Nowhere in Florence could a more honest man or a better worker be found
than Agnolo the tailor. True, there were once evil tales whispered
about him when he first opened his shop in the little street. It was
said that he was no Italian, but a foreigner who had been obliged to
flee from his own land because of a quarrel he had had with one of his
customers. People shook their heads and talked mysteriously of how the
tailor's scissors had been used as a deadly weapon in the fight. But
ere long these stories died away, and the tailor, with his wife
Constanza, lived a happy, busy life, and brought up their six children
carefully and well.
Now out of those six children five were just the ordinary commonplace
little ones such as one would expect to meet in a tailor's household,
but the sixth was like the ugly duckling in the fairy tale--a little,
strange bird, unlike all the rest, who learned to swim far away and
soon left the old commonplace home behind him.
The boy's name was Andrea. He was such a quick, sharp little boy that
he was sent very early to school, and had learned to read and write
before he was seven years old. As that was considered quite enough
education, his father then took him away from school and put him to
work with a goldsmith.
It is early days to begin work at seven years old, but Andrea thought
it was quite as good as play. He was always perfectly happy if he could
have a pencil and paper, and his drawings and designs were really so
wonderfully good that his master grew to be quite proud of the child
and showed the work to all his customers.
Next door to the goldsmith's shop there lived an old artist called
Barile, who began to take a great interest in little Andrea. Barile was
not a great painter, but still there was much that he could teach the
boy, and he was anxious to have him as a pupil. So it was arranged that
Andrea should enter the studio and learn to be an artist instead of a
goldsmith.
For three years the boy worked steadily with his new master, but by
that time Barile saw that better teaching was needed than he could
give. So after much thought the old man went to the great Florentine
artist Piero di Cosimo, and asked him if he would agree to receive
Andrea as his pupil. 'You will find the boy no trouble,' he urged. 'He
has wonderful talent, and already he has learnt to mix his colours so
marvellously that to my mind there is no artist in Florence who knows
more about colour than little Andrea' Cosimo shook his head in
unbelief. The boy was but a child, and this praise seemed absurd.
However, the drawings were certainly extraordinary, and he was glad to
receive so clever a pupil.
But little by little, as Cosimo watched the boy at work, his unbelief
vanished and his wonder grew, until he was as fond and proud of his
pupil as the old master had been. 'He handles his colours as if he had
had fifty years of experience,' he would say proudly, as he showed off
the boy's work to some new patron.
And truly the knowledge of drawing and colouring seemed to come to the
boy without any effort. Not that he was idle or trusted to chance. He
was never tired of work, and his greatest joy on holidays was to go of
and study the drawings of the great Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.
Often he would spend the whole day copying these drawings with the
greatest care, never tired of learning more and more.
As Andrea grew older, all Florence began to take note of the young
painter--'Andrea del Sarto,' as he was called, or 'the tailor's
Andrew,' for sarto is the Italian word for tailor.
What a splendid new star this was rising in the heaven of Art! Who
could tell how bright it would shine ere long? Perhaps the tailor's son
would yet eclipse the magic name of Raphael. His colour was perfect,
his drawing absolutely correct. They called him in their admiration
'the faultless painter.' But had he, indeed, the artist soul? That was
the question. For, perfect as his pictures were, they still lacked
something. Perhaps time would teach him to supply that want.
Meanwhile there was plenty of work for the young artist, and when he
set up his own studio with another young painter, he was at once
invited to fresco the walls of the cloister of the Scalzo, or
bare-footed friars.
This was the happiest time of all Andrea's life. The two friends worked
happily together, and spent many a merry day with their companions.
Every day Andrea learned to add more softness and delicacy to his
colouring until his pictures seemed verily to glow with life. Every day
he dreamed fresh dreams of the fame and honour that awaited him. And
when work was over, the two young painters would go off to meet their
friends and make merry over their supper as they told all the latest
jokes and wittiest stories, and forgot for a while the serious art of
painting pictures.
There were twelve of these young men who met together, and each of them
was bound to bring some particular dish for the general supper. Every
one tried to think of something especially nice and uncommon, but no
one managed such surprising delicacies as Andrea. There was one special
dish which no one ever forgot. It was in the shape of a temple, with
its pillars made of sausages. The pavement was formed of little squares
of different coloured jelly, the tops of the pillars were cheese, and
the roof was of sugar, with a frieze of sweets running round it. Inside
the temple there was a choir of roast birds with their mouths wide
open, and the priests were two fat pigeons. It was the most splendid
supper-dish that ever was seen.
Every one was fond of the clever young painter. He was so kind and
courteous to all, and so simple-hearted that it was impossible for the
others to feel jealous or to grudge him the fame and praise that was
showered upon him more and more as each fresh picture was finished.
Then just when all gave promise of sunshine and happiness, a little
cloud rose in his blue sky, which grew and grew until it dimmed all the
glory of his life.
In the Via di San Gallo, not very far from the street where Andrea and
his friend lodged, there lived a very beautiful woman called Lucrezia.
She was not a highborn lady, only the daughter of a working man, but
she was as proud and haughty as she was beautiful. Nought cared she for
things high and noble, she was only greedy of praise and filled with a
desire to have her own way in everything. Yet her lovely face seemed as
if it must be the mirror of a lovely soul, and when the young painter
Andrea first saw her his heart went out towards her. She was his
long-dreamed-of ideal of beauty and grace, the vision of loveliness
which he had been trying to grasp all his life.
'What hath bewitched thee?' asked his friend as he watched Andrea
restlessly pacing up and down the studio, his brushes thrown aside and
his work left unfinished. 'Thou hast done little work for many weeks.'
'I cannot paint,' answered Andrea, 'for I see only one face ever before
me, and it comes between me and my work.'
'Thou art ruining all thy chances,' said the friend sadly, 'and the
face thou seest is not worth the sacrifice.'
Andrea turned on his heel with an angry look and went out. All his
friends were against him now. No one had a good word for the beautiful
Lucrezia. But she was worth all the world to him, and he had made up
his mind to marry her.
It was winter time, and the Christmas bells had but yesterday rung out
the tidings of the Holy Birthday when Andrea at last obtained his
heart's desire and made Lucrezia his wife. The joyful Christmastide
seemed a fit season in which to set the seal upon his great happiness,
and he thought himself the most fortunate of men. He had asked advice
of none, and had told no one what he meant to do, but the news of his
marriage was soon noised abroad.
'Hast thou heard the news of young Andrea del Sarto?' asked the people
of Florence of one another. 'I fear he has dealt an evil blow at his
own chances of success.'
One by one his friends left him, and many of his pupils deserted the
studio. Lucrezia's sharp tongue was unbearable, and she made mischief
among them all. Only Andrea remained blinded by her beauty, and thought
that now, with such a model always near him, he would paint as he had
never painted before.
But little did Lucrezia care to help him with his work. His pictures
meant nothing to her except so far as they sold well and brought in
money for her to spend. Worst of all, she began to grudge the help that
he gave to his old father and mother, who now were poor and needed his
care.
And yet, although Andrea saw all this, he still loved his beautiful
wife and cared only how he might please her. He scarcely painted a
picture that had not her face in it, for she was his ideal Madonna,
Queen of Heaven.
But it was not so easy now to put his whole heart and soul into his
work. True, his hand drew as correctly as ever, and his colours were
even more beautiful, but often the soul seemed lacking.
'Thou dost work but slowly,' the proud beauty would say, tired of
sitting still as his model. 'Why canst thou not paint quicker and sell
at higher prices? I have need of more gold, and the money seems to grow
scarcer week by week.'
Andrea sighed. Truly the money vanished like magic, as Lucrezia's
jewels and dresses increased.
'Dear heart, have a little patience,' he said. 'I can but do my best.'
Then, as he looked at the angry discontented face of his wife, he laid
down his brushes and went to kneel beside her.
'Lucrezia,' he said, 'there needs something besides mere drawing and
painting to make a picture. They call me "the faultless painter," and
it seemed once as if I might have reached as high or even higher than
the great Raphael. It needed but the soul put into my work, and if thou
couldst have helped me to reach my ideal, what would I not have shown
the world!'
'I do not understand thee,' said Lucrezia petulantly, 'and this is
waste of time. Haste thee and get back to thy brushes and paints, and
see that thou drivest a better bargain with this last picture.'
No, it was no use; she could never understand! Andrea knew that he must
look for no help from her, and that he must paint in spite of the
hindrances she placed in his way. Well, his work was still considered
most beautiful, and he must make the best of it.
Orders for pictures came now from far and near, and before long some of
Andrea's work found its way into France; and when King Francis saw it
he was so anxious to have the painter at his court, that he sent a
royal invitation, begging Andrea to come at once to France and enter
the king's service.
The invitation came when Andrea was feeling hopeless and dispirited.
Lucrezia gave him no peace, the money was all spent, and he was weary
of work. The thought of starting afresh in another country put new
courage into him. He made up his mind to go at once to the French
court. He would leave Lucrezia in some safe place and send her all the
money he could earn.
How good it was to leave all his troubles behind, and to set off that
glad May day when all the world breathed of new life and new hope.
Perhaps the winter of his life was passed too, and only sunshine and
summer was in store.
Andrea's welcome at the French court was most flattering. Nothing was
thought too good for the famous Florentine painter, and he was treated
like a prince. The king loaded him with gifts, and gave him costly
clothes and money for all his needs. A portrait of the infant Dauphin
was begun at once, for which Andrea received three hundred golden
pieces.
Month after month passed happily by. Andrea painted many pictures, and
each one was more admired than the last. But his dream of happiness did
not last long. He was hard at work one day when a letter was brought to
him, sent by his wife Lucrezia. She could not live without him, so she
wrote. He must come home at once. If he delayed much longer he would
not find her alive.
There could be, of course, but one answer to all this. Andrea loved his
wife too well to think of refusing her request, and the days of peace
and plenty must come to an end. Even as he read her letter he began to
long to see her again, and the thought of showing her all his gay
clothes and costly presents filled him with delight.
But the king was very loth to let the painter go, and only at last
consented when Andrea promised most faithfully to return a few months
hence.
'I cannot spare thee for longer,' said Francis; 'but I will let thee go
on condition that thou wilt buy for me certain works of art in Italy,
which I have long coveted, and bring them back with thee.'
Then he entrusted to Andrea a large sum of money and bade him buy the
best pictures he could find, and afterwards return without fail.
So Andrea journeyed back to Florence, and when he was once again with
his wife, his joy and delight in her were so great that he forgot all
his promises, forgot even the king's trust, and allowed Lucrezia to
squander all the money which was to have been spent on art treasures
for King Francis.
Then returned the evil days of trouble and quarrelling. Added to that
the terrible feeling that he had betrayed his trust and broken his
word, made Andrea more unhappy than ever. He dared not return to
France, but took up again his work in Florence, always with the hope
that he might make enough money to repay the debt.
Years went by and dark days fell upon the City of Flowers. She had made
a great struggle for liberty and had driven out the Medici, but they
were helped by enemies from without, and Florence was for many months
in a state of siege. There was constant fighting going on and little
time for peaceful work.
Yet through all those troubled days Andrea worked steadily at his
painting, and paid but little heed to the fate of the city. The stir of
battle did not reach his quiet studio. There was enough strife at home;
no need to seek it outside.
It was about this time that he painted a beautiful picture for the
Company of San Jacopo, which was used as a banner and carried in their
processions. Bad weather, wind, rain, and sunshine have spoiled some of
its beauty, but much of the loveliness still remains. It is specially a
children's picture, for Andrea painted the great saint bending over a
little child in a white robe who kneels at his feet, while another
little figure kneels close by. The boy has his hands folded together as
if in prayer, and the kind strong hand of the saint is placed lovingly
beneath the little chin. The other child is holding a book, and both
children press close against the robe of the protecting saint.
But although Andrea could paint his pictures undisturbed while war was
raging around, there was one enemy waiting to enter Florence who
claimed attention and could not be ignored. When the triumphant troops
gained an entrance by treachery, they brought with them that deadly
scourge which was worse than any earthly enemy, the dreadful illness
called the plague.
Perhaps Andrea had suffered for want of good food during the siege,
perhaps he was overworked and tired; but, whatever was the cause, he
was one of the first to be seized by that terrible disease. Alone he
fought the enemy, and alone he died. Lucrezia had left him as soon as
he fell ill, for she feared the deadly plague, and Andrea gladly let
her go, for he loved her to the last with the same great unselfish love.
So passed away the faultless painter, and his was the last great name
engraved upon that golden record of Florentine Art which had made
Florence famous in the eyes of the world. Other artists came after him,
but Art was on the wane in the City of Flowers, and her glory was
slowly departing.
We can trace no other great name upon her pages and so we close the
book, and our eyes turn towards the shores of the blue Adriatic, where
Venice, Queen of the Sea, was writing, year by year, another volume
filled with the names of her own Knights of Art.