Arezzo, who painted in colours the facade of the house of the Belichini
in Arezzo, and two chapels in fresco, one beside the other, in S.
Pietro. Another disciple of Don Bartolommeo was Domenico Pecori of
Arezzo, who made three figures in distemper on a panel at Sargiano, and
painted a very beautiful banner in oil, to be carried in processions,
for the Company of S. Maria Maddalena. For Messer Presentino Bisdomini,
in the Chapel of S. Andrea in the Pieve, he made a picture of S.
Apollonia, similar to that mentioned above; and he finished many works
left incomplete by his master, such as the panel of S. Sebastian and S.
Fabiano with the Madonna, in S. Pietro, for the family of the Benucci.
In the Church of S. Antonio he painted the panel of the high-altar,
wherein is a very devout Madonna, with some saints; and since the said
Madonna is adoring the Child, whom she has in her lap, he made it appear
that a little angel, kneeling behind her, is supporting Our Lord on a
cushion, the Madonna not being able to uphold Him because she has her
hands clasped in the act of adoration. In the Church of S. Giustino, for
Messer Antonio Roselli, he painted a chapel with the Magi in fresco; and
for the Company of the Madonna, in the Pieve, he painted a very large
panel containing a Madonna in the sky, with the people of Arezzo
beneath, in which he made many portraits from the life. In this last
work he was helped by a Spanish painter, who painted very well in oil
and therein gave assistance to Domenico, who had not as much skill in
painting in oil as he had in distemper. With the help of the same man he
executed a panel for the Company of the Trinita, containing the
Circumcision of Our Lord, which was held a very good work, and a "Noli
Me Tangere" in fresco in the garden of S. Fiore. Finally, he painted a
panel with many figures in the Vescovado, for Messer Donato Marinelli,
Primicere. This work, which then brought him and still continues to
bring him very great honour, shows good invention, good design, and
strong relief; and in making it, being now very old, he called in the
aid of a Sienese painter, Capanna, a passing good master, who painted so
many walls in chiaroscuro and so many panels in Siena, and who, if he
had lived longer, would have done himself much credit in his art, in so
far as one may judge from the little that he executed. Domenico wrought
for the Confraternity of Arezzo a baldacchino painted in oil, a rich and
costly work, which was lent not many years ago for the holding of a
representation in S. Francesco at the festival of S. John and S. Paul,
to adorn a Paradise near the roof of the church. A fire breaking out in
consequence of the great quantity of lights, this work was burnt,
together with the man who was representing God the Father, who, being
fastened, could not escape, as the angels did, and many church-hangings
were destroyed, while great harm came to the spectators, who, terrified
by the fire, struggled furiously to fly from the church, everyone
seeking to be the first, so that about eighty were trampled down in the
press, which was something very pitiful. This baldacchino was afterwards
reconstructed with greater richness, and painted by Giorgio Vasari.
Domenico then devoted himself to the making of glass windows, and there
were three by his hand in the Vescovado, which were ruined by the
artillery in the wars.
Another pupil of the same master was the painter Angelo di Lorentino,
who was a man of passing good ability. He painted the arch over the door
of S. Domenico, and if he had received assistance he would have become a
very good master.
The Abbot died at the age of eighty-three, leaving unfinished the Temple
of the Madonna delle Lacrime, for which he had made a model; it was
afterwards completed by various masters. He deserves praise, then, as
illuminator, architect, painter, and musician. He was given burial by
his monks in his Abbey of S. Clemente, and his works have ever been so
highly esteemed in the said city that the following verses may be read
over his tomb:
PINGEBAT DOCTE ZEUSIS, CONDEBAT ET AEDES
NICON, PAN CAPRIPES, FISTULA PRIMA TUA EST.
NON TAMEN EX VOBIS MECUM CERTAVERIT ULLUS;
QUAE TRES FECISTIS, UNICUS HAEC FACIO.
He died in 1461, having added to the art of illumination that beauty
which is seen in all his works, as some drawings by his hand can bear
witness which are in our book. His method of working was afterwards
imitated by Girolamo Padovano in some books that he illuminated for S.
Maria Nuova in Florence; by Gherardo, a Florentine illuminator; (and by
Attavante,[22]) who was also called Vante, of whom we have spoken in
another place, particularly with regard to those of his works which are
in Venice; with respect to which I included word for word a note sent to
me by certain gentlemen of Venice, contenting myself, in order to
recompense them for the great pains that they had taken to discover all
that is to be read there, with relating the whole as they wrote it,
since I had no personal knowledge of these works on which to form a
judgment of my own.
FOOTNOTES:
[22] The words in brackets have been added to correct an obvious
omission in the text. The account of Attavante is to be found at the end
of the Life of Fra Giovanni Angelico.
GHERARDO
GHERARDO
ILLUMINATOR OF FLORENCE
It is certain that among all the enduring works that are made in colours
there is none that resists the assault of wind and water better than
mosaic. And well was this known in his day to the elder Lorenzo de'
Medici of Florence, who, like a man of spirit given to investigating the
memorials of the ancients, sought to bring back into use what had been
hidden for many years, and, since he took great delight in pictures and
sculptures, could not fail to take delight also in mosaic. Wherefore,
seeing that Gherardo, an illuminator of that time and a man of inquiring
brain, was investigating the difficulties of that calling, he showed him
great favour, as one who ever assisted those in whom he saw some germ of
spirit and intellect. Placing him, therefore, in the company of Domenico
del Ghirlandajo, he obtained for him from the Wardens of Works of S.
Maria del Fiore a commission for decorating the chapels of the
transepts, beginning with that of the Sacrament, wherein lies the body
of S. Zanobi. Whereupon Gherardo, growing ever in keenness of
intelligence, would have executed most marvellous works in company with
Domenico, if death had not intervened, as may be judged from the
beginning of that chapel, which remained unfinished.
Gherardo, in addition to his mosaics, was a most delicate illuminator,
and he also made large figures on walls. Without the Porta alla Croce
there is a shrine in fresco by his hand, and there is another in
Florence, much extolled, at the head of the Via Larga. On the facade of
the Church of S. Gilio at S. Maria Nuova, beneath the stories painted by
Lorenzo di Bicci, wherein is the consecration of that church by Pope
Martin V, Gherardo depicted the same Pope conferring the monk's habit
and many privileges on the Director of the Hospital. In this scene there
were far fewer figures than it appeared to require, because it was cut
in half by a shrine containing a Madonna, which has been removed
recently by Don Isidoro Montaguto, the present Director of that place,
in the reconstructing of a principal door for the building; and
Francesco Brini, a young painter of Florence, has been commissioned to
paint the rest of the scene. But to return to Gherardo; it would
scarcely have been possible for even a well-practised master to
accomplish without great fatigue and diligence what he did in that work,
which is wrought most excellently in fresco. For the church of the same
hospital Gherardo illuminated an infinite number of books, with some for
S. Maria del Fiore in Florence, and certain others for Matthias
Corvinus, King of Hungary. These last, on the death of the said King,
together with some by the hand of Vante and of other masters who worked
for that King in Florence, were purchased and taken over by the
Magnificent Lorenzo de' Medici, who placed them among those so greatly
celebrated which were being collected for the formation of the library
afterwards built by Pope Clement VII, which is now being thrown open to
the public by order of Duke Cosimo.
Having thus developed, as has been related, from a master of
illumination into a painter, in addition to the said works, he made some
great figures in a large cartoon for the Evangelists that he had to make
in mosaic in the Chapel of S. Zanobi. But before the Magnificent Lorenzo
de' Medici had obtained for him the commission for the said chapel,
wishing to show that he understood the art of mosaic, and that he could
work without a companion, he made a life-size head of S. Zanobi, which
remained in S. Maria del Fiore, and on days of the highest solemnity it
is set up on the altar of the said Saint, or in some other place, as a
rare thing.
The while that Gherardo was labouring at these things, there were
brought to Florence certain prints in the German manner wrought by
Martin and by Albrecht Duerer; whereupon, being much pleased with that
sort of engraving, he set himself to work with the graver and copied
some of those plates very well, as may be seen from certain examples
that are in our book, together with some drawings by the same man's
hand. Gherardo painted many pictures which were sent abroad, one of
which is in the Chapel of S. Caterina da Siena in the Church of S.
Domenico at Bologna, containing a very good painting of S. Catherine.
And in S. Marco at Florence, over the table of Pardons, he painted a
lunette full of very graceful figures. But the more he satisfied others
the less did he satisfy himself in any of his works, with the exception
of mosaic, in which sort of painting he was rather the rival than the
companion of Domenico Ghirlandajo; and if he had lived longer he would
have become most excellent in that art, for he was very willing to take
pains with it, and he had discovered the greater part of its best
secrets.
Some declare that Attavante, otherwise Vante, an illuminator of
Florence, of whom we have spoken above in more than one place, was a
disciple of Gherardo, as was Stefano, likewise a Florentine illuminator;
but I hold it as certain, considering that both lived at the same time,
that Attavante was rather the friend, companion, and contemporary of
Gherardo than his disciple. Gherardo died well advanced in years,
leaving everything that he used in his art to his disciple Stefano, who,
devoting himself no long time after to architecture, abandoned the art
of illuminating, and handed over all his appliances in connection with
that profession to the elder Boccardino, who illuminated the greater
part of the books that are in the Badia of Florence. Gherardo died at
the age of sixty-three, and his works date about the year of our
salvation 1470.
DOMENICO GHIRLANDAJO
DOMENICO GHIRLANDAJO
PAINTER OF FLORENCE
Domenico di Tommaso del Ghirlandajo, who, from his talent and from the
greatness and the vast number of his works, may be called one of the
most important and most excellent masters of his age, was made by nature
to be a painter; and for this reason, in spite of the opposition of
those who had charge of him (which often nips the finest fruits of our
intellects in the bud by occupying them with work for which they are not
suited, and by diverting them from that to which nature inclines them),
he followed his natural instinct, secured very great honour for himself
and profit for his art and for his kindred, and became the great delight
of his age. He was apprenticed by his father to his own art of
goldsmith, in which Tommaso was a master more than passing good, for it
was he who made the greater part of the silver votive offerings that
were formerly preserved in the press of the Nunziata, and the silver
lamps of the chapel, which were all destroyed in the siege of the city
in the year 1529. Tommaso was the first who invented and put into
execution those ornaments worn on the head by the girls of Florence,
which are called ghirlande;[23] whence he gained the name of
Ghirlandajo, not only because he was their first inventor, but also
because he made an infinite number of them, of a beauty so rare that
none appeared to please save such as came out of his shop.
Being thus apprenticed to the goldsmith's art, but taking no pleasure
therein, he was ever occupied in drawing. Endowed by nature with a
perfect spirit and with an admirable and judicious taste in painting,
although he was a goldsmith in his boyhood, yet, by devoting himself
ever to design, he became so quick, so ready, and so facile, that many
say that while he was working as a goldsmith he would draw a portrait of
all who passed the shop, producing a likeness in a second; and of this
we still have proof in an infinite number of portraits in his works,
which show a most lifelike resemblance.
His first pictures were in the Chapel of the Vespucci in Ognissanti,
where there is a Dead Christ with some saints, and a Misericordia over
an arch, in which is the portrait of Amerigo Vespucci, who made the
voyages to the Indies; and in the refectory of that place he painted a
Last Supper in fresco. In S. Croce, on the right hand of the entrance
into the church, he painted the Story of S. Paulino; wherefore, having
acquired very great fame and coming into much credit, he painted a
chapel in S. Trinita for Francesco Sassetti, with stories of S. Francis.
This work was admirably executed by him, and wrought with grace,
lovingness, and a high finish; and he counterfeited and portrayed
therein the Ponte a S. Trinita, with the Palace of the Spini. On the
first wall he depicted the story of S. Francis appearing in the air and
restoring the child to life; and here, in those women who see him being
restored to life--after their sorrow for his death as they bear him to
the grave--there are seen gladness and marvel at his resurrection. He
also counterfeited the friars issuing from the church behind the Cross,
together with some grave-diggers, to bury him, all wrought very
naturally; and there are likewise other figures marvelling at that event
which give no little pleasure to the eye, among which are portraits of
Maso degli Albizzi, Messer Agnolo Acciaiuoli, and Messer Palla Strozzi,
eminent citizens often cited in the history of the city. On another wall
he painted S. Francis, in the presence of the vicar, renouncing his
inheritance from his father, Pietro Bernardone, and assuming the habit
of sackcloth, which he is girding round him with the cord. On the middle
wall he is shown going to Rome and having his Rule confirmed by Pope
Honorius, and presenting roses in January to that Pontiff. In this scene
he depicted the Hall of the Consistory, with Cardinals seated around,
and certain steps ascending to it, furnishing the flight of steps with a
balustrade, and painting there some half-length figures portrayed from
the life, among which is the portrait of the elder Lorenzo de' Medici,
the Magnificent; and there he also painted S. Francis receiving the
Stigmata. In the last he made the Saint dead, with his friars mourning
for him, among whom is one friar kissing his hands--an effect that could
not be rendered better in painting; not to mention that a Bishop in full
robes, with spectacles on his nose, is chanting the prayers for the dead
so vividly, that only the lack of sound shows him to be painted. In one
of two pictures that are on either side of the panel he portrayed
Francesco Sassetti on his knees, and in the other his wife, Monna Nera,
with their children (but these last are in the aforesaid scene of the
child being restored to life), and with certain beautiful maidens of the
same family, whose names I have not been able to discover, all in the
costumes and fashions of that age, which gives no little pleasure.
Besides this, he made four Sibyls on the vaulting, and an ornament above
the arch on the front wall without the chapel, containing the scene of
the Tiburtine Sibyl making the Emperor Octavian adore Christ, which is
executed in a masterly manner for a work in fresco, with much vivacity
and loveliness in the colours. To this work he added a panel wrought in
distemper, also by his hand, containing a Nativity of Christ that should
amaze any person of understanding, wherein he portrayed himself and made
certain heads of shepherds, which are held to be something divine. Of
this Sibyl and of other parts of this work there are some very beautiful
drawings in our book, made in chiaroscuro, and in particular the view in
perspective of the Ponte a S. Trinita.
For the Frati Ingesuati he painted a panel for their high-altar, with
certain Saints kneeling--namely, S. Giusto, Bishop of Volterra, who was
the titular Saint of that church; S. Zanobi, Bishop of Florence; an
Angel Raphael; a S. Michael, clad in most beautiful armour; and other
saints. For this work Domenico truly deserves praise, for he was the
first who began to counterfeit with colours certain trimmings and
ornaments of gold, which had not been done up to that time; and he swept
away in great measure those borders of gilding that were made with
mordant or with bole, which were more suitable for church-hangings than
for the work of good masters. More beautiful than all the other figures
is the Madonna, who has the Child in her arms and four little angels
round her. This panel, which is wrought as well as any work in distemper
could be, was then placed in the church of those friars without the
Porta a Pinti; but since that building, as will be told elsewhere, was
destroyed, it is now in the Church of S. Giovannino, within the Porta S.
Piero Gattolini, where there is the Convent of the aforesaid Ingesuati.
In the Church of Cestello he painted a panel--afterwards finished by his
brothers David and Benedetto--containing the Visitation of Our Lady,
with certain most charming and beautiful heads of women. In the Church
of the Innocenti he painted the Story of the Magi on a panel in
distemper, which is much extolled. In this are heads most beautiful in
expression and varied in features, both young and old; and in the head
of Our Lady, in particular, are seen all the dignity, beauty, and grace
that art can give to the Mother of the Son of God. On the tramezzo[24]
of the Church of S. Marco there is another panel, with a Last Supper in
the guest-room, both executed with diligence; and in the house of
Giovanni Tornabuoni there is a round picture with the Story of the Magi,
wrought with diligence. In the Little Hospital, for the elder Lorenzo
de' Medici, he painted the story of Vulcan, in which many nude figures
are at work with hammers making thunderbolts for Jove. And in the Church
of Ognissanti in Florence, in competition with Sandro di Botticello, he
painted a S. Jerome in fresco (which is now beside the door that leads
to the choir), surrounding him with an infinite number of instruments
and books, such as are used by the learned. The friars having occasion
to remove the choir from the place where it stood, this picture,
together with that of Sandro di Botticello, has been bound round with
irons and transported without injury into the middle of the church, at
the very time when these Lives are being printed for the second time. He
also painted the arch over the door of S. Maria Ughi, and a little
shrine for the Guild of Linen-Manufacturers, and likewise a very
beautiful S. George, slaying the Dragon, in the same Church of
Ognissanti. And in truth he had a very good knowledge of the method of
painting on walls, which he did with very great facility, although he
was scrupulously careful in the composition of his works.
[Illustration: THE DEATH OF S. FRANCIS
(_After the fresco by =Domenico Ghirlandajo=. Florence: S. Trinita_)
_Alinari_]
Being then summoned to Rome by Pope Sixtus IV to paint his chapel, in
company with other masters, he painted there Christ calling Peter and
Andrew from their nets, and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the
greater part of which has since been spoilt in consequence of being over
the door, on which it became necessary to replace an architrave that had
fallen down. There was living in Rome at this same time Francesco
Tornabuoni, a rich and honoured merchant, much the friend of Domenico.
This man, whose wife had died in childbirth, as is told in the Life of
Andrea Verrocchio, desiring to honour her as became their noble station,
had caused a tomb to be made for her in the Minerva; and he also wished
Domenico to paint the whole wall against which this tomb stood, and
likewise to make for it a little panel in distemper. On that wall,
therefore, he painted four stories--two of S. John the Baptist and two
of the Madonna--which brought him truly great praise at that time. And
Francesco took so much pleasure in his dealings with Domenico, that,
when the latter returned to Florence rich in honour and in gains,
Francesco recommended him by letters to his relative Giovanni, telling
him how well the painter had served him in that work, and how well
satisfied the Pope had been with his pictures. Hearing this, Giovanni
began to contemplate employing him on some magnificent work, such as
would honour his own memory and bring fame and profit to Domenico.
Now it chanced that the principal chapel of S. Maria Novella (a convent
of Preaching Friars), formerly painted by Andrea Orcagna, was injured in
many parts by rain in consequence of the roof of the vaulting being
badly covered. For this reason many citizens had wished to restore it,
or rather, to have it painted anew; but the owners, who belonged to the
family of the Ricci, had never consented to this, being unable to bear
so great an expense themselves, and unwilling to allow others to do so,
lest they should lose the rights of ownership and the distinction of the
arms handed down to them by their ancestors. Giovanni, then, being
desirous that Domenico should make him his memorial there, set to work
in this matter, trying various ways; and finally he promised the Ricci
to bear the whole expense himself, to give them some sort of recompense,
and to have their arms placed in the most conspicuous and honourable
place in that chapel. And so they came to an agreement, making a
contract in the form of a very precise instrument according to the terms
described above. Giovanni allotted this work to Domenico, with the same
subjects as were painted there before; and they agreed that the price
should be 1,200 gold ducats of full weight, with 200 more in the event
of the work giving satisfaction to Giovanni. Thereupon Domenico put his
hand to the work and laboured without ceasing for four years until he
had finished it--which was in 1485--to the very great satisfaction and
contentment of Giovanni, who, while admitting that he had been well
served, and confessing ingenuously that Domenico had earned the
additional 200 ducats, said that he would be pleased if he would be
satisfied with the original price. And Domenico, who esteemed glory and
honour much more than riches, immediately let him off all the rest,
declaring that he set much greater store on having given him
satisfaction than on the matter of complete payment.
Giovanni afterwards caused two large coats of arms to be made of
stone--one for the Tornaquinci and the other for the Tornabuoni--and
placed on the pilasters without the chapel, and in the arch he placed
other arms belonging to that family, which is divided into various names
and various arms--namely, in addition to the two already mentioned,
those of the Ghiachinotti, Popoleschi, Marabottini, and Cardinali. And
afterwards, when Domenico painted the altar-panel, he caused to be
placed in the gilt ornament, under an arch, as a finishing touch to that
panel, a very beautiful Tabernacle of the Sacrament, on the frontal of
which he made a little shield a quarter of a braccio in length,
containing the arms of the said owners--that is, the Ricci. And a fine
jest it was at the opening of the chapel, for these Ricci looked for
their arms with much ado, and finally, not being able to find them, went
off to the Tribunal of Eight, contract in hand. Whereupon the Tornabuoni
showed that these arms had been placed in the most conspicuous and most
honourable part of the work; and although the others exclaimed that they
were invisible, they were told that they were in the wrong, and that
they must be content, since the Tornabuoni had caused them to be placed
in so honourable a position as the neighbourhood of the most Holy
Sacrament. And so it was decided by that tribunal that they should be
left untouched, as they may be seen to-day. Now, if this should appear
to anyone to be outside the scope of the Life that I have to write, let
him not be vexed, for it all flowed naturally from the tip of my pen.
And it should serve, if for nothing else, at least to show how easily
poverty falls a prey to riches, and how riches, if accompanied by
discretion, achieve without censure anything that a man desires.
[Illustration: DOMENICO GHIRLANDAJO: THE VISION OF S. FINA
(_San Gimignano. Fresco_)]