those who bring their works to birth without effort and with a certain
grace which others cannot give to their creations, either by study or by
imitation. It is a truly celestial gift, which pours down on these works
in such a manner, that they ever have about them a loveliness and a
charm which attract not only those who are versed in that calling, but
also many others who do not belong to the profession. And this springs
from facility in the production of the good, which presents no crudeness
or harshness to the eye, such as is often shown by works wrought with
labour and difficulty; and this grace and simplicity, which give
universal pleasure and are recognized by all, are seen in all the works
made by Desiderio.
Of this man, some say that he came from Settignano, a place two miles
distant from Florence, while certain others hold him to be a Florentine;
but this matters nothing, the distance between the one place and the
other being so small. He was an imitator of the manner of Donato,
although he had a natural gift of imparting very great grace and
loveliness to his heads; and in the expressions of his women and
children there is seen a delicate, sweet, and charming manner, produced
as much by nature, which had inclined him to this, as by the zeal with
which he had practised his intelligence in the art. In his youth he
wrought the base of Donato's David, which is in the Duke's Palace in
Florence, making on it in marble certain very beautiful harpies, and
some vine-tendrils in bronze, very graceful and well conceived. On the
facade of the house of the Gianfigliazzi he made a large and very
beautiful coat of arms, with a lion; besides other works in stone, which
are in the same city. For the Chapel of the Brancacci in the Carmine he
made an angel of wood; and he finished with marble the Chapel of the
Sacrament in S. Lorenzo, carrying it to complete perfection with much
diligence. There was in it a child of marble in the round, which was
removed and is now set up on the altar at the festivals of the Nativity
of Christ, as an admirable work; and in place of this Baccio da
Montelupo made another, also of marble, which stands permanently over
the Tabernacle of the Sacrament. In S. Maria Novella he made a marble
tomb for the Blessed Villana, with certain graceful little angels, and
portrayed her there from nature in such a manner that she appears not
dead but asleep; and for the Nuns of the Murate he wrought a little
Madonna with a lovely and graceful manner, in a tabernacle standing on a
column; insomuch that both these works are very highly esteemed and very
greatly prized. In S. Pietro Maggiore, also, he made the Tabernacle of
the Sacrament in marble with his usual diligence; and although there are
no figures in this work, yet it shows a beautiful manner and infinite
grace, like his other works. And he portrayed from the life, likewise in
marble, the head of Marietta degli Strozzi, who was so beautiful that
the work turned out very excellent.
In S. Croce he made a tomb for Messer Carlo Marsuppini of Arezzo, which
not only amazed the craftsmen and the people of understanding who saw it
at that time, but still fills with marvel all who see it at the present
day; for on the sarcophagus he wrought some foliage, which, although
somewhat stiff and dry, was held--since but few antiquities had been
discovered up to that time--to be something very beautiful. Among other
parts of the said work are seen certain wings, acting as ornaments for a
shell at the foot of the sarcophagus, which seem to be made not of
marble but of feathers--difficult things to imitate in marble, seeing
that the chisel is not able to counterfeit hair and feathers. There is a
large shell of marble, more real than if it were an actual shell. There
are also some children and some angels, executed with a beautiful and
lively manner; and consummate excellence and art are likewise seen in
the figure of the dead, portrayed from nature on the sarcophagus, and in
a Madonna in low-relief on a medallion, wrought after the manner of
Donato with judgment and most admirable grace; as are many other
works that he made in low-relief on marble, some of which are in the
guardaroba of the Lord Duke Cosimo, and in particular a medallion with
the head of Our Lord Jesus Christ and with that of John the Baptist as a
boy. At the foot of the tomb of the said Messer Carlo he laid a large
stone in memory of Messer Giorgio, a famous Doctor, and Secretary to the
Signoria of Florence, with a very beautiful portrait in low-relief of
Messer Giorgio, clad in his Doctor's robes according to the use of those
times.
[Illustration: TOMB OF CARLO MARSUPPINI
(_After =Desiderio da Settignano=. Florence: S. Croce_)
_Alinari_]
If death had not snatched so prematurely from the world a spirit which
worked so nobly, he would have done so much later on by means of
experience and study, that he would have outstripped in art all those
whom he had surpassed in grace. Death cut the thread of his life at the
age of twenty-eight, which caused great grief to those who were looking
forward to seeing so great an intellect attain to perfection in old age;
and they were left in the deepest dismay at such a loss. He was followed
by his relatives and by many friends to the Church of the Servi; and a
vast number of epigrams and sonnets continued for a long time to be
placed on his tomb, of which I have contented myself with including only
the following:
COME VIDE NATURA
DAR DESIDERIO AI FREDDI MARMI VITA,
E POTER LA SCULTURA
AGGUAGLIAR SUA BELLEZZA ALMA E INFINITA,
SI FERMO SBIGOTTITA
E DISSE; OMAI SARA MIA GLORIA OSCURA.
E PIENA D'ALTO SDEGNO
TRONCO LA VITA A COSI BELL' INGEGNO.
MA IN VAN; CHE SE COSTUI
DIE VITA ETERNA AI MARMI, E I MARMI A LUI.
The sculptures of Desiderio date about 1485. He left unfinished a figure
of S. Mary Magdalene in Penitence, which was afterwards completed by
Benedetto da Maiano, and is now in S. Trinita in Florence, on the right
hand as one enters the church; and the beauty of this figure is beyond
the power of words to express. In our book are certain very beautiful
pen-drawings by Desiderio; and his portrait was obtained from some of
his relatives in Settignano.
MINO DA FIESOLE
LIFE OF MINO DA FIESOLE
[_MINO DI GIOVANNI_]
SCULPTOR
When our craftsmen seek to do no more in the works that they execute
than to imitate the manner of their masters, or that of some other man
of excellence whose method of working pleases them, either in the
attitudes of the figures, or in the expressions of the heads, or in the
folds of the draperies, and when they study these things only, they may
with time and diligence come to make them exactly the same, but they
cannot by these means alone attain to perfection in their art, seeing
that it is clearly evident that one who ever walks behind rarely comes
to the front, since the imitation of nature becomes fixed in the manner
of a craftsman who has developed that manner out of long practice. For
imitation is a definite art of copying what you represent exactly after
the model of the most beautiful things of nature, which you must take
pure and free from the manner of your master or that of others, who also
reduce to a manner the things that they take from nature. And although
it may appear that the imitations made by excellent craftsmen are
natural objects, or absolutely similar, it is not possible with all the
diligence in the world to make them so similar that they shall be like
nature herself, or even, by selecting the best, to compose a body so
perfect as to make art excel nature. Now, if this is so, it follows that
only objects taken from nature can make pictures and sculptures perfect,
and that if a man studies closely only the manner of other craftsmen,
and not bodies and objects of nature, it is inevitable that he should
make works inferior both to nature and to those of the man whose manner
he adopts. Wherefore it has been seen in the case of many of our
craftsmen, who have refused to study anything save the works of their
masters, leaving nature on one side, that they have failed to gain any
real knowledge of them or to surpass their masters, but have done very
great injury to their own powers; whereas, if they had studied the
manner of their masters and the objects of nature together, they would
have produced much greater fruits in their works than they did. This is
seen in the works of the sculptor Mino da Fiesole, who, having an
intelligence capable of achieving whatsoever he wished, was so
captivated by the manner of his master Desiderio da Settignano, by
reason of the beautiful grace that he gave to the heads of women,
children, and every other kind of figure, which appeared to Mino's
judgment to be superior to nature, that he practised and studied it
alone, abandoning natural objects and thinking them useless; wherefore
he had more grace than solid grounding in his art.
It was on the hill of Fiesole, a very ancient city near Florence, that
there was born the sculptor Mino di Giovanni, who, having been
apprenticed to the craft of stone-cutting under Desiderio da Settignano,
a young man excellent in sculpture, showed so much inclination to his
master's art, that, while he was labouring at the hewing of stones, he
learnt to copy in clay the works that Desiderio had made in marble; and
this he did so well that his master, seeing that he was likely to make
progress in that art, brought him forward and set him to work on his own
figures in marble, in which he sought with very great attention to
reproduce the model before him. Nor did he continue long at this before
he became passing skilful in that calling; at which Desiderio was
greatly pleased, and still more pleased was Mino by the loving-kindness
of his master, seeing that Desiderio was ever ready to teach him how to
avoid the errors that can be committed in that art. Now, while he was on
the way to becoming excellent in his profession, his ill luck would have
it that Desiderio should pass to a better life, and this loss was a very
great blow to Mino, who departed from Florence, almost in despair, and
went to Rome. There, assisting masters who were then executing works in
marble, such as tombs of Cardinals, which were placed in S. Pietro,
although they have since been thrown to the ground in the building of
the new church, he became known as a very experienced and capable
master; and he was commissioned by Cardinal Guglielmo Destovilla, who
was pleased with his manner, to make the marble altar where lies the
body of S. Jerome, in the Church of S. Maria Maggiore, together with
scenes in low-relief from his life, which he executed to perfection,
with a portrait of that Cardinal.
[Illustration: TOMB OF MARGRAVE HUGO
(_After =Mino da Fiesole=. Florence: Badia_)
_Alinari_]
Afterwards, when Pope Paul II, the Venetian, was erecting his Palace of
S. Marco, Mino was employed thereon in making certain coats of arms.
After the death of that Pope, Mino was commissioned to make his tomb,
which he delivered finished and erected in S. Pietro in the space of two
years. This tomb was then held to be the richest, both in ornaments and
in figures, that had ever been made for any Pontiff; but it was thrown
to the ground by Bramante in the demolition of S. Pietro, and remained
there buried among the rubbish for some years, until 1547, when certain
Venetians had it rebuilt in the old S. Pietro, against a wall near the
Chapel of Pope Innocent. And although some believe that this tomb is by
the hand of Mino del Reame, yet, notwithstanding that these two masters
lived almost at the same time, it is without doubt by the hand of Mino
da Fiesole. It is true, indeed, that the said Mino del Reame made some
little figures on the base, which can be recognized; if in truth his
name was Mino, and not, as some maintain, Dino.
But to return to our craftsman; having acquired a good name in Rome by
the said tomb, by the sarcophagus that he made for the Minerva, on which
he placed a marble statue of Francesco Tornabuoni from nature, which is
held very beautiful, and by other works, it was not long before he
returned to Fiesole with a good sum of money saved, and took a wife. And
no long time after this, working for the Nuns of the Murate, he made a
marble tabernacle in half-relief to contain the Sacrament, which was
brought to perfection by him with all the diligence in his power. This
he had not yet fixed into its place, when the Nuns of S. Ambrogio--who
desired to have an ornament made, similar in design but richer in
adornment, to contain that most holy relic, the Miracle of the
Sacrament--hearing of the ability of Mino, commissioned him to execute
that work, which he finished with so great diligence that those nuns,
being satisfied with him, gave him all that he asked as the price of the
work. And a little after this he undertook, at the instance of Messer
Dietisalvi Neroni, to make a little panel with figures of Our Lady with
the Child in her arms, and S. Laurence on one side and S. Leonard on the
other, in half-relief, which was intended for the priests or chapter of
S. Lorenzo; but it has remained in the Sacristy of the Badia of
Florence. For those monks he made a marble medallion containing a
Madonna in relief with the Child in her arms, which they placed over the
principal door of entrance into the church; and since it gave great
satisfaction to all, he received a commission for a tomb for the
Magnificent Chevalier, Messer Bernardo de' Giugni, who, having been an
honourable man of high repute, rightly received this memorial from his
brothers. On this tomb, besides the sarcophagus and the portrait from
nature of the dead man, Mino executed a figure of Justice, which
resembles the manner of Desiderio closely, save only that its draperies
are a little too full of detail in the carving. This work induced the
Abbot and Monks of the Badia of Florence, in which place the said tomb
was erected, to entrust Mino with the making of one for Count Ugo, son
of the Marquis Uberto of Magdeburg, who bequeathed great wealth and many
privileges to that abbey. And so, desiring to honour him as much as they
could, they caused Mino to make a tomb of Carrara marble, which was the
most beautiful work that Mino ever made; for in it there are some boys,
upholding the arms of that Count, who are standing in very spirited
attitudes, with a childish grace; and besides the figure of the dead
Count, with his likeness, which he made on the sarcophagus, in the
middle of the wall above the bier there is a figure of Charity, with
certain children, wrought with much diligence and very well in harmony
with the whole. The same is seen in a Madonna with the Child in her
arms, in a lunette, which Mino made as much like the manner of Desiderio
as he could; and if he had assisted his methods of work by studying from
the life, there is no doubt that he would have made very great progress
in his art. This tomb, with all its expenses, cost 1,600 lire, and he
finished it in 1481, thereby acquiring much honour, and obtaining a
commission to make a tomb for Lionardo Salutati, Bishop of Fiesole, in
the Vescovado of that place, in a chapel near the principal chapel, on
the right hand as one goes up; on which tomb he portrayed him in his
episcopal robes, as lifelike as possible. For the same Bishop he made a
head of Christ in marble, life-size and very well wrought, which was
left among other bequests to the Hospital of the Innocenti; and at the
present day the Very Reverend Don Vincenzio Borghini, Prior of that
hospital, holds it among his most precious examples of these arts, in
which he takes a delight beyond my power to express in words.
In the Pieve of Prato Mino made a pulpit entirely of marble, in which
there are stories of Our Lady, executed with much diligence and put
together so well, that the work appears all of one piece. This pulpit
stands over one corner of the choir, almost in the middle of the church,
above certain ornaments made under the direction of the same Mino. He
also made portraits of Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici and his wife,
marvellously lifelike and true to nature. These two heads stood for many
years over two doors in Piero's apartment in the house of the Medici,
each in a lunette; afterwards they were removed, with the portraits of
many other illustrious men of that house, to the guardaroba of the Lord
Duke Cosimo. Mino also made a Madonna in marble, which is now in the
Audience Chamber of the Guild of the Masters in Wood and Stone; and to
Perugia, for Messer Baglione Ribi, he sent a marble panel, which was
placed in the Chapel of the Sacrament in S. Pietro, the work being in
the form of a tabernacle, with S. John on one side and S. Jerome on the
other--good figures in half-relief. The Tabernacle of the Sacrament in
the Duomo of Volterra is likewise by his hand, with the two angels
standing one on either side of it, so well and so diligently executed
that this work is deservedly praised by all craftsmen.
Finally, attempting one day to move certain stones, and not having the
needful assistance at hand, Mino fatigued himself so greatly that he was
seized by pleurisy and died of it; and he was honourably buried by his
friends and relatives in the Canon's house at Fiesole in the year 1486.
The portrait of Mino is in our book of drawings, but I do not know by
whose hand; it was given to me together with some drawings made with
blacklead by Mino himself, which have no little beauty.
LORENZO COSTA
LIFE OF LORENZO COSTA
PAINTER OF FERRARA
Although men have ever practised the arts of design more in Tuscany than
in any other province of Italy, and perhaps of Europe, yet it is none
the less true that in every age there has arisen in the other provinces
some genius who has proved himself rare and excellent in the same
professions, as has been shown up to the present in many of the Lives,
and will be demonstrated even more in those that are to follow. It is
true, indeed, that where there are no studies, and where men are not
disposed by custom to learn, they are not able to advance so rapidly or
to become so excellent as they do in those places where craftsmen are
for ever practising and studying in competition. But as soon as one or
two make a beginning, it seems always to come to pass that many
others--such is the force of excellence--strive to follow them, with
honour both for themselves and for their countries.
Lorenzo Costa of Ferrara, being inclined by nature to the art of
painting, and hearing that Fra Filippo, Benozzo, and others were
celebrated and highly esteemed in Tuscany, betook himself to Florence in
order to see their works; and on his arrival, finding that their manner
pleased him greatly, he stayed there many months, striving to imitate
them to the best of his power, particularly in drawing from nature. In
this he succeeded so happily, that, after returning to his own country,
although his manner was a little dry and hard, he made many praiseworthy
works there; as may be seen from the choir of the Church of S. Domenico
in Ferrara, wrought entirely by his hand, from which it is evident that
he used great diligence in his art and put much labour into his works.
In the guardaroba of the Lord Duke of Ferrara there are seen portraits
from life in many pictures by his hand, which are very well wrought and
very lifelike. In the houses of noblemen, likewise, there are works by
his hand which are held in great veneration.
In the Church of S. Domenico at Ravenna, in the Chapel of S. Sebastiano,
he painted the panel in oil and certain scenes in fresco, which were
much extolled. Being next summoned to Bologna, he painted a panel in the
Chapel of the Mariscotti in S. Petronio, representing S. Sebastian bound
to the column and pierced with arrows, with many other figures, which
was the best work in distemper that had been made up to that time in
that city. By his hand, also, was the panel of S. Jerome in the Chapel
of the Castelli, and likewise that of S. Vincent, wrought in like manner
in distemper, which is in the Chapel of the Griffoni; the predella of
this he caused to be painted by a pupil of his, who acquitted himself
much better than the master did in the panel, as will be told in the
proper place. In the same city, and in the same church, Lorenzo painted
a panel for the Chapel of the Rossi, with Our Lady, S. James, S. George,
S. Sebastian, and S. Jerome; which work is better and sweeter in manner
than any other that he ever made.
Afterwards, having entered the service of Signor Francesco Gonzaga,
Marquis of Mantua, Lorenzo painted many scenes for him, partly in
gouache and partly in oil, in an apartment in the Palace of S.
Sebastiano. In one is the Marchioness Isabella, portrayed from life,
accompanied by many ladies who are singing various parts and making a
sweet harmony. In another is the Goddess Latona, who is transforming
certain peasants into frogs, according to the fable. In the third is the
Marquis Francesco, led by Hercules along the path of virtue upon the
summit of a mountain consecrated to Eternity. In another picture the
same Marquis is seen triumphant on a pedestal, with a staff in his hand;
and round him are many nobles and retainers with standards in their
hands, all rejoicing and full of jubilation at his greatness, among whom
there is an infinite number of portraits from the life. And in the great
hall, where the triumphal processions by the hand of Mantegna now are,
he painted two pictures, one at each end. In the first, which is in
gouache, are many naked figures lighting fires and making sacrifices to
Hercules; and in this is a portrait from life of the Marquis, with
his three sons, Federigo, Ercole, and Ferrante, who afterwards became
very great and very illustrious lords; and there are likewise some
portraits of great ladies. In the other, which was painted in oil many
years after the first, and which was one of the last works that Lorenzo
executed, is the Marquis Federigo, grown to man's estate, with a staff
in his hand, as General of Holy Church under Leo X; and round him are
many lords portrayed by Costa from the life.
[Illustration: THE CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN
(_After the panel by =Lorenzo Costa=. Bologna: S. Giovanni in Monte_)
_Alinari_]
In Bologna, in the Palace of Messer Giovanni Bentivogli, the same man
painted certain rooms in competition with many other masters; but of
these, since they were thrown to the ground in the destruction of that
palace, no further mention will be made. But I will not forbear to say
that, of the works that he executed for the Bentivogli, only one
remained standing--namely, the chapel that he painted for Messer
Giovanni in S. Jacopo, wherein he wrought two scenes of triumphal
processions, which are held very beautiful, with many portraits. In the
year 1497, also, for Jacopo Chedini, he painted a panel for a chapel in
S. Giovanni in Monte, in which he wished to be buried after death; in
this he made a Madonna, S. John the Evangelist, S. Augustine, and other
saints. On a panel in S. Francesco he painted a Nativity, S. James, and
S. Anthony of Padua. In S. Pietro he made a most beautiful beginning in
a chapel for Domenico Garganelli, a gentleman of Bologna; but, whatever
may have been the reason, after making some figures on the ceiling, he
left it unfinished, nay, scarcely begun.
In Mantua, besides the works that he executed there for the Marquis, of
which we have spoken above, he painted a Madonna on a panel for S.
Silvestro; and on one side, S. Sylvester recommending the people of that
city to her, and, on the other, S. Sebastian, S. Paul, S. Elizabeth, and
S. Jerome. It is reported that the said panel was placed in that church
after the death of Costa, who, having finished his life in Mantua, in
which city his descendants have lived ever since, wished to have a
burial-place in that church both for himself and for his successors.
The same man made many other pictures, of which nothing more will be
said, for it is enough to have recorded the best. His portrait I
received in Mantua from Fermo Ghisoni, an excellent painter, who assured
me that it was by the hand of Costa, who was a passing good draughtsman,
as may be seen from a pen-drawing on parchment in our book, wherein is
the Judgment of Solomon, with a S. Jerome in chiaroscuro, which are both
very well wrought.