slight, would be complete without reference to the Medici. Art, like
all other branches of learning, owed its splendid development to
their intelligent sympathy and generous patronage. The Medici began
this patronage early. Giovanni de Bicci (1360–1428), the founder of
the family, was one of the judges who selected Ghiberti to make the
Baptistery doors and Cosimo, “the Father of his Country” (1389–1464),
was so liberal a patron of Fra Angelico, Fra Filippo Lippi, Benozzo
Gozzoli, Paolo Uccello, Domenico Veneziano, and many others, that we
may safely say the great flowering of Florentine Art is almost entirely
due to his taste and encouragement.
The Florentine artists, too, were greatly stirred by the meeting of the
Council of the Eastern and Western Churches, which was one of the most
important gatherings ever held anywhere in the history of the world.
This Council was invited by Cosimo to Florence and all the dignitaries
and their suites were his personal guests, entertained by him in his
various palaces and villas. Picturesque and bizarre these dignitaries
were; and the painters had full opportunity to see them when they sat
in the Duomo under Brunelleschi’s newly completed dome (then the Eighth
Wonder of the World), or when they moved about the streets with their
suites.
In his delightful book, _The Medici_, Col. G. F. Young has called
particular attention to the importance of this great Council; how
it led Cosimo to found the Platonic Academy; and how the Fall of
Constantinople, fourteen years later, changed the world so utterly that
no such meeting could ever take place again. In part he says:
“This great gathering of 1439 in Florence had its effect also on
Art. We are often inclined to wonder where such painters as Fra
Angelico, Benozzo Gozzoli, and Gentile da Fabriano got the idea of
the gorgeous robes and strange-looking head-dresses which we see in
their pictures of Eastern subjects. It was all taken direct from the
life of Florence of this year. During that summer the inhabitants of
Florence saw a perpetual succession of grand processions and imposing
functions in which these visitors from the East appeared in every kind
of magnificent and strange costume. Vespasiano da Bisticci and other
writers of the time dilate upon their rich silken robes, heavy with
gold, and their fantastic-looking head-dresses, regarded with deep
interest by the learned on account of their ancient character. And the
painters reproduce these before us in pictorial records, which are
valuable to us on that very account, and because this was the last
occasion on which these costumes were destined to appear.”
Piero il Gottoso (1416–1469), Cosimo’s son, “carried on” the traditions
of the Medici, encouraging Art to such an extent that practically every
great work produced in Florence in his time was made for, or inspired
by, him. Piero il Gottoso and his cultured wife, Lucrezia Tornabuoni,
recognizing Botticelli’s genius, took him into their home and made him
one of the family. All of Botticelli’s early works, therefore, belong
to the period he spent under the patronage of Piero de’ Medici. Yet, of
course, Botticelli is recognized as the particular painter of Lorenzo
the Magnificent (1449–1492), son of Piero, and a friend and boyhood
companion.
“As had been the case with his father, Piero, the leading artists
of the day did most of their work for him, and nearly every work
of eminence in painting or sculpture belonging to Lorenzo’s time
remaining in Florence, was commissioned by him. Verrocchio did almost
all his work for him; that sculptor’s graceful tomb in San Lorenzo
over Lorenzo’s father and uncle, his bronze _David_, and his fountain
of _The Boy with a Dolphin_ were all executed for Lorenzo. Botticelli
he made his family painter as well as friend and all the pictures of
Botticelli’s second period were painted for him. It was Lorenzo who
caused Ghirlandaio’s frescoes in Sta. Maria Novella and Santa Trinità
to be painted; and it was he who selected and sent Leonardo da Vinci to
Milan to become ‘Il Moro’s’ great painter. Among others he also gave
commissions to Filippino Lippi, Signorelli, Baldovinetti, Benedetto
da Majano, Andrea del Castagno and the Pollaiuoli. The Medici Palace
became, Symonds says, ‘a museum at that period unique in Europe,
considering the number and value of its art-treasures;’ and these he
made available to all young artists for purposes of study. There being
at that time no school for sculpture, Lorenzo formed one in his garden
near San Marco, collected there casts from many antique statues, placed
the school in charge of Donatello’s pupil, Bertoldo, and invited all
young sculptors to study there. Among those who did so were Lorenzo di
Credi, Michelangelo, and many others afterwards famous.”--COL. G. F.
YOUNG, _The Medici_ (London, 1909).
The roll-call is large and marvellous; and when we think of the
troubles of the time,--the quarrels, the conspiracies, the dangers
of murder, and the constant visitations of the Plague, we almost
comprehend refuge in the cloister rather than such extraordinary
activity in Art and Learning. Let us look at the greatest names.
Domenico Veneziano (1400–1461), a native of Venice, as his name plainly
shows, but employed by Piero il Gottoso, classed in his day with Fra
Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi, a delightful musician, playing on the
lute and singing well, and said by Vasari, to have introduced into
Florence the Flemish method of using oils. Veneziano taught Piero della
Francesca, the Umbrian painter. Then there is Fra Angelico, already
mentioned, and there is Fra Filippo Lippi (1406?–1469), a monk, but
not a saint like Fra Angelico,--wild and adventurous yet a superlative
painter, whose reputation continues to increase and whose Madonnas,
usually with the face of Lucrezia Buti, are justly admired (see page
42).
Francesco Pesellino (1422–1457), whose real name was Francesco di
Stefano, pupil of his grandfather, Giuliano, and a follower of Fra
Filippo Lippi, famous for his decorative qualities and his animals,
rare and valued to-day. Another painter of decorative taste, charming
and refined, is Alesso Baldovinetti (1425–1499), a follower of Domenico
Veneziano and teacher of Ghirlandaio (see page 48).
Then come the famous brothers, workers in gold, silver, and bronze,
painters of heroic frescoes, and celebrated as draughtsmen--Antonio
Pollaiuolo (1432–1498) and Piero Pollaiuolo (1443–1496), sons, too, of
a goldsmith, all three busy, at various times, on the Ghiberti doors
(see page 51).
Then there is Pier Francesco Fiorentino, an Umbrian, born in Borgo
San Sepolcro about 1430, pupil of Domenico Veneziano, and said to
have assisted Ghirlandaio at S. Giminiano in 1475. Next comes Andrea
Verrocchio (1435–1488), goldsmith and sculptor, pupil and assistant
to Donatello. Andrea di Cione’s nickname of “Verrocchio” (true eye)
is self-explanatory. Verrocchio was also an accomplished musician.
He was employed by the Medici all his life; and he trained in his
workshop, Leonardo da Vinci, Perugino, and Lorenzo di Credi. Verrocchio
also planned many of the splendid pageants, for which Florence was so
famous, and designed the artistic helmets worn by young Lorenzo and
Giuliano at their tournaments. When Lorenzo became head of the Medici
he continued the family patronage to Verrocchio. Cosimo Rosselli
(1439–1507), followed Paolo Uccello and Alesso Baldovinetti.
Sandro Botticelli (1444–1510), who belongs to both Piero and Lorenzo
de’ Medici, was a pupil of Fra Filippo Lippi and was influenced
by Antonio Pollaiuolo before he blossomed forth in his full
individuality. For many centuries Botticelli has charmed the world, his
_prestige_ ever growing greater (see page 55).
Botticelli leads us into another group. Here is Domenico del
Ghirlandaio (1449–1494), “the garland-maker,” first a goldsmith, then
a pupil of Alesso Baldovinetti and much influenced by Botticelli
and Verrocchio. Into his decorative scenes this painter introduced
portraits of distinguished Florentines (see page 70).
Then we have one of the world’s greatest geniuses, Leonardo da Vinci
(1452–1519), painter, sculptor, architect, decorator, designer of
pageants and masques, musician, and engineer, and, moreover, a
personage of charm and many social gifts. Leonardo was apprenticed to
Verrocchio and patronized by Lorenzo de’ Medici, who sent him in 1482
to Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (see page 93).
Filippino Lippi (1457–1504), son of Fra Filippo Lippi and the nun,
Lucrezia Buti (see page 44), a pupil of Botticelli, achieved a fine
reputation as a painter and as a man. Lorenzo di Credi (1457–1537),
fellow-pupil with Perugino and Leonardo da Vinci in Verrocchio’s
studio, esteemed for his execution and careful finish, was an especial
favorite with Verrocchio.
Piero di Cosimo, or Piero di Lorenzo (1462–1521?), called Cosimo after
his master, Cosimo Rosselli, assisted the latter in decorating the
Sistine Chapel in 1480. Piero di Cosimo is famed for his mythological
pictures and for a portrait of Simonetta Vespucci (see page 59), now in
the Chantilly Museum.
Fra Bartolommeo (1472–1517), whose name was Baccio della Porta, an
apprentice of Cosimo Rosselli, became an ardent follower of Savonarola.
It was, therefore, a natural step for him to become a Dominican monk
in 1500; but he continued to paint and had for a partner Mariotto
Albertinelli (1474–1515), a pupil of Cosimo Rosselli and Piero di
Cosimo.
Michelangelo (1475–1564), painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and
military engineer, was born at Castel Caprese, where his father,
Ludovico Buonarroti, was governor of the Castle. Apprenticed to
Ghirlandaio, he also worked in the Medici Gardens and became a favorite
with Lorenzo. After Lorenzo’s death in 1492, he worked for his son,
Piero. Michelangelo’s commanding work, however, was done in Rome, where
he went in 1508 to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. In 1547
Michelangelo succeeded Antonio di San Gallo as architect of St. Peter’s.
Raphael Santi (1484–1520) has to be included among the Florentine
painters for he worked in Florence during 1504–1508, when he fell under
the influence of Leonardo da Vinci and Fra Bartolommeo and painted
several important pictures, including the _Madonna del Gran Duca_ (now
in the Pitti) and the _Madonna del Cardellino_ (now in the Uffizi).
(See page 86.)
Leonardo da Vinci, Fra Bartolommeo, and Michelangelo influenced Andrea
del Sarto (1486–1531), pupil of Piero di Cosimo. His real name was
Andrea d’Agnolo and because of his facile technique was called “_Andrea
senza errori_”. Francis I had Andrea come to Fontainebleau in 1518; but
he soon went home to Florence and died of the Plague.
Franciabigio (1482–1525), son of Christoforo Bigio, partner of Andrea
del Sarto and pupil of Albertinelli and Piero di Cosimo, noted for his
religious pictures and portraits, and Bronzino (1502–1572), poet and
painter (whose name was Angelo Allori), pupil of Jacopo da Pontormo,
and famous for his portraits of the Medici family, bring us to the last
quarter of the Sixteenth Century.
The great days of painting were over; and they had been great days!
MADONNA AND CHILD.
_Giotto di Bordone_
(_1276–1336_).
_Collection of
Mr. Henry Goldman._
Framed by a slightly pointed arch, not sufficiently removed from
the old Romanesque curves to be full Gothic, and projected upon a
background of gold, appears this graceful Madonna, so unusual in type
and of such amazing beauty. Her face, with its almond-shaped eyes
(not set obliquely however) and its sweet flower-like mouth, has a
Chinese quality that bestows a great charm. On the face there is
also an Oriental radiation of gentleness, resignation, and spiritual
experience. While looking at us this lovely Madonna--who might answer
as well for the Chinese goddess Kuan Yin--seems to be trying to draw
us into a contemplation of the Infinite. The dress, too, is unusual.
All that we see is a blue mantle lined with silk, shaded in green,
white, and pink, decorated by a gold border with an Arabic inscription.
This mantle is carried over the head to form a hood and one end is
very gracefully thrown across the left arm. On the right shoulder a
conventionalized flower is embroidered in gold, reminding us of the
star that the Sienese Madonnas usually carry. A white drapery, also
having an Arabic border, is folded around the Holy Child, who grasps
His mother’s forefinger with His left hand, while with His right He
tries to take from her a white rose[4] that she is holding upward. Each
head is encircled by a _nimbus_: that of the Virgin is very large
and very decorative with an interlaced pattern of Oriental design; and
that of the Holy Child has a foliage design reminiscent of Byzantine
ornament. On both sides of the Virgin’s face a pink veil is visible.
This picture, painted on a panel (34 × 25 inches), came from the
Collection of M. Eugène Max of Paris.
Many legends have gathered around the name of the great Florentine,
doubly famed as painter of marvellous frescoes and as the architect of
the Campanile in Florence that is still called by his name. The story
of how Giotto, the little shepherd boy tending his father’s flocks on
the Apennines, was discovered drawing a sheep on a rock by Cimabue and
taken by him to Florence and trained, ultimately becoming the greatest
painter of his time and founder of a School, was told by Ghiberti and
Leonardo da Vinci many years before Vasari’s day.
Giotto di Bordone is supposed to have been born at Colle di Vespignano,
about twenty miles from Florence, in 1266 and he died in Florence in
1337. He was a pupil of Cimabue but surpassed him. About 1300 he was in
Rome making the mosaics in the portico of St. Peter’s, a polyptych, and
some frescoes in the choir. In 1303–1306 Giotto painted the frescoes
in the Arena Chapel in Padua; at Assisi he painted the scenes from the
_Life of St. Francis_ in the Upper Church and also some of the
frescoes in the Magdalen Chapel in the Lower Church. After 1316 he
decorated the Bardi and the Peruzzi Chapels in S. Croce in Florence.
[Illustration:
_Collection of Mr. Henry Goldman_
MADONNA AND CHILD
--_Giotto di Bordone_]
“From the first,” says Mrs. Cartwright, “Giotto adopted a clear,
pale tone of coloring, which forms a marked contrast to the dark
and heavy tints in use among Byzantine artists, and produces the
effects of water-color, while that of the older painters more nearly
resembles oils. The technique which he used, both for tempera and
fresco-painting, and which remained in use among Florentine artists for
the next hundred and fifty years, was in reality founded on the old
Greek method which had been practiced during many centuries, although
the improvements which he introduced were sufficient to justify the
Giottesque artist, Cennino Cennini, in saying that Giotto changed
painting from the Greek to the Latin manner and brought in modern
art. Yet more striking were the innovations which he introduced in his
types, the almond-shaped eyes, long noses, and oval countenances with
square, heavy jaws which he substituted for the staring eyes and round
faces of Byzantine artists. The few and simple lines of his draperies
give a majestic effect to his figures and at the same time sufficiently
indicate the structure of the human form beneath; so that in spite of
his ignorance of anatomy and modelling, the result is remarkably good.”
Giotto was working in Naples for King Robert in 1333 when he was sent
for by the Signoria of Florence and appointed Chief Architect of the
State and Master of the Cathedral Works, succeeding Arnolfo del Cambio,
who had died in 1310. All work had stopped since that date; but now
the authorities had decided to erect a bell-tower and they announced:
“For this purpose we have chosen Giotto di Bordone, painter, the great
and dear master, since neither in the city, nor in the whole world,
is there any other to be found as well fitted for this and similar
tasks.” The whole achievement of Giotto’s life was summed up more than
a hundred years later when Lorenzo the Magnificent commanded Angelo
Poliziano to write a Latin inscription for a bust of Giotto he was
placing on Giotto’s tomb in the Duomo:
“Lo, I am he by whom dead Painting was restored to life, to whose right
hand all was possible, by whom Art became one with Nature. No one ever
painted more or better. Do you wonder at yon fair Tower which holds the
sacred bells? Know it was I who bade her first rise towards the stars.
For I am Giotto--what need is there to tell of my work? Long as verse
lives, my name shall endure!”
THE ANNUNCIATION.
_Masolino_
(_1383–1447_).
_Collection of
Mr. Henry Goldman_
We have here a very interesting and important example of interior
decoration. The Renaissance has arrived as well as the Announcing
Gabriel! The round arch of grey stone (the spandrels of which contain
rosettes) frames a sumptuous room divided by a slender Corinthian
column. The walls and the _cassette_ ceiling are inlaid with mosaic
of different colors and the archway leading into another room--the
Virgin’s bedroom--has a blue sky sprinkled with gold stars. In
the centre of the background richly decorated doors lead into the
adjoining room. The general hues of the wall and ceiling are grey,
green, and red. The Virgin is seated on the right upon a tall and
not very comfortable Italian settee. She has on a light blue mantle
which falls around her in graceful folds. Her parted light hair is
surrounded by a golden _nimbus_ of decorative design. She holds an
open prayer-book with one hand and with the other makes a gesture of
submission and humility as she listens to the message of the Angel.
Whether she _sees_ Gabriel or not, she evidently _hears_ what he has to
tell her. The Angel, too, expresses reverence with hands crossed upon
his breast. He wears a rich claret-colored, velvet brocade embossed
with gold flowers and above his fair hair, which is tightly curled,
shines a golden _nimbus_ decorated with flower-like rosettes. His wings
seem not to have quite quieted down from the flight from Heaven to
earth.[5] Of this picture (painted on a panel 58¼ × 45¼ inches), which
came from the Collection of Lord Wemyss at Gosford House, Longniddry,
Haddingtonshire, Scotland, Berenson says:
“The decorative effect is so strong and so enchanting that like the
rest of Masolino’s art it scarcely finds precedence in Florence or even
in Italy. The suavity, the grace, the splendor, although paralleled
in Gentile da Fabriano and in Sassetta, would seem inspired rather by
the ecstatic mood of Parisian painting toward 1400 with its figures of
angelic candor and skies of heavenly radiance than by Tuscan models.”
[Illustration:
_Collection of Mr. Henry Goldman_
THE ANNUNCIATION
--_Masolino_]
Masolino, the son of a house painter, was born in Panicale in 1383.
His real name was Tommaso di Cristoforo di Fino, and he was familiarly
called Masolino da Panicale. According to Vasari he was a pupil
of “Starnina” and worked under Ghiberti. He was admitted into the
Florentine Guild of Painters in 1423. In that year he was commissioned
to paint the frescoes in the new chapel of the Carmine, built by Felice
Brancacci, and he took for his assistant, Masaccio, who went on with
the work when Masolino was sent to Hungary in 1425 to decorate a church
at Stuhlweissenburg.
When Masolino returned to Florence--after several years--he found
that great changes had taken place in art, for the painters had been
busy with the new problems of perspective and light and shade and
the substitution of Classic for Gothic architecture and decoration.
Masolino availed himself of the new ideas, but could not quite forget
his Giottesque traditions. He painted frescoes in Rome, Naples, and
Lombardy.
“Masolino,” Vasari wrote, “was a man of rare intelligence and his
paintings are executed with great love and diligence. I have often
examined his works and find his style to be essentially different
from the styles of those before him. He gave majesty to his figures
and introduced finely designed folds in his draperies. He began to
understand light and shade and to give his forms relief and succeeded
in some very difficult foreshortenings. He also gave greater sweetness
of expression to his women heads and gayer costumes to his young men,
and his perspective is tolerably correct. But, above all, he excelled
in fresco-painting. This he did so well, and with such delicately
blending colors, that his flesh tones have the utmost softness
imaginable; and if he could have drawn more perfectly, he would deserve
to be numbered among the best artists.”
GABRIEL, THE ANNOUNCING ANGEL.
_Fra Angelico_
(_1387–1455_).
_Collection of
Mr. Edsel B. Ford._
This panel and the one succeeding it, _The Virgin Receiving the
Divine Message_, originally formed a diptych. In treatment
and expression they resemble the figures in Fra Angelico’s
_Annunciation_ in the Oratorio del Gesù at Cortona.
[Illustration:
_Collection of Mr. Edsel B. Ford_
GABRIEL, THE ANNOUNCING ANGEL
--_Fra Angelico_]
The Archangel, according to Dante’s expression, has brought the
long-desired tidings and he stands on a background of gold with wings
still extended like those of a dove, just alighted from the heavens,
looking into Mary’s face very earnestly, and pointing upward to
emphasize to her that he comes from the spheres above. This Gabriel is
one of the most beautiful of Fra Angelico’s most beautiful angels, his
wings being of an extraordinary elegance of _contour_ and a peculiar
loveliness of color--rose, violet, green, and yellow, scintillating in
iridescent play. His crimson robe, shading into high lights and fainter
tones, is richly, although very simply, decorated with bands of gold
embroidery in the Byzantine style. The hair is blonde and beautifully
curled and the head stands out in fine relief from the golden glory.
Notice the beauty of the ear and the distinguished line of the neck,
the calm, deep, unattached gaze of the eye, the refined and sensitive
nose, the pure and lovely mouth, and the graceful, strong, and _very
psychic hands_. This figure perfectly fits Ruskin’s tribute to Fra
Angelico in _Modern Painters_:
“The art of Fra Angelico, both in drawing and color, is perfect,
and his work may be recognized at any distance by its rainbow play
and brilliancy, like a piece of opal among common marbles. In order
to effect clearer distinction between heavenly beings and those of
this world, he represents the former as clothed in draperies of the
purest color, crowned with glories of burnished gold and _entirely_
shadowless; the flames on their foreheads waving brighter as they move;
the sparkles streaming from their purple wings like the glitter of the
sun upon the sea; while they listen in the pauses of alternate song for
the prolonging of the trumpet blast and the answering of psalm and harp
and cymbal, throughout the endless deep and from all the star-shores of
Heaven. This mode of treatment, combined as it is with exquisite choice
of gesture and disposition of drapery, _gives perhaps the best idea of
spiritual beings which the human mind is capable of forming_.”
THE VIRGIN RECEIVING THE DIVINE MESSAGE.
_Fra Angelico_
(_1387–1455_).
_Collection of
Mr. Edsel B. Ford._
In an attitude of divine submission, devout humility, and serene grace,
the Virgin Mary is listening to the words of the Angel Gabriel. Her
brow is almost as clear and pure as that of Gabriel himself and her
features are beautiful, especially those heavy-lidded eyes. Her blonde
hair is exquisitely arranged, confined by a band of black velvet and
encircled by a _nimbus_, of which she is apparently unconscious.
Mary wears a crimson robe with bands of gold around the neck and
sleeves, over which is a blue mantle lined with yellow. Her hands are
capable, exquisite, and very high bred; and in the left one she holds,
with rare grace, a red book.
[Illustration:
_Collection of Mr. Edsel B. Ford_
THE VIRGIN RECEIVING THE DIVINE MESSAGE
--_Fra Angelico_]
Like the companion panel, _Gabriel, the Announcing Angel_, the
background is gold. The dimensions of each are 14½ × 10 inches.
Both pictures were long in the Collection of the Duke of Hamilton at
Hamilton Palace; and afterwards were in the Collection of Mr. John
Edward Taylor and in that of Mr. Carl W. Hamilton. In an unpublished
letter regarding these works Mr. Berenson writes: