a wife; and he was always repeating the trite proverb, "The fruits of a
wife are cares and strife." He would never leave Florence, because,
having seen some works by Raffaello da Urbino, and feeling that he was
not equal to that great man and to many others of supreme renown, he did
not wish to compete with craftsmen of such rare excellence. In truth,
the greatest wisdom and prudence that a man can possess is to know
himself, and to refrain from exalting himself beyond his true worth.
And, finally, having acquired much by constant work, for one who was not
endowed by nature with much boldness of invention or with any powers
but those that he had gained by long study, he died in the year 1524 at
the age of forty-two.
One of Francia's disciples was his brother Agnolo, who died after having
painted a frieze that is in the cloister of S. Pancrazio, and a few
other works. The same Agnolo painted for the perfumer Ciano, an
eccentric man, but respected after his kind, a sign for his shop,
containing a gipsy woman telling the fortune of a lady in a very
graceful manner, which was the idea of Ciano, and not without mystic
meaning. Another who learnt to paint from the same master was Antonio di
Donnino Mazzieri, who was a bold draughtsman, and showed much invention
in making horses and landscapes. He painted in chiaroscuro the cloister
of S. Agostino at Monte Sansovino, executing therein scenes from the Old
Testament, which were much extolled. In the Vescovado of Arezzo he
painted the Chapel of S. Matteo, with a scene, among other things,
showing that Saint baptizing a King, in which he made a portrait of a
German, so good that it seems to be alive. For Francesco del Giocondo he
executed the story of the Martyrs in a chapel behind the choir of the
Servite Church in Florence; but in this he acquitted himself so badly,
that he lost all his credit and was reduced to undertaking any sort of
work.
Francia taught his art also to a young man named Visino, who, to judge
from what we see of him, would have become an excellent painter, if he
had not died young, as he did; and to many others, of whom I shall make
no further mention. He was buried by the Company of S. Giobbe in S.
Pancrazio, opposite to his own house, in the year 1525; and his death
was truly a great grief to all good craftsmen, seeing that he had been a
talented and skilful master, and very modest in his every action.
FOOTNOTE:
[12] Francesco Ubertini, called Il Bacchiacca.
MORTO DA FELTRO AND ANDREA DI COSIMO FELTRINI
LIVES OF MORTO DA FELTRO AND OF ANDREA DI COSIMO FELTRINI
PAINTERS
The painter Morto da Feltro, who was as original in his life as he was
in his brain and in the new fashion of grotesques that he made, which
caused him to be held in great estimation, found his way as a young man
to Rome at the time when Pinturicchio was painting the Papal apartments
for Alexander VI, with the loggie and lower rooms in the Great Tower of
the Castello di S. Angelo, and some of the upper apartments. He was a
melancholy person, and was constantly studying the antiquities; and
seeing among them sections of vaults and ranges of walls adorned with
grotesques, he liked these so much that he never ceased from examining
them. And so well did he grasp the methods of drawing foliage in the
ancient manner, that he was second to no man of his time in that
profession. He was never tired, indeed, of examining all that he could
find below the ground in Rome in the way of ancient grottoes, with
vaults innumerable. He spent many months in Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli,
drawing all the pavements and grottoes that are there, both above ground
and below. And hearing that at Pozzuolo, in the Kingdom of Naples, ten
miles from the city, there were many walls covered with ancient
grotesques, both executed in relief with stucco and painted, and said to
be very beautiful, he devoted several months to studying them on the
spot. Nor was he content until he had drawn every least thing in the
Campana, an ancient road in that place, full of antique sepulchres; and
he also drew many of the temples and grottoes, both above and below the
ground, at Trullo, near the seashore. He went to Baia and Mercato di
Sabbato, both places full of ruined buildings covered with scenes,
searching out everything in such a manner that by means of his long and
loving labour he grew vastly in power and knowledge of his art.
Having then returned to Rome, he worked there many months, giving his
attention to figures, since he considered that in that part of his
profession he was not the master that he was held to be in the execution
of grotesques. And after he had conceived this desire, hearing the
renown that Leonardo and Michelagnolo had in that art on account of the
cartoons executed by them in Florence, he set out straightway to go to
that city. But, after he had seen those works, he did not think himself
able to make the same improvement that he had made in his first
profession, and he went back, therefore, to work at his grotesques.
There was then living in Florence one Andrea di Cosimo Feltrini, a
painter of that city, and a young man of much diligence, who received
Morto into his house and entertained him with most affectionate
attentions. Finding pleasure in the nature of Morto's art, Andrea also
gave his mind to that vocation, and became an able master, being in time
even more excellent than Morto, and much esteemed in Florence, as will
be told later. And it was through Andrea that Morto came to paint for
Piero Soderini, who was then Gonfalonier, decorations of grotesques in
an apartment of the Palace, which were held to be very beautiful; but in
our own day these have been destroyed in rearranging the apartments of
Duke Cosimo, and repainted. For Maestro Valerio, a Servite friar, Morto
decorated the empty space on a chair-back, which was a most beautiful
work; and for Agnolo Doni, likewise, in a chamber, he executed many
pictures with a variety of bizarre grotesques. And since he also
delighted in figures, he painted Our Lady in some round pictures, in
order to see whether he could become as famous for them as he was (for
his grotesques).
Then, having grown weary of staying in Florence, he betook himself to
Venice; and attaching himself to Giorgione da Castelfranco, who was then
painting the Fondaco de' Tedeschi, he set himself to assist him and
executed the ornamentation of that work. And in this way he remained
many months in that city, attracted by the sensuous pleasures and
delights that he found there.
He then went to execute works in Friuli, but he had not been there long
when, finding that the rulers of Venice were enlisting soldiers, he
entered their service; and before he had had much experience of that
calling he was made Captain of two hundred men. The army of the
Venetians had advanced by that time to Zara in Sclavonia; and one day,
when a brisk skirmish took place, Morto, desiring to win a greater name
in that profession than he had gained in the art of painting, went
bravely forward, and, after fighting in the mêlée, was left dead on the
field, even as he had always been in name,[13] at the age of forty-five.
But in fame he will never be dead, because those who exercise their
hands in the arts and produce everlasting works, leaving memorials of
themselves after death, are destined never to suffer the death of their
labours, for writers, in their gratitude, bear witness to their talents.
Eagerly, therefore, should our craftsmen spur themselves on with
incessant study to such a goal as will ensure them an undying name both
through their own works and through the writings of others, since, by so
doing, they will gain eternal life both for themselves and for the works
that they leave behind them after death.
Morto restored the painting of grotesques in a manner more like the
ancient than was achieved by any other painter, and for this he deserves
infinite praise, in that it is after his example that they have been
brought in our own day, by the hands of Giovanni da Udine and other
craftsmen, to the great beauty and excellence that we see. For, although
the said Giovanni and others have carried them to absolute perfection,
it is none the less true that the chief praise is due to Morto, who was
the first to bring them to light and to devote his whole attention to
paintings of that kind, which are called grotesques because they were
found for the most part in the grottoes of the ruins of Rome; besides
which, every man knows that it is easy to make additions to anything
once it has been discovered.
The painting of grotesques was continued in Florence by Andrea Feltrini,
called Di Cosimo, because he was a disciple of Cosimo Rosselli in the
study of figures (which he executed passing well), as he was afterwards
of Morto in that of grotesques, of which we have spoken. In this kind
of painting Andrea had from nature such power of invention and such
grace that he was the first to make ornaments of greater grandeur,
abundance, and richness than the ancient, and quite different in manner;
and he gave them better order and cohesion, and enriched them with
figures, such as are not seen in Rome or in any other place but
Florence, where he executed a great number. In this respect there has
never been any man who has surpassed him in excellence, as may be seen
from the ornament and the predella painted with little grotesques in
colour round the Pietà that Pietro Perugino executed for the altar of
the Serristori in S. Croce at Florence. These are heightened with
various colours on a ground of red and black mixed together, and are
wrought with much facility and with extraordinary boldness and grace.
Andrea introduced the practice of covering the façades of houses and
palaces with an intonaco of lime mixed with the black of ground
charcoal, or rather, burnt straw, on which intonaco, when still fresh,
he spread a layer of white plaster. Then, having drawn the grotesques,
with such divisions as he desired, on some cartoons, he dusted them over
the intonaco, and proceeded to scratch it with an iron tool, in such a
way that his designs were traced over the whole façade by that tool;
after which, scraping away the white from the grounds of the grotesques,
he went on to shade them or to hatch a good design upon them with the
same iron tool. Finally, he went over the whole work, shading it with a
liquid water-colour like water tinted with black. All this produces a
very pleasing, rich, and beautiful effect; and there was an account of
the method in the twenty-sixth chapter, dealing with sgraffiti, in the
Treatise on Technique.
The first façades that Andrea executed in this manner were that of the
Gondi, which is full of delicacy and grace, in Borg' Ognissanti, and
that of Lanfredino Lanfredini, which is very ornate and rich in the
variety of its compartments, on the Lungarno between the Ponte S.
Trinita and the Ponte della Carraja, near S. Spirito. He also decorated
in sgraffito the house of Andrea and Tommaso Sertini, near S. Michele in
Piazza Padella, making it more varied and grander in manner than the
two others. He painted in chiaroscuro the façade of the Church of the
Servite Friars, for which work he caused the painter Tommaso di Stefano
to paint in two niches the Angel bringing the Annunciation to the
Virgin; and in the court, where there are the stories of S. Filippo and
of Our Lady painted by Andrea del Sarto, he executed between the two
doors a very beautiful escutcheon of Pope Leo X. And on the occasion of
the visit of that Pontiff to Florence he executed many beautiful
ornaments in the form of grotesques on the façade of S. Maria del Fiore,
for Jacopo Sansovino, who gave him his sister for wife. He executed the
baldachin under which the Pope walked, covering the upper part with most
beautiful grotesques, and the hangings round it with the arms of that
Pope and other devices of the Church; and this baldachin was afterwards
presented to the Church of S. Lorenzo in Florence, where it is still to
be seen. He also decorated many standards and banners for the visit of
Leo, and in honour of many who were made Chevaliers by that Pontiff and
by other Princes, of which there are some hung up in various churches in
that city.
Andrea, working constantly in the service of the house of Medici,
assisted at the preparations for the wedding of Duke Giuliano and that
of Duke Lorenzo, executing an abundance of various ornaments in the form
of grotesques; and so, also, in the obsequies of those Princes. In all
this he was largely employed by Franciabigio, Andrea del Sarto,
Pontormo, and Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, and by Granaccio for triumphal
processions and other festivals, since nothing good could be done
without him. He was the best man that ever touched a brush, and, being
timid by nature, he would never undertake any work on his own account,
because he was afraid of exacting the money for his labours. He
delighted to work the whole day long, and disliked annoyances of any
kind; for which reason he associated himself with the gilder Mariotto di
Francesco, one of the most able and skilful men at his work that ever
existed in the world of art, very adroit in obtaining commissions, and
most dexterous in exacting payments and doing business. This Mariotto
also brought the gilder Raffaello di Biagio into the partnership, and
the three worked together, sharing equally all the earnings of the
commissions that they executed; and this association lasted until death
parted them, Mariotto being the last to die.
To return to the works of Andrea; he decorated for Giovanni Maria
Benintendi all the ceilings of his house, and executed the ornamentation
of the ante-chambers, wherein are the scenes painted by Franciabigio and
Jacopo da Pontormo. He went with Franciabigio to Poggio, and executed in
terretta the ornaments for all the scenes there in such a way that there
is nothing better to be seen. For the Chevalier Guidotti he decorated in
sgraffito the façade of his house in the Via Larga, and he also executed
another of great beauty for Bartolommeo Panciatichi, on the house (now
belonging to Ruberto de' Ricci) which he built on the Piazza degli Agli.
Nor am I able to describe all the friezes, coffers, and strong-boxes, or
the vast quantity of ceilings, which Andrea decorated with his own hand,
for the whole city is full of these, and I must refrain from speaking of
them. But I must mention the round escutcheons of various kinds that he
made, for they were such that no wedding could take place without his
having his workshop besieged by one citizen or another; nor could any
kind of brocade, linen, or cloth of gold, with flowered patterns, ever
be woven, without his making the designs for them, and that with so much
variety, grace, and beauty, that he breathed spirit and life into all
such things. If Andrea, indeed, had known his own value, he would have
made a vast fortune; but it sufficed him to live in love with his art.
I must not omit to tell that in my youth, while in the service of Duke
Alessandro de' Medici, I was commissioned, when Charles V came to
Florence, to make the banners for the Castle, or rather, as it is called
at the present day, the Citadel; and among these was a standard of
crimson cloth, eighteen braccia wide at the staff and forty in length,
and surrounded by borders of gold containing the devices of the Emperor
Charles V and of the house of Medici, with the arms of his Majesty in
the centre. For this work, in which were used forty-five thousand leaves
of gold, I summoned to my assistance Andrea for the borders and Mariotto
for the gilding; and many things did I learn from that good Andrea, so
full of love and kindness for those who were studying art. And so great
did the skill of Andrea then prove to be, that, besides availing myself
of him for many details of the arches that were erected for the entry of
his Majesty, I chose him as my companion, together with Tribolo, when
Madama Margherita, daughter of Charles V, came to be married to Duke
Alessandro, in making the festive preparations that I executed in the
house of the Magnificent Ottaviano de' Medici on the Piazza di S. Marco,
which was adorned with grotesques by his hand, with statues by the hand
of Tribolo, and with figures and scenes by my hand. At the last he was
much employed for the obsequies of Duke Alessandro, and even more for
the marriage of Duke Cosimo, when all the devices in the courtyard,
described by M. Francesco Giambullari, who wrote an account of the
festivities of that wedding, were painted by Andrea with ornaments of
great variety. And then Andrea--who, by reason of a melancholy humour
which often oppressed him, was on many occasions on the point of taking
his own life, but was observed so closely and guarded so well by his
companion Mariotto that he lived to be an old man--finished the course
of his life at the age of sixty-four, leaving behind him the name of a
good and even rarely excellent master of grotesque-painting in our own
times, wherein every succeeding craftsman has always imitated his
manner, not only in Florence, but also in other places.
FOOTNOTE:
[13] From the word "Morto," which means "dead."
MARCO CALAVRESE
LIFE OF MARCO CALAVRESE
PAINTER
When the world possesses some great light in any science, every least
part is illuminated by its rays, some with greater brightness and some
with less; and the miracles that result are also greater or less
according to differences of air and place. Constantly, in truth, do we
see a particular country producing a particular kind of intellect fitted
for a particular kind of work, for which others are not fitted, nor can
they ever attain, whatever labours they may endure, to the goal of
supreme excellence. And if we marvel when we see growing in some
province a fruit that has not been wont to grow there, much more can we
rejoice in a man of fine intellect when we find him in a country where
men of the same bent are not usually born. Thus it was with the painter
Marco Calavrese, who, leaving his own country, chose for his habitation
the sweet and pleasant city of Naples. He had been minded, indeed, on
setting out, to make his way to Rome, and there to achieve the end that
rewards the student of painting; but the song of the Siren was so sweet
to him, and all the more because he delighted to play on the lute, and
the soft waters of Sebeto so melted his heart, that he remained a
prisoner in body of that land until he rendered up his spirit to Heaven
and his mortal flesh to earth.
Marco executed innumerable works in oils and in fresco, and he proved
himself more able than any other man who was practising the same art in
that country in his day. Of this we have proof in the work that he
executed at Aversa, ten miles distant from Naples; and, above all, in a
panel-picture in oils on the high-altar of the Church of S. Agostino,
with a large ornamental frame, and various pictures painted with scenes
and figures, in which he represented S. Augustine disputing with the
heretics, with stories of Christ and Saints in various attitudes both
above and at the sides. In this work, which shows a manner full of
harmony and drawing towards the good manner of our modern works, may
also be seen great beauty and facility of colouring; and it was one of
the many labours that he executed in that city and for various places in
the kingdom.
Marco always lived a gay life, enjoying every minute to the full, for
the reason that, having no rivalry to contend with in painting from
other craftsmen, he was always adored by the Neapolitan nobles, and
contrived to have himself rewarded for his works by ample payments. And
so, having come to the age of fifty-six, he ended his life after an
ordinary illness.
He left a disciple in Giovan Filippo Crescione, a painter of Naples, who
executed many pictures in company with his brother-in-law, Leonardo
Castellani, as he still does; but of these men, since they are alive and
in constant practice of their art, there is no need to make mention.
The pictures of Maestro Marco were executed by him between 1508 and
1542. He had a companion in another Calabrian (whose name I do not
know), who worked for a long time in Rome with Giovanni da Udine and
executed many works by himself in that city, particularly façades in
chiaroscuro. The same Calabrian also painted in fresco the Chapel of the
Conception in the Church of the Trinità, with much skill and diligence.
At this same time lived Niccola, commonly called by everyone Maestro
Cola dalla Matrice, who executed many works in Calabria, at Ascoli, and
at Norcia, which are very well known, and which gained for him the name
of a rare master--the best, indeed, that there had ever been in these
parts. And since he also gave his attention to architecture, all the
buildings that were erected in his day at Ascoli and throughout all that
province had him as architect. Cola, without caring to see Rome or to
change his country, remained always at Ascoli, living happily for some
time with his wife, a woman of good and honourable family, and endowed
with extraordinary nobility of spirit, as was proved when the strife of
parties arose at Ascoli, in the time of Pope Paul III. For then, while
she was flying with her husband, with many soldiers in pursuit, more on
her account (for she was a very beautiful young woman) than for any
other reason, she resolved, not seeing any other way in which she could
save her own honour and the life of her husband, to throw herself from a
high cliff to the depth below. At which all the soldiers believed that
she was not only mortally injured, but dashed to pieces, as indeed she
was; wherefore they left the husband without doing him any harm, and
returned to Ascoli. After the death of this extraordinary woman, worthy
of eternal praise, Maestro Cola passed the rest of his life with little
happiness. A short time afterwards, Signor Alessandro Vitelli, who had
become Lord of Matrice,[14] took Maestro Cola, now an old man, to Città
di Castello, where he caused him to paint in his palace many works in
fresco and many other pictures; which works finished, Maestro Cola
returned to finish his life at Matrice.
This master would have acquitted himself not otherwise than passing
well, if he had practised his art in places where rivalry and emulation
might have made him attend with more study to painting, and exercise the
beautiful intellect with which it is evident that he was endowed by
nature.
FOOTNOTE:
[14] Amatrice.
FRANCESCO MAZZUOLI
LIFE OF FRANCESCO MAZZUOLI
[_PARMIGIANO_]
PAINTER OF PARMA
Among the many natives of Lombardy who have been endowed with the
gracious gift of design, with a lively spirit of invention, and with a
particular manner of making beautiful landscapes in their pictures, we
should rate as second to none, and even place before all the rest,
Francesco Mazzuoli of Parma, who was bountifully endowed by Heaven with
all those parts that are necessary to make a supreme painter, insomuch
that he gave to his figures, in addition to what has been said of many
others, a certain nobility, sweetness, and grace in the attitudes which
belonged to him alone. To his heads, likewise, it is evident that he
gave all the consideration that is needful; and his manner has therefore
been studied and imitated by innumerable painters, because he shed on
art a light of grace so pleasing, that his works will always be held in
great price, and himself honoured by all students of design. Would to
God that he had always pursued the studies of painting, and had not
sought to pry into the secrets of congealing mercury in order to become
richer than Nature and Heaven had made him; for then he would have been
without an equal, and truly unique in the art of painting, whereas, by
searching for that which he could never find, he wasted his time,
wronged his art, and did harm to his own life and fame.