little picture by the hand of Francesco, little more than two span in
height, and belonging to his nephew Benedetto Baroni, in which is a
Madonna painted in oils, from the breast upwards, and almost life-size,
and, lower down, in the corner of the picture, the Child, seen from the
shoulders upwards, with one arm uplifted and in the act of caressing His
Mother. It is related, I say, that, when the Emperor was master of
Verona, Don Alfonso of Castille and Alarcon, a very famous Captain,
happened to be in that city on behalf of His Majesty and the Catholic
King; and that these lords, being in the house of the Veronese Count
Lodovico da Sesso, said that they had a great desire to see that
picture. Whereupon it was sent for; and one evening they were standing
contemplating it in a good light, and admiring its masterly workmanship,
when Signora Caterina, the wife of the Count, entered into the room
where those noblemen were, together with one of her sons, who had on his
wrist one of those green birds--called in Verona "terrazzani,"[7]
because they make their nests on the ground--which learn to perch on the
wrist, like hawks. It happened, then, that, while she stood with the
others contemplating the picture, the bird, seeing the extended arm and
wrist of the painted Child, flew to perch upon it; but, not having been
able to find a hold on the surface of the painting, and having
therefore fallen to the ground, it twice returned to settle on the
wrist of that painted Child, precisely as if it had been one of those
living children who were always holding it on their wrists. At which
those noblemen, being amazed, offered to pay a great price to Benedetto
for the picture, if only he would give it to them; but it was not
possible by any means to wrest it from him. Not long afterwards the same
persons planned to have it stolen from him on the day of the festival of
S. Biagio in S. Nazzaro; but the owner was informed of this, and their
design did not succeed.
For S. Paolo, in Verona, Francesco painted a panel-picture in gouache,
which is very beautiful, and another, also most beautiful, for the
Chapel of the Bandi in S. Bernardino. In Mantua he executed for Verona a
picture with two most lovely nudes, a Madonna in the sky, with the Child
in her arms, and some Angels, all marvellous figures, which is in the
chapel where S. Biagio is buried, in the Black Friars Church of S.
Nazzaro.
Francesco was a man of saintly life, and the enemy of every vice,
insomuch that he would never on any account paint licentious works,
although he was very often entreated to do so by the Marquis; and equal
to him in goodness were his brothers, as will be related in the proper
place. Finally, being old, and suffering in the bladder, Francesco, with
the leave of the Marquis and by the advice of the physicians, went with
his wife and many servants to the Baths of Caldero, in the territory of
Verona, to take the waters. There, one day, after he had drunk the
water, he allowed himself to be overcome by drowsiness, and slept a
little, being indulged in this by his wife out of compassion; whereupon,
a violent fever having come upon him in consequence of his sleeping,
which is a deadly thing for one who has just taken that water, he
finished the course of his life on the second day of July, 1519; which
having been reported to the Marquis, he straightway sent orders by a
courier that the body of Francesco should be brought to Mantua. This was
done, although it gave little pleasure to the people of Verona; and he
was laid to rest with great honour in the burial-place of the Compagnia
Segreta in S. Francesco at Mantua. Francesco lived to the age of
sixty-four, and the portrait of him which belongs to Messer Fermo was
executed when he was fifty. Many compositions were written in his
praise, and he was mourned by all who knew him as a virtuous and saintly
man, which he was. He had for wife Madonna Francesca Gioacchini of
Verona, but he had no children.
The eldest of his three brothers was called Monsignore; and he, being a
person of culture and learning, received offices with good salaries in
Mantua from the Marquis, on account of that nobleman's love of
Francesco. He lived to the age of eighty, and left children, who keep
the family of the Monsignori alive in Mantua. Another brother of
Francesco had the name of Girolamo when in the world, and of Fra
Cherubino among the Frati Zoccolanti di San Francesco; and he was a very
beautiful calligrapher and illuminator. The third, who was a Friar of S.
Dominic and an Observantine, and was called Fra Girolamo, chose out of
humility to become a lay-brother. He was not only a man of good and holy
life, but also a passing good painter, as may be seen in the Convent of
S. Domenico in Mantua, where, besides other works, he executed a most
beautiful Last Supper in the refectory, with a Passion of Christ, which
remained unfinished on account of his death. The same friar painted the
beautiful Last Supper that is in the refectory of the very rich abbey
which the Monks of S. Benedict possess in the territory of Mantua. In S.
Domenico he painted the altar of the Rosary; and in the Convent of S.
Anastasia, in Verona, he painted in fresco the Madonna, S. Remigio the
Bishop, and S. Anastasia; with a Madonna, S. Dominic, and S. Thomas
Aquinas, all executed with mastery, on a little arch over the second
door of entrance in the second cloister.
[Illustration: THE CRUCIFIXION
(_After the painting by =Giovan Francesco Morone=. Verona: S.
Bernardino_)
_Alinari_]
Fra Girolamo was a person of great simplicity, wholly indifferent to the
things of the world. He lived in the country, at a farm belonging to his
convent, in order to avoid all noise and disturbance, and the money sent
to him in return for his works, which he used for buying colours and
suchlike things, he kept in a box without a cover, hung from the ceiling
in the middle of his chamber, so that all who wished could take some;
and in order not to have the trouble of thinking every day what he
was to eat, he used to cook a pot of beans every Monday to last him the
whole week.
When the plague came to Mantua and the sick were abandoned by all, as
happens in such cases, Fra Girolamo, with no other motive but the purest
love, would never desert the poor plague-stricken monks, and even tended
them all day long with his own hands. And thus, careless of his life for
the love of God, he became infected with that malady and died at the age
of sixty, to the great grief of all who knew him.
But to return to Francesco Monsignori: he painted a life-size portrait,
which I forgot to mention above, of Count Ercole Giusti of Verona, in a
robe of cloth of gold, such as he was wont to wear; and this is a very
beautiful likeness, as may be seen in the house of his son, Count
Giusto.
Domenico Morone, who was born at Verona about the year 1430, learned the
art of painting from some masters who were disciples of Stefano, and
from works by the same Stefano, by Jacopo Bellini, by Pisano, and by
others, which he saw and copied. Saying nothing of the many pictures
that he executed after the manner of those times, which are now in
monasteries and private houses, I begin by recording that he painted in
chiaroscuro, with "terretta verde," the façade of a house belonging to
the city of Verona, on the square called the Piazza de' Signori; and in
this may be seen many ornamental friezes and scenes from ancient
history, with a very beautiful arrangement of figures and costumes of
bygone days. But the best work to be seen by the hand of this master is
the Leading of Christ to the Cross, with a multitude of figures and
horses, which is in S. Bernardino, on the wall above the Chapel of the
Monte di Pietà, for which Liberale painted the picture of the Deposition
with the weeping Angels. The same Domenico received a commission to
paint the chapel that is next to that one, both within and without, at
great expense and with a lavish use of gold, from the Chevalier, Messer
Niccolò de' Medici, who was considered to be the richest man of his day
in Verona, and who spent great sums of money on other pious works, being
a man who was inclined to this by nature. This gentleman, after he had
built many monasteries and churches, and had left scarcely any place in
that city where he had not executed some noble and costly work to the
honour of God, chose as his burial-place the chapel mentioned above, for
the ornamentation of which he availed himself of Domenico, at that time
more famous than any other painter in that city, Liberale being in
Siena.
Domenico, then, painted in the interior of this chapel the Miracles of
S. Anthony of Padua, to whom it is dedicated, and portrayed the
Chevalier in an old man with shaven face and white hair, without any
cap, and wearing a long gown of cloth of gold, such as Chevaliers used
to wear in those times. All this, for a work in fresco, is very well
designed and executed. Then, in certain medallions in the outer
vaulting, which is all overlaid with gold, he painted the four
Evangelists; and on the pilasters both within and without he executed
figures of Saints, among which are S. Elizabeth of the Third Order of S.
Francis, S. Helen, and S. Catharine, which are very beautiful figures,
and much extolled for the draughtsmanship, colouring, and grace. This
work, then, can bear witness to the talent of Domenico and to the
magnificent liberality of that Chevalier.
Domenico died very old, and was buried in S. Bernardino, wherein are the
works by his hand described above, leaving his son, Francesco Morone,
heir to his property and his talents. This Francesco, who learned the
first principles of art from his father, afterwards exerted himself in
such a manner that in a short time he became a much better master than
his father had been, as the works that he executed in emulation of those
of his father clearly demonstrate. Below his father's work on the altar
of the Monte, in the aforesaid Church of S. Bernardino, Francesco
painted in oils the folding-doors that enclose the altar-piece of
Liberale; on the inner side of which he depicted in one the Virgin, and
in the other S. John the Evangelist, both life-size figures, with great
beauty in the faces, which are weeping, in the draperies, and in every
other part. In the same chapel, at the foot of the face of that wall
which serves as head-wall to the tramezzo,[8] he painted the Miracle
that Our Lord performed with the five loaves and two fishes, which
satisfied the multitude; and in this are many beautiful figures and
many portraits from life, but most of all is praise given to a S. John
the Evangelist, who is very slender, and has his back partly turned
towards the spectator. He then executed in the same place, beside the
altar-piece, in the vacant spaces on the wall against which it rests, a
S. Louis, Bishop and Friar of S. Francis, and another figure; with some
heads in foreshortening in a sunk medallion on the vaulting. All these
works are much extolled by the painters of Verona. And for the altar of
the Cross, on which are so many painted pictures, between that chapel
and the Chapel of the Medici, in the same church, he executed a picture
which is in the centre above all the others, containing Christ on the
Cross, the Madonna, and S. John, and very beautiful. In another picture,
which is above that of Caroto, on the left-hand side of the same altar,
he painted Our Lord washing the feet of the Apostles, who are seen in
various attitudes; in which work, so men say, this painter made a
portrait of himself in the figure of one who is serving Christ by
bringing water.
For the Chapel of the Emilii, in the Duomo, Francesco executed a S.
James and a S. John, one on either side of Christ, who is bearing His
Cross; and the beauty and excellence of these two figures leave nothing
to be desired. The same master executed many works at Lonico, in an
abbey of Monks of Monte Oliveto, whither great multitudes flock together
to adore a figure of the Madonna which performs many miracles in that
place. Afterwards, Francesco being very much the friend, and, as it
were, the brother of Girolamo dai Libri, the painter and illuminator,
they undertook to paint in company the organ-doors of S. Maria in
Organo, a church of Monks of Monte Oliveto. In one of these, on the
outer side, Francesco painted a S. Benedict clothed in white, and S.
John the Evangelist, and on the inner side the Prophets Daniel and
Isaiah, with two little Angels in the air, and a ground all full of very
beautiful landscapes. And then he executed the great altar-piece of the
altar of the Muletta, painting therein a S. Peter and a S. John, which
are little more than one braccio in height, but wrought so well and with
such diligence, that they have the appearance of miniatures. The
carvings of this work were executed by Fra Giovanni da Verona, a master
of tarsia and carving.
In the same place, on the wall of the choir, Francesco painted two
scenes in fresco--one of Our Lord riding on an ass into Jerusalem, and
the other of His Prayer in the Garden, wherein, on one side, is the
armed multitude coming to take Him, guided by Judas. But more beautiful
than all the rest is the vaulted sacristy, which is all painted by the
same master, excepting only the S. Anthony being scourged by Demons,
which is said to be by the hand of his father, Domenico. In this
sacristy, then, besides the Christ and some little Angels that are seen
in foreshortening on the vaulting, he painted in the lunettes, two in
each niche, and robed in their pontifical vestments, the various Popes
who have been exalted to the Pontificate from the Order of S. Benedict.
Round the sacristy, below the lunettes of the vaulting, is drawn a
frieze four feet high, and divided into compartments, wherein are
painted in the monastic habit various Emperors, Kings, Dukes, and other
Princes, who have abandoned the States and Principalities that they
ruled, and have become monks. In these figures Francesco made portraits
from life of many of the monks who had their habitation or a temporary
abode in that monastery, the while that he was working there; and among
them are portraits of many novices and other monks of every kind, which
are heads of great beauty, and executed with much diligence. In truth,
by reason of these ornaments, that was then the most beautiful sacristy
that there was in all Italy, since, in addition to the beauty of the
room, which is of considerable size and well proportioned, and the
pictures described above, which are also very beautiful, there is at the
foot of the walls a range of panelled seats adorned with fine
perspective-views, so well executed in tarsia and carving, that there is
no work to be seen of those times, and perchance even of our own, that
is much better. For Fra Giovanni da Verona, who executed this work, was
most excellent in that art, as was said in the Life of Raffaello da
Urbino, and as is demonstrated not only by his many other works in
houses of his Order, but also by those that are in the Papal Palace at
Rome, in Monte Oliveto di Chiusuri in the territory of Siena, and in
other places. But those of this sacristy are the best of all the works
that Fra Giovanni ever executed, for the reason that it may be said that
in them he surpassed himself by as much as he excelled in the rest every
other master. Among other things, Fra Giovanni carved for this place a
candelabrum more than fourteen feet in height to hold the Paschal
candle, all made of walnut-wood, and wrought with such extraordinary
patience that I do not believe that there is a better work of the same
kind to be seen.
But to return to Francesco: he painted for the same church the
panel-picture which is in the Chapel of the Counts Giusti, in which he
depicted the Madonna, with S. Augustine and S. Martin in pontifical
robes. And in the cloister he executed a Deposition from the Cross, with
the Maries and other Saints, works in fresco which are much extolled in
Verona. In the Church of the Vittoria he painted the Chapel of the
Fumanelli, which is below the wall that supports the choir which was
built by the Chevalier Messer Niccolò de' Medici; and a Madonna in
fresco in the cloister. And afterwards he painted a portrait from life
of Messer Antonio Fumanelli, a physician very famous for the works
written by him in connection with his profession. He painted in fresco,
also, on a house which is seen on the left hand as one crosses the Ponte
delle Navi on the way to S. Paolo, a Madonna with many Saints, which is
held to be a very beautiful work, both in design and in colouring; and
on the house of the Sparvieri, in the Brà, opposite to the garden of the
Friars of S. Fermo, he painted another like it. Francesco painted a
number of other works, of which there is no need to make mention, since
the best have been described; let it suffice to say that he gave grace,
unity, and good design to his pictures, with a colouring as vivid and
pleasing as that of any other painter. Francesco lived fifty-five years,
and died on May 16, 1529. He chose to be carried to his tomb in the
habit of a Friar of S. Francis, and he was buried in S. Domenico, beside
his father. He was so good a man, so religious, and so exemplary, that
there was never heard to issue from his mouth any word that was
otherwise than seemly.
A disciple of Francesco, and much more able than his master, was the
Veronese Paolo Cavazzuola, who executed many works in Verona; I say in
Verona, because it is not known that he ever worked in any other place.
In S. Nazzaro, a seat of Black Friars at Verona, he painted many works
in fresco near those of his master Francesco; but these were all thrown
to the ground when that church was rebuilt by the pious munificence of
the reverend Father, Don Mauro Lonichi, a nobleman of Verona and Abbot
of that Monastery. On the old house of the Fumanelli, in the Via del
Paradiso, Paolo painted, likewise in fresco, the Sibyl showing to
Augustus Our Lord in the heavens, in the arms of His Mother; which work
is beautiful enough for one of the first that he executed. On the outer
side of the Chapel of the Fontani, in S. Maria in Organo, he painted,
also in fresco, two Angels--namely, S. Michael and S. Raphael. In the
street into which there opens the Chapel of the Angel Raphael, in S.
Eufemia, over a window that gives light to a recess in the staircase of
that chapel, he painted the Angel Raphael, and with him Tobias, whom he
guided on his journey; which was a very beautiful little work. And in S.
Bernardino, in a round picture over the door where there is the bell, he
painted a S. Bernardino in fresco, and in another round picture on the
same wall, but lower down, and above the entrance to a confessional, a
S. Francis, which is beautiful and well executed, as is also the S.
Bernardino. These are all the works that Paolo is known to have painted
in fresco.
[Illustration: THE DEPOSITION
(_After the panel by =Paolo Cavazzuola=. Verona: Museo Civico, 392_)
_Anderson_]
As for his works in oils, he painted a picture of S. Rocco for the altar
of the Santificazione in the Church of the Madonna della Scala, in
emulation of the S. Sebastian which Il Moro painted for the other side
of the same place; which S. Rocco is a very beautiful figure. But the
best figures that this painter ever executed are in S. Bernardino, where
all the large pictures that are on the altar of the Cross, round the
principal altar-piece, are by his hand, excepting that with the Christ
Crucified, the Madonna, and S. John, which is above all the others, and
is by the hand of his master Francesco. Beside it, in the upper part,
are two large pictures by the hand of Paolo, in one of which is Christ
being scourged at the Column, and in the other His Coronation, painted
with many figures somewhat more than life-size. In the principal
picture, which is lower down, in the first range, he painted a
Deposition from the Cross, with the Madonna, the Magdalene, S. John,
Nicodemus, and Joseph; and he made a portrait of himself, so good that
it has the appearance of life, in one of these figures, a young man with
a red beard, who is near the Tree of the Cross, with a coif on his head,
such as it was the custom to wear at that time. On the right-hand side
is a picture by Paolo of Our Lord in the Garden, with the three
Disciples near Him; and on the left-hand side is another of Christ with
the Cross on His shoulder, being led to Mount Calvary. The excellence of
these works, which stand out strongly in comparison with those by the
hand of his master that are in the same place, will always give Paolo a
place among the best craftsmen.
On the base he painted some Saints from the breast upwards, which are
all portraits from life. The first figure, wearing the habit of S.
Francis, and representing a Beato, is a portrait of Fra Girolamo
Rechalchi, a noble Veronese; the figure beside the first, painted to
represent S. Bonaventura, is the portrait of Fra Bonaventura Rechalchi,
brother of the aforesaid Fra Girolamo; and the head of S. Joseph is the
portrait of a steward of the Marchesi Malespini, who had been charged at
that time by the Company of the Cross to see to the execution of this
work. All these heads are very beautiful.
For the same church Paolo painted the altar-piece of the Chapel of S.
Francesco, in which work, the last that he executed, he surpassed
himself. There are in it six figures larger than life; one being S.
Elizabeth, of the Third Order of S. Francis, who is a most beautiful
figure, with a smiling air and a gracious countenance, and with her lap
full of roses; and she seems to be rejoicing at the sight of the bread
that she, great lady as she was, had been carrying to the poor, turned
by a miracle of God into roses, in token that her humble charity in thus
ministering to the poor with her own hands was acceptable to God. This
figure is a portrait of a widowed lady of the Sacchi family. Among the
other figures are S. Bonaventura the Cardinal and S. Louis the Bishop,
both Friars of S. Francis. Near these are S. Louis, King of France, S.
Eleazar in a grey habit, and S. Ivo in the habit of a priest. Then there
is the Madonna on a cloud above them all, with S. Francis and other
figures round her; but it is said that these are not by the hand of
Paolo, but by that of a friend who helped him to execute the picture;
and it is evident, indeed, that these figures are not equal in
excellence to those beneath. And in this picture is a portrait from life
of Madonna Caterina de' Sacchi, who gave the commission for the work.
Now Paolo, having set his heart on becoming great and famous, made to
this end such immoderate exertions that he fell ill and died at the
early age of thirty-one, at the very moment when he was beginning to
give proofs of what might be expected from him at a riper age. It is
certain that Paolo, if Fortune had not crossed him at the height of his
activity, would without a doubt have attained to the highest, best, and
greatest honours that could be desired by a painter. His loss,
therefore, grieved not only his friends, but all men of talent and
everyone who knew him, and all the more because he had been a young man
of excellent character, untainted by a single vice. He was buried in S.
Paolo, after making himself immortal by the beautiful works that he left
behind him.
Stefano Veronese, a very rare painter in his day, as has been related,
had a brother-german, called Giovanni Antonio, who, although he learned
to paint from that same Stefano, nevertheless did not become anything
more than a mediocre painter, as may be seen from his works, of which
there is no need to make mention. To this Giovanni Antonio was born a
son, called Jacopo, who likewise became a painter of commonplace works;
and to Jacopo were born Giovan Maria, called Falconetto, whose Life we
are about to write, and Giovanni Antonio. The latter, devoting himself
to painting, executed many works at Rovereto, a very famous township in
the Trentino, and many pictures at Verona, which are dispersed among the
houses of private citizens. He also painted many works in the valley of
the Adige, above Verona, and a panel-picture of S. Nicholas, with many
animals, at Sacco, opposite to Rovereto, with many others; after which
he finally died at Rovereto, where he had gone to live. This master was
particularly excellent in making animals and fruits, of which many very
beautiful drawings, executed in miniature, were taken to France by the
Veronese Mondella; and many of them were given by Agnolo, the son of
Giovanni Antonio, to Messer Girolamo Lioni, a Venetian gentleman of
noble spirit.