rather have given his works away than sold them for a paltry price.
Wherefore when a baron, for whom he had made a cameo of some value,
wished to pay him a wretched sum for it, Matteo besought him straitly
that he should accept it as a present. To this the other would not
consent, and yet wished to have it for the same miserable price;
whereupon Matteo, flying into a rage, crushed it to powder with a hammer
in his presence. For the same King Matteo executed many cartoons for
tapestries, and with these, to please His Majesty, he was obliged to go
to Flanders, and to stay there until they had been woven in silk and
gold; which being finished and taken to France, they were held to be
very beautiful. Finally, Matteo returned to his own country, as almost
all men do, taking with him many rare things from those foreign parts,
and in particular some landscapes on canvas painted in Flanders in oils
and in gouache, and executed by very able hands, which are still
preserved and treasured in Verona, in memory of him, by Signor Luigi and
Signor Girolamo Stoppi. Having returned to Verona, Matteo took up his
abode in a cave hollowed out under a rocky cliff, above which is the
garden of the Frati Ingiesuati--a place which, besides being very warm
in winter and very cool in summer, commands a most beautiful view. But
he was not able to enjoy that habitation, thus contrived after his own
fancy, as long as he would have liked, for King Francis, as soon as he
had been released from his captivity, sent a special messenger to recall
Matteo to France, and to pay him his salary even for all the time that
he had been in Verona; and when he had arrived there, the King made him
master of dies for the Mint. Taking a wife in France, therefore, Matteo
settled down to live in those parts, since such was the pleasure of the
King his master. By that wife he had some children, but all so unlike
himself that he had little satisfaction from them.
Matteo was so gentle and courteous, that he welcomed with extraordinary
warmth anyone who arrived in France, not only from his own city of
Verona, but from every part of Lombardy. His dearest friend in those
regions was Paolo Emilio of Verona, who wrote the history of France in
the Latin tongue. Matteo taught many disciples, among them a
fellow-Veronese, the brother of Domenico Brusciasorzi, two of his
nephews, who went to Flanders, and many other Italians and Frenchmen, of
whom there is no need to make mention. And finally he died, not long
after the death of King Francis of France.
But to come at length to the marvellous art of Valerio Vicentino, of
whom we have now to speak: this master executed so many works, both
great and small, either in intaglio or in relief, and all with such a
finish and such facility, that it is a thing incredible. If Nature had
made Valerio a good master of design, even as she made him most
excellent in engraving, in which he executed his works with
extraordinary patience, diligence, and rapidity, he would not merely
have equalled the ancients, as he did, but would have surpassed them by
a great measure; and even so he had such judgment, that he always
availed himself in his works of the designs of others or of the intagli
of the ancients.
[Illustration: CASKET OF ROCK CRYSTAL
(_After_ Valerio Vincentino (Valerio Belli). _Florence; Uffizi, Cabinet
of Gems_)
_Alinari_]
Valerio fashioned for Pope Clement VII a casket entirely of crystal,
wrought with admirable mastery, for which he received two thousand
crowns of gold from that Pontiff in return for his labour. In those
crystals Valerio engraved the whole Passion of Jesus Christ, after the
designs of others; and that casket was afterwards presented by Pope
Clement to King Francis at Nice, at the time when his niece went to be
married to the Duke of Orleans, who afterwards became King Henry. For
the same Pope Valerio made some most beautiful paxes, and a divine cross
of crystal, and likewise dies for striking medals, containing the
portrait of Pope Clement, with very beautiful reverses; and through him
that art produced in his day many masters, both from Milan and from
other parts, who had grown to such a number before the sack of Rome,
that it was a marvel. He made the medals of the twelve Emperors, with
their reverses, copying the most beautiful antiques, with a great number
of Greek medals; and he engraved so many other works in crystal, that
the shops of the goldsmiths, or rather, the whole world, may be seen to
be full of impressions taken in gesso, sulphur, or other compositions,
from the intagli in which he made scenes, figures, or heads. He had,
indeed, a skill of hand so extraordinary, that there was never anyone in
his profession who executed more works than Valerio.
He also fashioned many vases of crystal for Pope Clement, who presented
some to various Princes, and others were placed in the Church of S.
Lorenzo at Florence, together with many vases that were formerly in the
Palace of the Medici and had belonged to the elder Lorenzo, the
Magnificent, and to other members of that most illustrious family, that
they might serve to contain the relics of many Saints, which that
Pontiff presented to that church in memory of himself. It would not be
possible to find anything more varied than the curves of those vases,
some of which are of sardonyx, agate, amethyst, and lapis-lazuli, and
some of plasma, heliotrope, jasper, crystal, and cornelian, so that in
point of value or beauty nothing more could be desired. For Pope Paul
III he made a cross and two candelabra, likewise of crystal, engraved
with scenes of the Passion of Jesus Christ in various compartments; with
a vast number of stones, both great and small, of which it would take
too long to make mention. And in the collection of Cardinal Farnese may
be seen many things by the hand of Valerio, who left no fewer finished
works than did the above-named Giovanni. At the age of seventy-eight he
performed miracles, so sure were his eye and hand; and he taught his art
to a daughter of his own, who works very well. He so delighted to lay
his hands on antiquities in marble, impressions in gesso of works both
ancient and modern, and drawings and pictures by rare masters, that he
shrank from no expense; wherefore his house at Vicenza is adorned by
such an abundance of various things, that it is a marvel. It is clearly
evident that when a man bears love to art, it never leaves him until he
is in the grave; whence he gains praise and his reward during his
lifetime, and makes himself immortal after death. Valerio was well
remunerated for his labours, and received offices and many benefits from
those Princes whom he served; and thus those who survived him are able,
thanks to him, to maintain an honourable state. And in the year 1546,
when, by reason of the infirmities that old age brings in its train, he
could no longer attend to his art, or even live, he rendered up his soul
to God.
At Parma, in times past, lived Marmita, who gave his attention for a
period to painting, and then turned to intaglio, in which he imitated
the ancients very closely. Many most beautiful works by his hand are to
be seen, and he taught the art to a son of his own, called Lodovico, who
lived for a long time in Rome with Cardinal Giovanni de' Salviati.
Lodovico executed for that Cardinal four ovals of crystal engraved with
figures of great excellence, which were placed on a very beautiful
casket of silver that was afterwards presented to the most illustrious
Signora Leonora of Toledo, Duchess of Florence. He made, among many
other works, a cameo with a most beautiful head of Socrates, and he was
a great master at counterfeiting ancient medals, from which he gained
extraordinary advantage.
There followed, in Florence, Domenico di Polo, a Florentine and an
excellent master of intaglio, who was the disciple of Giovanni delle
Corniole, of whom we have spoken. In our own day this Domenico executed
a divine portrait of Duke Alessandro de' Medici, from which he made dies
in steel and most beautiful medals, with a reverse containing a
Florence. He also made a portrait of Duke Cosimo in the first year after
his election to the government of Florence, with the sign of Capricorn
on the reverse; and many other little works in intaglio, of which there
is no need to make record. He died at the age of sixty-five.
[Illustration: MEDALS
(_London: British Museum_)
1. POPE JULIUS III
(_After_ Alessandro Cesati)
2. PIETRO BEMBO
3. POPE CLEMENT VII
(_After_ Benvenuto Cellini)]
[Illustration: MEDALS
(_London: British Museum_)
1. IPPOLITO D'ESTE
2. TITIAN
3. MARGARET, DUCHESS OF MANTUA
4. LUCREZIA DE' MEDICI
(_After_ Pastorino of Siena)
5. BENEDETTO VARCHI
6. COSIMO DE' MEDICI
(_After_ Domenico Poggini)]
Domenico, Valerio, Marmita, and Giovanni da Castel Bolognese being
dead, there remained many who have surpassed them by a great measure;
one in Venice, for example, being Luigi Anichini of Ferrara, who, with
the delicacy of his engraving and the sharpness of his finish, has
produced works that are marvellous. But far beyond all others in grace,
excellence, perfection, and versatility, has soared Alessandro Cesati,
surnamed Il Greco, who has executed cameos in relief and gems in
intaglio in so beautiful a manner, as well as dies of steel in incavo,
and has used the burin with such supreme diligence and with such mastery
over the most delicate refinements of his art, that nothing better could
be imagined. Whoever wishes to be amazed by his miraculous powers,
should study a medal that he made for Pope Paul III, with his portrait
on one side, which has all the appearance of life, and on the reverse
Alexander the Great, who has thrown himself at the feet of the
High-Priest of Jerusalem, and is doing him homage--figures which are so
marvellous that it would not be possible to do anything better. And
Michelagnolo Buonarroti himself, looking at them in the presence of
Giorgio Vasari, said that the hour of death had come upon the art, for
nothing better could ever be seen. This Alessandro made the medal of
Pope Julius III for the holy year of 1550, with a reverse showing the
prisoners that were released in the days of the ancients at times of
jubilee, which was a rare and truly beautiful medal; with many other
dies and portraits for the Mint of Rome, which he kept busily employed
for many years. He executed portraits of Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of
Castro, and his son, Duke Ottavio; and he made a portrait of Cardinal
Farnese in a medal, a very choice work, the head being of gold and the
ground of silver. The same master engraved for Cardinal Farnese in
intaglio, on a cornelian larger than a giulio, a head of King Henry of
France, which has been considered in point of design, grace, excellence,
and perfection of finish, one of the best modern intagli that have ever
been seen. There may also be seen many other stones engraved by his
hand, in the form of cameos; truly perfect is a nude woman wrought with
great art, and another in which is a lion, and likewise one of a boy,
with many small ones, of which there is no need to speak; but that which
surpassed all the others was the head of the Athenian Phocion, which is
marvellous, and the most beautiful cameo that is to be seen.
A master who gives his attention to cameos at the present day is
Giovanni Antonio de' Rossi, an excellent craftsman of Milan, who, in
addition to the various beautiful works that he has engraved in relief
and in intaglio, has executed for the most illustrious Duke Cosimo de'
Medici a very large cameo, one-third of a braccio in height and the same
in width, in which he has cut two figures from the waist
upwards--namely, His Excellency and the most illustrious Duchess
Leonora, his consort, who are both holding with their hands a medallion
containing a Florence, and beside them are portraits from life of the
Prince Don Francesco, Don Giovanni the Cardinal, Don Garzia, Don
Ernando, and Don Pietro, together with Donna Isabella and Donna
Lucrezia, all their children. It would not be possible to find a more
amazing or a larger work in cameo than this; and since it surpasses all
the other cameos and smaller works that he has made, I shall make no
further mention of them, for they are all to be seen.
Cosimo da Trezzo, also, has executed many works worthy of praise in this
profession, and has won much favour on account of his rare gifts from
Philip, the great Catholic King of Spain, who retains him about his
person, honouring and rewarding him in return for his ability in his
vocation of engraving in intaglio and in relief. He has no equal in
making portraits from life; and in other kinds of work, as well as in
that, his talent is extraordinary.
Of the Milanese Filippo Negrolo, who worked at chasing arms of iron with
foliage and figures, I shall say nothing, since copper-engravings of his
works, which have given him very great fame, may be seen about. By
Gasparo and Girolamo Misuroni, engravers of Milan, have been seen most
beautiful vases and tazze of crystal. For Duke Cosimo, in particular,
they have executed two that are marvellous; besides which, they have
made out of a piece of heliotrope a vase extraordinary in size and
admirable for its engraving, and also a large vase of lapis-lazuli,
which deserves infinite praise. Jacopo da Trezzo practises the same
profession in Milan; and these men, in truth, have brought great beauty
and facility to this art. Many masters could I mention who, in executing
in incavo heads and reverses for medals, have equalled and even
surpassed the ancients; as, for example, Benvenuto Cellini, who, during
the time when he exercised the goldsmith's art in Rome under Pope
Clement, made two medals with a head of Pope Clement that is a living
likeness, and on the reverse of one a figure of Peace that has bound
Fury and is burning her arms, and on the other Moses striking the rock
and causing water to flow to quench the thirst of his people: beyond
which it is not possible to go in that art. And the same might be said
of the coins and medals that Benvenuto afterwards made for Duke
Alessandro in Florence.
Of the Chevalier, Leone Aretino, who has done equally well in the same
art, and of the works that he has made and still continues to make,
there will be an account in another place.
The Roman Pietro Paolo Galeotto, also, has executed for Duke Cosimo, as
he still does, medals with portraits of that lord, dies for coins, and
works in tarsia, imitating the methods of Maestro Salvestro, a most
excellent master, who produced marvellous works in that profession at
Rome.
Pastorino da Siena, likewise, has executed so many heads from life, that
he may be said to have made portraits of every kind of person in the
whole world, great nobles, followers of the arts, and many people of low
degree. He discovered a kind of hard stucco for making portraits,
wherewith he gave them the colouring of nature, with the tints of the
beard, hair, and flesh, so that they had the appearance of life itself;
but he deserves much more praise for his work in steel, in which he has
made excellent dies for medals.
It would take too long if I were to speak of all those who execute
portrait-medals of wax, seeing that every goldsmith at the present day
makes them, and a number of gentlemen have given their attention to
this, and still do so; such as Giovan Battista Sozzini at Siena, Rosso
de' Giugni at Florence, and very many others, of whom I shall not now
say more. And, to bring this account to conclusion, I return to the
steel-engravers, of whom one is Girolamo Fagiuoli of Bologna, a master
of chasing and of copper-engraving, and another, at Florence, is
Domenico Poggini, who has made, as he still does, dies for the Mint,
with medals of Duke Cosimo, and who also executes statues of marble,
imitating, in so far as he is able, the rarest and most excellent
masters who have ever produced choice works in these professions.
FOOTNOTE:
[12] Giovanni of the Cornelians.
[13] Domenico of the Cameos.
MARC' ANTONIO BOLOGNESE AND OTHER ENGRAVERS OF PRINTS
LIVES OF MARC' ANTONIO BOLOGNESE AND OF OTHER ENGRAVERS OF PRINTS
Seeing that in the Treatise on the Technique of Painting there was
little said of copper-plate engraving, since it was enough at that time
to describe the method of engraving silver with the burin, which is a
square tool of iron, cut on the slant, with a sharp point, I shall use
the occasion of this Life to say as much on that subject as I may
consider to be sufficient. The beginning of print-engraving, then, came
from the Florentine Maso Finiguerra, about the year of our salvation
1460; for of all the works which that master engraved in silver with
designs to be filled up with niello, he took impressions in clay, over
which he poured melted sulphur, which reproduced the lines of the
design; and these, when filled with smoke-black mixed with oil, produced
the same effect as the silver. He also did the same with damped paper
and with the same tint, going over the whole with a round and smooth
roller, which not only gave the designs the appearance of prints, but
they also came out as if drawn with the pen. This master was followed by
Baccio Baldini, a goldsmith of Florence, who, not having much power of
design, took all that he did from the invention and design of Sandro
Botticelli. And this method, coming to the knowledge of Andrea Mantegna
in Rome, was the reason that he made a beginning with engraving many of
his works, as was said in his Life.
This invention having afterwards passed into Flanders, a certain Martin,
who was held to be an excellent painter in Antwerp at that time,
executed many works, and sent to Italy a great number of printed
designs, which were all signed in the following manner: "M.C." The first
of these were the Five Foolish Virgins with their lamps extinguished,
the Five Wise Virgins with their lamps burning, and a Christ Crucified,
with S. John and the Madonna at the foot of the Cross, which was so good
an engraving, that Gherardo, the Florentine illuminator, set himself to
copy it with the burin, and succeeded very well; but he went no further
with this, for he did not live long. Martin then published four round
engravings of the four Evangelists, and Jesus Christ with the twelve
Apostles, in small sheets, Veronica with six Saints, of the same size,
and some coats of arms of German noblemen, supported by men, both naked
and clothed, and also by women. He published, likewise, a S. George
slaying the Dragon, a Christ standing before Pilate, who is washing his
hands, and a Passing of Our Lady, with all the Apostles, a work of some
size, which was one of the best designs that this master ever engraved.
In another he represented S. Anthony beaten by Devils, and carried
through the air by a vast number of them in the most varied and bizarre
forms that could possibly be imagined; which sheet so pleased
Michelagnolo, when he was a mere lad, that he set himself to colour it.
[Illustration: CHRIST AND THE VIRGIN ENTHRONED
(_After the engraving by =Martin Schongauer=. London: British Museum, B.
71_)
_M.S._]
After this Martin, Albrecht Dürer began to give attention to prints of
the same kind at Antwerp, but with more design and better judgment, and
with more beautiful invention, seeking to imitate the life and to draw
near to the Italian manners, which he always held in much account. And
thus, while still quite young, he executed many works which were
considered as beautiful as those of Martin; and he engraved them with
his own hand, signing them with his name. In the year 1503 he published
a little Madonna, in which he surpassed both Martin and his own self;
and afterwards many other sheets with horses, two in each sheet, taken
from nature and very beautiful. In another he depicted the Prodigal Son,
in the guise of a peasant, kneeling with his hands clasped and gazing up
to Heaven, while some swine are eating from a trough; and in this work
are some most beautiful huts after the manner of German cottages. He
engraved a little S. Sebastian, bound, with the arms upraised; and a
Madonna seated with the Child in her arms, with the light from a window
falling upon her, a small work, than which there is nothing better to be
seen. He also made a Flemish woman on horseback, with a groom at her
feet; and on a larger copper-plate he engraved a nymph being
carried away by a sea-monster, while some other nymphs are bathing. On a
plate of the same size he engraved with supreme delicacy of workmanship,
attaining to the final perfection of this art, a Diana beating a nymph,
who has fled for protection to the bosom of a satyr; in which sheet
Albrecht sought to prove that he was able to make nudes.
[Illustration: HERCULES
(_After the engraving by =Albrecht Dürer=. London: British Museum, B.
73_)
_M.S._]
But although those masters were extolled at that time in those
countries, in ours their works are commended only for the diligent
execution of the engraving. I am willing, indeed, to believe that
Albrecht was perhaps not able to do better because, not having any
better models, he drew, when he had to make nudes, from one or other of
his assistants, who must have had bad figures, as Germans generally have
when naked, although one sees many from those parts who are fine men
when in their clothes. In various little printed sheets he executed
figures of peasant men and women in different Flemish costumes, some
playing on the bagpipes and dancing, some selling fowls and suchlike
things, and others in many other attitudes. He also drew a man sleeping
in a bathroom who has Venus near him, leading him into temptation in a
dream, while Love is diverting himself by mounting on stilts, and the
Devil blows into his ears with a pair of bellows. And he engraved two
different figures of S. Christopher carrying the Infant Christ, both
very beautiful, and executed with much diligence in the close detail of
the hair and in every other respect.
[Illustration: CHRIST TAKING LEAVE OF HIS MOTHER
(_After the woodcut by =Albrecht Dürer=. London: British Museum, B. 92_)
_M.S._]
After these works, perceiving how much time he consumed in engraving on
copper, and happening to have in his possession a great abundance of
subjects drawn in various ways, he set himself to making woodcuts, a
method of working in which those who have the greatest powers of design
find the widest field wherein to display their ability in its
perfection. And in the year 1510 he published two little prints in this
manner, in one of which is the Beheading of S. John, and in the other
the scene of the head of the same S. John being presented in a charger
to Herod, who is seated at table; with other sheets of S. Christopher,
S. Sixtus the Pope, S. Stephen, and S. Laurence. Then, having seen that
this method of working was much easier than engraving on copper, he
pursued it and executed a S. Gregory chanting the Mass, accompanied by
the deacon and sub-deacon. And, growing in courage, in the year 1510 he
represented on a sheet of royal folio part of the Passion of
Christ--that is, he executed four pieces, with the intention of
afterwards finishing the whole, these four being the Last Supper, the
Taking of Christ by Night in the Garden, His Descent into the Limbo of
Hell in order to deliver the Holy Fathers, and His glorious
Resurrection. That second piece he also painted in a very beautiful
little picture in oils, which is now at Florence, in the possession of
Signor Bernardetto de' Medici. As for the eight other parts, although
they were afterwards executed and printed with the signature of
Albrecht, to us it does not seem probable that they are the work of his
hand, seeing that they are poor stuff, and bear no resemblance to his
manner, either in the heads, or in the draperies, or in any other
respect. Wherefore it is believed that they were executed after his
death, for the sake of gain, by other persons, who did not scruple to
father them on Albrecht. That this is true is also proved by the
circumstance that in the year 1511 he represented the whole life of Our
Lady in twenty sheets of the same size, executing it so well that it
would not be possible, whether in invention, in the composition of the
perspective-views, in the buildings, in the costumes, or in the heads of
old and young, to do better. Of a truth, if this man, so able, so
diligent, and so versatile, had had Tuscany instead of Flanders for his
country, and had been able to study the treasures of Rome, as we
ourselves have done, he would have been the best painter of our land,
even as he was the rarest and most celebrated that has ever appeared
among the Flemings. In the same year, continuing to give expression to
his fantasies, Albrecht resolved to execute fifteen woodcuts of the same
size, representing the terrible vision that S. John the Evangelist
described in his Apocalypse on the Isle of Patmos. And so, setting his
hand to the work, with his extravagant imagination, so well suited to
such a subject, he depicted all those things both of heaven and of earth
so beautifully, that it was a marvel, and with such a variety of forms
in those animals and monsters, that it was a great light to many of our
craftsmen, who have since availed themselves of the vast abundance of
his beautiful fantasies and inventions. By the hand of the same master,
also, is a woodcut that is to be seen of a nude Christ, who has round
Him the Mysteries of His Passion, and is weeping for our sins, with His
hands to His face; and this, for a small work, is not otherwise than
worthy of praise.