefore he was laughed at, who, much
presuming, at other times with little discretion had laughed at others.
In the sixth scene, the last on that side, by the hand of Bronzino, was
the Dispute that took place at Naples, before the Emperor, between Duke
Alessandro and the Florentine exiles, with the River Sebeto and many
figures, and this was a most beautiful picture, and better than any of
the others; the device was a Palm, and the arms those of Spain.
Opposite to the Return of Cosimo the Magnificent (that is, on the other
side), was the happy day of the birth of Duke Cosimo; the device was a
Phoenix, and the arms those of the city of Florence--namely, a Red Lily.
Beside this was the Creation, or rather, Election of the same Cosimo to
the dignity of Duke; the device was the Caduceus of Mercury, and in the
frieze were the arms of the Castellan of the Fortress; and this scene,
which was designed by Francesco Salviati, who had to depart in those
days from Florence, was finished excellently well by Carlo Portelli of
Loro. In the third were the three proud Campanian envoys, driven out of
the Roman Senate for their presumptuous demand, as Titus Livius relates
in the twentieth book of his history; and in that place they represented
three Cardinals who had come to Duke Cosimo, but in vain, with the
intention of removing him from the government; the device was a Winged
Horse, and the arms those of the Salviati and the Medici. In the fourth
was the Taking of Monte Murlo; the device an Egyptian Horn-owl over the
head of Pyrrhus, and the arms those of the houses of Sforza and Medici;
in which scene, painted by Antonio di Donnino, a bold painter of things
in motion, might be seen in the distance a skirmish of horsemen, which
was so beautiful that this picture, by the hand of a person reputed to
be feeble, proved to be much better than the works of some others who
were able men only by report. In the fifth could be seen Duke Alessandro
being invested by his Imperial Majesty with all the devices and insignia
of a Duke; the device was a Magpie, with leaves of laurel in its beak,
and in the frieze were the arms of the Medici and of Toledo; and that
picture was by the hand of Battista Franco the Venetian. In the last of
all those pictures were the Espousals of the same Duke Alessandro, which
took place at Naples; the devices were two Crows, the ancient symbols of
marriage, and in the frieze were the arms of Don Pedro di Toledo,
Viceroy of Naples; and that picture, which was by the hand of Bronzino,
was executed with such grace, that, like the first-named, it surpassed
the scenes of all the others.
By the same Aristotile, likewise, there was executed over the loggia a
frieze with other little scenes and arms, which was much extolled, and
which pleased his Excellency, who rewarded him liberally for the whole
work. Afterwards, almost every year, he executed scenery and
prospect-views for the comedies that were performed at Carnival time;
and he had in that manner of painting such assistance from nature and
such practice, that he had determined that he would write of it and
teach others; but this he abandoned, because the undertaking proved to
be more difficult than he had expected, but particularly because
afterwards commissions to execute prospect-views were given by new men
in authority at the Palace to Bronzino and Francesco Salviati, as will
be related in the proper place. Aristotile, therefore, perceiving that
many years had passed during which he had not been employed, went off
to Rome to find Antonio da San Gallo, his cousin, who, immediately after
his arrival, having received and welcomed him very warmly, set him to
press on certain buildings, with a salary of ten crowns a month, and
then sent him to Castro, where he stayed some months, being commissioned
by Pope Paul III to execute a great part of the buildings there after
the designs and directions of Antonio. But, because Aristotile, having
been brought up with Antonio from childhood, had become accustomed to
treat him too familiarly, it is said that Antonio kept him at a
distance, since Aristotile had never been able to accustom himself to
calling him "you," insomuch that he gave him the "thou" even if they
were before the Pope, to say nothing of a circle of nobles and
gentlemen, even as is still done by Florentines used to the ancient
fashions and to giving the "thou" to everyone, as if they were from
Norcia, without being able to accommodate themselves to modern ways of
life as others do, who march step by step with the times. And how
strange this circumstance appeared to Antonio, accustomed as he was to
be honoured by Cardinals and other great men, everyone may imagine for
himself. Having therefore grown weary of his stay at Castro, Aristotile
besought Antonio that he should enable him to return to Rome; in which
Antonio obliged him very readily, but said to him that he must behave
towards him in a different manner and with better breeding, particularly
whenever they were in the presence of great persons.
One year, at the time of the Carnival, when Ruberto Strozzi was giving a
banquet at Rome to certain lords, his friends, and a comedy was to be
performed at his house, Aristotile made for him in the great hall a
prospect-scene, which, considering the little space at his disposal, was
so pleasing, so graceful, and so beautiful, that Cardinal Farnese, among
others, not only was struck with astonishment at it, but caused him to
make one in his Palace of S. Giorgio, where is the Cancelleria, in one
of those mezzanine halls that look out on the garden; but in such a way
that it might remain there permanently, so that he might be able to make
use of it whenever he so wished or required. This work, then, was
carried out by Aristotile with all the study in his power and
knowledge, and in such a manner, that it gave the Cardinal and the men
of the arts infinite satisfaction. Now the Cardinal commissioned Messer
Curzio Frangipane to remunerate Aristotile; and he, as a man of
prudence, wishing to do what was right by him, but also not to overpay
him, asked Perino del Vaga and Giorgio Vasari to value the work. This
was very agreeable to Perino, because, feeling hatred for Aristotile,
and taking it ill that he had executed that prospect-scene, which he
thought should have fallen to him as the servant of the Cardinal, he was
living in apprehension and jealousy, and all the more because the
Cardinal had made use in those days not only of Aristotile but also of
Vasari, and had given him a thousand crowns for having painted in
fresco, in a hundred days, the Hall of "Parco Majori" in the
Cancelleria. For these reasons, therefore, Perino intended to value that
prospect-view of Aristotile's at so little, that he would have to repent
of having done it. But Aristotile, having heard who were the men who had
to value his prospect-view, went to seek out Perino, and at the first
word, according to his custom, began to give him the "thou" to his face,
for he had been his friend in youth; whereupon Perino, who had already
an ill-will against him, flew into a rage and all but revealed, without
noticing, the malicious thing that he had it in his mind to do.
Aristotile having therefore told the whole story to Vasari, Giorgio told
him that he should have no anxiety and should be of good cheer, for no
wrong would be done to him.
Afterwards, Perino and Giorgio coming together to settle that affair,
Perino, as the older man, began to speak, and set himself to censure
that prospect-scene and to say that it was a work of a few halfpence,
and that Aristotile, having received money on account and having been
paid for those who had assisted him, had been overpaid, adding: "If I
had been commissioned to do it, I would have done it in another manner,
and with different scenes and ornaments from those used by that fellow;
but the Cardinal always chooses to favour some person who does him
little honour." From these words and others Giorgio recognized that
Perino wished rather to avenge himself on Aristotile for the grievance
that he had against the Cardinal than to ensure with friendly affection
the remuneration of the talents and labours of a good craftsman; and he
spoke these soft words to Perino: "Although I have not as much
knowledge of such works as I might have, nevertheless, having seen some
by the hands of those who know how to do them, it appears to me that
this one is very well executed, and worthy to be valued at many crowns,
and not, as you say, at a few halfpence. And it does not seem to me
right that he who sits in his work-room drawing cartoons, in order
afterwards to reproduce in great works such a variety of things in
perspective, should be paid for the labour of his nights--and perhaps
for the work of many weeks into the bargain--on the same scale as are
paid the days of those who have to undergo no fatigue of the mind and
hand, and little of the body, it being enough for them to imitate,
without in any way racking their brains, as Aristotile has done. And if
you, Perino, had executed it, as you say, with more scenes and
ornaments, perhaps you might not have done it with that grace which has
been achieved by Aristotile, who in that kind of painting has been
esteemed with much judgment by the Cardinal to be a better master than
you. Remember that in the end, by giving a wrong and unjust estimate,
you do harm not so much to Aristotile as to art and excellence in
general, and even more to your own soul, if you depart from what is
right for the sake of some private grievance; not to mention that all
who recognize the work as a good one, will censure not it but our weak
judgment, and may even put it down to envy and malice in our natures.
And whoever seeks to ingratiate himself with another, to glorify his own
works, or to avenge himself for any injury by censuring or estimating at
less than their true value the good works of others, is finally
recognized by God and man as what he is, namely, as malignant, ignorant,
and wicked. Consider, you who do all the work in Rome, how it would
appear to you if others were to value your labours as you do theirs? Put
yourself, I beg you, in the shoes of this poor old man, and you will see
how far you are from reason and justice."
Of such force were these and other words that Giorgio spoke lovingly to
Perino, that they arrived at a just estimate, and satisfaction was given
to Aristotile, who, with that money, with the payment for the picture
sent, as was related at the beginning, to France, and with the savings
from his salaries, returned joyously to Florence, notwithstanding that
Michelagnolo, who was his friend, had intended to make use of him in the
building that the Romans were proposing to erect on the Campidoglio.
Having thus returned to Florence in the year 1547, Aristotile went to
kiss the hands of the Lord Duke Cosimo, and besought his Excellency,
since he had set his hand to many buildings, that he should assist him
and make use of his services. And that lord, having received him
graciously, as he has always received men of excellence, ordained that
an allowance of ten crowns a month should be given to him, and said to
him that he would be employed according as occasion might arise. With
that allowance Aristotile lived peacefully for some years, without doing
anything more, and then died at the age of seventy, on the last day of
May in the year 1551, and was buried in the Church of the Servites. In
our book are some drawings by the hand of Aristotile, and there are some
in the possession of Antonio Particini; among which are some very
beautiful sheets drawn in perspective.
There lived in the same times as Aristotile, and were his friends, two
painters of whom I shall make brief mention here, because they were such
that they deserve to have a place among these rare intellects, on
account of some works executed by them that were truly worthy to be
extolled. One was Jacone, and the other Francesco Ubertini, called Il
Bacchiacca. Jacone, then, did not execute many works, being one who lost
himself in talking and jesting, and contented himself with the little
that his fortune and his idleness allowed him, which was much less than
what he required. But, since he was closely associated with Andrea del
Sarto, he drew very well and with great boldness; and he was very
fantastic and bizarre in the posing of his figures, distorting them and
seeking to make them varied and different from those of others in all
his compositions. In truth, he had no little design, and when he chose
he could imitate the good. In Florence, when still young, he executed
many pictures of Our Lady, many of which were sent by Florentine
merchants into France. For S. Lucia, in the Via de' Bardi, he painted in
an altar-piece God the Father, Christ, and Our Lady, with other figures,
and at Montici, about a tabernacle on the corner of the house of
Lodovico Capponi, he executed two figures in chiaroscuro. For S. Romeo,
in an altar-piece, he painted Our Lady and two Saints.
Then, hearing once much praise spoken of the facades executed by
Polidoro and Maturino at Rome, without anyone knowing about it he went
off to that city, where he stayed some months and made some copies,
gaining such proficience in matters of art, that he afterwards proved
himself in many works a passing good painter. Wherefore the Chevalier
Buondelmonte commissioned him to paint in chiaroscuro a house that he
had built opposite to S. Trinita, at the beginning of the Borgo S.
Apostolo; wherein Jacone painted stories from the life of Alexander the
Great, very beautiful in certain parts, and executed with so much grace
and design, that many believe that the designs for the whole work were
made for him by Andrea del Sarto. To tell the truth, from the proof of
his powers that Jacone gave in that work, it was thought that he was
likely to produce some great fruits. But, since he always had his mind
set more on giving himself a good time and every possible amusement,
living in a round of suppers and feastings with his friends, than on
studying and working, he was for ever forgetting rather than learning.
And that which was a thing to laugh at or to pity, I know not which, was
that he belonged to a company, or rather, gang, of friends who, under
the pretence of living like philosophers, lived like swine and
brute-beasts; they never washed their hands, or face, or head, or beard;
they did not sweep their houses, and never made their beds save only
once every two months; they laid their tables with the cartoons for
their pictures, and they drank only from the flask or the jug; and this
miserable existence of theirs, living, as the saying goes, from hand to
mouth, was held by them to be the finest life in the world. But, since
the outer man is wont to be a guide to the inner, and to reveal what our
minds are, I believe, as has been said before, that they were as filthy
and brutish in mind as their outward appearance suggested.
For the festival of S. Felice in Piazza--that is, the representation of
the Annunciation of the Madonna, of which there has been an account in
another place--which was held by the Company of the Orciuolo in the year
1525, Jacone made among the outer decorations, according to the custom
of those times, a most beautiful triumphal arch standing by itself,
large, double, and very high, with eight columns, pilasters, and
pediments; all of which he caused to be carried to completion by Piero
da Sesto, a well-practised master in woodwork. On this arch, then, were
painted nine scenes, part of which, the best, he executed himself, and
the rest Francesco Ubertini, Il Bacchiacca; and these scenes were all
from the Old Testament, and for the greater part from the life of Moses.
Having then been summoned by a Scopetine friar, his kinsman, to Cortona,
Jacone painted two altar-pieces in oils for the Church of the Madonna,
which is without the city. In one of these is Our Lady with S. Rocco, S.
Augustine, and other Saints, and in the other a God the Father who is
crowning Our Lady, with two Saints at the foot, and in the centre is S.
Francis, who is receiving the Stigmata; which two works were very
beautiful. Then, having returned to Florence, he decorated for Bongianni
Capponi a vaulted chamber in that city; and he executed certain others
for the same man in his villa at Montici. And finally, when Jacopo da
Pontormo painted for Duke Alessandro, in his villa at Careggi, that
loggia of which there has been an account in his Life, Jacone helped to
execute the greater part of the ornaments, such as grotesques, and other
things. After this he occupied himself with certain insignificant works,
of which there is no need to make mention.
[Illustration: THE BAPTISM IN JORDAN
(_After the painting by =Bacchiacca=. Berlin: Kaiser Friedrich Museum,
No. 267_)
_Hanfstaengl_]
The sum of the matter is that Jacone spent the best part of his life in
jesting, in going off into cogitations, and in speaking evil of all and
sundry. For in those days the art of design in Florence had fallen into
the hands of a company of persons who paid more attention to playing
jokes and to enjoyment than to working, and whose occupation was to
assemble in shops and other places, and there to spend their time in
criticizing maliciously, in their own jargon, the works of others who
were persons of excellence and lived decently and like men of honour.
The heads of this company were Jacone, the goldsmith Piloto, and the
wood-carver Tasso; but the worst of them all was Jacone, for the reason
that, among his other fine qualities, his every word was always a foul
slander against somebody. Wherefore it was no marvel that from such a
company there should have sprung in time, as will be related, many evil
happenings, or that Piloto, on account of his slanderous tongue, was
killed by a young man. And since their habits and proceedings were
displeasing to honest men, they were generally to be found--I do not
say all of them, but some at least--like wool-carders and other fellows
of that kidney, playing at chuck-stones at the foot of a wall, or making
merry in a tavern.
One day that Giorgio Vasari was returning from Monte Oliveto, a place
without Florence, after a visit to the reverend and most cultured Don
Miniato Pitti, who was then Abbot of that monastery, he found Jacone,
with a great part of his crew, at the Canto de' Medici; and Jacone
thought to attempt, as I heard afterwards, with some of his idle talk,
speaking half in jest and half in earnest, to hit on some phrase
insulting to Giorgio. And so, when Vasari rode into their midst on his
horse, Jacone said to him: "Well, Giorgio, how goes it with you?"
"Finely, my Jacone," answered Giorgio. "Once I was poor like all of you,
and now I find myself with three thousand crowns or more. You thought me
a fool, and the priests and friars think me an able master. I used to be
your servant, and here is a servant of my own, who serves me and looks
after my horse. I used to dress in the clothes that beggarly painters
wear, and here am I dressed in velvet. Once I went on foot, and now I go
on horseback. So you see, my Jacone, it goes exceeding well with me. May
God be with you."
When poor Jacone had heard all this recital in one breath, he lost all
his presence of mind and stood confused, without saying another word, as
if reflecting how miserable he was, and how often the engineer is hoist
with his own petard. Finally, having become much reduced by an
infirmity, and being poor, neglected, and paralysed in the legs, so that
he could do nothing to better himself, Jacone died in misery in a little
hovel that he had on a mean street, or rather, alley, called
Codarimessa, in the year 1553.
Francesco Ubertini, called Il Bacchiacca, was a diligent painter, and,
although he was the friend of Jacone, he always lived decently enough
and like an honest man. He was likewise a friend of Andrea del Sarto,
and much assisted and favoured by him in matters of art. Francesco, I
say, was a diligent painter, and particularly in painting little
figures, which he executed to perfection, with much patience, as may be
seen from a predella with the story of the Martyrs, below the
altar-piece of Giovanni Antonio Sogliani, in S. Lorenzo at Florence, and
from another predella, executed very well, in the Chapel of the
Crocifisso. For the chamber of Pier Francesco Borgherini, of which
mention has already been made so many times, Il Bacchiacca, in company
with the others, executed many little figures on the coffers and the
panelling, which are known by the manner, being different from the
others. For the antechamber of Giovan Maria Benintendi, which likewise
has been already mentioned, he painted two very beautiful pictures with
little figures, in one of which, the most beautiful and the most
abundant in figures, is the Baptist baptizing Jesus Christ in the
Jordan. He also executed many others for various persons, which were
sent to France and England. Finally, having entered the service of Duke
Cosimo, since he was an excellent painter in counterfeiting all the
kinds of animals, Il Bacchiacca painted for his Excellency a cabinet all
full of birds of various kinds, and rare plants, all of which he
executed divinely well in oils. He then made, with a vast number of
little figures, cartoons of all the months of the year, which were woven
into most beautiful tapestries in silk and gold, with such industry and
diligence that there is nothing better of that kind to be seen, by
Marco, the son of Maestro Giovanni Rosto the Fleming. After these works,
Il Bacchiacca decorated in fresco the grotto of a water-fountain that is
at the Pitti Palace. Lastly, he made the designs for a bed that was
executed in embroidery, all full of scenes and little figures. This is
the most ornate work in the form of a bed, in such a kind of
workmanship, that there is to be seen, the embroidering having been made
rich with pearls and other things of price by Antonio Bacchiacca, the
brother of Francesco, who is an excellent embroiderer; and, since
Francesco died before the completion of the bed, which has served for
the happy nuptials of the most illustrious Lord Prince of Florence, Don
Francesco de' Medici, and of her serene Highness Queen Joanna of
Austria, it was finished in the end after the directions and designs of
Giorgio Vasari.
Francesco died at Florence in the year 1557.
BENVENUTO GAROFALO AND GIROLAMO DA CARPI, AND OTHER LOMBARDS
[Illustration: MORETTO DA BRESCIA: S. JUSTINA
(_Vienna: Imperial Gallery, 218. Panel_)]
LIVES OF BENVENUTO GAROFALO AND GIROLAMO DA CARPI, PAINTERS OF FERRARA,
AND OF OTHER LOMBARDS