could; wherefore he divided the said door into ten squares, five on each
side, so that the spaces enclosing the scenes were one braccio and a
third in extent, and round them, to adorn the framework that surrounds
the scenes, there are niches--upright, in that part of the
door--containing figures in almost full-relief, twenty in number and all
most beautiful, such as a nude Samson, who, embracing a column, with a
jawbone in his hand, displays a perfection as great as can be shown by
anything made in the time of the ancients, in their figures of Hercules,
whether in bronze or in marble; and to this a Joshua bears witness, who,
in the act of speaking, appears to be really addressing his army;
besides many prophets and sibyls, all of which he adorned with various
manners of draperies over their shoulders, and with head-dresses, hair,
and other adornments; not to mention twelve figures which are lying down
in the niches that go horizontally along the ornament of the scenes. At
the intersections of the corners, in certain medallions, he made heads
of women, of youths, and of old men, to the number of thirty-four; among
which, in the middle of the said door, near the place where he engraved
his own name, is the portrait of his father Bartoluccio, who is the
oldest of them, while the youngest is his son Lorenzo himself, the
master of the whole work; besides an infinite quantity of foliage,
mouldings, and other ornaments, made with the greatest mastery. The
scenes that are in the said door are from the Old Testament; and in the
first is the Creation of Adam, and of Eve, his wife, who are executed
most perfectly, it being evident that Lorenzo strove to make their limbs
as beautiful as he was able to do, wishing to show that, even as these
figures by the hand of God were the most beautiful that were ever made,
so these by his own hand should surpass all the others that had been
made by him in his other works--truly a very grand intention. In the
same scene, likewise, he made them eating the apple, and also being
driven out of Paradise; and in these actions the figures express the
effect, first of their sin, recognizing their nakedness and covering it
with their hands, and then of repentance, when they are made by the
Angel to go forth out of Paradise. In the second square are figures of
Adam and Eve, with Cain and Abel as little children, born from them; and
there, also, is Abel making a sacrifice of his firstlings, with Cain
making one not so good, while in the expression of Cain there is shown
envy against his brother, and in Abel love towards God. And what is
singularly beautiful is to see Cain ploughing the earth with a pair of
oxen, which, with their labouring to pull at the yoke of the plough,
appear real and natural; and the same is shown in Abel, who is watching
his flocks, and Cain puts him to death, when he is seen, in a most
impious and cruel attitude, slaughtering his brother with a club, in
such a manner that the very bronze shows the limpness of the dead limbs
in the most beautiful person of Abel; and in the distance, likewise,
there is God asking Cain what he has done with Abel. Each square
contains the representation of four stories. In the third square Lorenzo
made Noah issuing from the Ark, with his wife, his sons and daughters,
and his sons' wives, together with all the animals, both of the air and
of the earth, which, each in its kind, are wrought with the greatest
perfection wherewith art is able to imitate nature; the Ark is seen
open, with the poles in perspective, in very low-relief, insomuch that
their grace cannot be expressed; besides that, the figures of Noah and
of his kindred could not be more lively or more vivacious, while, as he
is offering sacrifice, there is seen the rainbow, a sign of peace
between God and Noah. But much more excellent than all the others are
the scenes where he is planting the vine, and, having been made drunk by
the wine, is showing his nakedness, and his son Ham is deriding him; and
in truth a man sleeping could not be imitated better, the limbs being
seen outstretched in drunken abandonment, while his other two sons, with
consideration and love, are covering him in very beautiful attitudes;
not to mention that there are the cask, the vine-leaves, and the other
features of the vintage, so carefully made and fitted into certain
places, that they do not impede the story, but serve as a most beautiful
adornment. In the fourth scene it pleased Lorenzo to make the apparition
of the three Angels in the valley of Mamre, giving them a close likeness
one to the other, while that most holy patriarch is seen adoring them,
with much appropriateness and vivacity in the position of his hands and
the expression of his countenance; and, in addition, Lorenzo showed very
beautiful feeling in the figures of his servants, who, remaining at the
foot of the mountain with an ass, are awaiting Abraham, who had gone to
sacrifice his son. Isaac is placed naked on the altar, and his
father, with uplifted arm, is about to show his obedience, but he is
hindered by the Angel, who is restraining him with one hand, while with
the other he is pointing to where is the ram for the sacrifice, and
delivering Isaac from death. This scene is truly very beautiful, since,
among other things, there is seen a very great difference between the
delicate limbs of Isaac and those of the servants, which are more
robust; insomuch that there appears to be no touch therein that was not
given with the greatest art. In this work, also, Lorenzo showed that he
surpassed his own self in the difficulties of making buildings; in the
birth-scene of Isaac, Jacob, and Esau; in the scene when Esau is
hunting, at the wish of his father; and in that when Jacob, instructed
by Rebecca, is offering the cooked kid, with its skin wrapped round his
neck, while Isaac is feeling for him and giving him his blessing. In
this scene there are some dogs, very beautiful and lifelike, besides the
figures, which produce the very same effect that Jacob, Isaac, and
Rebecca did by their actions when they were alive.
[Illustration: THE FALL OF JERICHO
(_Detail, after_ Lorenzo Ghiberti, _from the Paradise Gate of the
Baptistery, Florence_)
_Brogi_]
[Illustration: THE CREATION OF EVE
(_Detail, after_ Lorenzo Ghiberti, _from the Paradise Gate of the
Baptistery, Florence_)
_Brogi_]
Emboldened by his study of the art, which was making it ever easier to
him, he tried his genius on matters more complicated and difficult;
wherefore, in the sixth square, he made Joseph cast by his brethren into
the well, and the scene when they sell him to the merchants, and where
he is given by them to Pharaoh, to whom he interprets the dream of the
famine; together with the provision against it, and the honours given by
Pharaoh to Joseph. Likewise there is Jacob sending his sons for corn
into Egypt, and Joseph recognizing them and making them return for their
father; in which scene Lorenzo made a round temple, drawn in perspective
with great mastery, wherein are figures in diverse manners which are
loading corn and flour, together with some marvellous asses. Likewise
there is the feast that Joseph gives them, and the hiding of the gold
cup in Benjamin's sack, and its discovery, and how he embraces and
acknowledges his brethren; which scene, by reason of the many effects
and the great variety of incidents, is held the most noble, the most
difficult, and the most beautiful of all his works.
And in truth, having so beautiful a genius and so good a grace in this
manner of statuary, when there came into his mind the compositions of
beautiful scenes, Lorenzo could not but make the figures most beautiful;
as it is apparent in the seventh square, where he represents Mount
Sinai, and on its summit Moses, who is receiving the Laws from God.
Reverently kneeling, half-way up the mountain, is Joshua, who is
awaiting him, and at the foot are all the people, terrified by the
thunder, lightning, and earthquakes, in diverse attitudes wrought with
very great vivacity. After this, he showed diligence and great love in
the eighth square, wherein he made Joshua marching against Jericho and
turning back the Jordan, and placed there the twelve tents of the twelve
Tribes, full of very lifelike figures; but more beautiful are some in
low-relief, in the scene when, as they go with the Ark round the walls
of the aforesaid city, these walls fall down at the sound of trumpets,
and the Hebrews take Jericho; and here the landscape is ever diminished
and made lower with great judgment, from the first figures to the
mountains, from the mountains to the city, and from the city to the
distant part of the landscape, in very low relief, the whole being
executed with great perfection. And since Lorenzo became from day to day
more practised in that art, there is next seen, in the ninth square, the
slaying of the giant Goliath by David, who is cutting off his head in a
proud and boyish attitude; and the host of the Lord is routing that of
the Philistines, wherein Lorenzo made horses, chariots, and other
warlike things. Next, he made David returning with the head of Goliath
in his hand, and the people are meeting him, sounding instruments and
singing; and these effects are all appropriate and vivacious. It now
remained for Lorenzo to do all that he was able in the tenth and last
scene, wherein the Queen of Sheba is visiting Solomon, with a very great
train; in this part he made a very beautiful building drawn in
perspective, with all the other figures similar to the aforesaid scenes;
not to mention the ornaments of the architraves, which go round the said
doors, wherein are fruits and festoons made with his usual excellence.
In this work, both in detail and as a whole, it is seen how much the
ability and the power of a craftsman in statuary can effect by means of
figures, some being almost in the round, some in half-relief, some in
low-relief, and some in the lowest, with invention in the grouping of
the figures, and extravagance of attitude both in the males and in the
females; and by variety in the buildings, by perspectives, and by having
likewise shown a sense of fitness in the gracious expressions of each
sex throughout the whole work, giving to the old gravity, and to the
young elegance and grace. And it may be said, in truth, that this work
is in every way perfect, and that it is the most beautiful work which
has ever been seen in the world, whether ancient or modern. And right
truly does Lorenzo deserve to be praised, seeing that one day
Michelagnolo Buonarroti, having stopped to look at this work, and being
asked what he thought of it, and whether these doors were beautiful,
answered: "They are so beautiful that they would do well for the gates
of Paradise": praise truly appropriate, and given by an able judge. And
well indeed might Lorenzo complete them, seeing that from the age of
twenty, when he began them, he worked at them for forty years, with
labour beyond belief.
Lorenzo was assisted in finishing and polishing this work, after it was
cast, by many men, then youths, who afterwards became excellent
masters--namely, by Filippo Brunelleschi, Masolino da Panicale, and
Niccolo Lamberti, goldsmiths; and by Parri Spinelli, Antonio Filarete,
Paolo Uccello, Antonio del Pollaiuolo, who was then quite young, and
many others, who, growing intimate together over that work, and
conferring one with another, as men do when they work in company, gained
no less advantage for themselves than they gave to Lorenzo. To him,
besides the payment that he had from the Consuls, the Signoria gave a
good farm near the Abbey of Settimo, and no long time elapsed before he
was made one of the Signori, and honoured with the supreme magistracy of
the city; wherefore the Florentines deserve no less to be praised for
their gratitude to him, than they deserve to be blamed for having been
little grateful to other excellent men of their city.
After this most stupendous work, Lorenzo made the ornament in bronze for
that door of the same church which is opposite to the Misericordia, with
that marvellous foliage which he was not able to finish, death coming
unexpectedly upon him when he was preparing--having already almost made
the model--to reconstruct the said door, which Andrea Pisano had
formerly made; which model has now been lost, although I saw it
formerly, when a youth, in Borgo Allegri, before it was allowed to be
lost by the descendants of Lorenzo.
Lorenzo had a son called Bonaccorso, who finished with his own hand the
frieze and that ornament, which had been left incomplete, with very
great diligence; which ornament, I declare, is the rarest and most
marvellous work that there is to be seen in bronze. Bonaccorso, dying
young, did not afterwards make many works, as he would have done, seeing
that he had been left with the secret of making castings in such a way
as to make them come out delicate, and also with the knowledge and the
method of perforating the metal in that manner which is seen in the
works left by Lorenzo. The latter, besides the works by his own hand,
bequeathed to his heirs many antiquities both in marble and in bronze,
such as the bed of Polycletus, which was something very rare; a leg of
bronze as large as life; some heads, both male and female; together with
some vases, all procured by him from Greece at no small cost. He left,
likewise, some torsi of figures, and many other things; and all were
dispersed together with the property of Lorenzo, some being sold to
Messer Giovanni Gaddi, then Clerk of the Chamber to the Pope, and among
these was the said bed of Polycletus, with the rest of the finer things.
Bonaccorso had a son called Vittorio, who survived him. He applied
himself to sculpture, but with little profit, as it is shown by the
heads that he made at Naples for the Palace of the Duke of Gravina,
which are not very good, since he never applied himself to art with love
or with diligence, but rather to scattering the property and the other
things which had been left him by his father and his grandfather.
Finally, going to Ascoli as architect under Pope Paul III, he had his
throat cut one night by one of his servants, who came to rob him. And
thus the family of Lorenzo became extinct, but not so his fame, which
will live to all eternity.
But returning to the said Lorenzo: he applied himself, while he lived,
to many things, and delighted in painting and in working in glass, and
for S. Maria del Fiore he made the round windows that are round the
cupola, excepting one, which is by the hand of Donato--namely, the one
wherein Christ is crowning Our Lady. Lorenzo likewise made the three
that are over the principal door of the same S. Maria del Fiore, and all
those of the chapels and of the tribunes, and also the rose-window in
the facade of S. Croce. In Arezzo he made a window for the principal
chapel of the Pieve, containing the Coronation of Our Lady, with two
other figures, for Lazzaro di Feo di Baccio, a very rich merchant; but
since they were all of Venetian glass, loaded with colour, they make the
places where they were put rather dark than otherwise. Lorenzo was
chosen to assist Brunellesco, when the latter was commissioned to make
the Cupola of S. Maria del Fiore, but he was afterwards relieved of the
task, as it will be told in the Life of Filippo.
The same Lorenzo wrote a book in the vulgar tongue, wherein he treated
of many diverse matters, but in such wise that little profit can be
drawn from it. The only good thing in it, in my judgment, is this, that
after having discoursed of many ancient painters, and particularly of
those cited by Pliny, he makes brief mention of Cimabue, Giotto, and
many others of those times; and this he did, with much more brevity than
was right, for no other reason but to slip with a good grace into a
discourse about himself, and to enumerate minutely, as he did, one by
one, all his own works. Nor will I forbear to say that he feigns that
his book was written by another, whereas afterwards, in the process of
writing--as one who knew better how to draw, to chisel, and to cast in
bronze, than how to weave stories--talking of himself, he speaks in the
first person, "I made," "I said," "I was making," "I was saying."
Finally, having come to the sixty-fourth year of his age, and being
assailed by a grievous and continuous fever, he died, leaving immortal
fame for himself by reason of the works that he made, and through the
pens of writers; and he was honourably buried in S. Croce. His portrait
is on the principal bronze door of the Church of S. Giovanni, on the
border that is in the middle when the door is closed, in the form of a
bald man, and beside him is his father Bartoluccio; and near them may be
read these words: LAURENTII CIONIS DE GHIBERTIS MIRA ARTE FABRICATUM.
The drawings of Lorenzo were most excellent, being made with much
relief, as it is seen in our book of drawings, in an Evangelist by his
hand, and in some others in chiaroscuro, which are very beautiful.
His father Bartoluccio was also a passing good draughtsman, as it is
shown by another Evangelist in the said book, which is by his hand, but
no little inferior to that of Lorenzo. These drawings, with some by
Giotto and by others, I had from Vittorio Ghiberti in the year 1528,
when a youth, and I have ever held and still hold them in veneration,
both because they are beautiful and as memorials of men so great. And
if, when I was living in strait friendship and intimacy with Vittorio, I
had known what I know now, it would have been easy for me to obtain many
other truly beautiful things by the hand of Lorenzo. Among many verses,
both in Latin and in the vulgar tongue, which were written at diverse
times in honour of Lorenzo, it will be enough for me, in order not to
weary my readers overmuch, to put down these that follow
Dum cernit valvas aurato ex aere nitentes
In templo Michael Angelus, obstupuit:
Attonitusque diu, sic alta silentia rupit:
O divinum opus! O janua digna polo!
MASOLINO DA PANICALE
[Illustration: S. JOHN THE BAPTIST
(_After the fresco by_ Masolino da Panicale. _Castiglione d'Olona:
Baptistery_)
_Alinari_]
LIFE OF MASOLINO DA PANICALE
PAINTER
Truly great, I believe, must be the contentment of those who are
approaching the highest rank in the science wherein they are labouring;
and those, likewise, who, besides the delight and pleasure that they
feel in working valiantly, enjoy some fruit from their labours, without
doubt live a quiet and very happy life. And if perchance it comes to
pass that one, while advancing towards perfection in any science or art,
is overtaken by death in the happy course of his life, his memory does
not become wholly spent, if only he has laboured worthily in order to
attain to the true end of his art. Wherefore every man should labour the
most that he can in order to attain to perfection, since, although he
may be hindered in the midst of his course, he will gain praise, if not
for the works that he has not been able to finish, at least for the
excellent intention and diligent study which are seen in the little that
he leaves behind.
Masolino da Panicale of Valdelsa, who was a disciple of Lorenzo di
Bartoluccio Ghiberti, was a very good goldsmith in his youth, and the
best finisher that Lorenzo had in the labour of the doors; and he was
very dexterous and able in making the draperies of the figures, and had
very good manner and understanding in the work of finishing. Wherefore
with his chisel he made with all the more dexterity certain soft and
delicate hollows, both in human limbs and in draperies. He devoted
himself to painting at the age of nineteen, and practised it ever
afterwards, learning the art of colouring from Gherardo Starnina. And
having gone to Rome in order to study, the while that he dwelt there he
painted the hall of the old house of the Orsini on Monte Giordano; and
then, having returned to Florence by reason of a pain in the head that
the air was causing him, he made in the Carmine, beside the Chapel of
the Crucifixion, that figure of S. Peter which is still seen there. This
figure, being praised by the craftsmen, brought it about that he was
commissioned to adorn the Chapel of the Brancacci, in the said church,
with the stories of S. Peter; of which chapel, with great diligence, he
brought a part to completion, as on the vaulting, where there are the
four Evangelists, with Christ taking Andrew and Peter from the nets and
then Peter weeping for the sin committed in denying Him, and next to
that his preaching in order to convert the Gentiles. He painted there
the shipwreck of the Apostles in the tempest, and the scene when S.
Peter is delivering his daughter Petronilla from sickness; and in the
same scene he made him going with S. John to the Temple, where, in front
of the portico, there is the lame beggar asking him for alms, and S.
Peter, not being able to give him either gold or silver, is delivering
him with the sign of the Cross. Throughout all that work the figures are
made with very good grace, and they show grandeur in the manner,
softness and harmony in the colouring, and relief and force in the
draughtsmanship; the work was much esteemed by reason of its novelty and
of the methods used in many parts, which were totally different from the
manner of Giotto; but, being overtaken by death, he left these scenes
unfinished.
[Illustration: MASOLINO DA PANICALE: MADONNA AND CHILD
(_Empoli: S. Stefano. Fresco_)]
Masolino was a person of very good powers, with much harmony and
facility in his pictures, which are seen to have been executed with
diligence and with great love. This zeal and this willingness to labour,
which he never ceased to show, brought about in him a bad habit of body,
which ended his life before his time and snatched him prematurely from
the world. Masolino died young, at the age of thirty-seven, cutting
short the expectations that people had conceived of him. His pictures
date about the year 1440. And Paolo Schiavo--who painted the Madonna and
the figures with their feet foreshortened on the cornice on the Canto
de' Gori in Florence--strove greatly to follow the manner of Masolino,
from whose works, having studied them many times, I find his manner very
different from that of those who were before him, seeing that he added
majesty to the figures, and gave softness and a beautiful flow of
folds to the draperies. The heads of his figures, also, are much better
than those made before his day, for he was a little more successful in
making the roundness of the eyes, and many other beautiful parts of the
body. And since he began to have a good knowledge of light and shade,
seeing that he worked in relief, he made many difficult foreshortenings
very well, as is seen in that beggar who is seeking alms from S. Peter;
for his leg, which is trailing behind him, is so well proportioned in
its outlines, with regard to draughtsmanship, and in its shadows, with
regard to colouring, that it appears to be really piercing the wall.
Masolino began likewise to give more sweetness of expression to the
faces of women, and more loveliness to the garments of young men, than
the old craftsmen had done; and he also drew passing well in
perspective. But that wherein he excelled, more than in anything else,
was colouring in fresco, for this he did so well that his pictures are
blended and harmonized with so great grace, that his painting of flesh
has the greatest softness which one is able to imagine; wherefore, if he
had shown absolute perfection in draughtsmanship, as perchance he might
have done if he had lived longer, he might have been numbered among the
best, since his works are executed with good grace, and with grandeur in
the manner, softness and harmony in the colouring, and much relief and
force in the draughtsmanship, although this is not in all parts
perfect.
[Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD
(_After the panel by_ Masolino de Panicale. _Bremen: Kunsthalle_)
_N. P.--G._]
PARRI SPINELLI
LIFE OF PARRI SPINELLI
PAINTER OF AREZZO
Parri di Spinello Spinelli, painter of Arezzo, having learnt the first
principles of art from his own father, was brought to Florence by the
agency of Messer Leonardo Bruni of Arezzo, and was received by Lorenzo
Ghiberti into his school, where many young men were learning under his
discipline: and since the doors of S. Giovanni were then being given
their finish, he was put to labour on those figures, in company with
many others, as it has been said above. And having, in this work,
contracted a friendship with Masolino da Panicale, and being pleased
with his method of drawing, he set about imitating him in many respects,
as he also imitated in others the manner of Don Lorenzo degli Angeli.
Parri made his figures much longer and more slender than any painter who
had lived before him, and whereas the others make them in the proportion
of ten heads at most, he gave them eleven, and sometimes twelve; nor did
this make them awkward, although they were slender and were ever bent in
an arch either to the right side or to the left, for the reason that
this, as it appeared to him, and as he himself said, gave them more
vigour. The flow of his draperies was very delicate, with abundance of
folds, which fell from the arms of his figures right down to the feet.
He coloured very well in distemper, and perfectly in fresco, and he was
the first who, in working in fresco, ceased to use verdaccio below
flesh-colours, to be afterwards washed over with rosy flesh-tints in
chiaroscuro, in the manner of water-colours, as Giotto and the other old
masters had done. Parri, on the other hand, used body colours in making
his grounds and tints, placing them with much discretion where it
appeared to him that they would look best--that is, the lights on the
highest points, the middle tints towards the sides, and the darks on the
outlines; with which method of painting he showed more facility in his
works and gave longer life to pictures in fresco, seeing that, having
laid the colours in their places, he would blend them together with a
rather thick and soft brush, and would execute his works with so high a
finish that nothing better can be desired; and his colouring has no
equal.