Friars on the altar of the Nunziata, of such beauty, that I for my part
do not know whether any more beautiful image of the head of Christ
could be conceived by the intellect of man. For the chapels in the
Church of S. Gallo, without the Porta S. Gallo, there had been painted,
in addition to the two panel-pictures by Andrea, a number of others,
which were not equal to his; wherefore, since there was a commission to
be given for another, those friars contrived to persuade the owner of
the chapel to give it to Andrea; and he, beginning it immediately, made
therein four figures standing, engaged in a disputation about the
Trinity. One of these is S. Augustine, who, robed as a Bishop and truly
African in aspect, is moving impetuously towards S. Peter Martyr, who is
holding up an open book in a proud and sublime attitude: and the head
and figure of the latter are much extolled. Beside him is a S. Francis
holding a book in one hand and pressing the other against his breast;
and he appears to be expressing with his lips a glowing ardour that
makes him almost melt away in the heat of the discussion. There is also
a S. Laurence, who, being young, is listening, and seems to be yielding
to the authority of the others. Below them are two figures kneeling, one
a Magdalene with most beautiful draperies, whose countenance is a
portrait of Andrea's wife; for in no place did he paint a woman's
features without copying them from her, and if perchance it happened at
times that he took them from other women, yet, from his being used to
see her continually, and from the circumstance that he had drawn her so
often, and, what is more, had her impressed on his mind, it came about
that almost all the heads of women that he made resembled her. The other
kneeling figure is a S. Sebastian, who, being naked, shows his back,
which appears to all who see it to be not painted, but of living flesh.
And indeed, among so many works in oils, this was held by craftsmen to
be the best, for the reason that there may be seen in it signs of
careful consideration in the proportions of the figures, and much order
in the method, with a sense of fitness in the expressions of the faces,
the heads of the young showing sweetness of expression, those of the old
hardness, and those of middle age a kind of blend that inclines both to
the first and to the second. In a word, this panel is most beautiful in
all its parts; and it is now to be found in S. Jacopo tra Fossi on the
Canto degli Alberti, together with others by the hand of the same
master.
While Andrea was living poorly enough in Florence, engaged in these
works, but without bettering himself a whit, the two pictures that he
had sent to France had been duly considered in that country by King
Francis I; and among many others which had been sent from Rome, from
Venice, and from Lombardy, they had been judged to be by far the best.
The King therefore praising them mightily, it was remarked to him that
it would be an easy matter to persuade Andrea to come to France to serve
his Majesty; which news was so agreeable to the King, that he gave
orders that all that was necessary should be done, and that money for
the journey should be paid to Andrea in Florence. Andrea then set out
for France with a glad heart, taking with him his assistant Andrea
Sguazzella; and, having arrived at last at the Court, they were received
by the King with great kindness and rejoicing. Before the very day of
his arrival had passed by, Andrea proved for himself how great were the
courtesy and the liberality of that magnanimous King, receiving presents
of money and rich and honourable garments. Beginning to work soon
afterwards, he became so dear to the King and to all the Court, that he
was treated lovingly by everyone, and it appeared to him that his
departure from his country had brought him from one extreme of
wretchedness to the other extreme of bliss. Among his first works was a
portrait from life of the Dauphin, the son of the King, born only a few
months before, and still in swaddling-clothes; and when he took this to
the King, he received a present of three hundred gold crowns. Then,
continuing to work, he painted for the King a figure of Charity, which
was considered a very rare work and was held by that Sovereign in the
estimation that it deserved. After that, his Majesty granted him a
liberal allowance and did all that he could to induce Andrea to stay
willingly with him, promising him that he should never want for
anything; and this because he liked Andrea's resoluteness in his work,
and also the character of the man, who was contented with everything.
Moreover, giving great satisfaction to the whole Court, he executed many
pictures and various other works; and if he had kept in mind the
condition from which he had escaped and the place to which fortune had
brought him, there is no doubt that he would have risen--to say nothing
of riches--to a most honourable rank. But one day, when he was at work
on a S. Jerome in Penitence for the mother of the King, there came to
him some letters from Florence, written by his wife; and he began,
whatever may have been the reason, to think of departing. He sought
leave, therefore, from the King, saying that he wished to go to
Florence, but would return without fail to his Majesty after settling
some affairs; and he would bring his wife with him, in order to live
more at his ease in France, and would come back laden with pictures and
sculptures of value. The King, trusting in him, gave him money for that
purpose; and Andrea swore on the Testament to return to him in a few
months.
Thus, then, he arrived in Florence, and for several months blissfully
took his joy of his fair lady, his friends, and the city. And finally,
the time at which he was to return having passed by, he found in the end
that what with building, taking his pleasure, and doing no work, he had
squandered all his money and likewise that of the King. Even so he
wished to return, but he was more influenced by the sighs and prayers of
his wife than by his own necessities and the pledge given to the King,
so that, in order to please his wife, he did not go back; at which the
King fell into such disdain, that for a long time he would never again
look with a favourable eye on any painter from Florence, and he swore
that if Andrea ever came into his hands he would give him a very
different kind of welcome, with no regard whatever for his abilities.
And thus Andrea, remaining in Florence, and sinking from the highest
rung of the ladder to the very lowest, lived and passed the time as best
he could.
After Andrea's departure to France, the men of the Scalzo, thinking that
he would never return, had entrusted all the rest of the work in their
cloister to Franciabigio, who had already executed two scenes there,
when, seeing Andrea back in Florence, they persuaded him to set his hand
to the work once more; and he, continuing it, painted four scenes, one
beside another. In the first is S. John taken before Herod. In the
second are the Feast and the Dance of Herodias, with figures very well
grouped and appropriate. In the third is the Beheading of S. John,
wherein the minister of justice, a half-nude figure, is beautifully
drawn, as are all the others. In the fourth Herodias is presenting the
head; and here there are figures expressing their astonishment, which
are wrought with most beautiful thought and care. These scenes have been
for some time the study and school of many young men who are now
excellent in our arts.
In a shrine without the Porta a Pinti, at a corner where the road turns
towards the Ingesuati, he painted in fresco a Madonna seated with a
Child in her arms, and a little S. John who is smiling, a figure wrought
with extraordinary art and with such perfect execution, that it is much
extolled for its beauty and vivacity; and the head of the Madonna is a
portrait of his wife from nature. This shrine, on account of the
incredible beauty of the painting, which is truly marvellous, was left
standing in 1530, when, because of the siege of Florence, the aforesaid
Convent of the Ingesuati was pulled down, together with many other very
beautiful buildings.
About the same time the elder Bartolommeo Panciatichi, who was carrying
on a great mercantile business in France, desiring to leave a memorial
of himself in Lyons, ordered Baccio d' Agnolo to have a panel painted
for him by Andrea, and to send it to him there; saying that he wanted
the subject to be the Assumption of Our Lady, with the Apostles about
the tomb. This work, then, Andrea carried almost to completion; but
since the wood of the panel split apart several times, he would
sometimes work at it, and sometimes leave it alone, so that at his death
it remained not quite finished. Afterwards it was placed by the younger
Bartolommeo Panciatichi in his house, as a work truly worthy of praise
on account of the beautiful figures of the Apostles; not to speak of the
Madonna, who is surrounded by a choir of little boys standing, while
certain others are supporting her and bearing her upwards with
extraordinary grace. And in the foreground of the panel, among the
Apostles, is a portrait of Andrea, so natural that it seems to be alive.
It is now at the villa of the Baroncelli, a little distance from
Florence, in a small church built by Piero Salviati near his villa to do
honour to the picture.
At the head of the garden of the Servi, in two angles, Andrea painted
two scenes of Christ's Vineyard, one showing the planting, staking, and
binding of the vines, and then the husbandman summoning to the labour
those who were standing idle, among whom is one who, being asked
whether he wishes to join the work, sits rubbing his hands and pondering
whether he will go among the other labourers, exactly as those idle
fellows do who have but little mind to work. Even more beautiful is the
other scene, wherein the same husbandman is causing them to be paid,
while they murmur and complain, and one among them, who is counting over
his money by himself, wholly intent on examining his share, seems
absolutely alive, as also does the steward who is paying out the wages.
These scenes are in chiaroscuro, and executed with extraordinary mastery
in fresco. After them he painted a Pietà, coloured in fresco, which is
very beautiful, in a niche at the head of a staircase in the noviciate
of the same convent. He also painted another Pietà in a little picture
in oils, in addition to a Nativity, for the room in that convent wherein
the General, Angelo Aretino, once lived.
The same master painted for Zanobi Bracci, who much desired to have some
work by his hand, for one of his apartments, a picture of Our Lady, in
which she is on her knees, leaning against a rock, and contemplating
Christ, who lies on a heap of drapery and looks up at her, smiling;
while a S. John, who stands there, is making a sign to the Madonna, as
if to say that her Child is the true Son of God. Behind these figures is
a S. Joseph with his head resting on his hands, which are lying on a
rock; and he appears to be filled with joy at seeing the human race
become divine through that Birth.
Cardinal Giulio de' Medici having been commissioned by Pope Leo to see
to the adorning with stucco and paintings of the ceiling in the Great
Hall of Poggio a Caiano, a palatial villa of the Medici family, situated
between Pistoia and Florence, the charge of arranging for that work and
of paying out the money was given to the Magnificent Ottaviano de'
Medici, as to a person who, not falling short of the standard of his
ancestors, was well informed in such matters and a loving friend to all
the masters of our arts, and delighted more than any other man to have
his dwellings adorned with the works of the most excellent. Ottaviano
ordained, therefore, although the commission for the whole work had
already been given to Franciabigio, that he should have only a third,
Andrea another, and Jacopo da Pontormo the last. But it was found
impossible, for all the efforts that the Magnificent Ottaviano made to
urge them on, and for all the money that he offered and even paid to
them, to get the work brought to completion; and Andrea alone finished
with great diligence a scene on one wall, representing Cæsar being
presented with tribute of all kinds of animals. The drawing for this
work is in our book, with many others by his hand; it is in chiaroscuro,
and is the most finished that he ever made. In this picture Andrea, in
order to surpass Franciabigio and Jacopo, subjected himself to
unexampled labour, drawing in it a magnificent perspective-view and a
very masterly flight of steps, which formed the ascent to the throne of
Cæsar. And these steps he adorned with very well-designed statues, not
being content with having proved the beauty of his genius in the variety
of figures that are carrying on their backs all those different animals,
such as the figure of an Indian who is wearing a yellow coat, and
carrying on his shoulders a cage drawn in perspective with some parrots
both within it and without, the whole being rarely beautiful; and such,
also, as some who are leading Indian goats, lions, giraffes, panthers,
lynxes, and apes, with Moors and other lovely things of fancy, all
grouped in a beautiful manner and executed divinely well in fresco. On
these steps, also, he made a dwarf seated and holding a box containing a
chameleon, which is so well executed in all the deformity of its
fantastic shape, that it is impossible to imagine more beautiful
proportions than those that he gave it. But, as has been said, this work
remained unfinished, on account of the death of Pope Leo; and although
Duke Alessandro de' Medici had a great desire that Jacopo da Pontormo
should finish it, he was not able to prevail on him to put his hand to
it. And in truth it suffered a very grievous wrong in the failure to
complete it, seeing that the hall, for one in a villa, is the most
beautiful in the world.
After returning to Florence, Andrea painted a picture with a nude
half-length figure of S. John the Baptist, a very beautiful thing, which
he executed at the commission of Giovan Maria Benintendi, who presented
it afterwards to the Lord Duke Cosimo.
[Illustration: CÆSAR RECEIVING THE TRIBUTE OF EGYPT
(_After the fresco by =Andrea del Sarto=. Florence: Poggio a Caiano_)
_Alinari_]
While affairs were proceeding in this manner, Andrea, remembering
sometimes his connection with France, sighed from his heart: and if
he had hoped to find pardon for the fault he had committed, there is no
doubt that he would have gone back. Indeed, to try his fortune, he
sought to see whether his talents might be helpful to him in the matter.
Thus he painted a picture of a half-naked S. John the Baptist, meaning
to send it to the Grand Master of France, to the end that he might
occupy himself with restoring the painter to the favour of the King.
However, whatever may have been the reason, he never sent it after all,
but sold it to the Magnificent Ottaviano de' Medici, who always valued
it much as long as he lived, even as he did two pictures of Our Lady
executed for him by Andrea in one and the same manner, which are in his
house at the present day.
Not long afterwards he was commissioned by Zanobi Bracci to paint a
picture for Monsignore di San Biause,[6] which he executed with all
possible diligence, hoping that it might enable him to regain the favour
of King Francis, to whose service he desired to return. He also executed
for Lorenzo Jacopi a picture of much greater size than was usual,
containing a Madonna seated with the Child in her arms, accompanied by
two other figures that are seated on some steps; and the whole, both in
drawing and in colouring, is similar to his other works. He painted for
Giovanni d' Agostino Dini, likewise, a picture of Our Lady, which is now
much esteemed for its beauty; and he made so good a portrait from life
of Cosimo Lapi, that it seems absolutely alive.
Afterwards, in the year 1523, the plague came to Florence and also to
some places in the surrounding country; and Andrea, in order to avoid
that pestilence and also to do some work, went at the instance of
Antonio Brancacci to the Mugello to paint a panel for the Nuns of S.
Piero a Luco, of the Order of Camaldoli, taking with him his wife and a
stepdaughter, together with his wife's sister and an assistant. Living
quietly there, then, he set his hand to the work. And since those
venerable ladies showed more and more kindness and courtesy every day to
his wife, to himself, and to the whole party, he applied himself with
the greatest possible willingness to executing that panel, in which he
painted a Dead Christ mourned by Our Lady, S. John the Evangelist, and
the Magdalene, figures so lifelike, that they appear truly to have
spirit and breath. In S. John may be seen the loving tenderness of that
Apostle, with affection in the tears of the Magdalene, and bitter sorrow
in the face and whole attitude of the Madonna, whose aspect, as she
gazes on Christ, who seems to be truly a real corpse and in relief, is
so pitiful, that she fills with helpless awe and bewilderment the minds
of S. Peter and S. Paul, who are contemplating the Dead Saviour of the
World in the lap of His mother. From these marvellous conceptions it is
clear how much Andrea delighted in finish and perfection of art; and to
tell the truth, this panel has given more fame to that convent than all
the buildings and all the other costly works, however magnificent and
extraordinary, that have been executed there.
This picture finished, Andrea, seeing that the danger of the plague was
not yet past, stayed some weeks more in the same place, where he was so
well received and treated with such kindness. During that time, in order
not to be idle, he painted not only a Visitation of Our Lady to S.
Elizabeth, which is in the church, on the right hand above the Manger,
serving as a crown to a little ancient panel, but also, on a canvas of
no great size, a most beautiful head of Christ, somewhat similar to that
on the altar of the Nunziata, but not so finished. This head, which may
in truth be numbered among the better works that issued from the hands
of Andrea, is now in the Monastery of the Monks of the Angeli at
Florence, in the possession of that very reverend father, Don Antonio da
Pisa, who loves not only the men of excellence in our arts, but every
man of talent without exception. From this picture several copies have
been taken, for Don Silvano Razzi entrusted it to the painter Zanobi
Poggini, to the end that he might make a copy for Bartolommeo Gondi, who
had asked him for one, and some others were made, which are held in vast
veneration in Florence.
In this manner, then, Andrea passed without danger the time of the
plague, and those nuns received from the genius of that great man such a
work as can bear comparison with the most excellent pictures that have
been painted in our day; wherefore it is no marvel that Ramazzotto, the
captain of mercenaries of Scaricalasino, sought to obtain it on several
occasions during the siege of Florence, in order to send it to his
chapel in S. Michele in Bosco at Bologna.
On his return to Florence, Andrea executed for Beccuccio da Gambassi,
the glass-blower, who was very much his friend, a panel-picture of Our
Lady in the sky with the Child in her arms, and four figures below, S.
John the Baptist, S. Mary Magdalene, S. Sebastian, and S. Rocco; and in
the predella he made portraits from nature, which are most lifelike, of
Beccuccio and his wife. This panel is now at Gambassi, a township in
Valdelsa, between Volterra and Florence. For a chapel in the villa of
Zanobi Bracci at Rovezzano, he painted a most beautiful picture of Our
Lady suckling a Child, with a Joseph, all executed with such diligence
that they stand out from the panel, so strong is the relief; and this
picture is now in the house of M. Antonio Bracci, the son of that
Zanobi. About the same time, also, and in the above-mentioned cloister
of the Scalzo, Andrea painted two other scenes, in one of which he
depicted Zacharias offering sacrifice and being made dumb by the Angel
appearing to him, while in the other is the Visitation of Our Lady,
beautiful to a marvel.
Now Federigo II, Duke of Mantua, in passing through Florence on his way
to make obeisance to Clement VII, saw over a door in the house of the
Medici that portrait of Pope Leo between Cardinal Giulio de' Medici and
Cardinal de' Rossi, which the most excellent Raffaello da Urbino had
formerly painted; and being extraordinarily pleased with it, he
resolved, being a man who delighted in pictures of such beauty, to make
it his own. And so, when he was in Rome and the moment seemed to him to
have come, he asked for it as a present from Pope Clement, who
courteously granted his request. Thereupon orders were sent to Florence
to Ottaviano de' Medici, under whose care and government were Ippolito
and Alessandro, that he should have it packed up and taken to Mantua.
This matter was very displeasing to the Magnificent Ottaviano, who would
never have consented to deprive Florence of such a picture, and he
marvelled that the Pope should have given it up so readily. However, he
answered that he would not fail to satisfy the Duke; but that, since
the frame was bad, he was having a new one made, and when it had been
gilt he would send the picture with every possible precaution to Mantua.
This done, Messer Ottaviano, in order to "save both the goat and the
cabbage," as the saying goes, sent privately for Andrea and told him how
the matter stood, and how there was no way out of it but to make an
exact copy of the picture with the greatest care and send it to the
Duke, secretly retaining the one by the hand of Raffaello. Andrea, then,
having promised to do all in his power and knowledge, caused a panel to
be made similar in size and in every respect, and painted it secretly in
the house of Messer Ottaviano. And to such purpose did he labour, that
when it was finished even Messer Ottaviano, for all his understanding in
matters of art, could not tell the one from the other, nor distinguish
the real and true picture from the copy; especially as Andrea had
counterfeited even the spots of dirt, exactly as they were in the
original. And so, after they had hidden the picture of Raffaello, they
sent the one by the hand of Andrea, in a similar frame, to Mantua; at
which the Duke was completely satisfied, and above all because the
painter Giulio Romano, a disciple of Raffaello, had praised it, failing
to detect the trick. This Giulio would always have been of the same
opinion, and would have believed it to be by the hand of Raffaello, but
for the arrival in Mantua of Giorgio Vasari, who, having been as it were
the adoptive child of Messer Ottaviano, and having seen Andrea at work
on that picture, revealed the truth. For Giulio making much of Vasari,
and showing him, after many antiquities and paintings, that picture of
Raffaello's, as the best work that was there, Giorgio said to him, "A
beautiful work it is, but in no way by the hand of Raffaello." "What?"
answered Giulio. "Should I not know it, when I recognize the very
strokes that I made with my own brush?" "You have forgotten them," said
Giorgio, "for this picture is by the hand of Andrea del Sarto; and to
prove it, there is a sign (to which he pointed) that was made in
Florence, because when the two were together they could not be
distinguished." Hearing this, Giulio had the picture turned round, and
saw the mark; at which he shrugged his shoulders and said these words,
"I value it no less than if it were by the hand of Raffaello--nay, even
more, for it is something out of the course of nature that a man of
excellence should imitate the manner of another so well, and should make
a copy so like. It is enough that it should be known that Andrea's
genius was as valiant in double harness as in single." Thus, then, by
the wise judgment of Messer Ottaviano, satisfaction was given to the
Duke without depriving Florence of so choice a work, which, having been
presented to him afterwards by Duke Alessandro, he kept in his
possession for many years; and finally he gave it to Duke Cosimo, who
has it in his guardaroba together with many other famous pictures.
While Andrea was making this copy, he also painted for the same Messer
Ottaviano a picture with only the head of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici,
who afterwards became Pope Clement; and this head, which was similar to
that by Raffaello, and very beautiful, was presented eventually by
Messer Ottaviano to old Bishop de' Marzi.