lovely works in fresco on the ceiling of an apartment, which has three
lunettes on each main side and two at each end, with a series of friezes
that go right round. The centre of the ceiling is divided into two
quadrangular compartments; in the first, where a silken arras is
counterfeited as upheld by the ornament, there may be seen, as if woven
upon it, Scipio Africanus restoring the young woman untouched to her
husband, and in the other the celebrated painter Zeuxis, who is copying
several nude women in order to paint his picture, which was to be placed
in the Temple of Juno. In one of the lunettes, painted with little
figures only about half a braccio high, but very beautiful, are the two
Roman Brothers who, having been enemies, became friends for the public
good and for the sake of their country. In that which follows is
Torquatus,[29] who, in order to observe the laws, when his son has been
condemned to lose his eyes, causes one of his son's and one of his own
to be put out. In the next is the Petition of ...,[30] who, after
hearing the recital of his crimes against his country and the Roman
people, is put to death. In the lunette beside that one is the Roman
people deliberating on the expedition of Scipio to Africa; and next to
this, in another lunette, is an ancient sacrifice crowded with a variety
of most beautiful figures, with a temple drawn in perspective, which has
no little relief, for in that field Domenico was a truly excellent
master. In the last is Cato killing himself after being overtaken by
some horsemen that are most beautifully painted there. And in the
recesses of the lunettes, also, are some little scenes very well
finished.
The excellence of this work was the reason that Domenico was recognized
as a rare painter by those who were then governing, and was commissioned
to paint the vaulting of a hall in the Palace of the Signori, to which
he devoted all the diligence, study, and effort of which any man is
capable, in order to prove his worth and to adorn that celebrated
building of his native city, which was honouring him so much. This hall,
which is two squares long and one square wide, has the ceiling made not
with lunettes, but after the manner of a groined vaulting; wherefore
Domenico executed the compartments in painting, thinking that this would
give the best result, with friezes and cornices overlaid with gold, and
all so beautifully, that, without any stucco-work or other ornaments,
they are so well painted and so graceful that they appear to be really
in relief. On each of the two ends of this hall there is a large picture
with an historical scene, and on each main wall there are two, one on
either side of an octagon; and thus the pictures are six and the
octagons two, and in each of the latter is a scene. At each corner of
the vaulting, where the rib is, there is drawn a round compartment,
which extends half on one wall and half on the other, so that these
compartments, being divided by the ribs of the vaulting, form eight
spaces, in each of which are large seated figures, representing
distinguished men who have defended their Republic and have observed her
laws. The highest part of the surface of the vaulting is divided into
three parts, in such a manner as to form a circular compartment in the
centre, immediately above the octagons, and two square compartments over
those on the walls.
In one of the octagons, then, is a woman with some children round her,
who holds a heart in her hand, representing the love that men owe to
their country. In the other octagon is another woman, with an equal
number of children, as a symbol of civic concord. And these are one on
either side of a Justice that is in the circle, with the sword and
scales in her hands, and seen from below in such bold foreshortening
that it is a marvel, for at the feet she is dark both in drawing and in
colour, and about the knees she becomes lighter, and so continues little
by little towards the torso, the shoulders, and the arms, until she
rises into a celestial splendour at the head, which makes it appear as
if that figure dissolves gradually in a mist: wherefore it is not
possible to imagine, much less to see, a more beautiful figure than this
one, or one executed with greater judgment and art, among all that were
ever painted to be seen in foreshortening from below.
As for the stories, in the first, at the end of the hall and on the left
hand as one enters, are M. Lepidus and Fulvius Flaccus the Censors, who,
after being at enmity with one another, as soon as they became
colleagues in the office of the Censorship, laid aside their private
hatred for the good of their country, and acted in that office like the
closest friends. And Domenico painted them on their knees, embracing
each other, with many figures round them, and with a most beautiful
prospect of buildings and temples drawn in perspective so ingeniously
and so well, that one may see in them what a master of perspective was
Domenico. On the next wall there follows a picture with the story of the
Dictator Postumius Tiburtius, who, having left his only son at the head
of his army in place of himself, commanding him that he should do
nothing else but guard the camp, put him to death for having been
disobedient and having with a fair occasion attacked the enemy and
gained a victory. In this scene Domenico painted Postumius as an old man
with shaven face, with the right hand on his axe, and with the left
showing to the army his son lying dead upon the ground, and depicted
very well in foreshortening; and below this picture, which is most
beautiful, is an inscription very well composed. In the octagon that
follows, in the centre of the wall, is the story of Spurius Cassius,
whom the Roman Senate, suspecting that he was plotting to become King,
caused to be beheaded, and his house to be pulled down; and in this
scene the head, which is beside the executioner, and the body, which is
on the ground in foreshortening, are very beautiful. In the next picture
is the Tribune Publius Mucius, who caused all his fellow-tribunes, who
were conspiring with Spurius to become tyrants of their country, to be
burned; and here the fire that is consuming their bodies is painted very
well and with great art.
At the other end of the hall, in another picture, is the Athenian
Codrus, who, having heard from the oracle that the victory would fall to
that side whose King should be killed by the enemy, laid aside his
robes, entered unknown among the enemy, and let himself be slain, thus
giving the victory to his people by his own death. Domenico painted him
seated, with his nobles round him as he puts off his robes, near a most
beautiful round temple; and in the distant background of the picture he
is seen dead, with his name in an epitaph below. Then, as one turns to
the other long wall, opposite to the two pictures with the octagon in
the centre between them, in the first scene one finds Prince Zaleucus,
who, in order not to break the law, caused one of his own eyes to be put
out, and one of his son's; and here many are standing round him, praying
him that he should not do that cruelty to himself and his son, and in
the distance is his son offering violence to a maiden, and below is his
name in an inscription. In the octagon that is beside that picture is
the story of Marcus Manilius being hurled down from the Capitol; and the
figure of the young Marcus, who is being thrown down from a kind of
balcony, is painted so well in foreshortening, with the head downwards,
that it seems to be alive, as also seem some figures that are below. In
the next picture is Spurius Melius, who belonged to the Equestrian
Order, and was killed by the Tribune Servilius because the people
suspected that he was conspiring to become tyrant of his country; which
Servilius is seated with many round him, and one who is in the centre
points to Spurius lying dead upon the ground, a figure painted with
great art.
Then, in the circles at the corners, where there are the eight figures
mentioned above, are many men who have been distinguished for their
defence of their country. In the first part is the famous Fabius
Maximus, seated and in armour; and on the other side is Speusippus,
Prince of the Tegeatæ, who, being exhorted by a friend that he should
rid himself of his rival and adversary, answered that he did not wish,
at the bidding of his own private interest, to deprive his country of
such a citizen. In the circle that is at the next corner, in one part,
there is the Prætor Celius, who, for having fought against the advice
and wish of the soothsayers, although he had won and had gained a
victory, was punished by the Senate; and beside him sits Thrasybulus,
who with the aid of some friends valorously slew thirty tyrants, in
order to free his country. Thrasybulus is an old man, shaven, with white
locks, and has his name written beneath him, as have also all the
others. In a circle at one corner of the lower end of the hall is the
Prætor Genutius Cippus, who having had a bird with wings in the form of
horns miraculously alight on his head, was told by the oracle that he
would become King of his country, whereupon, although already an old
man, he chose to go into exile, in order not to take away her liberty;
and Domenico therefore painted a bird upon his head. Beside him sits
Charondas, who, having returned from the country, and having gone
straightway into the Senate without disarming himself, in violation of a
law which ordained that one who entered the Senate with arms should be
put to death, killed himself on perceiving his error. In the second
circle on the other side are Damon and Phintias, whose unexampled
friendship is so well known, and with them is Dionysius, Tyrant of
Sicily; and beside these figures sits Brutus, who from love of his
country condemned his two sons to death, because they were conspiring to
bring the Tarquins back to their country.
This work, then, so truly extraordinary, made known to the people of
Siena the ability and worth of Domenico, who showed most beautiful art,
judgment, and genius in all that he did.
The first time that the Emperor Charles V came to Italy, it was expected
that he would go to Siena, for he had declared such an intention to the
Ambassadors of that Republic; and among other vast and magnificent
preparations that were made for the reception of so great an Emperor,
Domenico fashioned a horse eight braccia high and in full relief, all of
paste-board and hollow within. The weight of that horse was supported by
an armature of iron, and upon it was the statue of the Emperor, armed in
the ancient fashion, with a sword in his hand. And below it were three
large figures--vanquished by him, as it were--which also supported part
of the weight, the horse being in the act of leaping with the front legs
high in the air; which three figures represented three provinces
conquered and subdued by the Emperor. In that work Domenico showed that
he was a master no less of sculpture than of painting; to which it must
be added that he had placed the whole work upon a wooden structure four
braccia high, with a number of wheels below it, which, being set in
motion by men concealed within, caused the whole to move forward; and
the design of Domenico was that at the entry of His Majesty this horse,
having been set in motion as has been described, should accompany him
from the gate as far as the Palace of the Signori, and should then come
to rest in the middle of the Piazza. This horse, after being carried by
Domenico so near completion that there only remained to gild it, was
left in that condition, because His Majesty after all did not at that
time go to Siena, but left Italy after being crowned at Bologna; and the
work remained unfinished. But none the less the art and ingenuity of
Domenico were recognized, and all men greatly praised the grandeur and
excellence of that great structure, which stood in the Office of Works
of the Duomo from that time until His Majesty, returning from his
victorious enterprise in Africa, passed through Messina and then Naples,
Rome, and finally Siena; at which time Domenico's work was placed on the
Piazza del Duomo, to his great honour.
The fame of the ability of Domenico being thus spread abroad, Prince
Doria, who was with the Court, after seeing all the works by his hand
that were in Siena, besought him that he should go to Genoa to work in
his palace, where Perino del Vaga, Giovanni Antonio of Pordenone, and
Girolamo da Treviso had worked. But Domenico could not promise that lord
that he would go to serve him at that time, although he engaged himself
for another time, for in those days he had set his hand to finishing a
part of the marble pavement in the Duomo, which Duccio, the painter of
Siena, had formerly begun in a new manner of work. The figures and
scenes were already in great part designed on the marble, the outlines
being hollowed out with the chisel and filled with a black mixture, with
ornaments of coloured marble all around, and likewise the grounds for
the figures. But Domenico, with fine judgment, saw that this work could
be much improved, and he therefore took grey marbles, to the end that
these, profiled with the chisel and placed beside the brilliancy of the
white marble, might give the middle shades; and he found that in this
way, with white and grey marble, pictures of stone could be made with
great perfection after the manner of chiaroscuro. Having then made a
trial, the work succeeded so well in invention, in solidity of design,
and in abundance of figures, that he made a beginning after this fashion
with the grandest, the most beautiful, and the most magnificent pavement
that had ever been made; and in the course of his life, little by
little, he executed a great part of it. Round the high-altar he made a
border of pictures, in which, in order to follow the order of the
stories begun by Duccio, he executed scenes from Genesis; namely, Adam
and Eve expelled from Paradise and tilling the earth, the Sacrifice of
Abel, and that of Melchizedek. In front of the altar is a large scene
with Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, and this has round it a border of
half-length figures, carrying various animals which they seem to be
going to sacrifice. Descending the steps, one finds another large
picture, which serves to accompany that above, and in it Domenico
represented Moses receiving the Laws from God on Mount Sinai; and below
this is the scene when, having found the people worshipping the Golden
Calf, he is seized with anger and breaks the Tables on which those Laws
were written. Below this scene, opposite to the pulpit, and right across
the church, is a frieze with a great number of figures, which is
composed with so much grace and such design that it defies description;
and in this is Moses, who, striking the rock in the desert, causes water
to gush out and gives drink to his thirsty people. Here, along the whole
length of the frieze, Domenico represented the stream of water, from
which the people are drinking in various ways with a vivacity so
pleasing, that it is almost impossible to imagine any effect more
lovely, or figures in more graceful and beautiful attitudes than are
those in this scene--some stooping to the ground to drink, some kneeling
before the rock that is spouting with water, some drawing it in vases
and others in cups, and others, finally, drinking with their hands.
There are, moreover, some who are leading animals to drink, amid the
great rejoicing of that people; and, among other things, most marvellous
is a little boy who has taken a little dog by the head and neck and
plunges its muzzle into the water, in order to make it drink, after
which the dog, having drunk, and not wishing to drink any more, shakes
its head so naturally that it seems to be alive. In short, this frieze
is so beautiful, that for a work of that kind it could not be executed
with greater art, seeing that the various kinds of shadows that may be
seen in these figures are not merely beautiful, but miraculous; and
although the whole work, on account of the fantastic nature of its
craftsmanship, is one of great beauty, this part is held to be the most
beautiful and the best. Below the cupola, moreover, there is a hexagonal
compartment, which is divided into seven hexagons and six rhombs, of
which hexagons Domenico finished four before he died, representing in
them the stories and sacrifices of Elijah, and doing all this much at
his leisure, because this work was as a school and a pastime to
Domenico, nor did he ever abandon it altogether for his other works.
While he was thus labouring now at this work and now elsewhere, he
painted a large altar-piece in oils which is in S. Francesco on the
right hand as one enters into the church, containing Christ descending
in Glory to the Limbo of Hell in order to deliver the Holy Fathers;
wherein, among many nudes, is a very beautiful Eve, and a Thief who is
behind Christ with the cross is a very well-executed figure, while the
cavern of Limbo and the demons and fires of that place are fantastic to
a marvel. And since Domenico was of the opinion that pictures painted in
distemper preserved their freshness better than those painted in oils,
saying that it seemed to him that the works of Luca da Cortona, of the
Pollaiuoli, and of the other masters who painted in oils in those days,
had suffered from age more than those of Fra Giovanni, Fra Filippo,
Benozzo, and the others before their time who painted in distemper--for
this reason, I say, having to paint an altar-piece for the Company of S.
Bernardino on the Piazza di S. Francesco, he resolved to do it in
distemper; and in this way he executed it excellently well, painting in
it Our Lady with many Saints. In the predella, which is very beautiful,
and painted by him likewise in distemper, he depicted S. Francis
receiving the Stigmata; S. Anthony of Padua, who, in order to convert
some heretics, performs the miracle of the Ass, which makes obeisance
before the sacred Host; and S. Bernardino of Siena, who is preaching to
the people of his city on the Piazza de' Signori. And on the walls of
this Company, also, he painted two stories of Our Lady in fresco, in
competition with some others that Sodoma had executed in the same place.
In one he represented the Visitation of S. Elizabeth, and in the other
the Passing of Our Lady, with the Apostles all around; and both of these
are much extolled.
Finally, after having been long expected in Genoa by Prince Doria,
Domenico made his way there, but with great reluctance, being a man who
was accustomed to a life of peace and contented with that which his
wants required, and nothing more; besides which, he was not much used to
making journeys, for the reason that, having built himself a little
house in Siena, and having also a vineyard a mile beyond the Porta a
Camollia, which he cultivated with his own hand as a recreation, going
there often, it was a long time since he had gone far from Siena. Having
then arrived in Genoa, he painted a scene there, beside that of
Pordenone, in which he succeeded very well, and yet not in such a manner
that it could be counted among his best works. But, since the ways of
the Court did not please him, being used to a life of freedom, he did
not stay very willingly in that place, and, indeed, appeared as if he
were stupefied. Wherefore, having come to the end of that work, he
sought leave of the Prince and set out to return home; and passing by
Pisa, in order to see that city, he met with Battista del Cervelliera
and was shown all the most noteworthy things in the city, and in
particular the altar-pieces of Sogliani and the pictures that are in the
recess behind the high-altar of the Duomo.
Meanwhile Sebastiano della Seta, the Warden of Works of the Duomo,
having heard from Cervelliera of the qualities and abilities of
Domenico, and being desirous to finish the work so long delayed by
Giovanni Antonio Sogliani, allotted two of the pictures for that recess
to Domenico, to the end that he might execute them at Siena and send
them finished to Pisa; and so it was done. In one is Moses, who, having
found that the people had sacrificed to the Golden Calf, is breaking the
Tables; and in this Domenico painted some nudes that are figures of
great beauty. In the other is the same Moses, with the earth opening and
swallowing up a part of the people; and in this, also, are some nudes
killed by flaming thunderbolts, which are marvellous. These pictures,
when taken to Pisa, led to Domenico painting four pictures for the front
of that recess--namely, two on each side--of the four Evangelists, which
were four very beautiful figures. Whereupon Sebastiano della Seta, who
saw that he had been served quickly and well, commissioned Domenico,
after these pictures, to paint the altar-piece of one of the chapels in
the Duomo, Sogliani having by that time painted four. Settling in Pisa,
therefore, Domenico painted in that altar-piece Our Lady in the sky with
the Child in her arms, upon some clouds supported by some little Angels,
with many Saints both male and female below, all executed passing well,
but yet not with that perfection which marked the pictures described
above. But he, excusing himself for this to many of his friends, and
particularly on one occasion to Giorgio Vasari, said that since he was
away from the air of Siena and from certain comforts of his own, he did
not seem to be able to do anything.
Having therefore returned home, determined that he would never again go
away to work elsewhere, he painted for the Nuns of S. Paolo, near S.
Marco, an altar-piece in oils of the Nativity of Our Lady, with some
nurses, and S. Anne in a bed that is foreshortened and represented as
standing within a door; and in a dark shadow is a woman who is drying
clothes, without any other light but that which comes from the blaze of
the fire. In the predella, which is full of charm, are three scenes in
distemper--the Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple, her Marriage,
and the Adoration of the Magi. In the Mercanzia, a tribunal in that
city, the officials have a little altar-piece which they say was painted
by Domenico when he was young; it is very beautiful, and it contains in
the centre a S. Paul seated, and on one side his Conversion, in little
figures, and on the other the scene of his Beheading.
Finally, Domenico was commissioned to paint the great recess of the
Duomo, which is at the end behind the high-altar. In this he first made
a decoration of stucco with foliage and figures, all with his own hand,
and two Victories in the vacant spaces in the semicircle; which
decoration was in truth a very rich and beautiful work. Then in the
centre he painted in fresco the Ascension of Christ into Heaven; and
from the cornice downwards he painted three pictures divided by columns
in relief, and executed in perspective. In the middle picture, which has
above it an arch in perspective, are Our Lady, S. Peter, and S. John;
and in the spaces at the sides are ten Apostles, five on each side, all
in various attitudes and gazing at Christ, who is ascending into Heaven;
and above each of the two pictures of the Apostles is an Angel in
foreshortening, the two together representing those two Angels who,
after the Ascension, declared that He had risen into Heaven. This work
is certainly admirable, but it would have been even more so if Domenico
had given beautiful expressions to the heads; as it is, they have
something in the expressions that is not very pleasing, and it appears
that in his old age he adopted for his countenances an expression of
terror by no means agreeable. This work, I say, if there had been any
beauty in the heads, would have been so beautiful that there would have
been nothing better to be seen. But in this matter of the expressions of
the heads, in the opinion of the people of Siena, Sodoma was superior to
Domenico, for the reason that Sodoma made them much more beautiful,
although those of Domenico had more design and greater force. And, in
truth, the manner of the heads in these our arts is of no little
importance, and by painting them with graceful and beautiful expressions
many masters have escaped the censure that they might have incurred for
the rest of their work.