The highly technical skill and mellow colouring of Andrea del Sarto
(1486-1531) have long been known in France, where he was invited by
François I. For that monarch he executed the _Charity_ (No. 1514),
which, having been transferred from panel to canvas by Picault in 1750
when the process was little understood, suffered accordingly. In its
present state we can get little idea of the former brilliance of the
picture which secured to the “faultily faultless painter” in 1518—the
year he arrived in France—a very considerable income. It is inscribed:
ANDREAS SARTUS
FLORENTINTUS ME PINXIT
MDXVIII.
A _Holy Family_ (No 1515), by the same facile painter, has been said by
some to portray in the features of the Virgin those of his own infamous
wife Lucrezia del Fede. It has been enlarged, and has suffered in the
operation. Less authentic are the _Holy Family_ (No. 1516), which is
said to bear the inscription: