whom I gave some account in the Life of Agnolo Gaddi, was a painter
more than passing good in his day. And when Donatello was working in
Padua, as has been already told in his Life, going on one of several
occasions to Verona, he was struck with marvel at the works of
Stefano, declaring that the pictures which he had made in fresco
were the best that had been wrought in those parts up to that time.
The first works of this man were in the tramezzo[7] of the Church of
S. Antonio at Verona, at the top of a wall on the left, below the
curve of a part of the vaulting; and the subjects were a Madonna
with the Child in her arms, and S. James and S. Anthony, one on
either side of her. This work is held very beautiful in that city
even at the present day, by reason of a certain liveliness that is
seen in the said figures, particularly in the heads, which are
wrought with much grace. In S. Niccolò, a parish church of that
city, likewise, he painted a S. Nicholas in fresco, which is very
beautiful. On the front of a house in the Via di S. Polo, which
leads to the Porta del Vescovo, he painted the Virgin, with certain
very beautiful angels and a S. Christopher; and over the wall of the
Church of S. Consolata in the Via del Duomo, in a recess made in the
wall, he painted a Madonna and certain birds, in particular a
peacock, his emblem. In S. Eufemia, a convent of the Eremite Friars
of S. Augustine, he painted over the side-door a S. Augustine with
two other saints, and under the mantle of this S. Augustine are many
friars and nuns of his Order; but the most beautiful things in this
work are two half-length prophets of the size of life, for the
reason that they have the most beautiful and most lifelike heads
that Stefano ever made; and the colouring of the whole work,
having been executed with diligence, has remained beautiful even to
our own day, notwithstanding that it has been much exposed to rain,
wind, and frost. If this work had been under cover, it would still
be as beautiful and fresh as it issued from his hands, for the
reason that Stefano did not retouch it on the dry, but used
diligence in executing it well in fresco; as it is, it has suffered
a little. Within the church, in the Chapel of the Sacrament--namely,
round the Tabernacle--he afterwards painted certain angels flying,
some of whom are sounding instruments, some singing, and others
burning incense before the Sacrament; together with a figure of
Jesus Christ, which he painted at the top as a finish to the
Tabernacle. Below there are other angels, who are supporting Him,
clothed in white garments reaching to their feet, and ending, as it
were, in clouds, which was an idea peculiar to Stefano in painting
figures of angels, whom he always made most gracious in countenance
and very beautiful in expression. In this same work are life-size
figures of S. Augustine and S. Jerome, one on either side; and these
are supporting with their hands the Church of God, as if to show
that both of them defend Holy Church from heretics with their
learning, and support her. On a pilaster of the principal chapel in
the same church he painted a S. Eufemia in fresco, with a beautiful
and gracious expression of countenance; and there he wrote his own
name in letters of gold, perchance since it appeared to him to be,
as in fact it is, one of the best pictures that he had made; and
according to his custom he painted there a very beautiful peacock,
and beside it two lion cubs, which are not very beautiful, because
at that time he could not see live ones, as he saw the peacock. He
also painted for the same place a panel containing, as was the
custom in those times, many half-length figures, such as S. Niccola
da Tolentino and others; and he filled the predella with scenes in
little figures from the life of that Saint. In S. Fermo, a church in
the same city belonging to the Friars of S. Francis, he painted, as
an ornament for a Deposition from the Cross on the wall opposite to
the side-door of entrance, twelve half-length prophets of the size
of life, with Adam and Eve lying below them, and his usual peacock,
which is almost the hall-mark of pictures executed by him.
In Mantua, at the Martello gate of the Church of S. Domenico, the
same Stefano painted a most beautiful Madonna; the head of which
Madonna, when they had need to build in that place, those fathers
placed with care in the tramezzo[8] of the church--that is, in the
Chapel of S. Orsola, which belongs to the Recuperati family, and
contains some pictures in fresco by the hand of the same man. And in
the Church of S. Francesco, on the right hand as one enters by the
principal door, there is a row of chapels formerly built by the
noble Della Ramma family, in one of which are seated figures of the
four Evangelists, painted on the vaulting by the hand of Stefano;
and behind their shoulders, for a background, he made certain
espaliers of roses, with a cane trellis-work in a pattern of
mandorle, above which are various trees and other greenery full of
birds, particularly of peacocks; and there are also some very
beautiful angels. In this same church, on a column on the right hand
as one enters, he painted a life-size figure of S. Mary Magdalene.
And in the same city, on the frontal of a door in the street called
Rompilanza, he painted in fresco a Madonna with the Child in her
arms, and some angels kneeling before her; and the background he
made of trees covered with fruit.
These, then, are the works that are found to have been executed by
Stefano, although it may well be believed, since his life was not a
short one, that he made many others. But even as I have not been
able to discover any more of them, so I have failed to find his
surname, his father's name, his portrait, or any other particulars.
Some declare that before he came to Florence he was a disciple of
Maestro Liberale, a painter of Verona; but this matters nothing. It
is enough that he learnt all that there was of the good in him from
Agnolo Gaddi in Florence.
[Illustration: PRESENTATION TO THE MADONNA OF THREE KNIGHTS OF THE
CAVALLI FAMILY
(_After the fresco by =Aldigieri da Zevio [Altichiero]=. Verona: S.
Anastasia_)
_Alinari_]
Of the same city of Verona was Aldigieri da Zevio, who was very much
the friend of the Signori della Scala, and who, besides many other
works, painted the Great Hall of their Palace (which is now the
habitation of the Podestà), depicting therein the War of Jerusalem,
according as it is described by Josephus. In this work Aldigieri
showed great spirit and judgment, distributing one scene over the
walls of that hall on every side, with a single ornament encircling
it right round; on the upper part of which ornament, as it were to
set it off, he placed a row of medallions, in which it is believed
that there are the portraits from life of many distinguished men of
those times, particularly of many of those Signori della Scala; but,
since the truth about this is not known, I will say no more of it. I
must say, indeed, that Aldigieri showed in this work that he had
intelligence, judgment, and invention, seeing that he took into
consideration all the things that can be taken into consideration in
a serious war. Besides this, the colouring has remained very fresh;
and among many portraits of men of distinction and learning, there
is seen that of Messer Francesco Petrarca.
Jacopo Avanzi, a painter of Bologna, shared the work of this hall
with Aldigieri, and below the aforesaid pictures he painted two most
beautiful Triumphs, likewise in fresco, with so much art and so good
a manner, that Girolamo Campagnola declares that Mantegna used to
praise them as pictures of the rarest merit. The same Jacopo,
together with Aldigieri and Sebeto da Verona, painted the Chapel of
S. Giorgio, which is beside the Church of S. Antonio, in Padua,
according to the directions left in the testaments of the Marquesses
of Carrara. Jacopo Avanzi painted the upper part; below this were
certain stories of S. Lucia, with a Last Supper, by Aldigieri; and
Sebeto painted stories of S. John. Afterwards these three masters,
having all returned to Verona, joined together to paint a
wedding-feast, with many portraits and costumes of those times, in
the house of the Counts Serenghi. Now the work of Jacopo Avanzi was
held to be the best of all; but, since mention has been made of him
in the Life of Niccolò d' Arezzo by reason of the works that he made
in Bologna in competition with the painters Simone, Cristofano, and
Galasso, I will say no more about him in this place.
A man who was held in esteem at Venice about the same time, although
he adhered to the Greek manner, was Jacobello de Flore, who made a
number of works in that city; in particular, a panel for the Nuns of
the Corpus Domini, which stands on the altar of S. Domenico in their
church. A competitor of this master was Giromin Morzone, who painted
a number of pictures in Venice and in many cities of Lombardy; but,
since he held to the old manner and made all his figures on tiptoe,
we will say nothing about him, save that there is a panel by his
hand, with many saints, on the Altar of the Assumption in the Church
of S. Lena.
A much better master than Morzone was Guerriero, a painter of Padua,
who, besides many other works, painted the principal chapel of the
Eremite Friars of S. Augustine in Padua, and a chapel for the same
friars in the first cloister. He also painted a little chapel in the
house of the Urban Prefect, and the Hall of the Roman Emperors,
where the students go to dance at the time of the Carnival. He also
painted in fresco, in the Chapel of the Podestà of the same city,
some scenes from the Old Testament.
Giusto, likewise a painter of Padua, painted in the Chapel of S.
Giovanni Battista, without the Church of the Vescovado, not only
certain scenes from the Old Testament and the New, but also the
Revelations of the Apocalypse of S. John the Evangelist; and in the
upper part he made a Paradise containing many choirs of angels and
other adornments, wrought with beautiful conceptions. In the Church
of S. Antonio he painted in fresco the Chapel of S. Luca; and in a
chapel in the Church of the Eremite Friars of S. Augustine he
painted the liberal arts, with the virtues and vices beside them,
and likewise those who have been celebrated for their virtues, and
those who have fallen by reason of their vices into the extreme of
misery and into the lowest depth of Hell.
There was working in Padua, in this man's time, Stefano, a painter
of Ferrara, who, as has been said elsewhere, adorned with various
pictures the chapel and the tomb wherein is the body of S. Anthony,
and also painted the Virgin Mary that is called the Vergine del
Pilastro.
[Illustration: VITTORE SCARPACCIA (CARPACCIO): THE VISION OF S.
URSULA
(_Venice: Accademia, 578. Canvas_)]
Another man who was held in esteem in the same times was Vincenzio,
a painter of Brescia, according to the account of Filarete, as was
also Girolamo Campagnola, another Paduan painter, and a disciple of
Squarcione. Then Giulio, son of Girolamo, made many beautiful works
of painting, illumination, and copper-engraving, both in Padua and
in other places. In the same city of Padua many things were
wrought by Niccolò Moreto, who lived eighty years, and never ceased
to exercise his art.
[Illustration: S. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON
(_After the panel by =Vittore Scarpaccia [Carpaccio]=. Venice: S.
Giorgio Segli Schiavoni_)
_Anderson_]
Besides these there were many others, who were connected with
Gentile and Giovanni Bellini; but Vittore Scarpaccia was truly the
first among them who made works of importance. His first works were
in the Scuola of S. Orsola, where he painted on canvas the greater
part of the stories that are there, representing the life and death
of that Saint; the labours of which pictures he contrived to carry
out so well and with such great diligence and art, that he acquired
thereby the name of a very good and practised master. This, so it is
said, was the reason that the people of Milan caused him to paint a
panel in distemper with many figures for the Friars Minor, in their
Chapel of S. Ambrogio. On the altar of the Risen Christ in the
Church of S. Antonio he painted the scene of Christ appearing to the
Magdalene and the other Maries, in which he made a very beautiful
view in perspective of a landscape receding into the distance; and
in another chapel he painted the story of the Martyrs--that is,
their crucifixion--in which work he made more than three hundred
figures, what with the large and the small, besides a number of
horses and trees, an open Heaven, figures both nude and clothed in
diverse attitudes, many foreshortenings, and so many other things,
that it can be seen that he did not execute it without extraordinary
labour. For the altar of the Madonna, in the Church of S. Giobbe in
Canareio, he painted her presenting the Infant Christ to Simeon, and
depicted the Madonna herself standing, and Simeon in his cope
between two ministers clothed as Cardinals; behind the Virgin are
two women, one of whom has two doves, and below are three boys, who
are playing on a lute, a serpent, and a lyre, or rather a viol; and
the colouring of the whole panel is very charming and beautiful.
And, in truth, Vittore was a very diligent and practised master, and
many pictures by his hand that are in Venice, both portraits from
life and other kinds, are much esteemed for works wrought in those
times. He taught his art to two brothers of his own, who imitated
him closely, one being Lazzaro, and the other Sebastiano; and by
their hand is a panel on the altar of the Virgin in the Church of
the Nuns of the Corpus Domini, showing her seated between S.
Catherine and S. Martha, with other female saints, two angels who
are sounding instruments, and a very beautiful view of buildings in
perspective as a background to the whole work, of which we have the
original drawings, by the hand of these men, in our book.
Another passing good painter in the time of these masters was
Vincenzio Catena, who occupied himself much more with making
portraits from the life than with any other sort of painting; and,
in truth, some that are to be seen by his hand are marvellous--among
others, that of a German of the Fugger family, a man of rank and
importance, who was then living in the Fondaco de' Tedeschi at
Venice, was painted with great vivacity.
Another man who made many works in Venice, about the same time, was
a disciple of Giovanni Bellini, Giovan Battista da Conigliano, by
whose hand is a panel on the altar of S. Pietro Martire in the
aforesaid Church of the Nuns of the Corpus Domini, containing the
said Saint, S. Nicholas, and S. Benedict, with landscapes in
perspective, an angel tuning a cithern, and many little figures more
than passing good. And if this man had not died young, it may be
believed that he would have equalled his master.
The name of a master not otherwise than good, likewise, in the same
art and at the same time, was enjoyed by Marco Basarini, who,
painting in Venice, where he was born from a Greek father and
mother, executed in S. Francesco della Vigna a panel with a
Deposition of Christ from the Cross, and another panel in the Church
of S. Giobbe, representing Christ in the Garden, and below Him the
three Apostles, who are sleeping, and S. Francis, S. Dominic, and
two other saints; but what was most praised in this work was a
landscape with many little figures wrought with good grace. In that
same church the same Marco painted S. Bernardino on a rock, with
other saints.
[Illustration: VINCENZIO CATENA (DI BIAGIO): S. JEROME IN HIS STUDY
(_London: National Gallery, 694. Panel_)]
Giovanetto Cordegliaghi made an infinity of devotional pictures in
the same city; nay, he scarcely worked at anything else, and, in
truth, he had in this sort of painting a very delicate and sweet
manner, no little better than that of the aforesaid masters. In S.
Pantaleone, in a chapel beside the principal one, this man
painted S. Peter making disputation with two other saints, who are
wearing most beautiful draperies, and are wrought with a beautiful
manner.
[Illustration: GIOVAN BATTISTA DA CONIGLIANO (CIMA): TOBIT AND THE
ANGEL (DETAIL)
(_Venice: Accademia, 592. Panel transferred to Canvas_)]
Marco Bassiti was in good repute almost at the same time, and by his
hand is a large panel in the Church of the Carthusian Monks at
Venice, in which he painted Christ between Peter and Andrew on the
Sea of Tiberias, with the sons of Zebedee; making therein an arm of
the sea, a mountain, and part of a city, with many persons in the
form of little figures. Many other works by this man could be
enumerated, but let it be enough to have spoken of this one, which
is the best.
Bartolommeo Vivarini of Murano also acquitted himself very well in
the works that he made, as may be seen, besides many other examples,
in the panel that he executed for the altar of S. Luigi in the
Church of SS. Giovanni e Polo; in which panel he portrayed the said
S. Luigi seated, wearing the cope, with S. Gregory, S. Sebastian,
and S. Dominic on one side of him, and on the other side S.
Nicholas, S. Jerome, and S. Rocco, and above them half-length
figures of other saints.
Another man who executed his pictures very well, taking much delight
in counterfeiting things of nature, figures, and distant landscapes,
was Giovanni Mansueti, who, imitating the works of Gentile Bellini
not a little, made many pictures in Venice. At the upper end of the
Audience Chamber of the Scuola of S. Marco he painted a S. Mark
preaching on the Piazza; in which picture he painted the façade of
the church, and, among the multitude of men and women who are
listening to the Saint, Turks, Greeks, and the faces of men of
diverse nations, with bizarre costumes. In the same place, in
another scene wherein he painted S. Mark healing a sick man, he made
a perspective view of two staircases and many loggie. In another
picture, near to that one, he made a S. Mark converting an infinite
multitude to the faith of Christ; in this he made an open temple,
with a Crucifix on an altar, and throughout the whole work there are
diverse persons with a beautiful variety of expression, dress, and
features.
The work in the same place was continued after him by Vittore
Bellini, who made a view of buildings in perspective, which is
passing good, in a scene wherein S. Mark is taken prisoner and
bound, with a number of figures, in which he imitated his
predecessors. After these men came Bartolommeo Montagna of Vicenza,
a passing good painter, who lived ever in Venice and made many
pictures there; and he painted a panel in the Church of S. Maria d'
Artone at Padua. Benedetto Diana, likewise, was a painter no less
esteemed than the masters mentioned above, as is proved, to say
nothing of his other works, by those from his hand that are in S.
Francesco della Vigna at Venice, where, for the altar of S.
Giovanni, he painted that Saint standing between two other saints,
each of whom has a book in his hand.
Another man who was accounted a good master was Giovanni
Buonconsigli, who painted a picture in the Church of SS. Giovanni e
Polo for the altar of S. Tommaso d' Aquino, showing that Saint
surrounded by many figures, to whom he is reading the Holy
Scriptures; and he made therein a perspective view of buildings,
which is not otherwise than worthy of praise. There also lived in
Venice throughout almost the whole course of his life the Florentine
sculptor, Simon Bianco, as did Tullio Lombardo, an excellent master
of intaglio.
In Lombardy, likewise, there were excellent sculptors in Bartolommeo
Clemente of Reggio and Agostino Busto; and, in intaglio, Jacopo
Davanzo of Milan, with Gasparo and Girolamo Misceroni. In Brescia
there was a man who was able and masterly at working in fresco,
called Vincenzio Verchio, who acquired a very great name in his
native place by reason of his beautiful works. The same did Girolamo
Romanino, a fine master of design, as is clearly demonstrated by the
works made by him in Brescia and in the neighbourhood for many miles
around. And not inferior to these--nay, even superior--was
Alessandro Moretto, who was very delicate in his colouring, and much
the friend of diligence, as the works made by him demonstrate.
[Illustration: CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES
(_After the panel by =Marco Bassiti [Basaiti]=. Venice: Accademia,
69_)
_Anderson_]
But to return to Verona, in which city there have flourished
excellent craftsmen, even as they flourish more than ever to-day;
there, in times past, were excellent masters in Francesco Bonsignori
and Francesco Caroto, and afterwards Maestro Zeno of Verona, who
painted the panel of S. Marino in Rimini, with two others, all with
much diligence. But the man who surpassed all others in making
certain marvellous figures from life was Il Moro of Verona, or
rather, as others called him, Francesco Turbido, by whose hand is a
portrait now in the house of Monsignor de' Martini at Venice, of a
gentleman of the house of Badovaro, painted in the character of a
shepherd; which portrait appears absolutely alive, and can challenge
comparison with any of the great number that have been seen in these
parts. Battista d' Angelo, son-in-law of this Francesco, is also so
lovely in colouring and so masterly in drawing, that he is rather
superior than inferior to his father-in-law. But since it is not my
intention to speak at present of the living, it must suffice me to
have spoken in this place of some with regard to whose lives, as I
said at the beginning of this Life, I have not been able to discover
every particular with equal minuteness, to the end that their
talents and merits may receive from me at least all that little
which I, who would fain make it much, am able to give them.
[Illustration: PIETÀ
(_After the panel by =Giovanni Buonconsigli=. Vincenza: Pinacoteca,
22_)
_Alinari_]
FOOTNOTE:
[5] It is now generally accepted that these two men are
one, under the name of Lazzaro Bastiani.
[6] This master has been identified with Il Bassiti, under
the name of Basaiti.
[7] See note on p. 57, Vol. I.
[8] See note on p. 57, Vol. I.
JACOPO, CALLED L'INDACO
LIFE OF JACOPO, CALLED L'INDACO
PAINTER
Jacopo, called L'Indaco, who was a disciple of Domenico del
Ghirlandajo, and who worked in Rome with Pinturicchio, was a passing
good master in his day; and although he did not make many works, yet
those that he did make are worthy of commendation. Nor is there any
need to marvel that only very few works issued from his hands, for
the reason that, being a gay and humorous fellow and a lover of good
cheer, he harboured but few thoughts and would never work save when
he could not help it; and so he used to say that doing nothing else
but labour, without taking a little pleasure in the world, was no
life for a Christian. He lived in close intimacy with Michelagnolo,
for when that craftsman, supremely excellent beyond all who have
ever lived, wished to have some recreation after his studies and his
continuous labours of body and mind, no one was more pleasing to him
for the purpose or more suited to his humour than this man.
Jacopo worked for many years in Rome, or, to be more precise, he
lived many years in Rome, working very little. By his hand, in that
city, is the first chapel on the right hand as one enters the Church
of S. Agostino by the door of the façade; on the vaulting of which
chapel are the Apostles receiving the Holy Spirit, and on the wall
below are two stories of Christ--in one His taking Peter and Andrew
from their nets, and in the other the Feast of Simon and the
Magdalene, in which there is a ceiling of planks and beams,
counterfeited very well. In the panel of the same chapel, which he
painted in oil, is a Dead Christ, wrought and executed with much
mastery and diligence. In the Trinità at Rome, likewise, there is a
little panel by his hand with the Coronation of Our Lady. But what
need is there to say more about this man? What more, indeed, is
there to say? It is enough that he loved gossiping as much as he
always hated working and painting.
Now seeing that, as has been said, Michelagnolo used to take
pleasure in this man's chattering and in the jokes that he was ever
making, he kept him almost always at his table; but one day Jacopo
wearied him--as such fellows more often than not do come to weary
their friends and patrons with their incessant babbling, so often
ill-timed and senseless; babbling, I call it, for reasonable talk it
cannot be called, since for the most part there is neither reason
nor judgment in such people--and Michelagnolo, who, perchance, had
other thoughts in his mind at the time and wished to get rid of him,
sent him to buy some figs; and no sooner had Jacopo left the house
than Michelagnolo bolted the door behind him, determined not to open
to him when he came back. L'Indaco, then, on returning from the
market-square, perceived, after having knocked at the door for a
time in vain, that Michelagnolo did not intend to open to him;
whereupon, flying into a rage, he took the figs and the leaves and
spread them all over the threshold of the door. This done, he went
his way and for many months refused to speak to Michelagnolo; but at
last, becoming reconciled with him, he was more his friend than
ever. Finally, having reached the age of sixty-eight, he died in
Rome.
Not unlike Jacopo was a younger brother of his, whose proper name
was Francesco, although he too was afterwards called L'Indaco by way
of surname; and he, likewise, was a painter, and more than passing
good. He was not unlike Jacopo--I mean, in his unwillingness to work
(to say the least), and in his love of talking--but in one respect
he surpassed Jacopo, for he was ever speaking evil of everyone and
decrying the works of every craftsman. This man, after having
wrought certain things in Montepulciano both in painting and in
clay, painted a little panel for the Audience Chamber of the Company
of the Nunziata in Arezzo, containing an Annunciation, and a God the
Father in Heaven surrounded by many angels in the form of children.
And in the same city, on the first occasion when Duke Alessandro
went there, he made a most beautiful triumphal arch, with many
figures in relief, at the gate of the Palazzo de' Signori; and also,
in competition with other painters who executed a number of other
works for the entry of the said Duke, the scenery for the
representation of a play, which was held to be very beautiful.
Afterwards, having gone to Rome at the time when the Emperor Charles
V was expected there, he made some figures in clay, and a coat of
arms in fresco for the Roman people on the Campidoglio, which was
much extolled. But the best work that ever issued from the hands of
this master, and the most highly praised, was a little study wrought
in stucco for the Duchess Margherita of Austria in the Palace of the
Medici at Rome--a thing so beautiful and so ornate that there is
nothing better to be seen; nor do I believe that it is possible, in
a certain sense, to do with silver what L'Indaco did in this work
with stucco. From these things it may be judged that if this man had
taken pleasure in work and had made use of his intelligence, he
would have become excellent.
Francesco drew passing well, but Jacopo much better, as may be seen
in our book.