[Illustration]
_By GUSTAV KOBBÉ_
It may be that he who rides alone rides fastest; and that the man
encumbered with wife and family feels his pace slacken and the goal as
far away as ever. Andrea (ahn´-dree-ah) del Sarto, in the closing lines
of Browning’s poem, utters the same thought. He is addressing his wife,
Lucrezia Fedi, whose extravagant and wayward tastes, many think, ruined
his career and prevented his ranking with Leonardo (lay-o-nar´-do),
Raphael (rah´-fay-ell), and Angelo (ahn´-jel-o):
In heaven, perhaps, new chances, one more chance--
Four great walls in the New Jerusalem,
Meted on each side by the angel’s reed,
For Leonard, Raphael, Angelo, and me
To cover--the three first without a wife,
While I have mine! So--still they overcome
Because there’s still Lucrezia,--as I choose.
[Illustration: LUCREZIA FEDI, BY DEL SARTO
_In the Royal Gallery, Berlin._]
And so, in that supreme painting contest with his three rivals,
he still is distanced, “because there’s still Lucrezia”
(loo-crate´-see-ah). But note that he adds, “as I choose.” He had
rather fail with her than triumph without her.
Indeed, my point in mentioning Andrea and Lucrezia is to assert that
he rode faster for not riding alone; that he was not the equal of the
three artists he aspired to rival; and that, if it is sometimes thought
he might have rivaled them, this is due to the works he painted under
the inspiration of his love for Lucrezia. She kept him in a constant
state of impecuniosity and jealousy; but it was “as I choose.” And
well it might have been! His art seems to rise to a higher plane
from the moment her dark, imperious beauty--a new note in religious
painting--looks out at us from works like the “Madonna of the Harpies”
and the youthful Saint John. For from her face he painted the faces not
only of women, but also of boys and youths, and always it is her beauty
that dominates the picture.
[Illustration: ANDREA DEL SARTO, BY HIMSELF
_In the Pitti Gallery, Florence._]