within the last ten years, very beautiful are some drawn by one
Michele,[19] a painter, who worked for many years in two chapels that
are in the Church of the Germans at Rome. These plates contain the story
of Moses and the Serpents, and thirty-two stories of Psyche and Love,
which are held to be most beautiful. Hieronymus Cock, also a Fleming,
has engraved a large plate after the invention and design of Martin
Heemskerk, of Delilah cutting off the locks of Samson; and not far away
is the Temple of the Philistines, in which, the towers having fallen,
one sees ruin and destruction in the dead, and terror in the living, who
are taking to flight. The same master has executed in three smaller
plates the Creation of Adam and Eve, the Eating of the Fruit, and the
Angel driving them out of Paradise; and in four other plates of the same
size, in the first the Devil imprinting avarice and ambition into the
heart of man, and in the others all the passions that result from those
two. There may also be seen twenty-seven plates of the same size by his
hand, with stories from the Old Testament after the expulsion of Adam
from Paradise, drawn by Martin in a bold, well-practised, and most
resolute manner, which is very similar to the Italian. Hieronymus
afterwards engraved six round plates with the history of Susannah, and
twenty-three other stories from the Old Testament, similar to those of
Abraham already mentioned--namely, six plates with the story of David,
eight plates with that of Solomon, four with that of Balaam, and five
with those of Judith and Susannah. And from the New Testament he
engraved twenty-nine plates, beginning with the Annunciation of the
Virgin, and continuing down to the whole Passion and Death of Jesus
Christ. He also engraved, after the drawings of the same Martin, the
seven Works of Mercy, and the story of the rich Lazarus and the poor
Lazarus, and four plates with the Parable of the Samaritan wounded by
thieves, with four other plates of the Parable of the Talents, written
by S. Matthew in his eighteenth chapter.
At the time when Hans Liefrinck executed in competition with him ten
plates of the Life and Death of S. John the Baptist, he engraved the
Twelve Tribes on an equal number of plates; Reuben upon a hog,
representing Sensuality; Simeon with a sword as a symbol of Homicide;
and in like manner the other heads of Tribes with attributes appropriate
to the nature of each. He then executed ten plates, engraved with
greater delicacy, with the stories and acts of David, from the time of
his being anointed by Samuel to his going before Saul; and he engraved
six other plates with the story of how Amnon became enamoured of his
sister Tamar and ravished her, and the death of that same Amnon. And not
long afterwards he executed ten plates of similar size with the history
of Job; and from thirteen chapters of the Proverbs of Solomon he drew
subjects for five plates of the same kind. He also engraved the story of
the Magi; and then, on six plates, the Parable that is in the twelfth
chapter of S. Matthew, of those who for various reasons refused to go to
the King's Feast, and of him who went without having a wedding-garment;
and six plates of equal size with some of the acts of the Apostles. And
in eight similar plates he engraved figures of women of perfect
excellence, in various costumes: six from the Old Testament--Jael, Ruth,
Abigail, Judith, Esther, and Susannah; and two from the New--Mary the
Virgin, Mother of Jesus Christ, and Mary Magdalene.
After these works he carried out the engraving of the Triumphs of
Patience in six plates, with various things of fancy. In the first, in a
chariot, is Patience, who has in her hand a standard, on which is a rose
among thorns. In the second may be seen a burning heart, beaten by three
hammers, upon an anvil; and the chariot of this second plate is drawn by
two figures--namely, by Desire, who has wings upon the shoulders, and by
Hope, who has an anchor in the hand, and behind them Fortune, with her
wheel broken, is led as a prisoner. In the next plate is Christ on a
chariot, with the standard of the Cross and of His Passion, with the
Evangelists at the corners in the form of animals; and this chariot is
drawn by two lambs, and has behind it four prisoners--the Devil, the
World, or rather, the Flesh, Sin, and Death. In another Triumph is
Isaac, nude, upon a camel; on the banner that he holds in his hand are a
pair of prisoner's irons; and behind him is drawn the altar with the
ram, the knife, and the fire. In the next plate he made Joseph riding in
triumph on an ox crowned with ears of corn and fruits, with a standard
on which is a bee-hive; and the prisoners that are led behind him are
Anger and Envy, who are devouring a heart. He engraved in another
Triumph David on a lion, with the harp, and with a standard in his hand,
on which is a bit; and behind him is Saul as a prisoner, and Shimei,
with his tongue protruding. In another plate is Tobias riding in triumph
on an ass, and holding in his hand a banner, on which is a fountain; and
behind him Poverty and Blindness, bound, are led as prisoners. And in
the last of the six Triumphs is S. Stephen the Proto-martyr, who is
riding in triumph on an elephant, and has a standard with a figure of
Charity; and the prisoners behind him are his persecutors. All these
were inventions full of fancy, and very ingenious; and they were all
engraved by Hieronymus Cock, whose hand is very bold, sure, and
resolute.
The same master engraved a plate of Fraud and Avarice, fantastic and
beautiful, and another very lovely plate of a Feast of Bacchanals, with
children dancing. On another he represented Moses passing across the Red
Sea, according as it had been painted by Agnolo Bronzino, a painter of
Florence, in the upper chapel in the Palace of the Duke of Florence; and
in competition with him, also after the design of Bronzino, Giorgio
Mantovano engraved a Nativity of Jesus Christ, which was very beautiful.
After these works, Hieronymus engraved twelve plates of the victories,
battles, and deeds of arms of Charles V, for him who was the inventor of
the subjects; and for Verese, a painter and a great master of
perspective in those parts, twenty plates with various buildings. For
Hieronymus Bosch he executed a plate of S. Martin, with a barque full of
Devils in the most bizarre forms. And he made another of an alchemist
who loses all his possessions, distilling away his brains and consuming
all that he has in various ways, insomuch that in the end he takes
refuge in the hospital with his wife and children; which plate was
designed for him by a painter, who caused him to engrave the Seven
Mortal Sins, with Demons of various forms, which was a fantastic and
laughable work. He also engraved a Last Judgment; an old man who is
seeking with a lantern for peace among the wares of the world, and finds
it not; likewise a great fish that is devouring some little fishes; a
figure of Carnival enjoying the pleasures of the table with many others,
and driving Lent away, and another of Lent driving away Carnival; and so
many other whimsical and fantastic inventions, that it would be
wearisome to attempt to speak of them all.
Many other Flemings have imitated the manner of Albrecht Dürer with the
greatest care and subtlety, as may be seen from their engravings, and in
particular from those of ...[20] who has engraved in little figures four
stories of the Creation of Adam, four of the lives of Abraham and of
Lot, and four others of Susannah, which are very beautiful. In like
manner, G... P...[21] has engraved the Seven Works of Mercy in seven
small round plates, eight stories taken from the Books of Kings, Regulus
placed in the barrel filled with nails, and an Artemisia, which is a
plate of great beauty. J... B...[22] has executed figures of the four
Evangelists, which are so small that it seems scarcely possible that he
could have done them; and also five other very fine plates, in the first
of which is a Virgin drawn into the grave by Death in all the freshness
of her youth, and in the second is Adam, in the third a peasant, in the
fourth a Bishop, and in the fifth a Cardinal, each, like the Virgin,
called by Death to his last account. And in some others are many Germans
going on parties of pleasure with their wives, and some beautiful and
fantastic Satyrs. By ... are plates of the four Evangelists, engraved
with great care, and no less beautiful than are twelve stories of the
Prodigal Son executed with much diligence by the hand of M.... And,
finally, Franz Floris, a painter famous in those parts, has produced a
great number of works and drawings which have since been engraved, for
the most part by Hieronymus Cock, such as ten plates of the Labours of
Hercules, a large plate with all the activities of the life of man,
another with the Horatii and Curiatii engaged in combat in the lists,
the Judgment of Solomon, and the Battle between Hercules and the
Pygmies. The same master, also, has engraved a Cain who has killed Abel,
over whose body Adam and Eve are weeping; an Abraham who is about to
sacrifice Isaac on the altar, and a vast number of other plates, so full
of variety and invention, that it is indeed marvellous to think of all
that has been done in engravings on copper and wood. Lastly, it is
enough to draw attention to the engravings of the portraits of the
Painters, Sculptors, and Architects in this our book, which were drawn
by Giorgio Vasari and his pupils, and engraved by Maestro Cristofano
...,[23] who has executed in Venice, as he still continues to do, a vast
number of works worthy of record.
In conclusion, for all the assistance that the ultramontanes have
received from seeing the various Italian manners by means of engravings,
and that the Italians have received from having seen those of the
ultramontanes and foreigners, thanks should be rendered, for the most
part, to Marc' Antonio Bolognese, in that, besides the circumstance that
he played a great part in the beginning of this profession, as has been
related, there has not as yet been one who has much surpassed him,
although some few have equalled him in certain points. This Marc'
Antonio died at Bologna, not long after his departure from Rome. In our
book are some drawings of Angels by his hand, done with the pen, and
some other very beautiful sheets drawn from the apartments that
Raffaello da Urbino painted. In one of these apartments Marc' Antonio,
as a young man, was portrayed by Raffaello in one of those grooms who
are carrying Pope Julius II, in that part where the High-Priest Onias is
praying.
And let this be the end of the Lives of Marc' Antonio Bolognese and of
all the other engravers of prints mentioned above, of whom I have
thought it right to give this long but necessary account, in order to
satisfy not only the students of our arts, but also all those who
delight in works of that kind.
FOOTNOTE:
[14] Luca di Leyden.
[15] Lambert Zutmann.
[16] Jean Cousin.
[17] Nicolas Beautrizet.
[18] René Boyvin.
[19] Michael Coxie.
[20] Albrecht Aldegrever.
[21] Georg Pencz.
[22] Hans Beham.
[23] Cristofano Coriolano.
ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO (THE YOUNGER)
LIFE OF ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO (THE YOUNGER)
ARCHITECT OF FLORENCE
How many great and illustrious Princes, abounding with infinite wealth,
would leave behind them a name renowned and glorious, if they possessed,
together with their store of the goods of Fortune, a mind filled with
grandeur and inclined to those things that not only embellish the world,
but also confer vast benefit and advantage on the whole race of men! And
what works can or should Princes and great persons undertake more
readily than noble and magnificent buildings and edifices, both on
account of the many kinds of men that are employed upon them in the
making, and because, when made, they endure almost to eternity? For of
all the costly enterprises that the ancient Romans executed at the time
when they were at the supreme height of their greatness, what else is
there left to us save those remains of buildings, the everlasting glory
of the Roman name, which we revere as sacred things and strive to
imitate as the sole patterns of the highest beauty? And how much these
considerations occupied the minds of certain Princes who lived in the
time of the Florentine architect, Antonio da San Gallo, will now be seen
clearly in the Life of him that we are about to write.
Antonio, then, was the son of Bartolommeo Picconi of Mugello, a maker of
casks; and after having learned the joiner's craft in his boyhood,
hearing that his uncle, Giuliano da San Gallo, was working at Rome in
company with his brother Antonio, he set out from Florence for that
city. And there, having devoted himself to the matters of the art of
architecture with the greatest possible zeal, and pursuing that art, he
gave promise of those achievements that we see in such abundance
throughout all Italy, in the vast number of works executed by him at a
more mature age. Now it happened that Giuliano was forced by the torment
that he suffered from the stone to return to Florence; and Antonio,
having become known to the architect Bramante of Castel Durante, began
to give assistance to that master, who, being old and crippled in the
hands by palsy, was not able to work as before in the preparation of his
designs. And these Antonio executed with such accuracy and precision
that Bramante, finding that they were correct and true in all their
measurements, was constrained to leave to him the charge of a great
number of works that he had on his hands, only giving him the order that
he desired and all the inventions and compositions that were to be used
in each work. In these he found himself served by Antonio with so much
judgment, diligence, and expedition, that in the year 1512 he gave him
the charge of the corridor that was to lead to the ditches of the
Castello di S. Angelo; for which he began to receive a salary of ten
crowns a month; but the death of Julius II then took place, and the work
was left unfinished. However, the circumstance that Antonio had already
acquired a name as a person of ability in architecture, and one who had
a very good manner in matters of building, was the reason that
Alessandro, who was first Cardinal Farnese, and afterwards Pope Paul
III, conceived the idea of commissioning him to restore the old palace
in the Campo di Fiore, in which he lived with his family; and for that
work Antonio, desiring to grow in reputation, made several designs in
different manners. Among which, one that was arranged with two
apartments was that which pleased his very reverend Highness, who,
having two sons, Signor Pier Luigi and Signor Ranuccio, thought that he
would leave them well accommodated by such a building. And, a beginning
having been made with that work, a certain portion was constructed
regularly every year.
At this time a church dedicated to S. Maria di Loreto was being built at
the Macello de' Corbi, near the Column of Trajan, in Rome, and it was
brought to perfection by Antonio, with decorations of great beauty.
After this, Messer Marchionne Baldassini caused a palace to be erected
from the model and under the direction of Antonio, near S. Agostino,
which is arranged in such a manner that, small though it may be, it is
held to be, as indeed it is, the finest and most convenient dwelling in
Rome; and in it the staircases, the court, the loggie, the doors, and
the chimney-pieces, are all executed with consummate grace. With which
Messer Marchionne being very well satisfied, he determined that Perino
del Vaga, the Florentine painter, should decorate one of the halls in
colour, with scenes and other figures, as will be related in his Life;
which decorations have given it infinite grace and beauty. And near the
Torre di Nona Antonio directed and finished the building of the house of
the Centelli, which is small, but very convenient.
No long time passed before he went to Gradoli, a place in the dominions
of the very reverend Cardinal Farnese, where he caused a most beautiful
and commodious palace to be erected for that Cardinal. On that journey
he did a work of great utility in restoring the fortress of Capo di
Monte, which he surrounded with low and well-shaped walls; and at the
same time he made the design of the fortress of Caprarola. And the very
reverend Monsignor Farnese, finding himself served by Antonio in all
these works in a manner so satisfactory, was constrained to wish him
well, and, coming to love him more and more, he showed him favour in his
every enterprise whenever he was able. After this, Cardinal Alborense,
wishing to leave a memorial of himself in the church of his nation,
caused a chapel of marble, with a tomb for himself, to be erected and
brought to completion by Antonio in S. Jacopo degli Spagnuoli; which
chapel, as has been related, was all painted in the spaces between the
pilasters by Pellegrino da Modena, and on the altar stood a most
beautiful S. James of marble executed by Jacopo Sansovino. This is a
work of architecture that is held to be truly worthy of the highest
praise, since the marble ceiling is divided very beautifully into
octagonal compartments. Nor was it long before M. Bartolommeo Ferratino,
for his own convenience and for the benefit of his friends, and also in
order to leave an honourable and enduring memorial of himself,
commissioned Antonio to build a palace on the Piazza d' Amelia, which is
a beautiful and most imposing work; whereby Antonio acquired no little
fame and profit. During this time Antonio di Monte, Cardinal of Santa
Prassedia, was in Rome, and he desired that the same architect should
build for him the palace that he afterwards occupied, looking out upon
the Agone, where there is the statue of Maestro Pasquino; and in the
centre, which looks over the Piazza, he wished to erect a tower. This
was planned and brought to completion for him by Antonio with a most
beautiful composition of pilasters and windows from the first floor to
the third--a good and graceful design; and it was adorned both within
and without by Francesco dell' Indaco with figures and scenes in
terretta. And Antonio having meanwhile become the devoted servant of the
Cardinal of Arimini, that lord caused him to erect a palace at Tolentino
in the March, for which, in addition to the rewards that Antonio
received, the Cardinal ever afterwards held himself indebted to him.
While these matters were in progress, and the fame of Antonio was
growing and spreading abroad, it happened that old age and various
infirmities made Bramante a citizen of the other world; at which three
architects were appointed straightway by Pope Leo for the building of S.
Pietro--Raffaello da Urbino, Giuliano da San Gallo, the uncle of
Antonio, and Fra Giocondo of Verona. But no long time passed before Fra
Giocondo departed from Rome, and Giuliano, being old, received leave to
return to Florence. Whereupon Antonio, who was in the service of the
very reverend Cardinal Farnese, besought him very straitly that he
should make supplication to Pope Leo, to the end that he might grant the
place of his uncle Giuliano to him, which proved to be a thing very easy
to obtain, first because of the abilities of Antonio, which were worthy
of that place, and then by reason of the cordial relations between the
Pope and the very reverend Cardinal Farnese. And thus, in company with
Raffaello da Urbino, he continued that building, but coldly enough.
The Pope then went to Cività Vecchia, in order to fortify it, and in his
company were many lords; among others, Giovan Paolo Baglioni and Signor
Vitello, and such persons of ability as Pietro Navarra and Antonio
Marchissi, the architect for fortifications at that time, who had come
from Naples at the command of the Pope. Discussions arising as to the
fortification of that place, many and various were the opinions about
this, one man making one design, and another a different one; but among
so many, Antonio displayed before them a plan which was approved by the
Pope and by those lords and architects as superior to all the others in
strength and beauty and in the handsome and useful character of its
arrangements; wherefore Antonio came into very great credit with the
Court. After this, the genius of Antonio repaired a great mischief
brought about in the following manner: Raffaello da Urbino, in executing
the Papal Loggie and the apartments that are over the foundations, had
left many empty spaces in the masonry in order to oblige some friends,
to the serious damage of the whole building, by reason of the great
weight that had to be supported above them; and the edifice was already
beginning to show signs of falling, on account of the weight being too
great for the walls. And it would certainly have fallen down but for the
genius of Antonio, who filled up those little chambers with the aid of
props and beams, and refounded the whole fabric, thus making it as firm
and solid as it had ever been in the beginning.
Meanwhile the Florentine colony had begun their church in the Strada
Giulia, behind the Banchi, from the design of Jacopo Sansovino. But they
had chosen a site that extended too far into the river, so that,
compelled by necessity, they spent twelve thousand crowns on foundations
in the water, which were executed in a very secure and beautiful manner
by Antonio, who found the way after Jacopo had failed to discover it;
and several braccia of the edifice were built over the water. Antonio
made a model so excellent, that, if the work had been carried to
completion, it would have been something stupendous. Nevertheless, it
was a great error, giving proof of little judgment, on the part of those
who were at that time the heads of that colony in Rome, for they should
never have allowed the architects to found so large a church in so
terrible a river, for the sake of gaining twenty braccia of length, and
to throw away so many thousands of crowns on foundations, only to be
compelled to contend with that river for ever; particularly because, by
bringing that church forward and giving it another form, they might have
built it on solid ground, and, what is more, might have carried the
whole to completion with almost the same expense. And if they trusted
in the riches of the merchants of that colony, it was seen afterwards
how fallacious such a hope was, for in all the years that the
pontificate was held by Leo and Clement of the Medici family, by Julius
III, and by Marcellus, who all came from Florentine territory, although
the last-named lived but a short time, and for all the greatness of so
many Cardinals and the riches of so many merchants, it remained, as it
still does, in the same condition in which it was left by our San Gallo.
It is clear, therefore, that architects and those who cause buildings to
be erected should look well to the end and to every matter, before
setting their hands to works of importance.
But to return to Antonio: the fortress of Monte Fiascone had been
formerly built by Pope Urban, and he restored it at the commission of
the Pope, who took him to those parts one summer in his train. And at
the request of Cardinal Farnese he built two little temples on the
island of Visentina in the Lake of Bolsena, one of which was constructed
as an octagon without and round within, and the other was square on the
outer side and octagonal on the inner, with four niches in the walls at
the corners, one to each; which two little temples, executed in so
beautiful a manner, bore testimony to the skill with which Antonio was
able to give variety to the details of architecture. While these temples
were building, Antonio returned to Rome, where he made a beginning with
the Palace of the Bishop of Cervia, which was afterwards left
unfinished, on the Canto di S. Lucia, where the new Mint stands. He
built the Church of S. Maria di Monferrato, which is held to be very
beautiful, near the Corte Savella, and likewise the house of one
Marrano, which is behind the Cibo Palace, near the houses of the
Massimi.