Rocco, painting in it Our Lady, six Saints, and a God the Father with
some thunderbolts in the hand, representing the pestilence, which He is
in the act of hurling down, but S. Rocco and other Saints make
intercession for the people. And in the facade are many figures in
fresco, which, like the altar-picture, are no better than they should
be. Then Fra Bartolommeo Gratiani, a friar of S. Agostino in Monte
Sansovino, sent to invite me to Val di Caprese, and commissioned me to
execute a great altar-piece in oils for the high-altar of the Church of
S. Agostino in that same Monte Sansovino. And after we had come to an
agreement, I made my way to Florence to see M. Ottaviano, where, staying
several days, I had much ado to prevent myself from re-entering the
service of the Court, as I was minded not to do. However, by advancing
good reasons I won the battle, and I resolved that by hook or by crook,
before doing anything else, I would go to Rome. But in that I did not
succeed until I had made for that same Messer Ottaviano a copy of the
picture in which formerly Raffaello da Urbino had portrayed Pope Leo,
Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, and Cardinal de' Rossi, for the Duke was
claiming the original, which was then in the possession of Messer
Ottaviano; and the copy that I made is now in the house of the heirs of
that lord, who on my departure for Rome wrote me a letter of exchange
for five hundred crowns on Giovan Battista Puccini, which he was to pay
me on demand, and said to me: "Use this money to enable you to attend to
your studies, and afterwards, when you find it convenient, you can
return it to me either in work or in cash, just as you please." Arriving
in Rome, then, in February of the year 1538, I stayed there until the
end of June, giving my attention in company with Giovan Battista Cungi
of the Borgo, my assistant, to drawing all that I had left not drawn the
other times that I had been in Rome, and particularly everything that
was in the underground grottoes. Nor did I leave anything either in
architecture or in sculpture that I did not draw and measure, insomuch
that I can say with truth that the drawings that I made in that space of
time were more than three hundred; and for many years afterwards I found
pleasure and advantage in examining them, refreshing the memory of the
things of Rome. And how much those labours and studies benefited me, was
seen after my return to Tuscany in the altar-picture that I executed at
Monte Sansovino, in which I painted with a somewhat better manner the
Assumption of Our Lady, and at the foot, besides the Apostles who are
about the sepulchre, S. Augustine and S. Romualdo. Having then gone to
Camaldoli, according as I had promised those eremite fathers, I painted
in the other altar-piece of the tramezzo[4] the Nativity of Jesus
Christ, representing a night illumined by the Splendour of the newborn
Christ, who is surrounded by some Shepherds adoring Him; in doing which,
I strove to imitate with colours the rays of the sun, and copied the
figures and all the other things in that work from Nature and in the
proper light, to the end that they might be as similar as possible to
the reality. Then, since that light could not pass above the hut, from
there upwards and all around I availed myself of a light that comes from
the splendour of the Angels that are in the air, singing Gloria in
Excelsis Deo; not to mention that in certain places the Shepherds that
are around make light with burning sheaves of straw, and also the Moon
and the Star, and the Angel that is appearing to certain Shepherds. For
the building, then, I made some antiquities after my own fancy, with
broken statues and other things of that kind. In short, I executed that
work with all my power and knowledge, and although I did not satisfy
with the hand and the brush my great desire and eagerness to work
supremely well, nevertheless the picture has pleased many; wherefore
Messer Fausto Sabeo, a man of great learning who was then custodian of
the Pope's Library, and some others after him, wrote many Latin verses
in praise of that picture, moved perhaps more by affectionate feeling
than by the excellence of the work. Be that as it may, if there be in it
anything of the good, it was the gift of God. That altar-picture
finished, those fathers resolved that I should paint in fresco on the
facade the stories that were to be there, whereupon I painted over the
door a picture of the hermitage, with S. Romualdo and a Doge of Venice
who was a saintly man on one side, and on the other a vision which the
above-named Saint had in that place where he afterwards made his
hermitage; with some fantasies, grotesques, and other things that are to
be seen there. Which done, they ordained that I should return in the
summer of the following year to execute the picture of the high-altar.
[Footnote 4: See note on p. 57, Vol. I.]
Meanwhile the above-named Don Miniato Pitti, who was then Visitor to the
Congregation of Monte Oliveto, having seen the altar-picture of Monte
Sansovino and the works of Camaldoli, and finding in Bologna the
Florentine Don Filippo Serragli, Abbot of S. Michele in Bosco, said to
him that, since the refectory of that honoured monastery was to be
painted, it appeared to him that the work should be allotted to me and
not to another. Being therefore summoned to go to Bologna, I undertook
to do it, although it was a great and important work; but first I
desired to see all the most famous works in painting that were in that
city, both by Bolognese and by others. The work of the head-wall of that
refectory was divided into three pictures; in one was to be when Abraham
prepared food for the Angels in the Valley of Mamre, in the second
Christ in the house of Mary Magdalene and Martha, speaking with Martha,
and saying to her that Mary had chosen the better part, and in the third
was to be S. Gregory at table with twelve poor men, among whom he
recognized one as Christ. Then, setting my hand to the work, I depicted
in the last S. Gregory at table in a convent, served by White Friars of
that Order, that I might be able to include those fathers therein,
according to their wish. Besides that, I made in the figure of that
saintly Pontiff the likeness of Pope Clement VII, and about him, among
many Lords, Ambassadors, Princes, and other personages who stand there
to see him eat, I portrayed Duke Alessandro de' Medici, in memory of the
benefits and favours that I had received from him, and of his having
been what he was, and with him many of my friends. And among those who
are serving the poor men at table, I portrayed some friars of that
convent with whom I was intimate, such as the strangers' attendants who
waited upon me, the dispenser, the cellarer, and others of the kind; and
so, also, the Abbot Serragli, the General Don Cipriano da Verona, and
Bentivoglio. In like manner, I copied the vestments of that Pontiff from
the reality, counterfeiting velvets, damasks, and other draperies of
silk and gold of every kind; but the service of the table, vases,
animals, and other things, I caused to be executed by Cristofano of the
Borgo, as was told in his Life. In the second scene I sought to make the
heads, draperies, and buildings not only different from the first, but
in such a manner as to make as clearly evident as possible the
lovingness of Christ in instructing the Magdalene, and the affection and
readiness of Martha in arranging the table, and her lamentation at being
left alone by her sister in such labours and service; to say nothing of
the attentiveness of the Apostles, and of many other things worthy of
consideration in that picture. As for the third scene, I painted the
three Angels--coming to do this I know not how--within a celestial light
which seems to radiate from them, while the rays of the sun surround the
cloud in which they are. Of the three Angels the old Abraham is adoring
one, although those that he sees are three; while Sarah stands laughing
and wondering how that can come to pass which has been promised to her,
and Hagar, with Ishmael in her arms, is departing from the hospitable
shelter. The same radiance also gives light to some servants who are
preparing the table, among whom are some who, not being able to endure
that splendour, place their hands over their eyes and seek to shade
themselves. Which variety of things, since strong shadows and brilliant
lights give greater force to pictures, caused this one to have more
relief than the other two, and, the colours being varied, they produced
a very different effect. But would I had been able to carry my
conception into execution, even as both then and afterwards, with new
inventions and fantasies, I was always seeking out the laborious and
difficult in art. This work, then, whatever it may be, was executed by
me in eight months, together with a frieze in fresco, architectural
ornaments, carvings, seat-backs, panels, and other adornments over the
whole work and the whole refectory; and the price of all I was content
to make two hundred crowns, as one who aspired more to glory than to
gain. Wherefore M. Andrea Alciati, my very dear friend, who was then
reading in Bologna, caused these words to be placed at the foot:
OCTONIS MENSIBUS OPUS AB ARETINO GEORGIO PICTUM, NON TAM PRECIO
QUAM AMICORUM OBSEQUIS ET HONORIS VOTO, ANNO 1539 PHILIPPUS
SERRALIUS PON. CURAVIT.
At this same time I executed two little altar-pictures, of the Dead
Christ and of the Resurrection, which were placed by the Abbot Don
Miniato Pitti in the Church of S. Maria di Barbiano, without San
Gimignano in Valdelsa. Which works finished, I returned straightway to
Florence, for the reason that Treviso, Maestro Biagio, and other
Bolognese painters, thinking that I was seeking to establish myself in
Bologna and to take their works and commissions out of their hands, kept
molesting me unceasingly; but they did more harm to themselves than to
me, and their envious ways moved me to laughter. In Florence, then, I
copied for M. Ottaviano a large portrait of Cardinal Ippolito down to
the knees, and other pictures, with which I kept myself occupied until
the insupportable heat of summer. Which having come, I returned to the
quiet and freshness of Camaldoli, in order to execute the
above-mentioned altar-piece of the high-altar. In that work I painted a
Christ taken down from the Cross, with the greatest study and labour
that were within my power; and since, in the course of the work and of
time, it seemed necessary to me to improve certain things, and I was not
satisfied with the first sketch, I gave it another priming and repainted
it all anew, as it is now to be seen, and then, attracted by the
solitude and staying in that same place, I executed there a picture for
the same Messer Ottaviano, in which I painted a young S. John, nude,
among some rocks and crags that I copied from Nature among those
mountains. And I had scarcely finished these works when there arrived in
Camaldoli Messer Bindo Altoviti, who wished to arrange a transportation
of great fir-trees to Rome by way of the Tiber, for the fabric of S.
Pietro, from the Cella di S. Alberigo, a place belonging to those
fathers; and he, seeing all the works executed by me in that place, and
by my good fortune liking them, resolved, before he departed thence,
that I should paint an alter-picture for his Church of S. Apostolo in
Florence. Wherefore, having finished that of Camaldoli, with the facade
of the chapel in fresco (wherein I made the experiment of combining work
in oil-colours with the other, and succeeded passing well), I made my
way to Florence, and there executed that altar-picture. Now, having to
give a proof of my powers in Florence, where I had not yet executed such
a work, and having many rivals, and also a desire to acquire a name, I
resolved that I would do my utmost in that work and put into it all the
diligence that I might find possible. And in order to be able to do that
free from every vexatious thought, I first married my third sister and
bought a house already begun in Arezzo, with a site for making most
beautiful gardens, in the Borgo di S. Vito, in the best air of that
city. In October, then, of the year 1540, I began the altar-picture for
Messer Bindo, proposing to paint in it a scene that should represent the
Conception of Our Lady, according to the title of the chapel; which
subject presenting no little difficulty to me, Messer Bindo and I took
the opinions of many common friends, men of learning, and finally I
executed it in the following manner. Having depicted the Tree of the
Primal Sin in the middle of the picture, I painted at its roots Adam and
Eve naked and bound, as the first transgressors of the commandment of
God, and then one by one, bound to the other branches, Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, and the other Kings in succession,
according to the order of time; all, I say, bound by both arms,
excepting Samuel and John the Baptist, who are bound by one arm only,
because they were blessed in the womb. I painted there, also, with the
tail wound about the trunk of the Tree, the Ancient Serpent, who, having
a human form from the middle upwards, has the hands bound behind; and
upon his head, treading upon his horns, is one foot of the glorious
Virgin, who has the other on a Moon, being herself all clothed with the
Sun, and crowned with twelve stars. The Virgin, I say, is supported in
the air, within a Splendour, by many nude little Angels, who are
illumined by the rays that come from her; which rays, likewise, passing
through the leaves of the Tree, shed light upon those bound to it, and
appear to be loosing their bonds by means of the virtue and grace that
they bring from her from whom they proceed. And in the heaven, at the
top of the picture, are two children that are holding certain scrolls,
in which are written these words: QUOS EVAE CULPA DAMNAVIT, MARIAE GRATIA
SOLVIT. In short, so far as I can remember, I had not executed any work
up to that time with more study or with more lovingness and labour; but
all the same, while I may perhaps have satisfied others, I did not
satisfy myself, although I know the time, study, and labour that I
devoted to it, particularly to the nudes and heads, and, indeed, to
every part.
For the labours of that picture Messer Bindo gave me three hundred
crowns of gold, besides which, in the following year, he showed me so
many courtesies and kindnesses in his house in Rome, where I made him a
copy of the same altar-piece in a little picture, almost in miniature,
that I shall always feel an obligation to his memory. At the same time
that I painted that picture, which was placed, as I have said, in S.
Apostolo, I executed for M. Ottaviano de' Medici a Venus and a Leda from
the cartoons of Michelagnolo, and in a large picture a S. Jerome in
Penitence of the size of life, who, contemplating the death of Christ,
whom he has before him on the Cross, is beating his breast in order to
drive from his mind the thoughts of Venus and the temptations of the
flesh, which at times tormented him, although he lived in woods and
places wild and solitary, as he relates of himself at great length. To
demonstrate which I made a Venus who with Love in her arms is flying
from that contemplation, and holding Play by the hand, while the quiver
and arrows have fallen to the ground; besides which, the shafts shot by
Cupid against that Saint return to him all broken, and some that fall
are brought back to him by the doves of Venus in their beaks. All these
pictures, although perhaps at that time they pleased me, and were made
by me as best I knew, I know not how much they please me at my present
age; but, since art in herself is difficult, it is necessary to take
from him who paints the best that he can do. This, indeed, I will say,
because I can say it with truth, that I have always executed my
pictures, inventions, and designs, whatever may be their value, I do not
say only with the greatest possible rapidity, but also with incredible
facility and without effort; for which let me call to witness, as I have
mentioned in another place, the vast canvas that I painted in six days
only, for S. Giovanni in Florence, in the year 1542, for the baptism of
the Lord Don Francesco de' Medici, now Prince of Florence and Siena.
Now although I wished after these works to go to Rome, in order to
satisfy Messer Bindo Altoviti, I did not succeed in doing it, because,
being summoned to Venice by Messer Pietro Aretino, a poet of illustrious
name at that time, and much my friend, I was forced to go there, since
he much desired to see me. And, moreover, I did it willingly, in order
to see on that journey the works of Tiziano and of other painters; in
which purpose I succeeded, for in a few days I saw the works of
Correggio at Modena and Parma, those of Giulio Romano at Mantua, and the
antiquities of Verona. Having finally arrived in Venice, with two
pictures painted by my hand from cartoons by Michelagnolo, I presented
them to Don Diego di Mendoza, who sent me two hundred crowns of gold.
Nor had I been long in Venice, when at the entreaty of Aretino I
executed for the gentlemen of the Calza the scenic setting for a
festival that they gave, wherein I had as my companions Battista Cungi
and Cristofano Gherardi of Borgo a San Sepolcro and Bastiano Flori of
Arezzo, men very able and well practised, of all which enough has been
said in another place; and also the nine painted compartments in the
Palace of Messer Giovanni Cornaro, which are in the soffit of a chamber
in that Palace, which is by S. Benedetto. After these and other works of
no little importance that I executed in Venice at that time, I departed,
although I was overwhelmed by the commissions that were coming to me, on
the 16th of August in the year 1542, and returned to Tuscany. There,
before consenting to put my hand to any other thing, I painted on the
vaulting of a chamber that had been built by my orders in my house which
I have already mentioned, all the arts that are subordinate to or depend
upon design. In the centre is a Fame who is seated upon the globe of the
world and sounds a golden trumpet, throwing away one of fire that
represents Calumny, and about her, in due order, are all those arts with
their instruments in their hands; and since I had not time to do the
whole, I left eight ovals, in order to paint in them eight portraits
from life of the first men in our arts. In those same days I executed in
fresco for the Nuns of S. Margherita in the same city, in a chapel of
their garden, a Nativity of Christ with figures the size of life. And
having thus passed the rest of that summer in my own country, and part
of the autumn, I went to Rome, where, having been received by the
above-named Messer Bindo with many kindnesses, I painted for him in a
picture in oils a Christ the size of life, taken down from the Cross and
laid on the ground at the feet of His Mother; with Phoebus in the air
obscuring the face of the Sun, and Diana that of the Moon. In the
landscape, all darkened by that gloom, some rocky mountains, shaken by
the earthquake that was caused by the Passion of the Saviour, are seen
shivered into pieces, and certain dead bodies of Saints are seen rising
again and issuing from their sepulchres in various manners; which
picture, when finished, was not displeasing to the gracious judgment of
the greatest painter, sculptor, and architect that there has been in our
times, and perchance in the past. By means of that picture, also, I
became known to the most illustrious Cardinal Farnese, to whom it was
shown by Giovio and Messer Bindo; and at his desire I made for him, in a
picture eight braccia high and four broad, a Justice who is embracing an
ostrich laden with the twelve Tables, and with the sceptre that has the
stork at the point, and the head covered by a helmet of iron and gold,
with three feathers of three different colours, the device of the just
judge. She is wholly nude from the waist upwards, and she has bound to
her girdle with chains of gold, as captives, the seven Vices that are
opposed to her, Corruption, Ignorance, Cruelty, Fear, Treachery,
Falsehood, and Calumny. Above these, upon their shoulders, is placed
Truth wholly nude, offered by Time to Justice, with a present of two
doves representing Innocence. And upon the head of that Truth Justice is
placing a crown of oak, signifying fortitude of mind; which whole work I
executed with all care and diligence, according to the best of my
ability. At this same time I paid constant attention to Michelagnolo
Buonarroti, and took his advice in all my works, and he in his goodness
conceived much more affection for me; and his counsel, after he had seen
some of my designs, was the reason that I gave myself anew and with
better method to the study of the matters of architecture, which
probably I would never have done if that most excellent man had not said
to me what he did say, which out of modesty I forbear to tell.
At the next festival of S. Peter, the heat being very great in Rome,
where I had spent all that winter of 1543, I returned to Florence, where
in the house of Messer Ottaviano de' Medici, which I could call my own,
I executed in an altar-piece for M. Biagio Mei of Lucca, his gossip, the
same conception as in that of Messer Bindo in S. Apostolo, although I
varied everything with the exception of the invention; and that picture,
when finished, was placed in his chapel in S. Piero Cigoli at Lucca. In
another of the same size--namely, seven braccia high and four broad--I
painted Our Lady, S. Jerome, S. Luke, S. Cecilia, S. Martha, S.
Augustine, and S. Guido the Hermit; which altar-picture was placed in
the Duomo of Pisa, where there were many others by the hands of
excellent masters. And I had scarcely carried that one to completion,
when the Warden of Works of that Duomo commissioned me to execute
another, in which, since it was to be likewise of Our Lady, in order to
vary it from the other I painted the Madonna with the Dead Christ at the
foot of the Cross, lying in her lap, the Thieves on high upon their
crosses, and, grouped with the Maries and Nicodemus, who are standing
there, the titular Saints of those chapels, all forming a good
composition and rendering the scene in that picture pleasing. Having
returned again to Rome in the year 1544, besides many pictures that I
executed for various friends, of which there is no need to make mention,
I made a picture of a Venus from a design by Michelagnolo for M. Bindo
Altoviti, who took me once more into his house; and for Galeotto da
Girone, a Florentine merchant, I painted an altar-picture in oils of
Christ taken down from the Cross, which was placed in his chapel in the
Church of S. Agostino at Rome. In order to be able to paint that picture
in comfort, together with some works that had been allotted to me by
Tiberio Crispo, the Castellan of Castel S. Angelo, I had withdrawn by
myself to that palace in the Trastevere which was formerly built by
Bishop Adimari, below S. Onofrio, and which has since been finished by
the second Salviati; but, feeling indisposed and wearied by my infinite
labours, I was forced to return to Florence. There I executed some
pictures, and among others one in which were Dante, Petrarca, Guido
Cavalcanti, Boccaccio, Cino da Pistoia, and Guittone d'Arezzo,
accurately copied from their ancient portraits; and of that picture,
which afterwards belonged to Luca Martini, many copies have since been
made.