labours of its craftsmen, and desiring to gain a more lasting memory,
Antonio resolved to pursue it no longer. And so, his brother Piero being
a painter, he associated himself with him in order to learn the methods
of handling and using colours; but it appeared to him an art so
different from the goldsmith's, that, if he had not been so hasty in
resolving to abandon his own art entirely, it might well have been that
he would never have brought himself to turn to the other. However,
spurred by fear of shame rather than by hope of profit, in a few months
he acquired a practical knowledge of colouring and became an excellent
master. He associated himself entirely with Piero, and they made many
pictures in company; among others, since they took great delight in
colour, a panel in oil in S. Miniato al Monte without Florence, for the
Cardinal of Portugal. On this panel, which was placed on the altar of
his chapel, they painted S. James the Apostle, S. Eustace, and S.
Vincent, which have been much extolled. Piero, in particular, painted
certain prophets on the wall in oil (a method that he had learnt from
Andrea dal Castagno), in the corners of the angles below the architrave,
where the lunettes of the arches run; and in one of the lunettes he
painted the Virgin receiving the Annunciation, with three figures. For
the Capitani di Parte he painted a Madonna with the Child in her arms in
a lunette, with a frieze of seraphim all round, also wrought in oil.
They also painted in oil, on canvas, on a pilaster of S. Michele in
Orto, an Angel Raphael with Tobias; and they made certain Virtues in the
Mercatanzia of Florence, in the very place where that Tribunal holds its
sittings. In the Proconsulate Antonio made portraits from life of Messer
Poggio, Secretary to the Signoria of Florence, who continued the History
of Florence after Messer Leonardo d'Arezzo, and of Messer Giannozzo
Manetti, a man of no small learning and repute, in the same place where
other masters some time before had made portraits of Zanobi da Strada, a
poet of Florence, Donato Acciaiuoli, and others. In the Chapel of the
Pucci, in S. Sebastiano de' Servi, he painted the panel of the altar,
which is a rare and excellent work, containing marvellous horses, nudes,
and very beautiful figures in foreshortening, and S. Sebastian himself
portrayed from life--namely, from Gino di Lodovico Capponi. This work
received greater praise than any other that Antonio ever made, since,
seeking to imitate nature to the utmost of his power, he showed in one
of the archers, who is resting his cross-bow against his chest and
bending down to the ground in order to load it, all the force that a man
of strong arm can exert in loading that weapon, for we see his veins and
muscles swelling, and the man himself holding his breath in order to
gain more strength. Nor is this the only figure wrought with careful
consideration, for all the others in their various attitudes also
demonstrate clearly enough the thought and the intelligence that he put
into this work, which was certainly appreciated by Antonio Pucci, who
gave him 300 crowns for it, declaring that he was barely paying him for
the colours. It was finished in the year 1475.
[Illustration: ANTONIO POLLAIUOLO: DAVID VICTOR
(_Berlin: Kaiser Friedrich Museum, 73A. Panel_)]
Gaining courage from this, therefore, he painted at S. Miniato fra le
Torri, without the Gate, a S. Cristopher ten braccia in height, a very
beautiful work executed in a modern manner, the figure being better
proportioned than any other of that size that had been made up to that
time. He then made a Crucifix with S. Antonino, on canvas, which was
placed in the chapel of that Saint in S. Marco. In the Palace of the
Signoria of Florence, at the Porta della Catena, he made a S. John the
Baptist; and in the house of the Medici he painted for the elder Lorenzo
three figures of Hercules in three pictures, each five braccia in
height. The first of these, which is slaying Antaeus, is a very
beautiful figure, in which the strength of Hercules as he crushes the
other is seen most vividly, for the muscles and nerves of that figure
are all strained in the struggle to destroy Antaeus. The head of
Hercules shows the gnashing of the teeth so well in harmony with the
other parts, that even the toes of his feet are raised in the effort.
Nor did he take less pains with Antaeus, who, crushed in the arms of
Hercules, is seen sinking and losing all his strength, and giving up his
breath through his open mouth. The second Hercules, who is slaying the
Lion, has the left knee pressed against its chest, and, setting his
teeth and extending his arms, and grasping the Lion's jaws with both his
hands, he is opening them and rending them asunder by main force,
although the beast is tearing his arms grievously with its claws in
self-defence. The third picture, wherein Hercules is slaying the Hydra,
is something truly marvellous, particularly the serpent, which he made
so lively and so natural in colouring that nothing could be made more
life-like. In that beast are seen venom, fire, ferocity, rage, and such
vivacity, that he deserves to be celebrated and to be closely imitated
in this by all good craftsmen.
For the Company of S. Angelo in Arezzo he executed an oil-painting on
cloth, with a Crucifix on one side, and on the other S. Michael in
combat with the Dragon, as beautiful as any work that there is to be
seen by his hand; for the figure of S. Michael, who is bravely
confronting the Dragon, setting his teeth and knitting his brows, truly
seems to have descended from Heaven in order to effect the vengeance of
God against the pride of Lucifer, and it is indeed a marvellous work. He
had a more modern grasp of the nude than the masters before his day, and
he dissected many bodies in order to study their anatomy. He was the
first to demonstrate the method of searching out the muscles, in order
that they might have their due form and place in his figures, and he
engraved on copper a battle of nude figures all girt round with a chain;
and after this one he made other engravings, with much better
workmanship than had been shown by the other masters who had lived
before him.
For these reasons, then, he became famous among craftsmen, and after the
death of Pope Sixtus IV he was summoned by his successor, Pope Innocent,
to Rome, where he made a tomb of metal for the said Innocent, wherein he
portrayed him from nature, seated in the attitude of giving the
Benediction; and this was placed in S. Pietro. That of the said Pope
Sixtus, which was finished at very great cost, was placed in the chapel
that is called by the name of that Pontiff. It stands quite by itself,
with very rich adornments, and on it there lies an excellent figure of
the Pope; and the tomb of Innocent stands in S. Pietro, beside the
chapel that contains the Lance of Christ. It is said that the same man
designed the Palace of the Belvedere for the said Pope Innocent,
although, since he had little experience of building, it was erected by
others. Finally, after becoming rich, these two brothers died almost at
the same time in 1498, and were buried by their relatives in S. Pietro
in Vincula; and in memory of them, beside the middle door, on the left
as one enters into the church, there were placed two medallions of
marble with their portraits and with the following epitaph:
ANTONIUS PULLARIUS PATRIA FLORENTINUS, PICTOR INSIGNIS, QUI
DUORUM PONTIF. XISTI ET INNOCENTII AEREA MONIMENTA MIRO OPIFIC.
EXPRESSIT, RE FAMIL. COMPOSITA EX TEST. HIC SE CUM PETRO FRATRE
CONDI VOLUIT. VIX. AN. LXXII. OBIIT ANNO SAL. MIID.
The same man made a very beautiful battle of nude figures in low-relief
and of metal, which went to Spain; of this every craftsman in Florence
has a plaster cast. And after his death there were found the design and
model that he had made at the command of Lodovico Sforza for the
equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, of which design
there are two forms in our book; in one the Duke has Verona beneath him,
and in the other he is on a pedestal covered with battle pieces, in full
armour, and forcing his horse to leap on a man in armour. But the reason
why he did not put these designs into execution I have not yet been able
to discover. The same man made some very beautiful medals; among others,
one representing the conspiracy of the Pazzi, containing on one
side the heads of Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici, and on the reverse
the choir of S. Maria del Fiore, with the whole event exactly as it
happened. He also made the medals of certain Pontiffs, and many other
things that are known to craftsmen.
[Illustration: THE MARTYRDOM OF S. SEBASTIAN
(_After the panel by =Antonio Pollaiuolo=. London: National Gallery,
292_)
_Mansell_]
[Illustration: TOMB OF POPE SIXTUS IV
(_After =Antonio Pollaiuolo=. Rome: S. Peter's_)
_Anderson_]
Antonio was seventy-two years of age when he died, and Piero sixty-five.
The former left many disciples, among whom was Andrea Sansovino. Antonio
had a most fortunate life in his day, finding rich Pontiffs, and his own
city at the height of its greatness and delighting in talent, wherefore
he was much esteemed; whereas, if he had chanced to live in an
unfavourable age, he would not have produced such fruits as he did,
since troublous times are deadly enemies to the sciences in which men
labour and take delight.
For S. Giovanni in Florence, after the design of this man, there were
made two dalmatics, a chasuble, and a cope, of double brocade, all woven
in one piece without a single seam; and for these, as borders and
ornaments, there were embroidered the stories of the life of S. John,
with most delicate workmanship and art, by Paolo da Verona, a divine
master of that profession and rare in intelligence beyond all others,
who executed the figures no less well with the needle than Antonio would
have done them with his brush; wherefore we owe no small obligation to
the one for his design and to the other for his patience in embroidering
it. This work took twenty-six years to complete; but of these
embroideries, which, being made with the close stitch, are not only more
durable but also seem like a real painting done with the brush, the good
method is now all but lost, since we now use a more open stitch, which
is less durable and less lovely to the eye.
SANDRO BOTTICELLI
LIFE OF SANDRO BOTTICELLI
[_ALESSANDRO FILIPEPI OR SANDRO DI BOTTICELLO_]
PAINTER OF FLORENCE
At the same time with the elder Lorenzo de' Medici, the Magnificent,
which was truly a golden age for men of intellect, there also flourished
one Alessandro, called Sandro after our custom, and surnamed Di
Botticello for a reason that we shall see below. This man was the son of
Mariano Filipepi, a citizen of Florence, who brought him up with care,
and had him instructed in all those things that are usually taught to
children before they are old enough to be apprenticed to some calling.
But although he found it easy to learn whatever he wished, nevertheless
he was ever restless, nor was he contented with any form of learning,
whether reading, writing, or arithmetic, insomuch that his father, weary
of the vagaries of his son's brain, in despair apprenticed him as a
goldsmith with a boon-companion of his own, called Botticello, no mean
master of that art in his day.
Now in that age there was a very close connection--nay, almost a
constant intercourse--between the goldsmiths and the painters; wherefore
Sandro, who was a ready fellow and had devoted himself wholly to design,
became enamoured of painting, and determined to devote himself to that.
For this reason he spoke out his mind freely to his father, who,
recognizing the inclination of his brain, took him to Fra Filippo of the
Carmine, a most excellent painter of that time, with whom he placed him
to learn the art, according to Sandro's own desire. Thereupon, devoting
himself heart and soul to that art, Sandro followed and imitated his
master so well that Fra Filippo, growing to love him, taught him very
thoroughly, so that he soon rose to such a rank as none would have
expected for him.
While still quite young, he painted a figure of Fortitude in the
Mercatanzia of Florence, among the pictures of Virtues that were wrought
by Antonio and Piero del Pollaiuolo. For the Chapel of the Bardi in S.
Spirito at Florence he painted a panel, wrought with diligence and
brought to a fine completion, which contains certain olive-trees and
palms executed with consummate lovingness. He painted a panel for the
Convertite Nuns, and another for those of S. Barnaba. In the
tramezzo[26] of the Ognissanti, by the door that leads into the choir,
he painted for the Vespucci a S. Augustine in fresco, with which he took
very great pains, seeking to surpass all the painters of his time, and
particularly Domenico Ghirlandajo, who had made a S. Jerome on the other
side; and this work won very great praise, for in the head of that Saint
he depicted the profound meditation and acute subtlety that are found in
men of wisdom who are ever concentrated on the investigation of the
highest and most difficult matters. This picture, as was said in the
Life of Ghirlandajo, has this year (1564) been removed safe and sound
from its original position.
Having thus come into credit and reputation, he was commissioned by the
Guild of Porta Santa Maria to paint in S. Marco a panel with the
Coronation of Our Lady and a choir of angels, which he designed and
executed very well. He made many works in the house of the Medici for
the elder Lorenzo, particularly a Pallas on a device of great branches,
which spouted forth fire: this he painted of the size of life, as he did
a S. Sebastian. In S. Maria Maggiore in Florence, beside the Chapel of
the Panciatichi, there is a very beautiful Pieta with little figures.
For various houses throughout the city he painted round pictures, and
many female nudes, of which there are still two at Castello, a villa of
Duke Cosimo's; one representing the birth of Venus, with those Winds and
Zephyrs that bring her to the earth, with the Cupids; and likewise
another Venus, whom the Graces are covering with flowers, as a symbol of
spring; and all this he is seen to have expressed very gracefully. Round
an apartment of the house of Giovanni Vespucci, now belonging to Piero
Salviati, in the Via de' Servi, he made many pictures which were
enclosed by frames of walnut-wood, by way of ornament and panelling,
with many most lively and beautiful figures. In the house of the Pucci,
likewise, he painted with little figures Boccaccio's tale of Nastagio
degli Onesti in four square pictures of most charming and beautiful
workmanship, and the Epiphany in a round picture. For a chapel in the
Monastery of Cestello he painted an Annunciation on a panel. Near the
side-door of S. Pietro Maggiore, for Matteo Palmieri, he painted a panel
with an infinite number of figures--namely, the Assumption of Our Lady,
with the zones of Heaven as they are represented, and the Patriarchs,
the Prophets, the Apostles, the Evangelists, the Martyrs, the
Confessors, the Doctors, the Virgins, and the Hierarchies; all from the
design given to him by Matteo, who was a learned and able man. This work
he painted with mastery and consummate diligence; and at the foot is a
portrait of Matteo on his knees, with that of his wife. But for all that
the work is most beautiful, and should have silenced envy, nevertheless
there were certain malignant slanderers who, not being able to do it any
other damage, said that both Matteo and Sandro had committed therein the
grievous sin of heresy. As to whether this be true or false, I cannot be
expected to judge; it is enough that the figures painted therein by
Sandro are truly worthy of praise, by reason of the pains that he took
in drawing the zones of Heaven and in the distribution of figures,
angels, foreshortenings, and views, all varied in diverse ways, the
whole being executed with good design.
[Illustration: SANDRO BOTTICELLI: PALLAS AND THE CENTAUR
(_Florence: Pitti Palace, Panel_)]
[Illustration: SANDRO BOTTICELLI: GIOVANNA TORNABUONI AND THE GRACES
(_Paris: Louvre, 1297. Fresco_)]
At this time Sandro was commissioned to paint a little panel with
figures three-quarters of a braccio in length, which was placed between
two doors in the principal facade of S. Maria Novella, on the left as
one enters the church by the door in the centre. It contains the
Adoration of the Magi, and wonderful feeling is seen in the first old
man, who, kissing the foot of Our Lord, and melting with tenderness,
shows very clearly that he has achieved the end of his long journey. The
figure of this King is an actual portrait of the elder Cosimo de'
Medici, the most lifelike and most natural that is to be found of him in
our own day. The second, who is Giuliano de' Medici, father of Pope
Clement VII, is seen devoutly doing reverence to the Child with a most
intent expression, and presenting Him with his offering. The third,
also on his knees, appears to be adoring Him and giving Him thanks,
while confessing that He is the true Messiah; this is Giovanni, son of
Cosimo.
It is not possible to describe the beauty that Sandro depicted in the
heads that are therein seen, which are drawn in various attitudes, some
in full face, some in profile, some in three-quarter face, others
bending down, and others, again, in various manners; with different
expressions for the young and the old, and with all the bizarre effects
that reveal to us the perfection of his skill; and he distinguished the
Courts of the three Kings one from another, insomuch that one can see
which are the retainers of each. This is truly a most admirable work,
and executed so beautifully, whether in colouring, drawing, or
composition, that every craftsman at the present day stands in a marvel
thereat. And at that time it brought him such great fame, both in
Florence and abroad, that Pope Sixtus IV, having accomplished the
building of the chapel of his palace in Rome, and wishing to have it
painted, ordained that he should be made head of that work; whereupon he
painted therein with his own hand the following scenes--namely, the
Temptation of Christ by the Devil, Moses slaying the Egyptian, Moses
receiving drink from the daughters of Jethro the Midianite, and likewise
fire descending from Heaven on the sacrifice of the sons of Aaron, with
certain Sanctified Popes in the niches above the scenes. Having
therefore acquired still greater fame and reputation among the great
number of competitors who worked with him, both Florentines and men of
other cities, he received from the Pope a good sum of money, the whole
of which he consumed and squandered in a moment during his residence in
Rome, where he lived in haphazard fashion, as was his wont.
Having at the same time finished and unveiled the part that had been
assigned to him, he returned immediately to Florence, where, being a man
of inquiring mind, he made a commentary on part of Dante, illustrated
the Inferno, and printed it; on which he wasted much of his time,
bringing infinite disorder into his life by neglecting his work. He also
printed many of the drawings that he had made, but in a bad manner, for
the engraving was poorly done. The best of these that is to be seen
by his hand is the Triumph of the Faith effected by Fra Girolamo
Savonarola of Ferrara, of whose sect he was so ardent a partisan that he
was thereby induced to desert his painting, and, having no income to
live on, fell into very great distress. For this reason, persisting in
his attachment to that party, and becoming a Piagnone[27] (as the
members of the sect were then called), he abandoned his work; wherefore
he ended in his old age by finding himself so poor, that, if Lorenzo de'
Medici, for whom, besides many other things, he had done some work at
the little hospital in the district of Volterra, had not succoured him
the while that he lived, as did afterwards his friends and many
excellent men who loved him for his talent, he would have almost died of
hunger.
[Illustration: THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI
(_After the panel by =Sandro Botticelli=. Florence: Uffizi, 1286_)
_M. S._]
In S. Francesco, without the Porta a San Miniato, there is a Madonna in
a round picture by the hand of Sandro, with some angels of the size of
life, which was held a very beautiful work. Sandro was a man of very
pleasant humour, often playing tricks on his disciples and his friends;
wherefore it is related that once, when a pupil of his who was called
Biagio had made a round picture exactly like the one mentioned above, in
order to sell it, Sandro sold it for six florins of gold to a citizen;
then, finding Biagio, he said to him, "At last I have sold this thy
picture; so this evening it must be hung on high, where it will be seen
better, and in the morning thou must go to the house of the citizen who
has bought it, and bring him here, that he may see it in a good light in
its proper place; and then he will pay thee the money." "O, my master,"
said Biagio, "how well you have done." Then, going into the shop, he
hung the picture at a good height, and went off. Meanwhile Sandro and
Jacopo, who was another of his disciples, made eight caps of paper, like
those worn by citizens, and fixed them with white wax on the heads of
the eight angels that surrounded the Madonna in the said picture. Now,
in the morning, up comes Biagio with his citizen, who had bought the
picture and was in the secret. They entered the shop, and Biagio,
looking up, saw his Madonna seated, not among his angels, but among the
Signoria of Florence, with all those caps. Thereupon he was just about
to begin to make an outcry and to excuse himself to the man who had
bought it, when, seeing that the other, instead of complaining, was
actually praising the picture, he kept silent himself. Finally, going
with the citizen to his house, Biagio received his payment of six
florins, the price for which his master had sold the picture; and then,
returning to the shop just as Sandro and Jacopo had removed the paper
caps, he saw his angels as true angels, and not as citizens in their
caps. All in a maze, and not knowing what to say, he turned at last to
Sandro and said: "Master, I know not whether I am dreaming, or whether
this is true. When I came here before, these angels had red caps on
their heads, and now they have not; what does it mean?" "Thou art out of
thy wits, Biagio," said Sandro; "this money has turned thy head. If it
were so, thinkest thou that the citizen would have bought the picture?"
"It is true," replied Biagio, "that he said nothing to me about it, but
for all that it seemed to me strange." Finally, all the other lads
gathered round him and wrought on him to believe that it had been a fit
of giddiness.
Another time a cloth-weaver came to live in a house next to Sandro's,
and erected no less than eight looms, which, when at work, not only
deafened poor Sandro with the noise of the treadles and the movement of
the frames, but shook his whole house, the walls of which were no
stronger than they should be, so that what with the one thing and the
other he could not work or even stay at home. Time after time he
besought his neighbour to put an end to this annoyance, but the other
said that he both would and could do what he pleased in his own house;
whereupon Sandro, in disdain, balanced on the top of his own wall, which
was higher than his neighbour's and not very strong, an enormous stone,
more than enough to fill a wagon, which threatened to fall at the
slightest shaking of the wall and to shatter the roof, ceilings, webs,
and looms of his neighbour, who, terrified by this danger, ran to
Sandro, but was answered in his very own words--namely, that he both
could and would do whatever he pleased in his own house. Nor could he
get any other answer out of him, so that he was forced to come to a
reasonable agreement and to be a good neighbour to Sandro.
[Illustration: SANDRO BOTTICELLI: THE MADONNA OF THE POMEGRANATE
(_Florence: Uffizi, 1289. Panel_)]