Gabriele Rustici, and Fra Paolo Pistoiese, the latter inheriting all
his possessions. This Fra Paolo painted many panels and pictures
from his master's drawings, after his death; of which three are in
S. Domenico at Pistoia, and one at S. Maria del Sasso in the
Casentino.
Fra Bartolommeo gave such grace to his figures with his colouring,
and made them so novel and so modern in manner, that for these
reasons he deserves to be numbered by us among the benefactors of
art.
FOOTNOTE:
[16] The word "utilmente" is substituted here for the
"ultimamente" of the text, which makes no sense.
MARIOTTO ALBERTINELLI
LIFE OF MARIOTTO ALBERTINELLI
PAINTER OF FLORENCE
Mariotto Albertinelli, the closest and most intimate friend of Fra
Bartolommeo--his other self, one might call him, not only on account
of the constant connection and intercourse between them, but also
through their similarity of manner during the period when Mariotto
gave proper attention to art--was the son of Biagio di Bindo
Albertinelli. At the age of twenty he abandoned his calling of
gold-beater, in which he had been employed up to that time; and he
learnt the first rudiments of painting in the workshop of Cosimo
Rosselli, where he formed such an intimacy with Baccio della Porta,
that they were one soul and one body. Such, indeed, was the
brotherly friendship between them, that when Baccio took his leave
of Cosimo, in order to practise his art as a master by himself,
Mariotto went off with him; whereupon they lived for a long time,
both one and the other, at the Porta a S. Piero Gattolini, executing
many works in company. And since Mariotto was not so well grounded
in drawing as was Baccio, he devoted himself to the study of such
antiquities as were then in Florence, the greater part and the best
of which were in the house of the Medici. He made a number of
drawings of certain little panels in half-relief that were under the
loggia in the garden, on the side towards S. Lorenzo, in one of
which is Adonis with a very beautiful dog, and in another two nude
figures, one seated, with a dog at its feet, and the other standing
with the legs crossed, leaning on a staff. Both these panels are
marvellous; and there are likewise two others of the same size, in
one of which are two little boys carrying Jove's thunderbolt, while
in the other is the nude figure of an old man, with wings on his
shoulders and feet, representing Chance, and balancing a pair of
scales in his hands. In addition to these works, that garden was
full of torsi of men and women, which were a school not only for
Mariotto, but for all the sculptors and painters of his time. A good
part of these are now in the guardaroba of Duke Cosimo, and others,
such as the two torsi of Marsyas, the heads over the windows, and
those of the Emperors over the doors, are still in the same place.
By studying these antiquities, Mariotto made great proficience in
drawing; and he entered into the service of the mother of Duke
Lorenzo, Madonna Alfonsina, who, desiring that he should devote
himself to becoming an able master, offered him all possible
assistance. Dividing his time, therefore, between drawing and
colouring, he became a passing good craftsman, as is proved by some
pictures that he executed for that lady, which were sent by her to
Rome, for Carlo and Giordano Orsini, and which afterwards came into
the hands of Cæsar Borgia. He made a very good portrait of Madonna
Alfonsina from the life; and it seemed to him, on account of his
friendship with her, that his fortune was made, when, in the year
1494, Piero de' Medici was banished, and her assistance and favour
failed him. Whereupon he returned to the workshop of Baccio, where
he set himself with even greater zeal to make models of clay and to
increase his knowledge, labouring at the study of nature, and
imitating the works of Baccio, so that in a few years he became a
sound and practised master. And then, seeing his work succeeding so
well, he so grew in courage, that, imitating the manner and method
of his companion, the hand of Mariotto was taken by many for that of
Fra Bartolommeo.
[Illustration: THE MADONNA ENTHRONED, WITH SAINTS
(_After the panel by =Mariotto Albertinelli=. Florence: Accademia,
167_)
_Alinari_]
But when he heard that Baccio had gone off to become a monk,
Mariotto was almost overwhelmed and out of his mind; and so strange
did the news seem to him, that he was in despair, and nothing could
cheer him. If it had not been, indeed, that Mariotto could not then
endure having anything to do with monks, against whom he was ever
railing, and belonged to the party that was opposed to the faction
of Fra Girolamo of Ferrara, his love for Baccio would have wrought
upon him so strongly, that it would have forced him to don the cowl
in the same convent as his companion. However, he was besought by
Gerozzo Dini, who had given the commission for the Judgment that
Baccio had left unfinished in the Ossa, that he, having a manner
similar to Baccio's, should undertake to finish it; whereupon, being
also moved by the circumstance that the cartoon completed by the
hand of Baccio and other drawings were there, and by the entreaties
of Fra Bartolommeo himself, who had received money on account of the
painting, and was troubled in conscience at not having kept his
promise, he finished the work, and executed all that was wanting
with diligence and love, in such a way that many, not knowing this,
think that it was painted by one single hand; and this brought him
vast credit among craftsmen.
In the Chapter-house of the Certosa of Florence he executed a
Crucifixion, with Our Lady and the Magdalene at the foot of the
Cross, and some angels in the sky, who are receiving the blood of
Christ; a work wrought in fresco, with diligence and lovingness, and
passing well painted. Now some of the young men who were learning
art under him, thinking that the friars were not giving them proper
food, had counterfeited, without the knowledge of Mariotto, the keys
of those windows opening into the friar's rooms, through which their
pittance is passed; and sometimes, in secret, they stole some of it,
now from one and now from another. There was a great uproar about
this among the friars, since in the matter of eating they are as
sensitive as any other person; but the lads did it with great
dexterity, and, since they were held to be honest fellows, the blame
fell on some of the friars, who were said to be doing it from hatred
of one another. However, one day the truth was revealed, and the
friars, to the end that the work might be finished, gave a double
allowance to Mariotto and his lads, who finished the work with great
glee and laughter.
For the Nuns of S. Giuliano in Florence he painted the panel of
their high-altar, which he executed in a room that he had in the
Gualfonda; together with another for the same church, with a
Crucifix, some Angels, and God the Father, representing the Trinity,
in oils and on a gold ground.
Mariotto was a most restless person, devoted to the pleasures of
love, and a good liver in the matter of eating; wherefore,
conceiving a hatred for the subtleties and brain-rackings of
painting, and being often wounded by the tongues of other painters
(according to the undying custom among them, handed down from one to
another), he resolved to turn to a more humble, less fatiguing, and
more cheerful art. And so, having opened a very fine inn, without
the Porta S. Gallo, and a tavern and inn on the Ponte Vecchio, at
the Dragon, he followed that calling for many months, saying that he
had chosen an art without foreshortenings, muscles, and
perspectives, and, what was much more important, free from censure,
and that the art which he had given up was quite the contrary of his
new one, since the former imitated flesh and blood, and the latter
made both blood and flesh; and now, having good wine, he heard
himself praised all day long, whereas before he used to hear nothing
but censure.
[Illustration: MARIOTTO ALBERTINELLI: THE SALUTATION
(_Florence: Uffizi, 1259. Panel_)]
However, having grown weary of this as well, and ashamed of the
baseness of his calling, he returned to painting, and executed
pictures and paintings for the houses of citizens in Florence. For
Giovan Maria Benintendi he painted three little scenes with his own
hand; and for the house of the Medici, at the election of Leo X, he
painted a round picture of his arms, in oils, with Faith, Hope, and
Charity, which hung for a long time over the door of their palace.
He undertook to make, in the Company of S. Zanobi, near the
Chapter-house of S. Maria del Fiore, a panel-picture of the
Annunciation, which he executed with great labour. For this he
caused special windows to be made, wishing to work on the spot, in
order to be able to make the views recede, where they were high and
distant, by lowering the tones, or to bring them forward, at his
pleasure. Now he had conceived the idea that pictures which have no
relief and force, combined with delicacy, are of no account; but
since he knew that they cannot be made to stand out from the surface
without shadows, which, if they are too dark, remain indistinct,
while, if they are delicate, they have no force, he was eager to
combine this delicacy with a certain method of treatment to which up
to that time, so it seemed to him, art had not attained in any
satisfactory manner. Wherefore, looking on this work as an
opportunity for accomplishing this, he set himself, to this end, to
make extraordinary efforts, which may be recognized in a figure
of God the Father, which is in the sky, and in some little children,
who stand out from the panel in strong relief against a dark
background in perspective that he made there with a ceiling in the
form of a barrel-shaped vault, which, with its arches curving and
its lines diminishing to a point, recedes inwards in such a manner
that it appears to be in relief; besides which, there are some
angels scattering flowers as they fly, that are very graceful.
This work was painted out and painted in again many times by
Mariotto before he could bring it to completion. He was for ever
changing the colouring, making it now lighter, now darker, and
sometimes more lively and glowing, sometimes less; but, never being
completely satisfied, and never persuaded that he had done justice
with his hand to the thoughts of his intellect, he wished to find a
white that should be more brilliant than lead-white, and set
himself, therefore, to clarify the latter, in order to be able to
heighten the highest light to his own satisfaction. However, having
recognized that he was not able to express by means of art all that
the intelligence of the human brain grasps and comprehends, he
contented himself with what he had achieved, since he could not
attain to what it was not possible to reach. This work brought
Mariotto praise and honour among craftsmen, but by no means as much
profit as he hoped to gain from his patrons in return for his
labours, since a dispute arose between him and those who had
commissioned him to paint it. But Pietro Perugino, then an old man,
Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, and Francesco Granacci valued it, and settled
the price of the work by common consent.
For S. Pancrazio, in Florence, Mariotto painted a semicircular
picture of the Visitation of Our Lady. For S. Trinità, likewise, he
executed with diligence a panel-picture of Our Lady, S. Jerome, and
S. Zanobi, at the commission of Zanobi del Maestro; and for the
Church of the Congregation of the Priests of S. Martino, he painted
a picture on panel of the Visitation, which is much extolled. He was
invited to the Convent of La Quercia, without Viterbo; but after
having begun a panel there, he conceived a desire to see Rome.
Having made his way to that city, therefore, he executed to
perfection for the Chapel of Fra Mariano Fetti in S. Silvestro di
Monte Cavallo, a panel-picture in oils of S. Dominic, S. Catherine
of Siena, with Christ marrying her, and Our Lady, in a delicate
manner. He then returned to La Quercia, where he had a mistress, to
whom, on account of the desire that he had felt while he was in Rome
and could not enjoy her love, he sought to show that he was valiant
in the lists; wherefore he exerted himself so much, that, being no
longer young and so stalwart in such efforts, he was forced to take
to his bed. And laying the blame for this on the air of the place,
he had himself carried to Florence in a litter; but no expedients or
remedies availed him in his sickness, from which he died in a few
days, at the age of forty-five. He was buried in S. Piero Maggiore,
in that city.
There are some drawings by the hand of this master in our book,
executed with the pen and in chiaroscuro, which are very good;
particularly a spiral staircase, drawn with great ingenuity in
perspective, of which he had a good knowledge.
Mariotto had many disciples; among others, Giuliano Bugiardini and
Franciabigio, both Florentines, and Innocenzio da Imola, of whom we
will speak in the proper place. Visino, a painter of Florence, was
likewise his disciple, and excelled all these others in drawing,
colouring, and industry, showing, also, a better manner in the works
that he made, which he executed with great diligence. A few of them
are still in Florence; and one can study his work at the present day
in the house of Giovan Battista d' Agnol Doni, in a mirror[17]--picture
painted in oils after the manner of a miniature, wherein are Adam and
Eve naked, eating the apple, a work executed with great care; and from
another picture, of Christ being taken down from the Cross, together
with the Thieves, in which there is a beautifully contrived
complication of ladders, with some men aiding each other to take down
the body of Christ, and others bearing one of the Thieves on their
shoulders to burial, and all the figures in varied and fantastic
attitudes, suited to that subject, and proving that he was an able
man. The same master was brought by some Florentine merchants to
Hungary, where he executed many works and gained great renown. But the
poor man was soon in danger of coming to an evil end, because, being
of a frank and free-spoken nature, he was not able to endure the
wearisome persistence of some Hungarians, who kept tormenting him all
day long with praises of their own country, as if there were no
pleasure or happiness in anything except eating and drinking in their
stifling rooms, and no grandeur or nobility save in their King and his
Court, all the rest of the world being rubbish. It seemed to him (and
indeed it is true) that in Italy there was another kind of excellence,
culture, and beauty; and one day, being weary of their nonsense, and
chancing to be a little merry, he let slip the opinion that a flask of
Trebbiano and a berlingozzo[18] were worth all the Kings and Queens
that had ever reigned in those regions. And if the matter had not
happened to fall into the hands of a Bishop, who was a gentleman and a
man of the world, and also, above all, a tactful person, both able and
willing to turn the thing into a joke, Visino would have learnt not to
play with savages; for those brutes of Hungarians, not understanding
his words, and thinking that he had uttered something terrible, such
as a threat that he would rob their King of his life and throne,
wished to give him short shrift and crucify him by mob-law. But the
good Bishop drew him out of all embarrassment, and, appraising the
merit of the excellent master at its true value, and putting a good
complexion on the affair, restored him to the favour of the King, who,
on hearing the story, was much amused by it. His good fortune,
however, did not last long, for, not being able to endure the stifling
rooms and the cold air, which ruined his constitution, in a short time
this brought his life to an end; although his repute and fame survived
in the memory of those who knew him when alive, and of those who saw
his works in the years after his death. His pictures date about the
year 1512.
FOOTNOTE:
[17] The words of the text, "un quadro d' una spera," are a
little obscure; but the translator has been strengthened in his
belief that his rendering is correct by seeing a little picture,
painted on a mirror, and numbered 7697, in the Victoria and Albert
Museum. The subject of this picture, which the translator was
enabled to see by the courtesy of Mr. B. S. Long, of the Department
of Paintings, is the same as that of the work mentioned by Vasari,
and it may be a copy.
[18] Florentine puff-pastry.
RAFFAELLINO DEL GARBO
LIFE OF RAFFAELLINO DEL GARBO
PAINTER OF FLORENCE
Raffaello del Garbo, while he was a little boy, was called by the pet
name of Raffaellino, which he retained ever afterwards; and in his
earliest days he gave such promise in his art, that he was already
numbered among the most excellent masters, a thing which happens to
few. But still fewer meet the fate which afterwards came upon him,
in that from a splendid beginning and almost certain hopes, he
arrived at a very feeble end. For it is a general rule, in the world
both of nature and of art, for things to grow gradually from small
beginnings, little by little, until they reach their highest
perfection. It is true, however, that many laws both of art and of
nature are unknown to us, nor do they hold to one unvarying order at
all times and in every case, a thing which very often renders
uncertain the judgments of men. How this may happen is seen in
Raffaellino, since it appeared that in him nature and art did their
utmost to set out from extraordinary beginnings, the middle stage of
which was below mediocrity, and the end almost nothing.
In his youth he drew as much as any painter who has ever exercised
himself in drawing in order to become perfect; wherefore there may
still be seen, throughout the world of art, a great number of his
drawings, which have been dispersed by a son of his for ridiculous
prices, partly drawn with the style, partly with the pen or in
water-colours, but all on tinted paper, heightened with lead-white,
and executed with marvellous boldness and mastery; and there are
many of them in our book, drawn in a most beautiful manner. Besides
this, he learnt to paint so well in distemper and in fresco, that
his first works were executed with an incredible patience and
diligence, as has been related.
In the Minerva, round the tomb of Cardinal Caraffa, he painted the
vaulted ceiling, with such delicacy, that it seems like the work of
an illuminator; wherefore it was held in great estimation by
craftsmen at that time. His master, Filippo, regarded him in some
respects as a much better painter than himself; and Raffaellino had
acquired Filippo's manner so well, that there were few who could
distinguish the one from the other. Later, after having left his
master, he gave much more delicacy to that manner in the draperies,
and greater softness to hair and to the expressions of the heads;
and he was held in such expectation by craftsmen, that, while he
followed this manner, he was considered the first of the young
painters of his day. Now the family of the Capponi, having built a
chapel that is called the Paradiso, on the hill below the Church of
S. Bartolommeo a Monte Oliveto, without the Porta a S. Friano,
wished to have the panel executed by Raffaellino, and gave him the
commission; whereupon he painted in oils the Resurrection of Christ,
with some soldiers who have fallen, as if dead, round the Sepulchre.
These figures are very spirited and beautiful, and they have the
most graceful heads that it is possible to see; among which, in the
head of a young man, is a marvellous portrait of Niccola Capponi,
while, in like manner, the head of one who is crying out because the
stone covering of the tomb has fallen upon him, is most beautiful
and bizarre. Wherefore the Capponi, having seen that Raffaellino's
picture was a rare work, caused a frame to be made for it, all
carved, with round columns richly adorned with burnished gold on a
ground of bole. Before many years had passed, the campanile of that
building was struck by lightning, which pierced the vault and fell
near that panel, which, having been executed in oils, suffered no
harm; but where the fluid passed near the gilt frame, it consumed
the gold, leaving nothing there but the bare bole. It has seemed to
me right to say that much with regard to oil-painting, to the end
that all may see how important it is to know how to guard against
such injury, which lightning has done not only to this work, but to
many others.
[Illustration: THE RESURRECTION
(_After the panel by =Raffaellino del Garbo=. Florence: Accademia,
90_)
_Anderson_]
He painted in fresco, at the corner of a house that now belongs to
Matteo Botti, between the Canto del Ponte alla Carraja and the Canto
della Cuculia, a little shrine containing Our Lady with the Child
in her arms, with S. Catherine and S. Barbara kneeling, a very
graceful and carefully executed work. For the Villa of Marignolle,
belonging to the Girolami, he painted two most beautiful panels,
with Our Lady, S. Zanobi, and other saints; and he filled the
predella below both of these with little figures representing scenes
from the lives of those saints, executed with great diligence. On
the wall above the door of the Church of the Nuns of S. Giorgio, he
painted a Pietà, with a group of the Maries; and in like manner, in
another arch below this, a figure of Our Lady, a work worthy of
great praise, executed in the year 1504. In the Church of S. Spirito
at Florence, in a panel over that of the Nerli, which his master
Filippo had executed, he painted a Pietà, which is held to be a very
good and praiseworthy work; but in another, representing S. Bernard,
he fell short of that standard. Below the door of the sacristy are
two panel-pictures by his hand; one showing S. Gregory the Pope
saying Mass, when Christ appears to him, naked, with the Cross on
His shoulder, and shedding blood from His side, with the deacon and
sub-deacon, in their vestments, serving the Mass, and two angels
swinging censers over the body of Christ. For another chapel, lower
down, he executed a panel-picture containing Our Lady, S. Jerome,
and S. Bartholomew. On these two works he bestowed no little labour;
but he went on deteriorating from day to day. I do not know to what
I should attribute his misfortune, for poor Raffaellino was not
wanting in industry, diligence, and application; yet they availed
him little. It is believed, indeed, that, becoming overburdened and
impoverished by the cares of a family, and being compelled to use
for his daily needs whatever he earned, not to mention that he was a
man of no great spirit and undertook to do work for small prices, in
this way he went on growing worse little by little; although there
is always something of the good to be seen in his works.