VII, proceeded to finish the new sacristy and the library of S. Lorenzo
in Florence; and that master, having recognized the talent of Raffaello,
made use of him in that work, and caused him to execute, among other
things, after the model that he himself had made, the S. Damiano of
marble which is now in that sacristy--a very beautiful statue, very
highly extolled by all men. After the death of Clement, Raffaello
attached himself to Duke Alessandro de' Medici, who was then having the
fortress of Prato built; and he made for him in grey-stone, on one of
the extremities of the chief bastion of that fortress--namely, on the
outer side--the escutcheon of the Emperor Charles V, upheld by two nude
and lifesize Victories, which were much extolled, as they still are. And
for the extremity of another bastion, in the direction of the city, on
the southern side, he made the arms of Duke Alessandro in the same kind
of stone, with two figures. Not long after, he executed a large Crucifix
of wood for the Nuns of S. Apollonia; and for Alessandro Antinori, a
very rich and noble merchant of Florence at that time, he prepared a
most magnificent festival for the marriage of his daughter, with
statues, scenes, and many other most beautiful ornaments.
Having then gone to Rome, he received from Buonarroti a commission to
make two figures of marble, each five braccia high, for the tomb of
Julius II, which was finished and erected at that time by Michelagnolo
in S. Pietro in Vincula. But Raffaello, falling ill while he was
executing this work, was not able to put into it his usual zeal and
diligence, on which account he lost credit thereby, and gave little
satisfaction to Michelagnolo. At the visit of the Emperor Charles V to
Rome, for which Pope Paul III prepared a festival worthy of that
all-conquering Prince, Raffaello made with clay and stucco, on the Ponte
S. Angelo, fourteen statues so beautiful, that they were judged to be
the best that had been made for that festival. And, what is more, he
executed them with such rapidity that he was in time to come to
Florence, where the Emperor was likewise expected, to make within the
space of five days and no more, on the abutment of the Ponte a S.
Trinità two Rivers of clay, each five braccia high, the Rhine to stand
for Germany and the Danube for Hungary.
After this, having been summoned to Orvieto, he made in marble, in a
chapel wherein the excellent sculptor Mosca had previously executed many
most beautiful ornaments, the story of the Magi in half-relief, which
proved to be a very fine work, on account of the great variety of
figures and the good manner with which he executed them.
[Illustration: HEAD OF GASTON DE FOIX, FROM THE TOMB
(_After_ Agostino Busti [Il Bambaja]. _Milan: Brera_)
_Alinari_]
Then, having returned to Rome, he was appointed by Tiberio Crispo, at
that time Castellan of the Castello di S. Angelo, as architect of that
great structure; whereupon he set in order many rooms there, adorning
them with carvings in many kinds of stone and various sorts of
variegated marbles on the chimney-pieces, windows, and doors. In
addition to this, he made a marble statue, five braccia high, of the
Angel of that Castle, which is on the summit of the great square tower
in the centre, where the standard flies, after the likeness of that
Angel that appeared to S. Gregory, who, having prayed that the people
should be delivered from a most grievous pestilence, saw him sheathing
his sword in the scabbard. Later, when the said Crispo had been
made a Cardinal, he sent Raffaello several times to Bolsena, where he
was building a palace. Nor was it long before the very reverend Cardinal
Salviati and Messer Baldassarre Turini da Pescia commissioned Raffaello,
who had already left the service of the Castle and of Cardinal Crispo,
to make the statue of Pope Leo that is now over his tomb in the Minerva
at Rome. That work finished, Raffaello made a tomb for the same Messer
Baldassarre in the Church of Pescia, where that gentleman had built a
chapel of marble. And for a chapel in the Consolazione, at Rome, he made
three figures of marble in half-relief. But afterwards, having given
himself up to the sort of life fit rather for a philosopher than for a
sculptor, and wishing to live in peace, he retired to Orvieto, where he
undertook the charge of the building of S. Maria, in which he made many
improvements; and with this he occupied himself for many years, growing
old before his time.
[Illustration: S. DAMIANO
(_After_ Raffaello da Montelupo. _Florence: New Sacristy of S. Lorenzo_)
_Alinari_]
I believe that Raffaello, if he had undertaken great works, as he might
have done, would have executed more things in art, and better, than he
did. But he was too kindly and considerate, avoiding all conflict, and
contenting himself with that wherewith fortune had provided him; and
thus he neglected many opportunities of making works of distinction.
Raffaello was a very masterly draughtsman, and he had a much better
knowledge of all matters of art than had been shown by his father
Baccio. In our book are some drawings by the hand both of the one and of
the other; but those of Raffaello are much the finer and more graceful,
and executed with better art. In his architectural decorations Raffaello
followed in great measure the manner of Michelagnolo, as is proved by
the chimney-pieces, doors, and windows that he made in the aforesaid
Castello di S. Angelo, and by some chapels built under his direction, in
a rare and beautiful manner, at Orvieto.
But returning to Baccio: his death was a great grief to the people of
Lucca, who had known him as a good and upright man, courteous to all,
and very loving. Baccio's works date about the year of our Lord 1533.
His dearest friend, who learnt many things from him, was Zaccaria da
Volterra, who executed many works in terra-cotta at Bologna, some of
which are in the Church of S. Giuseppe.
LORENZO DI CREDI
[Illustration: LORENZO DI CREDI: VENUS
(_Florence: Uffizi_, 3452. _Panel_)]
LIFE OF LORENZO DI CREDI
PAINTER OF FLORENCE
The while that Maestro Credi, an excellent goldsmith in his day, was
working in Florence with very good credit and repute, Andrea
Sciarpelloni placed with him, to the end that he might learn that craft,
his son Lorenzo, a young man of beautiful intellect and excellent
character. And since the ability and willingness of the master to teach
were not greater than the zeal and readiness with which the disciple
absorbed whatever was shown to him, no long time passed before Lorenzo
became not only a good and diligent designer, but also so able and
finished a goldsmith, that no young man of that time was his equal; and
this brought such honour to Credi, that from that day onward Lorenzo was
always called by everyone, not Lorenzo Sciarpelloni, but Lorenzo di
Credi.
Growing in courage, then, Lorenzo attached himself to Andrea Verrocchio,
who at that time had taken it into his head to devote himself to
painting; and under him, having Pietro Perugino and Leonardo da Vinci as
his companions and friends, although they were rivals, he set himself
with all diligence to learn to paint. And since Lorenzo took an
extraordinary pleasure in the manner of Leonardo, he contrived to
imitate it so well that there was no one who came nearer to it than he
did in the high finish and thorough perfection of his works, as may be
seen from many drawings that are in our book, executed with the style,
with the pen, or in water-colours, among which are some drawings made
from models of clay covered with waxed linen cloths and with liquid
clay, imitated with such diligence, and finished with such patience, as
it is scarcely possible to conceive, much less to equal.
For these reasons, then, Lorenzo was so beloved by his master, that,
when Andrea went to Venice to cast in bronze the horse and the statue
of Bartolommeo da Bergamo, he left to Lorenzo the whole management and
administration of his revenues and affairs, and likewise all his
drawings, reliefs, statues, and art materials. And Lorenzo, on his part,
loved his master Andrea so dearly, that, besides occupying himself with
incredible zeal with his interests in Florence, he also went more than
once to Venice to see him and to render him an account of his good
administration, which was so much to the satisfaction of his master,
that, if Lorenzo had consented, Andrea would have made him his heir. Nor
did Lorenzo prove in any way ungrateful for this good-will, for, after
the death of Andrea, he went to Venice and brought his body to Florence;
and then he handed over to his heirs everything that was found to belong
to Andrea, except his drawings, pictures, sculptures, and all other
things connected with art.
The first paintings of Lorenzo were a round picture of Our Lady, which
was sent to the King of Spain (the design of which picture he copied
from one by his master Andrea), and a picture, much better than the
other, which was likewise copied by Lorenzo from one by Leonardo da
Vinci, and also sent to Spain; and so similar was it to that by
Leonardo, that no difference could be seen between the one and the
other. By the hand of Lorenzo is a Madonna in a very well executed
panel, which is beside the great Church of S. Jacopo at Pistoia; and
another, also, which is in the Hospital of the Ceppo, and is one of the
best pictures in that city. Lorenzo painted many portraits, and when he
was a young man he made that one of himself which is now in the
possession of his disciple, Gian Jacopo, a painter in Florence, together
with many other things left to him by Lorenzo, among which are the
portrait of Pietro Perugino and that of Lorenzo's master, Andrea
Verrocchio. He also made a portrait of Girolamo Benivieni, a man of
great learning, and much his friend.
[Illustration: ANDREA VERROCCHIO
(_After the panel by =Lorenzo di Credi=. Florence: Uffizi, 1163_)
_Anderson_]
For the Company of S. Sebastiano, behind the Church of the Servi in
Florence, he executed a panel-picture of Our Lady, S. Sebastian, and
other saints; and for the altar of S. Giuseppe, in S. Maria del Fiore,
he painted the first-named saint. To Montepulciano he sent a panel that
is now in the Church of S. Agostino, containing a Crucifix, Our Lady,
and S. John, painted with much diligence. But the best work that
Lorenzo ever executed, and that to which he devoted the greatest care
and zeal, in order to surpass himself, was the one that is in a chapel
at Cestello, a panel containing Our Lady, S. Julian, and S. Nicholas;
and whoever wishes to know how necessary it is for a painter to work
with a high finish in oils if he desires that his pictures should remain
fresh, must look at this panel, which is painted with such a finish as
could not be excelled.
While still a young man, Lorenzo painted a S. Bartholomew on a pilaster
in Orsanmichele, and for the Nuns of S. Chiara, in Florence, a
panel-picture of the Nativity of Christ, with some shepherds and angels;
in which picture, besides other things, he took great pains with the
imitation of some herbage, painting it so well that it appears to be
real. For the same place he made a picture of S. Mary Magdalene in
Penitence; and in a round picture that is in the house of Messer
Ottaviano de' Medici he painted a Madonna. For S. Friano he painted a
panel; and he executed some figures in S. Matteo at the Hospital of
Lelmo. For S. Reparata he painted a picture with the Angel Michael, and
for the Company of the Scalzo he made a panel-picture, executed with
much diligence. And, in addition to these works, he made many pictures
of Our Lady and others, which are dispersed among the houses of citizens
in Florence.
Having thus got together a certain sum of money by means of these
labours, and being a man who loved quiet more than riches, Lorenzo
retired to S. Maria Nuova in Florence, where he lived and had a
comfortable lodging until his death. Lorenzo was much inclined to the
sect of Fra Girolamo of Ferrara, and always lived like an upright and
orderly man, showing a friendly courtesy whenever the occasion arose.
Finally, having come to the seventy-eighth year of his life, he died of
old age, and was buried in S. Pietro Maggiore, in the year 1530.
He showed such a perfection of finish in his works, that any other
painting, in comparison with his, must always seem merely sketched and
dirty. He left many disciples, and among them Giovanni Antonio Sogliani
and Tommaso di Stefano. Of Sogliani there will be an account in another
place; and as for Tommaso, he imitated his master closely in his high
finish, and made many works in Florence and abroad, including a
panel-picture for Marco del Nero at his villa of Arcetri, of the
Nativity of Christ, executed with great perfection of finish. But
ultimately it became Tommaso's principal profession to paint on cloth,
insomuch that he painted church-hangings better than any other man. Now
Stefano, the father of Tommaso, had been an illuminator, and had also
done something in architecture; and Tommaso, after his father's death,
in order to follow in his steps, rebuilt the bridge of Sieve, which had
been destroyed by a flood about that time, at a distance of ten miles
from Florence, and likewise that of S. Piero a Ponte on the River
Bisenzio, which is a beautiful work; and afterwards he erected many
buildings for monasteries and other places. Then, being architect to the
Guild of Wool, he made the model for the new buildings which were
constructed by that Guild behind the Nunziata; and, finally, having
reached the age of seventy or more, he died in the year 1564, and was
buried in S. Marco, to which he was followed by an honourable train of
the Academy of Design.
But returning to Lorenzo: he left many works unfinished at his death,
and, in particular, a very beautiful picture of the Passion of Christ,
which came into the hands of Antonio da Ricasoli, and a panel painted
for M. Francesco da Castiglioni, Canon of S. Maria del Fiore, who sent
it to Castiglioni. Lorenzo had no wish to make many large works, because
he took great pains in executing his pictures, and devoted an incredible
amount of labour to them, for the reason, above all, that the colours
which he used were ground too fine; besides which, he was always
purifying and distilling his nut-oils, and he made mixtures of colours
on his palette in such numbers, that from the first of the light tints
to the last of the darks there was a gradual succession involving an
over-careful and truly excessive elaboration, so that at times he had
twenty-five or thirty of them on his palette. For each tint he kept a
separate brush; and where he was working he would never allow any
movement that might raise dust. Such excessive care is perhaps no more
worthy of praise than the other extreme of negligence, for in all things
one should observe a certain mean and avoid extremes, which are
generally harmful.
[Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINTS
(_After the panel by =Lorenzo di Credi=. Paris: Louvre, 1263_)
_Alinari_]
[Illustration: THE NATIVITY
(_After the panel by =Lorenzo di Credi=. Florence: Accademia, 92_)
_Anderson_]
LORENZETTO AND BOCCACCINO
[Illustration: BERNARDINO DEL LUPINO (LUINI): S. CATHARINE BORNE TO HER
TOMB BY ANGELS
(_Milan: Brera, 288. Fresco_)]
LIVES OF LORENZETTO
SCULPTOR AND ARCHITECT OF FLORENCE
AND OF BOCCACCINO
PAINTER OF CREMONA
It happens at times, after Fortune has kept the talent of some fine
intellect subjected for a period by poverty, that she thinks better of
it, and at an unexpected moment provides all sorts of benefits for one
who has hitherto been the object of her hatred, so as to atone in one
year for the affronts and discomforts of many. This was seen in Lorenzo,
the son of Lodovico the bell-founder, a Florentine, who was engaged in
the work both of architecture and of sculpture, and was loved so dearly
by Raffaello da Urbino, that he not only was assisted by him and
employed in many enterprises, but also received from the same master a
wife in the person of a sister of Giulio Romano, a disciple of
Raffaello.
Lorenzetto[4]--for thus he was always called--finished in his youth the
tomb of Cardinal Forteguerra, formerly begun by Andrea Verrocchio, which
was erected in S. Jacopo at Pistoia; and there, among other things, is a
Charity by the hand of Lorenzetto, which is not otherwise than passing
good. And a little afterwards he made a figure for Giovanni Bartolini,
to adorn his garden; which finished, he went to Rome, where in his first
years he executed many works, of which there is no need to make any
further record. Then, receiving from Agostino Chigi, at the instance of
Raffaello da Urbino, the commission to make a tomb for him in S. Maria
del Popolo, where Agostino had built a chapel, Lorenzo set himself to
work on this with all the zeal, diligence, and labour in his power, in
order to come out of it with credit and to give satisfaction to
Raffaello, from whom he had reason to expect much favour and
assistance, and also in the hope of being richly rewarded by the
liberality of Agostino, a man of great wealth. Nor were these labours
expended without an excellent result, for, assisted by Raffaello, he
executed the figures to perfection: a nude Jonah delivered from the
belly of the whale, as a symbol of the resurrection from the dead, and
an Elijah, living by grace, with his cruse of water and his bread baked
in the ashes, under the juniper-tree. These statues, then, were brought
to the most beautiful completion by Lorenzetto with all the art and
diligence at his command, but he did not by any means obtain for them
that reward which his great labours and the needs of his family called
for, since, death having closed the eyes of Agostino, and almost at the
same time those of Raffaello, the heirs of Agostino, with scant respect,
allowed these figures to remain in Lorenzetto's workshop, where they
stood for many years. In our own day, indeed, they have been set into
place on that tomb in the aforesaid Church of S. Maria del Popolo; but
Lorenzo, robbed for those reasons of all hope, found for the present
that he had thrown away his time and labour.
[Illustration: ELIJAH
(_After_ Lorenzetto. _Rome: S. Maria del Popolo, Chigi Chapel_)
_Anderson_]
Next, by way of executing the testament of Raffaello, Lorenzo was
commissioned to make a marble statue of Our Lady, four braccia high, for
the tomb of Raffaello in the Temple of S. Maria Ritonda, where the
tabernacle was restored by order of that master. The same Lorenzo made a
tomb with two children in half-relief, for a merchant of the Perini
family, in the Trinità at Rome. And in architecture he made the designs
for many houses; in particular, that of the Palace of Messer Bernardino
Caffarelli, and in the Valle, for Cardinal Andrea della Valle, the inner
façade, and also the design of the stables and of the upper garden. In
the composition of that work he included ancient columns, bases, and
capitals, and around the whole, to serve as base, he distributed ancient
sarcophagi covered with carved scenes. Higher up, below some large
niches, he made another frieze with fragments of ancient works, and
above this, in those niches, he placed some statues, likewise ancient
and of marble, which, although they were not entire--some being without
the head, some without arms, others without legs, and every one, in
short, with something missing--nevertheless he arranged to the best
advantage, having caused all that was lacking to be restored by
good sculptors. This was the reason that other lords have since done the
same thing and have restored many ancient works; as, for example,
Cardinals Cesis, Ferrara, and Farnese, and, in a word, all Rome. And, in
truth, antiquities restored in this way have more grace than those
mutilated trunks, members without heads, or figures in any other way
maimed and defective. But to return to the aforesaid garden: over the
niches was placed the frieze that is still seen there, of supremely
beautiful ancient scenes in half-relief; and this invention of Lorenzo's
stood him in very good stead, since, after the troubles of Pope Clement
had abated, he was employed by him with much honour and profit to
himself. For the Pope had seen, when the fight for the Castello di S.
Angelo was raging, that two little chapels of marble, which were at the
head of the bridge, had been a source of mischief, in that some
harquebusiers, standing in them, shot down all who exposed themselves at
the walls, and, themselves in safety, inflicted great losses and baulked
the defence; and his Holiness resolved to remove those chapels and to
set up in place of them two marble statues on pedestals. And so, after
the S. Paul of Paolo Romano, of which there has been an account in
another Life, had been set in place, the commission for the other, a S.
Peter, was given to Lorenzetto, who acquitted himself passing well, but
did not surpass the work of Paolo Romano. These two statues were set up,
and are to be seen at the present day at the head of the bridge.
[Illustration: S. PETER
(_After_ Lorenzetto. _Rome: Ponte S. Angelo_)
_Anderson_]
After Pope Clement was dead, Baccio Bandinelli was given the commissions
for the tombs of that Pope and of Leo X, and Lorenzo was entrusted with
the marble masonry that was to be executed for them; whereupon the
latter spent no little time over that work. Finally, at the election of
Paul III as Pontiff, when Lorenzo was in sorry straits and almost worn
out, having nothing but a house which he had built for himself in the
Macello de' Corbi, and being weighed down by his five children and by
other expenses, Fortune changed and began to raise him and to set him
back on a better path; for Pope Paul wishing to have the building of S.
Pietro continued, and neither Baldassarre of Siena nor any of the others
who had been employed in that work being now alive, Antonio da San
Gallo appointed Lorenzo as architect for that structure, wherein the
walls were being built at a fixed price of so much for every four
braccia. Thereupon Lorenzo, without exerting himself, in a few years
became more famous and prosperous than he had been after many years of
endless labour, through having found God, mankind, and Fortune all
propitious at that one moment. And if he had lived longer, he would have
done even more towards wiping out those injuries that a cruel fate had
unjustly brought upon him during his best period of work. But after
reaching the age of forty-seven, he died of fever in the year 1541.
The death of this master caused great grief to his many friends, who had
always known him as a loving and reasonable man. And since he had always
lived like an upright and orderly citizen, the Deputati of S. Pietro
gave him honourable burial in a tomb, on which they placed the following
epitaph:
SCULPTORI LAURENTIO FLORENTINO
ROMA MIHI TRIBUIT TUMULUM, FLORENTIA VITAM:
NEMO ALIO VELLET NASCI ET OBIRE LOCO.
MDXLI
VIX. ANN. XLVII, MEN. II, D. XV.
[Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINTS
(_After the panel by =Boccaccino=. Rome: Doria Gallery, 125_)
_Anderson_]
Boccaccino of Cremona, who lived about the same time, had acquired the
name of a rare and excellent painter in his native place and throughout
all Lombardy, and his works were very highly extolled, when he went to
Rome to see the works, so much renowned, of Michelagnolo; but no sooner
had he seen them than he sought to the best of his power to disparage
and revile them, believing that he could exalt himself almost exactly in
proportion as he vilified a man who truly was in the matters of design,
and indeed in all others without exception, supremely excellent. This
master, then, was commissioned to paint the Chapel of S. Maria
Traspontina; but when he had finished it and thrown it open to view, it
was a revelation to all those who thought that he would soar above the
heavens, for they saw that he could not reach even to the level of the
lowest floor of a house. And so the painters of Rome, on seeing the
Coronation of Our Lady that he had painted in that work, with some
children flying around her, changed from marvel to laughter.