of Leonardo's, executed with that gradation of colour, and finished
with that extraordinary diligence, which Leonardo used to employ
when he wished to display his art. And so Piero, being pleased with
his method, sought to imitate it, although he was afterwards very
distant from Leonardo, and worlds away from any other manner. It may
be said, in truth, that he changed his manner almost for every work
that he executed.
If Piero had not been so solitary, and had taken more care of
himself in his way of living than he did, he would have made known
the greatness of his intellect in such a way that he would have been
revered, whereas, by reason of his uncouth ways, he was rather held
to be a madman, although in the end he did no harm save to himself
alone, while his works were beneficial and useful to his art. For
which reason every good intellect and every excellent craftsman
should always be taught, from such an example, to keep his eyes on
the end of life.
Nor will I refrain from saying that Piero, in his youth, being
fanciful and extravagant in invention, was much employed for the
masquerades that are held during the Carnival; and he became very
dear to the young noblemen of Florence, having improved their
festivals much in invention, adornment, grandeur, and pomp. As to
that kind of pastime, it is said that he was one of the first to
contrive to marshal them in the form of triumphal processions; at
least, he improved them greatly, by accompanying the invention of
the story represented, not only with music and with words suited to
the subject, but also with a train of incredible pomp, formed of
men on foot and on horseback, with habits and ornaments in keeping
with the story; which produced a very rich and beautiful effect, and
had in it something both grand and ingenious. And it was certainly a
very beautiful thing to see, by night, twenty-five or thirty pairs
of horses, most richly caparisoned, with their riders in costume,
according to the subject of the invention, and six or eight grooms
to each rider, with torches in their hands, and all clothed in one
and the same livery, sometimes more than four hundred in number; and
then the chariot, or triumphal car, covered with ornaments,
trophies, and most bizarre things of fancy; altogether, a thing
which makes men's intellects more subtle, and gives great pleasure
and satisfaction to the people.
[Illustration: PERSEUS DELIVERING ANDROMEDA
(_After the panel by =Piero di Cosimo=. Florence: Uffizi, 1312_)
_Brogi_]
Among these spectacles, which were numerous and ingenious, it is my
pleasure to give a brief description of one, which was contrived
mostly by Piero, when he was already of a mature age, and which was
not, like many, pleasing through its beauty, but, on the contrary,
on account of a strange, horrible, and unexpected invention, gave no
little satisfaction to the people: for even as in the matter of food
bitter things sometimes give marvellous delight to the human palate,
so do horrible things in such pastimes, if only they be carried out
with judgment and art; which is evident in the representation of
tragedies. This was the Car of Death, wrought by him with the
greatest secrecy in the Sala del Papa, so that nothing could ever be
found out about it, until it was seen and known at one and the same
moment. This triumphal chariot was an enormous car drawn by
buffaloes, black all over and painted with skeletons and white
crosses; and upon the highest point of the car stood a colossal
figure of Death, scythe in hand, and right round the car were a
number of covered tombs; and at all the places where the procession
halted for the chanting of dirges, these tombs opened, and from them
issued figures draped in black cloth, upon which were painted all
the bones of a skeleton, over their arms, breasts, flanks, and legs;
which, what with the white over the black, and the appearing in the
distance of some figures carrying torches, with masks that
represented a death's head both in front and behind, as well as the
neck, not only gave an appearance of the greatest reality, but was
also horrible and terrifying to behold. And these figures of the
dead, at the sound of certain muffled trumpets, low and mournful in
tone, came half out of their tombs, and, seating themselves upon
them, sang to music full of melancholy that song so celebrated at
the present day: "Dolor, pianto, e penitenzia." Before and after the
car came a great number of the dead, riding on certain horses picked
out with the greatest diligence from among the leanest and most
meagre that could be found, with black caparisons covered with white
crosses; and each had four grooms draped in the garb of death, with
black torches, and a large black standard with crosses, bones, and
death's heads. After the car were trailed ten black standards; and
as they walked, the whole company sang in unison, with trembling
voices, that Psalm of David that is called the Miserere.
This dread spectacle, through its novelty and terror, as I have
said, filled the whole city with fear and marvel together; and
although at the first sight it did not seem suited to a Carnival,
nevertheless, being new and very well arranged, it pleased the minds
of all, and Piero, the creator and inventor of the whole, gained
consummate praise and commendation for it; and it was the reason
that afterwards, going from one thing to another, men continued to
contrive lively and ingenious inventions, so that in truth, for such
representations and for holding similar festivals, this city has
never had an equal. And in those old men who saw it there still
remains a vivid memory of it, nor are they ever weary of celebrating
this fantastic invention. I have heard from the lips of Andrea di
Cosimo, who helped him to carry out the work, and of Andrea del
Sarto, who was Piero's disciple, and who also had a hand in it, that
it was a common opinion at that time that this invention was
intended to foreshadow the return of the Medici family to Florence
in the year 1512, since at the time when the procession was held
they were exiles, and, so to speak, dead, but destined in a short
time to come to life; and in this sense were interpreted the
following words in the song--
Morti siam come vedete,
Così morti vedrem voi;
Fummo già come voi siete,
Voi sarete come noi, etc.
whereby men wished to signify the return of that family (a
resurrection, as it were, from death to life), and the expulsion and
abasement of their enemies; or it may have been that many gave it
that significance from the subsequent fact of the return of that
illustrious house to Florence--so prone is the human intellect to
applying every word and act that has come previously, to the events
that happen afterwards. Certain it is that this was the opinion of
many at that time; and it was much spoken of.
[Illustration: VENUS, MARS, AND CUPID
(_After the panel by =Piero di Cosimo=. Berlin: Kaiser Friedrich
Museum, 107_)
_Hanfstaengl_]
But to return to the art and actions of Piero; he was given the
commission for a panel in the Church of the Servite Friars, in the
Chapel of the Tedaldi, where they keep the garment and the pillow of
S. Filippo, a brother of their Order; wherein he depicted Our Lady
standing, raised from the ground on a pedestal, and uplifting her
head towards Heaven, with a book in her hand, but without her Son;
and above her is the Holy Spirit, bathing her with light. Nor did he
wish that any other light than that of the Dove should illumine her
and the figures that are round her, such as a S. Margaret and a S.
Catherine, who are on their knees, adoring her, while S. Peter and
S. John the Evangelist are standing, contemplating her, together
with S. Filippo, the Servite Friar, and S. Antonino, Archbishop of
Florence. Moreover, he made there a landscape that is very bizarre,
what with the strange trees and certain grottoes. And in truth,
there are some very beautiful things in this work, such as certain
heads that reveal both draughtsmanship and grace; besides the
colouring, which is very harmonious, for it is certain that Piero
was a great master of colouring in oils. In the predella he painted
some little scenes, very well executed; and, among others, there is
one of S. Margaret issuing from the belly of the Dragon, wherein he
made that animal so monstrous and hideous, that I do not think that
there is anything better of that kind to be seen, for with its eyes
it reveals venom, fire, and death, in an aspect truly terrifying.
And certainly, as for such things, I do not believe that any one
ever did them better than he, or came near him in imagining them; to
which witness is borne by a marine monster that he made and
presented to the Magnificent Giuliano de' Medici, which is so
extravagant, bizarre, and fantastic in its deformity, that it seems
impossible that Nature should produce anything so deformed and
strange among her creations. This monster is now in the guardaroba
of Duke Cosimo de' Medici, as is also a book, likewise by the hand
of Piero, of animals of the same kind, most beautiful and bizarre,
hatched very diligently with the pen, and finished with an
incredible patience; which book was presented to him by M. Cosimo
Bartoli, Provost of S. Giovanni, who is very much my friend, as he
is of all our craftsmen, being a man who has always delighted, and
still delights, in our profession.
He also executed, round a chamber in the house of Francesco del
Pugliese, various scenes with little figures; nor is it possible to
describe the different fantastic things that he delighted to paint
in all those scenes, what with the buildings, the animals, the
costumes, the various instruments, and any other fanciful things
that came into his head, since the stories were drawn from fables.
These scenes, after the death of Francesco del Pugliese and his
sons, were taken away, nor do I know what has become of them; and
the same thing has happened to a picture of Mars and Venus, with her
Loves and Vulcan, executed with great art and with an incredible
patience.
Piero painted, for the elder Filippo Strozzi, a picture with little
figures of Perseus delivering Andromeda from the Monster, in which
are some very beautiful things. It is now in the house of Signor
Sforza Almeni, First Chamberlain to Duke Cosimo, having been
presented to him by Messer Giovanni Battista, the son of Lorenzo
Strozzi, who knew how much that nobleman delighted in painting and
sculpture; and he holds it in great account, for Piero never made a
more lovely or more highly finished picture than this one, seeing
that it is not possible to find a more bizarre or more fantastic
sea-monster than that which Piero imagined and painted, or a fiercer
attitude than that of Perseus, who is raising his sword in the air
to smite the beast. In it, trembling between fear and hope,
Andromeda is seen bound, most beautiful in countenance; and in the
foreground are many people in various strange costumes, playing
instruments and singing; among whom are some heads, smiling and
rejoicing at seeing the deliverance of Andromeda, that are divine.
The landscape is very beautiful, and the colouring sweet and full of
grace. In short, with regard to the harmony and gradation of the
colours, he executed this work with the greatest possible diligence.
He painted, also, a picture containing a nude Venus, with a Mars,
likewise nude, who is sleeping in a meadow full of flowers, and all
around are various Loves, who are carrying away, some here, some
there, the helmet, armlets, and other pieces of armour of Mars;
there is a grove of myrtle, with a Cupid that is afraid of a rabbit,
and there are also the Doves of Venus and the other emblems of Love.
This picture is at Florence, in the house of Giorgio Vasari, who
keeps it in memory of that master, whose caprices have always
pleased him.
The Director of the Hospital of the Innocenti was much the friend of
Piero; and wishing to have a panel painted, which was to be placed
in the Pugliese Chapel, near the entrance into the church, on the
left hand, he gave the commission for it to Piero, who brought it to
completion at his leisure; but first he reduced his patron to
despair, for on no account would he let him see it until it was
finished. How strange this seemed to the patron, both because of
their friendship, and because of his supplying Piero continually
with money, without seeing what was being done, he himself showed,
when, on the occasion of the final payment, he refused to give it to
him without seeing the work. But, on Piero threatening that he would
destroy all that he had painted, he was forced to give him the rest,
and to wait patiently, in a greater rage than ever, for it to be set
in place. This picture contains much that is truly beautiful.
He undertook to paint a panel for a chapel in the Church of S. Piero
Gattolini, and in this he represented Our Lady seated, with four
figures round her, and two angels in the sky, who are crowning her;
which work, executed with such diligence that it brought him praise
and honour, is now to be seen in S. Friano, the other church having
been ruined. For the tramezzo[13] of the Church of S. Francesco, at
Fiesole, he painted a little panel-picture of the Conception, which
is a passing good little work, the figures being of no great size.
For Giovanni Vespucci, who lived in a house now belonging to Piero
Salviati, opposite to S. Michele, in the Via de' Servi, he executed
some bacchanalian scenes, which are round an apartment; wherein he
made such strange fauns, satyrs, sylvan gods, little boys, and
bacchanals, that it is a marvel to see the diversity of the bay
horses and garments, and the variety of the goatlike features, and
all with great grace and most vivid truth to nature. In one scene is
Silenus riding on an ass, with many children, some supporting him,
and some giving him drink; and throughout the whole is a feeling of
the joy of life, produced by the great genius of Piero. And in
truth, in all that there is to be seen by his hand, one recognizes a
spirit very different and far distant from that of other painters,
and a certain subtlety in the investigation of some of the deepest
and most subtle secrets of Nature, without grudging time or labour,
but only for his own delight and for his pleasure in the art. And it
could not well be otherwise; since, having grown enamoured of her,
he cared nothing for his own comfort, and reduced himself to eating
nothing but boiled eggs, which, in order to save firing, he cooked
when he was boiling his glue, and not six or eight at a time, but in
fifties; and, keeping them in a basket, he would eat them one by
one. In this life he found such peculiar pleasure that any other, in
comparison with his own, seemed to him slavery. He could not bear
the crying of children, the coughing of men, the sound of bells, and
the chanting of friars; and when the rain was pouring in torrents
from the sky, it pleased him to see it streaming straight down from
the roofs and splashing on the ground. He had the greatest terror of
lightning; and, when he heard very loud thunder, he wrapped himself
in his mantle, and, having closed the windows and the door of the
room, he crouched in a corner until the storm should pass. He was
very varied and original in his discourse, and sometimes said such
beautiful things, that he made his hearers burst with laughter. But
when he was old, and near the age of eighty, he had become so
strange and eccentric that nothing could be done with him. He would
not have assistants standing round him, so that his misanthropy had
robbed him of all possible aid. He was sometimes seized by a desire
to work, but was not able, by reason of the palsy, and fell into
such a rage that he tried to force his hands to labour; but, as he
muttered to himself, the mahlstick fell from his grasp, and even his
brushes, so that it was pitiable to behold. Flies enraged him, and
even shadows annoyed him. And so, having become ill through old age,
he was visited by one or two friends, who besought him to make his
peace with God; but he would not believe that he was dying, and put
them off from one day to another; not that he was hard of heart, or
an unbeliever, for he was a most zealous Christian, although his
life was that of a beast. He discoursed at times on the torments of
those ills that destroy men's bodies, and of the suffering endured
by those who come to die with their strength wasting away little by
little, which he called a great affliction. He spoke evil of
physicians, apothecaries, and those who nurse the sick, saying that
they cause them to die of hunger; besides the tortures of syrups,
medicines, clysters, and other martyrdoms, such as not being allowed
to sleep when you are drowsy, making your will, seeing your
relatives round you, and staying in a dark room. He praised death by
the hand of justice, saying that it was a fine thing to go to your
death in that way; to see the broad sky about you, and all that
throng; to be comforted with sweetmeats and with kind words; to have
the priest and the people praying for you; and to go into Paradise
with the Angels; so that whoever departed from this life at one
blow, was very fortunate. And as he discoursed, he would twist
everything to the strangest meanings that were ever heard.
Wherefore, living in such strange fashion, he reduced himself to
such a state with his extravagant fancies, that one morning he was
found dead at the foot of a staircase, in the year 1521; and he was
given burial in S. Piero Maggiore.
His disciples were many, and one among them was Andrea del Sarto,
who was a host in himself. Piero's portrait I received from
Francesco da San Gallo, who was much his friend and intimate
companion, and who made it when Piero was old; which Francesco still
has a work by the hand of Piero that I must not pass by, a very
beautiful head of Cleopatra, with an asp wound round her neck, and
two portraits, one of his father Giuliano, and the other of his
grandfather Francesco Giamberti, which seem to be alive.
[Illustration: FRANCESCO GIAMBERTI
(_After the panel by =Piero di Cosimo=. Hague: Royal Museum, 255_)
_Bruckmann_]
FOOTNOTE:
[13] See note on p. 57, Vol. I.
BRAMANTE DA URBINO
LIFE OF BRAMANTE DA URBINO
ARCHITECT
Of very great advantage to architecture, in truth, was the new
method of Filippo Brunelleschi, who imitated and restored to the
light, after many ages, the noble works of the most learned and
marvellous ancients. But no less useful to our age was Bramante, in
following the footsteps of Filippo, and making the path of his
profession of architecture secure for all who came after him, by
means of his courage, boldness, intellect, and science in that art,
wherein he had the mastery not of theory only, but of supreme skill
and practice. Nor could nature have created a more vigorous
intellect, or one to exercise his art and carry it into execution
with greater invention and proportion, or with a more thorough
knowledge, than Bramante. But no less essential than all this was
the election to the Pontificate, at that time, of Julius II, a Pope
of great spirit, full of desire to leave memorials behind him. And
it was fortunate both for us and for Bramante that he found such a
Prince (a thing which rarely happens to men of great genius), at
whose expense he might be able to display the worth of his
intellect, and that mastery over difficulties which he showed in
architecture. His ability was so universal in the buildings that he
erected, that the outlines of the cornices, the shafts of the
columns, the graceful capitals, the bases, the consoles and corners,
the vaults, the staircases, the projections, and every detail of
every Order of architecture, contrived from the counsel or model of
this craftsman, never failed to astonish all who saw them. Wherefore
it appears to me that the everlasting gratitude which is due to the
ancients from the intellects that study their works, is also due
from them to the labours of Bramante; for if the Greeks were the
inventors of architecture, and the Romans their imitators, Bramante
not only imitated what he saw, with new invention, and taught it to
us, but also added very great beauty and elaboration to the art,
which we see embellished by him at the present day.
He was born at Castel Durante, in the State of Urbino, of poor but
honest parentage. In his boyhood, besides reading and writing, he
gave much attention to arithmetic; but his father, who had need that
he should earn money, perceiving that he delighted much in drawing,
applied him, when still a mere boy, to the art of painting;
whereupon Bramante gave much study to the works of Fra Bartolommeo,
otherwise called Fra Carnovale da Urbino, who painted the
panel-picture of S. Maria della Bella at Urbino. But since he always
delighted in architecture and perspective, he departed from Castel
Durante, and made his way to Lombardy, where he went now to one
city, and now to another, working as best he could, but not on
things of great cost or much credit, having as yet neither name nor
reputation. For this reason he determined at least to see some
noteworthy work, and betook himself to Milan, in order to see the
Duomo. In that city there was then living one Cesare Cesariano,
reputed to be a good geometrician and an able architect, who wrote a
commentary on Vitruvius, and, out of despair at not having received
for this the remuneration that he had expected, became so strange
that he would work no more; and, having grown almost savage, he died
more like a beast than like a human being. There was also one
Bernardino da Trevio, a Milanese, engineer and architect for the
Duomo, and an excellent draughtsman, who was held by Leonardo da
Vinci to be a rare master, although his manner was rather crude and
somewhat hard in painting. By his hand is a Resurrection of Christ
to be seen at the upper end of the cloister of the Grazie, with some
very beautiful foreshortenings; and a chapel in fresco in S.
Francesco, containing the deaths of S. Peter and S. Paul. He painted
many other works in Milan, and he also made a good number in the
surrounding district, which are held in esteem; and in our book
there is a head of a very beautiful woman, in charcoal and
lead-white, which still bears witness to the manner that he
followed.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF SACRISTY
(_After_ Bramante da Urbino. _Milan: S. Satiro_)
_Brogi_]
But to return to Bramante; having studied that building, and having
come to know those engineers, he so took courage, that he resolved
to devote himself wholly to architecture. Having therefore departed
from Milan, he betook himself, just before the holy year of 1500, to
Rome, where he was recognized by some friends, both from his own
country and from Lombardy, and received a commission to paint, over
the Porta Santa of S. Giovanni Laterano, which is opened for the
Jubilee, the coat of arms of Pope Alexander VI, to be executed in
fresco, with angels and other figures acting as supporters.