the tramezzo,[16] there is a Madonna with the Child, by his hand, and at
her feet are certain little angels sounding instruments, one of whom,
playing on a lute, is listening attentively to the harmony of that
sound. On either side of the Madonna are S. Peter, S. John the Baptist,
S. Julian, and S. Nicholas, all very lifelike and vivacious figures. In
the predella below are scenes from the lives of those Saints, with
little figures; and in the centre are the three Magi offering their
treasures to Christ. In this part are some horses portrayed from life,
so beautiful that nothing better can be desired; and the men of the
Court of those three Kings are clothed in various costumes that were
worn in those times. And above, as an ornament for the said panel, there
are, in several squares, many saints round a Crucifix. It is believed
that the figure of a saint, in the robes of a Bishop and painted in
fresco, which is in that church, beside the door that leads into the
convent, is by the hand of Masaccio; but I hold it as certain that it is
by the hand of Fra Filippo, his disciple.
[Footnote 16: See note above.]
[Illustration: THE TRINITY
(_After the fresco by_ Masaccio. _Florence: S. Maria Novella_)
_Anderson_]
Returning from Pisa to Florence, he wrought there a panel containing a
man and a woman, nude and of the size of life, which is to-day in the
Palla Rucellai Palace. Then, not feeling at ease in Florence, and
stimulated by his affection and love for art, he determined to go to
Rome, in order to learn and to surpass others; and this he did. And
having acquired very great fame there, he painted for Cardinal San
Clemente a chapel in the Church of S. Clemente, wherein he made in
fresco the Passion of Christ, with the Thieves on the Cross, and the
stories of S. Catherine the martyr. He also made many panels in
distemper, which have been all lost or destroyed in the troublous times
of Rome; one being in the Church of S. Maria Maggiore, in a little
chapel near the sacristy, wherein are four saints, so well wrought that
they appear to be in relief, and in the midst of them is S. Maria della
Neve, with the portrait from nature of Pope Martin, who is tracing out
the foundations of that church with a hoe, and beside him the Emperor
Sigismund II. Michelagnolo and I were one day examining this work, when
he praised it much, and then added that these men were alive in
Masaccio's time. To him, while Pisanello and Gentile da Fabriano were
labouring in Rome for Pope Martin on the walls of the Church of S.
Gianni, these masters had allotted a part of the work, when he returned
to Florence, having had news that Cosimo de' Medici, by whom he was much
assisted and favoured, had been recalled from exile; and there he was
commissioned to paint the Chapel of the Brancacci in the Carmine, by
reason of the death of Masolino da Panicale, who had begun it; but
before putting his hand to this, he made, by way of specimen, the S.
Paul that is near the bell-ropes, in order to show the improvement that
he had made in his art. And he demonstrated truly infinite excellence in
this picture, for in the head of that Saint, who is Bartolo di Angiolino
Angiolini portrayed from life, there is seen an expression so awful that
there appears to be nothing lacking in that figure save speech; and he
who has not known S. Paul will see, by looking at this picture, his
honourable Roman culture, together with the unconquerable strength of
that most divine spirit, all intent on the work of the faith. In this
same picture, likewise, he showed a power of foreshortening things
viewed from below upwards which was truly marvellous, as may still be
seen to-day in the feet of the said Apostle, for this was a difficulty
that he solved completely, in contrast with the old rude manner, which,
as I said a little before, used to make all the figures on tip-toe;
which manner lasted up to his day, without any other man correcting it,
and he, by himself and before any other, brought it to the excellence of
our own day.
It came to pass, the while that he was labouring at this work, that the
said Church of the Carmine was consecrated; and Masaccio, in memory of
this, painted the consecration just as it took place, with terra-verde
and in chiaroscuro, over the door that leads into the convent, within
the cloister. And he portrayed therein an infinite number of citizens in
mantles and hoods, who are following the procession, among whom he
painted Filippo di Ser Brunellesco in wooden shoes, Donatello, Masolino
da Panicale, who had been his master, Antonio Brancacci, who caused him
to paint the chapel, Niccolo da Uzzano, Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici,
and Bartolommeo Valori, who are all also portrayed by the hand of the
same man in the house of Simon Corsi, a gentleman of Florence. He also
painted there Lorenzo Ridolfi, who was at that time the ambassador of
the Florentine Republic in Venice; and not only did he portray there the
aforesaid gentlemen from the life, but also the door of the convent and
the porter with the keys in his hand. This work, truly, shows great
perfection, for Masaccio was so successful in placing these people, five
or six to a file, on the level of that piazza, and in making them
diminish to the eye with proportion and judgment, that it is indeed a
marvel, and above all because we can recognize there the wisdom that he
showed in making those men, as if they were alive, not all of one size,
but with a certain discretion which distinguishes those who are short
and stout from those who are tall and slender; while they are all
standing with their feet firmly on one level, and so well foreshortened
along the files that they would not be otherwise in nature.
After this, returning to the work of the Chapel of the Brancacci, and
continuing the stories of S. Peter begun by Masolino, he finished a part
of them--namely, the story of the Chair, the healing of the sick, the
raising of the dead, and the restoring of the cripples with his shadow
as he was going to the Temple with S. John. But the most notable among
them all is that one wherein S. Peter, at Christ's command, is taking
the money from the belly of the fish, in order to pay the tribute, since
(besides the fact that we see there in an Apostle, the last of the
group, the portrait of Masaccio himself, made by his own hand with the
help of a mirror, so well that it appears absolutely alive) we can
recognize there the ardour of S. Peter in his questioning and the
attentiveness of the Apostles, who are standing in various attitudes
round Christ, awaiting his determination, with gestures so vivid that
they truly appear alive. Wonderful, above all, is the S. Peter who,
while he is labouring to draw the money from the belly of the fish, has
his head suffused with blood by reason of bending down; and he is even
more wonderful as he pays the tribute, for here we see his expression as
he counts it, and the eagerness of him who is receiving it and looking
at the money in his hand with the greatest pleasure. There, also, he
painted the resurrection of the King's son, wrought by S. Peter and S.
Paul; although by reason of the death of Masaccio the work remained
unfinished, and was afterwards completed by Filippino. In the scene
wherein S. Peter is baptizing, a naked man, who is trembling and
shivering with cold among the others who are being baptized, is greatly
esteemed, having been wrought with very beautiful relief and sweet
manner; which figure has ever been held in reverence and admiration by
all craftsmen, both ancient and modern. For this reason that chapel has
been frequented continually up to our own day by innumerable draughtsmen
and masters; and there still are therein some heads so lifelike and so
beautiful, that it may truly be said that no master of that age
approached so nearly as this man did to the moderns. His labours
therefore deserve infinite praise, and above all because he gave form in
his art to the beautiful manner of our times. And that this is true is
proved by the fact that all the most celebrated sculptors and painters,
who have lived from his day to our own, have become excellent and famous
by exercising themselves and studying in this chapel--namely, Fra
Giovanni da Fiesole, Fra Filippo, Filippino, who finished it, Alesso
Baldovinetti, Andrea dal Castagno, Andrea del Verrocchio, Domenico del
Ghirlandajo, Sandro di Botticello, Leonardo da Vinci, Pietro Perugino,
Fra Bartolommeo di San Marco, Mariotto Albertinelli, and the most divine
Michelagnolo Buonarroti; likewise Raffaello da Urbino, who owed to this
chapel the beginning of his beautiful manner, Granaccio, Lorenzo di
Credi, Ridolfo del Ghirlandajo, Andrea del Sarto, Rosso, Franciabigio,
Baccio Bandinelli, Alonso Spagnuolo, Jacopo da Pontormo, Pierino del
Vaga, and Toto del Nunziata; and in short, all those who have sought to
learn that art have ever gone to this chapel to learn and to grasp the
precepts and the rules for good work from the figures of Masaccio. And
if I have not named many foreigners and many Florentines who have gone
to that chapel for the sake of study, let it suffice to say that where
the heads of art go, the members also follow. But although the works of
Masaccio have ever been in so great repute, it is nevertheless the
opinion--nay, the firm belief--of many, that he would have produced even
greater fruits in his art, if death, which tore him from us at the age
of twenty-six, had not snatched him away from us so prematurely. But
either by reason of envy, or because good things rarely have any long
duration, he died in the flower of his youth, and that so suddenly, that
there were not wanting people who put it down to poison rather than to
any other reason.
[Illustration: MASACCIO: THE MADONNA ENTHRONED WITH ANGEL MUSICIANS]
(_Collection of Rev. A. F. Sutton. Panel_)
It is said that Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, hearing of his death,
exclaimed, "We have suffered a very great loss in Masaccio," and that it
grieved him infinitely, for he had spent much time in demonstrating to
Masaccio many rules of perspective and of architecture. He was buried in
the same Church of the Carmine in the year 1443, and although, since
he had been little esteemed when alive, no memorial was then placed over
his tomb, yet after his death there were not wanting men to honour him
with these epitaphs:
BY ANNIBAL CARO.
PINSI, E LA MIA PITTURA AL VER FU PARI;
L'ATTEGGIAI, L'AVVIVAI, LE DIEDI IL MOTO,
LE DIEDI AFFETTO. INSEGNI IL BUONARROTO
A TUTTI GLI ALTRI, E DA ME SOLO IMPARI.
BY FABIO SEGNI.
INVIDA CUR LACHESIS PRIMO SUB FLORE JUVENTAE
POLLICE DISCINDIS STAMINA FUNEREO?
HOC UNO OCCISO INNUMEROS OCCIDIS APELLES;
PICTURAE OMNIS OBIT, HOC OBEUNTE, LEPOS.
HOC SOLE EXTINCTO, EXTINGUUNTUR SIDERA CUNCTA.
HEU! DECUS OMNE PERIT, HOC PEREUNTE, SIMUL.
[Illustration: THE TRIBUTE MONEY
(_After the fresco by_ Masaccio. _Florence: S. Maria del Carmine_)
_Anderson_]
FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI
LIFE OF FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI
[_FILIPPO DI SER BRUNELLESCO_]
SCULPTOR AND ARCHITECT
Many men are created by nature small in person and in features, who have
a mind full of such greatness and a heart of such irresistible
vehemence, that if they do not begin difficult--nay, almost
impossible--undertakings, and bring them to completion to the marvel of
all who behold them, they have never any peace in their lives; and
whatsoever work chance puts into their hands, however lowly and base it
may be, they give it value and nobility. Wherefore no one should turn up
his nose when he encounters people who have not, in their aspect, that
primal grace or beauty which nature should give, on his coming into the
world, to a man who works at any art, seeing that there is no doubt that
beneath the clods of the earth are hidden veins of gold. And very often,
in those who are most insignificant in form, there are born so great
generosity of mind and so great sincerity of heart, that, if nobility be
mingled with these, nothing short of the greatest marvels can be looked
for from them, for the reason that they strive to embellish the ugliness
of the body with the beauty of the intellect; as it is clearly seen in
Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, who was no less insignificant in person than
Messer Forese da Rabatta and Giotto, but so lofty in intellect that it
can be truly said that he was sent to us by Heaven in order to give new
form to architecture, which had been out of mind for hundreds of years;
for the men of those times had spent much treasure to no purpose, making
buildings without order, with bad method, with sorry design, with most
strange inventions, with most ungraceful grace, and with even worse
ornament. And Heaven ordained, since the earth had been for so many
years without any supreme mind or divine spirit, that Filippo should
bequeath to the world the greatest, the most lofty, and the most
beautiful building that was ever made in modern times, or even in those
of the ancients, proving that the talent of the Tuscan craftsmen,
although lost, was not therefore dead. Heaven adorned him, moreover,
with the best virtues, among which was that of kindliness, so that no
man was ever more benign or more amiable than he. In judgment he was
free from passion, and when he saw worth and merit in others he would
sacrifice his own advantage and the interest of his friends. He knew
himself, he shared the benefit of his own talent with many, and he was
ever succouring his neighbour in his necessities. He declared himself a
capital enemy of vice, and a friend of those who practised virtue. He
never spent his time uselessly, but would labour to meet the needs of
others, either by himself or by the agency of other men; and he would
visit his friends on foot and ever succour them.
It is said that there was in Florence a man of very good repute, most
praiseworthy in his way of life and active in his business, whose name
was Ser Brunellesco di Lippo Lapi, who had had a grandfather called
Cambio, who was a learned person and the son of a physician very famous
in those times, named Maestro Ventura Bacherini. Now Ser Brunellesco,
taking to wife a most excellent young woman from the noble family of the
Spini, received, as part payment of her dowry, a house wherein he and
his sons dwelt to the day of their death. This house stands opposite to
one side of S. Michele Berteldi, in a close past the Piazza degli Agli.
The while that he was occupying himself thus and living happily, in the
year 1398 there was born to him a son, to whom he gave the name Filippo,
after his own father, now dead; and he celebrated this birth with the
greatest gladness possible. Thereupon he taught him in his childhood,
with the utmost attention, the first rudiments of letters, wherein the
boy showed himself so ingenious and so lofty in spirit that his brain
was often in doubt, as if he did not care to become very perfect in
them--nay, it appeared that he directed his thoughts on matters of
greater utility--wherefore Ser Brunellesco, who wished him to follow his
own vocation of notary, or that of his great-great-grandfather, was very
much displeased. But seeing him continually investigating ingenious
problems of art and mechanics, he made him learn arithmetic and writing,
and then apprenticed him to the goldsmith's art with one his friend, to
the end that he might learn design. And this gave great satisfaction to
Filippo, who, not many years after beginning to learn and to practise
that art, could set precious stones better than any old craftsman in
that vocation. He occupied himself with niello and with making larger
works, such as some figures in silver, whereof two, half-length
prophets, are placed at the head of the altar of S. Jacopo in Pistoia;
these figures, which are held very beautiful, were wrought by him for
the Wardens of Works in that city; and he made works in low-relief,
wherein he showed that he had so great knowledge in his vocation that
his intellect must needs overstep the bounds of that art. Wherefore,
having made acquaintance with certain studious persons, he began to
penetrate with his fancy into questions of time, of motion, of weights,
and of wheels, and how the latter can be made to revolve, and by what
means they can be set in motion; and thus he made some very good and
very beautiful clocks with his own hand.
Not content with this, there arose in his mind a very great inclination
for sculpture; and this took effect, for Donatello, then a youth, being
held an able sculptor and one of great promise, Filippo began to be ever
in his company, and the two conceived such great love for each other, by
reason of the talents of each, that one appeared unable to live without
the other. Whereupon Filippo, who was most capable in various ways, gave
attention to many professions, nor had he practised these long before he
was held by persons qualified to judge to be a very good architect, as
he showed in many works in connection with the fitting up of houses,
such as the house of Apollonio Lapi, his kinsman, in the Canto de' Ciai,
towards the Mercato Vecchio, wherein he occupied himself greatly while
the other was having it built; and he did the same in the tower and in
the house of Petraia, at Castello without Florence. In the Palace that
was the habitation of the Signoria, he arranged and distributed all
those rooms wherein the officials of the Monte had their office, and he
made doors and windows there in the manner copied from the ancient,
which was then little used, for architecture was very rude in Tuscany.
In Florence, a little later, there was a statue of lime-wood to be made
for the Friars of S. Spirito, representing S. Mary Magdalene in
Penitence, to be placed in a chapel; and Filippo, who had wrought many
little things in sculpture, desiring to show that he was able to succeed
in large works as well, undertook to make the said figure, which, when
put into execution and finished, was held something very beautiful; but
it was destroyed afterwards, together with many other notable works, in
the year 1471, when that church was burnt down.
He gave much attention to perspective, which was then in a very evil
plight by reason of many errors that were made therein; and in this he
spent much time, until he found by himself a method whereby it might
become true and perfect--namely, that of tracing it with the ground-plan
and profile and by means of intersecting lines, which was something
truly most ingenious and useful to the art of design. In this he took so
great delight that he drew with his own hand the Piazza di S. Giovanni,
with all the compartments of black and white marble wherewith that
church was incrusted, which he foreshortened with singular grace; and he
drew, likewise, the building of the Misericordia, with the shops of the
Wafer-Makers and the Volta de' Pecori, and the column of S. Zanobi on
the other side. This work, bringing him praise from craftsmen and from
all who had judgment in that art, encouraged him so greatly that it was
not long before he put his hand to another and drew the Palace, the
Piazza, and the Loggia of the Signori, together with the roof of the
Pisani and all the buildings that are seen round that Piazza; and these
works were the means of arousing the minds of the other craftsmen, who
afterwards devoted themselves to this with great zeal. He taught it, in
particular, to the painter Masaccio, then a youth and much his friend,
who did him credit in this art that Filippo showed him, as it is
apparent from the buildings in his works. Nor did he refrain from
teaching it even to those who worked in tarsia, which is the art of
inlaying coloured woods; and he stimulated them so greatly that he was
the source of a good style and of many useful changes that were made in
that craft, and of many excellent works wrought both then and
afterwards, which have brought fame and profit to Florence for many
years.
[Illustration: THE CRUCIFIXION
(_After_ Filippo Brunelleschi. _Florence: S. Maria Novella_)
_Alinari_]
Now Messer Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, returning from his studies,
and chancing one evening to be at supper in a garden with some of his
friends, invited Filippo, who, hearing him discourse on the mathematical
arts, formed such an intimacy with him that he learnt geometry from
Messer Paolo; and although Filippo had no learning, he reasoned so well
in every matter with his instinct, sharpened by practice and experience,
that he would many times confound him. And so he went on to give
attention to the study of the Christian Scriptures, never failing to be
present at the disputations and preachings of learned persons, from
which he gained so much advantage, by reason of his admirable memory,
that the aforesaid Messer Paolo was wont to extol him and to say that in
hearing Filippo argue he appeared to be hearing a new S. Paul. He also
gave much attention at this time to the works of Dante, which he
understood very well with regard to the places described and their
proportions, and he would avail himself of them in his conversations,
quoting them often in making comparisons. He did naught else with his
thoughts but invent and imagine ingenious and difficult things; nor
could he ever find an intellect more to his satisfaction than that of
Donato, with whom he was ever holding familiar discourse, and they took
pleasure in one another and would confer together over the difficulties
of their vocation.
Now in those days Donato had finished a Crucifix of wood, which was
placed in S. Croce in Florence, below the scene of the child being
restored to life by S. Francis, painted by Taddeo Gaddi, and he wished
to have the opinion of Filippo about this work; but he repented, for
Filippo answered that he had placed a ploughman on the Cross; whence
there arose the saying, "Take wood and make one thyself," as it is
related at length in the Life of Donato. Whereupon Filippo, who would
never get angry, whatever might be said to him, although he might have
reason for anger, stayed in seclusion for many months until he had
finished a Crucifix of wood of the same size, so excellent, and wrought
with so much art, design, and diligence, that Donato--whom he had sent
to his house ahead of himself, as it were to surprise him, for he did
not know that Filippo had made such a work--having an apron full of eggs
and other things for their common dinner, let it fall as he gazed at the
work, beside himself with marvel at the ingenious and masterly manner
that Filippo had shown in the legs, the trunk, and the arms of the said
figure, which was so well composed and united together that Donato,
besides admitting himself beaten, proclaimed it a miracle. This work is
placed to-day in S. Maria Novella, between the Chapel of the Strozzi and
that of the Bardi da Vernia, and it is still very greatly extolled by
the moderns. Wherefore, the talent of these truly excellent masters
being recognized, they received a commission from the Guild of Butchers
and from the Guild of Linen-Manufacturers for two figures in marble, to
be made for their niches, which are on the outside of Orsanmichele.
Having undertaken other work, Filippo left these figures to Donato to
make by himself, and Donato executed them to perfection.
[Illustration: THE SACRIFICE OF ISAAC
(_After_ Lorenzo Ghiberti. _Florence: Bargello_)
_Brogi_]