brief account of the best and most eminent painters, sculptors, and
architects who have lived in Lombardy in our time, after Mantegna,
Costa, Boccaccino of Cremona, and Francia of Bologna; for I am not able
to write the life of each in detail, and it seems to me enough to
enumerate their works. And even this I would not have set myself to do,
nor to give a judgment on those works, if I had not first seen them; but
since, from the year 1542 down to this present year of 1566, I had not
travelled, as I did before, over almost the whole of Italy, nor seen the
above-mentioned works and the others that had appeared in great numbers
during that period of four-and-twenty years, I resolved, before writing
of them, being almost at the end of this my labour, to see them and
judge of them with my own eyes. Wherefore, after the conclusion of the
above-mentioned nuptials of the most illustrious Lord Don Francesco de'
Medici, Prince of Florence and Siena, my master, and of her serene
Highness Queen Joanna of Austria, on account of which I had been much
occupied for two years on the ceiling of the principal hall of their
Palace, I resolved, without sparing any expense or fatigue, to revisit
Rome, Tuscany, part of the March, Umbria, Romagna, Lombardy, and Venice
with all her domain, in order to re-examine the old works and to see the
many that have been executed from the year 1542 onward. And so, having
made a record of the works that were most notable and most worthy to be
put down in writing, in order not to do wrong to the talents of many
craftsmen or depart from that sincere truthfulness which is expected
from those who write history of any kind, I shall proceed without bias
of mind to write down all that is wanting in any part of what has been
already written, without disturbing the order of the story, and then to
give an account of the works of some who are still living, and have
worked or are still working excellently well; for it appears to me that
so much is demanded by the merits of many rare and noble craftsmen.
Let me begin, then, with the men of Ferrara. Benvenuto Garofalo was born
at Ferrara in the year 1481, to Piero Tisi, whose elders had their
origin in Padua. He was born, I say, so inclined to painting, that, when
still but a little boy, while going to school to learn reading, he would
do nothing but draw; from which exercise his father, who looked on
painting as a folly, sought to divert him, but was never able. Wherefore
that father, having seen that he must second the inclination of that son
of his, who would never do anything day and night but draw, finally
placed him with Domenico Panetti, a painter of some repute at that time,
although his manner was dry and laboured, in Ferrara. With that Domenico
Benvenuto had been some little time, when, going once to Cremona, he
happened to see in the principal chapel of the Duomo in that city, among
other works by the hand of Boccaccio Boccaccino, a painter of Cremona,
who had painted the tribune there in fresco, a Christ seated on a throne
surrounded by four Saints, and giving the Benediction. Whereupon, that
work having pleased him, he placed himself by means of some friends
under Boccaccino, who was at that time executing in the same church,
likewise in fresco, some stories of the Madonna, as has been said in his
Life, in competition with the painter Altobello, who was painting in the
same church, opposite to Boccaccino, some stories of Jesus Christ, which
are very beautiful and truly worthy to be praised.
[Illustration: THE MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINTS
(_After the painting by =Benvenuto Garofalo=. Ferrara: Pinacoteca,
1514_)
_Alinari_]
Now, after Benvenuto had been two years in Cremona, and had made much
progress under the discipline of Boccaccino, he went off in the year
1500, at the age of nineteen, to Rome, where, having placed himself with
Giovanni Baldini, a Florentine painter of passing good skill, who
possessed many very beautiful drawings by various excellent masters,
he was constantly practising his hand on those drawings whenever he
had time, and particularly at night. Then, after he had been fifteen
months with that master and had seen to his great delight the works of
Rome, he travelled for a time over various parts of Italy, and finally
made his way to Mantua. There he stayed two years with the painter
Lorenzo Costa, serving him with such lovingness, that Lorenzo, after
that period of two years, in order to reward him, placed him in the
service of Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, for whom Costa himself
was working. But Benvenuto had not been long with the Marquis, when, his
father Piero falling ill in Ferrara, he was forced to return to that
city, where he stayed afterwards for four years together, executing many
works by himself alone, and some in company with the Dossi.
Then, in the year 1505, being sent for by Messer Geronimo Sagrato, a
gentleman of Ferrara, who was living in Rome, Benvenuto returned there
with the greatest willingness, and particularly from a desire to see the
miracles that were being related of Raffaello da Urbino and of the
Chapel of Julius painted by Buonarroti. But when Benvenuto had arrived
in Rome, he was struck with amazement, and almost with despair, by
seeing the grace and vivacity that the pictures of Raffaello revealed,
and the depth in the design of Michelagnolo. Wherefore he cursed the
manners of Lombardy, and that which he had learned with so much study
and effort at Mantua, and right willingly, if he had been able, would he
have purged himself of all that knowledge; but he resolved, since there
was no help for it, that he would unlearn it all, and, after the loss of
so many years, change from a master into a disciple. And so he began to
draw from such works as were the best and the most difficult, and to
study with all possible diligence those greatly celebrated manners, and
gave his attention to scarcely any other thing for a period of two whole
years; by reason of which he so changed his method, transforming his bad
manner into a good one, that notice was taken of him by the craftsmen.
And, what was more, he so went to work with humility and every kind of
loving service, that he became the friend of Raffaello da Urbino, who,
being very courteous and not ungrateful, taught Benvenuto many things,
and always assisted and favoured him.
If Benvenuto had pursued his studies in Rome, without a doubt he would
have done things worthy of his beautiful genius; but he was constrained,
I know not by what cause, to return to his own country. In taking leave
of Raffaello, he promised that he would, as that master advised him,
return to Rome, where Raffaello assured him that he would give him more
than enough in the way of work, and that in honourable undertakings.
Having then arrived in Ferrara, Benvenuto settled the affairs and
despatched the business that had caused him to return; and he was
preparing himself to make his way back to Rome, when the Lord Duke
Alfonso of Ferrara set him to decorate a little chapel in the Castle, in
company with other Ferrarese painters. That work finished, his departure
was again delayed by the great courtesy of M. Antonio Costabili, a
Ferrarese gentleman of much authority, who gave him an altar-piece to
paint in oils for the high-altar of the Church of S. Andrea; which
finished, he was forced to execute another for S. Bartolo, a convent of
Cistercian Monks, wherein he painted the Adoration of the Magi, which
was beautiful and much extolled. He then painted another for the Duomo,
full of figures many and various, and two others that were placed in the
Church of S. Spirito, in one of which is the Virgin in the air with the
Child in her arms, and some other figures below, and in the other the
Nativity of Jesus Christ.
[Illustration: THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS
(_After the painting by =Benvenuto Garofalo=. Ferrara: Pinacoteca,
1519_)
_Alinari_]
In executing those works, remembering at times how he had turned his
back on Rome, he felt the bitterest regret; and he had resolved at all
costs to return thither, when, his father Piero's death taking place,
all his plans were broken off; for, finding himself burdened with a
sister ready for a husband and a brother fourteen years of age, and his
affairs in disorder, he was forced to compose his mind and resign
himself to live in his native place. And so, after parting company with
the Dossi, who had worked with him up to that time, he painted by
himself in the Church of S. Francesco, in a little chapel, the Raising
of Lazarus, a work filled with a variety of good figures, and pleasant
in colouring, with attitudes spirited and vivacious, which brought him
much commendation. In another chapel in the same church he painted the
Massacre of the Innocents, cruelly done to death by Herod, so well and
with such spirited movements in the soldiers and other figures, that
it was a marvel. Very well depicted, in addition, are different
expressions in the great variety of heads, such as terror in the mothers
and nurses, death in the infants, and cruelty in the slayers, and many
other things, which gave infinite satisfaction. It is worthy of remark
that in executing that work Benvenuto did a thing that up to that time
had never been done in Lombardy--namely, he made models of clay, the
better to see the shadows and lights, and availed himself of a
figure-model made of wood, jointed in such a way that the limbs moved in
every direction, which he arranged as he wished, in various attitudes,
with draperies over it. But what is most important is that he copied
every least detail from life and nature, as one who knew that the true
way is to observe and imitate the reality. For the same church he
executed the altar-piece of a chapel; and on a wall he painted in fresco
Christ taken by the multitude in the Garden.
For S. Domenico, in the same city, he painted two altar-pieces in oils;
in one is the Miracle of the Cross and S. Helen, and in the other is S.
Peter Martyr with a good number of very beautiful figures, wherein it is
evident that Benvenuto departed considerably from his first manner,
making it bolder and less laboured. For the Nuns of S. Salvestro he
painted an altar-picture of Christ praying to His Father on the Mount,
while the three Apostles are lower down, sleeping. For the Nuns of S.
Gabriello he executed an Annunciation, and for those of S. Antonio, in
the altar-piece of their high-altar, the Resurrection of Christ. For the
high-altar of the Frati Ingesuati, in the Church of S. Girolamo, he
painted Jesus Christ in the Manger, with a choir of Angels on a cloud,
held to be very beautiful. In S. Maria del Vado, in an altar-piece by
the same hand, very well conceived and coloured, is Christ ascending
into Heaven, with the Apostles standing in contemplation of Him. For the
Church of S. Giorgio, a seat of the Monks of Monte Oliveto, without the
city, he painted an altar-piece in oils of the Magi adoring Christ and
offering to Him myrrh, incense, and gold; and this is one of the best
works that Benvenuto ever executed in all his life.
All these works much pleased the people of Ferrara, by reason of which
he executed pictures almost without number for their houses, and many
others for monasteries and for the townships and villas round about the
city; and, among others, he painted the Resurrection of Christ in an
altar-piece for Bondeno. And, finally, he executed in fresco with
beautiful and fantastic invention, in the Refectory of S. Andrea, many
figures that are bringing the Old Testament into accord with the New.
But, since the works of this master are numberless, let it be enough to
have spoken of those that are the best.
Girolamo da Carpi having received his first instructions in painting
from Benvenuto, as will be related in his Life, they painted in company
the facade of the house of the Muzzarelli, in the Borgo Nuovo, partly in
chiaroscuro and partly in colours, with some things done in imitation of
bronze. They painted together, likewise, both within and without, the
Palace of Coppara, a place of recreation belonging to the Duke of
Ferrara; for which lord Benvenuto executed many other works, both by
himself and in company with other painters.
Then, having lived a long time in the determination that he would not
take a wife, in the end, after separating from his brother and growing
weary of living alone, at the age of forty-eight he took one; but he had
scarcely had her a year, when, falling grievously ill, he lost the sight
of his right eye, and was in fear and peril of the other. However,
having recommended himself to God and made a vow that he would always
dress in grey, as he afterwards did, by the grace of God he preserved
the sight of the other eye, insomuch that the works executed by him at
the age of sixty-five were so well done, and with such diligence and
finish, that it was a marvel. Wherefore on one occasion, when the Duke
of Ferrara showed to Pope Paul III a Triumph of Bacchus in oils, five
braccia in length, and the Calumny of Apelles, painted by Benvenuto at
that age after the designs of Raffaello da Urbino, which pictures are
now over certain chimney-pieces belonging to his Excellency, that
Pontiff was struck with astonishment that an old man of such an age,
with only one eye, should have executed works so large and so beautiful.
On every feast-day for twenty whole years Benvenuto worked for the love
of God in the Convent of the Nuns of S. Bernardino, where he executed
many works of importance in oils, in distemper, and in fresco; which
was certainly a marvellous thing, and a great proof of his true and good
nature, for in that place he had no competition, and nevertheless put no
less study and diligence into his labour than he would have done at any
other more frequented place. Those works are passing good in
composition, with beautiful expressions in the heads, not confused, and
executed in a truly sweet and good manner.
For all the disciples that Benvenuto had, although he taught them
everything that he knew with no ordinary willingness, in order to make
some of them excellent masters, he never had any success with a single
one of them, and, in place of being rewarded by them for his lovingness
at least with gratitude of heart, he never received anything from them
save vexations; wherefore he used to say that he had never had any
enemies but his own disciples and assistants. In the year 1550, being
now old, and the malady returning to his eye, he became wholly blind,
and he lived thus for nine years; which misfortune he bore with a
patient mind, resigning himself completely to the will of God. Finally,
when he had come to the age of seventy-eight, thinking at last that he
had lived too long in that darkness, and rejoicing in death, in the hope
of going to enjoy eternal light, he finished the course of his life on
the 6th of September in the year 1559, leaving a son called Girolamo,
who is a very gentle person, and a daughter.
Benvenuto was a very honest creature, fond of a jest, pleasant in his
conversation, patient and calm in all his adversities. As a young man he
delighted in fencing and playing the lute, and in his friendships he was
loving beyond measure and prodigal with his services. He was the friend
of the painter Giorgione da Castelfranco, Tiziano da Cadore, and Giulio
Romano, and most affectionate towards all the men of art in general; and
to this I can bear witness, for on the two occasions when I was at
Ferrara in his time I received from him innumerable favours and
courtesies. He was buried with honour in the Church of S. Maria del
Vado, and was celebrated in verse and prose by many choice spirits no
less than his talents deserved. But it has not been possible to obtain
Benvenuto's portrait, and therefore there has been placed at the head of
these Lives of the Lombard painters that of Girolamo da Carpi, whose
Life we are now about to write.
[Illustration: THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI
(_After the painting by =Benvenuto Garofalo=. Ferrara: Pinacoteca,
1537_)
_Alinari_]
Girolamo, then, called Da Carpi, who was a Ferrarese and a disciple of
Benvenuto, was employed at first by his father Tommaso, who was a kind
of house-painter, in his workshop, to paint strong-boxes, stools,
mouldings, and other suchlike commonplace things. After Girolamo had
made some proficience under the discipline of Benvenuto, he began to
think that he should be removed by his father from those base labours;
but Tommaso, as one who had need of money, would do nothing of the kind,
and Girolamo resolved at all costs to leave him. And so he went to
Bologna, where he received no little favour from the gentlemen of that
city; wherefore, having made some portraits, which were passing good
likenesses, he acquired so much credit that he earned much money and
assisted his father more while living at Bologna than he had done when
staying in Ferrara. At that time there was brought to the house of the
noble Counts Ercolani at Bologna a picture by the hand of Antonio da
Correggio, in which Christ is appearing to Mary Magdalene in the form of
a gardener, executed with incredible softness and excellence; and that
manner so took possession of Girolamo's heart, that, not content with
having copied that picture, he went to Modena to see the other works by
the hand of Correggio. Having arrived there, besides being filled with
marvel at the sight of them, one among them in particular struck him
with amazement, and that was the great picture, a divine work, in which
is the Madonna, with the Child in her arms marrying S. Catharine, a S.
Sebastian, and other figures, with an air of such beauty in the heads,
that they appear as if made in Paradise; nor is it possible to find more
beautiful hair, more lovely hands, or any colouring more pleasing and
natural. Having then received permission to copy it from the owner of
the picture, Messer Francesco Grillenzoni, a doctor, who was much the
friend of Correggio, Girolamo copied it with the greatest diligence that
it is possible to imagine. After that he did the same with the
altar-picture of S. Peter Martyr, which Correggio had painted for a
Company of Secular Priests, who hold it in very great price, as it
deserves, there being in it, in particular, besides other figures, an
Infant Christ in the lap of His Mother, who appears as if breathing, and
a most beautiful S. Peter Martyr; and another little altar-piece by
the same hand, painted for the Company of S. Bastiano, and no less
beautiful than the other. All these works, thus copied by Girolamo, were
the reason that he so improved his manner, that it did not appear like
his original manner, or in any way the same thing.
From Modena Girolamo went to Parma, where he had heard that there were
some works by the same Correggio, and he copied some of the pictures in
the tribune of the Duomo, considering them extraordinary works,
particularly the beautiful foreshortening of the Madonna, who is
ascending into Heaven, surrounded by a multitude of Angels, with the
Apostles, who are standing gazing on her as she ascends, and four
Saints, Protectors of that city, who are in the niches--S. John the
Baptist, who is holding a lamb; S. Joseph, the husband of Our Lady; S.
Bernardo degli Uberti the Florentine, a Cardinal and Bishop of Florence;
and another Bishop. Girolamo likewise studied the figures by the hand of
the same Correggio in the recess of the principal chapel in S. Giovanni
Evangelista--namely, the Coronation of the Madonna, with S. John the
Evangelist, the Baptist, S. Benedict, S. Placido, and a multitude of
Angels who are about them; and the marvellous figures that are in the
Chapel of S. Gioseffo in the Church of S. Sepolcro--a divine example of
panel-painting.
Now, since it is inevitable that those who are pleased to follow some
particular manner, and who study it with lovingness, should acquire
it--at least, in some degree (whence it also happens that many become
more excellent than their masters)--Girolamo caught not a little of
Correggio's manner; wherefore, after returning to Bologna, he imitated
him always, not studying any other thing but that manner and that
altar-piece by the hand of Raffaello da Urbino which we mentioned as
being in that city. And all these particulars I heard from Girolamo da
Carpi, who was much my friend, at Rome in the year 1550; and he lamented
very often to me that he had consumed his youth and his best years in
Ferrara and Bologna, and not in Rome or some other place, where, without
a doubt, he would have made much greater proficience. No little harm,
also, did Girolamo suffer in matters of art from his having given too
much attention to amorous delights and to playing the lute at the time
when he might have been making progress in painting.
Having returned, then, to Bologna, he made a portrait, among others, of
Messer Onofrio Bartolini, a Florentine, who was then in that city for
his studies, and afterwards became Archbishop of Pisa; and that head,
which is now in the possession of the heirs of that Messer Noferi, is
very beautiful and in a manner full of grace. There was working in
Bologna at this time a certain Maestro Biagio, a painter, who,
perceiving that Girolamo was coming into good repute, began to be afraid
lest he might outstrip him and deprive him of all his profits.
Wherefore, seizing a good occasion, he established a friendship with
Girolamo, with the intention of hindering him in his work, and became
his intimate companion to such purpose, that they began to work in
company; and so they continued for a while. This friendship was harmful
to Girolamo, not only in the matter of his earnings, but likewise with
respect to art, for the reason that he followed in the footsteps of
Maestro Biagio (who worked by rule of thumb, and took everything from
the designs of one master or another), and he, also, put no more
diligence into his pictures.
Now in the monastery of S. Michele in Bosco, without Bologna, a certain
Fra Antonio, a monk of that convent, had painted a S. Sebastian of the
size of life, besides executing an altar-piece in oils for a convent of
the same Order of Monte Oliveto at Scaricalasino, and some figures in
fresco in the Chapel of S. Scholastica, in the garden of Monte Oliveto
Maggiore, and Abbot Ghiaccino, who had compelled him to stay that year
in Bologna, desired that he should paint the new sacristy of his church
there. But Fra Antonio, who did not feel it in him to do so great a
work, and perchance was not very willing to undergo such fatigue, as is
often the case with that kind of man, so contrived that the work was
allotted to Girolamo and Maestro Biagio, who painted it all in fresco.
In the compartments of the vaulting they executed some little boys and
Angels, and at the head, in large figures, the story of the
Transfiguration of Christ, availing themselves of the design of that
which Raffaello da Urbino painted for S. Pietro in Montorio at Rome; and
on the other walls they painted some Saints, in which, to be sure, there
is something of the good. But Girolamo, having recognized that to stay
in company with Maestro Biagio was not the course for him, and, indeed,
that it was his certain ruin, broke up the partnership when that work
was finished, and began to work for himself.
The first work that he executed on his own account was an altar-piece
for the Chapel of S. Bastiano in the Church of S. Salvadore, in which he
acquitted himself very well. But then, having heard of the death of his
father, he returned to Ferrara, where for a time he did nothing save
some portraits and works of little importance. Meanwhile, Tiziano
Vecelli went to Ferrara to execute certain things for Duke Alfonso, as
will be related in his Life, in a little closet, or rather, study, where
Giovanni Bellini had already painted some pictures, and Dosso a
Bacchanal rout of men which was so good, that, even if he had never done
any other thing, for that alone he would deserve praise and the name of
an excellent painter; and Girolamo, by means of Tiziano and others,
began to have dealings with the Court of the Duke. And so, as it were to
give a proof of his powers before he should do anything else, he copied
the head of Duke Ercole of Ferrara from one by the hand of Tiziano, and
counterfeited it so well, that it seemed the same as the original;
wherefore it was sent, as a work worthy of praise, into France.
Afterwards, having taken a wife and had children by her, sooner,
perchance, than he should have done, Girolamo painted in S. Francesco at
Ferrara, in the angles of the vaulting, the four Evangelists in fresco,
which were passing good figures. In the same place he executed a frieze
right round the church, which was a very large and abundant work, being
full of half-length figures and little boys linked together in a very
pleasing manner; and for that church, also, he painted an altar-picture
of S. Anthony of Padua, with other figures, and another altar-piece of
Our Lady in the air with two Angels, which was placed on the altar of
Signora Giulia Muzzarelli, whose portrait was executed very well therein
by Girolamo.