that, being then more in vogue by reason of the devotion of the people,
it had more craftsmen and therefore made more evident progress than the
other two. Thus it is seen that the Greek manner, first through the
beginning made by Cimabue, and then with the aid of Giotto, was wholly
extinguished; and there arose a new one, which I would fain call the
manner of Giotto, seeing that it was discovered by him and by his
disciples, and then universally revered and imitated by all. By this
manner, as we see, there were swept away the outlines that wholly
enclosed the figures, and those staring eyes, and the feet stretched on
tip-toe, and the pointed hands, with the absence of shadow and the other
monstrous qualities of those Greeks; and good grace was given to the
heads, and softness to the colouring. And Giotto, in particular, gave
better attitudes to his figures, and revealed the first effort to give a
certain liveliness to the heads and folds to his draperies, which drew
more towards nature than those of the men before him; and he discovered,
in part, something of the gradation and foreshortening of figures.
Besides this, he made a beginning with the expression of emotions, so
that fear, hope, rage, and love could in some sort be recognized; and he
reduced his manner, which at first was harsh and rough, to a certain
degree of softness; and although he did not make the eyes with that
beautiful roundness that makes them lifelike, and with the tear-channels
that complete them, and the hair soft, and the beards feathery, and the
hands with their due joints and muscles, and the nudes true to life, let
him find excuse in the difficulty of the art and in the fact that he saw
no better painters than himself; and let all remember, amid the poverty
of art in those times, the excellence of judgment in his stories, the
observation of feeling, and the subordination of a very ready natural
gift, seeing that his figures were subordinate to the part that they had
to play. And thereby it is shown that he had a very good, if not a
perfect judgment; and the same is seen in the others after him, as in
the colouring of Taddeo Gaddi, who is both sweeter and stronger, giving
better tints to the flesh and better colour to the draperies, and more
boldness to the movements of his figures. In Simone Sanese there is seen
dignity in the composition of stories; and Stefano the Ape[8] and his
son Tommaso brought about great improvement and perfection in design,
invention in perspective, and harmony and unity in colouring, ever
maintaining the manner of Giotto. The same was done for mastery and
dexterity of handling by Spinello Aretino and his son Parri, Jacopo di
Casentino, Antonio Viniziano, Lippo, Gherardo Starnina, and the other
painters who laboured after Giotto, following his feeling, lineaments,
colouring, and manner, and even improving them somewhat, but not so much
as to make it appear that they were aiming at another goal. Whosoever
considers this my discourse, therefore, will see that these three arts
were up to this time, so to speak, only sketched out, and lacking in
much of that perfection that was their due; and in truth, without
further progress, this improvement was of little use and not to be held
in too great account. Nor would I have anyone believe that I am so dull
and so poor in judgment that I do not know that the works of Giotto, of
Andrea Pisano, of Nino, and of all the others, whom I have put together
in the First Part by reason of their similarity of manner, if compared
with those of the men who laboured after them, do not deserve
extraordinary or even mediocre praise; or that I did not see this when I
praised them. But whosoever considers the character of those times, the
dearth of craftsmen, and the difficulty of finding good assistance, will
hold them not merely beautiful, as I have called them, but miraculous,
and will take infinite pleasure in seeing the first beginnings and those
sparks of excellence that began to be rekindled in painting and
sculpture. The victory of Lucius Marcius in Spain was certainly not so
great that the Romans did not have many much greater; but in
consideration of the time, the place, the circumstances, the men, and
the numbers, it was held stupendous, and even to-day it is held worthy
of the infinite and most abundant praises that are given to it by
writers. To me, likewise, by reason of all the aforesaid considerations,
it has appeared that these masters deserve to be not only described by
me with all diligence, but praised with that love and confidence
wherewith I have done it. Nor do I think that it can have been wearisome
to my brother-craftsmen to read these their Lives, and to consider their
manners and methods, and from this, perchance, they will derive no
little profit; which will be right pleasing to me, and I will esteem it
a good reward for my labours, wherein I have sought to do nought else
but give them profit and delight to the best of my power.
[Footnote 8: The Ape of Nature.]
And now that we have weaned these three arts, to use such a fashion of
speaking, and brought them through their childhood, there comes their
second age, wherein there will be seen infinite improvement in
everything; invention more abundant in figures, and richer in ornament;
more depth and more lifelike reality in design; some finality, moreover,
in the works, which are executed thoughtfully and with diligence,
although with too little mastery of handling; with more grace in manner
and more loveliness in colouring, so that little is wanting for the
reduction of everything to perfection and for the exact imitation of the
truth of nature. Wherefore, with the study and the diligence of the
great Filippo Brunelleschi, architecture first recovered the measures
and proportions of the ancients, both in the round columns and in the
square pilasters, and in the corner-stones both rough and smooth; and
then one Order was distinguished from another, and it was shown what
differences there were between them. It was ordained that all works
should proceed by rule, should be pursued with better ordering, and
should be distributed with due measure. Design grew in strength and
depth; good grace was given to buildings; the excellence of that art
made itself known; and the beauty and variety of capitals and cornices
were recovered in such a manner, that the ground-plans of his churches
and of his other edifices are seen to have been very well conceived, and
the buildings themselves ornate, magnificent, and beautifully
proportioned, as it may be seen in the stupendous mass of the cupola of
S. Maria del Fiore in Florence, and in the beauty and grace of its
lantern; in the ornate, varied, and graceful Church of S. Spirito, and
in the no less beautiful edifice of S. Lorenzo; in the most bizarre
invention of the octagonal Temple of the Angeli; in the most fanciful
Church and Convent of the Abbey of Fiesole, and in the magnificent and
vast beginning of the Pitti Palace; besides the great and commodious
edifice that Francesco di Giorgio made in the Palace and Church of the
Duomo at Urbino, and the very strong and rich Castle of Naples, and the
impregnable Castle of Milan, not to mention many other notable buildings
of that time. And although there were not therein that delicacy and a
certain exquisite grace and finish in the mouldings, and certain
refinements and beauties in the carving of the leafage and in making
certain extremities in the foliage, and other points of perfection,
which all came later, as it will be seen in the Third Part, wherein
there will follow those who will attain to all that perfection, whether
in grace, or refinement, or abundance, or dexterity, to which the old
architects did not attain; none the less, they can be safely called
beautiful and good. I do not call them yet perfect, because later there
was seen something better in that art, and it appears to me that I can
reasonably affirm that there was something wanting in them. And although
there are in them some parts so miraculous that nothing better has yet
been done in our own times, nor will be, peradventure, in times to come,
such as, for example, the lantern of the cupola of S. Maria del Fiore,
and, in point of grandeur, the cupola itself, wherein Filippo was
emboldened not only to equal the ancients in the extent of their
structures, but also to excel them in the height of the walls; yet we
are speaking generically and universally, and we must not deduce the
excellence of the whole from the goodness and perfection of one thing
alone.
This I can also say of painting and sculpture, wherein very rare works
of the masters of that second age may still be seen to-day, such as
those in the Carmine by Masaccio, who made a naked man shivering with
cold, and lively and spirited figures in other pictures; but in general
they did not attain to the perfection of the third, whereof we will
speak at the proper time, it being necessary now to discourse of the
second, whose craftsmen, to speak first of the sculptors, advanced so
far beyond the manner of the first and improved it so greatly, that they
left little to be done by the third. They had a manner of their own, so
much more graceful and more natural, and so much richer in order, in
design, and in proportion, that their statues began to appear almost
like living people, and no longer figures of stones, like those of the
first age; and to this those works bear witness that were wrought in
that new manner, as it will be seen in this Second Part, among which the
figures of Jacopo della Quercia have more movement, more grace, more
design, and more diligence; those of Filippo, a more beautiful knowledge
of muscles, better proportion, and more judgment; and so, too, those of
their disciples. But the greatest advance came from Lorenzo Ghiberti in
the work of the gates of S. Giovanni, wherein he showed such invention,
order, manner, and design, that his figures appear to move and to have
souls. But as for Donato,[9] although he lived in their time, I am not
wholly sure whether I ought not to place him in the third age, seeing
that his works challenge comparison with the good works of the ancients;
but this I will say, that he can be called the pattern of the others in
this second age, having united in his own self all the qualities that
were divided singly among many, for he brought his figures to actual
motion, giving them such vivacity and liveliness that they can stand
beside the works of to-day, and, as I have said, beside the ancient as
well.
[Footnote 9: _I.e._, Donatello.]
The same advance was made at this time by painting, from which that most
excellent Masaccio swept away completely the manner of Giotto in the
heads, the draperies, the buildings, the nudes, the colouring, and the
foreshortenings, all of which he made new, bringing to light that modern
manner which was followed in those times and has been followed up to
our own day by all our craftsmen, and enriched and embellished from time
to time with better grace, invention, and ornament; as it will be seen
more particularly in the Life of each master, wherein there will appear
a new manner of colouring, of foreshortenings, and of natural attitudes,
with much better expression for the emotions of the soul and the
gestures of the body, and an attempt to approach closer to the truth of
nature in draughtsmanship, and an effort to give to the expressions of
the faces so complete a resemblance to the living men, that it might be
known for whom they were intended. Thus they sought to imitate that
which they saw in nature, and no more, and thus their works came to be
better planned and better conceived; and this emboldened them to give
rules to their perspectives and to foreshorten them in a natural and
proper form, just as they did in relief; and thus, too, they were ever
observing lights and shades, the projection of shadows, and all the
other difficulties, and the composition of stories with more
characteristic resemblance, and attempted to give more reality to
landscapes, trees, herbs, flowers, skies, clouds, and other objects of
nature, insomuch that we may boldly say that these arts were not only
reared but actually carried to the flower of their youth, giving hope of
that fruit which afterwards appeared, and that, in short, they were
about to arrive at their most perfect age.
[Illustration: DAVID
(_After the bronze by_ Donatello. _Florence: Bargello_)
_Anderson_]
With the help of God, then, we will begin the Life of Jacopo della
Quercia of Siena, and afterwards those of the other architects and
sculptors, until we come to Masaccio, who, having been the first to
improve design in the art of painting, will show how great an obligation
is owed to him for the new birth that he gave to her. Having chosen the
aforesaid Jacopo for the honour of beginning this Second Part, I will
follow the order of the various manners, and proceed to lay open,
together with the Lives themselves, the difficulties of arts so
beautiful, so difficult, and so highly honoured.
JACOPO DELLA QUERCIA
[Illustration: HEAD OF ILARIA DEL CARRETTO, FROM THE TOMB
(_After_ Jacopo della Quercia. _Lucca: S. Martino_)
_Alinari_]
LIFE OF JACOPO DELLA QUERCIA
[_JACOPO DELLA FONTE_]
SCULPTOR OF SIENA
The sculptor Jacopo, son of Maestro Piero di Filippo of La Quercia, a
place in the district of Siena, was the first--after Andrea Pisano,
Orcagna, and the others mentioned above--who, labouring in sculpture
with greater zeal and diligence, began to show that it was possible to
make an approach to nature, and the first who encouraged the others to
hope to be able in a certain measure to equal her. His first works
worthy of account were made by him in Siena at the age of nineteen, with
the following occasion. The people of Siena having their army in the
field against the Florentines under the captainship of Gian Tedesco,
nephew of Saccone da Pietramala, and of Giovanni d'Azzo Ubaldini, this
Giovanni d'Azzo fell sick in camp and was carried to Siena, where he
died; wherefore, being grieved at his death, the people of Siena caused
to be made for his obsequies, which were most honourable, a catafalque
of wood in the shape of a pyramid, and on this they placed the statue of
Giovanni himself on horseback, larger than life, made by the hand of
Jacopo with much judgment and invention. For he, in order to execute
this work, discovered a method of making the skeletons of the horse and
of the figure which had never been used up to that time--namely, with
pieces of wood and planking fastened together, and then swathed round
with hay, tow, and ropes, the whole being bound firmly together; and
over all there was spread clay mixed with paste, glue, and shearings of
woollen cloth. This method, truly, was and still is better than any
other for such things, for, although the works that are made in this
fashion have the appearance of weight, none the less after they are
finished and dried they turn out light, and, being covered with white,
look like marble and are very lovely to the eye, as was the said work
of Jacopo. To this it may be added that statues made in this fashion and
with the said mixtures do not crack, as they would do if they were made
simply of pure clay. And in this manner are made to-day the models for
sculpture, with very great convenience for the craftsmen, who, by means
of these, have ever before them the patterns and the true measurements
of the sculptures that they make; and for this method no small
obligation is owed to Jacopo, who is said to have been its inventor.
After this work, Jacopo made in Siena two panels of lime-wood, carving
the figures in them, with their beards and hair, with so great patience
that it was a marvel to see. And after these panels, which were placed
in the Duomo, he made some prophets in marble, of no great size, which
are in the facade of the said Duomo; and he would have continued to
labour at the works of this building, if plague, famine, and the
discords of the citizens of Siena had not brought that city to an evil
pass; for, after having many times risen in tumult, they drove out
Orlando Malevolti, by whose favour Jacopo had enjoyed creditable
employment in his native city. Departing then from Siena, he betook
himself by the agency of certain friends to Lucca, and there, in the
Church of S. Martino, he made a tomb for the wife, who had died a short
time before, of Paolo Guinigi, who was Lord of that city; on the base of
which tomb he carved some boys in marble that are supporting a garland,
so highly finished that they appeared to be of flesh; and on the
sarcophagus laid on the said base he made, with infinite diligence, the
image of the wife of Paolo Guinigi herself, who was buried within it,
and at her feet, from the same block, he made a dog in full relief,
signifying the fidelity shown by her to her husband. After Paolo had
departed, or rather, had been driven out of Lucca in the year 1429, when
the city became free, this sarcophagus was removed from that place and
was almost wholly destroyed, by reason of the hatred that the people of
Lucca bore to the memory of Guinigi; but the reverence that they bore to
the beauty of the figure and of the so many ornaments restrained them,
and brought it about that a little time afterwards the sarcophagus and
the figure were placed with diligence near the door of the sacristy,
where they are at present, while the Chapel of Guinigi was taken over
by the Commune.
Meanwhile Jacopo had heard that the Guild of the Merchants of Calimara
in Florence wished to have a bronze door made for the Church of S.
Giovanni, where, as it has been said, Andrea Pisano had wrought the
first; and he had come to Florence in order to make himself known, above
all because this work was to be allotted to the man who, in making one
of those scenes in bronze, should give the best proof of himself and of
his talent. Having therefore come to Florence, he not only made the
model, but delivered one very well executed scene, completely finished
and polished, which gave so great satisfaction, that, if he had not had
as rivals those most excellent masters, Donatello and Filippo
Brunelleschi, who in truth surpassed him in their specimens, it would
have fallen to him to make this work of so great importance. But the
business having concluded otherwise, he went to Bologna, where, by the
favour of Giovanni Bentivogli, he was commissioned by the Wardens of
Works of S. Petronio to make in marble the principal door of that
church, which he continued in the German manner, in order not to alter
the style wherein it had already been begun, filling up what was lacking
in the design of the pilasters that support the cornice and the arch,
with scenes wrought with infinite love within the space of the twelve
years that he was engaged in this work, wherein he made with his own
hand all the foliage and ornamentation of the said door, with the
greatest diligence and care that he could command. On each of the
pilasters that support the architrave, the cornice, and the arch, there
are five scenes, and five on the architrave, making fifteen in all; and
in them all he carved in low-relief stories from the Old
Testament--namely, from the Creation of man by God up to the Deluge and
Noah's Ark, thus conferring very great benefit on sculpture, since from
the ancients up to that time there had been no one who had wrought
anything in low-relief, wherefore that method of working was rather out
of mind than out of fashion. In the arch of this door he made three
figures in marble, as large as life and all in the round--namely, a very
beautiful Madonna with the Child in her arms, S. Petronius, and another
Saint, all very well grouped and in beautiful attitudes; wherefore the
people of Bologna, who did not think that there could be made a work in
marble, I do not say surpassing, but even equalling that one which
Agostino and Agnolo of Siena had made in the ancient manner on the
high-altar of S. Francesco in their city, were amazed to see that this
one was by a great measure more beautiful.
After this, being requested to return to Lucca, Jacopo went there very
willingly, and made on a marble panel in S. Friano, for Federigo di
Maestro Trenta del Veglia, a Virgin with her Son in her arms, and S.
Sebastian, S. Lucia, S. Jerome, and S. Gismondo, with good manner,
grace, and design; and in the predella below he made in half-relief,
under each Saint, some scene from the life of each, which was something
very lovely and pleasing, seeing that Jacopo gave gradation to his
figures from plane to plane with beautiful art, making them lower as
they receded. In like manner, he gave much encouragement to others to
acquire grace and beauty for their works with new methods, when he
portrayed from the life the patron of the work, Federigo, and his wife,
on two great slabs wrought in low-relief for two tombs; on which slabs
are these words:
HOC OPUS FECIT JACOBUS MAGISTRI PETRI DE SENIS, 1422.
Afterwards, on Jacopo coming to Florence, the Wardens of Works of S.
Maria del Fiore, by reason of the good report that they had heard of
him, commissioned him to make in marble the frontal that is over that
door of the church which leads to the Nunziata, wherein, in a mandorla,
he made the Madonna being borne to Heaven by a choir of angels sounding
instruments and singing, with the most beautiful movements and the most
beautiful attitudes--seeing that they have vivacity and motion in their
flight--that had ever been made up to that time. In like manner, the
Madonna is draped with so great grace and dignity that nothing better
can be imagined, the flow of the folds being very beautiful and soft,
while the borders of the draperies are seen following closely the nude
form of the figure, which, with its very covering, reveals every curve
of the limbs; and below this Madonna there is a S. Thomas, who is
receiving the Girdle. In short, this work was executed by Jacopo in
four years with all the possible perfection that he could give to it,
for the reason that, besides the natural desire that he had to do well,
the rivalry of Donato, of Filippo, and of Lorenzo di Bartolo, from whose
hands there had already issued some works that were highly praised,
incited him even more in the doing of what he did; and that was so much
that this work is studied even to-day by modern craftsmen, as something
very rare. On the other side of the Madonna, opposite to S. Thomas,
Jacopo made a bear that is climbing a pear-tree; and with regard to this
caprice, even as many things were said then, so also there could be
others said by me, but I will forbear, wishing to let everyone believe
and think in his own fashion in the matter of this invention.
[Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD
(_After_ Jacopo della Quercia. _Bologna: S. Petronio_)
_Alinari_]
After this, desiring to revisit his own country, Jacopo returned to
Siena, where, on his arrival, there came to him, according to his
desire, an occasion to leave therein some honourable memorial of
himself. For the Signoria of Siena, having resolved to make a very rich
adornment in marble for the waters that Agostino and Agnolo of Siena had
brought into the square in the year 1343, allotted that work to Jacopo,
at the price of 2,200 crowns of gold; wherefore he, having made the
model and collected the marbles, put his hand to the work and finally
completed it so greatly to the satisfaction of his fellow-citizens, that
he was ever afterwards called, not Jacopo della Quercia, but Jacopo
della Fonte. In the middle of this work, then, he carved the Glorious
Virgin Mary, the particular Patroness of that city, a little larger than
the other figures, and in a manner both gracious and singular. Round
her, next, he made the seven Theological Virtues, the heads of which are
delicate, pleasing, beautiful in expression, and wrought with certain
methods which show that he began to discover the good and the secrets of
the arts, and to give grace to the marble, sweeping away that ancient
manner which had been used up to that time by the sculptors, who made
their figures rigid and without the least grace in the world; whereas
Jacopo made them as soft as flesh, giving finish to his marble with
patience and delicacy. Besides this, he made there some stories from the
Old Testament--namely, the Creation of our first parents, and the eating
of the forbidden fruit, wherein, in the figure of the woman, there is
seen an expression of countenance so beautiful, with a grace and an
attitude so deferential towards Adam as she offers him the apple, that
it appears impossible for him to refuse it; to say nothing of the
remainder of the work, which is all full of most beautiful ideas, and
adorned with most beautiful children and other ornaments in the shape of
lions and she-wolves, emblems of the city, all executed by Jacopo with
love, mastery, and judgment in the space of twelve years. By his hand,
likewise, are three very beautiful scenes in half-relief from the life
of S. John the Baptist, wrought in bronze, which are round the baptismal
font of S. Giovanni, below the Duomo; and also some figures in the
round, likewise in bronze, one braccio in height, which are between each
of the said scenes, and are truly beautiful and worthy of praise.
Wherefore, by reason of these works, which showed his excellence, and of
the goodness and uprightness of his life, Jacopo was deservedly made
chevalier by the Signoria of Siena, and, shortly afterwards, Warden of
Works of the Duomo; which office he filled so well that neither before
nor since were these Works better directed, for, although he did not
live more than three years after undertaking this charge, he made many
useful and honourable improvements in that Duomo. And although Jacopo
was only a sculptor, nevertheless he drew passing well, as is
demonstrated by some drawings made by him, to be found in our book,
which appear to be rather by the hand of an illuminator than of a
sculptor. And his portrait, similar to the one that is seen above, I had
from Maestro Domenico Beccafumi, painter of Siena, who has related to me
many things about the excellence, goodness, and gentleness of Jacopo,
who finally died, exhausted by fatigues and by continuous labour, at the
age of sixty-four, and was lamented and honourably buried in Siena, the
place of his birth, by his friends and relatives--nay, by the the whole
city. And truly it was no small good-fortune for him to have his so
great excellence recognized in his own country, seeing that it rarely
comes to pass that men of excellence are universally loved and honoured
in their own country.
[Illustration: TOMB OF S. ROMANO
(_After_ Matteo Civitali. _Lucca: S. Romano_)
_Brogi_]