candles at the counter, a friar called Fra Mariano dal Canto alla
Macine, who was also sacristan; and he heard everyone extolling Andrea
mightily and saying that he was by way of making marvellous proficience
in painting. Whereupon he planned to fulfil a desire of his own without
much expense; and so, approaching Andrea, who was a mild and guileless
fellow, on the side of his honour, he began to persuade him under the
cloak of friendship that he wished to help him in a matter which would
bring him honour and profit and would make him known in such a manner,
that he would never be poor any more. Now many years before, as has been
related above, Alesso Baldovinetti had painted a Nativity of Christ in
the first cloister of the Servi, on the wall that has the Annunciation
behind it; and in the same cloister, on the other side, Cosimo Rosselli
had begun a scene of S. Filippo, the founder of that Servite Order,
assuming the habit. But Cosimo had not carried that scene to completion,
because death came upon him at the very moment when he was working at
it. The friar, then, being very eager to see the rest finished, thought
of serving his own ends by making Andrea and Franciabigio, who, from
being friends, had become rivals in art, compete with one another, each
doing part of the work. This, besides effecting his purpose very
well, would make the expense less and their efforts greater. Thereupon,
revealing his mind to Andrea, he persuaded him to undertake that
enterprise, by pointing out to him that since it was a public and much
frequented place, he would become known on account of such a work no
less by foreigners than by the Florentines; that he should not look for
any payment in return, or even for an invitation to undertake it, but
should rather pray to be allowed to do it; and that if he were not
willing to set to work, there was Franciabigio, who, in order to make
himself known, had offered to accept it and to leave the matter of
payment to him. These incitements did much to make Andrea resolve to
undertake the work, and the rather as he was a man of little spirit; and
the last reference to Franciabigio induced him to make up his mind
completely and to come to an agreement, in the form of a written
contract, with regard to the whole work, on the terms that no one else
should have a hand in it. The friar, then, having thus pledged him and
given him money, demanded that he should begin by continuing the life of
S. Filippo, without receiving more than ten ducats from him in payment
of each scene; and he told Andrea that he was giving him even that out
of his own pocket, and was doing it more for the benefit and advantage
of the painter than through any want or need of the convent.
Andrea, therefore, pursuing that work with the utmost diligence, like
one who thought more of honour than of profit, after no long time
completely finished the first three scenes and unveiled them. One was
the scene of S. Filippo, now a friar, clothing the naked. In another he
is shown rebuking certain gamesters, who blasphemed God and laughed at
S. Filippo, mocking at his admonition, when suddenly there comes a
lightning-flash from Heaven, which, striking a tree under the shade of
which they were sheltering, kills two of them and throws the rest into
an incredible panic. Some, with their hands to their heads, cast
themselves forward in dismay; others, crying aloud in their terror, turn
to flight; a woman, beside herself with fear at the sound of the
thunder, is running away so naturally that she appears to be truly
alive; and a horse, breaking loose amid this uproar and confusion,
reveals with his leaps and fearsome movements what fear and terror are
caused by things so sudden and so unexpected. In all this one can see
how carefully Andrea looked to variety of incident in the representation
of such events, with a forethought truly beautiful and most necessary
for one who practises painting. In the third he painted the scene of S.
Filippo delivering a woman from evil spirits, with all the most
characteristic considerations that could be imagined in such an action.
All these scenes brought extraordinary fame and honour to Andrea; and
thus encouraged, he went on to paint two other scenes in the same
cloister. On one wall is S. Filippo lying dead, with his friars about
him making lamentation; and in addition there is a dead child, who,
touching the bier on which S. Filippo lies, comes to life again, so that
he is first seen dead, and then revived and restored to life, and all
with a very beautiful, natural, and appropriate effect. In the last
picture on that side he represented the friars placing the garments of
S. Filippo on the heads of certain children; and there he made a
portrait of Andrea della Robbia, the sculptor, in an old man clothed in
red, who comes forward, stooping, with a staff in his hand. There, too,
he portrayed Luca, his son; even as in the other scene mentioned above,
in which S. Filippo lies dead, he made a portrait of another son of
Andrea, named Girolamo, a sculptor and very much his friend, who died
not long since in France.
Having thus finished that side of the cloister, and considering that if
the honour was great, the payment was small, Andrea resolved to give up
the rest of the work, however much the friar might complain. But the
latter would not release him from his bond without Andrea first
promising that he would paint two other scenes, at his own leisure and
convenience, however, and with an increase of payment; and thus they
came to terms.
[Illustration: THE ARRIVAL OF THE MAGI
(_After the fresco by =Andrea del Sarto=. Florence: SS. Annunziata_)
_Alinari_]
Having come into greater repute by reason of these works, Andrea
received commissions for many pictures and works of importance; among
others, one from the General of the Monks of Vallombrosa, for painting
an arch of the vaulting, with a Last Supper on the front wall, in the
Refectory of the Monastery of S. Salvi, without the Porta alla Croce. In
four medallions on that vault he painted four figures, S. Benedict, S.
Giovanni Gualberto, S. Salvi the Bishop, and S. Bernardo degli Uberti
of Florence, a friar of that Order and a Cardinal; and in the centre
he made a medallion containing three faces, which are one and the same,
to represent the Trinity. All this was very well executed for a work in
fresco, and Andrea, therefore, came to be valued at his true worth in
the art of painting. Whereupon he was commissioned at the instance of
Baccio d' Agnolo to paint in fresco, in a close on the steep path of
Orsanmichele, which leads to the Mercato Nuovo, the Annunciation still
to be seen there, executed on a minute scale, which brought him but
little praise; and this may have been because Andrea, who worked well
without over-exerting himself or forcing his powers, is believed to have
tried in this work to force himself and to paint with too much care.
As for the many pictures that he executed after this for Florence, it
would take too long to try to speak of them all; and I will only say
that among the most distinguished may be numbered the one that is now in
the apartment of Baccio Barbadori, containing a full-length Madonna with
a Child in her arms, S. Anne, and S. Joseph, all painted in a beautiful
manner and held very dear by Baccio. He made one, likewise well worthy
of praise, which is now in the possession of Lorenzo di Domenico
Borghini, and another of Our Lady for Leonardo del Giocondo, which at
the present day is in the hands of Piero, the son of Leonardo. For Carlo
Ginori he painted two of no great size, which were bought afterwards by
the Magnificent Ottaviano de' Medici; and one of these is now in his
most beautiful villa of Campi, while the other, together with many other
modern pictures executed by the most excellent masters, is in the
apartment of the worthy son of so great a father, Signor Bernardetto,
who not only esteems and honours the works of famous craftsmen, but is
also in his every action a truly generous and magnificent nobleman.
Meanwhile the Servite friar had allotted to Franciabigio one of the
scenes in the above-mentioned cloister; but that master had not yet
finished making the screen, when Andrea, becoming apprehensive, since it
seemed to him that Franciabigio was an abler and more dexterous master
than himself in the handling of colours in fresco, executed, as it were
out of rivalry, the cartoons for his two scenes, which he intended to
paint on the angle between the side-door of S. Bastiano and the smaller
door that leads from the cloister into the Nunziata. Having made the
cartoons, he set to work in fresco; and in the first scene he painted
the Nativity of Our Lady, a composition of figures beautifully
proportioned and grouped with great grace in a room, wherein some women
who are friends and relatives of the newly delivered mother, having come
to visit her, are standing about her, all clothed in such garments as
were customary at that time, and other women of lower degree, gathered
around the fire, are washing the newborn babe, while others are
preparing the swathing-bands and doing other similar services. Among
them is a little boy, full of life, who is warming himself at the fire,
with an old man resting in a very natural attitude on a couch, and
likewise some women carrying food to the mother who is in bed, with
movements truly lifelike and appropriate. And all these figures,
together with some little boys who are hovering in the air and
scattering flowers, are most carefully considered in their expressions,
their draperies, and every other respect, and so soft in colour, that
the figures appear to be of flesh and everything else rather real than
painted.
In the other scene Andrea painted the three Magi from the East, who,
guided by the Star, went to adore the Infant Jesus Christ. He
represented them dismounted, as though they were near their destination;
and that because there was only the space embracing the two doors to
separate them from the Nativity of Christ which may be seen there, by
the hand of Alesso Baldovinetti. In this scene Andrea painted the Court
of those three Kings coming behind them, with baggage, much equipment,
and many people following in their train, among whom, in a corner, are
three persons portrayed from life and wearing the Florentine dress, one
being Jacopo Sansovino, a full-length figure looking straight at the
spectator, while another, with an arm in foreshortening, who is leaning
against him and making a sign, is Andrea, the master of the work, and a
third head, seen in profile behind Jacopo, is that of Ajolle, the
musician. There are, in addition, some little boys who are climbing on
the walls, in order to be able to see the magnificent procession and the
fantastic animals that those three Kings have brought with them. This
scene is quite equal in excellence to that mentioned above; nay, in
both the one and the other he surpassed himself, not to speak of
Franciabigio, who also finished his.
At this same time Andrea painted for the Abbey of S. Godenzo, a benefice
belonging to the same friars, a panel which was held to be very well
executed. And for the Friars of S. Gallo he made a panel-picture of Our
Lady receiving the Annunciation from the Angel, wherein may be seen a
very pleasing harmony of colouring, while the heads of some Angels
accompanying Gabriel show a sweet gradation of tints and a perfectly
executed beauty of expression in their features; and the predella below
this picture was painted by Jacopo da Pontormo, who was a disciple of
Andrea at that time, and gave proofs at that early age that he was
destined to produce afterwards those beautiful works which he actually
did execute in Florence with his own hand, although in the end he became
one might say another painter, as will be related in his Life.
Andrea then painted for Zanobi Girolami a picture with figures of no
great size, wherein was a story of Joseph, the son of Jacob, which was
finished by him with unremitting diligence, and therefore held to be a
very beautiful painting. Not long after this, he undertook to execute
for the men of the Company of S. Maria della Neve, situated behind the
Nunnery of S. Ambrogio, a little panel with three figures--Our Lady, S.
John the Baptist, and S. Ambrogio; which work, when finished, was placed
in due time on the altar of that Company.
Meanwhile, thanks to his talent, Andrea had become intimate with
Giovanni Gaddi, afterwards appointed Clerk of the Chamber, who, always
delighting in the arts of design, was then keeping Jacopo Sansovino
continually at work. Being pleased, therefore, with the manner of
Andrea, he caused him to paint a picture of Our Lady for himself, which
was very beautiful, for Andrea painted various patterns and other
ingenious devices round it, so that it was considered to be the most
beautiful work that he had executed up to that time. After this he made
for Giovanni di Paolo, the mercer, another picture of Our Lady, which,
being truly lovely, gave infinite pleasure to all who saw it. And for
Andrea Santini he executed another, containing Our Lady, Christ, S.
John, and S. Joseph, all wrought with such diligence that the painting
has always been esteemed in Florence as worthy of great praise.
All these works acquired such a name for Andrea in his city, that among
the many, both young and old, who were painting at that time, he was
considered one of the most excellent who were handling brushes and
colours. Wherefore he found himself not only honoured, but even,
although he exacted the most paltry prices for his labours, in a
condition to do something to help and support his family, and also to
shelter himself from the annoyances and anxieties which afflict those of
us who live in poverty. But he became enamoured of a young woman, and a
little time afterwards, when she had been left a widow, he took her for
his wife; and then he had more than enough to do for the rest of his
life, and much more trouble than he had suffered in the past, for the
reason that, in addition to the labours and annoyances that such
entanglements generally involve, he undertook others into the bargain,
such as that of letting himself be harassed now by jealousy, now by one
thing, and now by another.
[Illustration: ANDREA DEL SARTO: MADONNA DELL' ARPIE
(_Florence: Uffizi, 1112. Panel_)]
But to return to the works of his hand, which were as rare as they were
numerous: after those of which mention has been made above, he painted
for a friar of S. Croce, of the Order of Minorites, who was then
Governor of the Nunnery of S. Francesco in Via Pentolini, and delighted
much in paintings, a panel-picture destined for the Church of those
Nuns, of Our Lady standing on high upon an octagonal pedestal, at the
corners of which are seated some Harpies, as it were in adoration of the
Virgin; and she, using one hand to uphold her Son, who is clasping her
most tenderly round the neck with His arms, in a very beautiful
attitude, is holding a closed book in the other hand and gazing on two
little naked boys, who, while helping her to stand upright, serve as
ornaments about her person. This Madonna has on her right a beautifully
painted S. Francis, in whose face may be seen the goodness and
simplicity that truly belonged to that saintly man; besides which, the
feet are marvellous, and so are the draperies, because Andrea always
rounded off his figures with a very rich flow of folds and with certain
most delicate curves, in such a way as to reveal the nude below. On her
left hand she has a S. John the Evangelist, represented as a young
man and in the act of writing his Gospel, in a very beautiful manner. In
this work, moreover, over the building and the figures, is a film of
transparent clouds, which appear to be really moving. This picture,
among all Andrea's works, is held at the present day to be one of
singular and truly rare beauty. For the joiner Nizza, also, he made a
picture of Our Lady, which was considered to be no less beautiful than
any of his other works.
After this, the Guild of Merchants determined to have some triumphal
chariots made of wood after the manner of those of the ancient Romans,
to the end that these might be drawn in procession on the morning of S.
John's day, in place of certain altar-cloths and wax tapers which the
cities and townships carry in token of tribute, passing before the Duke
and the chief magistrates; and out of ten that were made at that time,
Andrea painted some with scenes in oils and in chiaroscuro, which were
much extolled. But although it was proposed that some should be made
every year, until such time as every city and district had one of its
own, which would have produced a show of extraordinary magnificence,
nevertheless this custom was abandoned in the year 1527.
Now, while Andrea was adorning his city with these and other works, and
his name was growing greater every day, the men of the Company of the
Scalzo resolved that he should finish the work in their cloister, which
he had formerly begun by painting the scene of the Baptism of Christ.
Having resumed that work, therefore, more willingly, he executed two
scenes there, with two very beautiful figures of Charity and Justice to
adorn the door that leads into the building of the Company. In one of
these scenes he represented S. John preaching to the multitude in a
spirited attitude, lean in person, as befitted the life that he was
leading, and with an expression of countenance filled with inspiration
and thoughtfulness. Marvellous, likewise, are the variety and the
vivacity of his hearers, some being shown in admiration, and all in
astonishment, at hearing that new message and a doctrine so singular and
never heard before. Even more did Andrea exert his genius in painting
the same John baptizing with water a vast number of people, some of whom
are stripping off their clothes, some receiving the baptism, and
others, naked, waiting for him to finish baptizing those who are before
them. In all of them Andrea showed a vivid emotion, with a burning
desire in the gestures of those who are eager to be purified of their
sins; not to mention that all the figures are so well executed in that
chiaroscuro, that the whole has the appearance of a real and most
lifelike scene in marble.
I will not refrain from saying that while Andrea was employed on these
and other pictures, there appeared certain copper engravings by Albrecht
Dürer, and Andrea made use of them, taking some of the figures and
transforming them into his manner. And this has caused some people,
while not saying that it is a bad thing for a man to make adroit use of
the good work of others, to believe that Andrea had not much invention.
At that time there came to Baccio Bandinelli, then a draughtsman of
great repute, a desire to learn to paint in oils. Whereupon, knowing
that no man in Florence knew how to do that better than our Andrea, he
commissioned him to paint his portrait, which was a good likeness of him
at that age, as may be seen even yet; and thus, by watching him paint
that work and others, he saw his method of colouring, although
afterwards, either by reason of the difficulty or from lack of
inclination, he did not pursue the use of colours, finding more
satisfaction in sculpture.
Andrea executed for Alessandro Corsini a picture of a Madonna seated on
the ground with a Child in her arms, surrounded by many little boys,
which was finished with beautiful art and with very pleasing colour; and
for a mercer, much his friend, who kept a shop in Rome, he made a most
beautiful head. Giovan Battista Puccini of Florence, likewise, taking
extraordinary pleasure in the manner of Andrea, commissioned him to
paint a picture of Our Lady for sending into France; but it proved to be
so fine that he kept it for himself, and would by no means send it.
However, having been asked, while transacting the affairs of his
business in France, to undertake to send choice paintings to that
country, he caused Andrea to paint a picture of a Dead Christ surrounded
by some Angels, who were supporting Him and contemplating with gestures
of sorrow and compassion their Maker sunk to such a pass through the
sins of the world. This work, when finished, gave such universal
satisfaction, that Andrea, urged by many entreaties, had it engraved in
Rome by the Venetian Agostino; but it did not succeed very well, and he
would never again give any of his works to be engraved. But to return to
the picture: it gave no less satisfaction in France, whither it was
sent, than it had done in Florence, insomuch that the King, kindled with
even greater desire to have works by Andrea, gave orders that he should
execute others; which was the reason that Andrea, encouraged by his
friends, resolved to go in a short time to France.
But meanwhile the Florentines, hearing in the year 1515 that Pope Leo X
wished to grace his native city with his presence, ordained for his
reception extraordinary festivities and a sumptuous and magnificent
spectacle, with so many arches, façades, temples, colossal figures, and
other statues and ornaments, that there had never been seen up to that
time anything richer, more gorgeous, or more beautiful; for there was
then flourishing in that city a greater abundance of fine and exalted
intellects than had ever been known at any other period. At the entrance
of the Porta di S. Piero Gattolini, Jacopo di Sandro, in company with
Baccio da Montelupo, made an arch covered with historical scenes.
Giuliano del Tasso made another at S. Felice in Piazza, with some
statues and the obelisk of Romulus at S. Trinità, and Trajan's Column in
the Mercato Nuovo. In the Piazza de' Signori, Antonio, the brother of
Giuliano da San Gallo, erected an octagonal temple, and Baccio
Bandinelli made a Giant for the Loggia. Between the Badia and the Palace
of the Podestà there was an arch erected by Granaccio and Aristotele da
San Gallo, and Il Rosso made another on the Canto de' Bischeri with a
very beautiful design and a variety of figures. But what was admired
more than everything else was the façade of S. Maria del Fiore, made of
wood, and so well decorated with various scenes in chiaroscuro by our
Andrea, that nothing more could have been desired. The architecture of
this work was by Jacopo Sansovino, as were some scenes in low-relief and
many figures carved in the round; and it was declared by the Pope that
this structure--which was designed by Lorenzo de' Medici, father of that
Pontiff, when he was alive--could not have been more beautiful, even if
it had been of marble. The same Jacopo made a horse similar to the one
in Rome, which was held to be a miracle of beauty, on the Piazza di S.
Maria Novella. An endless number of ornaments, also, were executed for
the Sala del Papa in the Via della Scala, and that street was half
filled with most beautiful scenes wrought by the hands of many
craftsmen, but designed for the most part by Baccio Bandinelli.
Wherefore, when Leo entered Florence, on the third day of September in
the same year, this spectacle was pronounced to be the grandest that had
ever been devised, and the most beautiful.
But to return now to Andrea: being again requested to make another
picture for the King of France, in a short time he finished one wherein
he painted a very beautiful Madonna, which was sent off immediately, the
merchants receiving for it four times as much as they had paid. Now at
that very time Pier Francesco Borgherini had caused to be made by Baccio
d' Agnolo some panelling, chests, chairs, and a bed, all carved in
walnut-wood, for the furnishing of an apartment; wherefore, to the end
that the paintings therein might be equal in excellence to the rest of
the work, he commissioned Andrea to paint part of the scenes on these
with figures of no great size, representing the acts of Joseph the son
of Jacob, in competition with some of great beauty that had been
executed by Granaccio and Jacopo da Pontormo. Andrea, then, devoting an
extraordinary amount of time and diligence to the work, strove to bring
it about that they should prove to be more perfect than those of the
others mentioned above; in which he succeeded to a marvel, for in the
variety of events happening in the stories he showed how great was his
worth in the art of painting. So excellent were those scenes, that an
attempt was made by Giovan Battista della Palla, on account of the siege
of Florence, to remove them from the places where they were fixed, in
order to send them to the King of France; but, since they were fixed in
such a way that it would have meant spoiling the whole work, they were
left where they were, together with a picture of Our Lady, which is held
to be a very choice work.
[Illustration: CHARITY
(_After the painting by =Andrea del Sarto=. Paris: Louvre, 1514_)
_Neurdein_]