Friuli, the rarest and most famous in our day--since he has surpassed
those mentioned above by a great measure in the invention of scenes, in
draughtsmanship, in boldness, in mastery over colour, in fresco work, in
swiftness of execution, in strength of relief, and in every other
department of our arts--is Giovanni Antonio Licinio, called by some
Cuticello. This master was born at Pordenone, a township in Friuli,
twenty-five miles from Udine; and since he was endowed by nature with a
beautiful genius and an inclination for painting, he devoted himself
without any teacher to the study of natural objects, imitating the style
of Giorgione da Castelfranco, because that manner, seen by him many
times in Venice, had pleased him much. Now, having learnt the rudiments
of art, he was forced, in order to save his life from a pestilence that
had fallen upon his native place, to take to flight; and thus, passing
many months in the surrounding country, he executed various works in
fresco for a number of peasants, gaining at their expense experience of
using colour on plaster. Wherefore, since the surest and best method of
learning is practice and a sufficiency of work, it came to pass that he
became a well-practised and judicious master of that kind of painting,
and learned to make colours produce the desired effect when used in a
fluid state, which is done on account of the white, which dries the
plaster and produces a brightness that ruins all softness. And so,
having mastered the nature of colours, and having learnt by long
practice to work very well in fresco, he returned to Udine, where he
painted for the altar of the Nunziata, in the Convent of S. Pietro
Martire, a panel-picture in oils containing the Madonna at the moment of
receiving the Salutation from the Angel Gabriel; and in the sky he made
a God the Father surrounded by many little boys, who is sending down the
Holy Spirit. This work, which is executed with good drawing, grace,
vivacity, and relief, is held by all craftsmen of judgment to be the
best that he ever painted.
In the Duomo of the same city, on the balustrade of the organ, below the
doors already painted by Pellegrino, he painted a story of S. Ermacora
and Fortunatus, also in oils, graceful and well designed. In the same
city, in order to gain the friendship of the Signori Tinghi, he painted
in fresco the façade of their palace; in which work, wishing to make
himself known and to prove what a master he was of architectural
invention and of working in fresco, he made a series of compartments and
groups of varied ornaments full of figures in niches; and in three great
spaces in the centre of the work he painted scenes with figures in
colours, two spaces, high and narrow, being on either side, and one
square in shape in the middle; and in the latter he painted a Corinthian
column planted with its base in the sea, with a Siren on the right hand,
holding the column upright, and a nude Neptune on the left supporting it
on the other side; while above the capital of the column there is a
Cardinal's hat, the device, so it is said, of Pompeo Colonna, who was
much the friend of the owners of that palace. In one of the two other
spaces are the Giants being slain with thunderbolts by Jove, with some
dead bodies on the ground very well painted and most beautifully
foreshortened. On the other side is a Heaven full of Gods, and on the
earth two Giants who, club in hand, are in the act of striking at Diana,
who, defending herself in a bold and spirited attitude, is brandishing a
blazing torch as if to burn the arms of one of them.
[Illustration: THE DISPUTATION OF S. CATHARINE
(_After the fresco by =Giovanni Antonio Licinio of Pordenone=. Piacenza:
S. Maria di Campagna_)
_Alinari_]
At Spelimbergo, a large place fifteen miles above Udine, the balustrade
and the doors of the organ in the great church are painted by the hand
of the same master; on the outer side of one door is the Assumption
of Our Lady, and on the inner side S. Peter and S. Paul before Nero,
gazing at Simon Magus in the air above; while on the other door there is
the Conversion of S. Paul, and on the balustrade the Nativity of Christ.
Through this work, which is very beautiful, and many others, Pordenone
came into repute and fame, and was summoned to Vicenza, whence, after
having executed some works there, he made his way to Mantua, where he
coloured a façade in fresco with marvellous grace for M. Paris, a
gentleman of that city. Among other beautiful inventions which are in
that work, much praise is due to a frieze of antique letters, one
braccio and a half in height, at the top, below the cornice, among
which, passing in and out of them, are many little children in various
attitudes, all most beautiful.
That work finished, he returned in great credit to Vicenza, and there,
besides many other works, he painted the whole of the tribune of S.
Maria di Campagna, although by reason of his departure a part remained
unfinished, which was afterwards finished with great diligence by
Maestro Bernardo da Vercelli. In the same church he painted two chapels
in fresco: one with stories of S. Catherine, and the other with the
Nativity of Christ and the Adoration of the Magi, both being worthy of
the highest praise. He then painted some poetical pictures in the
beautiful garden of M. Barnaba dal Pozzo, a doctor; and, in the said
Church of S. Maria di Campagna, the picture of S. Augustine, which is on
the left hand as one enters the church. All these most beautiful works
brought it about that the gentlemen of that city persuaded him to take a
wife there, and always held him in vast veneration.
Going afterwards to Venice, where he had formerly executed some works,
he painted a wall of S. Geremia, on the Grand Canal, and a panel-picture
in oils for the Madonna del Orto, with many figures, making a particular
effort to prove his worth in the S. John the Baptist. He also painted
many scenes in fresco on the façade of the house of Martin d'Anna on the
same Grand Canal; in particular, a Curtius on horseback in
foreshortening, which has the appearance of being wholly in the round,
like the Mercury flying freely through the air, not to speak of many
other things that all prove his ability. That work pleased the whole
city of Venice beyond measure, and Pordenone was therefore extolled
more highly than any other man who had ever worked in the city up to
that time.
Among other reasons that caused him to give an incredible amount of
effort to all his works, was his rivalry with the most excellent
Tiziano; since, setting himself to compete with him, he hoped by means
of continual study and by a bold and resolute method of working in
fresco to wrest from the hands of Tiziano that sovereignty which he had
gained with so many beautiful works; employing, also, unusual methods
outside the field of art, such as that of being obliging and courteous
and associating continually and of set purpose with great persons,
making his interests universal, and taking a hand in everything. And, in
truth, this rivalry was a great assistance to him, for it caused him to
devote the greatest zeal and diligence in his power to all his works, so
that they proved worthy of eternal praise.
For these reasons, then, he was commissioned by the Wardens of S. Rocco
to paint in fresco the chapel of that church, with all the tribune.
Setting his hand, therefore, to this work, he painted a God the Father
in the tribune, with a vast number of children in various beautiful
attitudes, radiating from Him. In the frieze of the same tribune he
painted eight figures from the Old Testament, with the four Evangelists
in the angles, and the Transfiguration of Christ over the high-altar;
and in the two lunettes at the sides are the four Doctors of the Church.
By the hand of the same master are two large pictures in the middle of
the church: in one is Christ healing an endless number of the sick, all
very well painted, and in the other is S. Christopher carrying Jesus
Christ on his shoulders. On the wooden tabernacle of the same church,
wherein the vessels of silver are kept, he painted a S. Martin on
horseback, with many beggars who are bringing votive offerings, in a
building in perspective.
[Illustration: THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI
(_After the fresco by =Giovanni Antonio Licinio of Pordenone=. Treviso:
Duomo_)
_Alinari_]
This work, which was much extolled and brought him honour and profit,
was the reason that M. Jacopo Soranzo, having become his intimate
friend, caused him to be commissioned to paint the Sala de' Pregai in
competition with Tiziano; and there he executed many pictures with
figures seen foreshortened from below, which are very beautiful,
together with a frieze of marine monsters painted in oils round that
hall. These works made him so dear to the Senate, that as long as he
lived he always received an honourable salary from them. And since, out
of rivalry, he always sought to do work in places where Tiziano had also
worked, he painted for S. Giovanni di Rialto a S. John, as Almoner,
giving alms to beggars, and also placed on an altar a picture of S.
Sebastian, S. Rocco, and other saints, which was very beautiful, but yet
not equal to the work of Tiziano, although many, more out of malignity
than out of a love for the truth, exalted that of Giovanni Antonio. The
same master painted in the cloister of S. Stefano many scenes in fresco
from the Old Testament, and one from the New, divided one from another
by various Virtues; and in these figures he displayed amazing
foreshortenings, in which method of painting he always delighted,
seeking to introduce them into his every composition with no fear of
difficulties, and making them more ornate than any other painter.
Prince Doria had built a palace on the seashore in Genoa, and had
commissioned Perino del Vaga, a very celebrated painter, to paint halls,
apartments, and ante-chambers both in oils and in fresco, which are
quite marvellous for the richness and beauty of the paintings. But
seeing that Perino was not then giving much attention to the work, and
wishing to make him do by the spur of emulation what he was not doing by
himself, he sent for Pordenone, who began with an open terrace, wherein,
following his usual manner, he executed a frieze of children, who are
hurrying about in very beautiful attitudes and unloading a barque full
of merchandise. He also painted a large scene of Jason asking leave from
his uncle to go in search of the Golden Fleece. But the Prince, seeing
the difference that there was between the work of Perino and that of
Pordenone, dismissed the latter, and summoned in his place Domenico
Beccafumi of Siena, an excellent painter and a rarer master than
Pordenone. And he, glad to serve so great a Prince, did not scruple to
leave his native city of Siena, where there are so many marvellous works
by his hand; but he did not paint more than one single scene in that
palace, because Perino brought everything to completion by himself.
Giovanni Antonio then returned to Venice, where he was given to
understand that Ercole, Duke of Ferrara, had brought a great number of
masters from Germany, and had caused them to begin to make fabrics in
silk, gold, floss-silk, and wool, for his own use and pleasure, but that
he had no good designers of figures in Ferrara, since Girolamo da
Ferrara had more ability for portraits and separate things than for
difficult and complicated scenes, which called for great power of art
and design; and that he should enter the service of that Prince.
Whereupon, desiring to gain fame no less than riches, he departed from
Venice, and on reaching Ferrara was received with great warmth by the
Duke. But a little time after his arrival, being attacked by a most
grievous affliction of the chest, he took to his bed with the doom of
death upon him, and, growing continually worse and finding no remedy,
within three days or little more he finished the course of his life, at
the age of fifty-six. This seemed a strange thing to the Duke, and also
to Pordenone's friends; and there were not wanting men who for many
months believed that he had died of poison. The body of Giovanni Antonio
was buried with honour, and his death was a grief to many, particularly
in Venice, for the reason that he was ready of speech and the friend and
companion of many, and delighted in music; and his readiness and grace
of speech came from his having given attention to the study of Latin. He
always made his figures grand, and was very rich in invention, and so
versatile that he could imitate everything very well; but he was, above
all, resolute and most facile in works in fresco.
A disciple of Pordenone was Pomponio Amalteo of San Vito, who won by his
good qualities the honour of becoming the son-in-law of his master. This
Pomponio, always following that master in matters of art, has acquitted
himself very well in all his works, as may be seen at Udine from the
doors of the new organ, painted in oils, on the outer side of which is
Christ driving the traders from the Temple, and on the inner side the
story of the Pool of Bethesda and the Resurrection of Lazarus. In the
Church of S. Francesco, in the same city, there is a panel-picture in
oils by the hand of the same man, of S. Francis receiving the Stigmata,
with some very beautiful landscapes, and with a sunrise from which, in
the midst of some rays of the greatest splendour, there radiates the
celestial light, which pierces the hands, feet, and side of S. Francis,
who, kneeling devoutly and full of love, receives it, while his
companion lies on the ground, in foreshortening, all overcome with
amazement. Pomponio also painted in fresco for the Friars of La Vigna,
at the end of their refectory, Jesus Christ between the two disciples at
Emmaus. In the township of San Vito, his native place, twenty miles
distant from Udine, he painted in fresco the Chapel of the Madonna in
the Church of S. Maria, in so beautiful a manner, and so much to the
satisfaction of all, that he has won from the most reverend Cardinal
Maria Grimani, Patriarch of Aquileia and Lord of San Vito, the honour of
being enrolled among the nobles of that place.
I have thought it right in this Life of Pordenone to make mention of
these excellent craftsmen of Friuli, both because it appears to me that
their talents deserve it, and to the end that it may be recognized in
the account to be given later how much more excellent are those who,
after such a beginning, have lived since that day, as will be related in
the Life of Giovanni Ricamatori of Udine, to whom our age owes a very
great obligation for his works in stucco and his grotesques.
But returning to Pordenone; after the works mentioned above as having
been executed by him at Venice in the time of the most illustrious
Gritti, he died, as has been related, in the year 1540. And because he
was one of the most able men that our age has possessed, and for the
reason, above all, that his figures seem to be in the round and detached
from their walls, and almost in relief, he can be numbered among those
who have rendered assistance to art and benefit to the world.
FOOTNOTE:
[11] _I.e._, singular or rare.
GIOVANNI ANTONIO SOGLIANI
LIFE OF GIOVANNI ANTONIO SOGLIANI
PAINTER OF FLORENCE
Very often do we see in the sciences of learning and in the more liberal
of the manual arts, that those men who are melancholy are the most
assiduous in their studies and show the greatest patience in supporting
the burden of their labours; so that there are few of that disposition
who do not become excellent in such professions. Even so did Giovanni
Antonio Sogliani, a painter of Florence, whose cast of countenance was
so cold and woeful that he looked like the image of melancholy; and such
was the power of this humour over him that he gave little thought to
anything but matters of art, with the exception of his household cares,
through which he endured most grievous anxieties, although he had enough
to live in comfort. He worked at the art of painting under Lorenzo di
Credi for four-and-twenty years, living with him, honouring him always,
and rendering him every sort of service. Having become during that time
a very good painter, he showed afterwards in all his works that he was a
most faithful disciple of his master and a close imitator of his manner.
This was seen from his first paintings, in the Church of the Osservanza
on the hill of San Miniato without Florence, for which he painted a
panel-picture copied from the one that Lorenzo had executed for the Nuns
of S. Chiara, containing the Nativity of Christ, and no less excellent
than the one of Lorenzo.
Afterwards, having left his master, he painted for the Church of S.
Michele in Orto, at the commission of the Guild of Vintners, a S. Martin
in oils, robed as a Bishop, which gave him the name of a very good
master. And since Giovanni Antonio had a vast veneration for the works
and the manner of Fra Bartolommeo di San Marco, and made great efforts
to approach that manner in his colouring, it may be seen from a panel
which he began but did not finish, not being satisfied with it, how
much he imitated that painter. This panel remained in his house during
his lifetime as worthless: but after his death it was sold as a piece of
old rubbish to Sinibaldo Gaddi, and he had it finished by Santi Titi dal
Borgo, then a mere boy, and placed it in a chapel of his own in S.
Domenico da Fiesole. In this work are the Magi adoring Jesus Christ, who
is in the lap of His Mother, and in one corner is his own portrait from
life, which is a passing good likeness.
He then painted for Madonna Alfonsina, the wife of Piero de' Medici, a
panel-picture that was placed as a votive offering over the altar of the
Chapel of the Martyrs in the Camaldolite Church at Florence: in which
picture he painted the Crucifixion of S. Arcadio and other martyrs with
their crosses in their arms, and two figures, half covered with
draperies and half naked, kneeling with their crosses on the ground,
while in the sky are some little angels with palms in their hands. This
work, which was painted with much diligence, and executed with good
judgment in the colouring and in the heads, which are very lifelike, was
placed in the above-mentioned Camaldolite Church; but that monastery was
taken on account of the siege of Florence from those Eremite Fathers,
who used devoutly to celebrate the Divine offices in the church, and was
afterwards given to the Nuns of S. Giovannino, of the Order of the
Knights of Jerusalem, and finally destroyed; and the picture, being one
which may be numbered among the best works that Sogliani painted, was
placed by order of the Lord Duke Cosimo in one of the chapels of the
Medici family in S. Lorenzo.
The same master executed for the Nuns of the Crocetta a Last Supper
coloured in oils, which was much extolled at that time. And in a shrine
in the Via de' Ginori, he painted in fresco for Taddeo Taddei a Crucifix
with Our Lady and S. John at the foot, and in the sky some angels
lamenting Christ, very lifelike--a picture truly worthy of praise, and a
well-executed example of work in fresco. By the hand of Sogliani, also,
is a Crucifix in the Refectory of the Abbey of the Black Friars in
Florence, with angels flying about and weeping with much grace; and at
the foot the Madonna, S. John, S. Benedict, S. Scholastica, and other
figures. For the Nuns of the Spirito Santo, on the hill of San Giorgio,
he painted two pictures that are in their church, one of S. Francis, and
the other of S. Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary and a sister of that Order.
For the Company of the Ceppo he painted the banner for carrying in
processions, which is very beautiful, representing on the front of it
the Visitation of Our Lady, and on the other side S. Niccolò the Bishop,
with two children dressed as Flagellants, one of whom holds his book and
the other the three balls of gold. On a panel in S. Jacopo sopra Arno he
painted the Trinity, with an endless number of little boys, S. Mary
Magdalene kneeling, S. Catherine, S. James, and two figures in fresco
standing at the sides, S. Jerome in Penitence and S. John; and in the
predella he made his assistant, Sandrino del Calzolaio, execute three
scenes, which won no little praise.
On the end wall of the Oratory of a Company in the township of Anghiari,
he executed on panel a Last Supper in oils, with figures of the size of
life; and on one of the two adjoining walls (namely, the sides) he
painted Christ washing the feet of the Apostles, and on the other a
servant bringing two vessels of water. The work is held in great
veneration in that place, for it is indeed a rare thing, and one that
brought him both honour and profit. A picture that he executed of a
Judith who had cut off the head of Holofernes, being a very beautiful
work, was sent to Hungary. And likewise another, in which was the
Beheading of S. John the Baptist, with a building in perspective for
which he had copied the exterior of the Chapter-house of the Pazzi,
which is in the first cloister of S. Croce, was sent as a most beautiful
work to Naples by Paolo da Terrarossa, who had given the commission for
it. For one of the Bernardi, also, Sogliani executed two other pictures,
which were placed in a chapel in the Church of the Osservanza at San
Miniato, containing two lifesize figures in oils--S. John the Baptist
and S. Anthony of Padua. But as for the panel that was to stand between
them, Giovanni Antonio, being dilatory by nature and leisurely over his
work, lingered over it so long that he who had given the commission
died: wherefore that panel, which was to contain a Christ lying dead in
the lap of His Mother, remained unfinished.
[Illustration: THE LEGEND OF S. DOMINIC
(_After the fresco by =Giovanni Antonio Sogliani=. Florence: S. Marco_)
_Anderson_]
After these things, when Perino del Vaga, having departed from Genoa on
account of his resentment against Prince Doria, was working at Pisa,
where the sculptor Stagio da Pietrasanta had begun the execution of the
new chapels in marble at the end of the nave of the Duomo, together with
that space behind the high-altar, which serves as a sacristy, it was
ordained that the said Perino, as will be related in his Life, with
other masters, should begin to fill up those adornments of marble with
pictures. But Perino being recalled to Genoa, Giovanni Antonio was
commissioned to set his hand to the pictures that were to adorn the
aforesaid recess behind the high-altar, and to deal in his works with
the sacrifices of the Old Testament, as symbols of the Sacrifice of the
Most Holy Sacrament, which was there over the centre of the high-altar.
Sogliani, then, painted in the first picture the sacrifice that Noah and
his sons offered when they had gone forth from the Ark, and afterwards
those of Cain and of Abel; which were all highly extolled, but above all
that of Noah, because some of the heads and parts of the figures in it
were very beautiful. The picture of Abel is charming for its landscapes,
which are very well executed, and the head of Abel himself, which is the
very presentment of goodness; but quite the opposite is that of Cain,
which has the mien of a truly sorry villain. And if Sogliani had pursued
the work with energy instead of being dilatory, he would have been
charged by the Warden, who had given him his commission and was much
pleased with his manner and character, to execute all the work in that
Duomo, whereas at that time, in addition to the pictures already
mentioned, he painted no more than one panel, which was destined for the
chapel wherein Perino had begun to work; and this he finished in
Florence, but in such wise that it pleased the Pisans well enough and
was held to be very beautiful. In it are the Madonna, S. John the
Baptist, S. George, S. Mary Magdalene, S. Margaret, and other saints.
His picture, then, having given satisfaction, Sogliani received from the
Warden a commission for three other panels, to which he set his hand,
but did not finish them in the lifetime of that Warden, in whose place
Bastiano della Seta was elected; and he, perceiving that the business
was moving but slowly, allotted four pictures for the aforesaid sacristy
behind the high-altar to Domenico Beccafumi of Siena, an excellent
painter, who dispatched them very quickly, as will be told in the proper
place, and also painted a panel there, and other painters executed the
rest. Giovanni Antonio, then, working at his leisure, finished two other
panels with much diligence, painting in each a Madonna surrounded by
many saints. And finally, having made his way to Pisa, he there painted
the fourth and last, in which he acquitted himself worse than in any
other, either through old age, or because he was competing with
Beccafumi, or for some other reason.