recalled by his relatives, after the death of his father, to Arezzo,
where, besides many works which it would take too long to recount, he
made some which do not in any way deserve to be passed over in silence.
In the Duomo Vecchio he made in fresco three different figures of Our
Lady; and within the principal door of that church, on the left hand as
one enters, he painted in fresco a story of the Blessed Tommasuolo, a
sack-cloth hermit and a holy man of that time. And since this man was
wont to carry in his hand a mirror wherein he saw, so he declared, the
Passion of Christ, Parri portrayed him in that story kneeling, with that
mirror in his right hand, which he was holding uplifted towards Heaven.
And painting Jesus Christ above on a throne of clouds, and round him all
the Mysteries of the Passion, with most beautiful art he made them all
reflected in that mirror, in such wise that not only the Blessed
Tommasuolo but all who beheld that picture could see them, which
invention was truly fanciful and difficult, and so beautiful that it
taught those who came after him to counterfeit many things by means of
mirrors. Nor will I forbear to tell, now that I am dealing with this
subject, what this holy man did once in Arezzo; and it is this.
Labouring continually, without ever ceasing, to induce the Aretines to
live at peace with one another, now preaching, and now foretelling many
misadventures, he recognized finally that he was wasting his time.
Whereupon, entering one day into the Palace where the Sixty were wont to
assemble, the said Blessed Tommasuolo--who saw them every day
deliberating, and never coming to any resolution save such as injured
the city--when he saw that the Hall was full, placed a quantity of
burning coals into a great fold in his robe, and, advancing with these
towards the Sixty and all the other magistrates of the city, he threw
them boldly at their feet, saying: "My lords, the fire is among you;
take heed lest ruin come upon you;" and this said, he went his way. Such
was the effect of the simplicity, and, as it pleased God, of the good
counsel of that holy man, that the said action completely accomplished
what his preachings and threatenings had never been able to do, insomuch
that, becoming united among themselves no long time after, they governed
that city for many years afterwards with much peace and quiet for all.
But returning to Parri: after the said work, he painted in fresco in a
chapel of the Church and Hospital of S. Cristofano, beside the Company
of the Nunziata, for Mona Mattea de' Testi, wife of Carcascion
Florinaldi, who left a very good endowment to that little church; and
there he made Christ Crucified, with many angels round Him and above
Him, flying in a certain dark sky and weeping bitterly. At the foot of
the Cross, on one side, are the Magdalene and the other Maries, who are
holding the fainting Madonna in their arms; and on the other side are S.
James and S. Christopher. On the walls he painted S. Catherine, S.
Nicholas, the Annunciation, and Jesus Christ at the Column; and, in an
arch over the door of the said church, a Pieta, S. John, and Our Lady.
But the paintings within (save those of the chapel) have been spoilt,
and the arch was pulled down in the substituting of a modern door of
grey-stone, and in the making of a convent for one hundred nuns with the
revenues of that Company. For this convent Giorgio Vasari made a most
careful model, but it was afterwards altered, nay, reduced to the vilest
form, by those who most unworthily had charge of so great a fabric. For
it comes to pass very often that one stumbles against certain men, said
to be very learned, but for the most part ignorant, who, under pretence
of understanding, set themselves arrogantly many times to try to play
the architect and to superintend; and more often than not they spoil the
arrangements and the models of those who, having spent their lives in
the study and practice of building, can act with judgment in works of
architecture; and this brings harm to posterity, which is thus deprived
of the utility, convenience, beauty, ornament, and grandeur that are
requisite in buildings, and particularly in those that are to be used
for the public service.
In the Church of S. Bernardo, also, a monastery of the Monks of Monte
Oliveto, Parri painted two chapels, one on either side within the
principal door. In that which is on the right hand, dedicated to the
Trinity, he made a God the Father, who is supporting Christ Crucified in
His arms, and above there is the Dove of the Holy Spirit in the midst of
a choir of angels; and on one wall of the same chapel he painted some
saints in fresco, perfectly. In the other, dedicated to Our Lady, is the
Nativity of Christ, with some women who are washing Him in a little
wooden tub, with a womanly grace marvellously well expressed. There are
also some shepherds in the distance, who are guarding their sheep,
clothed in the rustic dress of those times and very lifelike, and
listening attentively to the words of the Angel, who is telling them to
go to Nazareth. On the opposite wall is the Adoration of the Magi, with
baggage, camels, giraffes, and all the Court of those three Kings, who,
reverently offering their treasures, are adoring Christ, who is lying
upon the lap of His mother. Besides this, he painted on the vaulting,
and in the frontals of some arches outside, some very beautiful scenes
in fresco.
It is said that while Parri was executing this work, Fra Bernardino da
Siena, a friar of S. Francis and a man of holy life, was preaching in
Arezzo, and that having brought many of his brother monks into the true
religious life, and having converted many other persons, he caused Parri
to make the model for the Church of Sargiano, which he was building for
them; and that afterwards, having heard that many evil things were going
on in a wood near a fountain, a mile distant from the city, he went
there one morning, followed by the whole people of Arezzo, with a great
wooden cross in his hand, such as he was wont to carry, and after
preaching a solemn sermon he had the fountain destroyed and the wood cut
down; and a little later he caused a beginning to be made with a little
chapel which was built there in honour of Our Lady, with the title of S.
Maria delle Grazie, wherein he afterwards asked Parri to paint with his
own hand, as he did, the Virgin in Glory, who, opening her arms, is
covering under her mantle the whole people of Arezzo. This most holy
Virgin afterwards worked and still continues to work many miracles in
that place. The Commune of Arezzo has since caused a very beautiful
church to be built in this place, accommodating within it the Madonna
made by Parri, for which many ornaments of marble have been made, with
some figures, both round and above the altar, as it has been said in the
Lives of Luca della Robbia and of his nephew Andrea, and as it will be
said in due succession in the Lives of those whose works adorn that holy
place.
No long time after, by reason of the devotion that he bore to that holy
man, Parri portrayed the said S. Bernardino in fresco on a large
pilaster in the Duomo Vecchio; in which place, in a chapel dedicated to
the same Saint, he also painted him glorified in Heaven and surrounded
by a legion of angels, with three half-length figures, one on either
side--Patience and Poverty--and one above--Chastity--with which three
virtues that Saint held company up to his death. Under his feet he had
some Bishops' mitres and Cardinals' hats, in order to show that,
laughing at the world, he had despised such dignities; and below these
pictures was portrayed the city of Arezzo, such as it was in those
times. For the Company of the Nunziata, likewise, in a little chapel, or
rather maesta,[11] without the Duomo, Parri made a Madonna in fresco,
who, receiving the Annunciation from the Angel, is turning away all in
terror; and in the sky on the vaulting, which is groined, he made
angels, two in each angle, who, flying through the air and making music
with various instruments, appear to be playing together, so that one
almost hears a very sweet harmony; and on the walls are four
saints--namely, two on each side. But the pictures wherein he showed
best his power of varying the expression of his conception are seen on
the two pilasters that support the arch in front, where the entrance is,
for the reason that on one there is a very beautiful Charity, who is
affectionately suckling one infant, fondling a second, and holding a
third by the hand, while on the other there is Faith, painted in a new
manner, holding the Chalice and the Cross in one hand, and in the other
a cup of water, which she is pouring over the head of a boy, making him
a Christian. All these figures are without doubt the best that Parri
ever made in all his life, and even in comparison with the modern they
are marvellous.
[Footnote 11: A street-shrine, generally containing a picture of the
Virgin in Glory.]
Within the city, in the Church of S. Agostino, in the choir of the
friars, the same man painted many figures in fresco, which are known by
the manner of the draperies, and by their being long, slender, and bent,
as it has been said above. In the tramezzo[12] of the Church of S.
Giustino he painted in fresco a S. Martin on horseback, who is cutting
off a piece of his garment to give it to a beggar, and two other saints.
In the Vescovado, also, on the face of one wall, he painted an
Annunciation, which to-day is half spoilt through having been exposed
for many years. In the Pieve of the same city he painted the chapel
which is now near the Office of Works; and this has been almost wholly
ruined by damp. Truly unfortunate has this poor painter been with his
works, seeing that almost the greater part of them have been destroyed,
either by damp or by the ruin of the buildings. On a round column in the
said Pieve he painted a S. Vincent in fresco; and in S. Francesco he
made some saints round a Madonna in half-relief, for the family of the
Viviani, with the Apostles on the arch above, receiving the Holy Spirit,
and some other saints in the vaulting, and on one side Christ with the
Cross on His shoulder, pouring blood from His side into the Chalice, and
round Christ some angels very well wrought. Opposite to this, in the
Chapel of the Company of Stone-cutters, Masons, and Carpenters,
dedicated to the four Crowned Saints, he made a Madonna, and the said
Saints with the instruments of those trades in their hands, and below,
also in fresco, two scenes of their acts, and the Saints being beheaded
and thrown into the sea. In this work there are very beautiful attitudes
and efforts in the figures that are raising those bodies, placed in
sacks, on their shoulders, in order to carry them to the sea, for there
are seen in them liveliness and vivacity. In S. Domenico, also, near the
high-altar, on the right-hand wall, he painted in fresco a Madonna, S.
Anthony, and S. Nicholas, for the family of the Alberti da Catenaia, of
which place they were the Lords before its destruction, when they came
to dwell, some in Arezzo and some in Florence. And that they are one and
the same family is shown by the arms of both one and the other, which
are the same; although it is true that to-day those of Arezzo are
called, not "Degli Alberti," but "Da Catenaia," and those of Florence
not "Da Catenaia," but "Degli Alberti." And I remember to have seen, and
also read, that the Abbey of the Sasso--which was in the mountains of
Catenaia, and which has now been pulled down and rebuilt lower down
towards the Arno--was erected by the same Alberti for the Congregation
of Camaldoli; and to-day it belongs to the Monastery of the Angeli in
Florence, which acknowledges it as coming from the said family, which is
among the noblest in Florence.
[Footnote 12: See note on p. 57, Vol. I.]
In the old Audience Chamber of the Fraternity of S. Maria della
Misericordia, Parri painted a Madonna who has under her mantle the
people of Arezzo, wherein he portrayed from the life those who then
ruled that holy place, clothed according to the use of those times; and
among them one called Braccio, who is now called, when there is talk of
him, Lazzaro Ricco, and who died in the year 1422, leaving all his
riches and means to that place, which dispenses them in the service of
God's poor, performing the holy works of mercy with much charity. On one
side of this Madonna is S. Gregory the Pope, and on the other S.
Donatus, Bishop and Protector of the people of Arezzo. And since those
who then ruled that Fraternity had been very well served in this work by
Parri, they caused him to make on a panel, in distemper, a Madonna with
the Child in her arms, with some angels who are opening her mantle,
beneath which is the said people; with S. Laurentino and S. Pergentino,
the martyrs, below. This panel is brought out every year on the second
day of June, and, after it has been borne in solemn procession by the
men of the said Company as far as the church of the said Saints, there
is placed over it a coffer of silver, wrought by the goldsmith Forzore,
brother of Parri, within which are the bodies of the said SS. Laurentino
and Pergentino; it is brought out, I say, and the said altar is made
under covering of a tent in the Canto alla Croce, where the said church
stands, because, being a small church, it would not hold all the people
who assemble for this festival. The predella whereon the said panel
rests contains the martyrdom of those two Saints, made with little
figures, and so well wrought, that for a small work it is truly a
marvel. In Borgo Piano, under the projection of a house, there is a
shrine by the hand of Parri, within which is an Annunciation in fresco,
which is much extolled; and in S. Agostino, for the Company of the
Puraccioli, he made in fresco a very beautiful picture of S. Catherine,
virgin and martyr. In the Church of Muriello, likewise, for the
Fraternity of the Clerks, he painted a S. Mary Magdalene, three braccia
high; and in S. Domenico, at the entrance of the door, where the
bell-ropes are, he painted in fresco the Chapel of S. Niccolo, making
therein a large Crucifix with four figures, so well wrought that it
seems made only yesterday. In the arch he painted two stories of S.
Nicholas--namely, his throwing the golden balls to the maidens, and his
delivering two from death, while the executioner is seen apparelled and
ready to cut off their heads, and very well wrought.
The while that Parri was making this work, he was set upon with weapons
by some of his relatives, with whom he had a dispute about some dowry;
but, since some other men ran up immediately, he was succoured in a
manner that they did him no harm. But nevertheless, so it is said, the
fright that he experienced brought it about that, besides making his
figures bending over to one side, from that day onward he made them
almost always with an expression of terror. And since he found himself
many times attacked by slanderous tongues and torn by the tooth of envy,
he made in that chapel a scene of tongues burning, with some devils
round them that were heaping them with fire; and in the sky was Christ
cursing them, and on one side these words: "To the false tongue."
Parri was very studious in the matters of art, and drew very well, as it
is shown by many drawings by his hand, which I have seen, and in
particular by a border of twenty scenes from the life of S. Donatus,
made for a sister of his own, who embroidered very well; and this he is
reputed to have done because there was a question of making adornments
for the high-altar of the Vescovado. And in our book there are some
drawings by his hand, done very well with the pen. Parri was portrayed
by Marco da Montepulciano, a disciple of Spinello, in the cloister of S.
Bernardo in Arezzo. He lived fifty-six years, and he shortened his life
by reason of being by nature melancholic, solitary, and too assiduous in
the studies of his art and in his labours. He was buried in S. Agostino,
in the same tomb wherein his father Spinello had been laid, and his
death caused displeasure to all the men of culture who knew him.
MASACCIO
LIFE OF MASACCIO
PAINTER OF SAN GIOVANNI IN VALDARNO
It is the custom of nature, when she makes a man very excellent in any
profession, very often not to make him alone, but at the same time, and
in the same neighbourhood, to make another to compete with him, to the
end that they may assist each other by their talent and emulation; which
circumstance, besides the singular advantage enjoyed by the men
themselves, who thus compete with each other, also kindles beyond
measure the minds of those who come after that age, to strive with all
study and all industry to attain to that honour and that glorious
reputation which they hear highly extolled without ceasing in those who
have passed away. And that this is true we see from the fact that
Florence produced in one and the same age Filippo, Donato, Lorenzo,
Paolo Uccello, and Masaccio, each most excellent in his own kind, and
thus not only swept away the rough and rude manners that had prevailed
up to that time, but incited and kindled so greatly, by reason of the
beautiful works of these men, the minds of those who came after, that
the work of those professions has been brought to that grandeur and to
that perfection which are seen in our own times. Wherefore, in truth, we
owe a great obligation to those early craftsmen who showed to us, by
means of their labours, the true way to climb to the greatest height;
and with regard to the good manner of painting, we are indebted above
all to Masaccio, seeing that he, as one desirous of acquiring fame,
perceived that painting is nothing but the counterfeiting of all the
things of nature, vividly and simply, with drawing and with colours,
even as she produced them for us, and that he who attains to this most
perfectly can be called excellent. This truth, I say, being recognized
by Masaccio, brought it about that by means of continuous study he
learnt so much that he can be numbered among the first who cleared away,
in a great measure, the hardness, the imperfections, and the
difficulties of the art, and that he gave a beginning to beautiful
attitudes, movements, liveliness, and vivacity, and to a certain relief
truly characteristic and natural; which no painter up to his time had
ever done. And since he had excellent judgment, he reflected that all
the figures that did not stand firmly with their feet in foreshortening
on the level, but stood on tip-toe, were lacking in all goodness of
manner in the essential points, and that those who make them thus show
that they do not understand foreshortening. And although Paolo Uccello
had tried his hand at this, and had done something, solving this
difficulty to some extent, yet Masaccio, introducing many new methods,
made foreshortenings from every point of view much better than any other
who had lived up to that time. And he painted his works with good unity
and softness, harmonizing the flesh-colours of the heads and of the
nudes with the colours of the draperies, which he delighted to make with
few folds and simple, as they are in life and nature. This has been of
great use to craftsmen, and he deserves therefore to be commended as if
he had been its inventor, for in truth the works made before his day can
be said to be painted, while his are living, real, and natural, in
comparison with those made by the others.
[Illustration: MASACCIO: THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI]
(_Berlin: Kaiser Friedrich Museum, 58A._ _Panel_)
This man was born at Castello San Giovanni in Valdarno, and they say
that one may still see there some figures made by him in his earliest
childhood. He was a very absent-minded and careless person, as one who,
having fixed his whole mind and will on the matters of art, cared little
about himself, and still less about others. And since he would never
give any manner of thought to the cares and concerns of the world, or
even to clothing himself, and was not wont to recover his money from his
debtors, save only when he was in the greatest straits, his name was
therefore changed from Tommaso to Masaccio,[13] not, indeed, because he
was vicious, for he was goodness itself, but by reason of his so
great carelessness; and with all this, nevertheless, he was so
amiable in doing the service and pleasure of others, that nothing more
could be desired.
[Footnote 13: Careless Tom, or Hulking Tom (not necessarily in
disapproval).]
He began painting at the time when Masolino da Panicale was working on
the Chapel of the Brancacci in the Carmine, in Florence, ever following,
in so far as he was able, in the steps of Filippo and Donato, although
their branch of art was different, and seeking continually in his work
to make his figures very lifelike and with a beautiful liveliness in the
likeness of nature. And his lineaments and his painting were so modern
and so different from those of the others, that his works can safely
stand in comparison with any drawing and colouring of our own day. He
was very zealous at his labours, and a marvellous master of the
difficulties of perspective, as it is seen in a story painted by him
with small figures, which is to-day in the house of Ridolfo del
Ghirlandajo. In this story, besides a Christ who is delivering the man
possessed by a devil, there are very beautiful buildings in perspective,
drawn in a manner that they show at one and the same time both the
inside and the outside, by reason of his having chosen the point of
view, not of the front, but over the corners, as being more difficult.
He sought more than any other master to make his figures nude and
foreshortened, which was little done before his day. He had great
facility in handling, and, as it has been said, he is very simple in his
draperies.
There is a panel by his hand, wrought in distemper, wherein is a Madonna
upon the lap of S. Anne, with the Child in her arms. This panel is
to-day in S. Ambrogio in Florence, in the chapel that is beside the door
that leads to the parlour of the nuns. And in the tramezzo[14] of the
Church of S. Niccolo, on the other side of the Arno, there is a panel by
the hand of Masaccio, painted in distemper, wherein, besides the
Madonna, who is receiving the Annunciation from the Angel, there is a
building with many columns, drawn in perspective and very beautiful,
seeing that, besides the drawing of the lines, which is perfect, he made
it recede by means of the colouring, in a manner that little by little,
almost imperceptibly, it is lost to view; thus showing clearly his
knowledge of perspective. In the Badia of Florence, on a pilaster
opposite to one of those that support the arch of the high-altar, he
painted in fresco S. Ivo of Brittany, representing him within a niche,
in order that the feet might appear foreshortened to the eye below;
which device, not having been used so well by others, acquired for him
no small praise. And below the said Saint, over another cornice, he made
a throng of widows, orphans, and beggars, who receive assistance from
that Saint in their needs. In S. Maria Novella, also, below the
tramezzo[15] of the church, he painted a Trinity in fresco, which is
placed over the altar of S. Ignazio, with Our Lady on one side and S.
John the Evangelist on the other contemplating Christ Crucified. On the
sides are two figures on their knees, which, in so far as it can be
determined, are portraits of the men who had the picture painted; but
little is seen of them, for they have been covered with a gilt ornament.
But the most beautiful thing, apart from the figures, is a barrel-shaped
vaulting, drawn in perspective and divided into squares filled with
rosettes, which are foreshortened and made to diminish so well that the
wall appears to be pierced. In S. Maria Maggiore, also, near the
side-door that leads to S. Giovanni, on the panel of a chapel, he
painted a Madonna, with S. Catherine and S. Julian. On the predella he
made some little figures, connected with the life of S. Catherine, with
S. Julian murdering his father and mother; and in the middle he made the
Nativity of Christ, with that simplicity and vividness which were
characteristic of his work.
[Footnote 14: See note on p. 57, Vol. I.]
[Footnote 15: See note on p. 57, Vol. I.]