YALE UNIVERSITY
ART LIBRARY

LIVES
OF SEVENTY OF THE MOST EMINENT
PAINTERS, SCULPTORS, AND
ARCHITECTS VOLUME III.

LIVES OF SEVENTY
OF THE MOST EiniNENT
PAINTERS, SCULPTORS
AND
ARCHITECTS

BY
GIORGIO VASARI
EDITED AND ANNOTATED IN THE LIGHT OF RECENT DISCOVERIES
BY
E. H. AND E. W. BLASHFIELD
AND
A. A. HOPKINS

VOLUME III.

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
MDCCCXCVII

Copyright, 1896, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

TROW DIRECTOHY
PRINTINQ And flOOKBINOrNG COMPANY
MEW YOftlS

CONTENTS
FASE
GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO ... 1
ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO  13
BRAMANTE DA URBINO  37
FRA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO . . 60
ALBERTINELLI  85
GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO . 95
RAPHAEL OF URBINO  120
ANDREA DEL SARTO  234
JACOPO PALMA AND LORENZO LOTTO . . 303
FRA SEBA8TIAN0 DEL PIOMBO . . .316
PAOLO CALIARI  340
GIOVANNANTONIO  353
JACOPO ROBUSTI  382
BALD ASS ARE PERUZZI  397

GIOKGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO, VENETIAN
PAINTEE 1
[Bom 1478 ; died 1511.]
Bibliography. — Hermann Lucke, Oiorgione, in the Dohme series of Kunst
und Kiinstler des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit. L. D. de Pontfes, Etudes sur
la Peinture Venetienne et principalement sur le Giorgione. Lacroix, Revue
des Arts, XXII. , Brussels, 1865. Gronau, Zorzon da Castelfranco, la sua ori-
gine, la sua morte e tomba, Venice, 1894. Alessandro Luzio, Isabella d' Este
e due quadri di Giorgione, L' Archivio Storico delV Arte, VI., pp. 47-48,
1888. P. Wickhoff, Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1893, Vol. I. P. Molmenti,
Curiositd di Storia Veneziana, fasc. IL, Giorgione. Camavitto, La Fa-
miglia di Giorgione da Castelfranco, Oiornale Arcadico, 1878. Bernhard
Berenson, Venetian Painters, New york, 1894. Couti, Giorgione, Studio,
Florence, 1894. MoreUi, Italian Painters, London, 1893. L. W. Schaufuss
Ziir Beurtheilung der Gemalde Giorgione's, Dresden, 1874. C. Yriarte, A
propos d'un tableau attribue au Giorgione, Exposition des Old Masters
d Londres, in L'Art, XXIX., p. 61, Paris, 1883. One of the best essays in
Walter Pater's Renaissance is upon Giorgione.
AT the same time when Florence was acquiring so much
renown from the works of Leonardo, the city of
Venice obtained no small glory from the talents and
excellence of one of her citizens, by whom the Bellini, then
held in so much esteem, were very far surpassed, as were all
others who had practised painting up to that time in that
city. This was Giorgio,^ born in the year 1478, at Castel-
• The name Giorgione means simply "Big George."
^ It has been claimed that Giorgio Barbarella, or Giorgione, was a natural
sou of Jacopo Barbarella, a gentleman of a good Venetian family which had
made its home in Castelfranco, and that the latter town disputes with the
Tillage of Vedelago the honor of being Giorgione's birthplace, as his mother
was a peasant girl of the said village. Dr. Gronau (see Bibliography) asserts,
on the contrary, that there is no reason for believing that this artist was in
any way related to the Barbarella (or Barbarelli) family, and says that the
name of Giorgione occurs as early as 1460 (see E. Miintz, La Fin de la Re
naissance, p. 598). Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle claim that he was born
ni.— 1

2 GIORGIONE DA CASTELPKANCO
franco, in the territory of Treviso, and at the time when
Giovanni Mozzenigo, brother to the Doge Piero Mozzenigo,
had himself been elected Doge ; Giorgio was, at a later
period, called Giorgione, as well from the character of his
person as for the exaltation of his mind : he was of ex
tremely humble origin, but was nevertheless very pleasing
in manner, and most estimable in character through the
whole course of his life. Brought up in Venice, he took no
small delight in love-passages, and in the sound of the lute,
to which he was so cordially devoted, and which he prac
tised so constantly, that he played and sang with the most
exquisite perfection, insomuch that he was, for this cause,
frequently invited to musical assemblies and festivals by the
most distinguished personages. Giorgione selected the art
of design, which he greatly loved, as his profession, and
was therein so highly favoured by nature, that he gave his
whole heart to her beauties ; nor would he ever represent
any object in his works which he had not copied from the
life ; so entirely was he subjugated by her charms, and
with such fervour did he imitate them, that he not only ac
quired the reputation of having excelled Gentile and Gio
vanni Bellini, but of being able to compete with those who
were then working in Tuscany, and who were the authors
of the modern manner.
Giorgione had seen certain works from the hand of
Leonardo, which were painted with extraordinary softness,
and thrown into powerful relief, as is said, by extreme
darkness of the shadows, a manner which pleased him so
much, that he ever after continued to imitate it, and in oil
painting approached very closely to the excellence of his
model.s A zealous admirer of the good in art, Giorgione
before 1477, but no consecutive biography of Giorgione can be written either
from records or pictures, as the data are insufficient.
« Morelli euds that Vasari's calling Giorgione a student of the works of
Leonardo is only the result of a narrow patriotism and of a wish to have all
Italian art proceed directly or indirectly from Tuscany ; but M MUntz La
Fxn de la Renaissance, p. 600, contradicts Morelli's statement that Giorgione
could not have known Leonardo's works. He adduces the following facts • I

GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO 8
always selected for representation the most beautiful ob
jects that he could find, and these he treated in the most
varied manner : he was endowed by nature with highly
felicitous qualities, and gave to all that he painted, whether
in oil or fresco, a degree of life, softness, and harmony
(being more particularly successful in the shadows), which
caused all the more eminent artists to confess, that he was
born to infuse spirit into the forms of painting, and they
admitted that he copied the freshness of the living form *
more exactly than any other painter, not of Venice only,
but of all other places.
In his youth Giorgione painted, in Venice, many very
beautiful pictures of the Virgin, with numerous portraits
from nature, which are most life-like and beautiful ; of this
we have proof in three heads of extraordinary beauty,
painted in oil by his hand, and which are in the possession
of the Most Reverend Grimani, Patriarch of Aquileia : one
That Leonardo was in Venice for some months in 1500, just at the time when
both the latter and Giorgione were especial students of chiaroscuro. IL That
Solario, Leonardo's pupil and admirer, stayed long in Venice. HI. That Leo
nardo's master, Verrocchio, had passed years there. M. Muntz's arguments are
strong ones, and it seems almost certain that, given the possibility of his hav
ing seen any of them, Leonardo's powerful effects of light and shade, black as
they were, must ha"ve strongly influenced the wonderful Venetian who trans
lated the blacks into warm and deep shadows, just as Correggio turned them
into clear and transparent tones juxtaposed with silvery lights. Milanesi
agrees with MoreUi that Giorgione formed himself upon the manner of Giam-
bellino, but it is not too much to say that Giorgione learned largely from both
Leonardo and Bellini.
* Morelli is especially enthusiastic over the Sleeping Venus of the Dresden
Gallery ; he believes this picture to be by Giorgione, and that it is the one
described by the Anonimo as in the house of Jeronimo Marcello at Venice
in 1525, as a " Sleeping Venns with a Cupid in an open landscape." Ridolfi
also mentions this Sleeping Venus, and says that the Cupid was finished
by Titian. Morelli thinks this the prototype of the Venetian pictures of
Venus, and that Giorgione's conception is far greater than is Titian's treat
ment of the same subject. The Cupid was so completely destroyed when the
picture came to Dresden, that what remained of it was removed from the can
vas. Crowe and CavalcaseUe considered this picture a copy by Sassoferrato,
and believed that the original was in the Darmstadt Gallery. This latter pict
ure was thought by Morelli to be an eighteenth-century work of a German
artist.

4 GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO
of these represents David (and, according to common report,
is a portrait of the master himself) ; he has long locks,
reaching to the shoulders, as was the custom of that time,
and the colouring is so fresh and animating, that the face
appears to be rather real than painted : the breast is covered
with armour, as is the arm, with which he holds the head of
Goliath.' The second is much larger, and is the portrait of
a man taken from the life ; in the hand this figure holds the
red barett-cap of a commander, the mantle is of furs, and
beneath it appears one of those tunics, after the ancient
fashion, which are well known ; this is believed to represent
some leader of armies. The third picture is a Boy, with
luxuriant curling hair, and is as beautiful as imagination
can portray ; these works bear ample testimony to the excel
lence of Giorgione, and no less than his deserts was the esti
mation in which he was ever held by that great patriarch,
who prized his abilities highly, and constantly treated him
with infinite kindness, which he well merited.
In Florence, in the house of the sons of Giovanni Borghe-
rini, there is a picture by the hand of Giorgione, the por
trait namely of the above-named Giovanni, taken when he
was still a youth, and living in Venice ; in the same picture
is also the portrait of his preceptor, nor is it possible to im
agine two heads more admirably depicted, whether as re
gards the general colouring of the flesh or the treatment of
the shadows.^ There is another picture by the same master,
in the palace of Anton de' Nobili ; this represents a military
commander wearing his armour, and is painted with great
force and truth ; they say that it is one of the leaders whom
Consalvo Ferrante brought with him to Venice when he
visited the Doge, Agostino Barberigo. At that time, as is
» These pictures have all disappeared. A David with the Head of Goliath,
in the Imperial Art Museum at Vienna, is believed to be a copy from the
original of Giorgione ; the latter is lost. Neither the picture of the Warrior
nor of the Boy can be identified.
• Possibly the double portrait of two men, one reading a letter, now in the
Berlin Gallery. See Milanesi, IV. 94, note 3. There is, however, no testi
mony of solid value to support this conjecture,

GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO 5
reported, Giorgione took the likeness of the Great Consalvo
himself, a work of extraordinary merit, insomuch that it
was impossible to imagine a more beautiful picture, and this
Consalvo took away with him.' Giorgione painted many
other most admirable portraits, which are dispersed through
various parts of Italy, among them is that of Leonardo
Loredano, painted at the time when he was Doge : this I
saw set forth to view on Ascension day, when I almost be
lieved myself to behold that most illustrious prince him
self.* Another of these fine works is at Faenza, in the
house of Giovanni da Castel of Bologna, an excellent en
graver of cameos and gems : it was painted for Giovanni's
father-in-law, and is, in truth, a most admirable work ; the
colours are blent with such perfect harmony, that one would
rather suppose it to be in relief than a painting.'
Giorgione found much pleasure in fresco-painting, and,
among other works of this kind undertaken by him, was one
for the Soranzo Palace, which is situate on the Piazza di
San Paolo : here he painted the entire faQade, on which, to
say nothing of the representation of various historical
events, or of many fanciful stories, there is an oil-painting,
executed on the plaster, which has endured the action of
rain, sun, and wind to the present day, and yet preserved
its freshness wholly unimpaired. In the same place there
is, moreover, a picture of Spring, which appears to me to be
one of Giorgione's best works in fresco, and it is much to be
lamented that this painting has been so cruelly injured by
time. For my part, I am persuaded that there is nothing
' Milanesi suggests the possibility of the portrait of Consalvo being that in
the Museum of Vienna of an armed man holding a halberd ; but the attribu
tion is not generally accepted. The portrait of a young warrior in black
armor, in the Museum of Prankf ort-on-the-Main, is attributed to Giorgione.
' This work is lost.
»M. Miintz, op. cit., pp. 603-604, in remarking that the decoration of mar
riage coffers afforded frequent opportunity for Giorgione to develop his ro
mantic vein, gives a whole list of his mythological subjects which have dis
appeared. See, also, Sig. A. Venturi, Pinacoteche Minori d' Italia (L'Archivie
Storico delV Arte, VI., p. 409), who attributes to Giorgione certain pictures
painted for marriage coffers, and now in the Museum of Padua.

6 GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO
which so grievously injures fresco-paintings as do the south
winds, and this they do more particularly when the work
is in the neighbourhood of the sea, since they then always
bring with them a saline humidity which is exceedingly
noxious.^" In the year 1504, there happened a most terrible confla
gration at the Exchange, or Magazines of the German Mer
chants, near the bridge of the Rialto, whereby the building
was entirely consumed, with all the wares contained in it,
to the great loss of the merchants. The Signoria of Venice
thereupon commanded that it should be rebuilt, with in
creased convenience for those who used it or dwelt therein,
all which was speedily commenced with great magnificence,
and, in due time, was accomplished in a style of infinite
beauty and with rich decoration. Giorgione, whose fame
had constantly extended, was consulted on this occasion,
and received a commission from those who had charge of
the matter, to paint the building in fresco of various colours,
according to his own fancy ; provided only that he gave
proof of his ability, and produced a work of adequate excel
lence, the edifice being in one of the finest sites, and com
manding one of the most admirable views in the whole city."
Giorgione set hand to the work accordingly, but thought
only of executing fanciful figures, calculated for the display
of his knowledge in art, and wherein there is, of a truth,
neither arrangement of events in consecutive order, nor
even single representations, depicting the history of known
or distinguished persons, whether ancient or modern. I,
for my part, have never been able to understand what they
mean, nor, with all the inquiries that I have made, could I
ever find any one who did understand, or could explain
them to me. Here there is a man, there a woman, in dif-
1" Of all these there remain but a few slight traces of color.
" The facade toward the canal was given to Giorgione, that toward the
bridge to Titian. See the story of the competition in the life of Titian. See,
also, Simonsfeld, Der Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venedig, Stuttgart, 1887. The
Venetian senate ordered of Giorgione a large canvas for the audience-hall of
the Grand Council in the Ducal Palace ; it has disappeared.

GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO 7
ferent attitudes ; one has the head of a lion beside him,
near another is an angel, but which rather resembles a
Cupid, so that one cannot divine what it all means. Over
the door which leads to the store-rooms for the wares, a
seated figure of a woman is depicted ; she has the head of
a dead giant at her feet, as is the custom in representations
of Judith,'^ and this head she is raising with a sword,
while speaking, at the same time, to a figure in the German
habit, who is standing, still further beneath her. What or
whom this figure may be intended to represent, I have
never been able to determine, unless, indeed, it be meant
for a figure of Germany ; on the whole, however, it is,
nevertheless, apparent that the work is well composed, and
that the artist was continually adding to his acquirements :
there are certain heads and other portraits of diiferent fig
ures in this work which are extremely well designed, and
coloured with great imitation. Giorgione has also laboured
throughout to maintain the utmost fidelity to nature, nor
is any trace of imitation to be discovered in the manner.
This work is highly extolled in Venice, and is celebrated
not only for the paintings executed by Giorgione, but also
for the advantages presented by the edifice to the commerce
of the merchants and for its utility to the public.^'
Giorgione likewise executed a picture of Christ bearing
his Cross, while he is himself dragged along by a Jew.
This work was subsequently placed in the church of San
Rocco, where it is held in the highest veneration by many of
the faithful, and even performs miracles, as is frequently
seen." This master laboured in many parts of Italy, as,
" This Judith (or figure suggesting Judith) was not by Giorgione, but by
Titian, and was engraved as one of his works, by Piccini in 1658 (see Bottari).
" Of these frescoes, since destroyed by exposure, certain fragments were
engraved in 1760 by Zanetti (see Milanesi, IV., p. 97, note 3).
'» Critics do not wholly agree regarding this picture, which is, however, gen
erally attributed to Titian. Signor Adolf o Venturi, in the Archivio Storico
deW Arte, VT., pp. 413-413, reproduces the head of a Christ bearing the Cross,
a picture which is in the Loschi Gallery of Vicenza, and which is attributed
to Giorgione ; he adduces a, replica existing in the gallery of Rovigo, and gives
a reproduction of another head of Christ, identical in pose but finer than the

8 GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO
for example, at Castelfranco i= and in March of Treviso."
He executed numerous portraits for different Italian
Princes, and many of his works were sent beyond the con
fines of Italy," as specimens worthy to bear testimony to
the fact that, if Tuscany abounded at all times in masters
of eminence, neither were the districts beyond the moun
tains altogether abandoned or wholly forgotten by Heaven.
It is related that Giorgione, being in conversation with
certain sculptors, at the time when Andrea del Verrocchio
was engaged with his bronze horse, ^^ these artists main
tained that, since Sculpture was capable of exhibiting
various aspects in one sole figure, from the fact that the
spectator can walk round it, so it must, on this account,
be acknowledged to surpass painting, which could not do
more than display a given figure in one particular aspect.
Giorgione, on the contrary, was of opinion that in one
picture the painter could display various aspects without
the necessity of walking round his work, and could even
display, at one glance, all the different aspects that could
Loschi picture. This finer work is in the possession of Signor Marius di
Maria, of Venice, and Signor Venturi believes that the two other heads men
tioned above are only copies from it.
" The fine Madonna of Castelfranco is a kind of boundary mark in art. It
is a subject conceived in the old and painted in the new manner. The latter
is not yet wholly emancipated ; in parts the modelling is still close and careful,
if compared with other and later works attributed to the master ; still, this
picture points onward to the Concert of the Louvre, and to the broad, sweeping
manner of Titian. In the Ordeal of Fire and the Judgment of Solomon
(Uffizi) Giorgione is still, as M. Miintz has remarked, a primitive master ; the
Castelfranco Madonna announces his change of style. There is in the Na
tional Gallery of London a replica, with some slight variations, of the San
Liberale of the Castelfranco Madonna. Drs. Richter and Frizzoni believe it
to be only a copy from Giorgione.
" Por Giorgione's works in the Trevisan March, Milanesi refers the stu
dent to Federici, Memorie Trevigiane, II. , pp. 3-3.
" A very charming head of a shepherd, at Hampton Court, is generally at
tributed to Giorgione, and is reproduced by Mr. Bernhard Berenson, in his
Venetian Painters from a photograph made by the orders of Professor Sidney
Colvin. See also Mary Logan, Guide to the Italian Pictures at Hampton
Court, 1894.
" This story certainly is wrong as to date ; Giorgione was only ten years
old when Verrocchio was working on the colossal horse.

GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO 9
be presented by the figure of a man, even though the latter
should assume several attitudes, a thing which could not be
accomplished by sculpture without compelling the observer
to change his place, so that the work is not presented at
one view, but at different views. He declared, further,
that he could execute a single figure in painting, in such a
manner as to show the front, back, and profiles of both
sides at one and the same time. This assertion astonished
his hearers beyond all measure, but the manner in which
Giorgione accomplished his purpose was as follows. He
painted a nude figure, with its back turned to the specta
tor, and at the feet of the figure was a limpid stream,
wherein the reflection of the front was painted M'ith the
utmost exactitude : on one side was a highly burnished
corslet, of which the figure had divested itself, and wherein
the left side was reflected perfectly, every part of the figure
being clearly apparent : and on the other side was a mirror,
in which the right profile of the nude form was also ex
hibited. By this beautiful and admirable fancy, Giorgione
desired to prove that painting is, in effect, the superior art,
requiring more talent and demanding higher effort : he
also shows that it is capable of presenting more at one view
than is practicable in sculpture. The work was, indeed,
greatly commended and admired as both ingenious and
beautiful." Giorgione likewise painted the portrait of Caterina,
Queen of Cyprus, from the life, a picture which I formerly
saw in the possession of the illustrious Messer Giovanni
Cornaro.^ In my book of drawings, also, there is a head
painted in oil by his hand, wherein he has portrayed a
i» This work has disappeared. M. Miintz (La Fin de la Renaissance, p. 585),
in noting the relations between Venioe and the North reminds the reader that
Jan Van Eyck painted a picture of Women at the Bath, in which, by the aid
of a mirror, the same figure was seen from two different sides.
2° This portrait is lost. Dr. Frizzoni, in the Archivio Storico de.lF Arte,
VII., pp. 375-378, discusses certain pictures in the Corporation Galleries of
Art, Glasgow, which are variously attributed though without certain proof to
Giorgione and to other painters.

10 GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO
German of the Fugger family, who was one of the principal
merchants then trading in Venice, and had his abode at the
Fondaco, or Cloth Magazine of the Germans.^' This head
is wonderfully beautiful, and I have, besides, in my posses
sion other sketches and pen-and-ink drawings of this mas
ter. While Giorgione was thus labouring to his own honour
and that of his country, he was also much in society, and
delighted his many friends with his admirable performance
in music. At this time he fell in love with a lady, who
returned his affection with equal warmth, and they were
immeasurably devoted to each other. But in the year 1511
it happened that the lady was attacked by the plague, when
Giorgione also, not aware of this circumstance and contin
uing his accustomed visits, was also infected by the disease,
and that with so much violence that in a very short time he
passed to another life.^ This event happened in the thirty-
fourth year of his age ; not without extreme grief on the
part of his many friends, to whom he was endeared by his
excellent qualities ; it was also greatly to the loss of the
world, thus prematurely deprived of his talents.^ ^^ Amidst
^' MUanesi identifies the Fngger portrait with a picture in the Munich
Gallery catalogued as the portrait of Giorgione, but there is no positive evi
dence in favor of his theory.
22 Ridolfi says Giorgione died of grief over the faithlessness of his lady-love.
Signor Alessandro Luzio (see Miintz op. cit., p. 608) has shown, ou the con
trary, that Giorgione really did die of the plague, in October, 1510 (1511
n. s. ), at the age of but thirty-three or thirty-four years.
2= The remains of Giorgione were taken to Castelfranco in 1638, and were
interred in the church of San Liberale.
" The principal scholar of Giorgione was Sebastiano del Piombo, whose life
is given later. The influence of Giorgione over the Venetian school, says Mo
relli, can be traced in the works of Lotto, Palma Vecchio, Titian, Sebastian
del Piombo, Pordenone, Bocoacoino, Bouifazio Veronese, Cariani, Romanino,
and others.
2= The late Giovanni Morelli, who by his "new method " of analysis of
pictures has made himself so famous a name as a critic, has perhaps studied
no other master so enthusiastically as Giorgione. Morelli's contributions to
our critical methods are of great and undoubted value ; he has been a success
ful innovator, has made distinguished converts, and directors of great gal
leries have accepted many of his attributions. His books are important, al-

GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO 11
these regrets there was, however, the consolation of know
ing that Giorgione ^ had left behind him two worthy dis-
though a controversial spirit is not wholly absent from their pages. His
attributions are usually unhesitating, most of them are based upon careful
reasoning, some of them, on the contrary, seem rather arbitrary, and in the
case of one picture by Giorgione (Italian Painters, Vol. I., p. 348), the author
would appear to have rested his case upon the kind of evidence which he
finds worthless when adduced by other critics. On the whole, where so msiny
doctors have disagreed, as in the case of Giorgione, the fallibility of all is
possible, and M. Miintz, in his Fin de la Renaissance, vrisely abstains from
anything more than the study of the disputed pictures, the acceptance of
well-established evidence, or, in default of that, of a general consensus of
opinion. No painter has been such a subject of controversy as Giorgione —
controversy which runs the gamut from the enlightened criticism of Morelli
to the fantastical attribution which names the three figures in the Concert
of the Pitti, Luther, John Calvin, and Catherine von Bora ! The Madonna of
Castelfranco is an authenticated work ; a majority of art critics endorses also
the Ordeal of Fire, in the Uffizi ; the Judgment of Solomon, in the same gal
lery (this picture is, however, not wholly undisputed) ; the so-called Family
of Giorgione, in the Giovanelli Palace of Venice ; the Three Astrologers, or
rather, the Evander and Eneas, iu the Gallery of Vienna, and a portrait of a
young man in the Museum of Berlin. The Concert Champetre of the Louvre
has been disputed, but is called authentic by Morelli and Mr. Berenson, while
the latter believe the Concert of the Pitti Gallery to have been painted by
Titian while he was still a youth. MM. Gronau and Wickhoff attribute this
Concert, as well as the one in the Louvre, to Domenico Campagnola. Morelli
has claimed for Giorgione the Madonna with Saints Rochus and Anthony, in
the Museum of Madrid, see Dr. Gustavo Frizzoni, L' Archivio Storico delV
Arte, VI., p. 461. This picture is, on the contrary, attributed by other
critics to Pordenone, see M. Paul Lefort, in the Gazette des Beaux Arts,
December, 1892, p. 470. The Madonna with Saint Bridget and another saint,
in the same Museum of Madrid, and there attributed to Giorgione, is given by
Morelli to Titian. Morelli also claims for Giorgione the Sleeping Venus of
Dresden; some shepherds (a fragment) in the Esterhazy colle.:tion at Buda-
Pesth ; the Christ of the Loschi collection, in Vicenza (see note 14) ; the Knight
of Malta, in the Uffizi (which has there been attributed to Sebastian del Pi
ombo and to others) ; a portrait of a woman, No. 143, in the Borghese Gallery
of Rome ; a portrait of a man, in Buda-Pesth ; the Apollo and Daphne of the
Archbi-hop's Seminary in Venice, and the picture of the Three Stages of Life,
in the Pitti, and there attributed to Lorenzo Lotto. A Nymph and Satyr, in
the Pitti, has been also attributed by Morelli to Giorgione as a youthful work;
it is, however, a doubtful picture. The Holy Family, in the Louvre, cata
logued as by Giorgione, is accredited by Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle to
Pellegrino da San Daniele.
25 Giorgione exists especially as a great name and a great influence. He
is the emancipator, and worked as complete a change in the North as did
the great masters of the Roman school in Tuscany and in Central Italy.

12 GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO
ciples and excellent masters in Sebastiano^ a Venetian, who
was afterwards a Monk of the Piombo in Rome, and Titian
del Cadore, who not only equalled, but even surpassed him
greatly. Of both these artists we propose to speak in the
proper place, and will then fully describe the honour and
advantage which the art has derived from them.
After Giorgione the morceau, to use a French term, disappears ; it is sacri
ficed to the ensemble^ that is to say, detail is no longer considered, gen
eral eifect is eTerything. In this change there was at once great gain and
great loss, gain in an additional phase of evolution, loss of a whole para
phernalia of charming decorative accessory. Giorgione leads his Madonna of
Castelfranco down from her ornamented throne, and teaching her to forget
the brocades and marbles takes her into the fields. He was the first to feel
sure that with sky and "trees and water he needed no properties made by
man's hands. Until now the Italians had painted saints and princes, the
Venetians began to paint the people. An unhesitating rejection of all that
was old, of all that had become conventional, must have been nearly instinc
tive to Giorgione. The selection of two or three human figures, a tree, a
purple mountain background, satisfied him as to his material and made him
an innovator. Into this idyl he put an intensity that was all his own, and a
color deeper chorded than is even Titian's, and, since he was a Venetian, to
gether with this intensity there came robustness.
His nymphs are no anaemic Graces of Botticelli, but are round and over-
heavy ; he cares little for drawing in these episodical pictures, and much for
harmony ; his coloring is Venetian in its most powerful and profound phase ;
his background is that noble, many-fountained country which, overhung by
a cornice of Alps and studded with cities of the hill and of the plain, lies be
tween Milan and Venice. He is the Theocritus of Italian painting, and his
idyls have the largeness and simplicity of classic conception; though his
pictures are full of a thoughtful and melancholy charm, they are neverfcheless
robust and healthy in their golden warmth of tone. He domesticated out
door nature, replacing the religious picture even of the private chapel by
something more intimate, he framed little fragments of the hills and woods,
and to the Venetian patricians in their winter palaces he gave back their
villegiatura by this rus in urbe. With him begins that frank untrammelled
power which we find even in the works of third-rate Venetian masters, the
result rather of temperament than of the thought and science which Floren
tines gave to art. That Leonardo's chiaroscuro fascinated him we can well
believe ; he turned its black shadows to bronze and gold ; as with Leonardo
we must not judge him by his concrete work as much as by his vast influence,
for although he died so young he launched the ship which Titian brought to
port.

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO, PAINTER
[Bom 1494 (?) ; died 1534. ]
Bibliography. — Raphael Mengs, Memorie Goncernenti la Vitaele Opere di
A. Allegri, Bassano, 1783. J. Affo, Ragionamenlo sopra una Stanza Dipinta
del Correggio nel Monasterio di S. Paolo, Parma, 1794. G. G. di Rossi,
Pitture di Antonio Allegri, detto il Correggio, esistenti in Parma nel monas-
tero di San Paolo, Parma, 1800. L. Pungileoni, Memorie Istoriche di An
tonio Allegri detto il Correggio, Parma, 1817-1831. M. Leone, Pitture di
Antonio Allegri da Correggio, Modena, 1841. P. Toschi, Tutti gli Affreschi
del Correggio iti Parma, Paima, 1846. Carlo d'Arco, Le Arti e le Artisti
Mantovani, Mantua, 1859. T. Gautier, Le Corrige, in V Artiste, 1865, I., pp.
3, 25, 49, Paris, 1865. G. Giordani, Sopra sei Bozzi ad olio dipinti da Cor
reggio, Bologna, 1867. C. Malaspina, La Vita e le Opere di Correggio,
Parma, 1869. J. Meyer, Antonio Allegri da Correggio, Leipsic, 1871 ; Eng
lish translation by M. C. Heaton, London, 1876. L. W. Schauf liss, Correggio's
traumende Magdalena Dresden, 1S73. Quirino Bigi, Notizie di Antonio Allegri
e di A. Bartoletti suo maestro e di altripittori ed artisti Correggesi, Modena,
1873. L. Fagan, The Works of Correggio at Parma, London, 1873. Willelmo
Braghirolli, De' rapporti di Federigo II. Gonzaga con Antonio Allegri da
Correggio, article published in the Giornale d'Erudizione Artistica, Perugia,
1874, Vol. III., p. 335. Mortini, Studi intorno il Correggio, Parma, 1875.
G. Colbacchini, Due Dipinti da Correggio, Venice, 187.5. J. P. Richter,
Correggio, in the Dohme Series of Kunst und Kiinstler, Leipsic. Hugo
von Tschudi, Correggio's Mythologische Darstellungen, Graphischen K!m-
sten, Vienna, 1880. Madame Mignaty, Le Corrige, Paris, 1881. E Pan-
zacchi, 11 Correggio, in Natura ed Arte, Milan, 1894, and in the volume Al
Rezzo, Rome, 1882. G. Gruyer, Le Corrige au Musee du Louvre, in La Nou-
velle Revue, November 1, 1888. A. Venturi, Quadri del Correggioper Albinea,
L' Archivio Storico dell' Arte, 1888, L, p. 90. A. Majoli, La Vita e le Opere
del Correggio (Conversazioni della Domenica), No. 23, May 27, 1888, Milan.
Vasnier, La Coupole du Corrige d Parme, Chronique des Arts, 1890, No. 30.
Correggio, M. C. Heaton, London, 1891. H. Thode, Correggio's Madonna
von Casalmaggiore in the Jahrbuch der K. Preuss. Kunstsammlungen, 1891.
Adolfo Venturi, 11 Pittor delle Grazie. Gustavo Frizzoni, Capolavoro nuo-
vamente illustrato, I'Archivio Storico dell' Arte, VII, pp. 392-95. Alberto
Rondani, Come vis.ie il Correggio, Nuova Antologia, LII. , p. 45, Rome, 1894,
and 11 Correggio, published in various numbers of the Gazzetta di Parma, 1890.
Corrado Ricci, Antonio Allegri da Correggio, London and New York, 1896.
Of these works incomparably the most important is that by Signor Corrado

14 ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO
Ricci. It is a nearly definitive monograph, with careful arguments, sifted evi
dence, and quoted or cited documents in great numbers. It is written with
intelligent enthusiasm, and is illustrated by a very great number of reproduc
tions made by the latest processes. It is only within a year or two that
Correggio's frescoes of Parma have been photographed. This fact would
in itself make Signer Ricci's book invaluable ; and the further fact must be
added that as director of the galleries of Parma the author had very great
advantages for obtaining documentary evidence. It is much to be desired
that editors, whether French or English, shall give to men so competently
equipped and fortunately placed, the opportunity of writing monographs
upon many painters whose works have been imperfectly illustrated. Even
those who, like Mantegna, Signorelli, Botticelli, Fra Bartolommeo, and
Verrocchio, have been made the subject of important monographs or chap
ters, would be the better for some publications giving au adequate, pictorial
reproduction of their works. Giotto's and Angelico's paintings would make
superb picture-books, independently of the literary interest which should
attach to such works. The Bellini, Ghirlandajo, Filippino, Perugino, Pin-
turicchio, Andrea del Sarto, are waiting their turn, as well as many of the
great Venetians. Among Italian masters only Michelangelo, Raphael, Leo
nardo and Titian, and now Correggio, have had relatively thorough justice
done to them in the matter of reproductions of their pictures, and in an art-
book reproductions are of the greatest importance. Mr. Berenson's Lorenzo
Lotto is another well illustrated monograph. Dr. Meyer's work is also a
comprehensive and valuable study of Correggio, and is the first in which evi
dence is examined. Sig. Ricci, while condemning the confused character of
Pungileoni's work, says that it has afforded a mass of detailed information ; he
finds, on the contrary, that Bigi and Mme. Mignaty returned in a great meas
ure to the old fables which have so long existed concerning the painter. Several
of the works mentioned in this Bibliography are short studies by eminent
modern critics upon special works. In addition to the comprehensive books
of Ricci and Meyer, Burckbardt's Cicerone should also be read for an
analysis of the weaker side of Correggio's work, and Morelli, both in his Italian
Painters and his Italian Masters in German Galleries, should be consulted for
his special studies upon the Magdalen of Dresden and other disputed pictures.
I AM not willing to depart hastily from the land wherein
our great mother Natnre, that she might not he ac
cused of partiality, presented to the world extraordi
nary men, of the same kind wherewith she had for so many
years adorned Tuscany. Among the masters of this vicin
ity, then, and one endowed with an exalted and most ad
mirable genius, was Antonio da Correggio,' an excellent
' Antonio was the son of Pellegrino Allegri, called also Doman, and of Ber-
nardina Piazzoli degli Aromani ; he was born in the quarter of the Borgo
Vecchio, of the town of Correggio, a small city between Modena and Reggio,

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO 15
pamter, who acquired the new manner to such complete
perfection that, in a few years,'- favoured as he was by
nature and advanced by diligent study, he became a most
remarkable and excellent artist. ^ Of a timid and anxious
probably in 1494, and it seems likely that his ancestry originally came from
Jampagnola. The house in the Borgo— what was left of it at least-was
bought by a society of gentlemen of the city of Correggio and was presented
to the municipality. The date (1494) given as that of his birtl., though un
supported by document, is probably correct, or very nearly so. Antonio
-^occasionally signed receipts by his nickname, " Lieto " or " Lieti."
I => The fascination that attaches to Correggio has been not a little enhanced
, by the belief that he was absolutely self-made and had no artistic environ-
\ ment worth calling such. This factitious and wholly unnecessary enhance
ment must be renounced, for Antonio grew up as the friend and protige ol
Veronica Gambara, and surrounded by the refinements of a court. Nothing
is more special to lt.aly of the Renaissance than is the existence of a great
number of tiny but cultivated capitals, to which the Weimar of the last cen
tury affords a modern parallel Antonio was protected by Veronica, who was
wife of the Lord of Correggio, and he was even one of the witnesses to the
betrothal settlement of Chiara di Gianfrancesco da Correggio when she was
affianced to Ippolito, the son of Veronica Veronica Gambara was an in
timate friend and correspondent of Isabella d'Este, "the great marchioness "
the most famous lady of her time in North Italy, and it is highly probable
that when Antonio went to Mantua he was recommended to Isabella by Vero
nica. See Ricci, Correggio, p. 83 et seq.
^ Correggio's paternal uncle, Lorenzo Allegri, was a painter, and it is only
natural to infer that the boy's first guidance came from him. Antonio (called
Tognino) Bartolotti degli Anceschi may also, as the leading artist ol the little
city of Correggio, have been the boy's master, or, at the least, influential in his
early training, but there is nothing to directly prove his relations with the
younger Antonio. Francesco Bianchi-Perrari, called by some critics Cor
reggio's master, is not m'intioned as such until the seventeenth century (by
Gian Battista Spaccini). Signor Ricci (Correggio, pp. 45-47) brings forward
many arguments in combating this theory supported by Signor Venturi,
that Ferrari was his master ; he also strongly opposes the supposition of Mo
relli that Correggio became a scholar of Franoia, and when only fourteen years
old. He adduces in point the fact that Malvasia, who saw Francia's own
household record of his scholars, and copied thirty names from it, does not in
clude Correggio's name, and adds that he certainly would have quoted it tri
umphantly had it existed in the record. Morelli, however, has first stated the
now generally accepted theory that Correggio derives from and is the greatest
exponent of the BmiUan, and more particularly the Perrarese, school of paint
ing. Signor Ricci believes that Antonio passed to Mantua from his native city
(historians tell us that he went there in 1511 with some of the Correggian lords
who had fled from the pestilence which was decimating Correggio), and that
he there " formed his characteristic style studying the works of Mantegna, but

16 ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO
disposition, he subjected himself to severe and continual
labours * in his art for the support of his family, which he
found an oppressive burthen,' and though disposed by nat
ure towards everything good, he, nevertheless, afflicted
himself more than was reasonable by resisting the pressure
of those passions by which man is most commonly assailed^
In the exercise of his art, Antonio betrayed the melancholy
attributed to his disposition ; but, devoted to the labours of.
his vocation, he was a zealous inquirer into all the difficult
ties incidental to the calling he had chosen.^ Of his suc-t
also coming under the direct influence of Costa and Dossi, who were working in \
Mantua at the time. " See Ricci, Correggio, pp. 68, 69. Morelli even thinks .
that Correggio may have studied for a time in Venice itself. Pungileoni says,
as to Antonio's education, outside of his painting, that he received literary
instruction from Giovanni Berni of Piacenza and Marastoni of Modena ; in
philosophy from G. B. Lombardi, a celebrated physician of Correggio ; and in
anatomy from Francesco Grillenzoni. Signor Ricci, however, assures us that
in all of this Pungileoni drew upon his imagination, simply fitting the names
of the celebrated local or neighboring savants to his case.
* Vasari has been criticised for saying that Correggio's painting was labo
rious, whereas it was in reality flowing and spontaneous ; but the fact is that
Vasari says nothing of the sort. He tells us that Correggio fatigued himself
with continual labor in his art, which is quite another thing, since the work
accomplished in the short life of this wonderful man is enough to prove that
his labor was unremitting. The real source of Vasari's insistence is probably
his desire to reconcile this biography with the tradition of Correggio's misfor
tunes. ' The father of Correggio, Pellegrino Allegri, possessed, toward 1534, a very
fair landed property, and gave a suitable dowry to Antonio's daughter ; An
tonio also inherited from his maternal uncle, Francesco Aromani, but after
much vexatious litigation. After the death of the painter the governor of
Parma, Alessandro Caccia, wrote to the Duke of Mantua, " I hear that he has
made comfortable provision for his heirs." This disposes at once of the
stories of exaggerated poverty and of exaggerated prosperity which various
writers have told concerning the family of Correggio. A misreading of the
word misero, penurious rather than poor, was the fruitful source of miscon
ception regarding Antonio's poverty. Vasari, as we see, shared this miscon
ception, and the seventeenth-century painters believed that their illustrious
forerunner had nearly died of want. Still later, Oehlensohlager wrote a trag
edy upon the supposed conditions of his death, and for a long time the story
of the sixty scudi in copper (see page 32), played an important part in all
books upon Correggio.
" Antonio's first authentic work was ordered in 1514, for the Franciscan
church of Correggio, and was painted in five months. As he was a minor his

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO 17
Cess we have proof in a vast multitude of figures executed
by his hand in the cathedral of Parma : they are painted in
fresco, and finished with much care. These pictures are in
the great cupola of the church, and the foreshortenings are
managed with extraordinary ability, as the spectator, re
garding the work from below, perceives, to his admiring
astonishment.''
father's permission had to be obtained by the conventual authorities. He re
ceived one hundred ducats, a large price for the work of a youthful painter.
In 1638 the Duke of Modena carried off the picture to the capital, its removal
causing a riot in Correggio. In 1711 it was sold to Augustus III., Elector of
Saxony, and it is now in the Dresden Gallery. It represents an Enthroned
Madonna, with Saints Catherine, Francis of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, and
John the Baptist. Dr. Meyer calls attention to the Mantegnesque type of the
Madonna and of the other figures. M. Miintz, while admitting the influence
of Mantegna, on the other hand (La Fin de la Renaissance, p. 570), considers
that this is the only picture which gives evidence of any strong influence of
the Ferraro-Bolognese school upon Correggio, and that both the composition
and the types in this altar-piece show the dual influence of Cosimo Tura and
Francia, indeed of Perugino, " transmitted through his imitator, Francia."
' Correggio received the order to paint his frescoes of the cathedral of
Paima on November 3, 1532, his autograph agreement still exists, and is re
produced va. facsimile on page 352 of Signor Ricci's book. The commission was
to decorate the cupola, presbytery, and apse, but only the cupola was eventu
ally painted by him, the other decorations having been executed later by
Girolamo Mazzola-Bedoli. The work of Correggio is as follows : In the pen-
dentives to the cupola are four seated saints with many youthful angels, the
seated figures are enthroned upon clouds. Twelve colossal apostles stand
along an octagonal cornice behind a painted balustrade, looking upward at
the Assumption of the Virgin. Painted candelabra rise at the angles of the
cornice, and between them are many boy genii standing, sitting, or reclining.
Above them the whole cupola is filled vrith clouds, and a multitude of flying
figures surrounding the Virgin, who is borne upward. Under the sofiits of
the arches to the cupola are painted figures of boy genii, six of which are by
Correggio, the others by Mazzola-Bedoli. The saints in the pendentives are
Hario, Bernardo degli XJberti, Tommaso, and Giovanni Battista.
The above is the material distribution of the frescoes. Considered gener
ally the result is the achievement of one of the few works which may be
called sublime. Technically considered, this Assumption presents the first
triumphantly successful realization of agrial, transparent, fresco color. For the
first time also architectonics are disregarded, and a whole cupola is shown as
one undivided and realistic composition. The color is beyond criticism, the ar
rangement, which in principle is, on the contrary, distinctly open to criticism,
is justified by its result. It is splendidly, dazzlingly successful, and yet not
only the few to whom it is antipathetic, but the many who profoundly admire
III  2

18 ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO
Correggio was the first in Lombardy who commenced the
execution of works in the modern manner, and it is thought
that if he had travelled beyond the limits of his native
Lombardy and visited Rome,^ he would have performed
may analyze it, and find in it certain germs of decadence. To begin with, it
is confused, and in the painter's passion for realistic foreshortening he has
frequently sacrificed dignity, and has sometimes become frankly awkward.
The monumental grandeur of Raphael and Michelangelo is completely absent,
but it is replaced by another grandeur, which comes from sweep and whirl,
and radiant figures so multiplied in numbers that the very volume of the
painter's creation adds immensely to its power. They are upon every side,
these figures, bending and tossing, floating and diving through clouds, hover
ing above the abysmal void that is between the dome and the earth below it.
There is a lack of restraint, indeed there is a direct straining for that illusion
which is not wholly in accordance with the principles of architectonic deco
ration, but any violation of artistic conventions is permissible to a genius who
through rupture with tradition creates new forms of beauty. Here is the tri
umphant application of realism to a vision, not the tranquil contemplative
vision of an older master, but a moving vision — rapturous, ecstatic. It was too
original, too new, too different not to shock the Parmesan clergy, and they ap
pear to have disapproved of it. A canon satirizing its one weakness, and blind
to its power, called it a "stew of frogs ; " but the man who was great enough
to understand it — Titian — said (if the story be true), " reverse the cupola and
fill it with gold, and even that will not represent its worth." After him came
the Caracci, and all the school of Bologna, with laurels to the memory of
the artist who had died saddened and misunderstood.
^ There is no direct proof that Correggio ever visited Rome, and this in itself
makes the visit improbable, but not impossible. If Correggio had gone there
with any of his work it seems most unlikely that he should not have attracted
the envious attention and admiratiion of the scholars of Raphael, and thereby
left us some certain record of his presence. On the other hand, if he went
there without any of his pictures, and merely as an unknown Lombard artist
come to see the great city, there is nothing improbable in the fact that he who
had been unnoticed by Ariosto and Bembo, when they were face to face with
his works in his native Parma, should have remained unnoticed iu the whirl
of Roman life. What would most make us credit a visit to the capital is
that his works recall so many masterpieces of the Roman school — the frescoes
of the Sistine, the nymphs of the Farnesina, the Virgin of Foligno (see Miintz,
op. cit.). What makes the visit most improbable is the record of his work
in Parma and Correggio, given year by year by Milanesi, and showing his al
most constant presence in those towns. Those who believe that Correggio
did visit Rome bring forward no really valid arguments. Ortensio Landi, who
wrote as early as 1.5.52, and who may very possibly have known Correggio's son
Pomponio, says, on the contrary, and in support of Vasari, that " he died
young without having seen Rome." But although it is practically certain
that he never saw this Mecca and Jerusalem of the cinquecento artist, it by no

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO 19
wonders, nay, would have given a dangerous rival to many
who, in his day, were called great artists. Be this as it
may, his works, being what they are, although he liad never
seen those of antiquity, nor was even acquainted with the
best works of the modern masters ; ' it necessarily follows
that if he had studied these works he would have materially
improved his own, and, proceeding from good to better,
would have attained to the highest summit of excellence.
We may. indeed, affirm with certainty that no artist has
handled the colours more effectually than himself, nor has
any painted with a more charming manner, or given a more
means follows that Correggio may not have had a hint, and more than a hint,
of Raphael's and Michelangelo's greatness through repUche, drawings, and,
above all, through engravings of their works. It must be remembered that
the character of the genius of the Roman School was such that a drawing or
a black and white reproduction of one of its masterpieces might act as an in
spirational force of highest order, whereas the works of Giorgione and
Titian, depending as they do upon qualities which cannot be perfectly trans
lated into black and white, have to be seen to be stimulating. Raphael's
works were popularized by engraving at an early date, and his Sistine Ma
donna could be seen in Piacenza, which was almost at Correggio's doors ; but
even if our master had access to no others, the frescoes and easel pictures of
Mantegna would in themselves have sufficed to inspire au artist of Correggio's
calibre, while the works of Leonardo must in turn have powerfully affected
one to whom chiaroscuro was an instinctive means of expression.
' On the contrary, he saw and studied the works of Mantegna, an artist so
great that he stands immediately after the half-dozen greatest of Italy. Dr.
Meyer holds that Mantegna exercised a complete and undeniable influence over
Correggio. Signor Rioci feels that the latter, in his art, is the " logical outcome
of Emilian formuIaB," but admits the immense influence of the great Andrea,
which indeed must be felt by any observer who will compare iheputti of Cor
reggio with those of Mantegna in the Mantuan Camera degli Sposi. Signor
Ricci also reminds the student of the strong resemblance which exists be
tween the background of the Madonna della Vittoria with its bower of leaf
age and fruit, and the general scheme or frame to Correggio's decoration of
the Camera of San Paolo in Parma. Although the still mightier Leonardo da
Vinci undoubtedly affected Correggio strongly in the direction of chiaro
scuro, Mantegna' B was the greatest mind with which Antonio came into close
and intimate relation, since the latter sojourned in Andrea's city and directly
studied his works It is quite true that in his preferences and selections Cor
reggio was the exact opposite of Mantegna ; he laughed where Andrea frowned,
and ignored the archseological accessories which Mantegna loved ; neverthe
less so great an example as that of Andrea Mantegna could not fail to impress
certain sides of Correggio's comprehension of the plastic.

20 ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO
perfect relief to his figures, so exquisite was the softness
of the carnations from his hand, so attractive the grace
with which he finished his works. In the cathedral of
Parma, before mentioned, Antonio painted two large pict
ures in oil : in one of these among other things is a figure
of the Dead Christ, which has been very highly extolled.'"
In the church of San Giovanni, in the same city, he painted
a tribune in fresco, and in this work he depicted Our Lady
ascending into Heaven, amidst a multitude of angels, and
surrounded by numerous saints." It appears almost im-
1" These paintings are in the gallery of Parma. The Pietd was painted 1523-
24 for Placido del Bono ; the second is the Martyrdom of Saints Placidus,
Flavia, Eutychius, and Victorinus. It must be admitted that Burckbardt's
criticisms (in the Cicerone), in spite of their severity, are just. In speaking
of the Pietd he admits " the truly noble expression " of the head of Christ, but
condemns the other figures as "almost trivial." Of the Martyrdom he says
that it is " a fatal picture, the worst qualities of which have found only too great
response among the painters of the seventeenth century."
' ' Here Vasari's memory is at fault. The Ascension of Our Lady is in
the cathedral of Parma, the subject painted in the cupola of San Giovanni
EvangeUsta is an Ascension of Christ ; the work preceded that of the cathe
dral, and was done between 1520 and 1525. In the tribune of the church
Correggio painted a Coronation of the Virgin ; but the choir having been
lengthened in 1587 the fresco was destroyed. The figures of the Saviour and
the Virgin were preserved, and are in the Palatine Library of Parma ; certain
other fragments are in the collection of Mr. Ludwig Mond, in London. A
year before the destruction of the old apse, namely, in 1586, Cesare Aretusi
made a copy of the fresco, by order of the Benedictines, and the latter was
reproduced in the new apse. There are studies from this fresco by Agostino
and Annibale Caracci in the gallery and archiepiscopal palace of Parma and
in the Naples Museum. It is said that Aretusi commissioned the Caracci
to make these first copies for him. Correggio had made a contract to
paint a frieze in the nave, but apparently only designed it, leaving the painting
to Rondani ; but (see Signor Ricci's Correggio, p. 217) having probably himself
painted one of the twelve designs, namely, the fourth on the right. The
scroll work and tracery are attributed to Anselmi, but the fine lu7iette over
the small door in the left transept, a Rt. John the Evangelist, with the sym
bolical eagle, is by Correggio himself. In addition to this lunette and the
cupola there are also the symbols of the Evangelists and eight monochrome
subjects upon the soffits to the arches, namely ; St. Joseph, Moses, Elijah,
Daniel, Jonah, Samson, Abraham's Sacrifice, Cain and Abel.
In the cupola of San Giovanni, Correggio, first among the artists of Italy,
threw aside the whole architectonic tradition of art, and said to himself "I
wiU break through tradition and cupola at once, will consider that the walls are

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO 21
possible that the fancy of man should be capable of conceiv
ing a work such as this is, much more that he should be
able to execute it with the hand, so extraordinary is its
beauty, so graceful the flow of the draperies,'^ so exquisite
the expression which the master has given to the figures.
no longer there, and will make a realistic heaven, where real figures among real
clouds shall be seen in real perspective, such as would actually obtain." Nota
bene, that a cupola, a hollow dome without ribs or projections from the plaster,
is the only form to which such a trompe I'ceil, such illusory perspective, could
be applied without being ridiculous. Even here it is open to criticism, but if
any man ever existed for whom it was entirely right to do this thing, that man
was Antonio Allegri of Correggio. Imitators have abused his example until
tha abuse became detestable, but the example remains so brilliant, so satisfy
ing, that we blame only those who failed in their imitation. To the artist,
and above all to the artist who has worked upon the plaster and knows how
readily overpainting becomes heavy and dead, the marvellous lightness, silveri
ness, airiness of Correggio's frescoes, especially of his frescoes of the cathedral,
are an unceasing wonder. The astonishing Tiepolo is less astonishing after
we have seen what he saw, and so fervently admired in Parma. In San
Giovanni, eleven colossal Apostles sit upon clouds about the dome be
low the ascending Christ, while beneath them again the aged Saint John
kneels upon his hilltop in Patmos and looks upward. The whole composition
is alive with the charming angels, or sprites, which seem the very quintes
sential expression of Correggio's spirit. The pendentives of the cupola con
tain, in four groups. Saints Luke and Ambrose, Saints Mark and Gregory,
Saints John and Augustine, Saints Matthew and Jerome. These figures are
quieter than most of those by the master, and the pendentives are more
architectonic in arrangement than are any other compositions of Correggio.
Signor Ricci, in his admirable book, rarely says anything mth which one
can take issue, but his comparison of the figures of the Apostles of San
Giovanni EvangeUsta with those of Michelangelo, to the disadvantage of
the latter, is unfair. " The ostentatious display of anatomical reliefs " with
Michelangelo never fails to show a perfect competency, a knowledge of
construction, which is absent in Correggio; his figures in the frescoes of San
Giovanni EvangeUsta are so rounded that they sometimes seem swollen, and
some of their attitudes are as constrained as those of Michelangelo, without
having his grandeur of line. Naturally we are comparing the best work of
either master and throw aside such exaggeration as obtains in the frescoes
which the great Florentine painted in his last years. Besides, Correggio is so
great that he stands in no need of such comparison; in his vast frescoes it is
not the silhouette of any one figure upon which we base our admiration, al
though some of the.se single figures, notably the boys, are exquisitely beautiful,
but it is upon the fusion, the volume, the solemn radiance by which Correggio
in his dome of Parma becomes even apocalyptic.
" Correggio is unequal in his draperies ; some of them are very bad,

22 ANTONIO DA CORUEGGIO
Some of the sketches of them are in the book of designs to
which we not unfrequently refer ; they are drawn by Cor
reggio himself in red chalk, and are surrounded by a kind
of frieze, wherein there are figures of beautiful children,
and other ornamental forms, with which the master adorned
that work, some of them being varied and fanciful repre
sentations of sacrifices, after the manner of the antique.'^
" Some of these drawings undoubtedly referred to Correggio's frescoes
which decorate the so-called Camera di San Paolo in Parma. They were
painted probably in 1518 for Giovanna Piacenza, abbess of the nunnery of
San Paolo. From the cornice of a nearly square room sixteen ribs rise to the
centre of the vaulting. Correggio's decoration has been adapted to this con
struction. " The design is a bower of foliage supported on a trellis of canes,
with sixteen oval openings " (see Rioci, op. cit, p. 159) ; through these latter
are seen putti, two in each oval. The lower portion of every section, en
closed by the ribbing, terminates in a lunette painted as a chiaroscuro niche
containing a simulated statue or a group. Signor Ricci, in his Correggio, re
produces separateij' the sixteen ovals and the sixteen lunettes, as well as the
Diana upon her Car, painted upon the cap of the chimney-place. All this,
considered as a scheme for the decoration of the private apartment of the
abbess of a nunnery, is wholly astonishing to those who have not followed the
history of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Italy. At that time,
however, a taste for mythology had passed even the gratings of convents, and
the convents themselves, asylums for dowerless younger daughters of noble
houses, had become so mundane that more than one decree had been power
less to enforce austerity. Indeed the judgments rendered by this very abbess,
Giovanna Piacenza, regarding family property, had given rise to bloody com
bats, and twice the Cavaliere Scipione Montino della Rosa, Correggio's
patron, was sought for in the convent, by force of arms, by order of the
governor of the city. A tessellated pavement in the convent bore figures of
cavaliers and ladies, pierced hearts, and sentimental mottoes ; Diana and the
amorini were therefore not out of place. These frescoes have suffered
greatly in color, and lack the silvery and transparent quality of much of Cor
reggio's work. In the ovals the artist has not troubled himself about com
position of line. A Florentine would have considered his linear arrangement
far more carefully. Life and movement are what Antonio has sought and ob
tained ; there is little doubt that the color was once fresh and lovely, the
lunettes are stiU fuH of grace and charm, and although this early work can by
no means parallel Correggio's great masterpieces, it is of astonishing preco
city, spontaneity, originality, and freshness. See M. Charles Yriarte, in the
Gazette des Beaux Arts, March, 1895, for his theory that Correggio painted
the vaulting of an octagonal room in the CasteUo Vecchio of Mantua for
Isabella d'Este. This palace now forms part of the Reggia Gonzaga, the great
Palazzo Ducale. For reproductions see the Gazette aforesaid, pp. 197, 301, 203.
M. Yriarte is convinced that Correggio was influenced by Lioubruno, a Mantuan

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO 23
And of a truth, if Antonio had not finished his work so ad
mirably as we see that he did, his drawings (although they
have merit in tlie manner, with a grace which sufficiently
indicates the practised hand of a master) would scarcely
have obtained him that reputation among artists which he
has derived from his truly excellent works. The art of de
sign is so difficult and has so many ramifications, that an
artist not unfrequently finds himself incapable of perfectly
mastering all. Some, for example, have drawn most ad
mirably, but have betrayed certain imperfections in their
colouring ; others have coloured wonderfully, but have not
drawn with equal success. All this depends on the judg
ment exercised in youth, and the amount of practice be
stowed by one on drawing, by another on colouring ; but
all must be acquired before the work can be conducted per
fectly to its desired completion, that, namely, of colouring
finely what has been well drawn." To Correggio belongs
the great praise of having attained the highest point of per
fection in colouring, whether his works were executed in
oil or in fresco.'" For the church of San Francesco, belong
ing to the Barefooted Friars in that city (Parma), he
painted an Annunciation in fresco, a work of extraordinary
beauty : insomuch that when it afterwards became needful
to demolish the wall, in the course of certain changes re
quired in the building, those friars caused that part whereon
painter. In 1530 and 15o3 Correggio was again at Mantua. Signor Ricci, op.
cit., pp. 73-74, is equally convinced that Correggio did not paint these frescoes,
and combats the idea that he was influenced by Lioubruno. The decoration of
this Mantuan room consists of putti in a sort of bowery framing, suggestive
at once of the Camera di San Paolo and of some of Mantegna's arrangements.
" As we see here, even before the greatest masterpieces of Correggio or
Titian, the Tuscan Vasari never quite forgets himself, and it is right that he
should not sEght that which was the basis of Florentine art, all the more
since he never, for the sake of approving Tuscan drawing, stints his praise of
either Lombard or Venetian.
IS Milanesi, who rarely introduces a technical criticism, says felicitously
that "Correggio's coloring may be called a clarification of Leonardo's man
ner." He means that Leonardo's fusion of color, his sfumatura, is to be
found in Correggio's work, but that here it is not smoky and dark but clear
and brilliant in its diffusion.

24 ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO
the painting was executed to be bound round by woodwork
secured with irons, and, cutting it away by little and little,
they saved their picture, and afterwards caused it to be built
into a more secure place in another part of their convent.'^
Over one of the gates of the city of Parma, Correggio
depicted a figure of the Virgin, with the Child in her arms.
This is a picture of astonishing beauty, the exquisite col
ouring of which has obtained the master infinite praise and
honour from such strangers and travellers as have seen no
other of his works than this fresco." In Sant' Antonio
also, a church of the same city, our artist painted a picture
wherein there is a figure of the Virgin, with Santa Maria
Maddalena : near them is a boy, representing a little angel,
with a book in his hand, who is smiling so naturally that
all who look on him are moved to smile also ; nor is there
any one, however melancholy his temperament, who can
behold him without feeling a sensation of pleasure. In the
same picture there is also a figure of San Girolamo, which
is painted in a mannei: so admirable and so astonishing, that
painters extol the colouring as something wonderful, affirm
ing that it would be scarcely possible to paint better.'*
I' Painted about 1524 (see Ricci, p. 347), Milanesi says, for the church of the
Santissima Annunziata a Capo di Ponte ; but Signor Ricci states that it was
only when the fathers of the Annunciation built a ^lew church, in the quarter
called Capo di Pontc, that they took the fresco to its present place.
1' This Madonna della Scala was painted on the inner side of the Porta Ro-
mana. When, in 1554, alterations were made in the gate, a, small church was
buUt to preserve the fresco, the waU upon which the latter was painted be
coming the back wall of -dihe said church or chapel. As the fresco was at
quite a distance from the ground, a flight of steps was buUt up to it, whence
it received its name of " della Scala." When the chapel was pulled down, in
1812, the fresco was removed to the Pinacoteca. It has been injured by the
affixing of a votive silver crown to the head of the Virgin. The crown has
been removed.
'» This picture, commonly called Correggio's St. Jerome, was ordered, in
1523, by the lady Briseide da CoUa, wife of Orazio Bergonzi. Although dukes
and sovereign princes have tried to buy it, and it made the forced journey to
Paris, it remains in the Pinacoteca of Parma, where it is the central jewel
The arrangement of the picture is open to criticism ; Signor Ricci remarks the
" solemn dignity of attitude of the Saint Jerome ; " Burckhardt, with more
keenness of observation, calls this same attitude " affected and insecure " and.

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO 25
Antonio executed various pictures and paintings of dif
ferent kinds for many nobles of Lombardy ; among others
of his works may be mentioned two painted in Mantua, for
the Duke Federigo II. , who sent them to the Emperor, a
present truly worthy of such a prince.'" These works hav
ing been seen by Giulio Romano, he declared that he had
never beheld colouring executed with equal perfection.
One of them was a nude figure of Leda,^ the other a Venus,
notes the facial ugliness of the Christ child and the putto. The execution is
beyond reproach, the color wonderful in its delicacy, freshness, depth, and
truth ; in all Italy there is no more exquisite bit of morbidezza than is seen in
the face of the Magdalen and the foot of the Child pressed against her cheek
This work, in contradistinction to the '¦^Notte " in Dresden is sometimes called
'•'¦II Giorno," the Day.
" The Gonzaghe chose Correggio to paint three pictures which they pre
sented to Charles V. ( see note 20). Count Carlo d'Arco (see Bibliography
of Correggio) notes two pictures by Antonio, executed for Mantua, one being
an Apollo and Marsyas, the other. Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice teach
ing a youth (evidently the Vice and Virtue of the Louvre), and Canon Brag-
hirolU (see Bibliography) publishes a letter from Veronica Gambara to Isa
bella d'Este which mentions a picture by Correggio of a Kneeling Magdalen
in the Desert. We have to add to the story of the misinterpretation of Correg
gio's genius the fact that neither Bembo nor Ariosto, though they met him in
Parma, have mentioned his name, and this is not a little to the shame of such
a boasted connoisseur as Bembo, and shows how much real initiative and in
dependent knowledge of art the cardinal had when no Raphael or Sansovino
was at his elbow. Only the Gonzaghe seem to have recognized that here was
an artist, and the great marchioness Isabella and her descendants have no
better title to our recognition of them as true art patrons than in the works
which Antonio Allegri painted for the Mantuan lords.
"" Several of Correggio's mythological pictures are famous. See Ricci
(op. cit, p. 301 et seq.'). The Antiope and the Education of Cupid were
painted as early as 1520 or 1521. The Antiope was sold in 1628 by the Duke
of Mantua to Charles L of England ; after his death it belonged to the banker
Jabach, to Mazarin, and to Louis XIV. , and it is now in the Louvre. The Ed
ucation of Cupid, bought also by King Charles, became afterward the property
of the Duke of Alva, of Godoy, of Murat, was sold by Caroline Bonaparte to
the Marquis of Londonderry and is now in the National Gallery. The pictures
sent by Gonzaga to the Emperor Charles V. and painted after 1530 were the
Leda, the Danae, and the Io. Vasari confuses them, oalUng one Venus and
alluding also to the Cupids in the picture of Danae. The works went to Spain,
then the Io and Danae fell to the possession of Leone Leoni, the sculptor and
protege of the emperor. In 1600 they went by purchase to the Emperor Ru
dolf at Prague. In 1702 the pictures were in Vienna, where two are at present.
They have not, however, always been there, as in 1648 the Swedes captured and

26 ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO
painted with so much softness, and with shadows so ad
mirably treated, that the carnations did not seem painted
carried to Stockholm the Leda, the Danae, and a copy of the Io, which had
remained in Prague (see Ricci, op. cit, p. 313). Queen Christina of Sweden
brought all three of them to Rome and they belonged successively to Cardinal
Azzolini, the Duke of Bracciano, and the Regent Orleans. Louis d'Orleans,
son of the regent, condemned the pictures as indecent, and the heads of the
Leda and of the Io (the replica) were cut from the canvases. There is a tra
dition to the effect that Van Loo and Boucher both declined to undertake the
restoration of these heads. These were eventually repainted by Schlesinger
/the Leda) and Prudhon (the Io). Charles Coypel, the keeper of the gallery,
saved the remainder of the two canvases ; from him they passed to Pasquier,
then to Frederic the Great, and they are now in Berlin. The Danae escaped
mutilation, and belonged successively to the Bridgewater pictures, to Henry
Hope, and eventually found its way to the Borghese Gallery. Two allegorical
pictures. Vice and Virtue, by Correggio are in the Louvre. Signor Ricci
doubts if the Ganymede be an original picture, but admits its beauty, while
pointing out that the figure of Ganymede is identical with one of the angels
in the pendentive (of St. Bernard) to the cupola of the cathedral of Parma.
He adduces the unlikelihood of so spontaneous an artist as Correggio thus
repeating himself.
Of the mythological pictures the Io and Danae are injured, the Leda is
in still worse condition, the Antiope is admirably preserved. In the
wonderfvd color of this picture there is no attempt at brush work in the
modern sense, but the effect of flesh in sunlight and shadow is dazzling,
and it is a notable example of Correggio's indifference to grand Unes and
his passion for foreshortening. Neither Raphael, Michelangelo, nor Leo
nardo would have been contented with these lines ; they would have found a
hundred poses more graceful and as natural ; but the work is a masterpiece,
and reveals a colorist less grand perhaps than the Venetians, but the truest in
Italy. MorelU finds the Leda the most characteristic of Correggio's works
(correggeskeste werk des Antonio Allegri). M Miintz says (op. cit, p. 577)
that its coloring is not only dazzling, " it is even eloquent in its charm and
distinction," and surpasses that of the Venetians, since " it is always combined
with noble movement of line." The same author compares the closeness of
workmanship and the decision shown in the Antiope with the " fantaisie"
of the Leda, and he points out that in the Io of the Vienna Gallery the nymph
has been to a certain extent imitated from one of the figures in Raphael's
Farnesina. This parallel is interesting and just, for at the very first glance
the Io is seen to haye a more monumental character as to line and pose than
have most of Correggio's figures ; indeed, for M. Miintz's, attribution of
" noble movement of line " one would be tempted to substitute varied, living,
or striking movement of line It is rather by their morbidezza and charm
of color that Correggio's mythological pictures take their high place than by
their composition of line. Taine says well in The Ideal in Art: "At this
moment one step only remains to be taken in order to complete the physical
man ; more stress must bo laid on the coating of the muscles, on the softness

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO 27
but to be truly the living flesh. In one of these pictures
was a beautiful Landscape : in this respect there was in
deed no Lombard who could surpass Correggio, he painted
the hair moreover so admirably as to colour, and so delicate
ly as to distinctness and finish, that nothing better could
possibly be seen. There were besides Cupids trying their
arrows on a stone, these weapons being formed with mucli
judgment of lead and gold. A circumstance which im
parted an added charm to this picture of the Venus, was an
exceedingly bright and limpid stream running amidst peb
bles and bathing the feet of the goddess, but scarcely con
cealing any part of them, so that the sight of their delicate
whiteness almost dazzled the eyes beholding them. For
these works Antonio certainly merited all praise and hon
our during his life, and well deserved to be celebrated both
by word and in writings with the utmost glory after his
death. Correggio painted a figure of the Virgin also in
Modena,'" and this work was held in great esteem by all
painters, who considered it to be the best picture possessed
by that city. In Bologna likewise, there is a work by Anto
nio, in the Palace of the Ercolani,^^ one of the noble fami-
and tone of the living skin, on the delicate and varied vitality of the sensi
tive flesh. Correggio and the Venetians take this step and art stands still."
»i Dr. Meyer thinks it probable that this picture, referred to also in the life
of Girolamo da Carpi, is the Marriage of St. Catherine in the presence of the
Virgin and S. Sebastian (now in the Louvre), and that this picture was ex
ecuted in 1517 or 1518. Signor Ricci disagrees with Dr. Meyer ; he attributes
the Correggio of the Louvre to some time after the year 1523. He thinks that
the replica in the Naples museum is a copy by Annibale Caracci, and says
that StiU other repliehe in the collections of Signor Paolo Fabrizi, in Rome,
and of Dr Theodore Schall, at Berlin, are considered genuine by most critics.
Another marriage of St. Catherine (1513-1514) belongs to Dr. Gustavo Friz
es The foUowing passage is taken from Vasari's life of Girolamo da Carpi :
Now at that time there had been a work by the hand of Antonio Correggio
transported to Bologna and deposited in the house of the Counts Eroolani.
The subject of the picture was our Saviour Christ appearing to Mary Magda
lene in the form of the Gardener ; and this painting, which was executed
with a degree of perfection, and finished with a softness to which no words
could do iustice-this work, I say, did so possess itself of the heart of Giro
lamo that he could not satisfy himseH with copying it, and at length set

28 Antonio da correggio
lies of that place ; the subject of this painting is Christ ap
pearing to Mary Magdalen in the Garden, a very beautiful
off for Modena, to see the other works of Correggio in that place. Arrived
there accordingly, Girolamo was filled with admiration at the sight of what
he beheld, but he was struck with astonishment by one among them more
than by all besides. This was a large picture, which is, indeed, most divine :
the subject of the work is Our Lady with the Divine Child in her arms, the
infant being in the act of placing the ring on the finger of Santa Caterina,
whom he is espousing. There is, besides, a San Sebastiano and other figures,
with expressions of countenance so beautiful that those faces appear to have
been made in Paradise ; the hair and hands, moreover, are such that it is not
possible to imagine anything more perfect in their kind, nor can anything
painted be more natural or life-like.
From the Doctor, Messer Francesco Grillenzoni, the owner of the picture,
and who had been an intimate friend of Correggio, Da Carpi obtained per
mission to copy the same, which he did with all the care that it is possible to
conceive. He afterward did as much in respect to the picture of San Pietro
Martire,* which Correggio had painted for a company of laymen, by which it
is held in high estimation, which it so justly deserves. In this work, to say
nothing of the other figures, there is most particularly to be remarked that
of the Infant Christ in the lap of the Virgin Mother, and this does truly ap
pear to breathe. The figure of Sau Pietro Martire also is eminently beautiful.
Girolamo likewise copied a smaU but no less admirable picture by the
same master, which belonged to the brotherhood of San Sebastiano, for whom
Correggio had painted it. t All these works, thus copied by Girolamo, improved
his manner to such an extent that it was no longer the same thing, and did
not appear to be his own.
From Modena Girolamo proceeded to Parma, where he had heard that
there were also works by Correggio, and where he copied certain of the pict
ures in the apsis of the Cathedral, among them an admirably fore-shortened
figure of our Lord ascending into Heaven and surrounded by numerous
Angels, while the Apostles are standing beneath in contemplation of that
miracle. J Girolamo likewise copied the four Saints, protectors of Parma, by
* The St. Peter the Martyr was one of those pictures which passed from
the Gallery ot the House of Este to that of the King of Poland ; it is now in
the Dresden Gallery, where it is called the St. George, from the circumstance
of that saint holding a prominent position in the picture.
¦f This picture is not a small, but rather a large one. This also is in the
Dresden Gallery, where it is known as the Madonna di Sebastiano.
X Vasari here corrects the mistake which he had previously made, of plac
ing this work in the Church of St. John the Baptist ; Bottari considers him
to have taken the opportunity here offered for speaking of Correggio's works,
partly to the end that he might add certain notices received after the Life of
Correggio had been written, and correct some few mistakes into which ho
had fallen while preparing that biography.

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO 29
thing. ^ Another admirable and delightful work by An
tonio was formerly at Reggio ; but no long time since, Mes
ser Luciano Pallavicino, a great admirer of fine paintings,
passing through that place, happened to see the picture, and
without regard to the cost thereof secured it as one who
had bought some precious jewel, and despatched it to his
house in Genoa. In the same city of Reggio there is a
picture by this master, the subject of which is the Birth of
Christ; in this work, the light proceeding from the person of
the divine Child throws its splendour on the shepherds and
around all the figures who are contemplating the infant ;
many other beautiful thoughts are made manifest by our
artist in this picture, among others is one, expressed by the
figure of a woman, who, desiring to look fixedly at the
Saviour, is not able with her mortal sight to endure the
glory of his divinity, which appears to cast its rays full on
her figure ; she is therefore shading her eyes with her
hand : all this is so admirably expressed that it seems quite
wonderful. Over the cabin wherein the divine Child is
laid, there hovers a choir of angels singing, and so exqui
sitely painted, that they seem rather to have been showered
whom the niches are occupied ; these are San Giovanni Battista, who has a
Lamb in his hand ; St. Joseph, the Spouse of Our Lady ; the Florentine,
San Bernardo degli Uberti, who was a cardinal and bishop of Florence ; with
another saint who was also a bishop.
In the Church of San Giovanni EvangeUsta, moreover, Girolamo studied
the figures of the principal chapel, which is in the apsis of that church, these
being in Uke manner by the hand of Correggio, the Coronation of Our Lady
namely, with figures of San Giovanni EvangeUsta, of the Baptist, of San
Benedetto, San Placido, and a large number of Angels, who surround the
principal group. He likewise copied the admirable figures which are in the
Chapel of San Joseffo ia the Church of San Sepolcro, a work that may be
truly called divine.
=2 The Noli me tangere, painted 1534-36 (and once in the Brcolani Palace),
is in the Prado Museum at Madrid. Doubted by Dr. Meyer, it is accepted
by Signers Ricci and Frizzoni as an early Correggio, not only authentio
but eminently characteristic, in spite of the damage which it has suf
fered at the hands of restorers. Morelli accepts this picture and consi
ders as false the other attributions to Correggio of works in the Madrid col
lection.

80 ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO
down from Heaven than formed by the hand of the painter.*'
In the same city there is a small picture by Correggio, not
more than a foot high, which is one of the most extraordinary
and most beautiful of his works ; the figures are small, the
subject Christ in the Garden,^ the time chosen being night,
'* This is the famous picture in the Dresden GaUery caUed La Notte of
Correggio. Alberto Pratonero ordered it, October 14, 1532, for the Church
of San Prospero in Reggio ; it was finished in 1530. In May, 1640, the picture
was "sacrilegiously carried off" by the Duke Francesco to Modena. It is
an irony of fate that the pictures of the man whose material career during
Ufe could not for temporal splendor compare with that of some second-rate
artists, witness GiuUo Romano, should have been the constant subject of
such intelligent covetousness ou the part of the sovereigns of Parma and
Modena, and of such inteUigent and conservative zeal on the part of the
townsmen. The history of every one of Correggio's altar-pieces is the story
of violence or theft on the part of princely robbers, of riot, litigation, or at
best of bitter complaint, on the side of the despoiled parishioners. Besides
this Nativity called Correggio's "Night," and the St. Jerome caUed the
" Day," see note 18, there are three other great altar-pieces, the Madonnas
of the Scodella, of St. George, and of St. Sebastian. The latter, now in Dres
den, was painted iu 1535 for the Confraternity of S. Sebastian in Modena.
The picture has been very greatly injured by over-painting and cleaning. The
Madonna della Scodella in the Parma Gallery has been given various dates
(Pungileoni and Meyer, 1537-28 ; Mme. Mignaty, 1526 ; Ricci, 1529-30). This
picture escaped the exciting adventures of most of the other altar-pieces. Its
beautiful frame, which critics believe to have been designed by Correggio him
self, was removed in 1796, but replaced in 1893. In this charming picture the
St. Joseph is the least fortunate figure, his attitude is unsatisfactory and he
is so badly draped that the foreshortening does not explain itself at all ; in
deed so confused a piece of draping can rarely be found in a work of the
epoch. The Madonna, with St. George, was in the Scuola of St. Peter
Martyr, at Modena; like the St. Sebastian and the "Night," it was sold to
the Saxon Elector and is in Dresden, Francesco I., of Este, having taken it
by violence from the monks. It is the best preserved of the Dresden Cor-
reggios, but it must be admitted that they have all suffered greatly and can
be better appreciated when they are seen in black and white reproductions
than in the originals. The San Giorgio altar-piece has great charm and is
thoroughly in the character of Correggio's works, but also exhibits his faults.
The Virgin, unpleasantly foreshortened, is even squat, and the picture is a
notable example of the master's tendency to throw out the hips of his figures
in a desinvoltnra which is almost dislocation.
23 This picture (1530-24) is at Apsley House, London, and a copy is in
the National Gallery. The original was found in Joseph Bonaparte's travel
ling carriage after the battle of Vittoria. It was returned to the King of
Spain, who presented it to the Duke of Wellington. The subject is Christ's
Agony in the Garden. The picture is a fine example of Correggio's effects of

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO 31
and the angel appearing to the Saviour illumines his per
son with the splendour of his rays, an effect displayed with
so much truth that nothing better could be either imagined
or expressed ; on a plain at the foot of the mountain are
seen the three Apostles lying asleep : the shadow of the
eminence on which the Saviour is in prayer falls over these
figures, imparting to them a degree of force which it would
not be possible adequately to describe in words. In the
farther distance is a tract of country over which the day
is just breaking, and from one side approaches Judas with
soldiers. Notwithstanding its minute size, this work is
admirably conceived, and so finely executed that no work
of the kind can bear comparison with it, whether as to the
beauty and depth of thought apparent in the picture, or
the patience with which it has been treated.
Of the works of this artist much more might be said ; ^^
chiaroscuro. The Ecce Homo of the National GaUery in London is contem
poraneous with this picture of the Agony.
'» The Reading Magdalen of Dresden has been the subject of one of Mo-
relU's most famous criticisms (see Italian Masters in German Galleries, pp.
129, 137). The distinguished connoisseur claims that the picture is of a much
later time than that of Correggio, and is by a Fleming, and bases his arguments
partly upon the assertion that no one painted upon copper before the seventeenth
century. His arguments have been admitted by Signor Ricci and many other
critics, but M. Miintz (op. cit , p. 575) is not disposed to accept this disposal of
the subject without final and irrefragable proof, and thinks that if readmitted
among Correggio's works the Magdalen might count as one of his most original
and poetic pictures. Dr. Henry Thode claims as an undoubted youthful work
of Correggio, a Madonna with the Two Children, dated 1517, in the gallery
of Frankf ort-on-the-Main, and beUeves it to be the Casalmaggiore Madonna
once in the Ducal GaUery of Modena. Signor G. Frizzoni, L'Arch. Stor., III.
408, 409, appears not to be entirely convinoed. Herr C. Von Fabriczy, Una
Composizione del Correggio, L'Arch. Stor., III., p. 163, mentions a Venus
Disarming Cupid as in the Simonis coUection at MuUerhof , near Strasbourg.
MoreUi attributes (and Ricci accepts the attribution) to Correggio, a Young
Faun in the Munich GaUery, a Nativity belonging to Signor G. Crespi of Milan,
a Holy Family, owned by Prince HohenzoUem Sigmaringen, a Congedo della
Vergine, sold into England, and also a little picture in the Saletta d'opere
diverse of the Uflfizi and there attributed to Titian. Dr. Ricci also admits as
genuine pictures, of about 1515-17, the Repose in Egypt (in the Uffizi) ; La
ZingareUa (Naples) ; the Madonna with St. James (Hampton Court) ; Ma
donna with the Children (Prado) ; Malaspina Madonna (Pavia) ; Bolognini

32 ANTONIO t>A CORREGGIO
but since every thing he has done is held to be as some
thing divine among the most eminent masters of our call
ing, I will not expatiate further. I have made many efforts
to obtain his portrait, but he never took it himself, nor
ever had it taken by others, seeing that he lived much in
retirement ; I have therefore not been able to procure it,"
Correggio was indeed a person who held himself in but very
slight esteem, nor could he even persuade himself that he
knew any thing satisfactorily respecting his art ; perceiving
its difficulties, he could not give himself credit for approach
ing the perfection to which he would so fain have seen it
carried ; he was a man who contented himself with very
little, and always lived in the manner of a good Christian.^
The cares of his family caused Antonio to be very spar
ing, insomuch that he ultimately became exceedingly pe
nurious.^ On this subject it is related, that being at
Parma, and having there received a payment of sixty scudi,
the sum was given to him in copper money, which he, de
siring to carry it to Correggio for some particular demand.
Madonna (Museo Artistico Municipale, Milan) ; Madonna and ChUd, with
Singing Angels (Uffizi). Aa of about 1518-19, the Campori Madonna at
Modena, Christ with the Virgin, Mary Magdalen, and St. John (in Mr. Ben
son's collection, London) ; the Madonna del Latte (Buda-Pesth) ; the Madonna
della Cesta (National Gallery) ; the Virgin Adoring the Infant (Uffizi) ; 1530-
24, the St. Martha of the Ashburton Collection ; 1536-28, St. Catherine Plead
ing (Hampton Court).
" Critics are united in admitting that no portrait of Correggio has ever
come to light ; for various pretended portraits, see Dr. Ricci, op. cit. , 338 et seq.
Dr. Meyer discusses in detaU the various portraits which claim to be original ;
Dr. Richter teUs us that Dosso Dossi painted Correggio, and that the picture
went to England, but has nou oeen identified.
2' DeUcate and sensitive Correggio must have been, but it ia hard to
think of him as morbid ; the relative neglect with which his works were
treated may have made him melancholy. As for his timidity, however
modestly he held himself, he must have known that his art was great, and all
the legend of his obscurity has not been able to stifle his cry of ' ' Anch io son
pittore," which, apocryphal as to fact, is true as to spirit.
" "That he was miserly we do not believe," says Signor Ricci (op. cit., p.
334) ; "an amicable arrangement, due to his initiative, brought a long litiga
tion over a disputed inheritance to an end." On the other hand, the writer
readily admits that he may have been careful and saving.

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO 33
loaded himself withal ; he then set forward on foot for his
home. The heat being very great at the time, Antonio
suffered much from the burning sun, and sought to refresh
himself by drinking water, but a raging fever compelled
him to take to his bed, and from this he never raised his
head again, but departed from this life to another,*' being
then in the fortieth year of his age, or thereabouts.^'
" At the meridian of the Renaissance, when great artists were petted by
popes and princes, and honored and loved by their fellows, Correggio, at the
very time when he was making not only his native town, but also his provincial
capital of Parma, immortal, was himself, if we compare him with Leonardo,
Raphael, or Michelangelo, Uving in positive obscurity. This neglect could not
but astonish a Florentine or a Roman who saw his works, and the tradition
of it evidently grew into the legend of the tragedy which Vasari recounts ; but
sixty scudi in copper would have weighed more than three hundred pounds,
and the story of the-death of Correggio is a fable. Documents prove that he
belonged to people (see note 5) who were well enough off to be quite comfort
able in a Uttle town like Correggio, where moderate means meant comparative
affluence. He received some instruction in letters and philosophy. He ex
ecuted important commissions while stiU very young, and afterwards became,
in a modest way, a landowner. But aU this only proves that Correggio did not
suffer from pinching necessity ; that he did suffer from the inabUlty to give
entire vent to his artistic endeavor ia only too well proved by the fact that ho
never went to Rome, Florence, or further afield than Mantua, although in
Parma itself, if we reckon wall surface as a criterion, few painters have had
an ampler opportunity while hardly any have used it so well. But com
plete appreciation was what he lacked, and the latter part of his life was evi
dently saddened by the lack of sympathy of his Parmesan patrons. The
monks did not spare criticism of his frescoes iu the Duomo and leaving hia
work unfinished Correggio, this mighty master whose name counts among
the six or eight most famous in the history of art, retired to hia obscure
native town and ended his days there. " What a misfortune," says M. Muntz,
" that in this rich and refined Italy of the sixteenth century there was
not an amateur clear-sighted enough to recognize the genius of Correggio, a
poet to sing his glory, a Mecasnas who should take him away from his narrow
surroundings to set him in his true place, Rome, the Vatican, where he alone
was worthy to continue the work of Raphael."
" Antonio AUegri died in Correggio March 5, 1534 ; he was buried on the
6th in the Arrivabene Chapel of S. Francesco. In 1641, in consequence of
restorations, the tomb was destroyed and his bones were reinterred (see Ricci,
quoting Bulbarini) quite near the same spot, close by " where the monument
of Conti now is." In 1786 Ercole IIL, Duke of Modena, wishing to imitata
the Accademia di San Luca of Rome, which falsely claimed to preserve Ra
phael's skull, pretended to have found the skuU of Correggio ; not only waa the
said skull proved to have been that of an old woman, but even the fraudulent
III.— 3

34 ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO
His pictures were executed towards the year 1512, and
the art derived great benefit from his labours, seeing that
the colours were handled by him in the manner of a true
master, and that the Lombards were induced by his ex
ample to open their eyes ; the result of this has been that
painting has seen more than one fine genius belonging to
that country subsequently following his steps ; some of them
producing works highly commendable, and well deserving
to be had in remembrance.^^ Among other peculiarities,
letters referring to the affair have been discovered. This skuU ia stiU shown
in Modena !
22 Antonio AUegri of Correggio was a colorist and chiaroacurist of the highest
order ; as a colorist he was unequalled in Italy outside of Venice, as a chiaro-
BCurist he was an Italian Rembrandt, if we consider his skiU in the distribution
of light, but was the very opposite of the Fleming in the spirit of his religious
pictures. To those who think superficially Correggio is, as a painter of flying
angels and radiant glories, an arch-idealist ; to those who reason more care
fully, he is an arch-realist, almost the reaUst of Italian art. What differen
tiates him from the accepted realist is this, the latter only too often makes
realism and ugliness synonymous, Correggio's is realism by selection appUed
only to the beautiful. But it is realism ; not one painter in the whole range
of Italian art so hated what he understood to be conventionality. If his sub
ject is above, it must be seen from underneath, no matter how the point
of view may detract from the beauty of the work ; his architecture must be
painted in simulated perspective ; he will tolerate nothing which by its per
spective would fall out if it were real. He attempts the impossible until he
unwittingly falls into a conventionality of his own making, since his arrange
ment of architecture and figures requires that the spectator shall place him
self in a foreordained spot. Thus his very freedom becomes a restraint, and
his result is anomalous, since his selection of only beautiful figures is hampered
by his determination to be true, that is, to foreshorten them violently wher
ever their place in a fresco may seem to require such treatment. Now violent
foreshortening is generally unbeautif ul, hence conventionality and its relative
superiority. Not even Correggio can reconcile us to heads which spring from
the centre of men's chests, or to figures which are all calf and thigh. It is
enough to say that he more than any other painter does reconoUe us to such
presentation by other qualities, technical and spiritual.
His tremendous personality teems with lessons, offers examples of good and
bad in which the good asserts itself finally and triumphantly. Burckhardt
says that there are those who " have a right to hate him,'' and Burck
bardt's criticism is valuable and admirable for the very reason that seeing
clearly the faults of the great EmUian painter, he, nevertheless, praises him
heartUy, admits that he paints the "finest movements of nervous life,'' and
affects us " with a demoniac force." As a draughtsman Correggio is great in
his feeling for movement, but he is indifferent to that monumental sense of

ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO 35
Correggio had that of painting the hair with great facility,
and has shown to later artists the true method whereby the
difficulties of accomplishing this point may be overcome, an
advantage for which all succeeding painters are largely in
debted to him. It was indeed at the instance of the artists
belonging to our vocation that Messer Fabio Segni, a Floren
tine gentleman, composed the following verses : —
Hujus cum regeret moriales spiritus artus
Pictoris, Charites supplicuere Jovi :
line so dear to the Florentines and to Raphael. Some of the attitudes which
he chooses for his figures, notably for his old men, are even clumsy, others,
especially the movements of his angels, are full of fire. Characterization did
not greatly interest him ; he cared little for the subtle differentiation of
features ; he so deUberately eschewed emaciation and tense, close modelling
of faces that his old men rarely look reaUy old, and lack dignity correspond
ingly. But by his color he compels us as he wiUs, there is no parti pris in it,
as with a Venetian, but he steeps everything in a Ught-fiUed medium which
penetrates and goes behind things, just as it does in the Dutch pictures, only
with Correggio these things are Madonna and flying angels, instead of Flemish
cobblers cross-legged on counters, nymphs and cupids in place of peasants at
a Kermesse. In composition we feel with Correggio when he arranges hia
groups the same relative indifference to severity of line that he manifests
in his single figures ; indeed when Correggio composes, it is with light and
shade rather than with lines or colors, and here he comes nearer to aparti-
pris arrangement than he does in the exercise of any other pictorial gift. His
Ught he arranges with infinite skUl and comprehension; he knew "how to
anatomize Ught and shade," says Kugler, but even here if he is not exactly
unconventional he is at least always real Burckhardt, his severest critic,
quite oversteps the bounds of criticism in demanding that Correggio's realism
should be ethical. "What good," he says, "could we expect from these
creations if they came to Ufe ; " and he compares the artist, to his disad
vantage, with Raphael and Michelangelo. But we do not know what the
Night and Day of Michelangelo would do if they too began to breathe and
move ; they would be Titanic certainly, but how would they use their force ?
What evU could we find in Correggio's people ? If bright and joyous spirits
are celestial, why so are his ; he laughs and amUes by choice, but he smiles as
Michelangelo frowns, sublimely; elevation ia his, and elevation is ethical, for in
spite of his lack of restraint and his exaggeration of iUusion in mock architect
ure, the outpouring of spirit, the sweep and power shown in his Assumption of
the Virgin, make him one of the half-dozen sublime masters of Italian paint
ing, and we echo Ludwig Tieck's words : "Let no one say he has seen Italy, let
no one think he has learnt the lofty secrets of art, tiU he has seen thee and thy
cathedral, O Parma ! "

36 ANTONIO DA CORREGGIO
Non aliapingi dextra. Pater ahn,* rogamus :
Hunc pi'(Bier, nullipingere nos liceat.
Annuit his votis summi regnator Olympi,
Etjuvenem suhito sidera f ad alia tulit,
Ut posset melius Gharitum simulacra referre
Prcesens, et nudas cerneret inde Deas.
* Alme in the MUanesi edition. + Sydera in the Milanesi edition.

BRAMANTE DA URBINO, ARCHITECT
[Born 1444; died 1514.]
Bibliography. — Baron H. von GeymUUer, after devoting the greater part
of his life to the study of Bramante, has published a work entitled Les Projets
primitifs pour la Basilique de Saint Pierre de Rome par Bramante, Ra
phael Sanzio, Fra Giocondo, les San Gallo, etc., Paris and Vienna, 1875-80.
It is printed vrith both German and French texts. See also, among other ar
ticles by him, The School of Bramante, in the Transactions of the Royal In
stitute of British Architects, London, 1891, and Bramante et la restauration
de Sainte Marie des Graces, d Milan, Gazette Archeologique, 1887, p. 163.
Among other works relating to the architect are C. Fea, Notizie intorno
Raffaele Sanzio da (Trbijio ed alcune di lui opere, intorno Bramante
Lazeri, Giuliano da San Gallo, Baldassar Peruzzi, Michelangelo, Buonarotti
e Pirro Ligorio, come Architetti di S. Pietro in Vaticano, Rome, 1833.
L. PungUeoni, Memoria intorno alia vita ed alle opere di Donato o Don-
nino Bramante, Rome, 1836. Casati, I Capi d'arte di Bramante nel
Milanese, MUan, 1870. Caffi, Archivio Storico Lombardo, 1871. C. A.
Jovanovits, Forschungen iiber den Bau der Peterskirche zu Rom, Vienna,
1887. LetarouiUy and SimU, Le Vatican et la Basilique de Saint-Pierre
de Rome, Paris, 1882. D. GnoU, La Casa di Raffaello, Rome, 1887. L.
Beltrami, Bramante poeta, MUan, 1884. H. Semper, Bramante, in the
Dohme series of Kunst und Kiinstler. Leon Palustre, Bramante, article in
La Grande Encyclopedic A. von Schmarsow, article in L'art, 1881, II. , pp.
201-306. W. von SeidUtz, Bramante in Mailand, in the Jahrbuch der Kbnig-
lichen Preussischen Kunstsammlungen, VIH., 183. Domenico Gnoli, La
Cancelleria ed Altri Palazzi a Roma attribuiti a Bramante, iu L' Archivio
Storico delV Arte, V., 176-184, and also Nuovo Accesso alia Piazza di San
Pietro in Roma, in L' Archivio Storico dell' Arte, II., 138-152. Adamo Rossi,
Nuovo Documente su Bramante, in L' Archivio Storico dell' Arte, I., 135.
A. Mari, Della vita e delle opere di maestro Bramante da Urbino, cenni
Storici, Ferrara, 1889.
VERY important advantages, without doubt, resulted to
architecture from the new methods of proceeding
adopted by Filippo Brunelleschi, he having imitated,
and, after the lapse of many ages, restored to light, the
most important works of the learned and excellent masters
of antiquity. But no less useful to our age was Bramante,

38 BRAMANTE DA URBINO
for, preserving the traces of Filippo and following in his
footsteps, being also full of determination, power, genius,
and knowledge, not theoretic only but extensively and
thoroughly practical, he rendered the road to the acquire
ment of true science in architecture most secure and easy to
all who followed after him. A more exalted genius could
not well have been imparted by nature to any artist, than
that conferred on Bramante, nor could any master display
a more profound acquaintance with the principles of his
art, more rigid adherence to the proportions of his works,
or a richer variety of invention in their decoration, than
may be found in those executed by this architect. But not
even all these qualities were more than was demanded at
that time, seeing that Julius II. , a prince full of the boldest
designs and earnestly desirous of leaving due memorials of
himself to succeediug ages, was then Pope. And very fort
unate was it, both for him and for us, that Bramante did
meet with such a prince (for very rarely does such good
fortune happen to men of great genius), one at whose cost
he was furnished with opportunities which rendered it pos
sible for him to display the resources of the power with
which he was endowed, and prove to the world that mastery
over the difficulties of his art, the evidences of which are so
much admired in his works. The extraordinary merit of
this architect is indeed obvious, not only in the general ar
rangement of buildings erected by him, but also and equally
in their various details : the first projection and mouldings
of the cornices for example, the shafts of the columns, the
grace and elegance of the capitals and bases, the careful ad
justment of the consoles and finish of angles, the vaultings,
the staircases, the buttresses, ressaults, and other supports
— all received his attention in due measure, as did every
other arrangement required for the completion of the whole
edifice ; insomuch that every architectural work constructed
by his counsels or after his designs is an object of surprise as
well as delight to all who behold it. "Wherefore it appears
to me that the lasting gratitude justly due to the ancients.

BRAMANTE DA URBINO 39
by those whose studies enable them to derive improvement
from their labours, is due in no less degree to the labours of
Bramante, from those who benefit by them : for if the
Greeks invented that architecture which the Romans imi
tated, Bramante did more than the latter, since he not only
imitated, but, imparting to us what they had taught, in a
new and ameliorated form, he added unwonted graces and
beauties to the art, which we receive ennobled and em
bellished by his efforts.
This master was born at Castello Durante, ^ in the state
of Urbino, his parents being of good condition though very
poor. In his childhood he was taught to read and write, in
addition to which he applied himself with great industry to
the study of arithmetic, but his father, to whom it was
needful that the son should gain somewhat for himself,
perceiving him to take great delight in drawing, turned
his attention while still but a child to the art of painting.
He studied therefore very zealously, more especially the
works of Fra Bartolommeo, otherwise called Fra Carna-
vale,^ of Urbino, by whom the picture of Santa Maria della
Bella, in that city was painted. But Bramante found his
principal pleasure in architecture and the study of perspec-
' Various writers give as Bramante's birthplace Castel Durante (now also
caUed Urbania), Stretta, Permignano, Monte San Pietro, and Urbino itself.
M. MQntz names the vUla of Monte Asdrualdo, near Fermignano, three miles
from Urbino, as the architect's birthplace, and the year 1444 as the date of
iiis birth. MUanesi quotes from Baron von GeymUUer, with even more de-
taU, citing the Uttle farm called ''Del Colic" (The HiU-farm), this being in
the same territory as the viUa of Monte Asdrualdo. See Baron H. von Gey-
muUer's important work, Les Projets primitifs pour la Basilique de St Pierre
de Rome. According to Baron von GeymuUer the architect belonged to the
Bramante family, and not to the Lazzari, as has often been asserted. The
surname Asdruvaldinus is derived from Monte Asdrualdo or Aadrubale.
2 This was Fra Bartolommeo Corradino, a Dominican brother. Bramante
must also have seen, in Urbino, the architectural works of Luciano da Laurana.
Though Baron von GeymilUer denies that Bramante was a pupU of this mas
ter he admits that they must have come into contact vrith each other ; the
same critic conaiders that Bramante was also influenced by Leon Battista
Alberti We know Uttle of Bramante's life untU he was twenty-eight years
old ; according to Fra Sabba da Castiglione his masters in painting were Piero
della Prancesoa and Mantegna.

40 BRAMANTE DA URBINO
tive, he departed therefore from Castel Durante, and pro
ceeded to Lombardy, repairing first to one city and then to
another, working in each meanwhile as he best could. His
undertakings of that period were however not of a costly
kind, or such as could do the architect much honour, since
he had then neither interest nor reputation ; but to the end
that he might at least see something of works of- merit, he
removed to Milan to examine the Duomo. There was at
that time a good architect and geometrician living in Milan,
called Cesare Cesariano, who had written a commentary on
Vitruvius, but falling into despair at finding himself dis
appointed in the remuneration he had expected to receive
for that work, he sank into so strange a state, that he would
work no more, and his peculiarities increasing, he became
utterly distracted, and died more like the beasts that perish
than like a Christian man. At the same time, in the same
city, lived the Milanese, Bernardino da Trevio, who waa
engineer and architect of the Duomo, he was admirable in
design and was held by Leonardo da Vinci to be a most ex
cellent master, although his manner is somewhat crude and
his paintings are hard and dry. At the upper end of the
cloister of Santa Maria delle Grazie, there is an Ascension
of Christ by Bernardino da Trevio, wherein the observer
will remark some very admirable foreshortenings. In San
Francesco also, he painted a chapel in fresco, the subject
being the death of San Pietro and that of San Paolo. In
Milan and the neighbourhood of that city, there are like
wise many other works by this master, all held in high es
timation, and in my book of drawings I have a female head
by his hand, very beautifully executed in charcoal and
white lead, from which a very fair notion of his manner
may be obtained.
But to return to Bramante after having thoroughly
studied that fabric (the Duomo),^ and made the acquaint-
3 The account-books of the cathedral of MUan, published in extenso, do not
mention'the Urbinate architect until 1488-90, when he was already famous.
He is said to have made a model for the cupola of the cathedral in 1487.

BRAMANTE DA URBINO 41
ance of the above-named engineers, he became inspirited to
such a degi-ee, that he resolved to devote himself entirely
to architecture. Thereupon he departed from Milan,* and
repaired to Rome, where he arrived immediately before the
commencement of the holy year 1500. By the interposition
of the friends whom he had in that city, some of whom were
his fellow-countrymen, others Lombards, he received a com
mission to paint the armorial bearings of Pope Alexander
VI. iu fresco over the holy door of San Giovanni Laterano,
which is opened on the occasion of the Jubilee ; these he
surrounded with angels and added other figures, as sup
porters of the escutcheon.^
• With Bramante the leading role in ItaUan architecture passes from the
Tuscan to the Urbinate, and the theatre changes from the centre of Italy
to Lombardy. In 1473-74 Bramante settled iu the Milanese territory. His
works as painter have perished, except a few portraits in fresco in the Pa
lazzo Panigarola-Prignetti at Milan. In that city he buUt, in 1485, the
sacristy of San Satire ; commenced, in 1493, the cloister of Sant' Ambrogio,
and in the same year had carried the eastern portions of S. Maria delle
Grazie as far west as the drum. In 1493 he went to Rome and Florence, and
in 1494 was again in the north at Vigevano. He built the church of Abbiate
Grasso in 1477 (according to Baron von GeymiiUer), or 1497 (according to Herr
Seidlitz) ; his last work in Milan was the monastery of Sant' Ambrogio, now
the miUtary hospital. After the faU of Ludovico Sforza he went to Rome, in
1499. M. Miintz considers that some of his iirst works prove that he must
have made an earlier visit to Tuscany than has been generally supposed.
Among the buildings in Milan chronicled as being by Bramante (see Mi
lanesi and Miintz, quoting GeymiiUer, Casati, Mongeri, and others) are : The
cloister of Sant' Ambrogio, 1498 ; the monastery of Sant' Ambrogio, 1498 ; in S.
Maria deUe Grazie; (1493) cloister, sacristy, door, cupola, refectory, chapel of
S. Paolo ; 1494, tomb in S. Maria delle Grazie of a son of Duke Ludovico ; in
Santa Maria presso San Satire, church, first portion (on the Via del Falcone)
between the cupola and the chapel of San Satire, circa 1474 ; chapel of San
Teedoro, 1497 ; nicchia, nave, sacristy, beginning of facade, 1498 ; Santa
Radegonda, exterior left side, first irregular cloister ; in the Spedale Maggiore,
nine gothio windows in the great court, half of the portico which looks to the
north ; pUasters, basso-relievi, etc.; Archbishopric (1493-97), great court; two
sides of the portico, and supports of the balcony and certain work in the
Castello and the Rocchetta. See Milanesi, IV., 153, note 3. There is a table
of works executed by Bramante, either under his direction or from his de
signs, as weU as those attributed to him, in Baron von GeymiiUer's book, Les
Projets primitifs, etc., pp. 105-115.
» These arms were destroyed during changes in the buUding. De Pagave
ascribed to Bramante the churches of San Stefano, San Bernardo, and the

42 BRAMANTE DA URBINO
Bramante had brought some money with him from Lom
bardy and had gained other sums in Rome by certain works
which he had executed there ; these funds he husbanded
with care, expending them with extreme frugality, because
he desired to live for a time on his means, and not to be
distracted by other occupations from the labours which he
proposed to undertake among the ancient buildings of
Rome, all of which he was anxious to study, wishing to
obtain accurate measurements of them, entirely at his
leisure.' He commenced this labour accordingly ; in solitude and
deep thought he pursued it to its completion, and in no
long time had examined and measured all the buildings of
antiquity that were in the city of Rome and its neighbour
hood, with all that were to be found in the Campagna ; he

Duomo in Faenza. Baron von GeymiiUer finds that these buUdings resem
ble Bramante's style sufficiently to be attributable to him (saving that San
Stefano was built in 1518), provided any proof of his sojourn in Faenza can
be found. The cathedrals of Foligno and Citta di CasteUo, and the portico
of the Duomo of Spoleto, attributed to Bramante, are not by him ; Santa
Maria del Monte, near Cesena, may be his work. The fine church of La Con-
solazione, at Todi, may be Bramante's, thinks the critic, as to plan and design
of the exterior, but he believes the interior to be by an inferior hand. See
MUanesi (quoting Baron H. von GeymiiUer), IV., 148, note 1 et seq. Bra
mante also built the admirable church of Abbiate Grasso (1477 according to
Baron von GeymiiUer, 1497 according to Herr Seidlitz), the fafade of which
resembles Alberti's Sant' Andrea of Mantua. Bramante directed too at
various times certain interior constructions in the castle of Vigevano, in the
cathedrals of Pavia and Como, and is said to have made, in 1490, a design,
which was never carried out, for the church of the Incoronata at Lodi.
• It was not tUl 1499 that Bramante definitely settled at Rome. M. MUntz,
L'Age d'Or, p. 375, points out the differences between the models offered by
MUan and Rome, differences which were almost as great as the distance be
tween modem society and the antique world. He shows that the architect,
who was then nearly sixty years old, had to take into account the needs and
tastes of the pontifical court, which had inherited a leaning toward severity
of line (nowhere does decorative sculpture play so subordinate a part as at
Rome), and also that he had to deal not with the brick of the north, but with
unfamUiar materials, such as travertine and peperino. "If he wished an
audience he must now build grandly, not gracefully ; the Pantheon, the
Colosseum, the Baths of Diocletian, these were the overwhelming examples ol
which he must needs take account."

BRAMANTE DA URBINO 43
had even pursued his researches as far as Naples, and visited
all places wherein he could ascertain that ancient buildings
were to be found. The remains still existing at Tivoli, and
in the villa of Adrian were studiously measured by Bra
mante, who profited largely by these examinations, as will
be declared iu the proper place. These pursuits caused his
talents to become known to the Cardinal of Naples,' who
began to remark, and eventually to favour his progress.
While Bramante, therefore, was continuing his studies as
here described, it came into the mind of the Cardinal to re
build a cloister in Travertine, for the monks of the Pace,
and this work he committed to Bramante.^ "Whereupon,
being very anxious to make gain as well as to acquire the
good will of the Cardinal, he gave himself to the work with
the utmost zeal and diligence, by which means he quickly
brought it to a most successful conclusion. It is true that
the building was not one of distinguished beauty, but it ob
tained a great name for the architect, seeing that there were
but few masters in Rome, who then devoted themselves to
architecture with the zealous study and promptitade of ex
ecution which distinguished Bramante.
In the commencement of his labours, this master served
as under architect to Pope Alexander VI. when that Pon
tiff was constructing the Fountain in the Trastevere, as
likewise for that which he also erected on the Piazza of St.
Peter,' but his reputation having increased, he was invited
to take part with other eminent architects in the greater
' OUviero Caraffa.
e Bramante has been reproached with having introduced in the second
story of this cloister (La Pace, 1504) columns which bear " upon the open,"
that is to say upon the centre of arches which are directly below them instead
of upon vertical supporting members. M. Muntz, L'Age d'Or, -p. S80, notes
that the architect wished to avoid the wide spacing of earUer Renaissance
cloisters, and certainly whether he was right or wrong Bramante showed his
feeUng for the picturesque, for every observer must have felt a shock at a
certain wide-open look, a slightly, almost flimsUy, supported appearance, that
is given to certain Tuscan cloisters by their slender columns placed at very
considerable intervals and bearing wide, spreading arches.
» These fountains were replaced by others.

44 BRAMANTE DA URBINO
number of the consultations which were held respecting the
Palace of San Giorgio, and the church of San Lorenzo in
Damaso, which Raffaello Riario, Cardinal of San Giorgio,
was at that time about to build near the Campo di Fiore.'"
And although better works may have been executed at a
later period, yet this palace, were it only for its extent, has
ever been considered and still continues to be thought a
splendid and commodious habitation ; the works of this
fabric were conducted by Antonio Monticavallo. Bramante
was likewise consulted in respect to the proposed enlarge
ment of the church of San Jacopo degli Spagnuoli, situate
on the Piazza Navona : he took part also in the delibera
tions relating to Santa Maria delF Anima ; the building of
which was afterwards entrusted to a German architect, and
designed " the palace of the Cardinal Adriano da Corneto
in the Borgo Nuovo, '^ which was built very slowly and ulti
mately remained unfinished,'^ in consequence of the Car-
"• Signer Domenico GnoU, La Cancelleria ed altri Palazzi a Roma attri
buiti a Bramante, L' Archivio Storico dell' Arte, V., pp. 176-184, makes a state
ment which is of the greatest importance to the history of Italian art in
declaring that this San Damaso, or Cancelleria palace, is not by Bramante at
all, but was built some years before he came to Rome. Both historical and
traditional bases are lacking to prove that it was his work. The palace is
Tuscan, but resembles the Piccolomini palace at Pienza, and even mere the
RuceUai of Florence. The old guide-books attribute it to the San Galli, also
to the " San Galli or Bramante," finally toward the end of the eighteenth
century the more famous name obtains. Signor Gnoli finds that were we
to accept the Cancelleria as Bramante's we should have to place its " almost
infantine grace and timidity " between the rich variety of the architect's
Lombard work and the grandeur of his Roman style, and the critic calls this
palace the last graceful product of that Tuscan quattrocento art which
Bramante made an end of that he might base upon it the Roman art of the
cinquecento. For Signor Gnoli's comparison ot the Cancelleria with Bra
mante's two styles, see L' Archivio Storico deW Arte, V., pp. 176-184 ; for his
review of the Lombard work of the architect, see pp. 331-334. If accepted as
final, this conclusion of Signor Gnoli is of capital interest, since the Cancel
leria has not only been long believed to be the work of Bramante, but has
been cited again and again as the example of his transitional period.
"In 1.503.
'2 Now Palazzo Giraud-Torlenia.
^^ Only the door was unfinished, and this was completed in the eighteenth
century, but not in the style of Bramante. See Milanesi, IV., p. 155, note 33.

BRAMANTE DA URBINO 45
dinal's flight. The enlargement of the principal chapel in
Santa Maria Maggiore was also effected according to the de
signs of Bramante, and by these works he acquired so much
credit in Rome that he began to be esteemed the first archi
tect in that city, being exceedingly bold and prompt, with
great and varied powers of invention. The most dis-
' tinguished personages of Rome now employed him therefore
in all their important undertakings, and when, in the year
1503, Julius II. was raised to the pontifical chair, Bramante
was at once employed in his service.
A project had been formed in the mind of that pontiff,
for covering the space which then lay between the Belve
dere " and the Papal palace, with a building in the form of
a quadrangular theatre, designing thereby to enclose a small
valley which interposed between the palace and the new
buildings erected for the residence of the Pontiffs, by Pope
Innocent VIII. ; the intention of Julius was to construct
two corridors, one on each side of the valley, by which
means he could pass from the Belvedere to the palace under
a loggia, and in like manner could return from the palace
to the Belvedere, without exposure to the weather ; the as
cent from the lowest point of the valley to the level of the
Belvedere was to be effected by fiights of steps.
Bramante therefore, who had great judgment and a most
ingenious fancy in such matters, divided the lower part into
two ranges, one over the other, the first being an extremely
beautiful Loggia of the Doric order, resembling the Colos
seum of the Savelli ; " but in place of the half -columns he
substituted pilasters building the whole edifice of Traver
tine. Over this came a second range of the Ionic order,
and the walls of that portion of the building being contin-
" In this vUla of the Belvedere, designed by Antonio del PoUajuolo for Pope
Innocent VIH., JuUus IL began to form the nucleus of the museums of the
Vatican by his coUection of newly discovered antiquities. Professor Lan-
ciani (in the Bull. Arch. Com. , 1894, pp. 147-157), in his address at the opening
of the new museum in the Botanical Gardens, gives .an interesting exposition of
the attitude of the sixteenth century toward antiquities.
15 Theatre of Marcellua.

46 BRAMANTE DA URBINO
uous, it was furnished with windows ; the level was that of
the first floor of the Papal palace, but it reached to the
rooms on the ground-floor only in the Belvedere. A Loggia
of more than four hundred paces long was thus obtained on
the side looking towards Rome, with a second of equal ex
tent towards the wood ; between these was enclosed the
before mentioned valley, to the lowest point of which all
the water from the Belvedere was to be conducted, and
there a magnificent fountain was to be built.'*
Such was the plan, and after designs prepared in accord
ance with it, Bramante constructed the first corridor, which
proceeds from the palace and joins the Belvedere on the
side towards Rome," the last part of the Loggia which was
to ascend the acclivity and occupy the higher level ex
cepted : of the opposite part, that towards the wood namely,
he could only lay the foundations, but could not finish it,
the death of Julius interrupting the work, and that of the
architect himself also taking place before it had proceeded
further. The invention of this fabric was considered so
fine that all declared nothing better had been seen in Rome
since the time of the ancients ; but, as we have said, of the
second corridor the foundations only were completed, nor
has the whole been finished even to our own times, although
Pius IV. has at length almost brought it to a conclusion.
Bramante likewise erected the cupola which covers the
Hall of Antiquities, and constructed the range of niches
for the statues. Of these, the Laocoon, an ancient statue
of the most exquisite perfection, the Apollo, and the
Venus, were placed there during his own life, the remain
der of the statues were afterwards brought thither by Leo
X., as for example, the Tiber and the Nile, with the Cleo
patra ; others were added by Clement VII. ; while in the
" The great niche, the Nicchione, may stUl be seen, and the court oaUed
" of the Pine Cone," della Pigna.
" Palladie, on the contrary, aaya that this spiral staircase (stUl existing)
was suggested by three antique stairways, which were once to be seen iu the so-
called Pompey's Portico of Rome. See M. MUntz, L'Age d'Or, p. 336.

BRAMANTE DA URBINO 47
time of Paul III. and that of Julius IIL, many important
improvements were made there at very great cost.
But to return to Bramante : when not impeded by the
parsimony of those with whom he had to act, he conducted
his various undertakings with extraordinary promptitude,
ahd possessed a profound and thorough knowledge of all
things appertaining to the builder's art. He carried for
ward the buildings of the Belvedere with excessive rapidity,
and such was the zeal with which he seconded the eager
ness of the Pope — who would have had the edifice receive
birth at a wish, rather than await the slow process of
erection — that the men who were labouring at the foun
dations carried away at night the sand and earth which
they had dug out in the presence of Bramante during the
day, and he then without further precautions permitted
the foundations to be laid. The result of this inadvertence
on the part of the master has been that his work has cracked
in various parts, and is now in danger of ruin, nay, as re
gards this Corridor, a portion, to the extent of eighty
braccia fell to the ground during the pontificate of Clement
VII., and was afterwards rebuilt by Paul III., who caused the
foundations of the whole to be repaired and strengthened.
There are besides in the Belvedere many beautiful stair
cases and flights of steps, rich and varied in design, which
unite the higher to the lower levels of the building, all
from the plans of Bramante, and admirably executed in the
Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders respectively, arranged
with the most perfect grace. He had made a model of all
that was to have been done, which is said to have been of
most imposing beauty, as indeed we may see that it must
have been from the commencement of the work ; even left
as it is in the imperfect state wherein we see it. Among
other things is a winding stair constructed between col
umns, which is graduated in such a manner that it can be
ascended on horseback : in this work the Doric order is
followed by the Ionic, and the Ionic by the Corinthian,
thus rising from one order into the other ; the whole is

48 BRAMANTE DA URBINO
conducted with the utmost judgment and finished with ex
quisite grace, insomuch that it does him equal honour with
whatever other work he may have executed in the same
place. The invention of this winding stair Bramante bor
rowed from San Niccolo of Pisa, as we have notified in the
life of Giovanni and Niccolo Pisani.
This master had formed the fanciful project of making
certain letters, in the manner of the ancient hieroglyphics,
on a frieze of the external fagade, whereby he designed to
display his own ingenuity, as well as to exhibit the name of
the reigning Pontiff and his own, and had commenced thus :
— Julio II. Pont. Maximo, having caused a head in profile
of Julius Caesar to be made, by way of expressing the name
of the pontiff, and constructing a bridge with two arches
to intimate Julio II. Pont., with an Obelisk of the Circus
Maximus to signify Max. But the Pope laughed at this
fancy and made him change his hieroglyphics for letters a
braccio in height, in the antique form, such as we now see
them ; declaring that Bramante had borrowed that absur
dity from a gate in Viterbo, over which a certain architect,
called Maestro Francesco, had placed his name after his
own fashion, and that he effected it in this wise : he carved
a figure of San Francesco with an arch {arco), a roof (tetto),
and a tower (torre), which he explained in a way of his own
to mean. Maestro Francesco Architettore.
His talents in architecture and other qualities rendered
Bramante highly acceptable to Pope Julius II. , who was
indeed so amicably disposed towards him, as to confer on
our architect the office of clerk to the signet, and while
holding this appointment he constructed an edifice for the
furtherance of the business connected with it, and made a
very beautiful press for the printing of the papal bulls.
In the service of his Holiness Bramante repaired to Bo
logna, when the city returned to the protection of the
church in the year 1504, and in all the war of Mirandola
he occupied himself with various labours of great ingenuity,
rendering very important assistance on that occasion. ,

BRAMANTE DA TTRBINO 49
This master prepared numerous designs for the ground-
plans of buildings, as well as for entire edific^all of which
are truly admirable, as may be judged 'ff^m certain exam
ples of them which appear in our book : the proportions in
every instance are "very fine, and the whole design gives
evidence of consummate art. Bramante imparted consider
able instruction in the rules of architecture to Raphael
Sanzio of Urbino, arranging for him the buildings which
he afterwards painted in perspective, in that Hall of the
Papal palace wherein is the Mount Parnassus, and where
Raphalel placed the portrait of Bramante himself,'^ whom
he has represented in one of the pictures with a compass iu
his hand, in the act of measuring certain arches.
Pope Julius, among his other undertakings, determined
on that of uniting the Law courts and all other public of
fices in certain buildings, situate along the Via Giulia,
which Bramante had thrown open and brought into a
straight line. Now if all these offices of administration
could have been assembled in one place, the arrangement
would have been highly conducive to the interests and con
venience of the merchants and others who had long suffered
many hindrances from their separation : Bramante there
fore commenced the construction of the palace of San
Biagio," on the Tiber, and there is still a most beautiful
temple in the Corinthian order, commenced there on that
occasion by this master, but which has never been com
pleted. The remainder of the fabric there in part erected
is of rustic work most admirably executed, and it is much
to be lamented that so honourable, useful, and magnificent
an edifice, acknowledged by the masters of the profession
to be the most perfect in that kind ever seen, should have
failed to receive its due completion.*
In the first cloister of San Pietro-a-Montorio, Bramante
built a round temple ^' constructed entirely of Travertine,
" In the school of Athens. " In 1509.
*o Massive remains are still to be seen in the Via Giulia.
" Bramante intended this " Tempietto," built in 1510, to be surrounded by
III.— 4

50 BRAMANTE DA URBINO
than which nothing more perfectly conceived, more grace
ful, or more beautiful can be imagined, whether as regards
arrangement, proportion, or variety, and if the erection of
the entire cloister, which is not finished, had been com
pleted after a design by our architect, which may still be
seen, the effect of the whole would have been much more
noble than it now is. In the Borgo this master gave the
design of a palace, which Raphael of Urbino caused to be
constructed of brick,^ with stucco-work cast in moulds, the
columns and bosses are in the rustic manner, the order is
Doric, the work altogether being a very fine one, and the
invention of those castings at that time quite new.^ The
design and arrangements for the decoration of Santa Maria
at Loretto,^^ which were afterwards continued by Andrea
Sansovino, were also made by this master, who prepared the
models for innumerable temples and palaces which are now
in Rome, and many other parts of the states of the church.
This admirable artist was of a most enterprising spirit,
and among other projects had formed that of entirely re
storing and even re-arranging the palace of the Pope ; nay,
such was his boldness, seeing as he did the resolution with
which the Pope accomplished important undertakings, and

a circular colonnaded portico with four entrances, four capellette, and four
niches in the colonnade, but the colonnade was never built.
'^ The combination of rusticated work with coupled columns shown in this
palace established a precedent followed by Raphael, Giulio Romano, San
Micheli, Sansovino, and Palladio. The buUding no longer exists ; it was on
the Piazza Scossacavalli, and was demoUshed in the seventeenth century. See
M. Muntz, L'Age d'Or, p. 391.
" Among his Roman works the Palazzo Giraud-Torlonia belongs to Bra
mante's second Lombard manner ; St. Peter's to his antique style ; while a
third, and very different manner, is characterized, by vigorous bossages, con
trasting with engaged columns — see the palace built by him in the Borgo for
Raphael (or for himself) and the design for the Palace of San Biagio. In
1503-4 Bramante commenced the Loggie of the Vatican (decorated by Ra
phael), in 1509 the choir of Santa Maria del Popolo, and in 1513 directed
works at La Magliana.
'" The Santa Casa of Loretto ; Baron von GeymuUer says in The School
of Bramante, p. 112: "Among modern works of the Corinthian order this
white marble shrine deserves, no doubt, the first place. "

BRAMANTE DA URBINO 51
finding the desire of the latter to coincide with his own pur
pose and wishes, that hearing his Holiness express the in
tention of demolishing the church of San Pietro to con
struct it anew, he made numberless designs to that end,
and among these there was one, which astonished all who
beheld it, and was indeed of the most extraordinary mag
nificence and beauty. Nor would it be possible to display
more consummate art, or a more perfect judgment than
were evinced by Bramante, in this work : the design shows
two towers, in the centre of which is the principal front of
the building, as we see it on the medals ^ afterwards struck
for Julius II. and Leo X., by Caradosso, a most excellent
goldsmith of that time, who had no equal in the execution
of dies : the same thing may be seen in the medals of Bra
mante himself, which are also extremely beautiful. The
Pope, being thus determined , to undertake the commence
ment of that stupendous building, the church of St. Peter ;
caused one half of the older fabric to be demolished, and
set hand to the reconstruction, with the firm resolve that in
art, invention, arrangement, and beauty, as well as in ex
tent, magnificence, and splendour of decoration, that edi
fice should surpass all the buildings ever erected in that
city by the whole power of the republic,^ aided as this was
by the genius of the many able masters whose works had il
lustrated the states of the church. "With his accustomed
promptitude the architect laid the foundations of his work,
and before the death of the Pope, continuing his labours to
the close of his own life, which followed soon after that of the
pontiff ; he raised the building to the height of the cornice,
which is over the arches of the four piers, and of this part
he also completed the vaulting, effecting the whole with ex-
=5 The medals show the church, which has the form of a Greek cross ; over
the grave of St. Peter, which occupies the centre, is a large cupola, there are
two clock-towers, whUe before the church is a vestibule borne upon six
columns. Bramante's use of the clock-towers as integral parts of the church
was a comparative novelty in Italian architecture.
2» The first stone was laid April 18, 1506, directly under that pier of the
cupola which bears the statue of St. Veronica.

52 BRAMANTE DA URBINO
traordinary rapidity, as well as consummate art. He like
wise conducted the vaulting of the principal chapel, that
wherein is the great tribune namely, causing the chapel,
called that of the king of France, to be also put in progress
at the same time.^
For this work Bramante invented the method of con
structing the vaulted ceilings by means of a framework of
strong beams, in which the friezes and decorations of foli
age were carved, and afterward covered with castings in
stucco. In the arches of the edifice he also showed the
manner in which they may be turned with movable scaffolds,
a method afterwards pursued by Antonio da San Gallo. In
that portion of the work which was completed by Bramante,
the cornice which surrounds the interior is seen to have
been conducted with so much ability, that nothing more
elegant or more graceful than is the design of this cornice,
in its every part, could have been produced by any hand
whatever. In the capitals of this edifice also, which in the
interior are formed of olive leaves, as indeed in all the
external work, which is of the Doric order, and of in
expressible beauty ; in all these things, I say, we perceive
the extraordinary boldness of Bramante's genius ; nay, we
have many clear proofs that, if he had possessed means of
action equivalent to his powers of conception, he would
have performed works never before heard of or even im
agined.* But the work we are here alluding to was conducted after
a much altered fashion on his death and by succeeding
architects ; nay, to so great an extent was this the case, that
" That is to say, besides completing the four enormous piers of the cupola
he began the tribunes of the central nave and of the south transept (Milanesi,
rV., p. 161, note 3).
2» The treatment of staircases, porticoes, subsidiary cupolas and balconies,
received great development at the hands of Bramante ; he made a picturesque
use of open galleries, and in his plan of St. Peter's the clock-towers were no
long detached campanili, but became integral portions of the body of the
buUding. His biographers are of the opinion that had Bramante Uved to
achieve what he planned, Rome would have had a scenic magnificence which
would have rivaUed the splendor of Babylon or Nineveh.

BRAMANTE DA URBINO 53
with the exception of the four piers by which the cupola is
supported, we may saiely affirm that nothing of what was
originally intended by Bramante now remains. For in the
first place, Raffaelo da Urbino and Giuliano da San Gallo,
who were appointed after the death of Julius II. , to con
tinue the work, with the assistance of Fra Giocondo of
Verona, began at once to make alterations in the plans ; and
on the death of these masters, Baldassare Peruzzi also ef
fected changes, when he constructed the chapel of the King
of France, in the transept which is on the side towards the
Campo Santo. Under Paul III. the whole work was altered
once more by Antonio da San Gallo, and after him Michael
Angelo, setting aside all these varying opinions, and reduc
ing the superfluous expense, has given to the building a de
gree of beauty and perfection, of which no previous succes
sor to Bramante had ever formed the idea ; the whole has
indeed been conducted according to his plans, and under
the guidance of his judgment, although he has many times
remarked to me that he was but executing the design and
arrangements of Bramante, seeing that the master who first
founded a great edifice is he who ought to be regarded as its
author. The plan of Bramante in this building, does in
deed appear to have been of almost inconceivable vastness,
and the commencement which he gave to his work was of
commensurate extent and grandeur ; but if he had begun
this stupendous and magnificent edifice on a smaller scale,
it is certain that neither San Gallo nor the other masters,
not even Michael Angelo himself, would have been found
equal to the task of rendering it more imposing, although
they proved themselves to be abundantly capable of dimin
ishing the work : for the original plan of Bramante indeed
Iiad a view to even much greater things.^'
" Baron von GeymuUer, who is the protagoniat in the question aa to Bra-
mante'a greatneaa, says that had he completed St. Peter's it would have been
the marvel of all time ; M. Miintz adds, the most beautiful of aU temples,
whether Gothic, Romanesque, or Renaissance, and says also that the work
sketched by Bramante was "as living and as full of interest in spite of its
colossal dimensions as the actual St. Peter's ia cold and empty." In the his-

54 BRAMANTE DA URBINO
We find it asserted that the earnest desire of Bramante to
make a rapid progress, and to see the building arising, in
duced him to permit the destruction of many admirable
works which had previously adorned the church of St.
Peter's ; sepulchral monuments of Popes namely, with
paintings and mosaics : a circumstance which has caused
the loss of numerous portraits in different styles of many
great personages, which were scattered about in all parts of
the older church, being, as it was, considered the principal
church of all Christendom. The altar of St. Peter and the
ancient choir or tribune was all that Bramante retained,™
and this he enclosed within a rich balustrade most beauti
fully executed, with columns or balusters of the Doric
order, and all in Peperino marble. This enclosure is of
such extent, that when the Pope goes to St. Peter's to per
form high mass, he can find space within it for all his court,
as well as for the ambassadors of all Christian princes ; the
work was not entirely finished at the death of Bramante,
and received its ultimate completion from the Sienese Bal
dassare. Bramante was a person of most cheerful and amiable
tory of this buUding, which at once crowned and dethroned the papacy (since
the sale of indulgences applied to the raising of funds brought en the Refor
mation), famous architects pass before us in long procession, with even
Raphael in their midst, but against them aU two figures stand out gigantic,
those of Bramante and Michelangelo — Bramante, whose vision has passed
away ; Michelangelo, whose dream, materiaUzed, rises against the Reman sky,
yet who, rival and adversary as he was, said, " it cannot be denied that
Bramante had in architecture as great talent as any man since the ancients.
He made the first plan of St. Peter's, . . , and any one who like San
GaUo has deviated from it has departed from the true method." Baron von
GeymiiUer in his great work on St. Peter's gives Bramante's unexecuted
designs. 30 The Renaissance architects, with all their love of antiquity, were apt to
destroy rather recklessly, after learning what they could from the particular
building in hand ; and we may see from Vasari's evra expression of opinion in
other lives that it was natural for them to disdain what had been done in the
"old manner," i.e., Gothic, Lombard, Tuscan, etc. StiU Bramante seems to
have been called an iconoclast even bj' these rather careless and perhaps
jealous fellow-architects. As for the mosaics and sculptures, a great part of
them were saved.

BRAMANTE DA URBINO 65
disposition, delighting to do everything whereby he could
bring benefit to his neighbour. He was the assured friend
of all men distinguished by their talents, and favoured
them to the utmost of his power, as was manifest in his
conduct" towards the graceful* Raffaello da Urbino, a
most celebrated painter who was induced to settle in Rome
by his means.
This master always lived in the most splendid and hon
ourable manner, and in the station to which he had at
tained, all that he possessed was as nothing to what he
might and would have expended. He delighted greatly in
poetry and took much pleasure in music ; hearing as well
as practising improvisations on the lyre with infinite en
joyment : he would also occasionally compose a sonnet,® if
* Grazioso here means gracious, not graceful
^' He designated Raphael as his successor as architect -in -chief of St.
Peter's. Bramante has been reproached with trying to force upon Michel
angelo an uncongenial task, the painting of the Sistine Chapel, in the hopes
that he would fail in it ; and furthermore, with having again attempted, after
Michelangelo had succeeded, to check this success and steal a portion of the
work for Raphael Neither common-sense nor documentary evidence sup-
pert the first charge. As to the second, the attempt to secure for Raphael
the permission to paint a portion of the frescoes of the Sistine was justi
fiable and natural. It is most gratifying that Bramante did not obtain this
permission, since thus Michelangelo was able to evolve his tremendous
scheme in its entirety, but Bramante asked nothing unreasonable. The most
famous artists of an epoch which was only then passing away had been in
vited to co-operate in the painting of the walls. Perugino, Botticelli, Ros-
seUi, Ghirlandajo, and, lastly, Signorelli, had worked there. Michelangelo was
asked to cover the vaulting, and executed a portion of what we now see there.
Some of the walls still remained uncovered ; what was more natural than
that Raphael should hope to also have a hand in this work which so many of
his contemporaries had shared, this painting of the central papal chapel of
Christendom ? Michelangelo enlarged his scheme until his work covered all
the waUs down to the series of fifteenth - century frescoes. This was our
everlasting gain, for Raphael has had his field in the Stanze of the Vatican.
A sharp rivalry, enmity perhaps, existed between these two great painters, but
we may no mere blame Raphael for coveting, or Bramante for asking, a part
of the Sistine upper waUs than we may blame the former for having in later
years designed the tapestries which were to be hung upon the lower portions
of the chapel.
32 In a coUection of essays upon architecture and perspective, written by
Pramante and published in MUan in 1756, are also thirty sonnets. Thirteen

66 BRAMANTE DA URBINO
not in so polished a manner as we are now wont to expect,
yet always giving evidence of an earnest purpose and en
tirely free from errors of style. Bramante was highly
esteemed by the prelates, and received various proofs of
respect and admiration from different nobles, who were
acquainted with his excellencies. He enjoyed very great
renown during his life, and this was still further increased
and extended after his death, seeing that this event caused
the erection of St. Peter's to be suspended during several
years. Bramante lived to the age of seventy, and when he
died, was borne to his grave with the most honourable
solemnities, and attended by the papal court as well as by
all the sculptors, architects, and painters at that time in
Rome.^ He was entombed in San Pietro, in the year
1514. To Architecture the death of Bramante was an irreparable
loss, and the rather, as his continual investigations fre
quently resulted in the discovery of some useful invention,
whereby the art was largely enriched. Among other in
stances of this was the method of vaulting with gypsum ^
and that of preparing stucco, both known to the ancients,
but the secret of which had been lost in their ruin, and had
remained concealed even to the time of this master. Where
fore, those who devote themselves to the examination and
admeasurement of architectural antiquities, find no less
science and excellence of design in the works of Bramante
more sonnets are in Volume III., pp. 84-86, of Poesie Italiane inedite, di
dugento autori, collected by Francesea Trucchi (Prate, 1847) ; Falda and
Perrario have engraved many of Bramante's architectonic works in Nuovi
Disegni delV Architettura, epiante e palazzi di Roma. See Milanesi, IV., p.
164, note 8. Baron von GeymuUer (School of Bramante, p. 137) considers
that he recognized in some sheets of paper among the MS. of Vitruvius,,
which formerly belonged to Raphael, a fragment of a treatise by Bramante..
The same critic also recognized a series of sketches in the Soane Museum,,
London, which may be considered as a kind of treatise.
33 Bramante died on March 11, 1514, and was buried in the Grotte Vaticane.
3* Vasari elsewhere attributes this invention to GiuUano da San GaUo, but
Cesariano Cesariani, Bramante's pupU, declares his master to be the inventor.,^
See B. Muntz, L'Age d'Or, p. 333.

BRAMANTE DA URBINO 57
than in those of the ancients themselves, and among artists
well acquainted with the profession which he exercised,
this master must ever be accounted one of the most exalted
minds by whom our age has been illustrated.^ He left be-
" "Renaissance architecture is so cold, Renaissance churches do not seem
like churches at all." Who has not heard this remark made again and again
in Italy by traveUers from the north ? These travellers have grown up in
Prance, England, and Germany, under the shadow of Gothic minsters, or
they are Americans who have visited northern countries on their way to Italy,
and to them a church means always the "long-drawn aisle and fretted
vault " of Westminster or Amiens or Cologne. But the same reason which
makes a Gothic church appeal to an Englishman or a German, namely, that
it is indigenous, makes a Renaissance temple impressive to an Italian. The
Gethic is a true style, that of the Renaissance is not ; but the Gothic is no
native of Italy, and there is no reason why the Italian should inherit its spirit.
We may mourn that the development of the French sculpture of Rheims and
Bourges and Amiens, and the reUefs of Orvieto should have been checked,
that the Gothic architecture of the north should have been arrested by u,
change of style, but we may just as legitimately regret with VioUet Le Due
that Roman architecture, the architecture of the Basilica of Constantine,
should have been destroyed by the barbarian invasions. The Italian inher
itance was from the Greeks through the C^sars, Roman and Byzantine, and
through the early Christians ; the churches of Siena, Orvieto, Milan, were
exotic, and when BruneUeschi and Donatello dug and measured in the Cam
pagna they found that austere Roman architecture which was their rightful
heritage, and which Bramante in turn enriched with the souvenirs of Chris
tian basUicas of the north. When the Italian of the best period of Pre-re-
naissance architecture wanted a church he turned not to the antique Roman
work, which he had not yet learned to study, nor to the Gothic, but to tho
Romanesque church, or, better stUl, to the Christianized Roman basilica, and
the result was the Duomo of Pisa.
The churches of the Renaissance have inherited from San Paolo fuori le
mura, as weU as from the Roman forum, and to all these heterogeneous
materials the ItaUan is entitled by birthright ; but the Gothic buUders
were of a different blood from him, for iu the invasions of Italy the northern
barons became only the lords of the open country ; within the town waUs
was the old ItaUc stock, and of this stock came the Brunelleschis and Bra-
mantes. Gothic architecture is more spontaneous than that of the cinque
cento / it is a growth ; any one can feel its power and can feel it at once
without study. The churches of the Renaissance are individual perform
ances, and even when they are masterpieces seme comprehension of the culture
upon which they are based is necessary to an appreciation of them ; but the
more they are studied the more the visitor will appreciate the fact that they
are not cold copies of a by-gone style, but that they are thoughtfully planned
and skilfnUy constructed to fit a modem need, fertUe in examples of triumph
ant adaptation, instinct vrith persenaUty, rich with the resources of the sister

68 BRAMANTE DA URBINO
hind him his intimate friend and associate Giuliano Leno,
who was much employed in the buildings erected at that
period,^ but more to provide for and superintend the ex-
arts of sculpture and painting. Such are the best palaces and churches of the
" Golden Age ; " later a slavish imitation of antiquity produced buildings
which, compared with those of an earlier time, are as a lifeless body by the
side of a Uving one, but from Brunelleschi to Bramante, from Michelozzo
to the San Galli, no matter what the superficial observer may think, Re
naissance architecture was no cold abstraction, no galvanism of a dead and
gone style, but was to princes, people, and architects alike, an absorbing pas
sion. 3' Bramante's is the great name of the second period of the Renaissance, as
BruneUeschi's was of the first. For a time the sceptre of Italian art passed
from Tuscany to the tiny duchy of Urbino, from the hands of San GaUo and
Michelangelo to those of Bramante and Raphael, but to return again to the
Florentines, after the short and splendid Urbinate rule. It was net relation
ship alone (if such existed) between Raphael and Bramante that caused the
architect to will to the painter the continuation of the works upon St.
Peter's. This succession was rather an heirloom of natural selection. Bra
mante, like Raphael, was an assimUator. His was no contemning of the " old
manner," no rigid adherence to Vitruvius ; Uke Raphael he took whatever
he saw, the clustered piers of the north, the great rounded apses of Christian
basUicas, the external galleries to cupolas, the narthez of early church and the
Romanesque clock-tower, and, Uke Raphael, he so changed this material that
he made it all his own. M. Muntz has emphasized the singular fortune of this
great architect that he was in and of two successive and differing epochs of the
Renaissance, and that he represented both. As a youth he saw the dignified
and refined work of Luciano da Laurana in Urbino, as a man he lived close
to the rugged beauty of Sant' Ambrogio of MUan, the pioturesqueness of
Chiaravalle, the rich and solemn splendor of the Duomo. Penetrated by the
spirit of the Renaissance he yet did not reject the good that had gone before,
and he re-echoed it in the freshness and richness of his Lombard monuments.
He took as unhesitatingly from Alberti (in his facade of Abbiate Grasso) as
did Raphael from Masaccio (in his St. Paul), as readily from the basUicas of
early Christian builders as did the painter from the "" grotteschi" of the
Csesars, and in the general eschewal of "the old methods" he was so tolerant
that the pointed Gothic arches stood in long rows in his fafade of the Hos
pital of Milan. In Lombardy he was a Lombard, in Rome he became a
Roman until even Michelangelo praised him. He subordinated " beautj' in
details to the grandeur of simplicity and unity of effect," and if we feel nat
ural regret at the loss of a whole series of charming and individual motives
in decoration, we must not forget that grandeur was the dominant trait of an
tique Rome, that the coarse splendor of the empire was only au overlay to
the racial love of mass, the sense of austerity in construction which Bramante
helped to revive "in an age which required above all things to be preserved
from its own luxuriant waywardness of fancy." "The principles" (says M.

BRAMANTE DA URBINO 69
ecution of what others had planned and designed, than to
erect buildings of his own, although he possessed consider
able judgment and very great experience.
Miintz) " of Bramante the quattrocentist were honored in Upper Italy tiU the
middle of the sixteenth century ; those of the cinquecentist Bramante have
never ceased to inspire the masters of the bmlding art."

FRA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO, FLOREN
TINE PAINTER '
[Born 1475 ; died 1517.]
BlBLlOGEAPHY. — Neu-Mayr, Descrizione di due dipinti, uno di Fra Barto
lommeo Baccio della Porta I'altro di Guido Reni, Venice, 1833. Leonardo
Ciardetti, Di un quadro rappresentante la Madre di Misericordia di Fra
Bartolommeo di San Marco e dell' incisione eseguita da Gius, Sanders, Flor
ence, 183.5. E. Rubieri, 11 Ritratto di Fra Girolamo, Florence, 18.55. Otto
Miindler, article in the Recensionen und Mittheilmigen iiber bildende Kunst,
1865, No. 15, and m the Zeitschrift fUr Uldende Kunst, 1867, p. 303. Albert
von Zahn, Die handzeichnungen des Fra Bartolommeo im besitz der Frau
Grossherzogin Sophie von Saclisen- Weimar, Jahrbiicher fiir Kunstwissen-
schaft, 1870, III., 174-206. L'Abbe de Beauscjour and le Pfere Ceslas Bay-
onne, articles in I'Annee dominicaine, February and March, 1872, Decem
ber, 1875, January, August, and September, 1876. E. Ridolfi, Notizie
sopra varie opere di Fra Bartolommeo di San Marco, in the Giornale Li-
gustico di archeologia storia e belle arti, March, 1878. B. Frantz, Fra Bar
tolommeo della Porta, Batisbon, 1879. H. Lucke, in the Dohme Series of
Kunst und Kiinstler des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit, Leipsic, 1879, and in
Meyer's Allgemeines Kiinstler-Lexicon, 1880. Leader Scott, Fra Bartolom
meo, London, 1881. Padre Vincenzo Marchese, Jfcmo We dei piu insigni pit-
tori, scultori, e architetti domenicani, Bologna, 1878-79. An English edition
was published in Dublin, 1853. Gustavo Gruyer, Fra Bartolommeo della
Porta et Mariotto Albertinelli, Paris, 1 886. (This important book contains
a great number of reproductions, a comprehensive study of the artists named,
and a list of their principal works.) Auguste Castan, La Physionomie pri-
m,itlve du Ratable de Fra Bartolommeo d la Cathedrale de Besanfon re-
trouvee par Auguste Castan, Besanfon, 1889. Wilhelm Lilbke, Fra Barto-
lonimeo's Madonna Carondelet, Zeitschrift far bildende Kunst, March, 1891.
IN the vicinity of Prato, which is at the distance of some
ten miles from the city of Florence, and at a village
called Savignano, was born Bartolommeo, according to
the Tuscan practice called Baccio. From his childhood,
' Bartolommeo di Paolo di Jacopo del Fattorino was born in 1475. For his
various manners of signing his pictures, see G. Gruyer'a Fra Bartolommeo,
p. 96.

FRA BARTOLOMMEO OP SAN MARCO 61
Bartolommeo evinced not only a great inclination but an
extraordinary aptitude ^ for the study of design, and by the
intervention of Benedetto da Maiano, he was placed under
the discipline of Cosimo Roselli,^ being taken into the house
of certain of his kinsfolk who dwelt near the gate of San
Piero Gattolini, where Bartolommeo also dwelt many years,
for which reason he was always called Baccio della Porta,*
nor was he known by any other name.
After Baccio had left Cosimo Roselli,' he began to study
the works of Leonardo da Vinci with the most devoted
zeal, and in a short time had made so great a progress that
he was early considered one of the most distinguished of
the younger painters, whether as regarded design or colour
ing. In the company of Baccio lived Mariotto Alberti
nelli,' who in a short time acquired his manner to a very
satisfactory degree, when they executed together numerous
' Vasari was mistaken in regard to Fra Bartolommeo's birthplace ; he was
bom, not at Savignano, but near the gate of San Piero Gattolini, just out
side the walls of Florence. His mother was the daughter of an employee of
the hospital of San Giuliano, which was also situated near the gate.
" In the year 1508, in which Raphael went to Rome, Fra Bartolommeo vis
ited Venice, where he must, says M. Gruyer, have seen the works of Giorgione
and of Sebastian del Piombo, and certainly saw also in their first freshness
the two giea,t fagades of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, painted by Giorgione and
Titian. The Dominicans of the Convent of St. Peter Martyr at Murano
ordered a pictnre of Bartolommeo, and an interesting fact ia that part of the
money for the payment was to be raised by the sale of some letters of St.
Catherine of Siena, belonging to the vicar of the convent, Bartolommeo Dal-
zano. Baccio painted for them, 1508-1.509, what is perhaps his finest picture.
Saints Mary Magdalen and Catherine of Siena kneeling in ecataay and blessed
by God the Father. When the work was finiahed, the convent, made needy
by the troubles which foUowed the League of Cambrai, could not pay for
it. The brothers of San Marco waited three years, then ordered the Vene
tians to pay in ten days, in default of which they, the Florentines, should
keep the moneys already advanced and the picture into the bargain. Receiv
ing no reply, Fra Bartolommeo gave the picture to the Prior Pagnini, who
sent it to the Church of San Romano in Lucca. It is now in the Museum of
that city.
* Literally " Bat of the Gate."
' Baccio was in his seventeenth year when he left RosseUi. He formed his
first regular association with AlbertinelU in 1490 or 1498. See 6. Gruyer's
work, op. cit., p. 6.
• Whose life follows.

62 FEA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO
pictures of the Madonna, which are dispersed throughout
Florence. To enumerate all these works would take me too
far, but there are some so admirably executed by Baccio
that they must not pass without notice. One of these
paintings, a figure of the Virgin namely, is in the house of
Filippo, son of Averardo Salviati, it is a singularly beauti
ful picture, and is highly valued by its possessor : another
of them was purchased, no long time since, by Pier Maria
of the Wells,* a lover of paintings, who found it in a
sale of old furniture, but being capable of appreciating its
beauty, he would not afterwards part with it, for all the
money that could be offered to him. This also is a Ma
donna, and is executed with extraordinary care.' Piero del
Pugliese had a small Virgin in marble, sculptured by the
hand of Donatello in very low relief, a work of exquisite
beauty, for which Piero, desiring to do it the utmost hon
our, had caused a tabernacle in wood to be made, wherein
it was enclosed by means of two small doors. This taber
nacle he subsequently gave for its ultimate decoration to
Baccio della Porta, who painted on the inner side of the
door, two historical events from the life of Christ, one of
which represents the Nativity, the other the Circumcision
of the Saviour. The little figures of these scenes were exe
cuted by Baccio after the manner of miniatures, so delicate
ly finished that it would not be possible for anything in
oil-painting to exceed them. When the doors are shut, a
painting in chiaro-scuro is perceived to decorate the outer
side of them ; this also represents Our Lady, receiving the
Annunciation from the Angel, and is likewise painted in
oil.' The tabernacle is now in the study or writing-cham-
* Pier Maria delle Pozze.
' Vasari's description is not definite enough to enable ua to locate these
pictures. Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle place this Madonna in their Ust of
works that are missing.
* These pictures are in the Uffizi The bas-relief is lost. M. Gruyer, op.
cit., p. 11, says these little panels are not unworthy to frame the work of
Donatello. At about the period of these pictures Baccio and Mariotto ceased
to werk together, on account, says M. Gruyer, of the latter's violent oppo-

FRA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO 63
ber of the Duke Cosimo, a place wherein are kept all the
small bronze figures from the antique, with the medals and
other rare pictures in miniature, possessed by his most il
lustrious Excellency ; who treasures it as an extraordinary
work of art, which in fact it is.
Baccio della Porta was much beloved in Florence, not
only for his talents but for his many excellent qualities :
devoted to labour, of a quiet mind, upright by nature, and
duly impressed with the fear of God ; a retired life was that
of his choice, he shunned all vicious practices, delighted
greatly in the preaching of pious men, and always sought
the society of the learned and sober. And of a truth, it is
seldom that Nature gives birth to a man of genius, who is
at the same time an artist of retired habits, without also
providing him, after a certain period, with the means of
repose and a quiet life, as she did for Baccio, who ultimate
ly obtained all that was demanded by his moderate desires,
as will be related in its due place. The report that this
master was no less excellent in character than able as an
artist, being disseminated abroad, he soon became highly
celebrated, and Gerozzo di Monna Venna Dini confided to
him the commission to paint the chapel, wherein the re
mains of the dead are deposited, in the cemetery of the
hospital of Santa Maria Nuova. Here Baccio commenced
, a painting in fresco, of the Last Judgment, which he exe-
.' cuted with so much care and in so admirable a manner, in
the portion which he finished, that he acquired a still fur
ther increase of reputation. He was extolled above all for
the remarkable ability wherewith he has depicted the glories
of the blessed in Paradise, where Christ with the twelve
apostles is seated in judgment on the twelve tribes, the
sition to Savonarola, of whom Baccio was an ardent follower. When, after
the period of renunciation of art which followed Savonarola's death, Baccio
began to paint again, the friends came together, and Albertinelli, though a
layman, was officially recognized as Baooio's partner. (It wUl be remembered
that Benozzo GozzoU served Fra Angelico as assistant.) This partnership
ceased January 5, 1512. Mariotto is said to have become for a time a tavern-
keeper, but he eventually left hia tankards for his brushes.

64 FRA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO
figures being most beautifully draped and the colouring ex
quisitely soft.^ One part of this work remained unfinished,
the condemned dragged away to hell namely ; of these forms
we have the outline only. The design of the master has,
nevertheless, made the shame, despair, and dread of eternal
death, as clearly manifest in the expression of their faces,
as are content and joy in the countenances of those who are
saved, although the picture, as we have said, was left un
finished, our artist having a greater inclination for the
practices of religious worship than for painting.
Now it happened at the time of which we now speak that
Fra Girolamo Savonarola, of Ferrara, a renowned theo
logian of the order of Preachers, was in the convent of San
Marco, where Baccio attended his preaching with infinite
devotion and with all the respect which he felt for the per
son of the preacher : he thus became closely intimate with
Fra Girolamo, and spent almost all his time in the convent,
having contracted a friendship with the other monks also.
Girolamo meanwhile continued to preach daily ; and his
• This fresco, painted 1499-1500, designed and commenced by Fra Barto
lommeo, finished by Albertinelli, is in its scheme of composition the most
important Unk between the monumentally ordered decorations of Giotto
(Arena Chapel, Assisi), Masaccio (Branoacci Chapel), Filippo Lippi (Prate),
Ghirlandajo (S. M. Novella), and the decorations of Raphael in the Vatican.
Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle declare that it is the solitary link, and that
were it missing " we should say that Sanzio and not deUa Porta continued
the great art of Giotto and Ghirlandajo." This is not quite fair to Baccio
della Porta, who did not show his sense of monumental composition in this
one fresco only. Had it never been executed, some of his Virgins in Glory,
and notably his drawing and ebauche for the patron Saints of Florence (Uf
fizi), would have proved him the direct precursor of Raphael. It would seem
mere correct to say that the Last Judgment is the most emphatic example
of Baccio's intense sense of composition by masses of figures. It is, indeed,
as M Miintz has remarked, in all respects a worthy prelude to the Disputd of
Raphael. In following the evolution of monumental composition, Filippino
Lippi must also be remembered, not only in his Carmine frescoes, which were
directly inspired by Masaccio, but in his Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas,
where the artist thinks wholly for himself and takes his place among the
pioneers of compositional evolution. Marohese (English edition, IL, p. 31) re
marks that in regard to this picture of the Judgment Vasari's memory failed,
and that one would vainly seek for the twelve tribes.

FRA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO 65
zeal increasing, he daily declaimed from the pulpit against
licentious pictures, among other things ; showing how these,
with music and books of similar character, were calculated
to lead the mind to evil ; he also asserted his conviction,
that in houses where young maidens dwelt, it was danger
ous and improper to retain pictures wherein there were un
draped figures. Now it was the custom in that city to erect
cabins of firewood and other combustibles on the public
piazza during the time of Carnival, and on the night of
Shrove Tuesday, these huts being set a-blaze, the people
were wont to dance around them while thus burning, men
and women that is to say, joining hands, according to an
cient custom, encircled these fires, with songs and dances.
On the return of the Carnival following the period of which
we now speak, however, Fra Girolamo's exhortations had so
powerfully affected the people,'" that instead of these ac
customed dances, they brought pictures and works in sculpt
ure, many by the most excellent masters — all which they
cast into the fire, with books and musical instruments,
which were burnt in like manner — a most lamentable de
struction ; and more particularly as to the paintings. To
this pile brought Baccio della Porta all his studies and
drawings which he had made from the nude figure, when
they were consumed in the flames. His example was fol
lowed by Lorenzo di Credi, and by many others, who re
ceived the appellation of the Piagnoni.^^
No long time after this, Baccio della Porta, moved by
" Savonarola's adherents included many artists of note, such as Lorenzo di
Credi, Sandro BotticelU, Cronaca, some of the Robbias, and of course Fra
Bartolommeo. Michelangelo is also believed to have had leanings toward
the teachings of the Frate. A special werk has been written on the influence
of Savonarola by G. Gruyer, Illustrations des Ecrits de Jerome Savonarole
et des Paroles de Savonarole sur I'Art, Paris, 1879. The great Friar has been
unfairly accused of hostility to art, for in reality he advised such brothers as
felt no special vocation for preaching or for speculative study to devote them
selves to miniature painting, carving, illumination, calligraphy, sculpture, and
architecture for the greater glory and benefit of the community,
1' "Mourners," or more literally "weepers," iiora piangere to weep, to la
ment. III.— 5

66 FRA BARTOLOMMEO OP SAN MARCO
the love which he bore to Fra Girolamo, painted a picture
wherein was his portrait, which is indeed most beautiful.
This work was at the time transported to Ferrara, but was
brought back to Florence not a great while since, and is
now in the house of Filippo, the son of Alamanni Salviati,
by whom, as being a work of Baccio's, it is held in the
highest estimation.'^
It happened afterwards that the party opposed to Fra
Girolamo rose against him, determining to deliver him into
the hands of justice, and to make him answerable for the
insurrections which he had excited in the city ; but the
friends of the monk, perceiving their intention, assembled
also, to the number of five hundred, and shut themselves
up in San Marco ; Baccio della Porta joining himself to
them, for the very great affection which he bore to Fra
Girolamo. It is true that having but very little courage,
being indeed of a timid and even cowardly disposition, he
lost heart, on hearing the clamours of an attack, which was
made upon the convent shortly after, and seeing some
wounded and others killed, he began to have grievous
doubts respecting his position. Thereupon he made a vow,
that if he might be permitted to escape from the rage of
that strife, he would instantly assume the religious habit of
the Dominicans. The vow thus taken he afterwards ful
filled to the letter ; for when the struggle was over, and
when the monk, having been taken prisoner, had been con
demned to death,'' as will be found circumstantially related
by the historians of the period, Baccio della Porta departed
to Prato, where he assumed the habit of San Domenico on
" This werk was for many years in the possession of Ermolao Rubieri. See
his essay II Ritratto di Fra Girolamo, Florence, 1855. According to M. Gruyer
the portrait now belongs to Dr. Raphael Lanetti, one of the heirs of Signor
Rubieri, and is at Prato. The inscription reads HIBRONYMI FERRAR-
lENSIS A DEO MISSI PROPHETAE EFFIGIES. There is a portrait
of Savonarola as St. Peter Martyr iu the Academy of Florence; it was
painted by Fra Bartolommeo when in retirement at Plan di Mugnone. There
is another head of Savonarola in the Museum of San Marco which is occa
sionally attributed to Fra Bartolommeo.
'3 Savonarola waa put to death in May, 1498.

FRA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO 67
the 26th of July, in the year 1500, as we find recorded in
the chronicles of that convent. This determination caused
much regret to all his friends, who grieved exceedingly at
having lost him, and all the more as he had resolved to
abandon the study of painting.
At the entreaty of Gerozzo Dini, the friend and compan
ion of Fra Bartolommeo — so did the prior call Baccio della
Porta, on investing him with the habit — Mariotto Alber
tinelli undertook the work abandoned by Baccio, and con
tinued the paintings of the chapel in the cemetery, to their
completion.'* In this work he placed the portrait of the
then Director, with those of certain Monks, who were emi
nent for their knowledge of surgery. He added the like
ness of Gerozzo himself, who had caused the painting to be
executed, with that of his wife, whole-length figures ; the
former kneeling on one side, the latter on the other. In
one of the nude and seated figures of this picture, Mariotto
Albertinelli painted the portrait of his pupil Giuliano Bu-
giardini, a youth with long hair, as it was then the custom
to wear it, and so carefully has the work been executed,
that each separate hair might almost be counted. The por
trait of Mariotto himself is also in this painting — in the
head, with long hair, of a figure emerging from one of the
tombs there, as is also that of the painter Fra Giovanni da
Fiesole, whose life we have written. This last is in that
portion of the picture which represents the blessedness of
the just.'^ The work was all executed in fresco, both by
Fra Bartolommeo and Mariotto ; it has maintained and
continues to maintain its freshness admirably, and is held
in great estimation by artists, seeing that, in this manner,

^* It was during the progress of the work upon this fresco that the shock to
Fra Bartolommeo occasioned by the sacking of the Convent of San Marco,
and the death of Savonarola, caused him to renounce art and withdraw into a
cloister, where he took the habit of a novice on July 26, 1500. He left the
work to be completed by AlbertinelU.
" The bald old man at the right of the Saviour has been caUed the portrait
of Fra AngeUco. Vasari engraved this portrait for his book of Lives.

68 FRA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO
there scarcely could be anything better effected by the art
of the painter.
When Fra Bartolommeo had been several months in the
convent of San Marco,'* he was sent by his superiors to
Florence, they having appointed him to take up his abode
as a Monk, in the convent of San Marco in that city, where
his talents and good qualities caused him to receive num
berless marks of kindness from the Monks with whom he
dwelt." At that time Bernardo del Bianco had caused to
be constructed in the abbey of Florence a chapel, richly and
beautifully erected, of cut stone, after the designs of Ber
nardino da Rovezzano ; a work, which was then and is now
much admired for its varied beauty. And to complete the
decorations, Benedetto Buglioni had prepared angels and
other figures of vitrified terra -cotta in full relief, placed
within niches, with friezes consisting of the arms and de
vices of Bianco, mingled with heads of chernbims. For
this chapel, Bernardo desired to obtain an altar-piece, which
should be worthy of its beauty ; and feeling convinced that
Fra Bartolommeo would be exactly the person to execute
what he wished, he used every possible means, by the inter
vention of friends, and by all other methods, to dispose the
Monk to that undertaking. Fra Bartolommeo was then in
his convent, exclusively occupied with his attention to the
religious services, and to the duties imposed by the rule of

'« Shortly after entering S. Marco, Baccio ceded (September 11, 1501) all
his rights of property to his brother, who was under tutelage. Sante Pagnini,
Prior of S. Marco from 1504 to 1506, and 1511 to 1513, became to Baccio what
Antonino had been to Fra AngeUco. This prior was an Orientalist, a trans
lator of the Bible, and also au art connoisseur ; he held the chair of Eastern
Languages, founded by Leo X., and eventually died in Lyons, where he had
obtained the right of citizenship. It was he who urged Baccio to take up his
brushes again and paint the Vision of St. Bernard (his first work after he had
become a monk). Baccio had a long dispute over the price of this picture, a,
disinterested dispute, since the money went to the convent.
" M. Gruyer believes that at the time Leonardo da Vinci was painting hia
Battle of Anghiari, Fra Bartolommeo must surely have known him and stud
ied his manner of working, for he was especially influenced by Leonardo's
comprehension of chiaroscuro.

FRA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO 69
his Order, although frequently entreated by the Prior, as
well as by his own dearest friends, to commence some work
in painting. Four years" had now passed since he had
refused to execute any labours of that kind, but on the
occasion we are now describing, being pressed by the im
portunities of Bernardo del Bianco, he was at length pre
vailed on to begin the picture of St. Bernard. The Saint
is represented as writing, when the Virgin appears to him,
holding the Divine Child in her arms, and borne by nu
merous figures of children and angels, all painted by the
master with exceeding delicacy.'^ Beholding this appear
ance, St. Bernard is lost in adoring contemplation, and
there is a certain inexpressible radiance of look, which is so
to speak, celestial, in his countenance, and which seems, to
him who considers the picture attentively, to become dif
fused over the whole work. There is, besides, an arch above
this painting which is executed in fresco, and is also fin
ished with extraordinary zeal and care.*
Fra Bartolommeo painted certain other pictures soon
after that here described, for the cardinal Giovanni de'
Medici,*' with a figure of the Virgin, of exquisite beauty, for
Agnolo Doni, which last is still on the altar of a chapel in
his house.^
About this time the painter, Raffaello da Urbino, came
to learn his art in Florence, when he taught Fra Barto
lommeo the first rules of perspective,^ and was constantly
18 More probably six years, as the commission for the St. Bernard was given
November 18, 1504. M. Muntz, L'Age d'Or, p. 201, notes 1-5, p. 202, notes
1-4, gives an interesting Ust of the principal architects, sculptors, painters,
miniaturists, mosaic workers, and glass painters who were members of the
regular or secular clergy. In this age, as in others, the Order of St. Dom-
inick far excelled the others as to the number of its artists.
" The picture, painted in 1507, is in the Academy of Florence. It is ad-
mu:able in distribution, but the types are disagreeable, the faces so extra
ordinarily ugly, mean, and pinched that it is difficult to recaU a work of the
Renaissance in which indifference to facial beauty has been pushed so far.
JO The arch was destroyed when the church was modernized.
»i A Nativity painted for Cardinal de' Medici has been lest.
" Thia work, executed in 1516, ia in the Corsini GaUery, Rome.
S3 Raphael came to Florence in the year in which Baccio began again to

70 FRA BARTOLOMMEO OP SAN MARCO
in his company, being desirous of acquiring the monk's
manner of colouring ; the harmony perceptible in his works,
and his mode of treating them having pleased Raffaello very
greatly. Fra Bartolommeo was then painting at San Mar
co, in Florence, a picture with innumerable figures, which
is now in the possession of the King of France ; '^^ it was
presented to that monarch after having been kept to be
shown in San Marco for several months. He afterwards
painted another in the same convent, to replace that which
was sent into France ; ^ this last also has an infinite variety
paint, and the two artists influenced each other deeply. Raphael's fresco of
San Severo in Perugia proceeds directly from Baccio's Last Judgment as weU
as from Ghirlandajo's Coronation in S. M. Novella. M. Gruyer, op. cit, p.
32, traces the influence of Baccio upon Raphael in the Virgin in Glory, painted
for Perugia (convent of St. Anthony) in the Canigiani Holy FamUy, and
above all in the Madonna del Baldacchino. On the other hand he finds that
the influence was strongly reciprocal, and cites the Tempi Madonna as one of
the pictures which inspired Baccio.
'* This picture, the Espousal of St. Catherine, executed in 1511, waa pur
chased in 1513 by the Florentine Republic, and presented to Jacques Hurault,
Bishop of Autun and Ambassador of Louis XII., to the Florentines. It is
now in the Louvre. Besides the Virgin and Child and the St. Catherine,
the picture contains Saints Vincent, Stephen, Bartholomew, and two other
youthful saints, while Dominick and Francis are seen embracing each other,
and Uttle angels hold up the curtains of the Baldacchino. The picture is
wholly by Baccio, although painted during his period of collaboration with
Mariotto. See M. Gruyer, op. cit, p. 40. A very important picture by
Baccio is in the chapel of St. Ferjeux of the Cathedral of BesauQen ; it was
painted in 1511-13 for Ferry Carondelet, archdeacon of the chapter of
Besanfon in Pranche Comte', and envoy of the Emperor Maximilian to the
papal court. It represents the Virgin and Child with angels, below are Saints
John the Baptist, Sebastian, Bernard, and Anthony, whUe the donor kneels
in the foreground. See Gustavo Gruyer, op. cit, p. 43. M. Castan sup
poses that this picture was begun after 1516, and finished by Fra Paolino ;
but M. Gruyer, as well as many other critics, refer it to the years 1511-
13. The three panels of the tympanum of this picture are in the Museum
of Stuttgart, and are by AlbertinelU. See Auguste Castan, La Physionomie
primitive du Retable de Fra Bartolommeo, also WDhelm Liibke, Fra Barto
lommeo's Madonna Carondelet in the Zeitschrift fiir bildende Kunst, 1891.
"= This picture is in the Pitti. The Christ ChUd is placing a ring upon the
finger of St. Catherine of Siena. St. Catherine of Alexandria kneels at one
side, and Saints Peter and Paul, Bartholomew, George, and Peter Martyr, as
well as three monks and three other figures, help to fiU this important com
position.

FRA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO 71
of figures, among which are children hovering in the air,
and holding an open pavilion or canopy ; they are very well
drawn, and in such powerful relief, that they appear to stand
out from the picture ; the colouring of the flesh displays
that beauty and excellence which every able artist desires to
impart to his works, and the painting, even in the present
day, is esteemed to be most excellent. The Virgin in this
work is surrounded by numerous figures, all well executed,
graceful, full of expression, and highly animated ; they are
coloured in so bold a manner, that they would rather seem
to be in relief than parts of a level surface, the master desir
ing to show, that he could not only draw, but give force,
and add the fitting degree of shadow to his figures, and this
he has amply effected in a canopy or pavilion, upheld
by certain children who are hovering in the air, and seem
to come forth from the picture.* There is also a figure of
Christ, as an infant, espousing the Nun, St. Catherine ; the
treatment is bold and free, nor is it possible to imagine any
thing more life-like than this group : a circle of saints, reced
ing in perspective on each side, disappears within the depth
of a large recess, and this train of figures is arranged with
so much ability that they seem to be real. It is obvious,
that in the colouring of this work Bartolommeo has closely
imitated the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci, more partic
ularly in the shadows, for which he has used printer's smoke
or printer's black, and the black of burnt ivory or ivory-
black. These two blacks have caused the picture to darken
greatly, they having constantly become deeper, so that the
work is now much heavier in the shadows than it was when
first painted. Before the principal figures in this picture
there is a San Giorgio ^ in armour, bearing a standard in his
hand, an imposing, powerful, and life-like figure, the atti-
* A sUght inadvertence on the part of our author or his copyist wiU here be
perceived, in the repetition of a passage to be found immediately above.
=' This is St. Michael rather. The blackness to which Vasari refers is now
naturally more pronounced than when he wrote. It was probably caused by
Fra Bartolommeo's use of bone black and printer's ink.

72 FRA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO
tude of which is very fine. No less worthy of praise is the
San Bartolommeo standing upright in the same work ; and
equally excellent are two children seated, the one playing on
a lute, the other on a lyre, the first of these has his leg
raised and bent, he is supporting his instrument thereon,
and his fingers move the strings in the act of playing : the
ear is bent in rapt attention to the harmony, the head is
turned upwards and the mouth is slightly opened, with so
life-like an effect, that while looking at it, the spectator
cannot persuade himself that he does not hear the sound of
the voice. The other child, leaning on one side, bends his ear
to the lyre, and seems to be listening intently, with the pur
pose of marking the degree of its accord with the lute and
voice : occupied with his efforts to bring his instrument
into harmony with that melody, he has his eyes riveted to
the ground, and turns the ear attentively towards his com
panion, who is singing and playing. All these varied ex
pressions are rendered with much ingenuity ; the children
are both sitting, as we have said, and are clothed in veils,
every part is admirably executed by the able hand of Fra
Bartolommeo, and the whole work comes out most harmoni
ously from its dark shadows.
A short time after the completion of this picture, our
artist painted another, which is also considered a good one ;
the subject is Our Lady with saints around her.^ Fra Bar
tolommeo obtained much commendation for his manner of
drawing figures, which he did with such remarkable soft
ness of outline, that he added to the art by this means a
great increase of harmony ; his figures really appear to be
in relief, they are executed in the most animated manner,
and finished with the utmost perfection.
Having heard much of the excellent works which Michael

" This is a Virgin in Glory ; it is in the Church of San Marco, and was
painted in 1509. M. Muntz, L'Age d'Or, p. 681, has remarked that Fra Bar
tolommeo, saddened by the death of Savonarola, and naturaUy thoughtful,
left to Raphael the idyllic Virgins (of the Meadow, the Goldfinch, etc.), and
in his turn celebrated rather the Queen of Heaven and the Virgin in Glory.

FRA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO 73
Angelo and the gracious* Raphael were performing in
Rome, and being moved by the praises of these masters, for
the Monk was perpetually receiving accounts of the marvels
effected by the two divine artists, he finally, having ob
tained permission of the Prior, repaired to Rome. He was
there received and entertained by the Frate del Piombo.^
Mariano Fetti, for whom he painted two pictures, at the
Convent of San Silvestro, on Monte Cavallo, to which Fra
Mariano belonged, the subjects SS. Pietro and Paolo. ^
But the labours undertaken by Fra Bartolommeo in the air
of Rome, were not so successful as those executed while he
breathed that of Florence ; among the vast numbers of
works, ancient and modern, which he there found in such
overwhelming abundance, he felt himself bewildered and
astounded ; the proficiency in art which he had believed
himself to possess, now appeared to him to be greatly di
minished, and he determined to depart, leaving to Raffaello
the charge of completing one of the above-mentioned pict
ures, which he could not remain to finish, the San Pietro
namely ; that work, therefore, retouched in every part by
the admirable Raffaello, was then given to Fra Mariano.
Thus Fra Bartolommeo returned to Florence, and as he
had been frequently assailed there with declarations to the
effect that he was not capable of painting nude figures, he
resolved to show what he could do, and prove that he could
accomplish the highest labours of the art as well as other
masters ; to this end he painted a San Sebastian, wholly
* For graceful read gracious (grazioso).
"" The Frate del Piombo, or Monk of the Seal, literally, Brother of the
Lead, was he who had the right to affix the leaden seal to the Pontifical doc
ument, and who received a pension which went vrith the office. Bramante
and Sebastiano Luciani were each Prate del Piombo.
" Vasari in his Life of II Rosso says Fra Bartolommeo left Rome without
having painted anything there. M. Gruyer admits that he may have made
the designs, but thinks he could net have painted these pictures in Rome, but
probably did them in Florence. His health was so affected by the climate of
Rome that he returned to Florence after a stay of only about two months.
The Saints Peter and Paul are now in the Quirinal, the cartoons for them are
in the Florentine Academy, and the two first studies are iu the Uffizi.

74 FRA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO
undraped, by way of specimen ; the colouring of this figure
is like that of the living flesh, the countenance most beau
tiful, and in perfect harmony with the beauty of the form ;
the whole work, in short, is finished with exquisite delicacy,
insomuch that it obtained him infinite praise from the
artists. It is said that when this painting was put up in the
church, the Monks discovered, from what they heard in
the confessionals, that the grace and beauty of the vivid
imitation of life, imparted to his work by the talents of Fra
Bartolommeo, had given occasion to the sin of light and
evil thoughts ; they consequently removed it from the
church and placed it in the Chapter House, but it did not
remain there long, having been purchased by Giovanni
Batista della Palla, who sent it to the King of France.^
Fra Bartolommeo had often felt greatly displeased with
the joiners who prepared the frames and external ornaments
of his pictures, for these men had the custom then as they
have now, of concealing one-eighth of the picture by the
projection of their frames, he determined therefore to in
vent some contrivance by which he might be enabled to
dispense with these frames altogether ; to this end he caused
the panel of the San Sebastiano to be prepared, in the form
of a semicircle ; on this he then drew a niche in perspective,
which has the appearance of being carved in relief on the
panel ; thus painting an ornament, which served as a frame
to the figure which he had executed in the middle of his
work ; he did the same thing for the San Vincenzio, as well
as for the San Marco, of which we shall speak again here
after. Fra Bartolommeo painted a figure in oil over the
door which leads into the sacristy of the Convent, the sub
ject being San Vincenzio, who was a Monk of his own order,
" This was not the first time that Fra Bartolommeo had painted the nude.
The picture was taken from one of the Royal chdteaux near Paris ; during
the Revolution it fell into the hands of ignorant people, was sold at Mont-
pellier for forty-eight francs, and now belongs to M. Charles Alaffre, Justice
of the Peace at Pdzenas. See M. Gustave Gruyer, Fra Bartolommeo, p. 69.

FRA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO 76
preaching on the rigours of the Divine Justice. In the
attitude of this figure, but still more in the head, there is
all that sternness and imposing severity, usually manifest
in the countenance of the preacher who is labouring to in
duce men, obstinate in their sins, to amendment of life, by
setting before them the terrors of the justice of God,^' not
painted but really in life, does this admirable figure appear
to him who regards it attentively, so powerful is the relief
with which it is executed, and very much is it to be la
mented, that the painting is rapidly becoming a ruin, being
cracked all over from having been painted with fresh colours
on a fresh ground, as I have remarked respecting the works
of Pietro Perugino, painted in the Ingesuati.
Our artist had been told that his manner was minute, ^^
and felt inclined to show that he was not unequal to the de
lineation of large figures ; he therefore painted a picture on
panel for the wall in which is the door of the choir, repre
senting St. Mark the Evangelist, a figure five braccia high,
in which he exhibited admirable design and great mastery
of his art.^
The Florentine merchant, Salvatore Billi, on his return
from a sojourn in Naples, having heard the fame of Fra
Bartolommeo, and having seen his works, caused him to
paint a picture, representing Christ the Saviour, in allusion
to his own name. The Redeemer is surrounded by the
four Evangelists, and has at his feet two children, who sup-
3' This picture is in the Florentine Academy. Milanesi remarks that the
life of Fra Bartolommeo is one of the most accurate in Vasari's series ; he
attributes this excellence to the knowledge which the author may have derived
from Fra Eustachio the miniaturist, a contemporary and companion of Baccio.
M. Gruyer says that, according to Father Serafino Razzi, the St. Vincent is a
portrait of the famous preacher, Tommaso Cajani.
3' To call the average work of the Frate minute is to apply an inappropriate
term to it. He often painted small figures delicately, but that is a different
matter from having a minute manner.
33 Painted in 1515 ; it is now in the Pitti. The imitation of Michelangelo in
this figure has often been pointed out, but it also strongly suggests Ra
phael in his tapestry cartoons ; it is a fine figure, but there is a certain empti
ness about it which prevents it from attaining grandeur.

76 FRA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO
port the globe of the world ; these children are admirably
painted, their forms having all the tender freshness proper
to their youth ; the whole work is equally excellent, the fig
ures of two prophets more particularly, which are highly
extolled.^ This painting is placed in the Nunziata at
Florence, beneath the great organ, such being the desire of
Salvatore ; it is indeed a beautiful thing, and was executed
by the monk with infinite love, so that he brought it to a
most felicitous conclusion ; there is now placed around it a
rich decoration, all sculptured in marble, by the hand of
Pietro Roselli.
After completing this work it became necessary to Fra
Bartolommeo to take change of air, and the Prior, who
was then his friend, sent him to a monastery of their Order
which was situated at a certain distance without the city.^
While abiding in that place he finally arrived at the wished
for power of accompanying the labour of his hands with the
uninterrupted contemplation of death. Por the church of
San Martino in Lucca this master painted a picture of the
Madonna, with an angel playing on a lute at her feet ; San
Stefano^ stands on one side of the Virgin, and San Gio
vanni on the other ; the work is a good one, whether as re
gards design or colouring, and affords full proof of the mas
ter's ability.^^ In the church of San Romano also there is
a picture by Fra Bartolommeo, the Madonna della Miseri-
3« Executed in 1516 ; it is now iu the Pitti, the Isaiah and Job are in the
Uffizi, where are also the drawings for the two figures. The central pict
ure (Pitti) is a dignified composition wholly in the character of the advanced
and f uU Renaissance ; the Isaiah and Job are souvenirs of Michelangelo, but,
like the St. Mark, in spite of their grandly disposed drapery, are somewhat
unsatisfactory reminiscences.
" To the convent of La Maddalena in pian di Mugnone, on the road to the
Mugelle. Fra Bartolommeo painted for this convent, in 1515, three frescoes —
an Annunciation, a Head of Christ, and Saints Dominick and Francis embrac
ing each other. In 1517 he executed two pictures for the same place — a Christ
Appearing to the Magdalen, and a Christ Crucified, with a Magdalen at the
foot of the Cross. See M. Gruyer, op. cit, p. 98.
3' Lucca is fortunate in possessing two of the painter's greatest works.
This picture, painted in 1509, is stUl in the cathedral. Studies for the Saints
John and Stephen, as also for the ensemble of the picture, are in the Uffizi.

FRA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO 77
cordia," namely, the painting is on canvas, and is placed on
a projection of stone, angels support her mantle, and around
her is a concourse of people scattered over a flight of steps,
some seated, others standing, but all with their looks turned
earnestly towards a figure of Christ appearing in the
heavens, and showering down lightnings and thunder-bolts
upon the people.^ In this picture Fra Bartolommeo has
given proof of his power over the difficulties of his art, the
perfection with which he knew how to manage the gradual
diminution of the shadows, and the softening of the darker
tints, imparting extraordinary relief to his work, and show
ing his admirable excellence in colouring, design, and in
vention ; in a word, this is as perfect a picture as ever pro
ceeded from his hands. In the same church he painted
another picture, also on canvas, the subject our Saviour
with St. Catherine the Martyr, and St. Catherine of Siena,
the latter in an ecstacy, rapt from earth, a figure than which
it is not possible that anything better can be done in that
manner.^ Having returned to Florence Fra Bartolommeo occupied
himself much with music, and finding great pleasure therein
he would sometimes sing for his amusement. In Prato he
painted a picture of the Assumption,^ opposite to the prison
3' Painted in 1515, now in the Museum of Lucca. The vast amount of
work accempUshed by Fra Bartolommeo in his short life is not a little sur
prising. Thia picture, for instance, contains forty-one life-size figures. See
M. G. Gruyer, op. cit, p. 73.
38 Vasari is here in error, Christ is giving a blessing, and on a scroll held by
flying angels may be read : " Misereor super turbam." MUanesi, IV., p. 191,
note 3, says that the original color sketch for this picture belongs to Cav.
Giovaubatista Mauri da Santa Maria at Lucca. In the Uffizi is a pen sketch
of the Virgin and the group to the left of her.
33 Painted in 1508-9 ; it is now in the Museum of Lucca. In this picture
God the Father, not Christ, is seen above, and St. Catherine of Siena, not St.
Catherine the Martyr, kneels below with the Magdalen. The Florentine Acad
emy has the cartoons for the two saints, and the Uffizi has a pen study for the
figure of God the Father ; the latter is so deUcately executed as to have been
ascribed to Leonardo da Vinci.
<» It was executed in 1516 for S. Maria in CasteUo of Prato ; it is in the
Museum at Naples, and net in the Berlin Museum, as has often been stated ; the

78 FRA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO
of the city ; for the House of Medici also this master painted
certain pictures of the Madonna, with other works for dif
ferent persons : among these is a figure of the Virgin, which
is now in the possession of Ludovico, son of Ludovico Cap-
poni, with another, also of Our Lady holding the divine
Child in her arms, and with the heads of two Saints beside
her : this last belongs to the very excellent Signor Lelio
Torelli, principal secretary to the most illustrious Duke
Cosimo, by whom it is held in the highest estimation,^' not
only for the sake of Fra Bartolommeo, but also from the
love which he had ever borne to the art, and to those who
are distinguished in it, whom he constantly favours, as he
does all men of genius.
In the house formerly belonging to Pier Pugliese, now
that of Matteo Botti, a Florentine citizen and merchant,
Fra Bartolommeo painted a figure of St. George, in a recess
on the summit of a staircase ; ^ the Saint is on horseback,
armed and engaged in conflict with the dragon. The pict
ure, which is a highly animated work, is a chiaro-scuro in
oil ; it was a frequent custom with this master to treat his
paintings in that manner, or to sketch them in the manner
of a cartoon, shading them with ink or asphalte before he
coloured them, as may still be seen by many things which
he left unfinished at his death. There are also numerous
drawings in chiaro-scuro by Fra Bartolommeo still remain
ing, the greater part of which are now in the monastery of
Santa Caterina of Siena, which is situate on the Piazza of
San Marco ; they are in the possession of a nun,^^ who oc-
upper part of this picture is by Albertinelli. See MUanesi, IV. , p. 193, note 1.
During this visit to Prato, Fra Bartolommeo told his uncle Giusto, who Uved
just outside the town, that he, Bartolommeo, had been invited by King
Francis I. to enter his service. Ill health and constant occupation seem to
have put an end to all thought of this visit. See M. G. Gruyer, op. cit. , p. 75.
*' These pictures cannot be identified.
" The St. George has been covered with whitewash. See Bottari, Mar-
chese, and Milanesi, IV., p. 194, note 2.
*3 The drawings are dispersed. The nun referred to was called Sister Plau-
tUla Nelli. The convent of St. Catherine was suppressed in 1813, and the
buUding now forms a part of the academy. Fra Bartolommeo left hia draw-

FRA BARTOLOMMEO OP SAN MARCO 79
cupies herself with painting, and of whom mention will be
made in due course. Many of the same kind, and also by
his hand, enrich our book of designs, and others are in the
possession of the eminent physician, Messer Francesco del
Garbo. Fra Bartolommeo always considered it advisable to have
the living object before him when he worked ; and the
better to execute his draperies, arms, and things of similar
kind, he caused a figure, the size of life, to be made in
wood, with the limbs moveable at the joints, and on this he
then arranged the real draperies,'*'' from which he after
wards produced admirable paintings, seeing that he could
retain these things in the desired position as long as he
pleased. This model, worm-eaten and ruined as it is, we
keep in our possession as a memorial of this excellent
master. At the Abbey of the Black Friars in Arezzo, Fra Barto
lommeo painted the head of Christ in dark tints, a very
beautiful picture.^^ He also painted the picture for the
Brotherhood of the Contemplanti, which last was long pre-
ings to Fra Paolino of Pistoja, who in turn gave them to Sister PlautiUa.
The most important of these are at the Uffizi, in Weimar, Lille, and Paris
(the Louvre) ; but the British Museum, the Ecole des Beaux Arts of Paris,
the galleries of Dresden, Berlin, and Vienna have fine examples, and M. L^on
Bonuat, the celebrated painter, has more than twenty drawings, which came
from the Ottolini collection of Lucca. See M. Gruyer, op. cit., p. 90. Mo
relU (ItaUan Painters, U., p. 117), says that the Munich collection also pos
sesses some twenty good drawings by Fra Bartolommeo. M. Miintz, L'Age
d' Or, p. 303, has an interesting note upon the women painters ; he mentions
the five women of the Anguisciola famUy in Cremona, Irene of Spilimberg
(see the Life of Titian), the sculptress Properzia de' Rossi, and a "whole
series of Dominican nuns who were artists."
" This figure is now in the Academy at Florence. Leonardo da Vinci
and Lorenzo di Credi made use of clay models before the invention of the lay
figure. When AlbertinelU and Fra Bartolommeo dissolved partnership it was
stipulated that certain properties were to go to Fra Bartolommeo, and on his
death that the said material should revert to Albertinelli. Among these ar
ticles were the lay figure already mentioned, as well as another one of life size,
a pair of compasses, and a cast of one of ike putti by Desiderio from the Mar-
suppini monument in Santa Croce.
<= This work is lost.

So FltA BARTOLOMMEO Of SAN MAHCO
served in the palace of the illustrious Messer Ottaviano de'
Medici, and has now been deposited in the chapel of that
house by his son Messer Alessandro, who has placed it
therein with many decorations, holding it in most precious
estimation in memory of Fra Bartolommeo, and also be
cause he takes infinite delight in paintings.^*
In the chapel of the Novitiate of San Marco there is a
picture of the Purification by this master ; a very pleasing
work, well drawn, and equally well finished ; " and at the
monastery of Santa Maddalena, a house belonging to the
Dominican Monks, at some distance from Florence, there
is a figure of the Saviour, with one of Mary Magdalene,
which Fra Bartolommeo painted while dwelling there for
his recreation. He likewise executed certain pictures in
fresco for the Cloister of the Convent.''^ In an arch over
the Stranger's apartments in the Monastery of San Marco,
Fra Bartolommeo also painted a fresco, the subject is the
Meeting of our Saviour with Cleophas and Luke ; in this
work the master placed the portrait of Fra Niccolo della
Magna, who was then young, but who afterwards became
Archbishop of Capua, and was finally created a Cardinal.^'
" This work cannot be identified. According to MUanesi, IV., p. 196, note
2, Signor Giuseppe Volpini claims that it is in his possession and is a Virgin
and Child, with Saints Joseph, Anna, and the Infant St. John. M. Gruyer
mentions among other works of Fra Bartolommeo an Assumption (BerUn),
a Holy Family (Panshanger collection) ; a Death of Sant' Antonino (same
collection) ; a Madonna with Saints Peter and Paul (Pisa, church of St Cath
erine) ; a triptych (Milan, Poldi-Pezzoli coUection) ; a Virgin surrounded by
saints of the Dominican Order (La Querela) ; a Virgin and ChUd and an
Annunciation (in the Seminario at Venice) ; St. Catherine and the Magda
len (Belle Arti of Siena), and pictures in Rome in the Borghese (a Nativity),
Corsini (a Holy Family), and Sciarra-Colonna (Madonna and Child and little
St. John). See G. Gruyer, op. cit, pp. 97-99.
*' Executed in 1516 ; the picture is now in the GaUery at Vienna. The
Grand Duke Leopold bought it in 1781, but it eventually passed into the
hands of the Emperor Joseph II.
*' The Christ and Magdalen are stiU in the convent, see note 85. The
monochrome head of Christ in the Badia de' Monaci Neri is lost.
*» The figure seen in profile is Fra Niccolb Schomberg, afterward Cardi
nal, and the third one is Sante Pagnini, Prior of San Marco, a distinguished
oriental scholar and art patron.

FRA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO 81
In San Gallo he commenced a picture, which was after
wards finished by Giuliano Bugiardini, and is now at the
altar of San Jacopo-fra-Fossi, at the corner of the Alberti.^
Another work, begun by the same master, representing the
Abduction of Dina, was subsequently coloured by the
same Giuliano ; there are in this picture certain buildings,
with many other peculiarities therein, which have been
very highly extolled ; it is now in the possession of Messer
Cristofano Rinieri.^'
From Piero Soderini, Fra Bartolommeo received a com
mission to paint a picture for the Hall of Council ; and this
he commenced so beautifully in chiaro-scuro, that it would
without doubt have done him infinite honour had it been
completed ; unfinished as it is, this work has been placed
with great honour in the chapel of the illustrious Ottaviano
de' Medici, in San Lorenzo. In the picture ^^ now in ques
tion, are the figures of all the Patron Saints of Florence,
as well as those of all other Saints on whose days the city
has gained victories in war. The portrait of Fra Barto
lommeo himself will also be found in this work, painted by
his own hand, with the aid of a mirror.
The master had entirely completed the design of the
above described picture, when, in consequence of having
^o Now in the Pitti ; it ia a Dead Christ, supported by John the Baptist,
the Virgin Mary, and Mary Magdalen. Vasari describes it at greater length
in the Life of Bugiardini. M Gruyer refuses to beUeve that the latter painter
finished thia picture. It ia thought that the figurea of the two saints, Peter
and Paul, may have been separated from the body of the picture, as the work
of an inferior hand (Bugiardini's), and as discordant with the rest. See Crowe
and Cavalcaselle, History of Painting in Italy, III. , p. 472.
'' Now in the Vienna coUection, but painted by Bugiardini, after a deaign
of the Frate. See Crowe and Cavalcaselle, op. cit. III., p. 498.
^* On November 26, 1510, Fra Bartolommeo was commissioned by the
Signory to paint for the Palazzo a picture to take the place of the one ordered
of FiUppino Lippi, but never begun by the latter. This picture was left in
complete by Bartolommeo, the fine ebauche for it is in the Uffizi and represents
the patron saints of Florence grouped around the Virgin in a rhythmical and
symmetrical composition, as advanced in science as is anything to be found
in the work of the Roman school. The Uffizi has several drawings made as
studies for this picture. See M. G. Gruyer, op. cit., p. 39.
III.— 6

82 FRA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO
laboured perpetually beneath a window, the rays from
which poured constantly on his back, one side of his body
became paralyzed, and he could not move himself. He was
therefore advised by his physician to proceed to the baths
at San Filippo, but although he remained there a consider
able time, he became but very little better. Fra Barto
lommeo was a great lover of fruit, finding the flavour par
ticularly grateful to him, although it was exceedingly
injurious to his health ; wherefore one morning, having
eaten very plentifully of figs, he was attacked, in addition
to his previous malady, with a violent access of fever, which
finished the course of his life in four days, and when he had
attained the age of forty-eight ^^ years ; he retained his con
sciousness to the last, and with humble trust resigned his
soul to Heaven.^"*
'3 He died on October 6, 1517, aged forty-two years, never having advanced
beyond the orders of a deacon. Throughout his Ufe Fra Bartolommeo was
the devoted, faithful adherent of Savonarola. A portrait of the great Frate
was among his earliest pictures, and another representation of him as St.
Peter Martyr, in a fresco in the convent of S. Maria in pian Mugnone, was
one of the last works which he ever executed.
'' Mere than any ether painter Pra Bartolommeo may be caUed the one who
drew the line deeply between the first and second Renaissance, between the
age of upgrowth and the time of perfect flowering. Even Leonardo and Raphael
are transitional painters when compared with Baccio della Porta, for Raphael
begins in Urbino and Perugia, his early canvases and Leonardo's Virgin of the
Rocks stiU recall the spring-time of ItaUan art. With both of these great
painters the transition is gradual and natural, but Fra Bartolommeo seems to
deUberately throw aside his earUer and more delicate manner in order to ad
dress himself wholly to the search after the monumental. Fra Bartolommeo
in his second manner belongs entirely to the new order of things. He an
nounces the culmination, though he dees not attain the summit which the
greater Raphael and Michelangelo and Correggio reached. It is not inap
propriate that this precursor should have worn the Dominican hoed, for a
great change was coming over Italy, and the first to prophesy it was the
Dominican, Fra Bartolommeo's master, Savonarola. Lorenzo the Magnificent
was dead, and with him there passed away a generation of artists whose works
were cheerful with carefully studied details of daily life, gay vrith episodes
and contemporaneous costume ; in their place were to come the relatively ab
stract creations of Raphael and Michelangelo. " Bacco in Toscana" had
been succeeded by the murderous Spanish infantry in Prato. Savonarola
atrove to raise up a regenerate Italy, and his spirit, which thirty years after
his death inspired the defence of Florence (of 1539), inspired, too, the artists

FRA BARTOLOMMEO OF SAN MARCO 83
The death of Fra Bartolommeo caused infinite grief to
his friends, but more particularly to the monks of his order,
who gave him honourable sepulture in San Marco on the
who heard his words, Michelangelo, Lorenzo di Credi, Botticelli, and, above
all, Fra Bartolommeo. Undoubtedly the cloistral life encouraged this love of
abstraction in art ; undoubtedly, too, the circumscribed life of the convent ia
answerable for some of Baccio's technical weaknesses, but the memory of the
great Frate lasted throughout Fra Bartolommeo's life, and the precepts of
Savonarola may be accounted as a direct factor in the evolution of his art in
prompting his rejection of the episodical and accessory, and in inspiring his
self -concentration upon what seemed to him the highest qualities — austerity,
harmony, elevation.
TechnicaUy, Fra Bartolommeo was a better colorist than most Tuscans,
though, like Leonardo, he injured his work greatly by the use of black shad
ows. As draughtsman he was sometimes admirable, always dignified, often
indifferent as to detail, sometimes careless as to proportions and types, being
pecuUarly given to a type of profile which is not only ugly but weak. In the
beginning much of his work is deUcate, even dainty, but a Uttle later we
find him sacrificing nearly aU of the decorative paraphernalia of the fifteenth
century, and, like Signorelli, he is satisfied with man alone ; but unUke Signe-
reUi, who depended upon movement as expressed by muscular structure, he
always drapes his figures heavUy and counts upon a rhythmical arrangement
of the masses. This science of rhythmical composition was the glory of Fra
Bartolommeo ; the impulse which he communicated, the originality and power
which he brought to this science, are what give him his high place in the lua-
tory of ItaUan art. The reaUsm and decorative detaUs of the Primitives are set
aside by him in favor of abstraction in the types, simpUcity in detaU, and the
maximum of compositional effect produced by the minimum of figures. With
him commence the academic but grand compositions which may almost be
inscribed in a geometrical figure (such for instance as the pyramid). He
precedes and inspires Raphael, showing him the way to the arrangement of
his monumental fresco at San Severo of Perugia, and thence to his Disputd
through the medium of the distribution of the masses in his own (Barto
lommeo's) fresco of the Last Judgment. By right of this new departure,
thia grand sentiment in art, the Frate is a great master ; but his pictures are
the result of thought rather than of observation ; together with this magni
ficent ordering of the Unes and masses comes a carelessness in the types, there
is Uttle characterization, the drawing is not close or studied, and even the pro
portions are aometimes grosaly violated. His faces are rarely individual, and
he apparently relied too much upon the use of the lay figure (which he is said
to have invented) ; these faults offend the artist, and especially the student,
who instinctively resents the careless generalizing of what seems to him
supremely important, the human face and figure ; but the student of art must
not forget that Bartolommeo's beauty is a beauty of Une and sweep where all
the figures are interdependent and necessary to each other ; his grouping is
almost architectural, and he elevates composition to a new and higher plane.

84 FRA BARTOLOMMEO OP SAN MARCO
8th October, 1517. He had received dispensation from at
tending to the duties of the choir, and was not required
to take part in other offices, so that all the profit resulting
from his works, was the property of the convent, he retain
ing in his own hands only so much money as was necessary
for the purchase of colours and other materials requisite for
his paintings.

ALBERTINELLI, FLORENTINE PAINTER
[Born 1474 ; died 1515.]
BlBLiOGRAPHT. — ^Mariotto's Ufe was so closely interwoven with that of Pra
Bartolommeo that any books upon the latter, except such pamphlets and
articles as treat only of special pictures, may be consulted for an appreciation of
AlbertinelU. M. Gustave Gruyer's book would hold an important place in the
Ust.

M

'ARIOTTO ALBERTINELLI was the most intimate
and trusted friend of Fra Bartolommeo, nay, we may
almost say his other self,' not only because they
were continually together, but also for the similarity of
their manner, seeing that when Mariotto gave undivided
attention to his art, there was a very close resemblance be
tween his works and those of Fra Bartolommeo.
Mariotto was the son of Biagio di Bindo Albertinelli ; " up
to the age of twenty he had practised the trade of a gold
beater, but he then abandoned that calling : he acquired
the first principles of painting in the workshops of Cosimo
Roselli, and while there formed an intimate acquaintance
ship with Baccio della Porta. They were indeed so com
pletely of one mind, and such was the brotherly affection
existing between them, that when Baccio left the workshop
of Cosimo to exercise his art as a master, Mariotto left it
also, and again joined himself to his companion. They ac
cordingly both dwelt for a long time at the gate of San Pier
1 The annotation to the life of AlbertineUi is comparatively meagre, for the
reason that the most important facts beaiing upon his art and life are wholly
or partly covered by the notes to the life of his more famous friend, Fra
Bartolommeo. ' Mariotto was the son of a goldbeater, Biagio di Bindo Albertinelli and
Vittoria di Biagio Rosani. He was born October 14, 1474 (MUanesi, IV., 317,
note 2). He was not of the noble AlbertineUi, but of a plebeian fajnUy (popo-
lana), named more properly BertiueUi.

86 ALBERTINELLI
Gattolini, where they executed numerous works in company,
and as Mariotto was not so thoroughly grounded in the
principles of design as Baccio, the former devoted himself to
the study of the antiquities which were then in Florence,
and of which the larger as well as the best part was in the
Medici palace. Among them were certain small tablets in
mezzorilievo, which had been fixed beneath the Loggia in
the garden on the side towards San Lorenzo, and these
works Mariotto copied several times. In one of the rilievi
here alluded to is the figure of Adonis with an exceedingly
beautiful dog, and in another are two nude figures, one of
which is seated and has a dog at his feet, the other is stand
ing and leaning on a staff, the legs crossed one over the
other. Both of these rilievi are wonderfully beautiful, and
in the same place there are two others of similar size and
almost equal beauty, one of the last mentioned representing
two boys bearing the thunderbolts of Jupiter ; the other
displays the figure of an aged man, entirely nude, having
wings at the feet as well as the shoulders, and holding a
pair of scales in his hand, this figure is understood to repre
sent Opportunity.^ In addition to the works here described,
there were many others in that garden, which was, so to
speak, full of fragments from the antique, torsi for instance
of the human form, masculine and feminine, all which were
the study, not of Mariotto only, but of all the sculptors
and painters of his time. A good part of these works are
now in the Guardarola, of the Duke Cosimo, others remain
in the same place, as the two torsi of Marsyas for ex
ample,* the heads over the windows, and those of the Ceesars
over the doors.
" According to MUanesi, IV. , p. 218, note 3, two nudes stUl exist set in the
waU over a door of the Ricoardi-Medici Palace. One of the piUti, holding
a thunderbolt, is in the Uffizi, and the figure of the aged man with wings is in
the possession of the Cav. Raffaello Lamponi de' Conti Leopardi, The latter
figure was offered to the Louvre at a high price, the authorities of the museum
agreed to buy it, but the Italian Government declined to let it go out of the
country. See the interesting note in MUanesi.
^ Now in the Uffizi.

ALBERTINELLI 87
By the study of these antiquities Mariotto made great
progress in design, and the zeal with which he prosecuted
his labours, having become known to Madonna Alfonsini,'
mother of the Duke Lorenzo, that lady was disposed to ren
der him all the assistance in her power, and he executed
several works at her command.
Employing himself in this manner, now occupied with
design, and anon with colouring, our artist finally obtained
considerable facility, as may be seen from certain pictures
painted for Madonna Alf onsina, and which were sent by her
to Rome, for Carlo and Giordano Orsini, but which after
wards fell into the hands of Caesar Borgia.* Mariotto painted
a likeness of the above-named lady, which was extremely
well done,'' and he began to hope that by her means he
should make his fortune ; but in the year 1494, Piero de
Medici was banished, when the assistance and favour of that
family failing him, the painter returned to the dwelling of
Baccio della Porta. Here he employed himself assiduously
in the preparation of models in clay, and in making studies
from Nature ; he also carefully imitated the works and
methods of Baccio, by which means he became in a few
years an able and experienced master. Seeing his works
thus improving and finally attaining to great excellence,
Mariotto felt himself greatly encouraged, and imitating the
manner and methods of his associate more and more closely,
his hand was by many not unfrequently taken for that of
Baccio della Porta himself.
But when the latter departed, with the resolution of be
coming a monk, Mariotto had well nigh gone out of his
senses, so completely was he overwhelmed by the loss of
his companion. The determination of Baccio appeared to
him so extraordinary, that he fell into a state of desper
ation ; for a long time he could take pleasure in nothing,
his life was as a burden to him, and at that period, his love
for Baccio would certainly have induced him to throw him-
» Alf onsina degU Orsini. ' These works are lost
' This work is lost.

88 ALBERTINELLI
self into the same convent, had it not been for the antipathy
with which he always regarded all monks, of whom he was
continually uttering the most injurious remarks : he had
even attached himself to the party of those who opposed
Fra Girolamo of Ferrara : but had not these obstacles pre
vented him, there is no doubt that he would have taken
the habit of the Dominicans with his friend.
Mariotto was entreated by Gerozza Dini, for whom the
Last Judgment, which Baccio had left unfinished in the
chapel of the Cemetery, was undertaken, to complete that
work, and the rather as he had the same manner with Fra
Bartolommeo. The cartoon prepared by the latter was
still there, with other designs, and Mariotto, being en
treated by Fra Bartolommeo also, who had received money
on account of the painting, and was troubled in conscience
at the violation of his promise, at length agreed to finish
it. With great love and much diligence he then continued
the work, and brought it to a most successful conclusion,
insomuch that many, not knowing the facts of the case,
would suppose the whole to have been executed by one sole
hand : ^ this performance therefore obtained Mariotto very
great reputation in the art.
At the Certosa of Florence, Mariotto Albertinelli painted
a Crucifix,* with our Lady and the Magdalen at the foot of
the Cross, while above them are angels receiving the blood
of Christ. This picture is in the Chapter House, it is
painted in fresco with zealous care, and is very well fin
ished.' Now it chanced that certain of the young men who
were studying their art with Mariotto, and worked with
him at the Certosa, were dissatisfied with the table supplied
to them by the monks, who, as they thought, did not treat
them becomingly. Without the knowledge of their master,
the disciples thereupon made keys, resembling those of the
* Read Crucifixion (Crocejisso), instead of Crucifix.
3 Mariotto finished the Last Judgment about the year 1500,
• Executed in 1506 and still existing.

ALBERTINELLI 89
windows looking into the cells of the monks, and through
which they were accustomed to receive their food ; by this
means they contrived to steal the pittance of the inhab
itants, now robbing one and now another. This caused a
great outcry among the brethren, for in matters of the
mouth a monk is quite as sensitive as any other man, but
as the young painters acted their part with great dexterity,
and were considered to be very respectable well-conducted
persons, they did not attribute the blame to them, but on
the contrary accused certain of the monks, whom they be
lieved to have abstracted the food out of hatred to those
robbed, and who obtained all the credit of the contrivance.
One morning the truth was made known and the mystery
explained, whereupon the monks, to be rid of their tor
mentors, agreed to double the rations of Mariotto and his
scholars, provided only that they would promise to finish
the work speedily, which was accordingly effected with
great merriment and many a joyous laugh.
For the nuns of San Giuliano in Florence, Mariotto
painted the picture of the High Altar.'" This work he
executed at a room which he had in the Gualfonda, together
with another for the same church, in which he represented
the Trinity, a Crucifix * that is to say, surrounded by angels,
with the figure of God the Father painted in oil on a gold
ground. '1
Mariotto was a man of restless character, a lover of the
table, and addicted to the pleasures of life, it thus hap
pened that the laborious minuti* and racking of brain at
tendant on the study and exercise of art, became insufferable
to him. He had frequently been not a little mortified also,
by the tongues of his brother artists, who tormented him,
as their custom is and always has been, the habit descend-
* Read Crucifixion.
'» This picture, now in the Academy of Florence, is of a Madonna and
ChUd snrroimded by Saints John the Baptist, JuUan, Dominick, and Nicholas
of Bari.
11 In the Florentine Academy.

90 ALBERTINELLI
ing from one to another by inheritance, and being main
tained in perpetual activity. He determined therefore, to
adopt a calling, which if less elevated, would be also less
fatiguing and much more cheerful : our artist accordingly
opened a very handsome hotel, the house being one of those
outside the Gate of San Gallo ; but not content with this
he likewise established a tavern and eating-house, at the
Drago, near the Ponte Vecchio.'^ In these places he per
formed the duties of host during several months, affirming
that he had chosen a profession wherein there was no em
barrassment with perspective, foreshortenings, or muscles,
and what was still more, no criticism or censure to dread ;
whereas that which he had abandoned was beset on the
contrary with all those disadvantages : the object of the
calling he had left, Mariotto would remark, was to imitate
flesh and blood, whereas that which he had adopted made
both blood and flesh ; here again as he declared, he found
himself daily receiving praises for his good wine, while in
his old occupation, he was perpetually criticised, and hourly
compelled to listen to the blame bestowed on his perform
ances. But in a short time his newly chosen appointment be
came more intolerable than his early profession had been.
Disgusted by the debasement of the avocation he had
adopted, Mariotto resumed his painting, and executed
numerous pictures of all kinds in the houses of the Flor
entine citizens. He received a commission for three small
pictures, from Giovanni Maria Benintendi,'^ and on the
elevation of Leo X. to the chair of St. Peter, he painted
" The so-called Casa di Dante was, if we can believe the story, selected by
AlbertinelU for his tavern. Late restorations have removed the traces of the
three arches which belonged to the loggia where Albertinelli entertained his
customers. The first wine-shop was situated near the Ponte Vecchio, but he
afterward removed to the house of the Alighieri (see Horner's Walks in
Florence). M. Miintz says, on the contrary, that Mariotto's tavern was out
side the San Gallo Gate (that is to say, in quite another quarter of Florence),
and near the old bridge of " the Dragon."
'3 As Vasari does not describe the subjects, the pictures cannot be identi
fied.

ALBERTINELLI 91
a circular pictnre in oil for the house of Medici, which was
long suspended over the gate of their palace. In this work
he depicted the arms of the Medici, accompanied by the
figures of Faith, Hope, and Charity.'*
For the brotherhood of San Zanobi, which has its abode
near the Chapter House of Santa Maria del Fiore, Mariotto
undertook to execute a picture of the Annunciation, but
this he did not bring to a conclusion without a vast amount
of labour. ^^ He had caused the light to be arranged in the
precise manner suited to his work, which he desired to exe
cute on the spot, to the end that he might impart to each
separate portion of the picture its due effect ; increasing or
diminishing, as the distance of each figure might demand ;
and giving to every part its required amount of light.
Mariotto was persuaded that paintings are worthy of esti
mation only in proportion as they combine relief and force
with softness ; he knew that the figures could not stand
forth from the plane surface without shadows, but if these
are too dark the work is rendered indistinct, and if too
faint the picture is found to be wanting in force ; he would
fain have secured the perfection of softness for his painting,
together with a certain something in the treatment, to
which art, in his opinion, had never previously attained.
Now he thought that on this occasion the opportunity for
accomplishing what he desired was presented to him, and
he devoted himself to his task accordingly with unwonted
zeal and energy. The efforts he thus made are manifest in
a figure of God the Father, appearing in the heavens, and
in those of numerous children, which come strikingly forth
from the pictnre, shown as they are on the dark perspective
of the background ; one part of this represents a coved
ceiling, the curves of which are turned in such a manner,
with all the lines vanishing at the point of sight, which re
cedes to a very great depth, that the whole appears to be
cut in relief : there are besides angels hovering above, and
1* This work appears to have perished.
» This work, executed in 1510, is now in the Florentine Academy.

92 ALBERTINELLI
scattering flowers as they fly, which are executed with in
finite grace.
Before Mariotto could bring this work to a conclusion, he
painted it and then painted it out again, several times, now
darkening the colour, now rendering the tints clearer, at
one time adding vivacity and glow, but immediately after
diminishing the effect, yet never satisfying himself or pro
ducing what he desired, seeing that he could not feel cer
tain of having succeeded in expressing with his hand all the
thoughts which he had conceived in his mind ; he found it
impossible, that is, to make the pencil keep pace with the
imagination. He wished, among other things, to find a
white that should have more brilliancy than could be given
by any previously known ; whereupon he set himself to
clarify the existing materials, hoping thereby to enhance
the effect of the high lights at his pleasure.'^ At length,
however, discovering that art is not equal to the production
or representation of all that the human intellect is capable
of conceiving, he resolved to content himself with what he
had effected, since he could not attain to what was impos
sible. This work obtained great praise and honour for its
author among artists, but he did not derive from it the
remuneration which he had hoped for, having fallen into
a dispute with the persons who had commissioned him to
execute it. The price had indeed ultimately to be estimated
by Pietro Perugino — then advanced in years, Ridolfo Ghir
landajo, and Francesco Granacci, who settled the amount
by common consent.
In the church of San Pancrazio, at Florence, Mariotto
Albertinelli painted the Visitation of Our Lady, giving to
his picture the form of a half circle." He also executed a
painting for Zanobi del Maestro, in Santa Trinita ; the
subject of this work is Our Lady, with San Girolamo and
San Zanobi, a picture which Mariotto completed with much
" Here we again see the strong influence of Leonardo da Vinci as weU upon
Mariotto as upon Fra Bartolommeo.
" MUanesi is unable to say anything of the whereabouts of this picture^

ALBERTINELU 93
care.'^ Por the church belonging to the Congregation of
the priests of San Martino, this artist painted another Vis
itation, which is highly commended. '^ He was subsequently
invited to the convent of La Querela, which is situated at a
short distance from the gate of Viterbo, and there, after
having commenced a picture,'^ he conceived a wish to visit
< Rome, whither he proceeded accordingly. While in that
city Mariotto painted a picture in oil at the church of San
Silvestro, on Monte Cavallo, for Fra Mariano Fetti ; " the
subject of this work is the Marriage of St. Catherine ; Our
Lady, and San Domenico, are here painted in a very del
icate manner. Having completed this work, the master
returned to La Querela, where he had left an inamorata,
to whom his thoughts had recurred with much affection
during his residence in Rome : desiring therefore to appear
to advantage in her presence, Mariotto exerted himself be
yond his strength during the games of a festival, and being
no longer young nor possessing the energies required for
such efforts, he was compelled to take to his bed in conse
quence of that imprudence. Attributing his indisposition
to the air of the place, he caused himself to be transported
in a litter to Florence ; but no restoratives nor applications
were found sufficient to recover him from his malady, and
¦8 Executed in 1506 ; it is now in the Louvre. In the background at the
right is a procession of figures descending a road Uned with buildings, whUe
there are also little scenes from the Uves of Jerome and Zanobius.
" This picture, painted in 1503, and now in" the Uffizi, is not only Alberti-
nelU's greatest work, but is also one of the masterpieces of the Renaissance.
The gradino, separated from the picture, but also in the Uffizi, contains the
Annunciation, the Nativity, and the Presentation in the Temple. The fine
drawing for the Visitation is also in the Uffizi.
^i" Vasari does not give the subject of this painting, but in the Life of Pun-
tormo he says that Mariotto went to La Querela to finish the picture com
menced there by Fra Bartolommeo, namely, a Virgin and ChUd surrounded by
Dominican saints. The records of the convent show, on the contrary, that
Pra Paolino of Pistoja finished the latter picture. See Milanesi, IV., p. 225,
note 2.
" His picture for San SUvestro, a Virgin and ChUd, vrith Saints Dominick
and Catherine of Siena, is stUl in the church. See M. G. Gruyer, Fra Barto
lommeo della Porta et Mariotto Albertinelli, p. 78.

94 ALBERTINELLI
in a few days he died in the forty-fifth year of his age. He
was buried at San Piero Maggiore, in the city of Florence.^
We have some very good designs by the hand of this
master ^ in our book of drawings, they are done with the
pen in chiaro-scuro ; among them is a spiral staircase of
exceeding difficulty, this is drawn in perspective, in the
laws whereof Mariotto was very well versed.^ ^
23 AlbertineUi died November 5, 1515.
'3 M. Gruyer, op. cit, mentions especially among his designs those for the
Visitation in the Uffizi, the Presentation in the Temple, and the Noli me
Tangere, the two latter in the Louvre.
2' M Gruyer, op. cit, mentions among the works of Albertinelli : An An
nunciation (Munich) ; a Coronation of the Virgin (Stuttgart) ; an Enthroned
Virgin with Saints (Vienna) ; a Madonna, 1509 (FitzwiUiam Museum, Cam
bridge) ; two pictures at Castle Howard, in England ; Adam and Eve and the
Sacrifice of Abraham ; a Christ appearing to the Magdalen (Louvre) ; a Holy
Family in the Pitti at Florence) ; an Annunciation (in the Hospital of S. M.
Nuova) ; and a little triptych (in the Poldi-Pezzoli at MUan).
^'' Mariotto Albertinelli has almost sunk his artistic personality in that of
his famous friend Fra Bartolommeo, although as a man he seema to have been
the very opposite of the friar. He is the type of what we like to imagine as
the painter-apprentice of the Renaissance — mischievous, swaggering, quite
ready to take up a quarrel for his master (see the Life of Jacopo Bellini), and
purveyor of drolleries which older men shared ; of witty speeches and of
practical jokes, which the Italians of the Renaissance prized highly. In fact
we readilj' recognize in Mariotto the "persona inquietissima" of Vasari, but
he was admirably serious when once he began to paint, and although his art
has not the depth nor the conviction which we find in the work of his greater
friend and rival, his pictures sometimes attain a high point of excellence,
and his Visitation iu the Uffizi would in itself suffice for his reputation as a
master.

THE FLORENTINE ARCHITECTS, GIULIANO AND
ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO
[Bom 1445; died 1516.] [Bom 1455; died 1534.]
BiBLioGKAPHT. — Rudolf Redtenbacher, Beitrage zur Kenntniss des Lebens
des Florentinischen Architekten Giuliano da San Gallo (Allgemeine Bau-
zeitung of 1879), Vienna. Rudolf Redtenbaoher iu the Dohme Series of
Kunst und Kiinstler. J. H. Middleton, in the Encyolopeedia Britannica.
J. de Laurifere, Giuliano da San Gallo et les Monuments antiques du Midi de
la France, Paris, 1885. H. ven GeymiiUer, Documents inedits sur les Manu-
serits et les (Suvres d'.irchitccture de la famille des San Gallo, Paris, 1885.
RavioU, Notizie sui Lavori di Architettura militare, sugli Scritti o Disegni
inediti dei nove da San Gallo, Rome, 1863. Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1879, 1.,
p. 359. A. Lambert, La Madonna di San Biagio prhs Montepulciano, Stutt
gart, 1884. H. Von GeymiiUer, Projets Primitifs pour la basilique de Saint
Pierre de Rome, Paris, 1875-1880.
FRANCESCO DI PAOLO GIAMBERTL who was a
tolerably good architect of the time of Cosimo de'
Medici, by whom he was frequently employed, had
two sons, Giuliano and Antonio, both of whom he destined
to the art of carving in wood.' With this view he placed
the elder with the joiner Francione ; who was an exceed
ingly ingenious person, well versed in perspective, and an
able wood-carver, with whom Francesco di Paolo was in
timately acquainted, they having executed in company many
works, both in carving and architecture, for Lorenzo de'
Medici. So rapidly did Giuliano acquire all which his
master Francione taught him, that the beautiful carvings
and works in perspective which he afterwards executed
without assistance, when he had left his master, in the
' Their father was Francesco di Bartolo di Stefano Giamberti, and there is
some uncertainty as to whether 14.52 may not be the date of Guiliano's birth,
though 1445 is entered in the books of the city of Florence.

96 GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO
choir of the cathedral,^ are held in esteem to the present
day, and even when seen with the various works in perspect
ive executed in our own times, are not regarded without
admiration. While Giuliano was still occupied with his studies in de-
sign,^ and the blood of youth was still dancing in his veins,
the Duke of Calabria, moved by the hatred which he bore
to Lorenzo de' Medici, brought his army to encamp before
Castellana,* proposing to occupy the territories of the
Florentine Signoria, and, if he succeeded in his first enter
prise, to attempt something of still greater magnitude. The
illustrious Lorenzo thereupon saw himself compelled to
despatch an engineer to Castellana for the purpose of con
structing bastions and defences of various kinds, and who
should also take charge of the artillery, to the management
of which few men were at that time competent. He there
fore sent thither Giuliano, whom he considered to be a man
of intelligence, promptitude, and resolution, one, too, who
was known to him as being the son of Francesco, who had
ever proved himself a faithful servant of the house of
Medici. Arrived at Castellana,^ therefore, Giuliano fortified the
place within and without, constructing good walls and
strong outworks, with all other defences necessary to the
security of the town. He remarked that the artillery-men
handled their guns very timidly, standing at a distance
from them while loading or raising them, and firing them
with evident fear ; he set himself therefore to remedy this
* Castellina rather.
" It was not Giuliano da San Gallo but Francione, G. da Majano and Guido
di Filippo da Seravallino who worked in the choir. See Milanesi, IV. , p. 268,
note 3.
' We hear of GiuUano first in Rome, where from 1469 to 1472 he worked en
the palace of San Marco and in the tribune of (old) Saint Peter's. See
Eug. Miintz, Les Arts d la cour des Papes, Vol. II.
* The documents in the Florentine State Archives do not mention Giuliano
as having been engaged upon the works for the defence of La Castellina.
This town, assaulted June 26, 1478, by the Dukes of Calabria and Urbino,
surrendered on the 3d of the following August,

GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO 97
evil, and so contrived that no further accidents happened to
the artillery-men, although several of them had previously
been killed by the recoil ; they not having experience and
judgment enough to fire their pieces with the degree of
management proper to prevent that recoil from doing injury
to those around. Nay, furthermore, when Giuliano took
the control of that department, his intelligence in the de
tails of the arrangements connected therewith, inspired the
camp of the Duke with so much terror that, being com
pelled by this and other adverse circumstances, he was glad
to come to terms, and so raised the siege. These things
gained Giuliano no small praise in Florence, and obtained
him the good-will of Lorenzo, who received him most
favourably and loaded him with commendations.
Having afterwards turned his attention to architecture,
Giuliano commenced the first Cloister of the Monastery of
Cestello,^ and constructed that part of it which is of the Ionic
order, placing the capitals on the columns, and finishing
them with their volutes, which turned, winding down, to
the collerino where the shaft of the column terminates ;
beneath the uvola and fusarola he added a frieze, the height
of which was a third of the diameter of the column. This
capital was copied from a very ancient one in marble, which
had been found at Fiesole by Messer Leonardo Salviati,
bishop of that place, who had it for a long time, with many
other antiquities, in a house and garden in the Via San
Gallo opposite to Sant' Agata, wherein he dwelt : it is now in
the possession of Messer Giovanni Ricasoli, bishop of Pistoja,
by whom, as well as by all intelligent artists, this work is
held in great estimation for its beauty and variety, and the
rather, as no capital resembling this has ever been found
among the antiquities which at different times have been
discovered, even to the present day. But this Cloister of
Cestello remained incomplete, the monks of the monastery
» In 1492, according to Masselli. This is the cloister before the church of
Santa Maddalena de' Pazzi which is that formerly called the CesteUo.
III.— 7

98 GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO
not having at that time the means for meeting so great an
expense. The credit of Giuliano with Lorenzo de' Medici had mean
while much increased, the latter, proposing to erect an
edifice at Poggio-a-Oajano, a place between Florence and
Pistoja, had caused several models of what he desired to be
made by Francione and other masters ; he now commis
sioned Giuliano also to prepare one. This he did accord
ingly, making his models so entirely unlike those of all
others and so completely to Lorenzo's wish, that the latter
began to have it instantly put in execution, as the best of
all that had been presented to him; and the favour of
Giuliano so greatly increased with him in consequence, that
he ever afterwards paid him a yearly stipend.*
The architect subsequently desiring to construct the ceil
ing of the great hall of that palace in the manner which we
call coved, Lorenzo was not to be persuaded that it was
possible to do this, the extent of the space considered ;
whereupon Giuliano, who was at that time building a house
of his own in Florence, constructed the ceiling of his hall
as he desired to have that in the palace, when the illustrious
Lorenzo, being thus convinced, immediately caused the
hall of the Poggio to be vaulted in like manner, a work
which was completed very successfully.'
The reputation of Giuliano constantly increased, and at
the entreaty of the Duke of Calabria, Lorenzo gave him a
commission to prepare the model for a palace,' which was to
be erected in Naples ; he spent a long time over this work,
and was still occupied with it when the Castellan of Ostia,
then Bishop of Rovere, and afterwards Pope Julius II. , de
siring to set the fortress of that place in order, and having
' Probably finished about 1485.
' According to Milanesi, IV., p. 271, note 2, the San GaUi would seem to
have bought their ground for this house only in 1490, that is to say after the
accredited construction (1485) of Poggio-a-Cajano, for which Giuliano's,
vaulted hall could not therefore have served as model
^ Among the designs of Giuliano in the Barberini Library is a ground plan
of a palace dated 1 488.

GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO 99
heard the fame of Giuliano, sent to Florence inviting him
to repair to Ostia.' There the Castellan detained him two
yeai's, making him a very ample provision, and causing him
to do everything which his art could accomplish for the
improvement of the place.
But to the end that the model which he was preparing
for the Duke of Calabria might not be neglected, but might
be finished within reasonable time, Giuliano confided it to
his brother Antonio, with directions for completing it ;
which Antonio accordingly did with great care, he being no
less competent in the art than Giuliano himself. When
this was done, Lorenzo the elder advised our architect to be
the bearer of his own work to Naples, in order that he
might point out the peculiarities of the construction, and
the difficulties which had been overcome. Giuliano re
paired to Naples accordingly, and having presented his
model, was received very honourably, the courtly manner in
which the magnificent Lorenzo had sent him, exciting much
admiration, as did also the masterly construction of the
model, which gave such entire satisfaction that the work
was instantly commenced in the vicinity of the Castello
Nuovo. After Giuliano had remained for some time in Naples he
requested permission from the Duke to return to Florence,
when the king of Naples sent him a present consisting of
horses, vestments, and a silver goblet, containing some
hundreds of ducats ; these last Giuliano would not accept,
declaring that he served a master who had no need of gold
nor silver, but that if the king desired to confer on him any
gift or token of approbation, in sign of his having been in
that city, he might bestow on him some of the antiquities
in his possession, at his own choice. This the king most
» Padre Alberto Guglielmotti says in the Atti delV Accademia Archeologica
Romana, 1862, that GiuUano was the first to give in the citadel of Ostia (1483)
an admirable example of modem fortification. MUanesi, IV., p. 272, note 2,
shews that Sarzanella was not, as has been asserted, fortified by GiuUano but
by U Francione and Luca del Caprina.

100 GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO
liberally granted, for the love he bore to the magnificent
Lorenzo, and because of the admiration which that monarch
felt for the talents of Giuliano himself : the gifts thus con
ferred being a head of the Emperor Adrian, now placed above
the door of the garden belonging to the Medici palace, a
nude female figure of colossal size, and a Sleeping Cupid in
marble, executed in full relief. These Giuliano despatched
to the magnificent Lorenzo, who received them with great
delight, and could never sufficiently eulogize the liberal pro
ceeding of the generous artist, who had refused gold and
silver for the sake of art, which very few would have done.
The Cupid is now in the guardaroba of Duke Cosimo.
Having then returned to Florence, Giuliano was most
graciously received by the illustrious Lorenzo, who had at
that time a new work in contemplation. He had deter
mined namely to erect a convent capable of accommodating
one hundred monks, at some little distance from the gate
of San Gallo, in compliance with the wishes of a learned
monk called Fra Mariano da Ghinazzano, who belonged to
the Order of the Eremites of Sant' Agostino. For this
work Lorenzo had caused models to be constructed by many
architects, but finally commanded that one prepared by
Giuliano should be put in execution.'" From this work
Lorenzo took occasion to name our artist Giuliano da San
Gallo ; wherefore the master, who gradually heard himself
called by every one da San Gallo, said one day jestingly to
the magnificent Lorenzo, " By this your new way of calling
me da San Gallo, you are making me lose the name of mine
ancient house, so that instead of going forward, as I thought
to do by the antiquity of my race, I am going backwards."
To which Lorenzo replied, that he would rather see him
become the founder of a new house by the force of his
talents than remain a dependant on any other ; which reply
caused Giuliano to content himself with the change."
" In 1488.
" Apparently Giamberti had the name of San Gallo long before he built the
convent, and acquired it simply from the fact that he Uved just outside the

GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO 101
The buildings of San Gallo proceeded meanwhile, together
with those of the other fabrics, placed in course of con
struction by Lorenzo ; but neither the convent nor the
other works were completed, the death of the illustrious
Lorenzo causing them to remain unfinished. Even the
portion of San Gallo that was erected did not remain long
in existence, seeing that at the siege of Florence in 1530,
the whole edifice was totally destroyed, together with the
suburb in which it stood. The piazza of the latter was
entirely surrounded by very beautiful buildings, whereas
there is now not a vestige of house, church, or convent to
be seen.'^
The death of the king of Naples took place about this
time, when Giuliano Gondi, a very rich Florentine mer
chant, returned to his native city, and then commissioned
Giuliano da San Gallo, with whom he had become well ac
quainted during the sojourn of the latter at Naples, to
build a palace in the Tuscan manner for his residence.''
The position of this building was to be opposite to San
Francesco,'* above the place where the Lions stand ; it
would have formed the angle of the piazza, having one of
its fronts towards the Mercatanzia, but the death of Giu
liano Gondi put a stop to the work. For this palace, Giu
liano da San Gallo executed a mantel-piece among other
things, so richly decorated with rich carvings, so finely
San GaUo gate. The sacristy of Santo Spirito at Florence, for which Giuliano
made the model in 1489, though it is not mentioned by Vasari, was one of the
architect's most important works. It has been attributed to both Andrea da
Monte Sansovino and U Crenaca.
" At this time of the siege, the Florentines sacrificed to the necessities of
the defence the viUas, churches, and houses outside the walls. They were so
numerous that they constituted a second Florence, extra muros.
" The court, staircase, and chimney-piece of the Gondi Palace are fine ;
but the rustication of the exterior is poor and cold in effect, if compared with
that of the Strozzi. " To appreciate the Strozzi Palace at its true value, one
should study the Gondi, which is in some ways a sort of caricature of the
former." See B. Miintz, L'Age d'Or, p. 408. According to Vasari the date
of this werk would be about 1494. M. Miintz thinks that the palace may
have been begun three or four years earUer. See L'Age d' Or, pp. 406.
1* Now San Firenze.

102 GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO
varied in its different parts, and altogether so beautiful,
that nothing equal to it, more especially as regarded the
number of figures, had ever before been seen. The same
architect built a palace for a Venetian, at a short distance
from the Pinti Gate at Camerata, with numerous houses for
private citizens, of which I need not make further mention.
Lorenzo the Magnificent, desiring to provide for the
public utility and adornment of the state, as well as thereby
to add another monument to the many wherewith he had
already acquired so much renown, determined to undertake
the fortification of the Poggio Imperiale, above Poggibonsi,
on the road leading towards Rome. There he desired to
found a city, but would not proceed without the advice and
direction of Giuliano ; wherefore, the commencement of
that most renowned fabric was made by that master, and
after his designs were constructed that well-arranged series
of fortifications and those beautiful edifices which we now
see there.''
These works so greatly increased the fame of the arch
itect, that the Duke of Milan applied to Lorenzo, request
ing him to send that master to the above-named city,
where he desired to have the model of a palace prepared
by him. Giuliano was despatched thither by Lorenzo ac
cordingly, and was no less honoured by the Duke in Milan
than he had been in Naples by the King. When the model
was completed, the master presented it, on the part of the
magnificent Lorenzo, to the Duke, who was filled with as-
astonishment and admiration, as he beheld the fine arrange
ment and commodious distribution of the different parts,
and the rich decorations everywhere applied with the ut
most propriety and judgment, each ornament beautiful in
itself, and all appropriate to the place which they adorned.
The requisites for building were therefore immediately
assembled, and they began at once to put the work in exe
cution. ^' Antonio da San Gallo succeeded Giuliano in the superintendence of these
works.

GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO 103
Leonardo da Vinci was in Milan at the same time with
Giuliano, and was also in the service of the Duke : there
was then a question of the bronze Horse, to which we have
more than once alluded, and Leonardo, frequently speaking
of his intention in regard to it with Giuliano da San Gallo,
received many valuable counsels from him on that subject.
The model for the last-mentioned work was destroyed on
the arrival of the French, and the horse was therefore not
finished, neither could the palace designed by Giuliano be
completed. Having returned to Florence, Giuliano found that his
brother Antonio, who had assisted him in the preparation
of his models, had himself become a most excellent master ;
there was indeed no artist of his time who executed carved
work more perfectly than he did, large crucifixes in wood
more especially. Of this we have a proof in that which is
over the High Altar of the Nunziata in Florence,'* as well
as in one belonging to the monks of San Gallo at San
Jacopo-tra-Possi, and in another which the Brotherhood of
the Barefooted Friars have in their possession," all consider
these to be truly excellent works. But on his return, Giu
liano persuaded his brother to abandon that occupation, pre
vailing on him to devote his attention to architecture in com
pany with himself, he having many labours in hand, for the
public use as well as for private individuals. But it hap
pened in this case, as it so frequently has done in others,
that Fortune, the adversary of talent, deprived the artists
of that period of their best hope and support by the death
of Lorenzo de' Medici," which was a grievous loss, not to
his native city only, but to all Italy.
Giuliano, overwhelmed, as was every other man of genius
by this event, remained for a long time inconsolable. In
deep grief he retired to Prato, which is near Florence, and
" Now in a tabernacle which is near the Chapel of the Madonna in the
Annunziata. It was carved by Giuliano and Antonio together in 1482.
" The Sant' Jacopo Crucifix is in the Annunziata (chapel of the painters) ;
that of the Barefooted Friars has disappeared.
'"In 1492.

104 GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO
where he occupied himself with the construction of a church
to the Madonna delle Carceri,!' all buildings in Florence,
whether public or private, being for the moment at a stand.
In Prato, therefore, Giuliano remained three years, endur
ing his grief and cares as he best might. At the end of
that time the church of the Madonna at Loretto requiring
to be roofed, and the Cupola, which Giuliano da Maiano
had commenced but had not completed, having to be
vaulted, the wardens, who had charge of the work, became
apprehensive lest the piers should be found incapable of
supporting the weight of the vast erection to be reared on
them. They consequently wrote to Giuliano to the effect
that, if he were disposed to undertake that work, he might
come and examine the state of things ; the architect pro
ceeded to Loretto accordingly, when, competent and bold
as he was, he declared that the Cupola might be raised
without difficulty, expressing his confidence in his own
power to effect the task, and proving the truth of his as
sertions by so many good reasons, that the work was at once
confided to his care. Having received this commission,
Giuliano hastened the completion of the church at Prato,
and, taking with him the master-builders and stone-cutters
who had laboured under his orders at that place, he depart
ed to Loretto.
The fabric Giuliano was now to erect demanding the ut
most precaution, to secure it the requisite firmness and
durability, as well as beauty of form, the architect sent to
Rome for puzzolana ; all the lime used for the building was
then tempered therewith, and for every stone laid therein
the mortar was thus prepared ; at the end of three years
the edifice was given up to the wardens completed and freed
from all encumbrance.^
" The commission for the Madonna deUe Carceri was given him in 1485, and
he finished his work upon the church in 1491, before the death of Lorenzo.
Giuliano (and net Antonio, as Vasari has elsewhere stated) gave the design
(1508) for the high altar of this church. — Milanesi, IV., p. 277, note 3.
" A note-book of GiuUano preserved in the Communal Library of Siena
shows that the Cupola of S. M. di Loreto was finished in 1500.

GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO 105
Giuliano then repaired to Rome, where he received a
commission from Pope Alexander VI. to restore the roof of
Santa Maria Maggiore, which was in a state of ruin ; he
also constructed the ceiling in wood-work, still to be seen in
that church.^' While thus employed for the court, the
Bishop of Rovere,^ who was then Cardinal of San Pietro in
Vincoli, and who had been the friend of Giuliano from the
time when he was Castellan of Ostia, confided to him the
preparation of a model for the Palace of San Pietro in Vin
coli,^ aforesaid ; and no long time after, desiring to erect a
palace in his native city of Savona also, he determined to
have that likewise constructed according to the designs and
under the direction of Giuliano. But this was not easy of
arrangement, seeing that the roof of Santa Maria Maggiore
was not yet finished, and Pope Alexander would not suffer
the architect to leave Rome. Finally, however, Giuliano
caused the works of Santa Maria to be continued by his
brother Antonio, by whom they were completed ; and the
latter, possessing a lively and versatile genius, being thus
brought into connexion with the court, afterwards entered
the service of Pope Alexander : he was indeed ultimately
regarded with very great favour by that pontiff, and received
proof of this when his Holiness determined on restoring the
tomb of Adrian (now called the Castello Sant' Angelo), and
erecting defences around it, after the manner of a fortress,
Antonio being appointed superintendent of the works. ^
Under his direction, therefore, the large towers of the lower
end, with the ditches and other fortifications, such as we
now see them, were constructed ; this work obtained An
tonio great credit with the Pope, as well as with the Duke
Valentino his son, and caused him to receive a commission
for constructing the fortress, erected as we now see it, at
" MasselU says that the gold with which this ceiling was decorated was tho
first ever brought from America.
" Afterwards Pope Julius H.
"= The palace is the building on the north side of the church.
" The constructions dated from 1492. The fortress has since been greatly
altered.

106 GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO
Oivita Castellana, and which he also built. ^ While that
Pontiff lived, in short, Antonio was continually employed
in building and other labours for his service, and was no
less richly rewarded by Pope Alexander than highly es
teemed. The palace at Savona,^ had meanwhile been carried for
ward by Giuliano, and was proceeding very successfully,
when the Cardinal, for some of his purposes, returned to
Rome ; he left numerous workmen at Savona with orders to
complete the work after the designs of Giuliano, but the
architect himself. Cardinal San Pietro took with him to
Rome. Very willingly did Giuliano undertake that jour
ney, desiring much to see his brother Antonio, and the
works he was executing. Here then he remained several
months, but the Cardinal fell into disgrace with the Pope
at that time, and left Rome to avoid being imprisoned, when
Giuliano also departed in his company.^'
Thus returned to Savona, they greatly increased the num
ber of master-masons and artificers of all kinds employed
about the building, but the menaces of his Holiness against
the Cardinal becoming more and more violent, no long time
elapsed before the latter saw himself compelled to take
refuge in Avignon. Having arrived there, he sent the
model of a palace, which Giuliano had prepared for himself,
as a present to the King of France ; this work was one of
extraordinary beauty, the edifice being most richly adorned,
and of such extent, that it was capable of accommodating,
2* In the Uffizi there is a dravring by Antonio of a Doric court at Civita Cas-
stellana and a sketch of the citadel as it was before he altered it. — Milanesi,
IV., p. 279, note 3.
2« Afterwards the Monastery of Santa Chiara.
2' Between the years 1492 and 1497 Milanesi records nothing in his Pros-
petto Cronologico of Giuliano. It was during a part of this time that Cardinal
della Revere, having quarrelled with the reigning Pope, found it prudent to
withdraw to Prance. In 1494 we again hear of him (the Cardinal) as at Rome.
M. Miintz, L'Age d' Or, p. 407, cites a document- in the Barberini Library,
which is Giuliano's own description of his travels in 1496 in southern France.
His journey included visits to Avignon, Aries, Tarasoon, Salon, Aix, Saint
Maximin, Brignoles, Draguignan and Grasse.

GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO 107
not the king only, but his whole court. Tlie French
monarch was at Lyons when Giuliano presented his model,
which was most graciously accepted by his majesty, and
pleased him so much that he rewarded the architect very
largely, and gave him infinite commendation. He also
caused many thanks to be returned to the Cardinal, who
was at Avignon. There the latter received intelligence to
the effect that his palace at Savona was approaching its
completion ; whereupon he resolved that Giuliano should
once more examine the whole edifice : he repaired to Sa
vona accordingly, and, after having remained there some
short time, beheld his work brought to completion.
Giuliano was then seized with a wish to return to
Florence, which he had not seen for a long time ; he set out
on his way therefore, taking with him the master-builders
who had been working under his directions at Savona.
Now, the King of France had at that time restored the
freedom of its government to the City of Pisa, and the war
between the Florentines and the Pisans was still raging ; but
Giuliano desired to pass across the territory of Pisa, where
fore he caused a safe conduct to be prepared for him at
Lucca, having no small suspicion of the Pisan soldiers.
Notwithstanding that precaution, however, as they were
passing near Altopascio, the whole company were made pris
oners by the Pisans,^ who cared nothing at all for their
safe conduct, or any other causes of exemption that could
be alleged. For six months, therefore, was Giuliano com
pelled to remain in Pisa, his ransom being set at three hun
dred ducats ; nor was he permitted to return to Florence
until that sum was paid.
Antonio, who was then in Rome, having heard of these
things, and feeling anxious to see his brother and his native
city once again,^ obtained permission of the Pope to leave
''^He was taken near the Castello of Monte Carlo in 1497. Letters which
passed between the Balia of Florence and the Commune of Lucca referring to
the incident of the capture are published in Gaye, Carteggio inedito, 1. , p. 338.
^^ Antonio did not return tiU nearly six years after the capture and libera-

108 GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO
Rome ; in his way he designed the fortress of Montefiascone *
for the Duke Valentino, and in the year 1503, he at length
returned to Florence, where the brothers were reunited, to
the great joy of their friends as well as of themselves.
At this time occurred the death of Pope Alexander VI.
and the accession of Pius IIL, but the latter lived only a
short time, and the cardinal of San Pietro in Vincoli was
then elected to the pontifical throne, taking the name of
Julius II. This event caused the utmost gladness to Giuli
ano, he having been so long in his service, and he resolved
on proceeding to Rome, there to kiss the feet of his Holi
ness.^' Having arrived there accordingly, he was received
very gladly, and with many kind words by the Pope, who
immediately appointed him superintendent of the first
buildings undertaken by that Pontiff before the arrival of
Bramante. Antonio meanwhile remained in Florence, where Pier
Soderini was at that time Gonfaloniere, and, Giuliano being
absent, the construction of the buildings at Poggio Impe
riale ^ was continued, under his directions ; ^ all the Pisan
prisoners being sent to labour there, to the end that the fab
ric might be thus the more rapidly brought to completion.
The old fortress in the city of Arezzo had at this time been
destroyed ; ^ wherefore Antonio prepared the model for the
new one, with the consent of Giuliano, who came on account
of business connected with that matter from Rome, but
very soon returned thither. This work of the fortress of
Arezzo caused Antonio to be chosen architect to the com
mune of Florence, by which he was appointed superinten
dent over all the fortifications of the state.
tion of Giuliano, and Milanesi has noted that the desire to see his brother and
his native country was eridently not great enough to cause undue haste !
3" Now destroyed.
=' He returned to Rome shortly after the beginning of 1504.
=^ Antonio da San GaUo was elected master of the works of Pirenzuola and
Poggio Imperiale, May 8, 1497.
"In 1.511.
5' It was destroyed on the occasion of the revolt of Arezzo.

GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO 109
On the return of Giuliano to Rome, the question as to
whether the sepulchral monument of Pope Julius should
be constructed by the divine Michael Angelo Buonarroti,
was in debate ; when Giuliano encouraged the pontiff to
that undertaking : he even declared that for such a purpose
it would be proper to erect a chapel specifically appropri
ated to the exclusive reception thereof, and not place the
tomb in the old church of San Pietro, wherein there was
indeed no longer space for it ; whereas the chapel which he
recommended would render the work perfect. Numerous
artists having then made designs, the question became a
subject of so much consideration, that by little and little
they arrived at the determination not to construct a chapel
only, but to commence the vast fabric of the new San
Pietro. At that time, the architect Bramante of Castel Durante
arrived in Rome,® after having been for some time in Lom
bardy, when this master had so many proposals to make,
and exhibited such extraordinary resources, some of his
plans being indeed altogether out of the usual practice, that
having won over Baldassare Peruzzi and Raffaello da Ur
bino to his opinions, he changed the whole character of the
work. Much time was then consumed in discussion, but
the effect of Bramante's proceedings and the force of his
representations, ultimately caused the building to be com
mitted to his care, he having shown a more profound judg
ment, superior intelligence, and richer powers of invention
than any of the other masters.
This decision caused the utmost displeasure to Giuliano,
and the rather as he considered himself to be ill-treated
by the Pope, whom he had served so faithfully when Julius
was in a less exalted position : ^ he had besides received a
promise from the Pontiff to the effect that the fabric should
25 See the life of Bramante.
'« Giuliano was also the only living architect who had already taken part
in the works of the basiUca of St. Peter under Paul II., the predecessor of
Sixtus IV. See note 3.

110 GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO
be entrusted to himself. He consequently requested his
dismissal. Nor did the fact that he was appointed the as
sociate of Bramante, for other works, then to be executed
in Rome, avail to change his purpose : he departed accord
ingly, after having received many gifts from the Pope, and
once more returned to Florence.^
His arrival in his native city was exceedingly welcome to
Piero Soderini, who instantly availed himself of his services.
Nor had six months elapsed from his leaving Rome before
he received a letter from Messer Bartolommeo della Rovere,
nephew of the Pope, and a gossip of his own, who wrote, in
the name of his Holiness, urging him, with many assur
ances of future advantage, to return to the papal court.
But it was not possible to move Giuliano, either by the con
ditions offered or promises made, because he considered him
self to have received an affront from the Pontiff : a letter
was then despatched to Piero Soderini, exhorting him to
use every method in his power, and by all means, to send
Giuliano to Rome. His Ploliness desired to complete the
fortification of the great round tower which had been com
menced by Nicholas V. as well as those of the Borgo and
the Belvedere, with many other works, for all which he re
quired the services of the Florentine architect. Giuliano
suffered himself therefore to be at length persuaded by
Soderini, and again proceeded to Rome, where he was re
ceived by Pope Julius with exceeding cordiality and many
gifts. Now it was about this time that the Bentivogli were
driven out of Bologna, and the Pontiff thereupon repaired
to that city. While there, he resolved, by the advice of Giu
liano, who had accompanied him thither,^ to have a statue
" In May, 1506, he still bore the title of Papal architect, and iu all probabil
ity he returned to his native city in the same year. See M. MQntz, L'Age
d' Or, Tp. 409.
'" Milanesi proves by documents that Giuliano had returned to Florence in
1 507, and could not have left there before March, 1512 ; he therefore does not
believe that the architect accompanied Pope Julius to Bologna and Miran
dola.

GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO 111
erected (representing the Pope himself), and which should
be executed in bronze, by Michelagnolo Buonarroti ; this
was accordingly done, as will be related in the life of
Michelagnolo. In like manner Giuliano accompanied the
Pope to Mirandola and when that place was taken he re
turned with Julius to Rome, after having endured much
anxiety and many cares.
The raging desire to drive the French out of Italy, not
having yet got out of the head of Pope Julius, he made va
rious attempts to wrest the government of Florence from
the hands of Piero Soderini, seeing that the Gonfaloniere
was no small impediment to his accomplishing what he had
in his mind. By these projects the Pontiff was much
diverted from his architectural undertakings. He was in
deed almost entirely absorbed in his warlike affairs, aud
Giuliano, seeing, as he did, that no building received any
attention, the church of San Pietro excepted, and even that
obtained but very little ; seeing all this, I say, Giuliano be
came weary, and determined on requesting his dismissal.
But the Pope replied in great anger : "Do you think that
there is no other Giuliano da San Gallo in the world besides
yourself ? " Whereunto Giuliano made answer to the effect
that, for truth and faithful service never would he find
another equal to himself, whereas it would be easy for him
to find princes who would maintain their promises with
more fidelity than the Pope had shown towards him.
Julius would nevertheless not give him leave to go, but
said that he would talk to him about it at some other
time. Bramante meanwhile having brought Raffaello da Urbino
to Rome, set him to work on the paintings of the pontifical
apartments, whereupon Giuliano, perceiving that those
pictures gave the Pope much pleasure, and that he desired
to have the ceiling of the chapel, built by his uncle Sixtus,
also decorated with paintings, then spoke to his Holiness
of Michelagnolo, reminding him that the latter had already
executed the statue of bronze in Bologna, wherewith the

112 GIULIANO AND ANTONJO DA SAN GALLO
Pontiff had been very much pleased.^ Michelagnolo was
therefore summoned to Rome, and having arrived in that
city, the ceiling of the chapel was confided to him accord
ingly. Some short time after these things, Giuliano again re
quested permission to depart, and his Holiness, seeing that
he was resolved on doing so, suffered him to return to Flor
ence amicably, and retaining all his favour : after having
conferred his benediction, Julius finally presented him with
a purse of scarlet satin containing five hundred ducats,
telling him that he might return home to take repose, but
that he would always remain his friend. Having then
kissed the sacred foot, Giuliano departed to Florence, where
he arrived exactly at the time when Pisa was surrounded
and besieged by the Florentine army.^" He had no sooner
entered the city therefore, than he was despatched by Piero
Soderini — after the due ceremonies of reception — to the
camp ; where the commissaries found themselves unable to
devise any effectual method for preventing the Pisans from
supplying their beleaguered city with provisions, by means
of the Arno. Giuliano, after due examination, declared
that when the season should be more favourable, a bridge
of boats must be constructed, he then returned to Flor
ence. But when the spring was come, he took with him
Antonio his brother, and again repaired to Pisa, where they
made a bridge of boats, which was a work of much ingenu
ity ; for besides that this fabric could be removed at pleas
ure, the power of rising or sinking, within fixed limits,
which it derived from its form, secured the structure to a
=' For the famous rivalry between the Bramante and San Gallo factions re
garding the painting of the Sistine Chapel, see the Uves of Raphael and Michel
angelo. " Giuliano was master architect of Florence from 1500 to 1503. In 1500 he
went to fortify Borgo San Sepolcro ; in May of the next year he had the con
voying of certain artillery for the king of France, and in 1502-03 was twice
in Arezzo and again in Borgo San Sepolcro. His brother Antonio succeeded
him as master architect and engineer of the Florentines during the last months
of the siege of Pisa. Milanesi, V., p. 285, note 1, quotes largely fromGaye's
Carteggio.

GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO 113
certain extent, against injury from fioods, while it never
theless remained perfectly firm, being well chained and
fastened together through all its parts. The impediment
to supplies by means of the river, so much desired by the
commissaries, was also effectually presented by this bridge,
the city being thereby cut off from all aid by sea and up the
Arno ; insomuch that the Pisans, having no longer any help
in their distress, were compelled to make conditions with
the Florentines and surrendered accordingly.
Nor did any long time elapse before Giuliano was again
despatched to Pisa by the same Piero Soderini,^' together
with an almost innumerable company of builders, when they
constructed, with extraordinary celerity, the fortress which
is at the gate of San Marco, with that gate itself, which
was erected in the Doric order. While Giuliano was
busied with this undertaking, which occupied him until the
year 1512, Antonio travelled throughout the whole state,
inspecting all the fortresses and public buildings of the
Florentine territories, and putting all into good and ser
viceable order.
By the favour and assistance of Pope Julius, the House
of Medici was subsequently reinstated in the government of
Florence, from which that family had been expelled on the
incursion made into Italy by Charles VIIL, king of France.
Piero Soderini was then compelled to abandon the palace,
but the Medici did not fail to acknowledge the services
which Giuliano and Antonio had rendered in earlier times
to their illustrious house, and when, on the death of Pope
Julius, Giovanni, cardinal de' Medici, ascended the papal
throne, Giuliano was induced once again to visit Rome.
No long time after the arrival of the latter in that city,
the architect Bramante died, when the Pope resolved to en
trust the building of San Pietro to Giuliano ; *^ but worn by
*' Giuliano seems to have been sent to Pisa in 1509 ; we hear of him as
making the model for the gate of San Marco 1510, and the bridge of La
Spina 1511. In March, 1512, he was still in Pisa.
" Giuliano was appointed chief architect of St. Peter's January 1, 1514, while
III.— 8

114 GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO
his many labours, oppressed by the weight of years, and
suffering cruel torments from internal disease, the Floren
tine architect declined that charge,^ which was then made
over to the most * graceful Raffaello da Urbino,^ and Giu
liano returned by permission of his Holiness, to Florence.^'
Two years later Giuliano da San Gallo, grievously oppressed
by the force of his malady, also died at the age of seventy-
four, and in the year 1517,^^ leaving his name to the world,
his body to the earth, and his soul to God, who gave it.
The departure of Giuliano, left his brother Antonio, who
loved him tenderly, in the deepest grief, as it also did a son
named Francesco ; the latter already engaged in the study
of sculpture, although he was then very young. ^' This
Francesco has carefully preserved all the remains of art
bequeathed to him by his forerunners, and holds them in the
utmost veneration. Many works in sculpture and architect
ure have been executed by him in Florence and other
places ; among them is the Madonna in the church of
Orsanmichele. The Virgin has the Divine Child on her
Bramante (who died March 11th of the same year) was stiU living. Milanesi,
IV., p. 286, note 2.
" At the very end of his life Giuliano re-entered the arena with a study for
s. facade of San Lorenzo, in which he showed conspicuously the influence of
Michelangelo. His designs are very rich and covered with sculpture ; but
" these silhouettes, so bold in appearance, hide a certain organic poverty and
a lack of classical purity ; in which respects they greatly differ from the crea
tions of Bramante." — E. MUntz, L'Age d'Or. Six designs for Sau Lorenzo
are in the Uffizi. Herr Redtenbacher, op. cit., has reproduced some of them.
* Here as elsewhere grazioso should be translated gracious, not graceful.
*' Associated with the architect Pra Giocondo, who held office from Feb
ruary, 1514, to March, 1518. Raphael received his appointment in April, 1 514,
and in August of the same year, after having presented his model, he appears
to have been appointed first architect, and thus placed over his associate in
the work. See Mrs. Foster's citation from Pea's Notizie and Bnnsen and
Platner's Beschreibung der Stadt Rom.
*"• According to documents extracted by Fea from the books of the works
at St. Peter's, Giuliano retained his appointment about a year and a half — to
July 1, 1515, namely. — Mrs. Foster's notes.
" He died in Florence, October 20, 1516. There is a portrait of him in the
Museum of The Hague, said by Dr. Frizzoni to be by Piero di Cosimo.
*' He was twenty-three years old.

GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO 115
arm, which is resting in the lap of Sant' Anna ; all the fig
ures are in full relief, and the group, which is formed from
one piece of marble, is considered a fine work.^^ The
sepulchral monument which Pope Clement caused to be
constructed at Monte Cassino, to the memory of Piero de
Medici,'" is also by this sculptor, as are other works, of
which I do not make further mention, because Francesco is
still living.
After the death of Giuliano, his brother Antonio, who
was not willing to remain wholly inactive, executed two
large Crucifixes in wood, one of which was sent to Spain,
and the other, by command of the vice-chancellor. Car
dinal Giulio de' Medici, was taken by Domenico Buonin-
segni into France. At a later period the building of the
fortress of Leghorn* having been determined on, Antonio
was sent to that city by the Cardinal de' Medici, with a
commission to prepare designs for the structure, which the
latter effected accordingly ; but the work was not executed
to the extent proposed by Antonio, nor was it constructed
entirely after the designs he had prepared.
Many miracles having been performed by an image of
Our Lady in possession of the inhabitants of Montepul
ciano, these last resolved to erect a church to her honour at
very great cost, Antonio was consequently instructed to
prepare the model, and became the superintendent of the
building ; he therefore repaired to Montepulciano twice in
the year, for the purpose of inspecting the progress of that
fabric, which we now see completed to the utmost perfec
tion.^' It is indeed a most beautiful and richly varied
composition, and is executed by the genius of Antonio with
infinite grace ; the whole edifice is constructed of a stone
which resembles that called travertine in the whiteish tint
*' StUl existing in Or San Michele.
¦•» Finished in 1558.
'» Antonio made the designs for this citadel of Leghorn in March, 1506.
MUanesi, IV., p. 288, note 2.
»' This is the famous church of San Biagio fuori Montepulciano, the con
struction of which is said to have taken from 1518 to 1537.

116 GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO
of its colour : it is situated at a short distance beyond the
gate of San Biagio, on the right hand, nearly midway up
the hill. About the same time this architect commenced
a palace ^^ in the fortress of Monte Sansovino for Antonio
di Monte, Cardinal of Santa Praxida ; he also constructed
another for the same prelate, in Montepulciano, a work de
signed and completed with admirable grace. ^
In Florence Antonio erected a range of houses for the
Servite monks, on the Piazza of their monastery ; the style
of the building resembling that of the Loggia degl' Inno-
centi.^* In Arezzo he prepared models for the aisles of the
church of Our Lady of Tears ; but this was a very ill-con
ducted work, because entirely destitute of harmony with
the earlier portions of the edifice, and the arches of the
upper part are not placed in due relation to the centre.
Antonio likewise made a model for the church of the Ma
donna in Cortona ; but I do not believe that this has ever
been put into execution. ^= During the siege of Florence,
this master was employed on the bastions and fortifications
within the city, when his nephew Francesco was appointed
to act as his assistant. ^^
The Giant of the Piazza,^ which had been executed by
the hand of Michelagnolo, during the life-time of Giuliano,
the brother of Antonio, being fixed in its place, the rulers
resolved that the other,* made by Baccio Bandinelli, should
be also erected on the Piazza. The care of conducting it
thither in safety was trusted to Antonio, and he, in taking
52 Now the Pretorio.
s' This palace, opposite the cathedral, though praised by Vasari, is thought
by Gaye to be one of Antonio's poorest works.
'¦I They were buUt in 1517. Baccio d' Agnolo was associated vrith Antonio
in their construction.
5' It was not put into execution, tor this well-known church of the Calcinajo
was designed by Francesco di Giorgio of Siena. See MUanesi, IV., p. 289,
quoting Father Gregorio Pinucci's historical studies upon the church, and
Professor G. del Rosso in his Lettere Antellane.
^' Francesco, in 1529, was head-master of the fortifications of the city.
^'' The colossal statue of David.
^" The Hercules and Cacos.

GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO 117
Baccio d' Agnolo to assist him, by the use of very powerful
machinery, effected the removal of the statue without in
jury, placing it safely on the pedestal which had been
prepared to receive it.
When Antonio had become old, he took pleasure in no
other occupation than that of agriculture, which he under
stood perfectly well. Finally, being rendered by the weight
of his years unable to support any longer the cares of this
world, he resigned his soul to God in the year 1534, and
was laid to his repose, together with his brother Giuliano,
in the burial place of the Giamberti family, which is in the
church of Santa Maria Novella.^'
The admirable works of these two brothers will supply to
the world sufficient proof of the fine genius wherewith they
were endowed, while their blameless life and honourable
conduct in every action caused them to be held in esteem
by the whole city, and by all who knew them.™ Giuliano
and Antonio bequeathed to architecture the inheritance of
better methods in the Tuscan manner of building, with
more beautiful forms than had previously been in use ; they
added finer proportion, and more exact measurement to the
Doric order than had ever before, according to the opinion
and rule of Vitruvius, been attained.
" He died December 27, 1.534, aged seventy-nine years.
"I" Antonio da San GaUo the younger (1485-1546), and nephew of GiuUano,
was almost as celebrated as his uncle. Vasari gave his cognomen as Picconi,
but later criticism (see Milanesi and Miintz) has pronounced in favor of the
name of Coriolani, Condiani or Cordiani. His principal achievement is the
building of two stories of the magnificent Pamese Palace, " the masterpiece of
the Roman Renaissance." His project for St. Peter's was so fuU of detaU
and of multipUed parts, and so lacking in what the Tuscans considered to be
grandeur of style, that his contemporaries reproached him with having f oUowed
rather the Gothio than the classical manner (see Muntz, La Fin de la Renais
sance, p. 335). Antonio, like his uncle, was omnipresent as buUder, engineer,
and restorer, fortifying in Florence and in Ancona, enlarging the Vatican in
Rome, restoring the cupola of Loretto, making the great weU of Orvieto, at
almost one and the same time. Milanesi in his commentary gives a very long
list of his drawings in the Uffizi. Antonio was a worthy representative of his
famous famUy, but Uke most of those who worked contemporaneously with
Michelangelo he has been pver^aiiowed by the more famous name and th^
greater talent.

118 GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO
In their houses in Florence, these masters had collected
a large number of beautiful antiquities in marble — treasures,
which contributed, and still contribute, to adorn their na
tive city, while they also do honour to the artists them
selves, and redound to the glory of art. Giuliano brought
from Rome the method of constructing vaulted ceilings, in
materials which permit the carvings and other decorations
to be executed in one piece : ^' of this we have an example
in an apartment of his own house, and at Poggio-a-Cajano,
the ceiling of the Great Hall, still to be seen there, is con
structed after this manner. Large is the debt of gratitude
due to these artists, by whose labours the Florentine state
has been fortified, while the city itself has received great
increase of beauty from their endeavours.® By the works
•1 This was probably an invention of Bramante ; see his Life.
«2 After BruneUeschi, Alberti, and Bramante, no Florentine architect of the
fifteenth century is more noted than GiuUano da San GaUo. Nevertheless, he
has not left any building so famous as the Strozzi Palace of Benedetto, the
Medici Palace of Michelozzo, or the Rucellai Palace of Rossellino (if it be by
him, as is now presumed, and not by Alberti). Some of his churches are ad
mirable ; his sacristy of the Santo Spirito is well known, but on the whole his
celebrity comes rather from the volume and variety of his work than from any
single masterpiece, and is enhanced by the fact that an entire generation of
the Giamberti contributed to the famUy fame. The San Galli were a whole
dynasty of architect-engineers and architect-sculptors, handing down the
art from father to son, and sharing it between brother and brother, cousin and
cousin. Besides GiuUano and Antonio the elder, there were Antonio the
younger, their almost equally famous nephew, as well as two other nephews,
the architect Giovan Francesco (1482-1530) and the painter Bastiano, called
Aristotile da San GaUe. Giuliano's biography is a particularly entertaining
one, both because a protigi of the Medici was always a congenial subject to
Vasari, writing as he did under the eye of Duke Cosimo, and because San GaUo
was a capital type of the Jack-at-all-trades in art, the many-sided Renais
sance craftsman. He could build a palace, then repair a church (and if he
was less great than Bramante, he seems to have buUt mere solidly) ; next we
meet him convoying artillery, building bridges, a servant of popes, dukes,
and repubUcs, and fortifying for all of them alike. Again we see him, note
book in hand, a tourist in southern France, and hear of him in remote Italian
cities which few architects had visited. Later he is a prisoner, held at ran
som ; and then, turning the tables upon the Pisans, and their river Arno from
its course, he captures his captors. He belonged distinctly to the Medicean
group of artists, was ambassador for Lorenzo the Magnificent, and guardian
to the future Pope Clement VII. ; but he became also the prolegi of the deUa

GIULIANO AND ANTONIO DA SAN GALLO 119
of these brothers, performed in so many parts of Italy, the
Florentine name has moreover received a great accession of
honour, to the lasting glory of the Tuscan genius, which,
to their revered memory, hath dedicated the following
verses : —
" Cedite Romani structores, cedite Ghraii
Artis, Viiruvi, tu quoque cede parens.
Mruscos celebrare viros ; testudinis arcus,
Uma, iholus, staiuce, templa, domusque peiunt."
Rovere, aud in the last years of his life enjoyed the brilliant, if somewhat (in
his case) empty, title of Master Architect of St. Peter's. He was contempo
raneous with the greatest years of the Renaissance, for he was born before
the last stone was laid upon BruneUeschi's dome, and he lived tUl after
Raphael had painted the Stanze of the Vatican ; Uved active, honored, and
consulted by all, and died the founder of a briUiaut succession of artists.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO, PAINTER AND ARCHI
TECT.
[Born 1483 ; died 1520.]
Bibliography. — The bibUography of Raphael, like that of Leonardo, or of
Michelangelo, includes a whole literature. Messrs. Passavant, Anton Springer,
Crowe and Cavalcaselle, Eugene Miintz, and P. A. Gruyer, are notable among
the historians of this painter. The fine volume by Miintz is admirable not
only for the artistic treatment of the theme by a scholar famous as a general
historian of the Renaissance and as an indefatigable pubUsher of original doc
uments, but also for its great number of excellent reproductions. The work of
Crowe and CavalcaseUe is invaluable for its erudition, the mass of notes
containing minute descriptions of the various pictures in their present con
dition, and of the preparatory studies for the pictures. Herr Springer's book
is remarkable for the solidity of its views and the impartiality of its judg
ments. M. Gruyer's copious vreitings in many volumes upon Raphael as por
trait-painter, aafrescante, upon his relation to antiquity, and his mythological
subjects, upon the Madonnas, etc. , are the works of a man in love with his
subject and who cites or quotes endless documents. Passavant, once the
most famous of Raphael's biographers, has been somewhat superseded, and is
prinoipaUy valuable for his elaborate catalogue of the works of the master.
Morelli, in his Italian Masters in German GaUeries and his Italian Painters,
has devoted much of his new and enUghtened criticism to Raphael, especiaUy
the young Raphael. An enormous amount of periodical Uterature has been
accorded to the great master of Urbino, including the results of researches by
Signori Rossi, GnoU, and many other scholars, especiaUy among the Italians,
but Vasari's life has been the model from which all the other writers have
studied, and the Aretine author has given not only the first, but the most Uv
ing presentation of the historic Raphael.
Those who desire an exhaustive Bibliography (up to 1883) of Raphael, wiU
find it in the admirable work by Eugene MUntz, Les Historiens et les critiques
de Raphael, 1483-1883. Bssai Bibliographique pour servir d'appendice a
I'ouvrage de Passavant, Paris, 1883. It is at once a catalogue and a history.
The oldest life of Raphael is that of Paolo Giovio, written in Latin. It was
first published by Tiraboschi in his Storia della Utteratura Italiana, and is
given in the appendix to Passavant's work.
WithRumohr, and more especially with Passavant, begins the Ust of modern
and better-known works, many of them by authors famous in art criticism
and archeology. Among these books are: C. F. von Rumohr, Ueber Ra.c

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 121
phael und sein Verhdltniss zu den Zeitgenossen, Berlin and Stettin, 1831. J.
D. Passavant, Rafael von Urbino und sein Voter Giovanni Santi, Leipsic,
1839. There is a better French edition, Raphael d' Urbin et son ph-e Gio
vanni Santi, Paris, 1860. The catalogue of Raphael's works in the second
volume is of great value ; Raffaello Santi d' Urbino ed il suo padre Giovanni
Santi; opera tradotta, etc., by C. Guasti, Florence, 1891, is the ItaUan edi
tion; EngUsh ed., London, 1873. C. Clement, Michel Ange, Leonard de
Vinci, Raphael, Paris, 1861 ; English edition, 1880 ; German edition, 1870.
G. Campori, Racconti Artistici Italiani, Florence, 1851-52. P. A. Gruyer,
Lesfresques de Raphael, Paris, 1859. G. Campori, Notizie inedite di Raffaello
da Urbino, Modena, 1863. A. F. Rio, Mic7iel-Ange et Raphael, Paris, 1867.
P. A. Gruyer, Raphael et VAntiquite, Paris, 1861. A. von Wolzogen, Raphael
Santi, sein Leben und seine Werke, Leipsic, 1865 ; English edition, London,
1866. E. Forster, Raphael, Leipsic, 1867. F. A. Gruyer, Les Vierges de Ra
phael, Paris, 1869. J. C. Robinson, A Critical Account of the Drawings by
Michel Angelo and Raffaello in the Univer,sity Galleries, Oxford, 1870. H.
Grimm, Das Leben Raphael's von Urbino, 1872. F. A. Gruyer, Les portraits
de Raphael par lui-meme, Paris, 1876. A. Springer, Rafael und Michelangelo,
Leipsic, 1878. C. C. Perkins, Raphael and Michelangelo, Boston, 1878. E.
Miintz, Raphael, sa vie, son ceuvre et son temps, Paris, 1881 ; English ed. by
W. Armstrong. Crowe and CavalcaseUe, Life and Works of Raphael, Lon
don, 1882 ; ItaUan ed. , Florence. P. A. Gruyer, Raphael peintre de portraits,
Paris, 1881. B. Miintz, Une rivalite d' Artistes, Michel-Ange et Raphael d la
Cour de Home, Paris, 1883. J. H. Middleton, Raphael, Encyc. Britannica. H.
von GeymuUer, Raffaello come architetto, Milan, 1883. E. Muntz, Les histo
riens et les critiques de Raphael, 1483-1883, Paris, 1884. Marco Minghetti, 1
maestri di Raffaello, Bologna, 1881 ; EngUsh translation by Louis Fagan,
London. A. Schmarsow, Raphael und Pinturicchio in Siena, Stuttgardt. H.
Grimm, Life of Raphael, Boston, 1888 (translation by Sarah H. Adams). J.
Riepenhausen, Das Leben Raphaels von Urbino gezeichnet und gestochen
von J. R., mit erlduterndem Text, Dr. R. Dohme, BerUn, 1888. C. Cle'ment,
Michel-Ange, L. de Vinci, Raphael, Paris. C. von LQtzow, Raffael's Bil-
dungs- und Entwickelungs-gang, Vienna, 1891. J. Cartwright (Mrs. Henry
Ady), Raphael, London, 1895. H. Knackfusz, Raffael, Leipsic, 1895.
The foUowing articles from various periodicals are aU from authors of es-
tabUshed reputation as critics : H. Hettner, Raffael und die Anfange der
deutschen Refoi-mation — Liitzow, Zeitschrift fiir bildende Kunst, Vol. IV.,
pp. 153, 187, Leipsic, 1869. See also Hettner's Italienische Studien. A.
Springer, Raphaelstudien — Zeitschrift fiir bildende Kunst, Vol. VIIL, p. 65,
Leipsic, 1873. H. Grimm, Raphael's Ruhm in vier Jahrhunderten, from
the Deutsche Rundschau, November and December, 1884, Berlin, 1884. Re
cent Criticism on Raphael, article by Dr. J. P. Richter in The Nineteenth Cen
tury, Vol. XX., p. 343. Domenico Gnoli, LaCasa di Raffaello, iu the Nuova
Antologia, 1887, fasc. XI. La case e lo stemma di Raffaello, by Adamo Rossi,
with long note to same by Domenico GnoU, in V Archivio Storico dell' Artetoi
1888. D. Gnoli, Raffaello alia Corte di Leone X. , Rome, 1888. D. Gnoli, La
Cappella di Fra Mariano del Piombo in Roma, article in L' Archivio Storico
delV Arte, IV., pp. 117-126. Von Pulszky, Beitrage zti Raphael's Studien der

122 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
Antike, Leipsic, 1877. 11 Gruppo del Laocoonte e Raffaello, article by A. Ven-
turi in L' Archivio Storico dell' Arte, II., pp. 97-112. E. Muntz, Raphael
Archeologue et Sistorien d'Art, Gazette des Beaux Arts, 2d Series, Vol.
XXII., p. 307, Paris, 1880. Gli Allievi di Raffaello durante il Pontijicato
di Clemente VII., article by E. Miintz in L' Archivio Storico dell' Arte, I., p.
447. E. Muntz, Les Maisons de Raphael d Rome d'apris des documents
inJdits ou peu connus. Gazette des Beaux Arts, 2d Series, Vol. XXL, p. 353,
Paris, 1880. E. Miintz, Les bordures des Tapisseries de Raphael in L'Art,
1890, p. 3. Franz Wickhoff, Die Bibliothek Julius IL, Vol. XIV. of the
Jahrbuch der Koniglichen Preussischen Kunstsam.mlungen. Documenti in
editi relativi a Raffaello d' Urbino, by D. Gnoli, in V Archivio Storico delV
Arte, II., pp. 248-251. G. Campori, Fails et Documents pour servir a I'llis-
toire de Giovanni et Raphael Santi d' Urbino tiris des Archives de Mantoue,
Gazette des Beaux Arts, 2d Series, Vol. VI., p. 353, Paris, 1872. G. Campori,
Documents inedits sur Raphael tiris des Archives Palatines de Modine, in
the Gazette des Beaux Arts, Vol. XIV., p. 347, Paris, 1863.
The foUowing books or articles are arranged rather according to subject
than to date. E. MUntz, Les dessins de lajeunesse de Raphael, Gazette des
Beaux Arts, 2d Series, Vol XXXII., pp. 185, 337, Paris, 1885. (See also for
the drawings of the youthful Raphael long passages in Morelli's ItaUan Mas
ters in German GaUeries.) E. L. Chevignard, Un Dessin du Musee du
Louvre, Gazette des Beaux Arts, 2d Series, Vol. XV., p. 475. For J. C.
Robinson's essay on the drawings at Oxford see the first part of this bibUog
raphy. C. Ruland (editor). The Works of Raphael in the Royal Library at
Windsor, 1876. C. Ruland, Notes on the Cartoons of Raphael, now in the
South Kensington Museum ; also on Raphael's other Works, London, 1865. R.
H. Smith, Exposition of the Cartoons of Raphael, 1860. G. P. Waagen, Die
Cartons von Raphael, Berlin, 1860. W. Koopmann, Einige wenige be-
kannte Sandzeichnungeti Raffaels in the Jahrbuch der Kon. Preuss. Kunst
sammlungen, 1891, Heft 1. W. Koopmann, Raffael-Studien, mit besonderer
Beriicksichtigung der Handzeichnungen des Meisters, Marburg, 1890.
The foUowing refer to especial periods in the life of the painter or else to
special works : W. von Seidlitz, Raphael's Jugendwerke ; zugleich eine Ant-
wort an Herrn Dr. W. Koopm,an, Munich, 1891. W. von Seidlitz, Raphael
und Timoteo Viii, nebst einem Ueberblick iiber Raphael's Jugendentioickelung
in the Repertorium fiir Kunstwissenschaft, Band XIV., Heft 1. B. Ber
enson, Le "Sposalizio" du Musee de Caen, Gazette des Beaux Arts, AprU,
1896. W. Koopman, Raffaels erste Arbeiten. Entgegnung auf Herrn von
Seidlitz, Besprechung meiner Raffael-Studien, Marburg, 1891. K. Karoly,
Raphael's Madonnas and ether great Pictures, London, 1894. M. K. KeUogg,
Researches into the History of "ia Belle Jardiniere" of Raphael, London,
1860. Paliard, Le Raphael d'un million. Gazette des Beaux Arts, Sep
tember, 1877. C. J. Cavallucci, La Madonna di Vallombrosa di Raffaello
di Urbino, Florence, 1870. Baron C. E. von Liphart, Notice historique
sur un tableau de Raphael, Paris, 1867. Mgr. FarabuUni, Lettre sur la
Vierge de Sainte-Claire par Raphael, Paris, 1878. P. V. BeUoc, La Vierge
au Poisson de Raphael, Paris and Lyons, 1833. C. von Fabriczy, Die
sogenannte kleine hi. Familie Rafael's im Louvre, in the Repertorium fiir

RAPHAEL OP TTRBINO 123
Kunstwissenschaft, Bd. XII., Heft 2. Hiibner, Die Sixtinische Madonna,
in the Jahrbuch fur Kunstwissenschaft, 1870, Vol III., pp. 249-379. G. Por-
tig. Die Sixtinische Madonna von Raphael, Leipsic, 1882. C. von Pulszky,
Raphael Sa)Ui in der Ungarischen Reich's Gallerie. Buda-Pesth, 1883. G.
Gruyer, Le Saint George et les deux Saint Michel de Raphael au Mush du
Louvre, in Gazette des Beaux Arts, May 1, 1889. . . . On Raphael as por
trait-painter, see especially F. A. Gruyer, as above in Bibliography. Among
special articles referring to portraits are also, Di alcuni ritratti delle gallerie
Jiorentine, I due ritratti di Raffaello, article by E. Ridolfi in L' Archivio
Storico dell' Arte, IV. , pp. 435-455. II ritratto del Cardinale Alidosi di Raf
faello, article by E. Miintz in L' Archivio Storico dell' Arte, IV., pp. 328-337.
J. Delmati, Le portrait du due d' Urbino par Raphael daiis la collection des
eomtes Suardi, aujourd'hui Marenzi de Bergamo, avec notes et documents
historiques, Milan, 1891. P. A. Gruyer, Portrait de Jeanne d'Aragon par
Raphael, Gazette des Beaux Arts, 2d Series, XXII., p. 465, Paris, 1880.
Works referring to the frescoes of Raphael, in the Vatican, Farnesina, etc.,
are almost endless ; a few of them are mentioned here ; L. Gruner and E.
Platner, IFreschi della villa Magliana di Raffaello d' Urbino, etc., Rome, 1847.
Platner, Beschreibung der Stadt Rom, 1830. Pistolesi, II Vaticano descritto.
P. Cerroti, Le Pitture delle Stanze Vaticane, Rome, 1869-72. Hermann Dal-
ton, Rafael und die Stanza della Segnatura im Vatikan zu Rom, St. Peters
burg, 1870. P. P. Montagnani, Illustrazione storico-pittorica, con incisioni
a contorni delle pitture nelle Stanze Vaticane di Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino,
Rome, 1830. The same author published an earUer work in 1828 on the same
subject. A. Tredelenburg, Ueber Rafael's Schule von Athen, Berlin, 1843.
Gruyer, I^es Fresques de Raphael au Vatican, Paris, 1859. W. W. Lloyd,
Raphael in the Vatican, London, 1866. W. Scherer, Ueber Raphael's Schule
von Athen, Vienna, 1872. Brunn, Die Compositionen der Wandgemdldc
Raphaels im Vatican, BerUn. Dr. A. Richter, Ueber Rafael's Schule vonAthen,
Heidelberg, 1883. A. Springer, Raffael's Schule von Athen, Vienna, 1883.
A. Springer, Rafael's Disputd, Bonn, 1860. H. DoUmayr, Lo Stanzino da
bagno del cardinale Bibbiena, in L' Archivio Storico dell' Arte, IIL, p. 273.
Julia Cartwright, Raphael iu Rome, 1896 (from the PortfeUo). Por special
details upon the Farnesina, see besides Crowe and Cavalcaselle, Miintz, and
Passavant : C. Bigot, Raphael et la Farnesine, Paris, 1884 ; EngUsh edition,
London, same date. R. Porster, Farnesina-Studien, Rostock, 1880. A.
Venturi, La Farnesina, Rome, 1890. Cugnoni, Agostino Chigi il Magnifico.
Arthur Weese, Anteil an dem malerischen Schmucke der Villa Farnesina,
1894. A number of special works have been devoted to the cartoons and
the tapestries, among which are : E. Miintz, Les Tapisseries de Raphael au
Vatican et dans les principaux musics et collections de I'Europe, Paris.
E. Miintz, Histoire de la Tapisserie en Italie, Paris, 1880. Chronique des
Arts, 1876, Nos. 28-32, 1877, Nos. 25, 36, 1879, No. 36. Koch, Rafael's Tap-
eten im Vatican, Vienna, 1878. See G. Lafenestre, Gazette des Beaux Arts,
November 1, 1886, for a study on certain fragments of the cartoon of the Call
ing of Peter in ChantiUy coUection. G. P. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Eng
land. G. P. Waagen, Die Cartons von Rafael in besonderer Beziehung auf die
nach denselben gewirkten Teppiche in der Rotunde des Koniglichen Museums

124 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
zu Berlin, BerUn, 1860. W. W. Lloyd, Christianity in the Cartoons of
Raphael, London, 1865.
There are many early works upon Raphael, most of which have been com
pletely superseded.
Paolo Giovio's notice of Raphael, which is the earUest in point of date, was
first pubUshed by Tiraboschi in his Storia della Letteratura Italiana, and
among the elder works treating of Raphael are Lomazzo, Trattato dell' arte
della pittura, Milan, 1585. BeUori, Descrizione delle immagini dipinte da
Rafaello nelle camere del Vaticano, Rome, 1695. BeUori, Descrizione delle
imagini dipinte da Raffaelle (f Urbino nel palazzo Vaticano, Rome, 1751.
Camolli, Vita inedita di Raffaello da Urbino, Rome, 1790 (this was the re
production in good faith by Camolli of a work which proved to be a forgery).
Francesconi, Congettura che una lettera creduta di Baldassare Castiglione sia
di Raffaello, Rome, 1799. C. P. Landon, Vies et CEuvres des Peintres, Paris,
1803-1820. H. H. Fuessli, Ueber das Leben und die Werke Raphael Sanzio's,
Zurich, 1815. G. Chr. Braun, Raphael Sanzio's Leben und Werke, Wiesbaden,
1855. R. Duppa, The Life of Raffaello, London, 1816 and 1846. Sir Joshua
Reynolds' Raffaello, from his characters of celebrated artists, is included in
Duppa's Rafaello. F. Rehberg, Rafael aus Urbino, Munich, 1824. W.
Lilbke, Rafaels Leben, Dresden, 1822. Carlo Fea, Notizie intorno Raffaello
Sanzio da Urbino ed alcune di lui opere, Rome, 1822. C. Quatremfere de
Quincy, Histoire de la Vie et des Ouvrages de Raphael, Paris, 1834 (there
have been subsequent English and Italian editions). G. K. Nagler, Rafael
als MenscJi und Kiinstler, Munich, 1836.
THE large and liberal hand wherewith Heaven is some
times pleased to accumulate the infinite riches of its
treasures on the head of one sole favourite, showering
on him all those rare gifts and graces, which are more com
monly distributed among a larger number of individuals, and
accorded at long intervals of time only, has been clearly
exemplified in the well-known instance of Raphael Sanzio
of Urbino.'
No less excellent than graceful,* he was endowed by
nature with all that modesty and goodness which may occa
sionally be perceived in those few favoured persons who
enhance the gracious sweetness of a disposition more than
usually gentle, by the fair ornament of a winning amenity,
always ready to conciliate, and constantly giving evidence
* All through this life the Italian word grazioso, which really means gra
cious, amiable, is translated graceful.
' His name was Raffaello Santi ; the Santi was Latinized to Sanctius and
Italianized back to Sanzio.

RAPHAEL OP URBINO 125
of the most refined consideration for all persons and under
every circumstance. The world received the gift of this
artist from the hand of Nature when, vanquished by Art in
the person of Michael Angelo, she deigned to be subjugated
in that of Raphael, not by art only but by goodness also.
And of a truth, since the greater number of artists had up
to that period derived from nature a certain rudeness and
eccentricity which not only rendered them uncouth * and
fantastic, but often caused the shadows and darkness of
vice to be more conspicuous in their lives than the light and
splendour of those virtues by which man is rendered immor
tal ; so was there good cause wherefore she should, on the
contrary, make all the rarest qualities of the heart to shine
resplendently in her Raphael, perfecting them by so much
diffidence, grace, application to study, and excellence of life,
that these alone would have sufficed to veil or neutralize
every fault, however important, and to efface all defects,
however glaring they might have been. Truly may we
affirm that those who are the possessors of endowments so
rich and varied as were assembled in the person of Raphael,
are scarcely to be called simple men only, they are rather,
if it be permitted so to speak, entitled to the appellation of
mortal gods ; and further are we authorized to declare, that
he f who by means of his works has left an honoured name
in the records of fame here below, may also hope to enjoy
such rewards in heaven as are commensurate to and worthy
of their labours and merits.
Raphael was born at Urbino,' a most renowned city of
* Read absent-minded (astratto) for uncouth.
+ For he and his and has, in this sentence, read they and their and have.
' A passage in Bembo's epitaph of Raphael in the Pantheon implies that he
died upon the anniversary of his birth, namely. Good Friday (as assumed by
Vasari). The fact that Good Friday is a movable Fast has been further
compUcated by the possibiUty of counting either by the Julian calendar or
the astronomical tables. In 1483 Good Friday feU upon March 26 or 28 ; in
1520, the year of Raphael's death, upon AprU 6. Hence there is confusion
among authorities upon what is really a matter of not much importance,
Miintz, Springer, Paliard, and Robinson accepting March 28 as the date,
Passavant, Cle'ment, Layard, and others accepting April 6.

126 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
Italy, on Good Friday of the year 1483, at three o'clock of
the night.^ His father was a certain Giovanni de' Santi,^ a
painter of no great eminence in his art, but a man of suffi
cient intelligence nevertheless, and perfectly competent to
direct his children into that good way which had not for
his misfortune been laid open to himself in his younger
days. And first, as he knew how important it is that a
child should be nourished by the milk of its own mother,
and not by that of the hired nurse, so he determined when
his son Raphael (to whom he gave that name at his baptism,
as being one of good augury) was born to him, that the
mother of the child, he having no other, as indeed he never
had more,^ should herself be the nurse of the child. Gio-
' About nine in the evening at this season of the year. The Italians com
menced the enumeration of the hours at one hour after sunset.
' Giovanni Santi was born circa 1440 and died in 1494. He married Magia
Ciarla, daughter of a weU-to-do merchant of Urbino. She was the mother
of Raphael and died iu 1491. Two other children of the Santi died in in
fancy. Giovanni married a second wife, Bernadina di Parte, in 1492 ; her
only child died while young. After the decease of Giovanni Santi his
brother, the priest Dem Bartolommeo, became the guardian and tutor of Raph
ael, whose maternal aunt, Santa Santi, constantly befriended him, as did his
maternal uncle, Simone Ciarla.
Giovanni Santi was an excellent master, as is shown by his pictures in the
gaUeries of London, Berlin, and MUan. His instructor in art was probably
Melozzo da Forli. In 1469 Piero della Francesea lodged with Giovanni and
very possibly influenced his work. The importance of Giovanni Santi in the
Umbrian School was only recognized in the present century. See Passavant
on the Santi family and his biography of Giovanni. He had a taste for lit
erature and composed a long chronicle in terza rima, celebrating the acts of
Duke Federigo of Urbino.
In 1450 Peruzzolo Santi came from the village of Colbordolo to Urbino, and
in 1463, his son Sante, a general provision merchant, bought a house, or rather
two adjoining houses, in the Contrada del Monte, now Contrada di Raffaello,
ne,ir the market. Here Raphael was born. Muzio Oddi, a local architect, pur
chased the house in the seventeenth century, and raising some of the ceilings
altered it se much that it is doubtful if any of the rooms now entirely retain
their original appearance. Oddi placed an inscription on the house ; and
this lapide still exists. In 1873 the Royal Academy of Urbino bought the
house. The Academy has restored the building, and exhibits there, besides
a collection of reproductions, the battered fresco of Giovanni Santi, said,
though upon no certain grounds, to contain the portraits of his wife and of
Raphael as an infant. See M. Muntz's Raphael.
'See note 4.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 127
vanni further desired that in its tender years, the boy should
rather be brought up to the habits of his own family, and
beneath his paternal roof, than be sent where he must ac
quire habits and manners less refined, and modes of thought
less commendable, in the houses of the peasantry, or other
untaught persons.' As the child became older Giovanni
began to instruct him in the first principles of painting,
perceiving that he was much inclined to that art and find
ing him to be endowed with a most admirable genius ; few
years had passed therefore before Raphael, though still but
a child, became a valuable assistant to his father in the
numerous works which the latter executed in the State of
Urbino.'' At length this good and affectionate parent, knowing that
his son would acquire but little of his art from himself, re
solved to place him with Pietro Perugino,^ who, according
* It is probable that Raphael had a fairly good education. When his father
died he was not rich, but the boy was freed from any immediate embarrass
ment and was able to continue his studies. The estate was settled only after
years of litigation.
' As already stated in note 4, Giovanni Santi was an exceUent master, and al
though he died in 1494 he may have taught Raphael the rudiments of painting,
but the boy could hardly have assisted his father. The artists of the Renais
sance were precocious ; Mantegna at seventeen painted for a Paduan church ;
Michelangelo at fifteen sculptured the faun ; Perugino was apprenticed when
nine years old, Andrea del Sarto when seven. Allowing eight years for appren
ticeship and "companionship," Raphael may have finished his preliminary
studies at the age of sixteen years ; during this period he probably received
instruction from Timoteo Viti, and had seen certain works of Justus of Ghent,
Piero deUa Francesea, Melozzo da Forli, and possibly also engravings after
Mantegna and Schongauer. Although the belief that Timoteo Viti was the
first master of Raphael is questioned by some critics, others, including Miintz,
Layard, and Minghetti, have decided in its favor, and Morelli is tiie especial
champion of the theory ; see his ItaUan Masters in German Galleries, also
Miintz's Raphael, p. '?7, and Minghetti's Raffaello, English edition, pp. 21-23.
s Raphael was not apprenticed to Perugino by Giovanni Santi, who died in
1494, and whose will proves that the boy Raphael was in Urbino at the time
of his father's death. Professor Anton Springer (as also Morelli) shows that
Perugino was almost constantly absent from Perugia from 1493 to 1499. On
June 5, 1499, Raphael appeared as a witness against his stepmother Ber-
nardina, and on May 15, 1500, Dom Bartolomeo spoke in court of Raphael's be
ing absent from Urbino and signed a paper "/j7'0 dicto Raphaele abseiite."

128 RAPHAEL OP URBINO
to what Giovanni had been told, was then considered to
hold the first place among the painters of the time. Where
fore, proceeding to Perugia for that purpose, and finding
Pietro to be absent from the city, he occupied himself, to
the end that he might await the return of the master with
the less inconvenience in the execution of certain works for
the church of San Francesco in that place.' But when
This would seem to fix the date of Raphael's journey to Perugia within nar
row limits. See A. Springer, Raphaelstudien, in Zeitschrift, Stes Heft, 1873.
Signor Minghetti, who has made a special study of the masters of Raphael,
assigns 1499-1500 as the date of Raphael's arrival in Perugia, that is to say, the
favorable moment when Perugino was commencing one of his greatest works,
the decoration of the Sala del Cambie. Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle still
adhere to the old belief that Raphael left home when a child, and began to
study under Perugino as early as 1495. Their arguments are clever but not
convincing. MoreUi, Italian Masters in German Galleries, pp. 285-340, makes an earnest
plea in favor of Timoteo Viti as the first real master of Raphael, and as one
who painted " RaphaeUte " pictures before Raphael was old enough to be
able to paint them. He claims that the bey served his first art apprentice
ship in Urbino, beginning under his father, and continuing with 'i.'imoteo until
he went to Perugia in 1499-1500. See MoreUi, op. cit. , for long and careful
comparison of the style of many works by Viti and Raphael
It is only of late years that the merits of Timoteo Viti have been recognized.
He was probably born in Ferrara about 1467. At the age of twenty-three he
was sent to Bologna to learn the goldsmith's art, but entered the studio of
Francia instead. Timoteo returned to Urbino in 1495 ; he married there in
1501 and held the office of court painter under the successive Dukes ; in 1513
he occupied the post of chief magistrate. He died in 1.523. The works of
Viti are rare ; for details see Morelli's ItaUan Masters in German Galleries,
pp. 285-340. It was probably from Viti that Raphael derived those marked
characteristics of the Perrarese school visible in his earUer works, which betray
the pupil of Francia and Costa.
A fine drawing of a man in a black cap in the British Museum has been
called the portrait of Timoteo Viti by Raphael Morelli (ItaUan Painters,
II,, p. 8.3) attributes it to Sodoma.
' It is doubtful if Giovanni Santi ever painted in Perugia or executed any
work for the church of San Francesco ; no documents exist to prove it.
Possibly Vasari here refers to the pictnre of the Resurrection of Christ
painted by the young Raphael, which is now in the Vatican. As this picture
was executed for, and was formerly in, the church of San Francesco, the
hypothesis appears to be reasonable. In the collection of drawings at Oxford
are two sheets of drawings of the guardians of the tomb; as the painting
has often been attributed to Perugino, the existence of these drawings would
tend to prove that Raphael was responsible for a part of the work. Messrs.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 129
Pietro had returned to Perugia, Giovanni, who was a per
son of very good manners and pleasing deportment, soon
formed an amicable acquaintanceship with him, and when
the proper opportunity arrived, made known to him the de
sire he had conceived, in the most suitable manner that he
could devise. Thereupon Pietro, who was also exceedingly
courteous, as well as a lover of fine genius, agreed to accept
the care of Raphael ; Giovanni then returned to Urbino ; and
having taken the boy, though not without many tears from
his mother, who loved him tenderly, he conducted him to
Perugia ; when Pietro no sooner beheld his manner of
drawing,'" and observed the pleasing deportment of the
youth, than he conceived that opinion of him which was in
due time so amply confirmed by the results produced in the
after life of Raphael."
Crowe and CavalcaseUe are inclined to give all of the execution of the pict
ure to Raphael, but think that he received a sketch for it from Perugino.
Vasari does not mention the allegory in the National Gallery entitled the
Knight's Dream; this is an early work of Raphael, probably painted while
studying at Urbino under Timoteo Viti, as the details of the picture strongly
recaU the authenticated works of that master. The pen-and-ink drawing for
it is in the same gallery. There is another youthful work, a small St. Michael
in the Louvre, painted on the back of a draught-beard for Duke Guidobaldo.
ll The so-caUed Sketoh-Book of Raphael now in the Academy at Venice
contains some studies which were evidently executed during Raphael's ap
prenticeship under Perugino. There are one hundred and six drawings on
fifty-three sheets, some of them showing signs of once having been bound in
a book. They have aroused much controversy among critics. MoreUi is of
the opinion that the sketches are by difl'erent hands, and that very few
of the drawings are by Raphael himself. Por details of the controversy
and a critical examination of the Sketch-Book see MoreUi, Italian Masters
in German Galleries ; Kahl, Das venezianische Skizzenbuch, Leipsic, 1882 ;
Schmarsow, Raphael's Skizzenb'uch in venedig, in the Preussische Jahr
biicher, Berlin, 1883, and Miintz, op. cit., pp. 62-78 (the latter author gives
many reproductions of the drawings). Morelli claims to have discovered no
less than one hundred and eighteen of Pinturicchio's drawings among the
works ascribed to Raphael in different collections. He includes among these
the drawing (in the Academy of Venice) made from the marble group of the
Three Graces, which stood in the Libreria of Siena until it was removed to
the Opera del Duomo. Although MoreUi gives this drawing to Pinturicchio,
many famous critics believe it to be by Raphael. See B. Miintz, Raphael,
134-129, and P. A. Gruyer, Ruphael et VAntiquite, I., pp. 340-24.5.
» The house of Perugino in which Raphael worked still exists in the Via
in.— 9

130 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
It is a well-known fact that while studying the manner of
Pietro, Raphael imitated it so exactly at all points, 'Hhat his
copies cannot be distinguished from the original works of
the master," nor can the difference between the perform
ances of Raphael and those of Pietro be discerned with any
certainty.'* This is proved clearly by certain figures still to
be seen in Perugia, and which the former executed in a
picture painted in oil in the Church of San Francesco, for
Madonna Maddalena degl' Oddi. The subject of this work
is the Assumption of the Virgin,'^ and the figures here
alluded to are those of Our Lady and of the Saviour him
self, who is in the act of crowning her ; beneath them and
around the tomb are the Apostles, who contemplate the
celestial glory, and at the foot of the painting, in a pre-
della divided into three stories, is the Virgin receiving the
Annunciation from the Angel, the Adoration of the Magi,
and the Infant Christ in the Temple, with Simeon who
receives the Divine Child into his arms. This painting is
without doubt executed with extraordinary diligence, and
Deliziosa of Perugia. It bears a commemorative tablet set up by the Muni
cipality in 1865.
" The art of Raphael is divided into three distinct stages of development.
First, the Perugian, from 1500 to 1506, which bears the impress of Perugino's
teaching and (see Morelli) of the still earlier instructions of Timoteo Viti.
The second, or Florentine, shows more individuality, but is influenced by
Leonardo, Fra Bartolommeo, and Luca Signorelli. In the third, or Roman
period, from 1508 to 1520, Raphael is influenced by Michelangelo, but attains
his complete development. One must add to this that not only the masters
enumerated above, but nearly all the conspicuous painters of his time had
their influence upon this all-receptive, all-assimilative mind.
" An example of this is shown in the Coronation of the Virgin, which
Raphael painted after Perugino had left Perugia in 1 502.
" The famous little picture in the Louvre called ApoUe and Marsyas, a,
study for which is in Venice, has provoked a long famous controversy. Mr.
Morris Moore purchased the picture under the conviction that it was an early
work by Raphael, and eventually it was bought as such from him by the
Louvre. Critics are divided respecting its authorship ; much earnestness and
some acrimony have been displayed in their controversy ; many critics refuse
to accept it as a Raphael. Pinturicchio has been suggested as the p.iinter,
and Morelli says that its author is someone having a close affinity with the
style of Perugino.
'¦'' This is more properly a Coronation.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 131
all who have not a thorough knowledge of the manner of
Pietro, will assuredly take it to be a work of that master,
whereas it is most certainly by the hand of Raphael. '°
After the completion of this picture, Pietro repaired for
certain of his occasions to Florence when Raphael departed
from Perugia and proceeded with several of his friends to
Citta di Castello, where he painted a picture in the same
manner, for the church of Sant' Agostino," with one repre
senting the crucified Saviour,'^ for that of San Domenico ;
'• The Coronation of the Virgin was painted in 1502-04, and is now in the
Vatican. The composition of the picture is frankly divided into two quite
separate portions, connected only by the upturned gazing of the Apostles who
stand in the lower half of the picture. The influence of Perugino may be no
ticed in the upper portion of the picture, aud in the predella as well. Of
the angels M. M'intz says : " They have a mingled grace and pride which re
call rather the Florentine, than the Umbrian school. Botticelli would not
have disavowed them." The contract mentions Raphael as "Master."
Vasari evidently considered the picture of Uttle importance when he prepared
his first edition, as he barely mentioned it. Original drawings (at present in
the Museum of LUle) for this picture show that boys in tights and doublets
posed for the first studies of Christ and the Virgin. The predella is in the
Vatican, and cartoons for it are in the Louvre, at Oxford, and in the collec
tion at Stockholm.
" In the museums of Oxford and of Lille are designs for a coronation of San
Niccolo da Tolentino (probably painted in 1501-02). The picture is lest. In
the Pinacoteca of Citta di CasteUo are two paintings on canvas (in ruinous con
dition) which make up the two sides of a processional banner. They represent
the Trinity and the Creation of Eve, and have been attributed to Raphael.
MorelU, Italian Masters, etc. , p. 817, note, 1, ascribes the banner to Eusebio
di San Giorgio. Layard, who was an intimate personal friend of MoreUi, says
in his Kugler, edition of 1891 , that MoreUi accredited the aforesaid banner to
Francesco Thifer, but refers to Morelli's note as above, which in the Lon
don edition of 1883 names Eusebio and says nothing of Thifer. Neither critic
is now Uving, and the annotators of these volumes are unaware whether Lay-
ard's note is an inadvertency or is the result of later information furnished
by Morelli personally or in some later edition.
'" This is the Dudley Crucifixion, formerly in the possession of Lord Dudley.
It was exhibited at the winter exposition of the Royal Academy in 1892, and
was bought in 1893 by Ludwig Mond, Esq. , for 10,600 guineas. This was the
first picture signed by Raphael, "Raphael Vkbinas, P.," so that we may
presume that at the time he painted the picture he had finished his appren
ticeship. Raphael's course of study under Perugino ended in 1502. Mr.
Claude PhiUips writes of this picture in the Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1892, I.,
p. 160. MoreUi, Italian Masters in German GaUeries, pp. 383, 324, finds that

132 RAPHAEL OP URBINO
which last, if it were not for the name of Raphael written
upon it, would be supposed by every one to be a work of
Pietro Perugino. For the church of San Francesco in the
same city he painted" a small picture representing the
espousals of Our Lady, and in this work the process of ex
cellence may be distinctly traced in the manner of Raphael,
which is here much refined, and greatly surpasses that of
Pietro. In the painting here in question, there is a
church drawn in perspective with so much care that one
cannot but feel amazed at the difficulty of the problems
which the artist has set himself to solve.
While Raphael was thus acquiring the greatest fame by
the pursuit of this manner, the painting of the library
belonging to the Cathedral of Siena, had been entrusted
by Pope Pius II.'* to Bernardino Pinturicchio, who was
a friend of Raphael's, and, knowing him to be an excel
lent designer, took the latter with him to Siena. ^' Here
here the " impressionable artist " already forgets his old master, Timoteo, for
his new one, Perugino.
i» This picture, probably painted in 1504, and now in the Brera at MUan,
is the famous '^Sposalizio." A Sposalizio in the Museum of Caen, and
always hitherto attributed to Perugino, resembles it stiikingly, and critics
generally have claimed that Raphael imitated, though he greatly improved
upon, his master's picture. Mr. Bernhard Berenson in the Gazette des Beaux
Arts, AprU, 1896, with excellent arguments and careful comparison, asserts
that the picture in Caen is not by Perugino at all, but by Lo Spagna, and
that BO far from being the prototype of Raphael's Sposalizio, it postdates
and imitates the latter picture. The Caen Sposalizio has been so gener
ally considered the genesis of Raphael's picture (while the grouping has
also been compared with that in a predella by Perugino at Fano) that the
article by Mr. Berenson becomes one of great critical interest. A study in
the Wicar Museum at Lille has been claimed as a sketch for the head of
the Virgin iu the Sposalizio, but later criticism denies that the study is by
Raphael. '° Then Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini.
^' Some writers refuse to believe in a visit of Raphael to Siena at this pe
riod. Sigismondo Tizio, in his history of Siena, does not mention him,
although he gives the names of the other painters who worked in the city.
For a discussion of the vexed question of the cartoons, see the Life of
Pinturicchio, page 892 of Volume H. ; Schmarsow's Raphael und Pintu
ricchio in Siena; Crewe and Cavalcaselle' s, Passavant's, Muntz's, and Spring
er's works on Raphael, and Morelli's Italian Masters in German Galleries. The

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 133
Raphael made Pinturicchio certain of the designs and car
toons for that work : nor would the young artist have failed
to continue there, but for the reports which had reached
him concerning Leonardo da Vinci, of whose merits he
heard many painters of Siena speak in terms of the highest
praise. They more especially celebrated the cartoon which
Leonardo had prepared in the Sala del Papa at Florence,
for a most beautiful group of horses which was to be exe
cuted for the Great Hall of the Palace. They likewise
mentioned another cartoon, representing nude figures, and
made by Michel Angelo Buonarroti, in competition with
Leonardo, whom he had on that occasion greatly surpassed.
These discourses awakened in Raphael so ardent a desire to
behold the works thus commended, that, moved by the
love he ever bore to excellence in art, and setting aside all
thought of his own interest or convenience, he at once pro
ceeded to Florence.^
Arrived in that place,'^ he found the city please him
balance of evidence seems, however, to support Vasari in his statement.
Between 1504 and 1508 we find Raphael in Citta di CasteUo, Urbino, Flor
ence, and Perugia, and possibly in Bologna also, so that it is not unlikely that
he went to Siena at the invitation of Pinturicchio. It is possible that at
this time Raphael made a drawing of two of the Three Graces, an antique
group which was then in the Ubrary and is now in the Opera del Duomo ;
this drawing is in the Academy of Venice (MoreUi, however, says it is by
Pinturicchio). Here, too, according to the conjectures of M. Miintz, Raphael
' ' may have been dazzled by the paintings of Sodoma," and first met Baldassare,
Peruzzi, and Giovanni BarUe, "recruiting alUes and rivals for the great ar
tistic tournament which he was soon to held in Rome, to the astonishment of
aU time to come." Tradition says that Raphael's portrait is to be found in
the frescoes of the Ubrary, and at different times various figures have been
pointed out as that of RaphaeL See Passavant, Raphael d' Urbin, etc. ,
I., p. 61.
" The events which Vasari now describes may have occurred during Raph
ael's second or possibly his third visit to Florence. Raphael first came to
Florence in 1504, but Michelangelo's cartoon was net exhibited till 1506.
'' He was given a letter to the Gonfaloniere Soderini by Giovanna della
Rovere, Duchess of Urbino. " To the High and Magnificent Lord and most
Honoured Father, Pier Soderini, Gonfaloniere of Florence. The bearer of
this present is the painter Raphael of Urbino. The talent which he possesses
has decided him to come to Florence for a time, to perfect himself in his art.
His father was dear to me for his many exceUent quaUties, and I had not less

134 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
equally with the works he had come to see, although the
latter appeared to him divine ; he therefore determined to
remain there for some time, and soon formed a friendly in
timacy with several young painters, among whom were
Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, Aristotele San Gallo, and others.^
affection for his son, who is a modest and agreeable young man, and one who
wiU, I hope, make aU possible progress. This is why I specially recommend
him to your lordship, begging you to second him by all the means in your
power. I shaU look upon the services which you may render him as done to
myself, and be under the greatest possible obligation to you. Urbino, Oc
tober 1, 1504, Joanna Feltria de Ruvere (sic'), Ducissa Saras et Urbis Frefec-
tissa." Grimm, Das Leben Raphaels, I., 83, and Wolzogen, Raphael Santi,
English edition, p. 224, note, do net believe that this letter is authentic ;
equally weighty authorities, MUanesi, Passavant, and Gaye, pronounce it gen
uine. Por a discussion of this point, see Wolzogen, op. cit. The letter was
sold at auction in Paris in 1856 for 200 francs ! Miintz, op. cit., p. 150, note,
cites many Urbinate documents sold at the same time, and their co-existence
seems to certify the genuineness of Giovanna' s letter. Pungileoni doubted the
identity of the person recommended by this letter, as he discovered in the
archives of Urbino the existence of another painter of the name of Raphael,
son of Pietro GhiseUe ; but considering the relations of Giovanni Santi to
the reigning house of Urbino, this hypothesis may be rejected.
^* That city and works pleased him equally weU and that both seemed to
him "divine" is a fitting introduction on the part of Vasari to Raphael,
newly come to Florence, the supreme representative of the Tuscan art-devel
opment, first brought face to face vrith the city which was its cradle, its
nursery, and its training-ground. Rome was to become its final theatre, but
Florence had been its creator, and when Raphael arrived in 1504 Florentine
art was in a period of Sturm und drang, and there was an intense fermen
tation of transition. Men were still eagerly questioning the future, but were
beginning to doubt the past. Botticelli, Ghirlandajo, Filippino were still re
spected, but the artists in a tremor of expectation looked forward to the walls
upon which Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were painting their battles
of Pisa and of Anghiari. Soon men would condemn Perugino's work as ob
solete. The door was opening upon the new order of things, the artists were
crowding to the threshold, but so new indeed was this order that not only
things but conditions changed, and where a whole group of peers had stood
shoulder to shoulder in the fifteenth century, only three men entered the
sixteenth century as supreme masters of the Tusco-Roman school — Leonardo,
Raphael, and Michelangelo. Fra Bartolommeo and Andrea del Sarto stood by
their sides, but as lesser men. Correggio and Titian were far away in the
north. The other cinquecentisti of Florence were pupils, followers, or, if
individual artists, so completely dominated by the overpowering personality
of two or three great masters, that in the history of art they have yielded to
the inevitable.
It was a wonderful time, this last step of the upgrowth, and must have been

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 135
He was, indeed, much esteemed in that city, but above all,
by Taddeo Taddei,^ who, being a great admirer of distin
guished talent, desired to have him always in his house ^'
and at his table. Thereupon Raphael, who was kindliness
itself, that he might not be surpassed in generosity and
courtesy, painted two pictures for Taddeo,^ wherein there
are traces of his first manner, derived from Pietro, and also
of that much better one which he acquired at a later period
by study, as will be related hereafter. These pictures are
one of intense excitement. Raphael worked from the frescoes of Masaccio ;
he may have known BotticeUi, have seen FUippino Lippi just before his
death, have heard from Andrea deUa Robbia how he helped carry Donatello
to his grave ; heard too the story of Savonarola from his ardent followers,
Baccio deUa Porta and Lorenzo di Credi, a story which would have been told
all the more earnestly in those days when the Republican Soderini was " per
petual " chief magistrate of Florence. Not even the realization of the cul
mination in Rome in the Stanze of the Vatican and under the vaulting of the
Sistine is more stimulating to the art lover than is the interest of this time
when Raphael first saw the work of Donatello, Ghiberti, the Della Robbia,
and first met Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti face to face.
25 During the four years of his stay in Florence, Raphael was but little
known ; Albertini dees not even mention him in the famous Memoriale, and
his large commissions came wholly from his native Umbria. Only a few
Florentine amateurs ordered easel pictures of him ; and the fact, says M.
Miintz, determined the nature of his work and caused this Florentine so
journ to become the " period of his Madonnas " — not the great virgins of
altar-pieces for churches, but of easel pictures for private palaces. Taddeo
Taddei, Lorenzo Nasi, and the Dei were among his few Florentine patrons.
The beautiful Madonna del Gran Duca in the Pitti is said to date from about
1504. " This house stiU exists in the Via San GaUo and bears a modem inscrip
tion, Raffaello da Urbino fu ospite di Taddeo di Francesco Taddei in questa
casa nel MDV. (Raphael of Urbino was the guest of Taddeo di Francesco
Taddei in this house in the year 1505.)
2' One of these pictures, the Madonna of the Meadow, dated 1506, is in the
Imperial Art Museum at Vienna. The other painting is considered by Pas
savant to be the Holy Family iu the Bridgewater Gallery, London. Messrs.
Crowe and Cavalcaselle suggest the Holy Family with the beardless St. Joseph
at the Hermitage. M. Clement, however, believes this picture to be one of
those painted for Guidobaldo. With a few exceptions Raphael's easel pict
ures were painted in oil. His early works were entirely executed by his on n
hand, but later he entrusted pupils with a large part of the werk, untU at
last he sometimes did Uttle more than supervise the painting. Raphael's
share in his various pictures is discussed in nearly all of the important biog
raphies of the artist.

136 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
still carefully preserved by the heirs of the above-named
Taddeo. Raphael also formed a close friendship with Lo
renzo Nasi, and the latter, having taken a wife at that
time, Raphael painted a picture for him, wherein he repre
sented Our Lady,^ with the Infant Christ, to whom San
Giovanni, also a child, is joyously offering a bird which is
causing infinite delight and gladness to both the children.
In the attitude of each there is a childlike simplicity of the
utmost loveliness : they are besides so admirably coloured,
and finished with so much care, that they seem more like
living beings than mere paintings. Equally good is the
figure of the Madonna : it has an air of singular grace and
even divinity, while all the rest of the work — the fore
ground, the surrounding landscape, and every other par
ticular, are exceedingly beautiful. This picture was held
in the highest estimation by Lorenzo Nasi so long as he
lived, not only because it was a memorial of Raphael, who
had been so much his friend, but on account of the dignity
and excellence of the whole composition : but on the 9th of
August, in the year 1548, the work was destroyed by the
sinking down of the hill of San Giorgio ; when the house
of Lorenzo was overwhelmed by the fallen masses together
with the beautiful and richly decorated dwelling of the
heirs of Marco del Nero, and many other buildings. It is
true that the fragments of the picture were found among
the ruins of the house, and were put together in the best
manner that he could contrive, by Battista the son of Lor
enzo, who was a great lover of art.
After having completed these works, Raphael was himself
compelled to leave Florence and repair to Urbino,''' where
'8 This is the Madonna del CardelUno (of the goldfinch), now in the Uffizi,
painted in 1506. The bride of Lorenzo Nasi who received this picture as
a wedding gift was Sandra Canigiani, and it was for a member of her family
that Raphael painted the Canigiani Madonna, see note 39. In the back
ground is an idealized view of the Duomo and the CampanUe. This is prob
ably the first picture which shows the transition from the Peruginesque to
Raphael's ovm manner. The Belle Jardiniire of the Louvre marks the next
step. "In 1504.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 137
his mother and Giovanni his father having both died,^ his
affairs were in much confusion. While thus abiding in
Urbino, he painted two pictures of the Madonna for Guido
baldo of Montefeltro, who was then Captain-general of the
Florentines ; these pictures are both small, but are exceed
ingly beautiful examples of Raphael's second manner ; they
are now in the possession of the most illustrious and most
excellent Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino.'' For the same
noble, the master executed another small picture, represent
ing Christ praying in the garden, with three of the Apostles,
who are sleeping at some distance,^ and which is so beauti
fully painted that it could scarcely be either better or other
wise were it even in miniature. After having been long in
the possession of Francesco Maria, Duke of Urbino, this
picture was presented by the most illustrious lady, his
consort, the Duchess Leonora, to the Venetians, Don Paolo
Giustiniano and Don Pietro Quirini, brothers of the Holy
Hermitage of Camaldoli, and was placed by them, like a
relic or sacred thing, in the apartments of the principal of
that Hermitage, where it remains, honoured both as a
memorial of that illustrious lady and as being from the
hand of Raphael of Urbino.
Having completed these works and arranged his affairs,
Raphael returned to Perugia, where he painted a picture of
Our Lady with San Giovanni Battista and San Niccold, for
the Chapel of the Ansidei Family,^ in the Church of the
"> This statement is erroneons. Giovanni Santi died, as already noted, in
1494. Raphael's mother, Magia Ciarla, died in 1491.
'1 MM. Clement and Gruyer believe these pictures to have been the Holy
Family vrith the beardless St. Joseph at the Hermitage of St. Petersburg and
the small Madonna of the Orleans Gallery at ChantiUy. Messrs. Crowe and
Cavalcaselle also think it probable that the latter was one of the pictures
painted for Guidobaldo.
s" M. Miintz believes that this picture is lost, and does not credit Passavant's
story regarding the discovery of the aUeged Raphael which is now in the Na
tional Gallery, where, however, it is credited to Lo Spagna.
53 This picture, which is known as the Ansidei Madonna, and which waa
ordered by the Ansidei family for the chapel of St. Nicholas of Bari in the
church of S. Fiorenzo at Perugia, is now in the National GaUery, London.

138 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
Servites : and at the Monastery of San Severo, a small Con
vent of the Order of Camaldoli, in the same city, he painted
a fresco ** for the Chapel of Our Lady. The subject of this
work is Christ in Glory, with God the Father, surrounded
by Angels, and six figures of Saints seated, three on each
side : San Benedetto, San Romualdo, and San Lorenzo, on
the one side namely ; with San Girolamo, San Mauro, and
San Placido, on the other. Beneath this picture, which,
for a work in fresco, was then considered very beautiful, '^
It was bought by the nation from the Duke of Marlborough for £70,000, the
largest sum ever given for a picture. The date which is inscribed on the
border of the Virgin's mantle has been variously read 1505, 1506, and 1507.
Two sections of the predella are in Italy, the third is in the possession of the
Marquis of Lansdowne. For further details see M. Gruyer's Vierges de
Raphael, III., pp. 447-460, and also an article by Mr. Claude PhUUps in the
Magazine of Art, VIH. , p. 136. Rio thinks that the Ansidei Madonna shews
in a marked degree the influence of Masaccio.
'• A continued sojourn in Perugia delights one more and more with the
amazing labyrinth of mediaeval lanes and alleys which burrow and twist about
San Severe, and with the glorious panorama from the terraces at its side. In
all of picturesque Italy there is nothing more picturesque, and yet at the same
time there is a sense of solemnity upon everything, a sense given by the vast
ness of the horizon, where great pUes of clouds hang over cities that are shin
ing points upon the plain or dark spots according as the sun lights or leaves
them. From these platforms you may see the birth and growth and passing
away of storms which perhaps never reach the spectator. Everywhere there
is an overwhelming sense of vastness and of Ught.
Here the old Perugino and the young Raphael have painted upon the same
wall, and here (in 1505) Raphael has first felt the inspiration which culminated
iu his Disputd, expressing it in this Perugian fresco in compositional forms
directly prompted by the example of his friend, Pra Bartolommeo, and thus
emphasizing in the work of an Umbrian the true Tuscan succession of monu
mental composition. His new comrade-master of Florence has shown him
how to pass far beyond his old master of Perugia. Nevertheless the saints
painted at the bottom of the picture by Pietro Vanucci do net quite deserve
the blame that has been oast upon them. They are rather spiritless ; but al
though they show the hand of an octogenarian, it is that of an octogenarian
who has been Perugino.
'* Raphael only painted the upper part of the fresco. Having been called
to Rome, he found it impossible to leave the Papal Court to finish it, and
after his death the commission was given to Perugino, who executed it in
1521. The fresco has suffered much injury and has been restored by Giu
seppe Carattoli. Some of the heads have been not merely repainted but
recreated.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 139
Raphael wrote his name in large and clearly legible letters.
In the same city Raphael was commissioned to paint a pict
ure of Our Lady by the nuns of Sant' Antonio of Padua ;
the Infant Christ is in the lap of the Virgin and is fully
clothed, as it pleased those simple and pious ladies that he
should be : on each side of Our Lady are figures of saints,
San Pietro namely, with San Paolo, Santa Cecilia, and Santa
Caterina.'* To these two holy virgins the master has given
the most lovely features and most graceful attitudes ; he has
also adorned them with the most fanciful and varied head
dresses that could be imagined — a very unusual thing at that
time. In a lunette above this picture he painted a figure of
the Almighty Father, which is extremely fine, and on the
Predella are three scenes from the history of Christ, in very
small figures. The first of these represents the Saviour
praying in the garden ; in the second he is seen bearing the
cross, and here the movements and attitudes of certain
soldiers who are dragging him along, are singularly beau
tiful ; the third shows him lying dead in the lap of the
Madonna. The whole work is without doubt very admi
rable : it is full of devout feeling, and is held in the utmost
veneration by the nuns for whom it was painted. It is
very highly commended by all painters likewise.
But I will not omit to mention in this place, that after
=« This is the Colonna Raphael, or the Madonna di Sant' Antonio. It was
probably begun 1505-1306. It was exhibited at the National Gallery, London,
in 1871-1873, and was then withdrawn from exhibition by its owner, the Duke
of Ripalda. In 1886 it was removed to the South Kensington Museum. Por its
recent sale see Appendix. In general composition it is much like the Madonna
del Baldacchino. M Gruyer, Les Vierges de Raphael, III., p. 463, gives the
following list of figures : The Virgin and Child ; the young St. John and
Saints Peter, Paul, Catherine of Alexandria and Dorothea. In the tympanum
is painted God the Father, giving a benediction. The cartoon for the picture
is in the Louvre. The predella was in five paits, which are scattered. One
panel, Christ on the Mount of Olives, is in the coUection of Lady Burdett-
Coutts. Another, Christ bearing the Cress, was sold in 1884 from the Miles
collection of Leigh Court, near Bristol (see E. Muntz, op. cit, 335). A third,
The Dead Christ, is in a private collection in England. The fourth and fifth,
St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Anthony of Padua, are in the Dulwich Gallery.
It has been stated that only three of ihese predella panels were by Raphael.

140 RAPHAEL OP URBINO
Raphael had been to Florence, he is known to have much
changed and improved his manner, from having seen the
many works by excellent masters to be found in that city ;
nay, the manner afterwards adopted by him was so little in
common with his earlier one, that the works executed in the
latter might be supposed to be by a different hand, and one
much less excellent in the art.
Before Raphael had left Perugia, he had been requested
by Madonna Atalanta Baglioni to paint a picture for her
chapel in the church of San Francesco,^ but as he could
not at that time comply with her wishes, he promised that
on his return from Florence, whither he was then obliged to
proceed for certain affairs, he would not fail to do so. While
in Florence, therefore, where he devoted himself with inde
scribable energy and application to the studies connected
with his art, he prepared the cartoon for this chapel, with
the intention of proceeding to execute it in San Francesco
on the first opportunity that might present itself for doing
so, a work which he afterwards accomplished.
While Raphael was thus sojourning in Florence, Agnolo
Doni was dwelling in that city ; now Agnolo was averse to
spending money for other things, but for paintings or sculpt
ures, in which he greatly delighted, he would willingly pay,
although he still did so as frugally as was possible. By him,
therefore, Raphael was commissioned to paint a portrait of
himself, as well as that of his wife, and both were executed,
as we now see them ; they are in the possession of Agnolo's
son, Giovanni Battista, in the house which Agnolo built
most handsomely and commodiously, at the corner of the
Alberti, in the street of the Dyers, in Florence.^
^' San Bernardino rather, according to Bottari.
3» The wife, Maddalena Doni, was one of the Strozzi. These two rather
wooden portraits painted in 1505 are in the Pitti. They are from the hand of
an artist who was making his first and somewhat timid essays in portraiture.
They are evidently influenced by Leonardo, but they show too that direct
ness which Raphael, in spite of the " certo ideale " which he so loved in other
werk, never for a moment forgot when he sat before a portrait panel or canvas,
and which, although always dignified by style, at times became pitiless. Upon
the back of each panel is a scene from the fable of Deucalion and Pyrrha.

RAPHAEL OP URBINO 141
For Domenico Canigiani, Raphael also painted a picture
wherein he represented the Madonna with the Infant
Christ ; the divine Child is caressing the little San Giovanni
who is brought to him by St. Elizabeth ; and the latter,
while holding the boy, looks with a most animated counte
nance at St. Joseph, who stands leaning with both hands on
his staff ; he bends his head towards her with an expression
of astonishment and of praise to God, whose greatness had
bestowed this young child on a mother already so far ad
vanced in years. All appear to be amazed at the manner in
which the two cousins treat each other at an age so tender,
the one evincing his reverence for the Saviour, the other
affectionately caressing his companion. Every touch of the
pencil in the heads, hands, and feet of this work has pro
duced such effect that the parts seem rather to be of the
living flesh than the mere colours of the painter, however
able a master of his art. This most noble picture is now in
the possession of the heirs of Domenico Canigiani, by whom
it is held in all that esteem which is due to a work of Ra
phael of Urbino.^
While in the city of Florence, this most excellent painter
studied the ancient works of Masaccio, and what he saw in
the labours of Leonardo and Michael Angelo caused him still
more zealously to prosecute his studies ; he consequently
attained to an extraordinary amelioration of manner, and
made still further progress in art. Among other artists, Ra
phael formed a close intimacy with Fra Bartolommeo di San
Marco, during his abode in Florence, the manner of that mas
ter pleasing him greatly, wherefore he took no small pains
" This picture, known as the Madonna Canigiani, was executed in 1506, and
is now in the old Pinakothek of Munich. In his composition, as seen in its
present condition, Raphael has used an almost geometrical form, the pure
pyramid. Baron Von Wolzogen, in his Raphael Santi (English edition, p.
46), states that there were originally two boy angels who were considered
superfluous by the Gallery Inspector of DUsselderf where the picture was
placed for a time. He erased them, and the space has been filled vrith gray
clouds. For details regarding the original drawings for this work, see Les
Vierges de Raphael, by P. A. Gruyer, IH., p. 293.

142 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
to imitate his colouring, teaching that good father on his
part the rules of perspective, to which the monk had not
previously given his attention.
But just when this intercourse was most frequent and
intimate, Raphael was recalled to Perugia ; here the first
work which he performed was that in the church of San
Francesco,*' where he completed the painting promised to
the above named Madonna Atalanta Baglioni, for which he
had prepared the cartoon in Florence, as we have said. In
this most divine picture there is a dead Christ, whom they
are bearing to the sepulchre, the body painted with so
much care and freshness that it appears to have been only
just completed.*' When occupied with the composition
of this work, Raphael had imagined to himself all the grief
and pain with which the nearest and most affectionate rel
atives see borne to the tomb, the corpse of one who has
been most dear to them, and on whom has, in truth, de
pended all the honour and welfare of the entire family.
Our Lady is seen to be sinking insensible, and the heads of
all the weeping figures are exceedingly graceful ; that of
¦<» See note 37.
" Atalanta Baglioni probably ordered this picture in 1503, but it was only
completed in the summer of 1507. It is now in the Villa Borghese, just outside
the Popolo Gate of Rome. It was ordered by Atalanta in commemoration of
the death of her son Griffone. See the romantic story of the massacre of the
Baglioni in the chronicles of Matarazzo. This was Raphael's first dramatic
composition, and he made a great number of studies for this picture. These
drawings are iu the Uffizi, Louvre, University Galleries, the British Museum,
in Vienna, the Habich collection at Cassel, while in Oxford there are also a
number of them. See Crowe and Cavalcaselle, I., pp, 302-317. Passavant
thinks that an engraving by Mantegna furnished the idea, and M. MUntz
says ; " His Christ is evidently inspired by Michelangelo's Pietd in Rome."
Other critics have noticed the influence of Perugino's P ietd painted for the
nuns of Santa Chiara. Some of the poses also appear to have been taken
from Michelangelo's Doni altarpiece. The predella is in the Vatican, it con
sists of three round panels, Faith, Hope, and Charity. Por details concerning
this picture, see the Gazette des Bea.ux Arts for November 1, 1875, and the
Magazine of Art, IX., p. 374, article by Mr. Claude Phillips, entitled " Plagi
arisms of the Old Masters."
The freedom and beauty of Raphael's studies for this entombment far sur
pass the completed work, into which a relatively wooden and rigid character
has passed.

RAPHAEL OP URBINO 143
San Giovanni more particularly, his hands are clasped to
gether and he bends his head with an expression which can
not but move the hardest heart to compassion. Truly may
we say that whoever shall consider the diligence and love,
the art and grace exhibited in this work, has good reason
to feel astonishment, and it does indeed awaken admiration
in all who behold it, not only for the expression of the
heads, but for the beauty of the draperies, and in short for
the perfection of excellence which it displays in all its
parts. When Raphael, having completed his work, had returned
to Florence, he received a commission from the Dei, Flor
entine citizens, to paint the altar-piece for their chapel in
the church of Santo Spirito : ^ this painting the master
commenced and made considerable progress with the sketch
for it, he likewise prepared a picture"" at the same time
which was afterwards sent to Siena, but had first to be left
with Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, on the departure of Raphael,**
to the end that he might finish an azure vestment which
was still wanting when Raphael left Florence.*^ And this
" This is the Madonna del Baldacchino which Raphael left unfinished in
1508 when he went to Rome, it is now in the Pitti Gallery. The influence
of Pra Bartolommeo may be strongly felt in this picture. MoreUi calls at
tention to the singing angels at the foot of the throne as a Venetian motive.
The canopy or baldacchino was added about 1700 by Agostino Cassana. The
panel is much injured by cleaning and restoration. For a study of this work,
see F. A. Gruyer, Les Vierges de Raphael, IIL, pp. 477-499.
*' The Belle Jardinih-e in the Louvre is supposed to be the picture referred
to here. Critics are now inclined to accept Vasari's statement as to Ridolfo's
finishing the work. See Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle's Raphael, I., p. 364,
note. It is inscribed RAPHAELLO URB. MDVII. The Colonna Madonna
at Berlin has also been suggested as the one to which Vasari refers.
" In 1508.
46 Messrs. Crowe and CavalcaseUe, Raphael, IL, p. 14, suggest that Michel
angelo may also have been instrumental in bringing Raphael to Rome in 1508.
The hostUity between the two artists has undoubtedly been exaggerated, and
at this date could hardly have begun, so that the hypothesis of these authors
is not whoUy inadmissible, but what tended first of aU to bring Raphael to
Rome was that he was an Urbinate. At this time Rome was full of his fel
low-countrymen, and what was more likely than that the suggestion of Bra
mante should have found a weighty backing upon the part of other men
favorably known to the pontiff?

144 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
last event happened from the circumstance that Bramante
of Urbino, being in the service of pope Julius II. for some
little relationship that he had with Raphael and because
they were of the same place, had written to the latter, in
forming him that he had prevailed with the Pope to entrust
certain rooms which the Pontiff had caused to be built in
the Vatican to his care, and that therein he might give
evidence of his ability. The proposal gratified Raphael,
and he left his works in Florence unfinished, the picture
for the Dei family among the rest, but this last was in
such a state that Messer Baldassare da Pescia afterwards,
on the death of Raphael that is to say, caused it to be
placed in the chapter-house of his native city. The master
then proceeded to Rome, where he found on his arrival,
that a large part of the rooms in the palace had already
been painted, or were in process of being painted, by dif
ferent masters. In one of these apartments, for example,
there was an historical picture completed by Piero della
Francesea ; Luca da Cortona *'' had made considerable prog
ress in the painting of one side of another ; Don Pietro
della Gatta,*' abbott of San Clemente in Arezzo, had also
commenced certain works in the same place, and Braman
tino of Milan had painted numerous figures there, the
greater part of which were portraits from the life, which
were considered to be exceedingly beautiful.*^ On his ar-
" Vasari does not mention this work in the Life of Luca Signorelli.
" In the Life of Don Bartolommeo (not Pietro) deUa Gatta, Vas.iri dees
not mention these works ; he speaks only of his having collaborated in the
painting of the Sistine Chapel.
" These various frescoes were of different epochs. Piero deUa Francesea
and Bramantino were the earliest of the painters mentioned in peint of date,
Della Gatta having worked (if his coUaboration be authentic) under Sixtus
IV,, Signorelli, Perugino, Peruzzi and Sodoma under Julius II. As for the
elder Bramantino certain modern critics regard him as non-existent, as a
mythical interloper.
We must not forget that Pope Nicholas V. had worthily preceded Julius in
the embellishment of the Vatican. Buonfigli of Perugia, Andrea dal Cas
tagno, Bartolommeo di Tommaso of FoUgno, Simone of Rome had worked
there ; when Raphael arrived in Rome (see Miintz, op. cit , pp. 324-325), So
doma was still painting iu the Sala della Segnatura, but was soon dismissed.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO

145

rival in Rome,*^ Raphael was received with much kindness
by Pope Julius, and commenced a picture * in the chamber
of the Segnatura," the subject of which is. Theologians en-

Perugino and Luca either had the same fortune or else had finished their
work. Bramantino Suardi, Lorenzo Lotto, Michele del Becca d' Imola and
Hans Ruysch the Fleming also worked in the Stanze at the end of 1508 aud
the beginning of 1509.
" In 1508.
"> The annexed plan shows the position of Raphael's frescoes in the so-caUed
Stanze of the Vatican.

d

d

d

d

8

1

a

3

a i c

a 5 c

a 6 c

a 7 c

b
6
6
b
No. 5 is that room called the second stanza and is the first in peint of date ;
it is the famous Camera della Segnatura or Hall of the Papal Briefs, painted
1.509-1511. The frescoes in it are : (a) The i)tsjB7iW (Theology) ; (b) Justinian
giving his code to Trebonian (Civil Law) ; Gregory IX. publishing the De
cretals (Canon Law) whUe above is the so-called jurisprudence ; (c) The
School of Athens (Philosophy) ; (d) ApoUo and the Poets on Mount Par
nassus (Poetry). The vault has medallions of Poetry, Theology, Justice,
Science, etc. 6. The third stanza, the second as to date, is the sta7iza
d' Eliodoro and was painted in 1511-1514. The frescoes are : (a) The Plight
of Attila ; (6) The Miracle of Bolsena ; (c) Expulsion of Heliodorus from the
Temple ; (d) The Deliverance of St. Peter from Prison ; on the vault are Old
Testament scenes by pupUs. Room 4 on the plan is called the first stanza
of Raphael and is known as the Stanza dell' Incendio ; it was painted in 1517,
largely with the help of pupUs. The frescoes are : (a) Coronation of Char
lemagne in old St. Peter's ; (6) Fire in the Borgo ; (c) Defeat of the Sara
cens, usually called the Battle of Ostia; (d) Lee HI. Taking Oath before
Charlemagne. 7. Is the so-caUed Sala di Costantino painted with the fol
lowing subjects by pupils of Raphael, 1.520-1584 : (a) Baptism of Constan
tine; (b) Defeat of Maxentius by Constantine; (c) Address of Constantine
to his Troops ; (d) The Donation of Rome to Sylvester by Constantine ; on
the ceiUng is the Overthrow of Paganism. 8. Door leading to Raphael's
loggie and the picture gaUery. The description of Vasari naturally begins
with the Camera della Segnatura, which was painted first.
" With the Stanze of Raphael we reach the culmination of monumental
painting in Italy. The Camera della Segnatura aud the Sistioe Chapel
are the two most famous decorated rooms in the world. Correggio's Cupola
of Parma is worthy of being named with them, Leonardo's Cenacolo and
certain works of Titian may sustain any comparison, but these latter are
single works, and Correggio's dome is far less renowned than are the master-
series of Raphael and Michelangelo. Of these the Sistine is the grander and
more overwhelming, the Camera della Segnatura is the serener, and the
III.— 10
146 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
gaged in the reconciliation of Philosophy and Astrology
with Theology.^* In this work are depicted all the sages of
general decoration of the room is more homogeneous than that of the Sistina,
which includes the works of many masters.
Each series is a consummation of artistic achievement. AU the seeking
and striving and attainment of a Giotto, a Masaccio, <* Ghirlandajo, a Fra
Bartolommeo are here rounded into the perfection of monumental style and
composition. Beauty, feeling, power, may be found in an equal degree iu
other works of Raphael and of Michelangelo, but monumental composition
nowhere rises to so great a height. The art of Italy here attains its meridian
iu its capital city and in the house of its supreme spiritual rulers.
Raphael had a difficult task before him. The walls were subjected to a
cross Ught, being pierced with windows ou two sides ; in the vaulted ceiUngs
he had to count with the difficulties presented by pendentives. In the centre
of the vaulting is the escutcheon of Nicholas V. (the tiara and keys) sup
ported by genu (these latter are by Sodoma) ; in the four pendentives are the
oblong pictures (the Fall, the Judgment, the Marsyas, the Astronomy) ; still
in the vaulting and just above the centres of the arching of the four waUs are
the four symbolic medallions of Theology, Justice, Poetry and Philosophy ;
upon the two walls pierced with windows are the Parnassus and Jurispru
dence ; upon the two clear and consequently larger walls are the Disputd and
the School of Athens.
The distribution of the subjects in the Camera della Segnatura is the defi
nition of the subjects. Critics have attempted in a whole controversial lit
erature to give the most various explanations of the latter ; zealous churchmen
have turned Aristotle into St. Paul, and engravers have set hales upon the
great phUosophers. At last Herr Franz Wickhoff, Die Bibliothek Julius II.
Vol XIV. of the Jahrbuch der Koniglichen Preussischen Kunstsammlungen,
has given a perfectly clear and satisfactory explanation of the pictorial in
tention of the Camera della Segnatura. The four walls simply carry out
the arrangement of a library under the four heads of Theology, Philosophy,
Jurisprudence and Poetry, epitomized in the wall paintings and symbolized by
the four medaUion figures overhead. The arrangement in fact is, in the
words of Herr Cornelius von Fabriczy, " P illustrazione d'un catalogo di
libri." The fine pavement of the Stanza is of mosaic, se that the room
counts not only by its wall paintings, but as a harmonious ensemble, although
the rich wood mosaics of Fra Giovanni da Verona which once covered the
lower walls were replaced under Pope Paul III. by the painting of Perino
del Vaga.
" This passage conveys a false impression. The fresco is the celebrated
Scuola di Atene (School of Athens). This name, like that of the Disputd, is
comparatively modern. The School of Athens may be considered as an exposi
tion of Greek philosophy. It is to BeUori (Descrizione delle immagini dipinte
da Raffaello nelle camere del Vaticano, Rome, 1695) that we owe the first com
plete explanation of the picture. The composition includes the yihoXe jiloso-
flcafamiglia of Dante (Inferno, IV., 134-144).
The history of the School of Athens is more obscure than is that of the IHs-

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 147
the world, arranged in different groups, and occupied with
various disputations. There are certain astrologers stand-
putd, and the existing studies made for it are far less numerous ; " it came,"
say Messra Crowe and Cavalcaselle, "without any of the tentative efforts
which preceded and marked the progress of the Disputd ; " these authors
only mention a few dravrings for it existing in Oxford, Windsor and else
where ; the great cartoon is now in the Ambrosiana of Milan and is in a
badly damaged condition.
In the Sola della Segnatura we suddenly return to the great allegorical
frescoes of the trecento. The pictures upon the walls of the Spanish Chapel
of S. Maria Novella in Florence, of the Palace of Siena, are here invested with
the perfected science of the great epoch. Raphael, like other painters of the
time, went to the poets and humanists for the inteUeotual scheme of his com
positions. Dante has furnished his part, Petrarch through his Triumphs has
given a point of departure, MarsUio Ficino in his commentaries has been a
vcuie mecum., Messra Crowe and CavalcaseUe note Sidonius ApolUnaris as a
source of inspiration, and Richardson (Traits de la Peinture, Amsterdam
1732) mentions a letter which one of his friends had seen from Raphael to
Ariosto asking assistance in regard to the Theology (La Disputd '''par
rapport aux caracth^es des personnes qui'il devait y faire entrer."') In ad
dition to aU this we must not forget that CastigUone, Bembo, Bibbiena and
other scholars stood at Raphael's elbow eager to give counsel and assistance.
As to the scenic distribution : Raphael supposes the spectator to be placed
in the axis of a huge vaulted buUding in which the imaginary reunion of the
Greek philosophers is supposed to take place. Charles Blanc remarks that
as no one figure in so great an assembly should dominate, so no "figure is
placed upon the median line which passes between Plato and Aristotle, the
two geniuses who wUl forever dispute the empire of souls, because one per
sonifies sentiment, the other reason." The splendid architectural setting of
the fresco is undoubtedly due to Bramante, and counts, think some critics,
among the latter's excellent works. A cartoon for this School of Athens
without the architecture, is in the Ambrosian Library of Milan ; the portraits
of Raphael and Perugino (?) are also absent from the cartoon. Charles
Blanc thought that he had discovered the prototype of the ordering of the
School of Athens in the scene of the Queen of Sheba before Solomon, a bas-
relief in one of Ghiberti' s gates of the Baptistery of Florence. See Charles
Blanc's letter to M Muntz, published in the latter's Raphael. Herr Franz
Wickhoff also refers to this reUef. Taine, in his Voyage en Italie, says
eloquently : " Those groups on the steps above and around the two philoso
phers never did and never could exist, and it is for this very reason that they
are so fine. The scene Ues in a superior world, one which mortal eyes never
beheld, a creation whoUy of the artist's imagination. . . . It is Uke a
dream in the clouds. As with all the figures of an ecstatic vision or in reveries,
these may remain in the same attitudes indefinitely. Time dees net pass
away with them. The old man erect in a red mantle, and the adjoining figure
regarding him, and the youth vmting might thus continue forever. All is weU

148 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
ing apart who have made figures and characters of geo-
mancy and astrology,^ on tablets which they send by beauti
ful angels to the evangelists, who explain them. Among
the figures in the painting is Diogenes with his cup ; he is
lying on the steps, an extremely well-imagined figure, wrapt
in his own thoughts, and much to be commended for the
beauty of the form and characteristic negligence of the gar
ments. There are likewise Aristotle and Plato in this work,
the one with the Timseus, the other with the Ethics in his
hand : around them is gathered in a circle a large school
of philosophers. The dignity of those astrologers and geo
metricians who are drawing various figures and characters
with the compasses on a tablet, is not to be described : ^*
among these is the figure of a youth of the most graceful
beauty, who extends his arms in admiration and inclines
his head, this is the portrait of Federigo, second Duke of
Mantua, who was at that time in Rome.^ There is also a
figure stooping to the ground and drawing lines with a pair
of compasses which he holds in his hand ; this is said to be
the architect Bramante,^' and is no less life-like than that
with them. Their being is complete ; they appear at one of those moments
which Fau.st indicates when he exclaims : ' Stand ; ye are perfect.' "
63 Geometrical and astronomical figures rather.
'* Raphael confounded Ptolemy the Geographer with Ptolemy the King of
Egypt, and gave him a crown.
" Here Vasari was evidently mistaken ; Federigo II. was not born until
1500 and did not obtain his title untU 1519 (see below). A bey standing be
hind the figure of an Arab (the so-caUed Averrhoes of the composition) perhaps
represents the Uttle prince, not duke, Federigo. See Passavant, II., p. 82,
note 1, or perhaps the long-haired boy beside the figure writing is Federigo
Gonzaga. From a letter recently discovered in the Mantuan archives, cited
by Mrs. Henry Ady (Raphael in Rome, London, 1895), we learn that this
boy, who was a pet of the Pope's, was introduced into the fresco at the Pope's
express wish. The tall youth in the v/hite mantle edged with geld is be
Ueved to be Francesco Maria della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, who visited in
Rome in 1510 with his bride, Eleanora G onzaga. He was the friend and pa
tron of Raphael, and was a nephew of Julius II.
" This figure represents Archimedes. It is very possible that Raphael
may have painted Bramante here, for although the features do not exactly
correspond with the portrait of Bramante on one of Caradosse's medals
they yet resemble them quite enough to make the supposition reasonable.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 149
of Federigo previously described, or than it would be if it
were indeed alive. Beside him is one whose back is turned
towards the spectator, and who holds a globe of the heavens
in his hand : this is the representation of Zoroaster ; and
near to this figure stands that of Raphael himself, the mas
ter of this work, drawn by his own hand with the aid of a
mirror ; a youthful head of exceedingly modest expression
wearing a black cap or barrett, the whole aspect infinitely
pleasing and graceful.^'
It would not be possible to describe the beauty and no
bility of character which the master has imparted to the
heads and figures of the Evangelists ; there is a certain air
of meditative thought and attentive consideration on the
countenances, more especially of those who are writing,
which is depicted with the utmost truth. This may be
more particularly remarked in a St. Matthew, who is copy
ing the characters from the tablet which an angel holds be
fore him, these he is setting down in a book. Behind him
is an old man who has placed a paper on his knees, and in
this he is inserting what St. Matthew ^ writes, as the latter
makes his extracts from the tablet : intent on his occupa
tion, he remains in this inconvenient attitude, and seems to
be twisting his head and jaws as if to accompany the move
ments of his pen. And to say nothing of all these well-con-
The subject of the portrait of Bramante is discussed in F. A. Gruyer's Raph-
aelpeintre de portraits, I., pp. 472-479. In his edition of 1568 Vasari used
this portrait of Bramante at the head of the life of the architect.
" The figure of Raphael is in the corner of the picture to the right. Mo
reUi believes that the man in white with a white cap next to him is not
Perugino, as is generaUy supposed, but Sodoma. Dr. Bode is of the same
opinion. M. Muntz, however, shows that at this time, Sodoma, who deco
rated the ceUing of the Camera, was only thirty-five years old, and thinks
that his physiognomy had nothing in common with the man whom Raphael
painted. Without direct evidence the matter cannot be decided, but even if
the face be older if compared with Bazzi's portrait of himself at Monte OU-
veto, it suggests Sodoma both in features and in the thrusting forward of
the head on the shoulders and certainly does not resemble Perugino's portrait
of himself in the Sala del Cambio.
SB Vasari here makes the same mistake as when he speaks of th§ Evangelists,
see note 53. The figur« called gt, Matthew is Pythagoras.

150 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
sidered minutiae, of which there are nevertheless very many,
the composition of the whole work displays so much beauty
of proportion and such perfection of arrangement in every
part, that the master did indeed give a notable example of
his capabilities therein, and clearly proved himself to be one
who had resolved to maintain the undisputed possession of
the field against all who handled the pencil ; furthermore
the artist adorned this work with fine perspective views of
magnificent buildings and with numerous figures, all fin
ished in a manner so delicate and harmonious, that the ex
cellence of the work caused Pope Julius to have all the
stories of the other masters, whether old or new, destroyed
at once, resolving that Raphael alone should have the glory
of seeing his works preferred to all that had been done in
paintings of that description up to his own time.
Above the painting by Raphael, here described, was a
work by Giovanni Antonio Sodoma, of Vercelli,^' and which
ought to have been destroyed in obedience to the commands
of the Pope, but Raphael nevertheless determined to retain
the compartments as he found them, and to use the ara
besques which Giovanni Antonio had employed as decora
tions ; there were besides four circular divisions, and in each
of these Raphael depicted a figure, having relation to the
picture which was immediately beneath it. In the first of
these circular compartments, which is above the picture
wherein the painter has delineated Philosophy, Astrology,
Geometry, and Poetry,™ forming a union with Theology,
is a female figure representing Knowledge : on each side
of this figure, which is seated, is a statue of the goddess
Cybele, with the form of breast usually attributed by the
" On the ceiUng ; see the Ufe of Sodoma in Vol. IV. of the present work.
'0 The allegorical figure of Theology is over the Disputd. See note 62. It
bears the inscription : " DivinarlUM'] rer[rjM'\ notitia." At the side of the
Poetry are two vringed genu who hold tablets on which is inscribed " JVwmme
afflatur." (See the ^neid, lib. VL, ver. 50.) The Philosophy is above tho
School of Athena The genii bear tablets on which are inscribed " Causarum
cognitio." The Justice is the weakest of the series and may have been painted
by a pupU. With it are the words ''Jus s«m[m] unicuiq\vE] tribuit."

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 151
ancients to Diana Polymastes ; the vestments are of four
colours, to indicate the four elements ; from the head down
wards they are flame colour, to intimate fire ; beneath the
girdle is the colour of the air ; from the lap to the knees is
that of earth ; and the remainder to the feet has the colour
of water ; these figures are accompanied by very beautiful
boys. In another circle, that turned towards the window which
looks upon the Belvedere, is depicted Poetry, represented
under the form of Polyhymnia ; she is crowned with laurel,
in one hand she holds the antique lyre, and has a book in
the other, the limbs are crossed, and the face, which is of
superhuman beauty, is turned upwards with the eyes raised
to heaven. This figure also is accompanied by two boys,
who are full of life and spirit ; these children assist to form
with her, as do those attending on the other figures, a group
of richly varied beauty ; and on this side Raphael afterwards
painted the Mount Parnassus over the above-mentioned
window. In the circle which is over the picture wherein the holy
doctors are reading mass, is a figure of Theology, with books
and other objects around her, accompanied in like manner
by the boys, which are no less beautiful than those before
referred to ; above the other window which looks towards
the court, is placed the figure of Justice, in the fourth
circle namely ; she bears the balance in one hand and holds
the sword raised aloft in the other ; the boys are with her
as with the previously cited figures, and are of supreme
beauty. On the wall beneath is represented the delivery of
the civil and canon law, as will be related in its due place.
In the angles of the ceiling Raphael likewise executed
four historical pictures, designed and coloured with extra
ordinary care, but the figures are not of a large size ; in
one of these, that next the Theology, the master has de
picted the sin of Adam in eating the apple, and this he has
executed in a very graceful manner. In the second, which
is above the Astrology, is the figure of that Science ; she

152 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
is assigning their due places to the planets and fixed
stars." In the one belonging to the Mount Parnassus is
the figure of Marsyas, fastened to a tree, and about to be
flayed by Apollo ; and near the picture which represents
the promulgation of the Decretals, is the judgment of
Solomon, when he decides that the infant shall be divided
between the contending mothers. All these four delinea
tions exhibit much thought and feeling ; they are admirably
drawn, and the colouring is pleasing and graceful.*^
But having now finished the description of the vaulting
or ceiling of that apartment, it remains that we declare what
was executed on each wall consecutively, and beneath the
works indicated above. On the side towards the Belvedere,
where are the Mount Parnassus ^ and the Fountain of Heli-
"' The Natural Science or Astronomy is sometimes called Fortune.
«2 These works are pictorial precursors of the great frescoes on the adjacent
waUs, that is to say. The Temptation refers to the Disputd, The Marsyas to
the Parnassus, The Judgment of Solomon to the Jurisprudence, and the As
tronomy to the School of Athens. Perkins notes that this separation of the
allegorical figures from the waU frescoes is admirable and avoids the confu
sion consequent upon mixing up real and symbolic persons as Rubens did in
the Marie de' Medici series in the Louvre. Monochromes in the form of re
liefs were painted under the fresco of the Parnassus, the subjects being the
Poems of Homer laid in the tomb of Achilles and Augustus saving the .^neid
from the fire. Such at least has been the explanation of these subjects untU
lately, but Herr Franz Wickhoff, in his Bibliothek Julius II. , refers them to
another source, namely, to a story in Valerius Maximus, which relates the
preservation of the Latin books by order of the Roman consuls, and the burn
ing of the Greek books, as they were of less service to religion. The legend
is dwelt upon in the pro'emio to some theological writings of Sixtus IV.,
printed 1472, by Filippo da Lignamine. If Herr Wickoff's interpretation is
correct, the frescoes are, therefore, an eulogy of the ancestor (uncle) of Pope
Julius and a warning to the student to prefer religion to phUosophy, and they
would thereby, says a reriewer, stand as a refutation of those who declare that
humanism triumphs " even in the house of the Pope."
"' The Parnassus is from the nature of its subject (which to the three re
maining frescoes, says Perkins, is as Beethoven's " Pastoral " to his other sym
phonies) less monumentally grand than are the Disputd and the Scuola. It
is also en the whole less skilful, the standing figurea of the Muses being weaker
than anything in the other frescoes. Although the composition is, taken alto
gether, symmetrical and architectural, these standing Muses are mere con
fused and more scattered than Raphael's figures are apt to be ; individually
also they are far inferior to the reclining Sappho in the foreground, or to thQ

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 153
con, the master depicted a laurel grove of very deep shadows,
and the verdure of the foliage is so finely painted that the
spectator almost fancies himself to perceive each separate
leaf trembling in the gentle breeze : innumerable figures of
naked Loves," with inexpressibly beautiful countenances,
are hovering in the air, they are gathering branches of the
laurel wherewith they weave garlands, which they then throw
down and scatter on the mount, over which there does
of a truth seem to be the spirit of the divinity breathing,
such is the beauty of the figures, and the noble and elevated
character of the whole picture, which awakens admiration
and astonishment in all who behold it, when they consider
that the human mind and mortal hand, with only the simple
means of imperfect colours, and by the help of excellent
drawing, has made a picture which appears as if it were alive.
The figures of the Poets also, distributed over the mount,
are all most truly animated. Some are standing, others
seated, some are writing, or speaking, or singing, others are
conversing together in groups of four or six, accordingly
as it has seemed good to the master to arrange them. In
this portion of the work there are portraits ^ of the most
grand women of the Jurisprudence (or of Santa Maria della Pace). Their
heads too seem topless and all mask, and have about them more than a sugges
tion of the type of the eighteenth century. They faU below the grand style
which animates everything else in the room and makes the rest of the Par
nassus splendid. Many studies and drawings for the work exist in Oxford,
the British Maseum, Windsor, Vienna, LUle, etc. , and some of them are more
interesting than are the indiridnal figures of the fresco.
"•' Vasari has described, not the fresco, but an engraving of it by Marco An
tonio, which contains the figures of the Loves and in which ApoUo holds »
lyre. In the fresco the naked Loves do not exist, and the god plays upon a
viol It is probable that Vasari, writing in Florence, used the print to aid
his memory, and forgot the differences. Passavant and Grimm thought that
this engraved plate of Marco Antonio was a forerunner of the fresco. Dr.
Springer and Messrs. Crewe and Cavalcaselle (Raphael, II., p. 78), beUeve, en
the contrary, that it is later than the fresco and contains at most reminiscences
of earlier studies. For a reproduction of the engraving, see the Vicomte H.
Delaborde, Marc Antoine Raimondi, p. 25.
85 Vasari's so-called portraits are of course idealizations, except the tradi
tional representations of Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and the possibly genuine
portrait of Ariosto, since the latter poet twice visited Rome at about the time

154 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
renowned poets, ancient and modern, including among
the latter several who had lived or were living at Raph
ael's own time : some of the older poets were taken from
statues, some from medals, many from old pictures ; and
others, who had lived in his own day, were taken from
nature by Raphael himself. To begin with the one end,
we have here the portraits of Ovid, Virgil, Ennius, Tibul-
lus, Catullus, Propertius, and Homer : the last named,
blind and with the head elevated, is pouring forth his
verses, while there is a youth seated at his feet who writes
them as he sings. There is also in one group Apollo ^ with
the Nine Muses ; and in all these figures there is so much
beauty, their countenances have an air of so much divinity,
that grace and life seem to breathe from every feature.
There is here portrayed the learned Sappho, and the most
divine Dante ; the graceful Petrarch, and the gay * Boccac
cio, who are all most truly animated and life-like. Tebal-
dero *' is also here, with many other modern writers, who
of the painting of the Stanze. For detailed notes upon these figures, see P. A.
Gruyer's Raphael peintre de portraits. Vol. I. This author dees not agree to
Bellori's claim in his Descrizione that a laureUed figure near the VirgU repre
sents Raphael himself.
* L'amoroso Boccaccio means the amorous, not the gay Boccaccio.
«° In the engraving of Marco Antonio, Apollo holds a lyre, in the fresco a
riolin. Certain critics believe that Raphael introduced the violin at the Pope's
suggestion, as a compliment to Giacomo San Secondo, a famous improvisatore
and violinist of the papal court. They go even so far as to consider the
Apollo a probable portrait of the virtuoso. That the face is his portrait is
possible rather than probable. What is probable is that Raphael found the
violin the worthiest of instruments, and what is certain is that he knew it to
be the most pictorial, the most admirably conducive to the movement and
composition of his picture, for the pictorial comes even before the intellectual
expression with any true composer, and no truer composer than Raphael ever
lived. Pinturicchio in the Borgia apartments, Lo Spagna at La Magliana,
afforded him a precedent, had any been needed, for the use of the violin in a
fresco. •' A painting in the Scarpa collection at Motta di Livenza has passed for years
as the portrait of Antonio Tebaldeo, of Ferrara, by Raphael. Morelli (Italian
Painters, I., p. 43, note) stated his conviction that thia picture was, on the con
trary, a portrait of Raphael Sanzio himself, at the age of twenty-six or twenty-
seven years,' painted by Sebastian del Piombe, who at one time was Raphael's
friend and admirer. Quite recently the Scarpa coUection was sold, and an

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 155
are grouped with infinite grace and and painted with extra
ordinary care.
On one of the other sides the master has depicted Heaven,«8
with Christ and the Virgin, San Giovanni Battista, the
Apostles, the Evangelists, and the Martyrs, all enthroned
amid the clouds ; and above them is the figure of God the
Father, who sends forth his Holy Spirit over them all, but
more particularly on a vast company of Saints, who are
celebrating the mass below, and some of whom are in dispu
tation respecting the Host, which is on the altar. «' Among
eager competition for the portrait resulted in its purchase for 135,000 lire by
the Countess de Chevigne ; the Gallery of Buda-Pesth vrill eventuaUy possess it.
(See 6. Frizzoni, La Pinacoteca Scarpa di Motta di Livenza, in the Archivio
Storico delV arte, 1895, pp. 410-418). Dr. Frizzoni, whUe hazarding no positive
assertion, admits the remarkable resemblance of the subject of the portrait to
the engraved portraits of Raphael by Marco Antonio Raimondi and Marco
Dente, in which engravings, aa in this picture by Piombe, the person repre
sented wears a sUght beard. Dr. Frizzoni adds that whomsoever it may
represent, the picture has a mysterious charm which sets it in the ranks of
the masterpieces of ItaUan art.
«e This fresco, which was the first that Raphael painted in the Vatican, dates
from 1509 and is caUed the Disputd. Properly speaking there could be no dis
pute regarding such a weU-estabUshed dogma as that concerning the Blessed
Sacrament, but the Italian word Disputd has the sense of discussing as well as
contesting. Various interpretations have been given of the subject ; probably
the best is that it is a Glorification of the Christian Faith. Passavant caUs
attention to the fact that the figures in the top of the composition are dis
posed as in the frescoes of Orgagna in the Campo Santo and in those of Fra
AngeUco and Pra Bartolommeo, and critics have observed that the majestic
ordering of the main masses appear to have been suggested by the curved
mosaics of apses of basilicaa
No better example than this of Raphael's magnificent compositional intuition
could be found. The mosaics of early churches are architectonically decorative
beyond anything in later art. The arrangement of such mosaic is already sug
gested in Fra Bartolommeo's Last Judgment and in the Christ in Glory of
San Severo. In the Disputd, Raphael, who saw everything through the me
dium of art aud made every material serve its purpose, seems to have said
to himseU, " I vriU build as severely as a Byzantine, but with human figiues
only, and wUl make a semi-dome of my heaven, which shall curve as grandly
as any apsis." The result is an effect of monumental composition which
could net be repeated vrithout mannerism, but which as a single example is
unsurpassed. " Over thirty studies for the Disputd exist in Frankfort, Oxford, the
Louvre, Chatsworth, Festb, Vienna, the British Museum, Montpellier, etc.

156 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
these are the four Doctors of the Church, who are sur
rounded by numerous saints,™ San Domenico namely, with
San Francesco, St. Thomas Aquinas, SS. Bonaventura,
Scotus, and Nicolaus of Lyra ; Dante, Fra Girolamo Sa
vonarola of Ferrara, and all the Christian theologians are
also depicted, with a vast number of portraits from the life.
In the air above are four Children, who are holding open
the four Gospels : these are figures which it would not be
possible for any painter to surpass, such is their grace and
perfection. The Saints are seated in a circle in the air, and
not only does the beauty of the colouring give them all the
appearance of life, but the foreshortenings, and the gradual
receding of the figures, are so judiciously managed, that they
could not appear otherwise if they were in relief ; the
draperies and vestments are richly varied, and the folds are
Some of them are superb, and in these early sketches Messrs. Crowe and
Cavalcaselle (Raphael, II., pp. 31-32) see evidences of a careful study, and
assimUation of the character and poses in Leonardo da Vinci's Adoration of
the Magi, although in his final result Raphael has recast aU in a mould which
is really his own. The first sketches show that Raphael represented the
Church Triumphant, but that this idea was afterwards modified. The new
church of St. Peter's had just been begun, and in the midst of the colossal
marble blocks Raphael placed the figures of the Disputd. Herr Grimm sug
gests on this account that the fresco was intended as a glorification of the
great undertaking of Pope Julius. His conjecture has been accepted by many
critics. This placing the scene in the foundations of the church was, how
ever, an afterthought, as the first sketches show no sign of such an intention.
Bramante was painted by Raphael as the figure leaning on the balustrade in
the left foieground. It has been remarked as surprising that Raphael should
have placed Savonarola, who was burnt only eleven years before, among the
defenders of the faith. His Florentine sojourn with the followers of the
Frate (Lorenzo di Credi, BotticelU and, above all, Fra Bartolommeo) may
have homo this fruit of reparation to the great Dominican monk, aud Raph
ael stood in no danger of papal disapproval, for Savonarola was condemned
by a Borgia, and Julius hated everything that Alexander VI. had done.
Raphael has dressed his attendant genius of the Di.^put't, the Theology who
sits above upon the vaulting, in the symbolical colors worn by Dante's Beatrice
(see Rio), and the poet himself stands iu the part of the foreground of the
lower painting on the right.
"Diirer completed his " All Saints,'' or Landauer Altar-piece, now in the
Imperial Gallery of Vienna, at about this time, an d a comparison of it with
the Disputd is interesting, as tho subjects are very similar, while the artistic
treatment ia of course wholly different and national in either case.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 157
of infinite grace, the expression of the countenances more
over is celestial rather than merely human. This is more
particularly to be remarked in that of the Saviour, which
exhibits all the mildness and clemency of the divine nature
that could possibly be presented to the human eyes by a
mere painting. Raphael was indeed largely endowed with
the power of imparting the most exquisite expression to his
faces, and the most graceful character to the heads of his
pictures : of this we have an instance in the Virgin, who
with her hands crossed on her bosom, is regarding her divine
Son, whom she contemplates with an expression which im
plies her perfect assurance that he will not refuse forgive
ness. There is, moreover, a certain dignity in the figures
of this master with a characteristic propriety, which is with
out doubt most beautiful ; to the holy Patriarchs he gives
the reverence of age, to the Apostles the earnest simplicity
which is proper to their character, and the faces of his Mar
tyrs are radiant with the faith that is in them. But still
more richly varied are the resources of art and genius which
this master has displayed in the holy Doctors, who are en
gaged in disputation, and are distributed over the picture in
groups of six, four, or two. Their features give token of
a certain eager curiosity, but also of the earnest desire they
feel to discover the precise truth of the matter in question :
this is made further manifest by the action of the hands and
by various movements of the person, they bend the ear with
fixed attention, they knit the brow in thought, and offer
evidence, in their looks, of surprise, or other emotions, as
the contending propositions are presented ; each in his own
peculiar manner, but all with most appropriate as well as
beautiful and varied expression. Distinguished from the
rest are the four Doctors of the Church, who, being illumi
nated by the Holy Spirit, resolve and explain, by the aid of
the Holy Scriptures, all the difficulties presented by the
gospels, which the boys who are hovering in the air hold
before them."
"M. Miintz says in his Raphael: "Such is the celebrated composition

156 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
On the third side of this apartment, that namely wherein
is the other window which looks upon the court, Raphael
painted, on the one part, Justinian, who is giving the laws
to the Doctors for revisal,'^ with figures of Temperance,
Fortitude, and Prudence above ; '^ on the other, the Pope '*
who delivers the Decretals or canon laws ; '' and in this pon
tiff Raphael has depicted the portrait of Pope Julius ; he
has likewise executed portraits from the life of the Cardinal-
vicar, Giovanni de' Medici, who was afterwards Pope Leo X.,
of Cardinal Antonio di Monte, and the Cardinal Alessandro
Farnese, who ultimately became Pope Paul IIL, with those
of many other personages.'*
The pope was highly satisfied with all that was done ; and
which passes by right for the highest expression of Christian painting — for the
most perfect rHume of fifteen centuries of faith comprised between the fres
coes of the Catacombs and those of the Florentine reaUsts. The Disputd is
more than a chef-d'oeuvre : it marks a decisive date in the development of
the human mind."
" Justinian entrusts the Roman Code to Trebonian.
'3 The perfect master of linear composition never showed his mastery more
perfectly than in this admirable lunette of Prudence, Temperance, and Forti
tude. Every line in the work has compositional meaning and the whole is a
sermon upon artistic combination. The putti are introduced with particular
happiness as connecting motives in the construction of the group. The in
dividual figures, besides the forceful elegance found in nearly all Raphael's
figures of the Camera della Segnatura, have also a subtUe elegance of outline
not always present in the other works. They stand somewhere between his
deUcate earlier works and his massive sibyls of the Pace.
" Gregory IV. , who presents the Decretals to a jurist.
'* This fresco of the Decretals together with that of the Justinian sym-
boUzes the administration of Ecclesiastical and Secular Law. In the fresco
of the Decretals (1511) Julius appears with a beard. It is said that he vowed
to go unshaven untU the French should be expelled from the Peninsula.
This work was evidently influenced by Melozzo da Ferli's fresco in the
Vatican, the Confirmation of Platina as Guardian of the Vatican Library.
For detailed matter regarding it see P. A. Gruyer's Raphael peintre de por
traits, I., p. 358 et seq.
'• Raphael painted Julius II. and Leo X. several times. JuUus II. in the
fresco of the Decretals, in the Heliodorus, in the Mass of Bolsena and in the
Uffizi portrait. He painted Leo X. as cardinal, in the Decretals, as Pope and
again as cardinal in the fresco of the Attila, in the Fire in the Borgo, in the
Justification of Leo III., in the Defeat of the Saracens and in the Coronation
of Charlemagne. Raphael's famous panel picture of Leo X. in the Pitti is

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 159
to the end that the wood-work of the apartment should
be worthy of the paintings, he caused Fra Giovanni of
Verona to be summoned from the convent of Monte Oliveto
di Chiusnri, a monastery in the territory of Siena ; Fra Gio
vanni was a renowned master in works representing perspec
tive views of buildings, formed of woods inlaid ; and he not
only prepared the wainscot around the room, but also made
very beautiful doors and seats, richly decorated in the per
spective ornaments for which he was famed, and which ac
quired for him very great honour, with much favour from
the Pope, who rewarded him very liberally.
It is indeed certain that in works of this kind there has
never been a more able master than Fra Giovanni, a fact to
which we have testimony still in his native city of Verona ;
this is presented by the Sacristy of Santa Maria-in-Or-
gano, which is most beautifully adorned with inlaid work
representing views in perspective. The choir of Monte
Oliveto di Chiusnri affords another proof of his skill, as
does that of San Benedetto di Siena : the Sacristy of Monte
Oliveto di Napoli was in like manner adorned by Fra Gio
vanni, and in the same place is the Chapel of Paolo da
Tolosa, which that master also decorated in wood work.
By all these labours he obtained much honour from those of
his order, by whom he was ever held in the highest estima
tion until his death, which took place in 1537, when he had
attained the age of sixty-eight. Now of this master, as of
a person who was truly excellent and remarkable in his art, I
have thought it well to make mention thus far, for it appears
to me that his talent has well merited so much, seeing that
we are indebted to it for the fine works that were afterwards
executed by many other masters, to whom Fra Giovanni
laid open the way, as will be related in the proper place."
But to return to Raphael. His powers now became de-
referred to in note 109. For detaUs concerning these and other portraits by
Raphael see F. A. Gruyer's Raphael peintre de portraits, Paris, 1881, an im
portant work in two volumes.
" Fra Giocondo was also an architect, and the campanile of S. M. Organo is
attributed to him. Much of Fra Giocondo's wood-work is stUl in existence.

160 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
veloped to the utmost, and he received a commission from
the Pope to paint a second room in the Vatican ; that tow
ards the great hall namely. At this time, also, our artist,
who had now acquired a very great name, depicted the por
trait of Pope Julius himself.'* This is an oil painting, of
so much animation and so true to the life, that the picture
impresses on all beholders a sense of awe as if it were indeed
the living object : this portrait is now preserved in the church
of Santa Maria del Popolo, together with a very beautiful
Madonna, executed at the same time by the same master.
In the last named picture, which represents the Nativity of
Christ, the Virgin is covering with a veil her divine Child ;
the expression of whose countenance is of such wonderful
beauty, and his whole person so clearly demonstrates the
divinity of his origin, that all must perceive him to be truly
the Son of God. Nor are the attitude and countenance of
the Madonna less beautiful, they exhibit the perfection of
grace with an expression of mingled piety aud gladness.
There is also a St. Joseph standing with both his hands sup
ported on a staff, and contemplating the King and Queen
of Heaven, with the adoration of a most righteous old man.
Both these pictures are exhibited to the people on all occa
sions of solemn festival."
There are beautiful stalls in Verona and at Mente OUveto Maggiore, but his
work in the Camera delta Segnatura was replaced by monochrome paintings
of Perino del Vaga (or Polidoro). Passavant gives a list of the paintings sub
stituted. See also G. Franco, Di Fra Giovanni da Verona e delle sue
opere, Veiona, 1863.
" The original of this famous and admirably characterized portrait was ex
ecuted in 1511 and stood in the church of S. Maria del Popolo. To-day no one
can say with entire certainty whether it still exists or whether the various
repliehe of the Pitti, Uffizi, and National Gallery are all copies. Messrs.
Crowe aud Cavalcaselle hold that only the oarto )n of the Corsini Palace is an
original This cartoon has been greatly injured by the holes pricked for poun
cing upon canvas. M, Miintz, op. cit, p. 400, mentions the fact that the
criticism of twenty years ago pronounced the portrait in the Pitti to be the
original, and has now veered over to the acceptance of the Uffizi picture.
He points a moral which emphasizes the fallibility of expertism. Por details
regarding the whereabouts of the cartoon at various dates see Crowe and
Cavalcaselle, op. cit, II., p. 103, note.
" This passage is supposed to refer to the Madonna di Loreto. In this

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 161
Raphael had at this time acquired much fame in Rome,
but although he had the graceful manner which was held by
every one to be most beautiful, and saw continually before
his eyes the numerous antiquities to be found in that city,
and which he studied continually, he had, nevertheless, not
yet given to his figures that grandeur and majesty which he
always did impart to them from that time forward. For it
happened at the period to which we now refer, that Michel
angelo, as we shall furthermore set forth in his life, had
made such clamours in the Sistine Chapel, and given the
Pope such alarms, that he was compelled to take flight and
sought refuge in Florence.*' Whereupon Bramante, having
the key of the chapel, and being the friend of Raphael, per
mitted him to see it, to the end that he might understand
Michelangelo's modes of proceeding.^' The sight thus af
forded to him caused Raphael instantly to paint anew the
figure of the prophet Isaiah,^ which he had executed in the
picture, which is known by many copies, the Virgin is net covering the child
with a veU, as is stated by Vasari, but is raising the veU under which Christ is
sleeping. It is generaUy believed by critics that the original of the Ma
donna di Loreto is lost, and it is usually stated that it disappeared in the days
of the French Revolution ; but from evidence collected by Professor Vogelin,
of Ziirich (Die Madonna von Loretto), it would appear that it was lost much
earUer, and Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle, in their Raphael, II. , p. 108, say
the original cannot be traced after 1615. Perhaps the best example of this
subject was the picture brought in 18.57 from Florence to Rome by Sir
Walter Kennedy Laurie. It was pronounced genuine by the Accademia di San
Luca. See Wolzogen, p. 105, English edition, and the Augsburg Allegemeine
Zeitung, July 30, 1857. M. Gruyer, Les Vierges de Raphael, HI., p. 321, de-
cUnes to recognize it as an original.
'" The account of the quarrel as related above is substantially the same as
that pnbUshed by Vasari in his Life of Michelangelo in the edition of 1550,
but in the subsequent edition he assigned the flight to an earlier period (vide
lite of Michelangelo in Vol. TV. ), and only added a mention of the disagree
ment in the chapel as a secondary and purely hypothetical reason for the
sculptor's leaving Rome. In the second edition Vasari apparently forgot that
he had changed the story in the Life of Michelangelo, and reprinted the inci
dent unchanged in the Life of Raphael.
»' This alleged stealthy visit was unnecessary, as the first half of the frescoes
was exhibited to the public in the summer (August) of 1511. The last half
was opened to view on November 1, 1512.
62 This work still exists in situ ; it waa probably executed in 1512. Dehio, in
IIL— 11

162 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
Church of Sant' Agostino, above the Sant' Anna of Andrea
Sansovino, although he had entirely finished it ; and in this
work he profited to so great an extent by what he had seen
in the works of Michelangelo, that his manner was thereby
inexpressibly ameliorated and enlarged, receiving thence
forth an obvious increase of majesty.
But when Michelangelo afterwards saw the work of Ra
phael, he thought, as was the truth, that Bramante had
committed the wrong to himself of which we have here
spoken, for the purpose of serving Raphael, and enhancing
the glory of that master's name.
No long time after this, Agostino Chisi,^ a very rich
merchant of Siena, who was a great admirer of all dis
tinguished men, gave Raphael a commission to paint a
chapel. This he did because, some short time previously,
the master had produced a fresco of the most exquisite
beauty, in a Loggia of his palace,** in the Trastevere, now
the Kunstfreund (1885, No. 4), attempts to prove by ingenious arguments that
the Isaiah was not executed by Raphael, but M. Miintz is inclined to accept
the simple statement of Vasari. If the Isaiah was executed in 1512, as we
have reason to believe, Raphael had undoubtedly seen the Prophets in the
Sistine Chapel. Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle discuss at length, op. cit, II.,
pp. 177-178, the question of whether Raphael did or did not see Michelangelo's
Ezekiel and Isaiah of the Sistine Chapel before he painted his own fresco of
the latter prophet. At the side of Raphael's Isaiah is a putto, which exists
again in replica in the Academy of San Luca, in Rome. The latter putto (of
the replica) was once one of the supporters of an escutcheon of Julius II.
painted by Raphael in the Camera called that of Innocent VIH. in the Vati
can. This putto, although only a fragment of a decorative detail, is thoroughly
characteristic of Raphael, and battered, scratched, restored, and distorted as
it is, still remains a work of great beauty and thoroughly in the grand manner
of Raphael's Reman epoch.
The Isaiah was painted at the request of John Goritz, of Luxembourg, »
well-known friend of the humanist's. For the observances on St. Anne's day
at the villa of Goritz see Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle's Raphael, II. , p. 177.
The Isaiah was subsequently " dressed " by Danielle da Volterra and has
otherwise suffered great injury.
"2 Chigi rather. According to M I. Dumesnil, Histoire des plus ceUbres
amateurs Italiens, Raphael's acquaintance with Chigi began in 1510, when he
designed two bronze salvers for the banker. For the present condition within
and without of the building which was the Chigi Bank, see D. GnoU,
L' Archivio .'itorico dell' Arte, I., pp. 172-175.
"' Now Villa Farnesina.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 163
called the Chisi ; ^ the subject of this is Galatea in a car on
the sea drawn by two dolphins and surrounded by Tritons
and different marine deities."^ Having made the cartoon
for the above named chapel, which is at the entrance
of the Church of Santa Maria della Pace, on the right
as one enters by the principal door, the master executed it
in fresco, and in his new manner, which was somewhat
grander and more majestic than the earlier one. In this
e» Chigi.
8' Raphael painted the Galatea iu 1514 for Agostino Chigi, the subject be
ing based upon a poem of PoUziano, Stanze per la Giostra del Magnifico
Giuliano de' Medici. Nothing more conclusively proves the greatness of Ra
phael than the way in which his power and charm show through the repaint-
ings, coarsened outlines, and brutally altered color of this masterpiece. Here
he translates Theocritus and Apuleius more truly than could the most learned
humanist. Here the cinquecento's love of antiquity finds its truest expres
sion, and this painter of Madonnas and of saints feels the old Greek joy
of Ufe, so that the dry wall, for aU its chalky color, shows to us the sea
with its salt strength, the freedom of brown, bare limbs, the clouds and the
breeze and white foam on blue water.
The foUowing letter of Raphael relates in part to the Galatea.
To Count Baldassar Castiglione.
" Signor Count : I have made several designs for the subject suggested by
your lordship. They satisfy all who see them, if all are not flatterers ; but
they do not satisfy my own wish, because I fear they will not satisfy yours.
I send them to you, that your lordship may choose one of them, if any one
seems worthy to you. Our Lord [Nostro Signore, the Pope] in doing me
honor, has placed a heavy weight upon my shoulders. It is the superin
tendence of the building of St. Peter's. I hope indeed that I shall not fall
under this burden, the more that the model which I have made pleases his
lordship and is praised by many men of notable capacity. But I look higher
stUl. I wish to rediscover the beauty of antique buildings, but do not know
if my flight wiU be that of Icarus. Vitruvius gives me great help, but not as
much as I could wish. As for the Galatea, I should hold myself to be a great
master if there were in it half the good things your lordship writes of. But I
can see in your expressions the love you bear me : as to painting a beautiful
woman, I ought in order to do that to see many beauties aud to have you at
my side to help me choose. But since good judgment and beautiful women
are scarce, I work from a certain mental ideal which I have (di certa Idea, che
ml viene al mente). Whether this ideal have in it anything excellent I know
not ; at least I struggle hard to achieve excellence. Your lordship may com
mand my service."
"At Rome."
This letter was first pubUshed in 1582 by Bernardino Pini, afterwards by
Bottari and others. Signor Venturi believes that some literary friend, perhaps

164 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
picture Raphael painted some of the Prophets and Sybils,
before Michelangelo had thrown open the chapel, which he
had nevertheless seen, as has been related ; ^ and of a truth,
these figures are considered to be the best, and among so
many beautiful the most beautiful, seeing that in the
women and children represented, there is the very perfection
of truth and animation ; the colouring, moreover, is fault
less. This work caused the master to be most highly ex
tolled, both during his life and after his death, being, as it
was, the most remarkable and most excellent one that Ra
phael ever executed. Raphael being earnestly entreated by
a chamberlain of Pope Julius II. to paint the picture for
the high altar of the chapel of the Ara Cceli, he therein de
picted the Madonna, reposing on the clouds of heaven, and
with San Giovanni, San Francesco, and San Girolamo, robed
in the vestments of a cardinal, in a beautiful landscape be
neath. In this virgin there is the expression of a modesty
and humility truly worthy of the Mother of Christ : the
divine Child, in an attitude of exquisite beauty, is playing
with the mantle of Our Lady ; the form of San Giovanni
Aretino, among whose manuscripts in Venioe it was found, wrote the letter for
Raphael. The allusion to the works on St. Peter's dates it from about the
summer of 1514. Por details regarding the condition and restorations of the
fresco of the Galatea see Crowe and Cavalcaselle, op. cit., p. 210, note. M.
Miintz, op. cit., p. .503, cites Signor Cugnoni, Agostino Chigi, il Magnijico,
Rome, 1881, the Farncsina-studien of R. Forster, Rostock, 1880, and M.
Charles Bigot's werk, Raphael et la Farnesine, Paris, 1884. We may add La
Farnesina of Signor A. Venturi, Rome, 1890, and also M. Gruyer's Raphael
et VAntiquite.
" In the Life of Michelangelo, Vasari says the Prophets and Sibyls of S. M.
della Pace were painted after the chapel had been shown to the public. Vasari
quite often contradicts himself in this way. He repeats the same story in
the Ufe of Sebastian del Piombo, but in the life of Timoteo Viti qualifies it
by saying that the Sibyls were by Viti. The foUowing is the passage : "In the
company of his master he worked in the church called * della Pace,' where he
painted the Sybils of the lunettes to the right of the church, with his own
hand, and those figures, so highly esteemed by all painters, are of his own in
vention also. There are persons still surviving who remember to have seen
Timoteo working on these Sybils, and the fact that they were executed en
tirely by himself, is shown by the Cartoons, which are still in the possession of
his successors." Morelli, with strong and well-reasoned arguments, has com
bated this story that Timoteo worked upon the frescoes.

RAPHAEL OP URBINO 165
gives clear proof of the fasting to which his penitential
discipline has subjected him, while in the expression of his
countenance, one reads the sincerity of his soul, together
with a frank and cheerful serenity, proper to those who, far
removed from the influence of the world, look down on it
with contempt, and in their commerce with mankind, ab
horring all duplicity, devote themselves to the promulgation
of truth. The head of San Girolamo is raised, his eyes are
fixed on the Virgin, whom he is regarding earnestly. And
in the eyes thus raised there are to be perceived all that
learning and wisdom which are made manifest in his writ
ings. With a movement of both the hands he is in the act
of recommending the chamberlain to the protection of Our
Lady ; and the figure of that chamberlain in actual life is
scarcely more animated than the one here painted. Nor
is there less of truth and nature in the San Francesco ; he is
kneeling on the earth, with one arm extended, and the head
raised as he turns his gaze aloft, towards the Madonna ; he
is depicted with a glow of pious affection in his countenance,
every line of which is beaming with the holiest emotion.
The features and complexion show that the saint is consum
ing away in pious resignation, but is receiving comfort and
life from the most gentle and beautiful looks of the Mother,
as well as from the sovereign loveliness of the divine Child.
In the centre of the picture and immediately beneath the
Virgin, is a boy, his head is raised towards Our Lady, and
he bears a tablet in his hands. It is not possible to imagine
any thing more graceful or more beautiful than this child,
whether as regards the head or the rest of the person.
There is besides a landscape of singular beauty, and which
is executed to the highest perfection in every part.
Raphael then continued his work in the chambers of the
Vatican,^ where he depicted the Miracle of the Sacrament,
" The distribution of the room caUed the Camera d' Eliodoro is as follows :
Upon the vaulted ceUing are : God appearing to Noah, The Sacrifice of Abra
ham, Jacob's Dream, God appearing to Moses in the burning bush. Upon
the two waUs which are pierced with windows appear the Miracle of Bolsena
and the Liberation of Peter ; upon the clear walls are Heliodorus driven from

166 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
or the Corporas of Bolsena, whichever it may be called. In
this story, the Priest who is reading the Mass is seen to
have his face glowing with the shame which he felt, when
in consequence of his own unbelief, he beheld the Host
bleeding on the Corporas, as a reproof for his want of faith ;
terrified at the looks of his hearers, he has lost all self-pos
session, and is as a man beside himself ; he has the aspect
of one utterly confounded, the dismay that has seized him
is manifest in his attitude, and the spectator almost per
ceives the trembling of his hands ; so well are the emotions
inevitable from such a circumstance expressed in the work.^
the Temple, the meeting of Attila and Pope Leo I. Upon the walls below
the great frescoes are caryatides, eleven aUegorieal, and four terminal fig
ures, as also eleven little monochrome pictures referring to the industrial
prosperity of the States of the Church. These decorations of the base of the
walls have been repainted by Carlo Maratti and his pupils, but still show the
composition of Raphael. See Passavant, op. cit, H., p. 135.
If the Stanza della Segnatura may be called the Apotheosis of the Re
naissance, the Stanza d' Eliodoro, commenced during the lifetime of Julius II.
and finished under Leo X., may pass for that of the Papacy. Having cele
brated the large and tolerant civilization of the epoch of the Renaissance in
the Scuola, the Disputd, the Parnassus, the pope now celebrated the Church,
and by an easy progression celebrated himself. The Expulsion of Helio
dorus allegorizes the military ambition of Julius, Heliodorus standing for
the foreign invader of Italy ; the Mass of Bolsena again, in glorifying the
faith, very naturally shows the pontiff as supreme assistant. Critics have
severely condemned this egoism, but it was natural and the sequence was
logical. It is true that Julius should have rather celebrated Constantine,
or Gregory, but Raphael painted in and for his own epoch, and for all his po
litical blunders Julius was the great pope of the Renaissance. Herr Hettner
has even declared ( Italienische Studien) that this and the future decoration
of the Vatican gravitated about the Lateran CouncU of 1512-17 as about a
compelling influence. See also Anton Springer, Raffael und Michelangelo,
and B. Miintz, Raphael, pp. 370-371.
8" It is believed that Raphael executed the greater part of the Mass of
Bolsena with his own hand. The fresco, which is almost without tem.pera
touches, is dated 1512.
The miracle which this picture commemorates is said to have taken place
during the pontificate of Urban IV., in 1263. In commemoration of the same
the great festival of Corpus Domini was instituted in 1264. The superb
cathedral of Orvieto was erected as a memorial of the miracle in 1280, but the
festival was not, however, generaUy celebrated until 1310.
It was rarely given to even Raphael to paint such a masterpiece as the
Miracle of Bolsena, and in its treatment it is a marking instance of the qual-

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 167
Around the priest are many figures of varied character ;
some are serving the Mass, others kneel, in beautiful at
titudes, on a fiight of steps, and moved by the novelty of
the occurrence, exhibit their astonishment and emotion in
divers gestures, some giving evidence of a desire to acknowl
edge themselves guilty of error, and this is perceived in
men as well as in women. Among the latter is one at the
lower part of the picture, seated on the earth and holding a
child in her arms ; she is listening while another relates the
circumstance that has just happened to the priest ; full of
wonder she turns towards the speaker with a feminine grace
and animation that is truly characteristic and lifelike. On
the other side is the Pope, Julius II. , who is hearing the
Mass, an admirable part of the work, and here Raphael has
depicted the portrait of the Cardinal di San Giorgio,*' with
a vast number of other personages, also from the life. The
break caused by the window was turned to account by the
master, who having there represented an ascent in the form
of a flight of stairs, thus makes the paintings on each side
into one sole pictnre, nay, he has even made it appear that
ity which was one of Raphael's leading characteristics, perhaps the very fir.st
of aU his characteristics, his marveUous power of assimilation. He instantly
saw, and but a Uttle later translated into his own language of expression,
whatever noble or beautiful thing came under his eyes in the work of a pred
ecessor. Here in this camera of Heliodorus, in the very midst of impressions
derived from the antique and from Michelangelo, he turns backward and ap-
pUes " the grand manner " to the quiet, dignified art of the fifteenth century.
In the Mass (or Miracle) of Bolsena the serious, upturned profiles of Ghirlan
dajo's people of the Sassetti Chapel and of Santa Maria Novella are seen
again, his white-gowned acolytes of San Gimignano crowd about the minis-
trant priest, but aU sublimated by the art of Raphael into a real apotheosis of
the painting of the quattrocento.
If there were no architecture around it the Mass of Bolsena would still be
a beautiful picture, but in its accordance with the circumscribing architect
ural forms it is especially a magnificent composition. Compositionally again
it affords the finest instance among Raphael's works of the balance of simple
and elaborated masses in accordance with the law of filled and vacant spaces.
Besides aU this, among the frescoes of Raphael it is by far the best in color ;
a Venetian need not have disclaimed its strength and harmony.
»" RaffaeUo Riario ; for biographical details see Raphael peintre de portraits
of F. A. Gruyer, L, p. 362.

168 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
if this opening caused by the window had not been there,
the scene could not have been so well arranged. It may in
deed with truth be said of Raphael here, as elsewhere, that
as respects invention and the graces of composition, what
ever the story may be, no artist has ever shown more skill,
more readiness of resource, or a more admirable judgment
than himself ; a fact of which he has given further proof in
this same place, where in the opposite picture he has repre
sented San Pietro thrown into a prison by Herod,'' and
guarded by soldiers. The architectural details here de
picted and the simple delineation of the prison, are treated
with so much ingenuity that the works of other artists,
when compared with those of Raphael, seem to exhibit as
much of confusion as do that master's of grace and beauty.
Raphael constantly endeavoured to represent the circum
stances which he depicted as they are described or written,
and to assemble only the most appropriate and characteristic
objects in his works, as for example in the picture before
us, where he reveals to us the wretchedness of the prison.
Bound with chains, that aged man is seen extended between
two soldiers ; the deep and heavy sleep of the guards is
rendered fully manifest, as the resplendent light proceeding
from the Angel illumines the darkness of night, and causes
the most minute particulars of the prison to be clearly dis-
" This fresco, " Lo Scarcerazione," the Liberation of St. Peter, is dated
1.514. As in most of the Vatican frescoes of Raphael there is a political
aUusion ; probably to the Battle of Ravenna and the escape of Pope Leo (then
a Cardinal) from the Frenijh.
It must be admitted that in this work Raphael somewhat departs from the
principles of mural decoration ; first he divides his composition into three
distinct incidents; secondly, in painter's parlance, he breaks a hole through
the wall with his violent opposition of lights and shadows. But the work is
a chef d'ceuvre, and the temptation to produce it which overpowered Raphael
was here again the probable result of his intensely assimilative nature.
Piero della Francesea had frescoed this room before him. Now Piero's vision
of Constantine in S. Francesco at Arezzo affords the first instance of a tour
deforce of chiaroscuro ; it is not unlikely that della Francesea had here re
peated some such effect, and that Raphael could not resist the opportunity
" to better his instructions." As it is, the treatment of chiaroscuro upon so
monumental a scale was a daring and successful novelty.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 169
cerned : the arms of the sleepers shine so brilliantly, that
their burnished lustre seems rather to belong to things
real and palpable, than to the merely painted surface of a
picture. No less remarkable are the art and ingenuity displayed in
another part of the same picture ; that namely where, freed
from his chains, the Apostle walks forth from his prison,
accompanied by the Angel. In the countenance of St.
Peter there is evidence, that he is as a man who feels himself
to be acting in a dream, and not as one awake. Equally
well expressed are the terror and dismay of those among
the guards, who, being outside the prison, hear the clang
of the iron door ; a sentinel with a torch in his hand,
awakens his sleeping companions ; the light he holds is re
flected from their armour, and all that lies within the place
which the torch has not reached is lighted by the Moon.
This admirably conceived picture Raphael has placed over
the window, at the darkest part of the room ; it thus hap
pens that when the spectator regards the painting, the light
of day strikes on his eyes and the beams of the natural
light mingle and contend with the different lights of the
night as seen in the picture, the observer fancies himself
really to behold the smoke of the torch, and the splendour
of the Angel, all which, with the dark shadows of the night,
are so natural and so true, that no one would ever affirm
it to be painted, but must believe it to be real, so power
fully has our artist rendered this most difficult subject. The
play of the shadows on the arms, the flickering reflections
of the light, the vaporous haloes thrown around the torches,
the dim uncertain shade prevailing in certain parts ; all are
painted in such a manner, that contemplating this work
one cannot but declare Raphael to be indeed the master of
all masters. Never has painting which purports to coun
terfeit the night been more truly similar to the reality than
is this, which is of a truth a most divine work, and is in
deed admitted by common consent to be the most extra
ordinary and most beautiful of its kind.

170 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
On one of the unbroken walls of the chamber, Raphael
then depicted the worship of God as practised among the
Hebrews, with the Ark and golden candlesticks ; here also
is the figure of Pope Julius, who is driving the avaricious
intruders from the Temple.''^ In this work, which is of
similar beauty and excellence to the night-piece described
above, several portraits of persons then living are preserved
to us in the persons of the bearers ^ who support the chair
wherein Pope Julius is borne along ; the figure of the Pon
tiff is most life-like. "While the populace, among whom are
many women, make way for his Holiness to pass, they give
to view the furious approach of an armed man on horse
back ; he is accompanied by two others who are on foot, and
together they smite and overthrow the haughty Heliodorus,
who, by the command of Antiochus, is about to despoil the
Temple of all the treasures deposited for the widows and
orphans.^* The wares and treasures are already in process
of being borne away, but the terror awakened by the new
occurrence of Heliodorus, struck down and scourged by the
three figures above-mentioned, who are seen and heard by
himself alone, being only a vision, causes those who are
bearing the spoils away to let all drop from their hands,
while they themselves fall stumbling over each other, pos
sessed as they are by a sudden affright and horror which had
fallen on the followers of Heliodorus. Apart from these
stands the High Priest, Onias, in his pontifical robes, his
hands and eyes are raised to heaven, and he is praying most
•" The "Expulsion of HeUodorus (II. Maccabees, Ui.)," was painted in 1512.
The allusion is poUtical, referring to the struggles of Louis XH. of France and
Julius n.
*'3 Bottari affirms that the foremost of the bearers are Marcantonio the
copper-plate engraver and GiuUo Romano ; MoreUi, on the contrary, considers
that it is not GiuUo but rather Baldassare Peruzzi who is painted. See Ita
Uan Painters, Borghese and Deria-Pamfili Galleries. Messrs. Crowe and
CavalcaseUe note that the prostrate figure of Heliodorus is not a reminiscence
of Michelangelo as has been affirmed, but is partly a souvenir of the antique
and partly a stiU more direct inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci's wounded
captain in the Battle for the Standard.
•* See II. Maccabees, chapter iii. verse 21 and foUowing.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 171
fervently, being moved to compassion for the poor, whom
he has beheld on the point of being despoiled of their pos
sessions, but is yet rejoiced at the succour which he feels
that Heaven has sent to them. With felicitous invention
Raphael has placed various figures about the different parts
of the building, some of whom climb on the socles of the
columns, and clasping the shaft, thus stand, maintaining
themselves with difficulty in their inconvenient position, to
obtain a better view of the scene passing before them ; the
mass of the people meanwhile, astounded at what they be
hold, remain in divers attitudes awaiting the result of the
wondrous event. ^
'= It has been noted that in comparison with the Sala della Segnatura we
find in the Camera of Heliodorus an unfortunate narrowing of subject. This
is, however, not half so important or half so unfortunate as the expansion of
m.ethods shown here, which resulted in the confiding of a great part of the
work upon the waUs to pupils. But this expansion, like the narrowing, was
inevitable. Every one wanted Raphael's work, the Pope, Chigi, Conti,
Bembo, Bibbiena, Goritz. No man could say no to the pope, even the stub-
bom Michelangelo yielded when Julius threatened to throw him from the
scaffold, least of all could Raphael say no to anyone. His was net a weak
character, but the very nature which made him seize upon the pictorial
quaUties of other men's work impelled him to adopt with equal eagerness
the pictorial suggestions of his friends. He instantly apprehended their
thought, developed it and could not help vrishing to materiaUze it. For
such materiaUzation time could not suffice unless Raphael had a score of
hands. He soon had them — two of his frescoes in the Camera of Heliodorus
and the Madonna of Foligno are said to have been painted within fourteen
months ! The result of this was that the distribution of the second Stanza
was admirable, the composition in the main magnificent, the execution utterly
unequal, the room remaining thus inferior to the Sala della Segnatura.
The superb Mass of Bolsena was probably painted by Raphael himself.
The Heliodorus shows at once Giulio Romano's bricky-reds and the bright
colors of Giovanni da Udine ; the chemically disintegrated color of portions
of the fresco is repulsive, the outlines are coarse, the limbs heavy, but the
work is grand in spite of it all with the spirit of Raphael and of the best
years of the sixteenth century. Although the execution is pupils' work,
Raphael's Giulio of Rome is a very different man from Gonzaga's Giulio of
Mantua. The faces of the avenging angels are beautiful and noble, in
spite of a conventionalizing of thick curved lips, a certain lampishness of
pseudo-Grecian noses, and upon the scowling forehead of his horseman, the
rudiments of the grimace which Giulio afterwards constantly reproduced in
his Palazzo del T. In the fresco of Heliodorus we have Raphael's work hin
dered but not spoUed by pupils ; in the battle of Ostia they have completely

172 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
The whole of this work was so admirably executed in
every part that even the Cartoons were very highly esti
mated. Messer Francesco Masini, a gentleman of Cesena,
who without any master, but impelled from childhood by the
love of art, has produced many paintings and works in de
sign, has certain pieces of the Cartoon which Raphael pre
pared for this story of Heliodorus still in his possession ; they
are treasured with all the esteem which they so truly merit,
among the various antiquities in marble, rilievi and others,
which he has collected ; his own pictures and designs are
also of such merit, that many, well acquainted with art,
have bestowed on them the highest commendations. Nor
will I omit to mention that Messer Niccolo Massini, from
whom it is that I have received intelligence of these things,
is himself a sincere lover of our arts, as he is the friend of
all other good and praiseworthy endeavours.
But to return to Raphael. In the ceiling above these
works he delineated four pictures : the subject of the first
being the appearance of the Almighty Father to Abraham,^
to whom he promises the continuation of his race ; that of
the second, the sacrifice of Isaac ; and of the third, Jacob's
denaturalized it, and in the rectangular ceiling of the Farnesina have destroyed
it. There are studies for the frescoes of the Camera d' Eliodoro, in Oxford, the
Uffizi, the British Museum, Berlin (Savigny collection), the Louvre, Vienna,
and Windsor. See Crowe and CavalcaseUe, op. cit, II., pp. 138-142, notes.
*" To Noah rather ; the frescoes of the vaulting symbolize the power of the
Church and are also precursors of the frescoes on the walls. They were prob
ably largely by the hand of Giulio Romano and Francesco Penni. The panel
ling of the room was also decorated with intarsiatura by Fra Giovanni da
Verona, and Perino del Vaga completed the decorations by painting Carya
tides, etc., in chiaroscuro. There are six small pictures in grisaille in the
window recesses, the subjects of which are ; Joseph before Pharaoh ; the
Passing of the Red Sea ; Moses receiving the tables of the law ; the Annun
ciation ; a Pope celebrating Mass, and the Emperor Constantine giving the
city of Rome to Pope Sylvester. They were partly repainted by Carlo Ma
ratti in 1702-1703. The pictures upon the socle or base to the wall also
contain allusions to the rule of Leo X. They represent Religion, Law,
Peace, Protection, Nobility, Commerce, Naval Affairs, Navigation, Plenty,
Cattle-breeding, Agriculture, and Grape-gathering. They are all represented
by female figures with attributes. They are greatly injured and some were
completely repainted by Carlo Maratti and his pupils in 1702-1703.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 173
dream ; while the fourth represents Moses standing before
the burning bush. In this work, the knowledge of art,
rich power of invention, correct design, and exquisite grace
which distinguish our artist, are no less manifest than in
the others whereof we have made mention.
And now, when the happy genius of the master was
effecting such wonders, the envy of fortune deprived of life
that pontiff who was the especial protector and support of
such talent, while he was the zealous promoter of every
other good and useful work. Julius II. died, '' but was
succeeded by Leo X., who forthwith commanded that the
labours commenced should be continued. The genius of
Raphael was now exalted to heaven, and he received innu
merable proofs of favour from the new pontiff, fortunate in
having encountered a prince so great, and one on whom the
love of art had devolved by hereditary descent.
Thus encouraged, Raphael devoted himself with all his
heart to the work, and on another wall of the same apart
ment, he represented the Approach of Attila towards Rome,''
and his encounter with Pope Leo III. by whom he is met
" He died February 13, 1.513, and we can well believe that the event caused
ne little anxiety as weU as grief to the artists of the papal court and to the
many others who could not tell whether his successor would continue the
great works of the dead pope. Already on January 19 we hear of Raphael
sending home the jeweled cap and brocaded cloak of the Uttle prince Fred
erick of Mantua, and begging Isabella d'Este to pardon him for desisting
from his work, since for the time he had " no courage to go on with her son's
portrait." •** The AttUa was commenced during the lifetime of JuUus H, but was
only about half finished at the death of that pontiff, it was painted in allu
sion to the papal quarrels with France. Leo X. appears twice, once as a
cardinal riding behind the pope (this figure having been painted before the
death of Julius) and again instead of the portrait of Julius II. originally
planned, we have the reigning pontiff as St. Leo. A pen sketch in the Louvre
shows Julius in the place afterwards occupied by Leo ; in this sketch the
pope is borne in a chair instead of on horseback as in the fresco. Herr
Springer and J. C. Robinson have doubted the authorship of this design but
M. Miintz is convinced that it is by Raphael.
The AttUa was largely executed by pupils and is very inferior to the other
frescoes of the Stanze, the color is confused and disagreeable, possibly from
the action of time, but what is much more singular, the composition has little
of the beauty and dignity which are found iu the other frescoes, the arrange-

174 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
at the foot of Monte Mario,'® and who repulses him by the
power of his word * alone. In this picture, Raphael has
shown San Pietro and San Paolo appearing in the air with
swords in their hands, with which they come to defend the
church. It is true that the History of Leo III. says noth
ing of such an occurrence, but so Raphael has chosen to
represent it, perhaps as a mere fancy ; for we know that
painters and poets frequently permit themselves a certain
degree of freedom for the more effectual decoration of their
works, and this they may do without any undue departure
from the propriety of the original thought. In the two
apostles thus depicted, there is all that holy zeal and dig
nity which the Divine Justice frequently imparts to the
countenances of those among God's servants, whom it has
commissioned to become the defenders of the most holy
faith. The effect of this expression on Attila is manifest
in his face. He is riding on a fiery black horse, having a
star on the forehead, and beautiful as it is possible that a
horse could be ; the attitude of the animal also betrays the
utmost terror, its head is thrown aloft, and the body is
turning in the act of flight.
There are other magnificent horses in the same work,
among them a Spanish jennet, ridden by a figure which has
all the parts usually left nude covered with scales in the
manner of a fish ; this is copied from the column of Trajan,
the figures of the people around that column being armed
in this fashion ; such defences being made, as is conject
ured, from the skins of crocodiles. Monte Mario is seen
burning, as an intimation that on the departure of soldiery,
the dwellings are constantly given as a prey to the flames.
Certain mace-bearers belonging to the papal retinue are
ment being (relatively) monotonous. Certain individual figures are very fine,
but some of the horses are not merely theatrical but absurdly unreal.
* Read blessing for word.
" The numerous errors into which Vasari has here fallen, are in part at
tributable to the Florentine historian, Villani (see lib. ii. cap. 3). The meeting
with Attila took place on the river Mincio, near Mantua, and the Pontiff was
not Leu ..H. but Leo the Great, the first of the name.- — Mrs. Foster's Notes

RAPHAEL OP URBINO 175
painted with extraordinary animation, as are the horses
which they are riding : the same may be said of the court
of Cardinals, and of the grooms who bear the canopy over
the head of the pontiff. The latter. Pope Leo X., is on
horseback, in full pontificals, and is no less truthfully por
trayed than are the figures before mentioned. He is fol
lowed by numerous courtiers, the whole scene presenting
an extremely beautiful spectacle, in which all is finely
appropriate to its place, and these details are exceedingly
useful to those who practise our art, more particularly
to such as are unprovided with the objects here repre
sented. About the same time a picture was executed by Raphael
for Naples, and this was placed in the church of San Domen
ico, and in that chapel wherein is the crucifix which spoke
to St. Thomas Aquinas. In this work, Raphael depicted
Our Lady, San Girolamo, clothed in the vestments of a
cardinal, and the angel Raphael, who is serving as the guide
of the youthful Tobit. ^'''' For Leonello da Carpi, Lord of
Meldola, who is still living, and has attained the age of
more than ninety years, he painted a picture, the colouring
of which is most admirable, and the beauty of the whole
work very remarkable ; it is indeed executed with so much
force, and in a manner so exquisitely graceful withal, that
I do not think the art could possibly produce or exhibit a
finer work. There is a divinity in the countenance of Our
Lady, and a modest humility in her attitude, than which it
would not be possible to conceive anything more beautiful.
The master has depicted her with folded hands, in adora
tion of the divine Child, who is seated on her lap, and is
caressing a little St. John ; the latter is also adoring the
Redeemer : the flgures of St. Joseph and St. Elizabeth
complete the group. This picture was formerly in the
i»o This is the Madonna del Pesce (of the Fish) now in the Prado at Madrid.
It was painted in 1512 or 1513 on wood and was afterwards transferred to
canvas. The Tobit with the fish was very appropriate, as the picture was
originally placed in a chapel much resorted to by persons affiicted vrith dis
eases of the eyes. A fine red-chalk study for the picture is in the Uffizi.

176 RAPHAEL OF TTRBINO
possession of the most reverend Cardinal da Carpi, son oi
the above-named Signor Leonello, a very zealous admirer of
our arts ; it must now be in that of his heirs. ^"^
When Lorenzo Pucci, Cardinal of Santi Quattro, was
created High Penitentiary, he caused Raphael, who was in
great favour with him, to paint a picture for San Giovanni-
in-Monte, at Bologna. This is now placed in that chapel
wherein are deposited the relics of the Beata Elena dall'
Olio, and serve to show what grace united with art could
effect, when acting by the most accomplished and most
delicate hand of Raphael."*^ The subject of the work is
Santa Cecilia, listening in ecstacy to the songs of the angelic
choir, as their voices reach her ear from heaven itself :
wholly given up to the celestial harmony, the countenance of
the saint affords full evidence of her abstraction from the
things of this earth, and wears that rapt expression which
is wont to be seen on the faces of those who are in ecstacy.
Musical instruments lie scattered around her, and these do
not seem to be merely painted, but might be taken for the
real objects represented.'"^ The same thing may be affirmed
"" Passavant, II., p. 122, states that the Holy Family in the Museum of
Naples is the picture referred to here, and M. Miintz appears to accept the
statement. ">' This picture is one of Raphael's most famous works. It was painted in
1.516 and is now in the Academy of Bologna. Marco Antonio's engraving of an
early composition for the Saint CecUia is reproduced in Miintz's Raphael, p. 555.
The story regarding the origin of the commission for this picture is curious.
In 151 3 a noble Bolognese lady, Elena Duglioli dall' Olio, who was born and
died in the same years as Raphael and who was afterwards beatified, was
ordered in a vision to consecrate a chapel to Saint Cecilia in the church of
San Giovanni in Monte near Bologna. Her relative, the Florentine Antonio
Pucci, built the chapel, and Lorenzo Pucci, Cardinal of Santi Quattro, ordered
the picture of Raphael.
The story is that Pucci' s voice was so bad that it provoked laughter even
in the Sistine Chapel while he was celebrating mass. He implored the inter
cession of Saint CecUia and " she inspired a master of the Sistine Choir to
cure his defects in six months' lessens." See Crewe and Cavalcaselle's Ra
phael, IL, p. 375.
"" The following is a passage from Vasari's life of Giovanni da Udine :
" Now Raphael very bisrhly estimated the abilities of Giovanni da Udine, and
when occupied with that picture of the Santa Cecilia, now in Bologna, he

RAPHAEL OP URBINO 177
of the veil and vestments, formed of cloth of gold and
silver, with which Santa Cecilia is clothed, and beneath
which is a garment of hair-cloth, also most adm'irably
painted. In the figure of St. Paul likewise, the power and
thought of the master are equally obvious : the saint is
resting the right arm on his naked sword, the head is sup
ported by the left hand, and the pride of his aspect has
changed to a dignified gravity ; the vestments of St. Paul
consist of a simple cloth mantle, the colour of which is red,
with a green tunic beneath, after the manner of the
apostles ; his feet are bare. St. Mary Magdalen also forms
part of the group, and holds a vase, made of a very fine
marble, in her hand. The attitude of this figure is sin
gularly graceful, as is the turn of her head ; she seems to
rejoice in her conversion, and I do not think it would be
possible that any work of the kind could be more perfectly
executed. The heads of St. Augustine and of St. John the
Evangelist, which are both in this picture, are of equal ex
cellence. It may indeed with truth be declared that the
paintings of other masters are properly to be called paint
ings, but those of Raphael may well be designated the life
itself, for the fiesh trembles, the breathing is made obvious
to sight, the pulses in his figures are beating, and life is in
its utmost animation through all his works.
This picture secured the author many commendations
and a great increase of fame insomuch that numerous
caused Giovanni to paint the organ which is in the hand of that saint ; this
the latter copied from the instrument itself, and with such good effect that
his work does reaUy appear to be a relief : he also painted the other musical
instruments which are at the feet of Santa CeciUa, and, what is of more im
portance, he brought his own manner herein to se close a similitude vrith
that of Raphael, that the whole work appears to have been executed by one
hand." The St. CeciUa is the picture which is said to have cansed Francia to
die of grief over his own inferiority to Raphael. That he felt his inferiority is
possible enough ; that he felt the weight of his sixty-seven years in the mid-
vrinter of 1513 is fairly certain. A true artist such as Francia was would
have been stimulated rather than hurt by seeing the St. CecUia. See the Life
of Francia, Vol II., p. 313.
III.— 12

178 RAPHAEL OP URBINO
verses, both in Latin and the vulgar tongue, were composed
to his honor ; of these I will but insert the following, that
I may not make a longer story than is needful :—
" Pingant sola alii, referantque coloribus ora ;
CoBcilicB OS Raphael atque animum expKcuit."
At a later period our artist painted a small picture, which
is now at Bologna, in the possession of the Count Vicenzio
Ercolani. The subject of this work is Christ enthroned
amid the clouds, after the manner in which Jupiter is so
frequently depicted, but the Saviour is surrounded by the
four Evangelists, as described in the book of Ezekiel.'"*
One in the form of a man, that is to say ; another in that of
a lion ; the third as an eagle ; and the fourth as an ox. The
earth beneath exhibits a small landscape, and this work, in
its minuteness — all the figures being very small — is no less
beautiful than are the others in their grandeur of extent.
To Verona Raphael sent a large picture of no less excel
lence, for the Count of Canossa. The subject is the Na
tivity of Our Lord, admirably treated, the day-break in
particular, as here portrayed, has been highly commended,
and the same may be said of the figure of Sant' Anna and
indeed of the whole work, which one could not extol more
effectually than by the simple assertion, that it is by the
hand of Raphael da Urbino. The Counts hold this picture
in the highest estimation, as it well deserves ; very great
sums have been offered to them for it by different princes,
hut they have never been prevailed on to part with it.'"'
'°' This is the Vision of Ezekiel now in the Pitti and measuring only 18J^
by 13X inches in size. It is truly magnificent in spirit and in style but
rather coarse in execution and the carrying out of the work is generally ac
credited to Giulio Romano. The Jehovah is a Zeus, but the assumption of
Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle that the distribution is adopted from the
group of the Farnese bull (which had been recently discovered) seems rather
far-fetched. M. Miintz says well of this "Vision" that it deserved to be
translated into mosaic in the apse of some grand basilica. The date of the
picture is not known with certainty ; conjecture points at some time shortly
after the execution of the St. Cecilia and that of the Spasimo di Sicilia.
io» This Nativity, painted in 1513 for the Count of Canossa, has been identi-

RAPHAEL OP URBINO 179
For Bindo Altoviti, Raphael executed a portrait of him
self when he (Bindo) was still young, and this work also
has obtained, as it merits, the highest admiration.'"* He
also painted a picture of the Madonna for the same person,
who despatched it to Florence : this is now preserved in
the Palace of the Duke Cosimo : it has been placed in the
Chapel of the new apartments, which have been built and
painted by myself, where it serves as the Altar-piece : the
subject is Sant' Anna,"" a woman much advanced in years,
who is seated with the infant Christ in her arms ; she is
holding him out to the Virgin, and the beauty of his nude
figure, with the exquisite loveliness of the countenance
which the master has given to the divine Child, in such that
his smile rejoices the heart of all who behold him. To Our
Lady also, Raphael has imparted all the beauty which can
be imagined in the expression of a virgin ; in the eyes there
is modesty, on the brow there shines honour : the nose is
one of very graceful character, and the mouth betokens
sweetness and excellence. In the vestments, also, there is
fied vrith the Madonna of the Pearl in the Museum of Madrid. It is said that
Philip IV. of Spain, whose ambassador purchased the picture of Cromwell,
exclaimed upon seeing it, " This is my pearl," thus giving the name La Perla
to a picture which is perhaps overrated. Morelli attributes the execution of
it as weU as that of the Madonna della Rosa in the same Museum of Madrid
to GiuUo Romano.
'»« Now in the Munich GaUery, Rumohr (Italienische Forschungen, IH. , p.
109) considered this pictnre to be Raphael's portrait of himself. Bottari,
Mariette, and H. Grimm were of the same opinion. Missiri, Lanzi, Passavant,
Miintz, and Springer, on the contrary, assert that it is the portrait of Altoviti.
The picture has very recently been cleaned and the "violet-red flesh-tints"
which have proved snch a fertUe source of controversy among art- critics have
entirely disappeared, thus confirming MorelU's belief that the tone of coloring
of the face was due to the hand of a picture restorer. Morelli, in his revised
edition of ItaUan Masters in German Galleries entitled ItaUan Painters —
Critical Studies of Their Works — The Galleries of Munich and Dresden, does
not think that it is by Raphael or even of the School of Raphael ; Dr. Bayers-
dorffer, the inspector of the Munich Gallery, accredits the work to Giulio
Romano. At aU events it is a distinguished and beautiful portrait, thoroughly the
type of head which Raphael (whether he was its author or not) Uked to paint,
and well fitted to be the face of the chivalrous Altoviti.
"" Santa EUsabetta rather.

180 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
an indescribable simplicity with an attractive modesty,
which I do not think could possibly be surpassed ; there
cannot, indeed, be anything better of its kind than is this
whole work : there is a beautiful figure of the little San
Giovanni undraped in this picture, with that of another
saint, a female, which is likewise very beautiful. The
background represents a dwelling, in which there is a win
dow partially shaded, through which light is given to the
chamber wherein the figures are seated. '"^
In Rome, Raphael likewise painted a picture of good size,
in which he represented Pope Leo,"" the Cardinal Giulio
de' Medici, and the Cardinal de' Rossi. The figures in this
work seem rather to be in full relief, and living, than
merely feigned, and on a plane surface. The velvet soft
ness of the skin is rendered with the utmost fidelity ; the
vestments in which the Pope is clothed are also most faith
fully depicted,"" the damask shines with a glossy lustre ;
the furs which form the linings of his robes are soft and
natural, while the gold and silk are copied in such a man-
loB This is the Madonna delV Impannata, now in the Pitti GaUery. It is se
named from the window in the background which is impannata, that is,
covered with an oUed-linen pane in place of glass. The handling of Giulio
Romano is apparent, the coloring is very disagreeable, and the authenticity of
this picture has been questioned by Passavant and ethers.
^^^ It is now in the Pitti palace and was painted in 1518. Beside the qual
ities of style, character, and dignity which are found in most of Raphael's por
traits, the Leo possesses other qualities imusual to his work. Vasari has
noted the expression of surface texture in the brocade, metal, etc , and his
admiration is not to be wondered at, for texture as shown by brush handling
had hardly been attempted up to this time in Tuscan art. Again the work
ing out of a scale of one color is novel to the time, and as always, when it is
skilfully managed, is impressive. Here the scale is of red, scarlet, crimson,
purple, brown, the only opposition being the white brocade. It is quite possible
that this was not a deliberate compositional choice on the part of Raphael
and that it was imposed by the papal costume, throne-chair, and surround
ings, but at least there is compositional arrangement and selection, since Ra
phael must have been free to add other colors but has omitted them.
"» The story is told of this, as of so many pictures, that it was mistaken for
the Pope himself. See also the interesting anecdote relating to del Sarto's
copy of the portrait given in Vasari's life of that artist in this volume. The
Pope's " specillum" or " cristal concava" is shown in the picture; Leo's
sight was se bad as to require the use of an eyeglass.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 181
ner that they do not seem to be painted, but really ap
pear to be silk and gold. There is also a book in parchment
decorated with miniatures, a most vivid imitation of the
object represented, with a silver bell, finely chased, of
which it would not be possible adequately to describe the
beauty. Among other accessories, there is, moreover, a
ball of burnished gold on the seat of the Pope, and in this
— such is its clearness — the divisions of the opposite window,
the shoulders of the Pope, and the walls of the room, are
faithfully refiected ; all these things are executed with so
much care, that I fully believe no master ever has done, or
ever can do any thing better. For this work, Raphael was
richly rewarded by Pope Leo. It is now in Florence, in
the Guardaroba of the Duke. He also painted the portraits
of the Duke Lorenzo and of the Duke Giuliano, whom he
depicted with that perfection and that grace of colouring
which is to be seen in no other than himself. These works
belong to the heirs of Ottaviano de' Medici, and are now in
Florence.'" The fame of Raphael continued to increase largely, as did
the rewards conferred on him ; wherefore, desiring to leave
a memorial of himself in Rome, he caused a palace to be
erected in the Borgo Nuovo, which was decorated with
stucco work by Bramante."^ The renown of this most
'" It is supposed that these portraits are lost. Several old copies exist.
See MUanesi, IV., p. 353, note 1.
"' Lafreri in 1549 pnbUshed an engraving of this palace with the legend
Raph, Urbinat, ex lapide coctili Romae extructum. It is true that it was
built of brick, but Bramante was the architect and did not merely decorate
it "with stucco." Marco Antonio Michieli (P Anonimo) says Raphael
bought it of Bramante for 3,000 ducats. In it the painter passed his busiest
years, and in it he died. But Prefes.=!or Adamo Rossi has discovered (see
L' Archivio Storico delV Arte, 1888, La Ca.ia e lo Stemma di Raffaello) in the
Archivio Urbane of Rome documents proving that this house, which stood on
the Borgo Nuovo, at the comer of the Piazza di S. Giacomo, was bought by
Raphael from the Caprini of Viterbo in 1517 ; that is to say, three years after
Bramante, the architect, died. Professor Rossi has also brought to notice
among certain manuscripts of Domenico Alfani in the Communal Library of
Perugia, a drawing which be made in 1 .581, of a part of the facade of this Casa
di RaffaeUo, and a second drawing of the escutcheon or arms of Raphael.

182 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
noble artist having been carried, by the fame of these and
other works, into France and Flanders, Albert Diirer, a
most admirable German painter, and the engraver of most
beautiful copperplates, sent a tribute of respect to Raphael
from his own works, a head, namely, which was his own
portrait, executed on exceedingly fine linen, which permitted
the picture to appear equally on both sides, the lights not
produced by the use of whites, but transparent, and the
whole painted in water colours. This work was much ad
mired by Raphael, who sent a number of his own drawings
to Albert Diirer,"^ by whom they were very highly estimated.
which were carved and painted above the door. Notes are written about the
drawing of the escutcheon, giving the colors, etc., and underneath is in
scribed "the arms of the most famous and excellent painter Raphael of Ur
bino, whose worth and fame are noted by all the world." " Arm,e del famo-
sisim/y et ecellenttisimo Pittore Rafaello da Vrbinno il chui uallor e fama e
notto a ttutto il Mondo." Sig. Domenico Gnoli, a diligent explorer of the
quarter of the Borgo Nuovo (see his various articles) had measured the palace
of the Converteudi (in the Borgo Nuovo) believing that is was the actual Casa
di Rafaello. A fresco of about 1585, showed, however, that Vaefagade of the
said Convertendi Palace corresponded in that year with its present day ap
pearance. Critics felt it to be unlikely that Bramante's or Raphael' s/«j;arf«
should have been already altered in 1585, and therefore refused to believe the
Casa di RaffaeUo to be identical with the Convertendi palace. The measure
ments, however, of the latter were found by Sig. Gnoli to exactly tally with
those of the architectural drawings for the original exterior of the Caprini
palace. This in itself was almost confirmation of Sig. GnoU's theory, and
the discovery by Professor Rossi of Alfani's drawing, locates Raphael's palace
as exactly upon the site of the Convertendi. Sig. Pietro Carnevale, the
architect, has been deputed by the government to ascertain how much of the
interior arrangement of the palace is old, and may refer to Raphael's time, and
hew much is later. For good reasons why the escutcheon drawn by Alfani
should really be that of Raphael, see Sig. Gnoli's article L' Archivio Storico
deW Arte, 1888. March 24, 1520, thirteen days before he died, Raphael bought
another palace in the Via Giulia, then a quarter of princely houses, where,
however, two artists, Antonio da San Gallo and Caradosso the Goldsmith,
also had their residences ; see GeymiiUer and Miintz. It has long been be
lieved that Alexander VII. destroyed the palace in the seventeenth century
to enlarge the Piazza San Pietro.
'" Probably no artist, certainly no Italian artist of the Renaissance, ad
mired Diirer more frankly than did Raphael and no one was more capable of
appreciating this greatest of German painters. Raphael kept Diirer's works
(in engraving and woodcut) about his studio (see Dolce), watched Marco
Antonio engrave the "Little Passion," and borrowed the whole composition

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 183
The head sent by the German artist, Albert Diirer, to
Raphael, was subsequently taken to Mantua among the
other possessions inherited from the last named master, by
Giulio Romano."''
Raphael having been thus made acquainted with the
mode of proceeding adopted in his engravings by Albert
Diirer, was desirous of seeing his own works treated after
that manner ; he therefore caused Marco Antonio of Bo
logna, who was well practised in that branch of art, to
prepare numerous studies from them ; and in this Antonio
succeeded so well that Raphael commissioned him to en
grave many of his earliest works, namely, the Slaughter of
the Innocents, a Last Supper, the Neptune, and the Santa
Cecilia, when she is being boiled in oil."' Marco Antonio
of his Spasimo di Sicilia from the " Great Passion " of the Nuremburger.
A drawing of two nude male figures in the Vienna coUection bears the foUow
ing inscription written in a crabbed hand " 1515 — RaffaheU di Urbino, who
is held in such high esteem by the Pope, he made these naked figures and
sent them to Albrecht Diirer at Niirnberg to show him his hand." MoreUi,
ItaUan Painters, I. , p. 143, note 6, says that the drawing is by GiuUo Romano
and that the inscription is a later addition.
Vasari gives a brief notice of Albert Diirer and Martin Schongauer in his
Life of Marco Antonio, of which the following is a part : " But although these
masters were at that time highly prized and commended in those countries,
their works are valued among us for the diligence and care to be remarked in
the engraving only. I am nevertheless vriUing to beUeve that if Albert
Diirer has not done better, that has perhaps been because for want of better
models. He took one or other of his disciples when he had to design the nude
form, and these must have had Ul-f ormed figures, as indeed the Germans for
the most part have when undressed, although one sees many in those countries
who when dressed appear to be very fine men. Albert likewise executed
numerous smaU plates exhibiting figures of peasants and countrywomen in
the Flemish costume, some dancing or playing on the bagpipes, others selling
poultry or other wares, and some engaged in other occupations. . . . It is
indeed certain, that if this man, so highly endowed, so assiduous, and so varied
iu his powers, had been a native of Tuscany instead of Flanders ; had he been
in a position which permitted him to study the treasures of Rome, as we are
able to do, he would have been the best painter of our country, as he was
the best and most renowned that has ever appeared among the Flemings. "
[Diirer was born in Nuremburg and not in Antwerp, as Vasari supposed.]
1" This portrait is lost.
"6 Marco Antonio Raimondi, the engraver, was bom at Bologna. He waa
apprenticed to Francia at an early age. He studied the works of Diirer, Lucas

184 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
subsequently executed a number of engravings, which were
afterward given by Raphael to II Baviera, his disciple, who
was the guardian of a certain lady, to whom Raphael was
attached till the day of his death, and of whom he painted
a most beautiful portrait, which might be supposed alive. "^
This is now at Florence, in the possession of the good and
worthy Botti, a Florentine merchant of that city, who is
the friend and favourer of all distinguished men, but more
especially of painters ; by him the work is treasured as if it
were a relic, for the love which he bears to the art, but
more especially to Raphael. Nor less friendly to artists
than himself is his brother Simon Botti, who, to say noth-
von Leyden and Schongauer, and soon became the best copper-plate engraver
in Italy. Up to 1510 he was an eclectic, but in that year he journeyed to
Rome and at once came under the influence of Raphael, who greatly favored
him and allowed him to engrave his drawings. Marco Antonio had Uttle in
ventive genius though great technical skUl, and sunk his identity in copying
the works of the great painter. It should be remembered in judging the
engravings of Marco Antonio that he worked from Raphael's drawings and
not from the finished works ; his style was admirably adapted to the
reproduction of the works of that master. See Marc-Antoine Raimondi by
the Vicomte H. Delaborde, Paris, 1888. This author says that the dates
of Marco Antonio's birth and death are equally uncertain ; 1488 and 1470
are variously given as dates referring to his birth, but M. Delaborde thinks
1480 more probable, and says that Marco Antonio, though Bolognese, was
not born in the city of Bologna but in a neighboring village. This
critic's monograph contains a large number of reproductions of engravings by
the artist, and an important catalogue of his works. The Martyrdom of
Saint Cecilia (or Saint Felicitas), painted between 1513 and 1520 for the
chapel of the villa of La Magliana, a hunting lodge of Leo. X., was nearly
destroyed in 1830. A farmer named Vitelli, net wishing to sit among his
servants in the chapel during the celebration of mass, buUt for himself a
tribune (or special pew), the door of which was cut straight through Ra
phael's fresco. A fresco, also from La Magliana, probably after the de
sign of Raphael and representing God the Father blessing the world, is
in the Louvre. See 1. Freschi della villa Magliana di Raffaelle d' Urbino,
incisi ed editi da Ludovico Gruner, con descrizione della villa di Ernesio-
Platner, Rome, 1847. There is no certainty regarding Raphael's direct share
in any of these frescoes of La Magliana. Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle
think the design for the lunette (in the Louvre) of God the Father vrith angels
was made between 1516 and 1520. M. Gruyer finds that these angelp
are among Raphael's original and very characteristic works.
"» The so-called Donna Velata in the Pitti palace has been a subject for
controversy. MM. Miintz, Burckhardt, and Bode think it a copy from

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 185
ing of the fact, that he is held by us all to be one of the
most friendly among those who benefit our arts, is to my
self in particular the best and truest friend that ever the
long experience of many years made dear to man : he has
besides given proof of very good judgment in all things re
lating to our own art.
But to return to the copperplate engravings. The favour
which Raphael had shown to H Baviera was afterwards the
cause which induced Marco of Ravenna, and many others,
to labour in that branch of art ; insomuch, that what was
formerly the great dearth of engravings on copper, became
eventually that large supply of them which we now find.
Hugo da Carpi, moreover, whose fine powers of invention
were turned to the discovery of many ingenious and fanci
ful devices, found out that of carving in wood, in which, by
means of three blocks, the light, shadow, and middle tint
can equally be given, and drawings in chiaro-scuro imitated
exactly. Without doubt a very beautiful and fanciful in
vention which has since been largely extended, as will be
related at greater length in the Life of Marco Antonio of
Bologna. Por the Monks of Monte Oliveto, Raphael executed a
picture of Christ Bearing his Cross, to be placed in their
Monastery at Palermo, called Santa Maria dello Spasmo ;
this is considered to be a most admirable work, and is re
markable, among other characteristics, for the force with
which the master has rendered the cruelty of the execution
ers, who are dragging the Redeemer to his death on Mount
Calvary, with all the evidences of a furious rage. The
Raphael ; MM MoreUi, Minghetti, Colvin, Springer, and Passavant beUeve
it to be an original Some of these critics identify it with the picture "in the
possession of the good and worthy Botti," and Signor E. Ridolfi has dis
covered a document of 1619, of a Marchese Botti, bequeathing such a pict
nre to the Grand Duke Cosimo H. as " being by the hand of Raphael" See
MM. Lafenestre and Riohtenberger, Florence, p. 155. Nearly all of these
critics have noted the resemblance of the Velata to the Sistine Madonna ; the
features are perhaps somewhat alike in the two pictures but the character of
the two faces is absolutely different.

186 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
Saviour himself, grievously oppressed by the torment of the
death towards which he is approaching, and borne down by
the weight of the Cross, has fallen to the earth faint with
heat and covered with blood ; he turns towards the Maries
who are weeping bitterly. Santa Veronica is also among
those who surround him, and, full of compassion, she ex
tends her arms towards the Sufferer, to whom she presents
a handkerchief with an expression of the deepest sympathy.
There are besides vast numbers of armed men on horseback
and on foot, who are seen pouring forth from the Gate of
Jerusalem, bearing the ensigns of justice in their hands,
and all in attitudes of great and varied beauty."'
This picture was entirely finished, but had not yet been
fixed in its place, when it was in great danger and on the
point of coming to an unhappy end. The matter was on
this wise : The painting, according to what I have heard
related, was shipped to be taken to Palermo, but a frightful
tempest arose which drove the vessel on a rock, where it
was beaten to pieces, men and merchandise being lost to
gether, this picture alone excepted, which, secured in its
packing, was carried by the sea into the Gulf of Genoa.
Here it was picked up and borne to land, when, being seen
to be so beautiful a thing, it was placed in due keeping,
having maintained itself unhurt and without spot or blem
ish of any kind : for even the fury of the winds and the
waves of the sea had had respect to the beauty of so noble a
work. The fame of this event was bruited abroad, and the
Monks, to whom the picture belonged, took measures to
obtain its restoration : in this they eventually succeeded,
'" This is a picture of Christ^alUng under the weight of the cross and
which is usually called Lo Spasimo di Sicilia. Messrs. Crowe and Caval
caselle attribute the greater part of the execution to Raphael himself ; other
critics admit the hand of Giulio Romano in parts of the picture and that of
Garofalo in the landscape. Morelli gives the entire execution to GiuUo. M.
Miintz notes that the figure of the Saviour strongly recalls a Christ in a work
of Martin Schongauer of Colmar. This picture has been greatly praised by
the early critics, Viardet, and Bme'ric David, for its force of expression, but
this force seems sUghtly declamatory, aud the composition is more crowded
and less noble than in many of Raphael's works. It is to be remarked that

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 187
though not without great difficulty and only by aid of the
Pope, when they largely rewarded those who had effected
its recovery from the waves. Being then embarked anew,
the picture was ultimately landed in Sicily ; the Monks
then deposited the work in the city of Palermo, where it
has more reputation than the Mount of Vulcan itself."'
While Raphael was thus engaged with the works above
described, which he could not decline doing, partly because
commissioned to execute them by great and important per
sonages, but partly also, because a due regard for his in
terest would not permit him to refuse them, — while thus
occupied, I say, he did not on that account neglect to con
tinue the works which he had commenced "' in the Papal
Halls and Chambers ; on the contrary, he kept people con
stantly employed therein, and by them the work was con
tinued from drawings made by his own hand, every part
being minutely superintended by himself, and the more
important portions of the whole executed by him, so far as
was possible in a work of such magnitude. No long time
elapsed, therefore, before he gave to view the apartment of
the Torre Borgia, on every wall of which he had placed a
painting — two over the windows namely, and two on the
sides wherein there are no windows. In one of these pict
ures the master has depicted the Conflagration of the Borgo
Vecchio of Rome, which could not be extinguished until
Pope Leo IV. presented himself at the Loggia of the Palace,
and extinguished it entirely by the power of his benedic
tion.'^ In this work is the representation of many perilous
no Saint Veronica appears in the picture. The Spasimo is now in the Museum
of Madrid, having been bought from the ihenks by PhUip IV. in the seven
teenth century.
"8 Vasari here follows the classical writers who considered Mount Etna as
the site of Vulcan's forge.
"» In 1514.
no TJie Stanza of the Torre Borgia, called more generaUy the Camera delV
Incendio, was painted 1514-1517, and presents upon the four walls the Incendio
del Borgo, the Oath of Pope Leo, the Coronation of Charlemagne, and the
Battle of Ostia, aU by Raphael and his pupils. The vaulting frescoes are by
Perugino, and the figures of the protectors of the Church, originally by the

188 RAPHAEL OP URBINO
incidents ; on one side are women bearing vases of water on
their heads and in their hands wherewith to extinguish the
flames ; the hair and clothing of these figures are blown
about by the fury of a tempestuous wind ; others, who are
attempting to throw water on the burning masses, are
blinded by the smoke, and appear to be in a state of be
wilderment. At another part of the picture is a group,
resembling that described by Virgil, of Anchises borne out
of danger by JEneas. An old man being sick, is exhausted
by his infirmity and the heat of the fire, and is carried by a
youth in whose form the determination and power to save
are manifest, as is the effort made by every member to sup
port the dead weight of the old man helplessly hanging in
utter abandonment upon his back. He is followed by an
old woman bare-foot and with loosened garments, who is
rushing in haste from the fire — a naked child goes before
them. From the top of a ruined building also, is seen a
woman naked and with dishevelled hair, who has an infant
in her hands, which she is about to throw down to one of
her family ; just escaped from the flames, the last-mentioned
person stands in the road below raised on the points of his
feet and stretching forth his arms to receive the child — an
infant in swathing bands, which the woman holds out to
him : and here the anxious eagerness of the mother to save
her child is no less truthfully expressed than is the suffer
ing which she is herself enduring from the devouring flames
glowing around and threatening to destroy her. In the
figure of the man who is receiving the child also, there is as
clearly to be perceived the anxiety which he suffers in his
desire to rescue it, with the fear he entertains for his own
life. Equally remarkable is the power of imagination dis
played by this most ingenious and most admirable artist in
hand of some pupil, were repainted later by Carlo Maratta. Below the fres
coes on the wall are the so-called portraits of sovereigns who have rendered
important services to the Church. These portraits are of Constantine, Charle
magne, Ferdinand the Catholic, Lothair, Grodfrey de Bouillon, and Aistulf.
Por interesting technical criticism of the Stanze frescoes see F. Crowninshield
Impressions of a Decorator in Rome, Scribner's Magazine, February, 1893.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 189
a mother, who, driving her children before her, with bare
feet, loosened vestments, girdle unbound, and hair dis
hevelled, bears a part of her clothing in her hands, and
smites her children to hasten their flight from the falling
ruins and from the scorching fury of the flames. There
are besides other women, who, kneeling before the Pope,
appear to be entreating that his Holiness will cause the flre
to be staid. '^'
The second picture also represents an incident from the
life of Pope Leo IV. : here the master has depicted the
"' In this room Raphael frankly turns over the work to his assistants, and
ia felt only as an inspiration and in the painting of certain rare fragments.
As a result three of the frescoes present Uttle of the interest to be found in
the grand Camera delta Segnatura, and the fourth, the best of the series, the
Incetbdio del Borgo, is melodramatic rather than dramatic, and is a coarse and
exaggerated development of the fine drawings in Vienna — drawings which
themselves are net exempt from an academic and theatrical character. Here
begins the attitudinizing, the rolling of eyes, the grimace of widely opened
mouths, of over-emphatic gesture, all the deUneation of a "fine frenzy."
The epoch of exaggeration had set in, and controversy was not slow to follow.
Many of the courtiers admired these later frescoes enthusiastically, the more
so for the many portraits of prelates that were conveniently introduced. But
we hear from the opposition in the letter of the saddler Leonardo to Michel
angelo ; speaking of the Farnesina frescoes, he says "they are even worse
than those of the last camera " (of the Incendio del Borgo). The figures at
titudinize ; aU this would-be agony leaves us indifferent, but nevertheless
under and behind the exaggeration and the coldness ia stiU the superb power
of the Renaissance ; we are yet close to the life-giving force of Raphael. The
background group is worthy of his greatest frescoes. Taine, who nearly al
ways goes straight to the core and heart of a work, feels at once the facti-
tieusness and the genuineness of the effect produced, and after smiling at the
terrible fire, which has nothing but stone to feed it, and at the parents who
hand their chUd over a wall as tranquilly as if it were a bundle of cloth, he
goes on to say : " Why indeed should not frescoes be a complement of arch
itecture ? Is it not a mistake to consider them whoUy by themselves ? We
must place ourselves at the same point of view as the painter in order to
enter into his ideas ; and certainly auch was the point of view of Raphael.
The Conflagration of the Borgo is comprehended within the space of an or
nament which has to be filled up. The Parnassus and the Deliverance of
Peter surmount, one a door and the other a window, and their position im
poses upon them their shape. These paintings are not appended to, but form
a portion of, the edifice and cover it as a skin covers the body. Why, then,
belonging to the edifice, should they not be architectural ? There is an innate
logic in all these great works ; it is for me to forget my modem education
in order to arrive at its meaning." — Taine's lialie.

190 RAPHAEL OP URBINO
Port of Ostia occupied by the fleet of the Turks, ^^ who had
come to make his Holiness prisoner. On the sea without
are seen the Christians engaged in combat with the Turkish
Armada, and numerous prisoners are already observed to be
entering the harbour ; the latter are seen to issue from a
boat whence they are dragged by soldiers, the attitudes and
countenances of whom are exceedingly spirited and beau
tiful. The prisoners are clothed in a variety of vestments
proper to seamen, and are led before St. Leo, whose figure
is a portrait of the then reigning Pontiff, Leo X. His
Holiness, who is in full pontificals, is enthroned between
the Cardinal of Santa Maria-in-Portico, Bernardo Divizio
da Bibbiena '^ namely, and Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, who
was afterwards Pope Clement VII. It would not be pos
sible minutely to describe the admirable thought with which
this most inventive artist has depicted the countenances of
the prisoners, in whose expression all necessity for speech
is superseded, so eloquently does it set forth their grief,
their terror, and the bitter foretaste which they are en
during of the death preparing for them.'^
"2 Saracens rather.
"= A portrait of Bibbiena by Raphael is in the Pitti GaUery.
"< This fresco of the Battle of Ostia, which was executed in 1.514-1.5, was
not painted by Raphael himself, with the exception perhaps of the portraits
of the Pope and of his attendants. Cardinals Giulio de' Medici and Bibbiena.
It has suffered more than the others. The work is full of varied and inter
esting action, but is very inferior to the fine drawings made as studies for
it and now in the Museum of Oxford. One of the studies for the Battle of
Ostia is a drawing in red chalk now in Vienna. This drawing was sent to
Diirer in 1515 and is referred to in note 113. Morelli (Italian Painters, I.,
p. 433) claims that it, as well as the studies for the Incendio del Borgo, the
water-carrier, the young man bearing his father, etc., and which are in the
same Museum of Vienna, are all by GiuUo Romano. He believes that at
this epoch Raphael usually made only a slight preliminary sketch, which
was turned into a finished study by his pupils and then enlarged into car
toons, which latter, after having been corrected somewhat by Raphael, were
approved, and then carried to completion by pupils. In ending the notes
upon the Stanze of Raphael one may again remark the coarseness of outline
which is to be found even in some of the finest figures ; instead of the many
subtile little planes of outline which make up the silhouette of an arm or leg,
two or three sweeping touches will outline a calf or forearm ; in many of the
faces the features are generalized till they seem only a Renaissance reminis-

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 191
In the other two pictures is first Leo X. consecrating the
most Christian King,'^ Francis I. of France. He is chant
ing the mass robed in full pontificals, aud is blessing the
oils wherewith to anoint the monarch at the same time that
he likewise blesses the royal crown ; a vast body of Cardinals
and Bishops, also in their episcopal robes, are serving the
mass, and there are, moreover, numerous ambassadors and
cence of an antique statue. This is partly because pupils imperfectly trans
lated Raphael's sketches, partly because restorers have coarsened the modelling,
hardened and thickened the outlines. Take them for all in all, the figures of
the Stanze wiU not stand as pieces of subtUe drawing or characterization, but
they are masterpieces of style and of movement, and are intended to teU at
a distance and as parts of a whole. To see how they gain when allowed to
fulfil their true purpose we have only to compare the large isochromatic
photographs (by Alinari or Brogi) of figures iu detail with the same figures
when seen in those photographs that show the ensemble of the fresco to
which the said figures belong ; seen in this etisemble every Une becomes a part
of the main scheme.
Before terminating let us reconsider the three finest Stanze which, together
with the Sistine Chapel, stand as the most important monuments of Italian
decorative art. Painted in vaulted rectangular rooms, the decorations in
each room cover the ceUing, two clear walls and two waUa pierced with win
dows. The Stanza caUed the Camera della Segnatura offers us the example
of Raphael at his highest point of decorative capacity, of freshness, spon
taneity, and beauty, above aU else, as the artist who composes and presents
an architectonic whole. The work is surpassed in certain technical qualities
by later frescoes of the master, but is unequalled in effect and in sustained
and balanced completeness, the School of Athens and the Disputd remaining
the two monumental compositions par excellence, and the Jurisprudence
being unexcelled as a decorative arrangement. In the Stanza called the
Camera d'Eliodoro the Miracle of Bolsena in the two technical qualities of
color and handling surpasses any work in the series, while the Liberation of
Peter as a tour deforce of chiaroscuro makes up by this mastery of light and
shade for a compromise with certain decorative principles. In the Camera
della Segnatura portraiture is used only in the celebration of moral or intel
lectual greatness — as a true apotheosis ; in the Camera d'Eliodoro it glorifies
temporal power and descends to becoming a tribute to vanity. The Stanza
called the Camera delV Incendio, last in point of date, is also last in every
other sense and has been mentioned above. In spite of its inferiority it re
tains some of the beauty which makes the Camera della Segnatura (if sur
passed by the Sistine in grandeur and overwhelming power) the serenest,
the most homogeneous, and architectonically the most complete monument of
Italian decorative painting.
125 The subject is the Coronation of Charlemagne, but the face of Francis
I. was substituted for that of Charlemagne and that of Leo X. took the place

192 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
other personages portrayed from nature, with several figures
dressed in the French manner of that period. The second
picture represents the Coronation of the above named
King,'^ and here the Pope and Francis are both drawn from
the life, the king in armour, the Pope in his pontifical
robes ; the College of Cardinals, a large number of Bishops,
chamberlains, shield-bearers, and grooms of the chamber,
all in their appropriate robes and dresses of ceremony, are
placed in their due position and proper order as is usual in
the papal chapel. Among them are many portraits from
the life, as, for example, that of Giannozzo Pandolfini,
Bishop of Troy, and the most intimate friend of Raphael,
with those of many other persons holding eminent positions
at that time. Near the King is a boy kneeling, who bears
the crown in his hands : this is the portrait of Ippolito de'
Medici,'^ who was afterwards a Cardinal and became Vice-
Chancellor — a highly esteemed prelate, and the firm friend,
not of these arts only, but of others — one too, whose mem
ory I am myself bound to hold in the most grateful respect,
and do indeed acknowledge myself deeply obliged to him,
since my own commencement in art, such as it may have
been, had its origin with that noble prelate.
To describe all the minute particulars of Raphael's works,
wherein every object seems to be eloquently speaking in its
silence, would not be possible ; I must yet not omit to men
tion that beneath each of the pictures above described is
represented a socle or basement, wherein are depicted the
figures of various benefactors and defenders of the church,
separated from each other by terminal figures of various
of Leo IV. ; in fact the subject is a reminder of the interview of the two
princes at Bologna in 1515. The fresco is almost whoUy the work of pupils.
'""This fresco was probably painted by Perino del Vaga in 1517 (?). Ra
phael's share in it is all but obliterated by fading and repainting. Here
again Vasari is in error in regard to the subject. The fresco represents the
oath of Pope Leo III. before Charlemagne that he is innocent of charges
brought against him by the nephew of Adrian I. The fresco is inscribed Dei
Non Hominis est Episoopus Judioare.
"' It is doubtful if this be the portrait here described.

RAPHAEL OP URBINO 193
character, but all executed in such a manner that every part
gives evidence of the utmost thought and care ; all are full
of spirit, with a propriety and harmony of colour that could
not possibly be better. The ceiling of this apartment had
been painted by Pietro Perugino, Raphael's master, and this
the latter, from respect to his memory and from the affec
tion that he bore him, would not destroy, seeing that by his
instructions it was that Raphael himself was first conducted
to the path which had led him to so high a position in art.
So comprehensive and extended were the views of Raphael
in all things relating to his works, that he kept designers
employed in all parts of Italy, at Puzzuolo and even in
Greece, to the end that he might want nothing of that which
appertained to his art ; and for this he spared neither labour
nor cost.
Pursuing his works in the Vatican, Raphael decorated one
of the halls in terretta,'^ depicting several of the Apostles
and numerous Saints,'^ whom he has represented standing
in niches or tabernacles.'*' There also he caused his disciple
Giovanni da Udine, who had not his equal in the delineation
of animals, to paint all those then in the possession of Pope
Leo X. ; the chameleon, for example, the civet cat, the apes,
the parrots, the lions, the elephant,'^' and other animals
las Terretta, otherwise caUed Terra di Cava, or, as by Baldinucci, Terra da
Baccali. " The earth or clay used in making earthenware for the service of
the table, and which, being mixed vrith powdered charcoal, was employed for
making grounds for painting in chiaroscuro, and even for the tints. It is found
in Rome, near St. Peter's, and at Monte Spertoli, thirteen miles from Florence,
and appears to resemble what in England is called ' China clay.' " — From a
note to the Ancient Treatises on the Arts of Painting, translated, with notes,
by Mrs. Merrifield. See the Velpato Manuscript, vol U., p. 730. — Prom Mrs.
Foster's notes.
'" Christ and the twelve Apostles rather.
IS" These works in the Sala de' Palafrenieri for which Raphael furnished the
designs were nearly destroyed when the hall was altered to make a series
of smaUer apartments. Gregory XIII. had the origmal form restored and the
restoration of the frescoes was intrusted- to Taddeo Zucchero. They have hap-
pUy been preserved by the burin of Marco Antonio.
1" The monumental, practical jokes of the Renaissance figure again and
again in the Uves of the artists. In the Rome of Pope Leo this carnival spirit,
IIL— 13

194 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
from distant lands. He also adorned many of the floors and
other parts of the palace with grottesche and other embel
lishments ; and gave the design for certain of the staircases,
as well as for the loggie commenced by the architect Bra
mante, but which remained incomplete at the death of that
master, when they were continued after a new design, and
with many changes in the architecture, by Raphael himself,
who prepared a model in wood, the arrangement and deco
ration of which were richer and more beautiful than that
proposed by Bramante.
Pope Leo, desiring to show the greatness of his magnifi
cence and generosity, caused Raphael to make designs for
the ornaments in stucco, which he had resolved to have
placed between the paintings '^ executed in the loggie, as
like everything else, became colossal, in the coronation at the Capitol of one
BarabaUo. He was a rhymester, who was a Petrarch in his own eyes, and
became the butt of Pope and court. Mounted on the elephant presented to
Leo by the King of Portugal, BarabaUo made a triumphal progress, until the
beast refused to cross the bridge of St Angelo. The coronation of BarabaUo
had an even more unpardonable sequence in the glorification of the elephant
at the hands of Raphael, who painted him in the size of life upon a waU of the
Vatican. This was done to please the people after the death of the animal.
" What nature took away, Raphael of Urbino restored by his art ; '' was the
end of a long inscription which celebrated the painting It is only fair to
add, that a papal chamberlain was the keeper of the animal, and that in those
days an elephant in Italy was a rarity that aroused real interest and was
especially identified with the ceremonial of the ancients.
That there were other and more serious diversions for the papal court
than this episode of the elephant, we may see by the letter of the Perrarese
secretary Paulucci, March 8, 1519, which tells how, with Ariosto for play
wright, aud pope and courtiers for audience, Raphael, Peruzzi, and Aristotile
da San Gallo turned scene painters.
'22 The Loggie of the Vatican, or more properly the upper Loggie (painted
1517-19), consist of thirteen arcades, vaulted in cupola. Each of the ar
cades contains four frescoes, there are consequently fifty-two subjects in all,
forty-eight from the Old and four from the New Testament. The frescoes
include the stories of the Creation, of Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, and of Christ. The date of
the decoration of the Loggie is uncertain, probably Raphael's own share dates
from 1515-16 ; and the termination of the work, according to Marco An
tonio Michieli (see Miintz, Raphael, p. 453), took place before December, 1519.
Herr Springer feels sure that Raphael had nothing to do with the frescoes of
the three last arcades, which contain the stories of David, of Solomon, and of

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 195
well as for those in other parts ; and as superintendent of all
these grottesche in stucco, he appointed Giovanni da Udine,
Giulio Romano being commissioned to prepare the figures ;
but the latter did not work at them to any great extent.
The Pontiff also commissioned Giovanni Francesco, II Bo
logna, Perino del Vaga, Pellegrino da Modena, Vincenzio
of San Gimignano, and Polidoro da Caravaggio,'** with
many other artists, to execute historical pictures, separate
figures and many other portions of the works, all which
Christ. He beUeves that the designs which occur frequently in the museums
of Europe and which reproduce the subjects of the Loggie, are posterior to the
execution of the frescoes, and that only a few rare pen studies, or drawings in
red chalk and ia pierre d'ltalie are genuine originals. Messrs. Crowe and Cav
alcaselle think that only one sketch by Raphael for the Loggie has been discov
ered, viz., that for the David and GoUath, see op. cit., vol. ii., p. 426. They
insist, however, upon Raphael's supreme and exclusive control of the general
artistic scheme. This is only natural and necessary, no one of his pupils or
foUewers would have been equal to the task. Morelli attributes the execution
of all of the subjects to Perino del Vaga. Other critics have included Giulio
Romano (for the stories of Noah and of Joseph) ; Fr<anoesco Penni (for the
histories of Abraham, Lot, and of Isaac) ; RaffaelUno del CoUe (for the story
of Moses) ; PeUegrino da Modena (for that of Solomon).
The effect of the Loggie is cheerful, even gay, splendid, astonishingly varied
In motive, and quintessentially characteristic of the Renaissance. No deco
ration gives a. stronger impression of the spontaneity, freshness, fecundity,
and endless resources of the epoch. The inspiration for these frescoes came
from subterranean Rome, from the wall paintings of antiquity, and the
Loggie in their turn have been a quarry for the decorators of four hundred
years. It is in the purely decorative parts, the so-called grotesques (grottesche
from the grotte, grottoes or excavations, in which the original mural paint
ings were found) in the interwoven figures and scroUs, that we find special
subject for admiration. Hittorf, however (see E. Muntz, L'Age d' Or, p. 336),
considers the grotesques of the ViUa Madama, in their relative simplicity of
distribution superior to even those of the Loggie.
As to the sacred historical subjects, they are often coarse in execution and
coarse, too, in line, but they are grand in line as weU, and some of them have
a simpUcity, beauty, and freshness of composition which give evidence of the
best side of Raphael's capacity, even though Raphael never touched them him
self and only composed the first rough pen and ink sketches. They, the best
among them at least, breathe the real spii-it of the cinquecento and are worthy
of their name of " Raphael's Bible," " La Bible guelfe de Raphael " of Edgar
Quinet, the Biblia Pauperum of the Middle Ages.
i33Fer copious details regarding the Loggie see Vasari's lives of Giovanni
da Udine, Perino del Vaga, II Pattore, and Pellegrino da Modena. Numer
ous modem works, most of them with plates, have been pubUshed upon the

196 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
Raphael caused to be completed with so mucn care, that
he even suffered the pavement to be procured in Florence
from Luca della Robbia,"* inasmuch that, whether for the
paintings, the stucco work, the architecture or other beau
tiful inventions, a more admirable performance could not
be executed, nay could scarcely be imagined ; its perfection
was indeed the cause of Raphael's receiving the charge of all
the works in painting and architecture that were to be exe
cuted in the palace.
Loggie and they figure prominently in nearly every work upon decoration.
In the life of Morte da Feltre, as also in that of Giovanni da Udine, much is
said of the grottesche oi the ancients, but Herr Schmarsow has claimed for
Pinturicchio the credit of their first adoption into the art of the Renaissance.
The word " grotesques "(gfroiiescAe) is used for the first time in the contract
for the painting of the Library of Siena.
Although wholly different in subjects the so-called Bath Room of Bibbiena
may be mentioned in connectiou with the Loggie, since it is in the Vatican
and is decorated with grottesche. Passavant saw and described the room, but
since his time it has been practically closed to the studious as well as to the
merely curious. Herr Hermann DoUmayr (V Archivio Storico dell' Arte, III.,
p. 273) at last obtained permission to visit it, and describes the vaulting as in
ruins but the remainder as in better condition than he had anticipated. The
room is decorated throughout with mythological subjects, amorini, etc.,
treated in that style which the Renaissance based upon the decoration of an
cient Roman houses. Herr DoUmayr's article contains a long description of
these wall-paintings, of which he attributes the design to Raphael, the execu
tion to Giulio Romano ; the author refers also to P. Scheenfeld, RaphaeVs
Tag-und Nachtstunden und das Badezimmer des card. Bibbiena, in the
Kunstchronik, 1881, p. 406. The famous so-called "Hours" of Raphael no
longer exists ; there is not even any certainty as to where the paintings them
selves (now known only in reproduction) were placed. Passavant thinks they
were painted by a pupil of Raphael in " the interior of a Roman Palace," and
it is known that Giovanni da Udine and Ferine del Vaga painted some Hours
iu the Sala Borgia which have disappeared. Nothing can be proved with cer
tainty regarding these "Hours," but it is probable that Raphael made the
first sketches which inspired his pupils and that he in turn was inspired by
antiquity. See Crowe and Cavalcaselle, op. cit., vol. ii., pp. 548-550. The
so-called VUla Raphael, once outside the Pincian gate and now destroyed, con
tained frescoes of classical subjects in the style of Giulio Romano. Among
these was the Marriage of Alexander, new in the Borghese collection, and for
which there exists a famous drawing in Vienna. Nothing has been satisfac-
torUy proved regarding the work, which, however, seems to have been by
pupils or imitators of Raphael.
"1 This pavement has been broken up. Signor Costantini, who saw it be
fore it was destroyed, describes it as resembling the flooring of the Capella di

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 197
It is said that Raphael was so courteous and obliging,
that for the convenience of certain among his friends, he
commanded the masons not to build the walls in a flrm un
interrupted range, but to leave certain spaces and apertures
among the old chambers on the lower floors, to the end that
they might store casks, pipes, firewood, etc., therein ; but
these hollows and spaces weakened the base of the walls, so
that it has since become needful to fill them in, seeing that
the whole work began to show cracks and other signs of
deterioration. For all the doors, wainscots, and other
portions ornamented in woodwork, Raphael caused fine
carvings to be prepared, and these were executed and fin
ished in a very graceful manner by Gian Barile.
The architectural designs for the Vigna '^ of the Pope
and for several houses in the Borgo, '^ but more particularly
for the palace of Messer Giovanni Battista dall' Aquila,
which was a very beautiful edifice, were likewise prepared
by Raphael.'^ He also designed one for the Bishop of
Troia, who caused him to construct it in the Via di San
Gallo at Florence.'^
Fra Mariano del Piombo in Roma. The latter was evidently a pavement in
the style of the Robbias, taken from the Vatican ; the Robbia mentioned is
the younger Luca. M. Miintz, Raphael, p. 454, note, quotes a payment to Luca
registered in the Vatican Archives. Signor Giovanni Tesoroni, technical direc
tor of the Museo Artistico e Industriale at Naples, has been ordered to consider
means for reconstructing this pavement of the Loggie. See his essay, L' An
tico pavimento delle Loggie di Raffaello in Vaticano, Naples, 1891 ; and for
a reproduction of the pavement of the chapel of Fra Mariano, see an article
by D. GnoU in L'Archivio Storico delV Arte, IV., p. 126.
'5" This is the famous VUla Madama ; the interior has suffered from damp
ness and neglect ; Raphael probably made several designs for this villa.
13a Jjiost of these houses were destroyed when the new colonnade was built.
"' This palace was buUt for Giovanni Battista Branconie dell' Aquila and
was situated in the Borgo Nuovo. It was destroyed in the seventeenth cen
tury. The deU' Aquila palace was decorated in stucco by Giovanni da Udine ;
M. Miintz reproduces a rare engraving of it in his Raphael, p. 589.
138 In November, 1515, Raphael was summoned to Florence by Leo X. to
give his advice regarding the completion of San Lorenzo. It is probable that
during this sojourn he was engaged to prepare the design for the Pandolfini
(now Nencini) palace, which was built by Bishop Pandolfini after Raphael's
death. The work was begun by Giovanni Francesco da Sau GaUo, one of the

198 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
For the Black Friars of San Sisto in Piacenza, Raphael
painted a picture, intended to form the altar-piece for the
high altar of their church, the subject of this work is the
Virgin with St. Sixtus and Santa Barbara, a truly admi-
nnder-architeots of St. Peter's and was finished by another collaborator of
Raphael, Aristotile da San Gallo (see M. Miintz). The Ugucoioni Palace on
the Piazza della Signoria at Florence has been attributed to Raphael, though
it was built in 1550, and it is doubtful if Raphael had anything to de with
plan or model. The achievement of Raphael as architect is relatively insig
nificant, and his work is interesting to us because it is Raphael's rather than
by intrinsic excellence. His appointment as chief architect of St. Peter's
was without doubt the direct result of his friendship with Bramante, above
all of that sympathetic relation which made the architect feel that his Um
brian fellow-citizen and warm friend would carry out his, Bramante's ideas,
more readily than would another. The work upon the church could of course
make small progress during the few years of Raphael's directorship, and was
principally confined to strengthening piers, etc. , but nevertheless his plans dif
fered from Bramante's. Two old men, Giulano da San Gallo and Fra Giocondo,
were associated with Raphael, they soon died, however, and Antonio da San
Gallo the younger took their place. Giuliano Leno, as head of the admin
istrative department of the works, and Barile also, were under Raphael's
orders. The work of Baron von GeymiiUer, Raffaello Sanzio studiato come
architetto con V cijuto di nuovi documenti (MUan, 1S84), is valuable in the
consideration of Raphael as architect. The critic accounts the Cortile of
San Damaso in the Vatican and the Loggie to be Raphael's most impor
tant architectural undertaking after the works on St. Peter's. He attrib
utes the design of the Farnesina to Raphael, but this building, which ap
pears more delicate than the heavy classical examples left by him, is more
generally accredited to Peruzzi. Por the Palazzo dell' Aquila at Rome see
note 137, and for the Pandolfini at Florence, see above ; for the Villa Ma
dama, see note 135 ; aud for the circular church of S. Bligio degli Orefioi in
Rome (1509), possibly an early architectural work of Raphael, see Miintz, and
GeymiiUer, op. cit, p. 105. The latter thinks Peruzzi, to whom Aristotile
da San Gallo attributes the church, may have built it after Raphael's de
signs The design for the Chigi Chapel in S. M. del Popolo has also been
accredited to Raphael. Por further studies of his architectural works see
GeymiiUer, op. cit, and Passavant, op. cit, who mention designs for the
fafade of S. Lorenzo, Florence ; plan for the church of S. Giovanni Battista
dei Fiorentini, Rome; plan of Raphael's house; plans for palaces, villas,
stables, etc. ; see also Milanesi, p. 379, note 2. Though this short list of works
shows a comparatively unimportant achievement, Raphael's sincere enthusi
asm for architecture is proved by the use which he made of it in his pictures
and by his ambition as an archseologist. M. Miintz, Raphael, pp. 594-595,
declares that the Palazzo Pandolfini, the design of the Villa Madama, and the
projected plan preserved in the Uffizi are really the work of a great architect,
and that in the succession of BruneUeschi, Alberti, Bramante, Palladio,

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 199
rable production.'*' Raphael painted many pictures to be
sent into France,''" but more particularly one for the king,
St. Michael namely, in combat with the Arch-fiend, this
also is considered singularly beautiful, a rock, whence
flames are issuing, represents the centre of the earth, and
from the clefts of this rock fires and sulphurous flames are
proceeding, while Lucifer, whose limbs, scorched and burn-
Raphael, had it not been for his eai-ly death, would have been the natural link
between the two last named. We are now obliged to seek in the palaces of
the Farnese and Conservatori, the cupola of St. Peter's, the library of
Venice, the Villa ImperiaU, Villa Pia, ViUa of JuUus III., " les U4ments
epars de la succession artistique de Bramante." Vitruvius was translated
by Marco Fabio Calve of Ravenna into Italian to aid Raphael in his archi
tectural studies ; the original MS. is now in the Ubrary at Munich. On
the last page is the statement that the translation was done at Raphael's re
quest, and in his own house ; the MS. contains annotations by Raphael, some
of which are given in Passavant, op. cit, I., p. 199, note 1. Celio Calcagnini
teUs US that Raphael commented oraUy upon Vitruvius, praising and blam
ing with such tact " thatne bitterness ever mingled with his criticism."
'39 The Madonna of San Siste stands in the same relation to Raphael's other
virgins as does the Camera della Segnatura to his subsequent frescoes of the
Vatican, and the Galatea to his other mythological pictures. The Sistine Vir
gin heads the long train of the Madonne Gloriose of the Renaissance. The
chUd who is enthroned upon her arm belongs to that family of robustly an
gelic babies which counts the putto with the book at the feet of the FoUgno
Madonna, the putti of San Luca and Sant' Agostino, the dolphin-driver of the
Galatea, and the chUdren who upon the vaulting of the Segnatura proclaim
the divinity of the Poetry, Theology, PhUosophy, and Jurisprudence. The
picture was long considered as one of Raphael's last works, though in color it
dees not resemble the Transfiguration at all, being much better than the latter.
Herr Anton Springer has shown that it was probably painted in 1515. Hew
the northern city of Piacenza ever was fortunate enough to obtain such a
picture from Raphael at his busiest time is a mystery. Perhaps it was an
outcome of that visit to Bologna, if the visit ever took place ; perhaps (see
Crowe and CavalcaseUe, op. cit, U., p. 373) the cardinal of San Sisto was
mediator for the monks of Piacenza. He knew Raphael well, had been painted
in the fresco of the Decretals, was one of the party in the famous papal prog
ress to Bologna, and if an advocate vrith Raphael, would have been a, power
ful one. The picture was upon canvas, and it has been said upon uncertain
evidence that it was so painted in order that it might be used as banner [dra-
pellone) on high festivals. If so, Raphael apotheosized the invention of his
native Umbria, the processional banner which, as Rio has said, corresponds
in painting to the hymn in poetry. The Sistine Madonna is in the Dresden
GaUery. '¦i" The supreme pontiff had the more than royal privilege of convening at
Florence, in 1515, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, aud probably Raphael, to

200 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
ing, are depicted of various tints, exhibits every emotion of
rage that pride, envenomed and inflated, can awaken
against the Oppressor of his greatness, by whom he is de
prived of his kingdom, and at whose hands he may never
hope for peace, but is certain to receive heavy and perpet
ually enduring punishment. In direct contrast with this
figure is that of the Archangel San Michele ; his counte
nance is adorned with celestial beauty, he wears armour
formed of iron and gold, fearlessness, force, and terror are
in his aspect, he has cast Lucifer to the earth, and compels
him to lie prone beneath his uplifted spear : the work
was performed in so admirable a manner at all points, that
Raphael obtained, as he had well merited, a large and hon
ourable reward for it from the king.'" This matter also
painted the portrait of Beatrice of Ferrara,'''^ with those of
other ladies ; that of his own inamorata is more particularly
discuss the completion of the Medicean church, San Lorenzo ; yet for all that
he was never able to finish it. Whether he took the three princes of art in his
train of temporal princes to Bologna is uncertaiiL Michelangelo went with
Leo certainly, and Leonardo probably. Raphael surely left Rome for a time
in 1515, witness a deed of sale made for him, "licet absente," that year, and
Messrs. Crowe and CavalcaseUe cleverly bring forward as indirect evidence
in favor of his journey to Bologna the facts that he began in the first place
in 1515 to take pictorial commissions from the French king and court, who
met the pope with grand ceremony at Bologna ; secondly, that he renewed
his friendship vrith Francesco Francia at just this time; and thirdly, that he
sent the Ezekiel of the Pitti to Count Ercolane at Bologna.
>¦" This picture, which is hard and metallic in handling and disagreeable in
color, was presented to Francis I. by Pope Leo X. in 1518. Louis XIV. had
it placed over his throne, carefully protected by shutters. Primaticcio re
stored it iu 1537-40, and it was subsequently restored again ; in 1753 it was
transferred to canvas, and is now in the Louvre. The cartoon was given by
Raphael to the Duke of Ferrara. Among the other pictures at the Louvre
attributed to Raphael are the Belle Jardiniire, the Vierge au Voile, the Holy
Family of Francis I., St. John in the Desert (also accredited to del Piombo),
St. Margaret, St. George, another picture of St. Michael, and the portraits of
Baldasarre CastigUone, of Giovanna of Arragon, of " a young man," and a
picture of two men called without any reason Raphael and his Fencing-
master (attributed also to Sebastian del Piombo).
'" The famous portrait in the Barberini GaUery is caUed the Pomarina,
but this name (Baker's Wife or Daughter) has no justification. Fabio Chigi,
afterward Pope Alexander VH. , was, so far as is known, the first to suggest
that the picture represented an inamorata of Raphael ; ancient copies of it

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 201
to be specified, but he also executed many others. He was
much disposed to the gentler affections and delighted in
the society of woman, for whom he was ever ready to per
form acts of service. But he also permitted himself to be
devoted somewhat too earnestly to the pleasures of life, and
in this respect was perhaps more than duly considered and
indulged by his friends and admirers. "We find it related
that his intimate friend Agostino Chigi had commissioned
him to paint the first fioor of his palace,'^' but Raphael was
at that time so much occupied with the love which he bore
to the lady of his choice, that he could not give sufficient
attention to the work. Agostino therefore, falling at length
into despair of seeing it finished, made so many efforts by
means of friends and by his own care, that after much dif
ficulty he at length prevailed on the lady to take up her
abode in his house, where she was accordingly installed in
apartments near those which Raphael was painting ; in this
manner the work was ultimately brought to a conclusion.
For these pictures Raphael prepared all the cartoons,'**
exist in the Capitol, the Borghese and the Sciarra GaUeries, and at Monte-
pulcian o. See Layard'a Kugler, II. , p. 537, as also the writings of other critics,
for the attribution to Giulio Romano of the Barberini Fomarina. M. Miintz
(Raphael, p. 402) notes the fact that a fresco in the Villa Lante by GiuUo
Romano reproduces this portrait in company with heads of Raphael, Titian,
and a mistress of Titian. For the so-caUed Donna Velata, see note 116. The
so-called Fomarina of the Uffizi has been attributed to Raphael, Giorgione,
and Sebastian del Piombo. Dr. Bode gives it to Raphael, painting under the
immediate influence of Sebastian, but it is mere generaUy accredited to the
Venetian master. No one knows who is represented in the picture, and one
theory is that the woman is Beatrice of Ferrara, an improvisatrice, another
that the figure represents the great Marchioness Vittoria Colonna ; these
theories are as unproven as they are different.
113 These are the frescoes of the Villa called the Farnesina, and are among
the most famous of Raphael's works. The Pamesina was built for Agostino
Chigi, was begun before 1509, finished in 1511. According to Vasari, whose
statement is generaUy accepted, Baldasarre Peruzzi was the architect. Baron
H. von GeymiiUer is inclined to accredit the viUa to Raphael.
'" These frescoes were probably finished in 1518, Penni and Giulio Romano
executed them, Giovanni da Udine doing the decorative framework of fruit
and flowers ; and critics are generaUy agreed that Raphael painted the figure
of one of the three Graces (in a pendentive) who has her back turned to
the spectator. There are two large ceiling panels. Psyche upon Olympus

202 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
painting many of the figures also with his own hand in
fresco. On the ceiling he represented the council of the
Gods in heaven, and in the forms of these deities many of
the outlines and lineaments may be perceived to be from
the antique, as are various portions of the draperies and
vestments, the whole admirably drawn and exhibiting the
most perfect grace."' In a manner equally beautiful, Ra
phael further depicted the Marriage of Psyche, with the at
tendants ministering to Jupiter and the Graces scattering
flowers. In the angles of the ceiling also he executed other
and the Marriage of Psyche ; the ten pendentives contain : Venus pointing
out Psyche as a Mark for Cupid's Arrows ; Cupid showing Psyche to the Three
Graces ; Venus drawn by Doves ; Venus complaining to Jupiter ; Mercury aa
Messenger, Psyche bringing back the Vase ; Psyche presenting the Vase to
Venus ; Jupiter embracing Cupid ; Pysche ascending to Heaven vrith Mer
cury. In the fourteen lunettes between the pendentives are the triumphs of
Love, Cupids flying in the air and holding various attributes.
"' The frescoes of the Pamesina are at once a high-water mark of the vigor
of Italian art and a monumental example of its decadence. We have nowhere
a more astonishing proof than here of the strength of the spirit of the Renais
sance, a strength which could burst through and triumph over aU faults of
material execution. In spirit and in decorative adaptability of the designs to
the spaces filled the pendentives of the Farnesina count among the best of
Raphael's works ; in execution they are so coarse and sometimes so slovenly as
to be at the first glance almost repellent. Raphael frescante, painter of Ma
donnas, sculptor, mosaic worker, architect of St. Peter's, overburdened with
commissions, harassed by patrons, gave the whole execution of this work to his
pupils, and in spite of the brick-red flesh-tints and brutal outlines, in spite of
Maratta's staring blues in overpainted skies, the spirit of the epoch and of Raph
ael is se strong that in these pendentives we see again the joyous, serene life of
the Greeks as reconquered by the Renaissance. Leonardo the Saddler wrote to
Michelangelo that these paintings were even worse than the frescoes of the
hall of the Incendio at the Vatican, and so the ceilings of the " Banquet " and
the " Council " are ; but at least these decorations are far more homogeneous
and architectonicaUy admirable ; indeed with their distribution and composi
tion no fault is to be found, it is only their execution which has been slighted.
The two ceUings, the "Banquet" and the "Council," are in technique far
worse than the pendentives. Layard in his Kugler, II. , p. 530, says two charm
ing drawings for these ceilings, each six feet long, and presumably by Raphael,
exist, but adds that he does "not know where they are now." (See note 146
for mention of " feeble cartoons." Some critics have affirmed that as adapta
tions to peculiarly shaped wall spaces the pendentives surpass any of Raphael's
other compositions. This is not quite true, the Jurisprudence and Mass of Bol
sena are more perfect in this respect than are any of the works in the Farnesina.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 203
stories, representing in one of them a figure of Mercury with
his flute ; the god in his graceful movements appears really
to be descending from heaven ; in a second is the figure of
Jupiter depicted with an aspect of the most sublime dig
nity, near him is Ganymede, whom with celestial gravity
he is caressing, and on the remaining angles are other myth
ological representations. Lower down is the chariot of
Venus, wherein Pysche is borne to heaven in a car which is
drawn by the Graces, who are aided by Mercury.'*" In those
'¦"Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle, Raphael, II., pp. 417-433, note the
studies for the frescoes of the Pamesina as foUows ; Cupid and Jove, red
chalk, Louvre (characteristic rather of Giulio Romano than of Raphael);
ApoUo, red chalk, Vienna ; the Three Graces, red chalk, Windsor ; the Three
Hours, ChantUly, red chalk ; Venus and Psyche, pen aud ink, Oxford ;
Venus and Psyche, red chalk. Louvre ; Cupid vrith the Graces, red chalk,
Windsor, a feeble drawing, unlike Raphael's or Giulie's work ; two feeble
cartoons at Briefer the ceilings, " the CouncU " and the " Banquet ; " Psyche
with the Cup of Ambrosia, Chatsworth (characteristic of Giulio Romano)
and Psyche borne by Mercury to Olympus, red chalir, Chatsworth ; a red
chalk sketch of Bacchus (from the " Banquet "), in the Ambrosiana at Milan.
Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle refuse to express any opinion regarding this
last sketch, and also decline to accept any other of the drawings catalogued by
Passavant as studies for the Farnesina. It is especially desirable to mention
these various sketches, since in no ether case have Raphael's drawings and
these of his pupUs so uniformly surpassed the completed frescoes. Morelli
attributes to GiuUo the red chalk drawings for the Graces (at Windsor), the
Ambrosiana Bacchus and the Venus and Psyche of the Louvre, whereas the
latter drawing is called by Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle an especially fine
Raphael. It is probable that Morelli is right in the main, and the other
authors in part, tliat is to say, that the drawing is a production embodying
aU the very best quaUties of Giulio (of a Giulio mUes removed from the artist
of Mantua), so that the work, under the direct and powerful influence of
Raphael, stimulated even by some direct touches of the great master's pencU,
is something better than the pupil, even at his happiest moments, could
otherwise produce. There is a muscular weight about these figures which is
not quite Raphael's, and which yet is not unadmirable, but has a force of its
own very special to this most robust epoch ; there is a kind of fierce, or at
all events untamed character about Giulie's people, even in the frescoes,
which fascinates us in spite of their bricky flesh tones. Taine has said
of this drawing of Venus and Psyche, in his Voyage en Italie, "The
figure as originally drawn is a Virgin of primitive times, inexpressibly sweet
and innocent ; her childUke head, as yet unvexed by thought, placed on a
Herculean trunk, carries back the mind involuntarily to the origin of the
human family. . . . Even through the translation of his pupils, the
painted figure here, as the fresco throughout, ia stiU unique ; it is a new

204 RAPHAEL OP URBINO
compartments of the vaulting which are above the arches
and between the angles, are figures of boys most beautifully
foreshortened, they are hovering in the air and bear the
various attributes proper to the different deities ; one has the
thunderbolts of Jove for example, others bear the helmet,
sword, and shield of Mars, or the hammers of Vulcan, some
are laden with the club and lion-skin of Hercules, one car
ries the caduceus of Mercury, another the pipe of Pan,
while others again have the agricultural implements of Ver-
tumnus : all are accompanied by the animals appropriate to
their various offices and the whole work, whether as paint
ing or poetry, is of a truth eminently beautiful.'*' All these
representations Raphael further caused Giovanni da Udine to
surround with a bordering of flowers, fruits, and foliage in
the richest variety, disposed in festoons and all as beautiful
as it is possible that works of the kind can be.
This master likewise gave a design for the stables of the
Chigi Palace,'*^ with that for the chapel belonging to the
same Agostino Chigi in the Church of Santa Maria del
Popolo, this he painted also,'*' and furthermore made prep-
type, not copied from the Greek, but proceeding wholly from the painter's
brain and his observation of the nude model."
"' The deaign for the Psyche series of thirty-two subjects, engraved by
Agostino da Venezia and the Maitre au De, has been attributed to Raphael ;
but Vasari says that Michel Coxie, whom he knew personally, designed them,
and Passavant and M. Miintz (see the latter's Raphael, p. 533, note 1) sup
port the Aretine author.
' " Certain writers have thought that the PavUion in the garden of the
Farnesina may be the building mentioned here by Vasari, but Passavant in
clines to credit it rather to Peruzzi. M. Miintz, Raphael, p. 590, says the
Stalle Chigiane were commenced in 1.514.
'" Raphael apparently proposed to execute a grand cycle, commencing with
the creation of the stare by the Eternal Father, a subject which as a medallion
should close the centre of the vaulting ; this, as well as eight panels represent
ing the creation of the planets, was executed in mosaic by Aloisio della Pace,
a Venetian, 1516-34. Here the work stopped, whereas Raphael, had he
lived, would probably have completed an entire and grand system of decora
tion by the additienof the principal episodes from Genesis and from the his
tory of the Redemption. In the mosaics which were executed, Raphael, in
spired by the Convito of Dante, in which angels move the different planets,
has given to each one of the constellations of the zodiac a celestial messenger

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 205
arations for the construction of a magnificent sepulchral
monument,'* for which he caused the Florentine sculptor
Lorenzetto to execute two figures, ''' these are still in his
house situate in the Macello de Corvi * in Rome. But the
death of Raphael, and afterwards that of Agostino, caused
the execution of the sepulchre to be made over to Sebastiano
Viniziano.'^ Raphael had now attained to such high repute, that Leo
as a governing presence, and has placed Jehovah above them all. At this
epoch of the sixteenth century few of the rules obtained which governed mo
saic at an earlier time. We therefore find here a treatment wholly differing
from that seen, for instance, at Ravenna ; it is a Renaissance treatment which,
in spite of its advanced technique, as to design and modelling is very inferior
in true decorative principle to the work of the early Christian centuries.
* Macello de' Corbi in the MUanesi edition.
"° Baron von GeymiiUer believes that Raphael drew the plans and super
intended the construction of Agostino Chigi's chapel in S. M. del Popolo. Sig.
Domenico GnoU (L'Archivio Storico delV Arte, vol u. ), La Sepoltura d' Agos
tino Chigi, thinks that the tomb is by Raphael, although LetarouUly attributes
it to Peruzzi ; Sig. Gnoli considers that Raphael's authorship is proved by
Vasari, Chigi's vrill, and the character of the plan itself. The tomb was ex
ecuted by Lorenzetto [Lorenzo Lotti, see MUanesi], and without doubt the
design was by Raphael, for all the apparent absurdity, says Signor GnoU, of
handing over to the great Urbinate himself a work which had long passed as
Bernini's ! Signor Gnoli reproduces (L' Archivio Storico delV Arte, vol. U.,
p. 333) a remarkable bronze slab (mezzo-rilievo), now under the altar of the
chapel, and which he affirms to have once been the middle of the basement of
the mausoleum of Chigi. He adds that Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle are
wrong ill affirming that Sebastian del Piombo's frescoes were removed to
make place for the sepulchre.
'" As for the statues of the Chigi chapel there is nothing to completely
prove that any existing work of sculpture is by the hand of Raphael. The
South Kensington Museum has, however, a clay study claimed as Raphael's
own model for the Jonah (see J. C. Robinson's Catalogue, p. 149). The
statue of the latter, as weU as of the Elijah, was executed by Lorenzetto,
circa 1519. Leonardo da Compagnano in a letter to Michelangelo, and later,
Castiglione, writing to Andrea Piperario, mention a clay study of a child,
(puttino), as having been modelled by Raphael for Pietro d' Ancona. In the
collection of the Hermitage there is a child lying upon a dolphin (marble), and
iu Dresden another (a casting) ; critics have tried to identify these with the
above-mentioned puttino, but without proving their point. Certain medals,
among them one for the Duke of Urbino (Lorenzo de' Medici), and one for
Castiglione, have been attributed to Raphael, who probably only made the de
signs, if he did even so much as that.
's'' Sebastian del Piombo.

206 RAPHAEL OP URBINO
X. commanded him to commence the painting of the great
hall on the upper floor of the Papal Palace,"^ that name
ly wherein the victories of Constantine are delineated,
and this work he accordingly began. '^* The Pope also de
sired to have certain very rich tapestries in silk and gold
prepared, whereupon Raphael made ready the Cartoons,'^'
"= According to Sebastian del Piombo the subjects for the Hall of Con
stantine were to have been : The Battle, The Vision of the Cress, The Dream
and Baptism of Constantine, The Massacre of the Children whose blood was
to heal the Emperor's leprosy. Messrs. Crowe and CavalcaseUe suggest that
the studies for the Massacre of the Innocents engraved by Marco Antonio may
have had reference to these frescoes. AiHer Raphael's death the subjects exe
cuted by GiuUo Romano and others were different from those originally pro
posed ; The Dream, The Preparations for the Emperor'a Bath, The Mas
sacre are lacking. Those which now exist are ; The Battle of Constantine,
The Baptism of Constantine by Sylvester I., The Donation of Rome to
Sylvester I. by Constantine, The Apparition of the Cross, called also Cen-
stantine's Address to his Soldiers ; there are in addition small scenes in
fresco, and the ceiling is adorned with allegorical figures and ItaUan land
scapes. Raphael had probably nothing to do with even the composition of
The Baptism and The Donation. The sketch for The Battle of Constantine,
according to M. Reiset, Notices des Dessijis du Louvre, p. 356, was executed
by PoUdoro da Caravaggio under Raphael's direction. The Apparition of
the Cross (or Allocution), executed by pupils, differs widely from Ra
phael's sketch for it at Chatsworth. The fresco of the Battle is excellent as
to movement and action, but absolutely monotonous as to effect of both
color aud light. See also the studies on the Salle de Constantin et autres
Ouvrages postJmmes de Raphael, sur le Ginie de Raphael, and Les Elives de
Raphael, in Passavant's Raphael d' Urbin, I., pp. 284-347.
164 These .Tesceea are surrounded by borders which suggest, and were very
probably intended to suggest, a tapestry-like effect upon the walls. The Hall
of Constantine marks the time when the Italians began to ask themselves
whether the depth and brilliancy of oU colors could be preserved upon a wall
surface of plaster or stone. At first a very favorable result seemed to be ex
pected from Raphael's exneriments ; he is supposed to have designed the
colossal figures of Justice and Comity ; other critics say of Clemency and In
nocence, which Penni and Giulio Romano painted in oil to test the new me
dium, but soon the unsatisfactory natur' of the process became apparent, and
the painters returned to fresco. Sebastian del Piombo in his letter leads us
to understand that only one of the colossal figures was painted in 1.530.
Taken altogether, the works in the Hall of Constantine must be considered
as postdating Raphaels death and as showing relatively little of the master's
influence. 165 During the building of St. Peter's ceremonies of every kind within
the Vatican were naturally held in the Sistine Chapel, which thus be
came more than ever a focus for decoration. Raphael new attained to the

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 207
which he coloured also with his own hand, giving them the
exact form and size required for the tapestries. These were
then despatched to Flanders to be woven, and when the
cloths were finished they were sent to Rome.'°^ This work
was so admirably executed that it awakened astonishment in
all who beheld it, as it still continues to do ; for the specta
tor finds it difficult to conceive how it has been found pos-
coveted honor of taking part in this adornment of the central chapel of Latin
Christianity. These tapestries were ordered by Leo X. to complete the deco
rations of the Sistine, and the Acts of the Apostles were chosen aa a subject
which not only celebrated the commencement of the Papacy, but which should
also fiU out the cycle of scripture subjects that covered the vaulting and upper
walls. To the history of Moses, painted there in fresco under Sixtus IV.,
Michelangelo added the history of the Creation, the prophecy of the Saviour's
advent (Prophets and Sibyls), the Ancestors of Christ, and finally closed the
cycle with the Last Judgment. The tapestry of the Coronation of the Virgin
was possibly intended in Raphael's time to end the series. The designs were
without doubt furnished by Raphael, and the cartoons may have been executed
by his pupUs from these designs. The cartoons (begun about 1514) remained in
the work-shops of the weavers iu Flanders, where they had been out into strips
and pricked with holes, untU 1630, when the painter Rubens bought them for
Charles I. After the death of the king, Cromwell purchased them for the
state for £300. In the reign of WilUam HI. they were mounted by the
advice of Sir Godfrey KneUer. The seven cartoons which now remain were
formerly at Hampton Court, England, in a room buUt for them by Sir Chris
topher Wren. They are now preserved in the South Kensington Museum,
London. The foUowing is a list of the cartoons : 1. The Miraculous Draught
of Fishes, sometimes named the CalUng of Peter. 3. Christ's Charge to Peter.
8. The Stoning of Stephen. 4. Peter and John at the Beautiful Gate of the
Temple, or The Healing of the Lame Man. 5. The Death of Ananias. 6. The
. Conversion of St. Paul. 7. Blymas the Sorcerer Struck with Blindness. 8.
Paul and Bamabas at Lystra. 9. St. Paul Preaching at Athens. 10. St.
Paul in the Prison at PhUippi. The cartoons, numbers 3, 6, and 10, are lost.
Por the cartoon of the Coronation of the Virgin see foUowing note.
ISO The tapestries themselves are in the Vatican in the Galleria degli Arazzi,
Although the town of Arras, in Belgium, has given the name of arazzi to
tapestries, Arras had lost its importance in 1514, and Brussels received the
commission for the tapestries, which were woven, according to M. A. Wauters,
by Pierre Leroy ; according to M. Miintz, who publishes the document for the
contract, by Pierre van Aelst. (The story of the superrision of Bernhard van
Orley, a pupU of Raphael who had returned home, being a fable.) The larger
part of the tapestries was completed in 1518, and on St. Stephen's day (Decem
ber 36), 1519, they were hung in the chapel The series was finished in 1520,
and cost 30,000 ducats. In 1537 the tapestries were sold after the sack of Rome
by the soldiers of the Constable of Bourbon, who cut the Blymas in two

208 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
sible to have produced such hair and beards by weav
ing, or to have given so much softness to the fiesh by
means of thread, a work which certainly seems rather to
have been performed by miracle than by the art of man,
seeing that we have here animals, buildings, water, and
innumerable objects of various kinds, all so well done that
they do not look like a mere texture woven in the loom,
but like paintings executed with the pencil.'^ This work
and lost the lower half. Two of the tapestries went to Constantinople, but
were returned to JuUus IH in 1553, thanks to the Constable Anne de Mont-
morenci. The remaining ones were offered for sale in Lyons in 1 530 (see Messrs.
Crowe and Cavalcaselle's Raphael, II. , p. 379). Clement VII. bargained for them
and they were at the Vatican in 1545. Again the French sold them in 1798,
and they were bought by a company of dealers and exhibited in Paris. Pius
VIX purchased them, and in 1808 (see an inscription to that effect in the bor
der to the Miraculous Draught of Fishes) they were returned to the Vatican,
where they have since remained. The interior waUs of the chapel are divided
by ten pilasters into as many panels, which are filled by the tapestries. There
are four of these panels on each side, and there were two at the altar end,
where Michelangelo finaUy painted the Last Judgment. The tapestry repre
senting the Coronation of the Virgin, which iu the eighteenth century was
hung as an altar-piece in the Sistine Chapel, was discovered quite recently by
M. Paliard in a chamber connected with the private apartments of the Pope.
Passavant declared that it was intended to complete the decoration of the
Vatican. M. Miintz denies this, and says that though Raphael may have made
the study for it, it did not enter the Vatican untU the time of Pope Paul III.,
and was only hung up as altar-piece in the last century. The designs in the
tapestries reverse the compositions of the cartoons, and the colors in the
former are mere brilliant and are interwoven with gold and silver. In com
paring them with the cartoons it will be seen that the tapestries have
shrunk considerably. Their borders, especiaUy the pilasters decorated with
grotesques, are marvels of grace, spontaneity, and freshness, and the lower
edges, friezes, or socles, presenting subjects from the Acta of the Apostles and
from the life of Leo X. , are also wonderful in their variety, being in them
selves a whole gallery of pictures. Some of the inscriptions in these borders
postdate the execution of the hangings themselves.
'" After giving the typical examples of monumental decorative painting in
the Stanze of the Vatican, Raphael followed them by the typical examples of
monumental historical painting in the cartoons for the tapestries, while at the
same time he also apotheosized the illustration of text. Here he frankly
violated all the principles of decoration, applying to tapestry a treatment which
tapestry should never have, but in return he obtained magnificent historical
compositions, for in spite of sprawling fingers, writhing toes, and rolling
eyes, and in spite, too, of a lack of subtile characterization which makes many
of these figures academic, their movements and lines are grand. These car-

RAPHAEL OP URBINO 209
cost 70,000 crowns,*'^ and is still preserved in the Papal
chapel. '^^
For the Cardinal Colonna, Raphael painted a San Gio
vanni on canvas, which was an admirable work and greatly
prized for its beauty by the cardinal, but the latter being
attacked by a dangerous illness, and having been cured of
his infirmity by the physican Messer Jacopo da Carpi, the
latter desired to be presented with the picture of Raphael as
his reward ; the cardinal, therefore, seeing his great wish
for the same, and believing himself to be under infinite ob
ligation to his physician, deprived himself of the work, and
gave it to Messer Jacopo. It is now at Florence in the pos
session of Francesco Benintendi.'^
toons are, as compositions, almost perfect. Although the pantomime is exag
gerated, the story is told clearly and simply, indeed Raphael owes much of his
reputation among EngUsh-speaking peoples to these cartoons, first, because
they were preserved in England and accessible for reproduction in the last
century when ItaUan travel was less frequent than now ; and secondly, be
cause these scenes told Bible stories with a directness and force unrivalled since
Giotto, vrith the new science of the great epoch, and with a freedom from
mysticism which made them especially comprehensible to a Protestant
people. 156 Vasari's statement that 70,000 scudi were paid for the tapestries seems to
be false, as is also the estimate of 50,000, given by Panvinius, Vite de Ponte-
fici, II., p. 495. M. Miintz says (Raphael, p. 480) that Leo X. himself as
sured Marcantonio Michiel, the Venetian, that they cost 15,000 gold ducats,
that is to say, 1,500 apiece. Raphael waa paid 1,000 ducats for the designs.
1*8 In the same apartments of the Vatican another series of tapestries is
preserved, the cartoons for which are lost. These tapestries were intended
for the Consistorial HaU ; they are twelve in number and represent scenes
from the Ufe of Christ. Raphael had perhaps begun designs for them, but
they are so inferior to the first series that he appears to have had little to do
with them. Layard notes a Flemish character in some of the designs. M.
Miintz thinks that here and there, though rarely, the hand of Raphael is
shown, and believes that the master made certain studies for some of them,
but that pupils, and even very inferior men, completed the series and changed
his first designs, for some of the tapestries were net deUvered till 1530. A
set of tapestries (ChUdren playing together) ordered by Leo X. has also been
credited to Raphael ; eight fragments of these exist in Paris in the Hotel of
the Princess Mathilde Bonaparte. Another design of the same character,
ChUdren playing in a Wood, is so fine that Passavant attributes it without
hesitation to Raphael himself.
ISO It is in the Uffizi, and according to Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle, it
III.— 14

210 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
Raphael also painted a picture for the Cardinal and Vice-
chancellor Giulio de' Medici,'" a Transfiguration namely,
which was destined to be sent into France. This he exe
cuted with his own hand, and labouring at it continually,
he brought it to the highest perfection, depicting the Sa
viour transfigured on Mount Tabor, with eleven of the dis
ciples awaiting him at the foot of the Mount. To these is
meanwhile brought a youth possessed of a spirit, who is also
awaiting the descent of Christ, by whom he is to be liber
ated from the demon. The possessed youth is shown in a
distorted attitude stretching forth his limbs, crying, rolling
his eyes, and exhibiting in every movement the suffering he
endures ; the flesh, the veins, the pulses, are all seen to be
contaminated by the malignity of the spirit, the terror and
pain of the possessed being rendered further manifest by his
was largely executed by Giulio Romano. A similar picture is in the Louvre,
and is perhaps the original rather than is the work in the Uffizi. Morelli
thinks this last picture is by Sebastian del Piombo, and even believes that
Michelangelo may have made the drawing for it, for Sebastian.
'"In 1517 Cardinal Giulio de' Medici (afterward Pope Clement VII.) or
dered for the city of Narbonne, of which he was titular bishop, two altar-
pieces, one of Sebastian del Piombo (the Resurrection of Lazarus), one of
Raphael. Their execution became a sort of competition between the two
masters. Raphael's first idea for this picture was a Resurrection. J. C.
Robinson in his Catalogue of the Oxford Drawings, has compared designs
by Raphael in the collections of Mr. Mitchell, of Lille, Windsor, and
Oxford, showing that in 1519 and 1520 the artist was studying the composi
tion for a picture divided, Uke the Transfiguration, into upper and lower
groups in violent action, and representing the Resurrection. But the master
changed his idea and painted his famous last picture — the Transfiguration.
Raphael died before it was finished, and Cardinal GiuUo, deciding to keep the
picture in Rome, gave it to the monks of San Pietro in Montorio. Passavant be
lieves that GiuUo Romano finished the picture, basing his beUef on letters re
questing that he, Giulio, should receive certain moneys completing the payment
for the picture, but M. Miintz, op. cit, p. 578, note 1, says that the Floren
tine archives prove that this payment was not made to Giulio but to Baldassare
da Pescia, executor of Raphael's will The picture is now in the Vatican
GaUery. Raphael, in spite of his wish to paint the whole himself, was evi
dently forced by pressure of work to leave portions of the execution to pu
pils, probably to Giulio Romano, who did not fail to use his favorite lamp
black in the shadows. Studies for the picture exist iu Vienna, the British
Museum, Oxford, Chatsworth, the Louvre, the Ambrosiana in MUan, and the
Malcolm Collection of Loudon.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 211
pallid colour and writhing gestures. This figure is sup
ported by an old man in whose widely open eyes the light
is reflected, he is embracing and seeking to comfort the
af&icted boy, his knitted brow aud the expression of his face
show at once the apprehension he feels, and the force with
which he is labouring to combat his fears ; he looks fixedly
at the Apostles as if hoping to derive courage and consola
tion from their aspect. There is one woman among others
in this picture who is the principal figure therein, and who,
kneeling before the two just described, turns her head to
wards the apostles, and seems by the movement of her arms
in the direction of the possessed youth, to be pointing out
his misery to their attention. The Apostles also, some of
whom are standing, some seated, and others kneeling, give
evidence of the deep compassion they feel for that great
misfortune. '^^
"' Criticism in general for two hundred years has repeated after Vasari
that the Transfiguration is the greatest of aU pictures, and hyper-oriticiam has
condemned the composition of the painting, because it is divided into two
separate portions. The composition is not divided, but is made up of two
cleverly united portions, and the picture is not Raphael's masterpiece and is
mere than equalled by several other works. But it is not in its arrangement
that the Transfiguration fails, here as always Raphael proved himself a con
summate master of composition. The picture suffers from its chronological
place in the development of Raphael aud of Italian art. He painted it in
rivalry with Sebastian del Piombo, theprot^gi of Michelangelo, whose work in
the Sistine had taken Italy by storm and profoundly influenced Raphael The
latter, who could be nobly dramatic, here in the effort to surpass Michelan
gelo becomes declamatory and violent. His personages gesticulate, spread their
fingers, wriggle their toes, roU their eyes, and are ultra- academic. The color
in the lower part of the pictnre is disagreeable, the shadows are black and the
figures seem cut out of tin. Only Raphael, however, could have designed the
picture, and it is fiUl of beauties as well as of faults, and therefore is intensely
interesting as a study in the psychological development of a master. But it
does not hold us aa do scores of other pictures, because Raphael has not put
into it the irregularities, the subtleties of life, which would make it real and
humanize it. He has not thought of characterization, but of composition,
individual movements, and dramatic effect. The woman in the centre of
the group ia noble in attitude and proportions, is rounded and fine in her
muscular construction, is beautiful in lines, but she is a generalization aud
would be commonplace were it not for her splendid pose. The upper part of
the picture possesses great beauties ; here Raphael, as in the Liberation of
Peter, becomes again a ohiaroscurist, but the personages are insignificant in

212 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
In this work the master has of a truth, produced figures
and heads of such extraordinary beauty, so new, so varied,
and at all points so admirable, that among the many works
executed by his hand, this, by the common consent of all
artists, is declared to be the most worthily renowned, the
most excellent, the most divine. Whoever shall desire to
see in what manner Christ transformed into the Godhead
should be represented, let him come and behold it in this
picture. The Saviour is shown floating over the mount in
the clear air ; the figure, foreshortened, is between those of
Moses and Blias, who, illumined ty his radiance, awaken
into life beneath the splendour of the light. Prostrate on
the earth are Peter, James, and John, in attitudes of great
and varied beauty, one has his head bent entirely to the
ground, another defends himself with his hands from the
brightness of that immense light, which proceeds from the
splendour of Christ, who is clothed in vestments of snowy
whiteness, his arms thrown open and the head raised to
wards heaven, while the essence and Godhead of all the
three persons united in himself, are made apparent in their
utmost perfection by the divine art of Raphael.
But as if that sublime genius had gathered all the force
of his powers into one effort, whereby the glory and the
majesty of art should be made manifest in the countenance
of Christ ; having completed that, as one who had finished
the great work which he had to accomplish, he touched
the pencils no more, being shortly afterwards overtaken by
death. Having now described the works of this most excellent
artist, I will not permit myself to consider it a labour to say
somewhat for the benefit of those who practise our calling
respecting the manner of Raphael, before proceeding to the
relation of such particulars as remain to be specified in re-
scale, and Taine says truly that the figures attitudinize, and that the Christ
is a " swimmer striking out." In fact, no picture is fuller of contradictions
than this last work of tHe immortal assimilator, who was affected by all art
achievement, good and bad, that had gone before him, and who made it all
bis own.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 213
gard to other circumstances of his life, and to those which
relate to liis death. In his childhood he had imitated the
manner of his master, Pietro Perugino, but had greatly
ameliorated the same, whether as regarded design, colour
ing, or invention : having done this, it then appeared to
him that he had done enough, but when he had attained to
a riper age he perceived clearly that he was still too far from
the truth of nature. On becoming acquainted with the
works of Leonardo da Vinci, who in the expression which
he gave to his heads, whether male or female, had no equal,
and who surpassed all other painters in the grace and move
ment which he imparted to his figures ; seeing these works,
I say, Raphael stood confounded in astonishment and ad
miration : the manner of Leonardo pleased him more than
any other that he had ever seen, and he set himself zeal
ously to the study thereof with the utmost zeal ; by de
grees therefore, abandoning, though not without great
difficulty, the manner of Pietro Perugino, he endeavoured
as much as was possible to imitate that of Leonardo. But
whatever pains he took, and in spite of all his most careful
endeavours, there were some points and certain difficulties
of art in which he could never surpass the last named mas
ter. Many are without doubt of opinion that Raphael sur
passed Leonardo in tenderness and in a certain natural
facility, but he was assuredly by no means superior in re
spect of that force of conception and grandeur which is so
noble a foundation in art, and in which few masters have
proved themselves equal to Leonardo : Raphael has never
theless approached him more nearly than any other painter,
more particularly in the graces of colouring.
But to speak more exclusively of Raphael himself ; in the
course of time he found a very serious impediment, in that
manner which he had acquired from Pietro in his youth,
and which he had at the first so readily adopted : dry,
minute, and defective in design, he could not completely
divest himself of all recollection thereof, and this caused
him to find the utmost diffieulty in learning tQ treat

214 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
worthily the beauties of the nude form, and to master the
methods of those difficult foreshortenings which Michael
Angelo Buonarroti executed in his Cartoon, for the Hall
of the Council in Florence. Now any artist, who might
have lost all courage from believing that he had been previ
ously throwing away his time, would never, however fine
his genius, have accomplished what Raphael afterwards ef
fected : for the latter, having so to speak, cured and al
together divested himself of the manner of Pietro, the
better to acquire that of Michael Angelo, which was full of
difficulties in every part, may be said, from a master to
have almost become again a disciple and compelled himself
by incredible labours to effect that in a few months, now
that he was become a man, which even in his youthful days,
and at the time when all things are most easily acquired,
would have demanded a period of many years for its attain
ment. It is by no means to be denied, that he who is not
early embued with Just principles, or who has not entered
from the first on that manner which he can be content to
pursue, and who does not gradually obtain facility in the
difficulties of the art, by means of experience, (seeking
fully to comprehend every part and to confirm himself by
practice in the knowledge of all,) will scarcely ever attain
to perfection ; or if he do attain it, must do so at the cost
of much longer time and greatly increased labour.
At the time when Raphael determined to change and
ameliorate his manner, he had never given his attention to
the nude form, with that degree of care and study which
the subject demands, having drawn it from the life only
after the manner which he had seen practised by Pietro his
master, adding nevertheless to all that he did, that grace
whichjhad been imparted to him by nature. But he thence
forth devoted himself to the anatomical study of the nude
figure, and to the investigation of the muscles in dead and
excoriated bodies as well as in those of the living ; for in
the latter they are not so readily to be distinguished, be
cause of the impediment presented by the covering of the

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 215
skin, as in those from which the outer integuments have
been removed ; but thus examined, the master learnt from
them in what manner they acquire fulness and softness by
their unity each in its due proportion, and all in their re
spective places, and how by the due management of certain
flexures, the perfection of grace may be imparted to various
attitudes as seen in different aspects. Thus also he be
came aware of the effects produced by the inflation of parts,
and by the elevation or depression of any given portion or
separate member of the body or of the whole frame. The
same researches also made him acquainted with the articula
tions of the bones, with the distribution of the nerves, the
course of the veins, etc., by the study of all which he rendered
himself excellent in every point required to perfect the
painter who aspired to be of the best : knowing, neverthe
less, that in this respect he could never attain to the eminence
of Michael Angelo ; like a man of great Judgment as he was,
he considered that painting does not consist wholly in the
delineation of the nude form, but has a much wider field ;
he perceived that those who possess the power of express
ing their thoughts well and with facility, and of giving ef
fective form to their conceptions, likewise deserve to be
enumerated among the perfect painters ; and that he, who
in the composition of his pictures shall neither confuse
them by too much, nor render them poor by too little, but
gives to all its due arrangement and Just distribution, may
also be reputed a Judicious and able master.
But in addition to this, as Raphael rightly Judged, the
art should be further enriched by new and varied inventions
in perspective, by views of buildings, by landscapes, by a
graceful manner of clothing the figures, and by causing the
latter sometimes to be lost in the obscurity of shadows,
sometimes to come prominently forward into the clear light ;
nor did he fail to perceive the importance of giving beauty
and animation to the heads of women and children, or of
imparting to all, whether male or female, young or old,
such an amount of spirit and movement as may be suited to

216 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
the occasion. He gave its due value, likewise, to the atti
tudes of horses in battle scenes, to their movements in
fiight, and to the bold bearing of the warriors : the due rep
resentation of animals in all their varied forms, did not
escape his consideration, still less did that of so portraying
the likenesses of men that they may appear to be alive, and
may be known for those whom they are intended to represent.
Raphael perceived in like manner that innumerable acces
sories of other kinds and of all sorts were equally to be
taken into account, as for example the ornament of the work
by well arranged and beautiful draperies, and vestments of
every kind ; by due attention to the helmets and other parts
of armour, to the appropriate clothing of the feet, and to
the head-dresses of women : he saw that equal care should
be accorded to the hair and head of figures, to vases, trees,
grottoes, rocks, fires, the air, either turbid or serene, clouds,
rains, tempests, lightnings, dews, the darkness of night,
the moonlight, the sunshine, and an infinite variety of
objects beside, to every one of which attention is demanded
by the requirements of painting : all these things, I say,
being well considered by Raphael, he resolved, since he
could not attain to the eminence occupied by Michael Angelo
on the point after which he was then labouring, to equal,
or perhaps to surpass him in those other qualities that we
have Just enumerated, and thus he devoted himself, not to
the imitation of Buonarroti, lest he should waste his time
in useless efforts, but to the attainment of perfection in
those parts generally of which we have here made mention.
And well would it have been for many artists of our day
if they had done the same, instead of pursuing the study of
Michael Angelo's works alone, wherein they have not been
able to imitate that master, nor found power to approach
his perfection, they would not then have exhausted them
selves by so much vain effort, nor acquired a manner so hard,
so laboured, so entirely destitute of beauty, being, as it is,
without any merit of colouring and exceedingly poor in
conception ; but instead of this, might very possibly, by

RAPHAEL OF URBINO Sl'V
the adoption of more extended views and the endeavour to
attain perfection in other departments of the art, have done
credit to themselves as well as rendered service to the
world. Having made the resolution above referred to, there
fore, and learning that Fra Bartolommeo had a very good
manner in painting, drew very correctly, and had a pleasing
mode of colouring, although, with the intention of giving
more relief to his figures, he sometimes made his shadows
too dark : knowing all this, Raphael determined to adopt so
much of the Monk's manner as he should find needful or
agreeable to him ; to take a medium course that is, as re
garded design and colouring, and mingling with what he
obtained from the manner of Fra Bartolommeo, other
qualities selected from the best that he could find in other
masters, of many manners, he thus formed one, which was
afterwards considered his own, and which ever has been,
and ever will be highly esteemed by all artists.
Thus his manner, was afterwards seen perfected in the
Sybils '^^ and Prophets of the work, executed as we have
i»s These frescoes were probably executed about 1514. They are at once
the most Michelangelesque of Raphael's works, and aome of the meat beauti
ful figures which he ever painted. In assimilating the werk of the great
Florentine the Umbrian nevertheless remains distinctly himself, and Vasari
does his smgle injustice to the master in claiming that the Sibyls contain
only the inspiration of Michelangelo. They are the natural outcome of the
assimilator Raphael, who having been influenced by Perugino, Leonardo, Bar
tolommeo, comes at last to Buonarotti. They hold, as single figures, perhaps
as high a place as any of Raphael's creations, having almost the decorative grace
of the women in his Jurisprudence, with more of science and possessing the
force and robustness of the Pamesina nymphs, with infinitely more of precision,
elegance, and beauty. Vasari's statements regarding Timoteo Viti, in relation
with these subjects, have caused controversy. Passavant, recognizing the
Sibyls as Raphael's, and thereby contradicting Vasari, rather arbitrarily
handed over the Prophets to Timoteo because they were inferior as works of
art to the other fresco. Messrs. Crowe and CavalcaseUe added to this criti
cism by ascribing the draperies of the Sibyls also to Timoteo. Morelli de
clares that Timoteo in 1518 was a highly esteemed and prosperous Urbinate
artist, fifty years old or so, and much in request as a painter at Urbino. He
claims that such a man would not go afield as assistant to the young Raphael,
and sets down the whole story as an error of Vasari, followed by the later
critics. See ItaUan Masters in German GaUeries, pp. 391-313, for a long essay

218 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
said, for the Church of Santa Maria della Pace, and in the
conduct of which he was greatly assisted by the circum
stance of his having seen the work of Michelangelo in the
Chapel of the Pope."^ Nay, had Raphael remained con
stant to the manner as there seen, had he not endeav
oured to enlarge and vary it, for the purpose of showing
that he understood the nude form as well as Michael An
gelo, he would not have lost any portion of the good name
he had acquired ; but the nude figures in that apartment
of the Torre Borgia, wherein is depicted the Conflagration
of the Borgo Nuovo, although certainly good, are not by
any means all excellent, or perfect in every part. In like
manner, those painted by this master on the ceiling of
Agostino Chigi's Palace in the Trastevere, are not alto
gether satisfactory, since they want that grace and softness
which were peculiar to Raphael ; but the cause of this was,
in great part, his having suffered them to be painted after
his designs by other artists, an error, which Judicious as he
was, he soon became aware of, and resolved to execute the
picture of the Transflguration in San Pietro-a-Montorio,
entirely with his own hand, and without any assistance
from others. In this work, therefore, will be found, all
those qualities which, as we have said, a good picture de
mands, and should exhibit : nay, had Raphael not used in
this picture, almost as it were from caprice, the lamp black,
or printer's black, which, as we have more than once re
marked, does of its nature become evermore darker with
upon Timoteo and the young Raphael, and Crewe and Cavalcaselle, op. cit. ,
pp. 312-331, for a description of the drawings, for the Sibyls and Prophets, ex
isting in Oxford, the Uffizi, LUle, Vienna, and ChantiUy.
"* It is told of Raphael that he had received 500 ducats on account for hia
Sibyls ; ou his asking for the remainder due him, Chigi's cashier refused to
pay more and demanded that the matter should be referred to an expert.
Michelangelo was chosen, and going to Santa Maria della Pace, affirmed that
each head was of itself worth 100 ducats. Chigi having been informed of the
fact, immediately ordered his cashier to pay 400 ducats more, and said, "be
courteous with Raphael, and satisfy him well, for if he makes us pay for the
draperies too we shall be ruined. " This story is told by CinelU (Bellezze di
Firenze, edition of 1677, p. 377).

RAPHAEL OP URBINO 219
time, and is thus injurious to the other colours used with
it, had he not done this, I believe that the work would now
be as fresh as when he painted it ; whereas, it is on the
contrary, not a little darkened.
I have thought proper to make these remarks at the close
of this life, to the end, that all may discern the labour,
study, and care to which this honoured artist constantly
subjected himself, and with a view, more particularly, to
the benefit of other painters, who may learn from what
has been said, to avoid those impediments, from the influ
ence of which the genius and judgment of Raphael availed
to secure him. I will also add the further observation, that
every man should content himself with performing such
works as he may reasonably be supposed to be capable of
and equal to, by his inclination and the gifts bestowed on
him by nature, without seeking to contend for that which
she has not qualified him to attain, and this let him do,
that he may not uselessly spend his time, fatiguing himself
vainly, nay, not unfrequently, to his own injury as well as
discredit. Let it be observed, moreover, that when what
has been accomplished suffices, it is not good to make fur
ther efforts, merely in the hope of surpassing those who by
some special gift of nature, or by the particular favour ac
corded to them by the Almighty, have performed, or are
performing, miracles in the art ; for it is certain, that the
man who has not the needful endowments, let him labour
as he may, can never effect those things to which another,
having received the gift from nature, has attained without
difficulty ; and of this we have an example among the old
masters in Paolo Uccello, who, struggling against the nat
ural bent of his faculties to make progress on a given path,
went ever backwards instead. The same thing has been
done in our own days, and but a short time since, by Jaco
po da Pontormo ; nay, examples have been seen in the
experience of many others, as we have said before, and as
will often be said again. And this is permitted to occur,
perhaps, in order that when Heaven has distributed its

220 RAPHAEL OP URBINO
favours to mankind, each one may be content with the por
tion which has fallen to his lot.
But I have now discoursed respecting these questions of
art at more length perhaps than was needful, and will re
turn to the life and death of Raphael. This master lived in
the strictest intimacy with Bernardo Divizio, Cardinal of
Bibbiena, who had for many years importuned him to take
a wife of his selection, nor had Raphael directly refused
compliance with the wishes of the Cardinal, but had put
the matter off, by saying that he would wait some three or
four years longer. The term which he had thus set ap
proached before Raphael had thought of it, when he was re
minded by the Cardinal of his promise, and being as he ever
was Just and upright, he would not depart from his word,
and therefore accepted a niece of the Cardinal himself for
his wife. But as this engagement was nevertheless a very
heavy restraint to him, he put off the marriage from time
to time, insomuch that several months passed and the cere
mony had not yet taken place. '^' Yet this was not done
without a very honourable motive, for Raphael having been
for many years in the service of the Count, and being the
creditor of Leo X. for a large sum of money, had received
an intimation to the effect, than when the Plall with which
he was then occupied was completed, the Pontiff intended
to reward him for his labours as well as to do honour to his
talents by bestowing on him the red hat,'*^ of which he
meant to distribute a considerable number, many of them
being designed for persons whose merits were greatly in
ferior to those of Raphael. The painter meanwhile did not
"' Maria di Pietro Bibbiena is said to have died before Raphael. Pun
gileoni, however, affirms (see Milanesi, IV., p. 381, note) that, on the contrary,
she married Bernardino Peruli, a gentleman of Urbino. It is, however, pos
sible that the wife of Peruli, called Marietta, was another Maria Bibbiena, and
not the one affianced to Raphael Simone Ciarla seems to have hoped that
Raphael would marry one of his own countrywomen, and would be thus in
duced to come occasionally to Urbino.
•" The story of the hat is doubtful ; no artist has ever received a cardinal-
ate.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 221
abandon the light attachment by which he was enchained,
and one day on returning to his house from one of these
secret visits, he was seized with a violent fever,'"' which
being mistaken for a cold, the physicians inconsiderately
caused him to be bled, whereby he found himself exhausted,
when he had rather required to be strengthened. There
upon he made his will, and, as a good Christian, he sent
the object of his attachment from the house, but left her a
sufficient provision wherewith she might live in decency ;
having done so much, he divided his property among his
disciples ; '^ Giulio Romano, that is to say, whom he al-
'•' Even M. Miintz, that stanch partisan of Vasari, does not beUeve this story.
Raphael died of overwork; fatigue and fever were undoubtedly the direct
causes of his death. He was carrying on the painting of the Stanze, the work
in the Pamesina, the cartoons for the tapestries, an all-important competition
with Michelangelo (through the medium of Sebastian del Piombe), was respons
ible for the conduct of the work upon St. Peter's, and had undertaken the tre
mendous task of reconstructing antique Rome. No human being could crowd
all of this into his life, almost at one and the same time, without taxing his
physical endurance to the utmost. The visits to the excavations of Rome
have kiUed many strong men before and after Raphael's time, and the Roman
fever made short work of the artist whom the whole city mourned. The
Pope, who was soon to follow him, sent frequent messengers to his bedside.
The envoy of the Dnke of Ferrara hastened to acquaint his master with the
painter's death. Pandolfo di Pico deUa Mirandola wrote Isabella Gonzaga,
" for the moment, madam, you wUl net hear anything but that Raphael of
Urbino died last night. " Even Sebastian del Piombo had a good word for
him, and many thought with Castiglione, "I cannot beUeve that I am in
Rome now that my poor Raphael is gone ; may God receive that blessed
spirit." He died on Good Friday, March 6, 1530, between nine and ten o'clock
of the night, at the age of exactly thirty-seven years, day for day, and on that
night the very Vatican itself gave what to the superstitious was portentous
presage of the evil come upon Rome, the walls of the papal apartments
having cracked so badly that Leo took refuge in the rooms of Cardinal Cibo.
"9 The fortune left by Raphael amounted to some 16,000 ducats, equivalent
to about $160,000 at the present value of money. Hia artistic possessions
became the property of GiuUo Romano and Giovanni Francesco Penni, his
favorite pupUs ; they were also charged with the completion of the unfinished
pictures of Raphael Bach of his servants received 300 ducats. The land
which he had recently acquired in the Via Giulia was dirided between hia
cousin, Antonio Battiferro of Urbino, and the goldsmith Antonio da San
Marino. Funds were also left for the purchase of a house, the revenue from
which was to serve to keep up the service of the chapel in the Pantheon, in
which Raphael wished to be interred. He also left a prorision for his in-

222 RAPHAEL OP tJRBINO
ways loved greatly, and Giovanni Francesco, with whom
was Joined a certain priest of Urbino, who was his kinsman,
but whose name I do not know. He furthermore com
manded that a certain portion of his property should be
employed in the restoration of one of the ancient taber
nacles in Santa Maria Ritonda,'*' which he had selected as
his burial-place, and for which he had ordered that an altar,
with the figure of Our Lady in marble, should be prepared ;
all that he possessed besides he bequeathed to Giulio Ro
mano and Giovanni Francesco, naming Messer Baldassare
da Pescia who was then Datary to the Pope, as his executor.
He then confessed, and in much contrition completed the
course of his life, on the day whereon it had commenced,
which was Good Friday. The master was then in the
thirty-seventh year of his age, and as he embellished the
world by his talents while on earth, so it is to be believed
that his soul is now adorning heaven.
After his death, the body of Raphael was placed at the
upper end of the hall wherein he had last worked, with the
amorata, and the rest of his property went to his relations in Urbino. His
executors were Baldasarre Turini and G. B. dell' Aquila. It is usually stated
that Raphael left his palace to Cardinal Bibbiena. Proof to the contrary is,
however, given in M. Miintz's Raphael, pp. 674-75. The critic cites Visconti
(Istoria del ritrovamento delle spoglie mortali di Raffaello Sanzio da Ur
bino, Rome, 1836), and C. MUanesi, Giornale storico degli Archivi toscani,
XV., p. 348 and foUowing.
"^ Raphael's last resting-place is marked with a marble group by Loren
zetto, in accordance with the directions left in his will. Many persons be
Ueved that he was buried in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, in a
chapel belonging to the Urbinate residents of Rome. All doubt was, however,
set at rest by the opening of the tomb in the Pantheon in 1833. The skeleton
was found in a good state of preservation, and for a month it was exposed to
public view in a coffin raised on a catafalque around which lighted candles
were kept burning. Three casts were made of the skull, one for the Emperor
of Austria, one for the King of Prussia, and one for the Accademia di San
Luca. At length, after a lapse of three hundred and thirteen years, the
Roman populace again witnessed the burial of Raphael, which took place
amid imposing ceremonies. The four hundredth anniversary of the birth
of the painter was appropriately observed at Urbino and Rome on March 28,
1 883. A procession of artists and literary men marched from the Capitol to
the Pantheon, where a committee unveiled » bronze bust of Raphael and
placed laurel wreaths upon the commemorative tablet.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 223
picture of the Transfiguration, which he had executed for
Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, at the head of the corpse. He
who, regarding that living picture, afterwards turned to
consider that dead body, felt his heart bursting with grief
as he beheld them. The loss of Raphael caused the Cardinal
to command that this work should be placed on the High
Altar of San Pietro-a-Montorio, where it has ever since
been held in the utmost veneration for its own great value,
as well as for the excellence of its author. The remains of
this divine artist received that honourable sepulture which
the noble spirit whereby they had been informed had so
well deserved, nor was there any artist in Rome who did not
deeply bewail the loss sustained by the departure of the
Master, or who failed to accompany his remains to their re
pose. The death of Raphael was in like manner bitterly de
plored by all the papal court, not only because he had
formed part thereof, since he had held the office of cham
berlain to the Pontiff, but also because Leo X. had esteemed
him so highly, that his loss occasioned that sovereign the
bitterest grief. Oh most happy and thrice blessed spirit, of
whom all are proud to speak, whose actions are celebrated
with praise by all men, and the least of whose works left
behind thee, is admired and prized !
When this noble artist died, well might Painting have de
parted also, for when he closed his eyes, she too was left as it
were blind. But now to us, whose lot it is to come after
him, there remains to imitate the good, or rather the ex
cellent, of which he has left us the example, and as our ob
ligations to him and his great merits well deserve to retain
the most grateful remembrance of him in our hearts, while
we ever maintain his memory in the highest honour with
our lips. To him of a truth it is that we owe the possession
of invention, colouring, and execution, brought alike and
altogether to that point of perfection for which few could
have dared to hope ; nor has any rnan ever aspired to pass
before him.

224 RAPHAEL OP URBINO
And in addition to the benefits which this great master
conferred on art, being as he was its best friend, we have
the further obligation to him of having taught us by his
life in what manner we should comport ourselves towards
great men, as well as towards those of lower degree, and
even towards the lowest ; nay there was among his many
extraordinary gifts one of such value and importance, that
I can never sufficiently admire it, and always think thereof
with astonishment. This was the power accorded to him
by Heaven, of bringing all who approached his presence
into harmony ; an effect inconceivably surprising in our
calling, and contrary to the nature of our artists, yet all, I
do not say of the inferior grades only, but even those who
lay claim to be great personages (and of this humour our art
produces immense numbers,) became as of one mind, once
they began to labour in the society of Raphael, continuing
in such unity and concord, that all harsh feelings and evil
dispositions became subdued and disappeared at the sight of
him ; every vile and base thought departing from the mind
before his influence. Such harmony prevailed at no other
time than his own. And this happened because all were
surpassed by him in friendly courtesy as well as in art ; all
confessed the influence of his sweet and gracious nature,
which was so replete with excellence, and so perfect in all
the charities, that not only was he honoured by men, but
even by the very animals, who would constantly follow his
steps and always loved him.
We find it related, that whenever any other painter,
whether known to Raphael or not, requested any design or
assistance, of whatever kind, at his hands, he would invari
ably leave his work to do him service ; he continually kept
a large number of artists employed, all of whom he assisted
and instructed with an affection which was rather as that of
a father to his children, than merely as of an artist to
artists. From these things it followed, that he was never
seen to go to Court but surrounded and accompanied, as he
left his house, by some fifty painters, all men of ability and

RAPHAEL OF URBINO
distinction, who attended him thus to give evidence of
the honour in which they had held him.'™ He did not, in
short, live the life of a painter, but that of a prince.
Wherefore, oh art of Painting ! well mightest thou for thy
part, then esteem thyself most happy, having, as thou
"° Raphael treated the art school as he did everything else — gave it a new
impulse ; he changed the Bottega into an Academy. At the beginning of the
pontificate of JuUus H. less than a dozen painters were estabUshed in Rome ;
in 1535, one hundred and eighty-three were enrolled in the company of St.
Luke. (See M Miintz's interesting chapter, op. cit., pp. 659-664.) In Ra
phael's own train of scholars, were GiuUo Pippi of Rome, Giovanni Francesco
Penni and Perino del Vaga of Florence, Vincenzo Tamagni of S. Gimignano,
three Bolognese — Bagnacavallo, Vincidore, and Marco Antonio Raimondi,
PeUegrino of Modena, Battista Dosso of Ferrara, Ugo of Carpi, Baviera of
Parma, Genga of Urbino, Cesare of Sesto, Giovanni of Udine, PoUdoro of
Caravaggio, and Agostino (the engraver) of Venice. The Fleming, Van
Orley, was also either pupil of Raphael or greatly influenced by him. There
seems to have been a pecuUar unity, due to the master's personality, among
these pupils, and it was undoubtedly in memory of Raphael that Perino del
Vaga and Antonio da San Gallo founded at the Pantheon, in 1543, the
corporation caUed "io Congregazione dei Virtuosi," which exists at the
present day.
The most prolific of Raphael's brilliant train of scholars, a sort of chief -of-
staff indeed, was GiuUo di Piero Pippi de' Januzzi, caUed Giulio Romano,
bom in Rome, 1493. His part in the Vatican frescoes was especially impor
tant ; for the same and for many of the paintings, and even drawings designed
by Raphael but executed whoUy or in part by Giulio, see various notes in
this Ufe. His role in the creation of the VUla Madama was also an important
one. After the death of Raphael, Giulio entered the service of Federigo Gon
zaga ot Mantua, was made a noble, painted extensive frescoes in the Palazzo
del T. and in the Castello, left architectural works of all sorts in Mantua,
and died there in 1546. GiuUo' s forms were coarse but robust, his coloring
red and bricky, but hia best work has much of the strength and forceful in
ventiveness of his epoch.
Perino del Vaga (Piero Bnonaccorsi of Florence), 1499-1547, had an impor
tant part in the Loggie of the Vatican ; see note 133. After Raphael's death
he painted in Genoa for Andrea Doria, and afterward in Rome became a
protegi of Paul HI. and the Pamese.
The Florentine, Giovanni Francesco Penni, called II Fattore (1496 ?-1536),
was another of Raphael's right-hand men and a worker in the Loggie upon
the tapestry borders, etc. Giovanni da Udine stood for the purely decorative
(in the ornamental sense) side of Raphael's art, his stuccoes and grotesques
(in the ViUa Madama, the Loggie of the Vatican, the Pamesina, Medici Pa
lace of Florence, Medici Chapel of Michelangelo, Laurentian Library) are
world famous. Giovanni, whose fuU name waa Giovanni de' Ricamatori (or
di Nanni) was born in 1487 and died in 1564.
III.— 15

226 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
hadst, one artist among thy sons, by whose virtues and
talents thou wert thyself exalted to heaven. Thrice blessed
indeed may'st thou declare thyself, since thou hast seen thy
disciples, by pursuing the footsteps of a man so exalted, ac
quire the knowledge of how life should be employed, and
become impressed with the importance of uniting the prac
tice of virtue to that art. Conjoined as these were in the
person of Raphael, their force availed to constrain the great
ness of Julius II. and to awaken the generosity of Leo X.,
both of whom, high as they were in dignity, selected him
for their most intimate friend, and treated him with every
kind of familiarity ; insomuch that by means of the favour
he enjoyed with them and the powers with which they in
vested him, he was enabled to do the utmost honour to him
self and to art. Most happy also may well be called those
who, being in his service, worked under his own eyes ; since
it has been found that all who took pains to imitate this
master have arrived at a safe haven, and attained to a re
spectable position. In like manner, all who do their best
to emulate his labours in art, will be honoured on earth, as
it is certain that all who resemble him in the rectitude of
life will receive their reward in heaven.
The following epitaph was written on Raphael by the
Cardinal Bembo. D. O. M.
EAPHAELI. SAHOTO.* JOAN. P. VEBINATI.
PICTORI EMINENTISS. VETERVMQ AEMVLO,
CV1V3 SPIRANTEIS PKOPE IMAGINBIS
SI CONTEMPLERE,
NATVRAE. ATQVE ARTIS POEDVS
FACILE INSPEXERIS,
rVMI II. ET LEONIS X.t PONT. MAX.
PICTVRAE ET ARCHITECT. OPERIRVS
GLORIAM AVXIT.
VIXIT. AN. XXXVII. INTEGER. INTEGROS.
QVO. DIE NATVS EST, EO ESSE HESIIT.
VII. I ID. APRII,. MDXX.
ILLE HIC. EST. RAPHAEL, TIMVIT. QUO. SOSPITE. VINCI
RERUM. MAGNA. PARENS, ET MORlENTE. MORI.
* Sanctio in the Milanesi edition. t Pontt. Maxx. in the Milanesi edition.
X VIII. Id. April in the Milanesi edition.

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 227
The Count Baldassare Castiglione also wrote respecting
the death of this master in the manner following : —
Quod lacerum corpus medica sanaverit arte,
Hippolytum, Stygiis et revocaril aquis ;
AdStygias ipse est raplus Epidaurius undas;
Sicprecium vitae mors fuit artifici.
Tu quoque dum toto laniatam corpore Romam
Componis iniro, Raphael, ingenio ;
Atque Urbis laeerumferro, igni, annisque cadaver,
Advitam, antiquum jam revocasque decus.
Movisti supei-um, invidiam, indignataque mors est,
Te dudum extinctis reddere posse animam,
Et quod longa dies paullaiim aboleverat, hoc te
Mortali spreta lege parara iterum.
Sic miser heu! prirrm cadis intercepte juventa,
Deberi et morti nostraque nosque mones."' "' '" "* '"
"'Lodovico Ariosto in Carminum, Ub. IL, also expressed his sorrow for
Raphael's death.
"' Many weU known works of Raphael, and some famous ones, are not men
tioned by Vasari. Among these are the Holy FamUy of Francis L (Louvre),
according to MoreUi painted entirely by GiuUo Romano ; the ApoUo and
Marsyas (Louvre), said by MoreUi to be by some other master having close
affinity with the style of Perugino ; the Knight's Dream (National Gallery) ;
the Garvagh or Aldobrandini Madonna (National GaUery) ; the Madonna of
the Casa Alba (Hermitage of St. Petersburg) ; the CostabUi Madonna (in the
same gaUery) ; the Madonna della Tenda, probably executed bj' Giulio Ro
mano (Munich) ; the Esterhazy Madonna (Pesth) ; the Cowper Madonna (Pan
shanger Castle) ; the Madonna of Casa Tempi (Munich) ; the Bridgewater
Madonna (Bridgewater House), possibly painted by Francesco Penni. There
are also two famous Madonnas in Florence, the Gran Duca and the Seggiola,
or Madonna della Sedia. The Gran Duca is one of the loveliest and best
known of Raphael's earUer works, and is in the Pitti. The Madonna deUa
Seggiola, or "of the Chair " comes very near to being the most popular of all
his Madonnas. It is a circular picture admirably composed, painted about
1516, and is now in the Pitti. Critics have found the faces of mother and child
f uU of poetic beauty of a rapt and inspired character, but the picture would
seem rather to express the physical aspect of maternity concentrated and em
phasized by the attitudes of both mother and child. The infant Saviour, though
a beautiful boy, is stiU a reaUstic Italian baby, almost a Uttle animal, nestling
np to the warm side of its mother, like a young bird crowding down into the
soft nest. The color of the picture is agreeable but a trifle commonplace, and
lacking in distinction if compared for instance vrith the Leo X. Among the por
traits executed by Raphael or attributed to him and net included in Vasari's
Ufe, are the Baldassare CastigUone of the Louvre, the Bibbiena of the Pitti,

228 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
the woman caUed La Gravida, also in the Pitti, the Queen Joanna of Arragon
(Louvre, the execution of this portrait is by seme critics not ascribed to Ra
phael), and a youth resting his head on his hand (in the same gallery), the
Violin-player in the Sciarra Colonna Palace at Rome (circa 1513), (this lat
ter is attributed by Morelli to Sebastian del Piombo). Per long and inter
esting essays upon all the portraits see the two volumes by P. A. Gruyer, called
Raphael peintre de portraits, in which the author unites to his own original
reflections a great number of documents bearing upon the subject. There is
a portrait of a cardinal, probably Alidosi, in Madrid, and Layard in his
Kugler, II. , p. 539, ascribes to Raphael a portrait of Francesco Penni, formerly
at The Hague, and the heads of two lawyers, Bartolo and Baldo, in the Doria
Gallery of Rome. A portrait in the Borghese Gallery, has been attributed to
Raphael by famous critics and rejected by other equally celebrated connois
seurs ; Raphael's portrait of himself, in the Uffizi, should also be mentioned
here. It was painted in 1506, when he waa twenty-six years eld, for hia
maternal uncle, Simone Ciarla.
'"A papal brief of 1515 authorized Raphael to acquire marbles and other
stones for St. Peter's at a reasonable price. AU persons were forbidden under
heavy penalties from using stones dug from the ruins of Rome vrithout Ra
phael's permission ; aU inscriptions were also to be saved under simUar
penalties ; aU finders of marbles were to report the fact to the artist within
three days. Raphael's jurisdiction included the country ten miles around
Rome ; he thus had control over aU the excavations of Rome, and we are un
doubtedly indebted to him for the preservation of some of the most interest
ing antiquities of the city, as in the report to the Pope (1519) mentioned
below he urges the Pope to have the old buUdings preserved.
Two original texts of the report called Raphael's, on the edifices of antique
Rome and the method of drawing plans of the same remain. One was found
in the Library of the Marquis Scipione Mafiei; it was published by the
brothers Volpi at Padua in 1733, in the works of Count Baldassare Castiglione.
The other and later text was found in the Royal Library at Munich in 1834 ;
some of the sheets have plans of antique ruins. This text is pubUshed both
in the original ItaUan and in French, in Passavant, Raphael d' Urbin, I., p.
363, and p. 508.
This report was until 1799 considered to be the work of Castiglione, but
Abate D. Francesconi (Congettura che una lettera creduta di Baldassar
Castiglione sia di Raffaello d' Urbino, Florence, 1799) brought forward proofs
in support of his belief that Raphael was the author of the report, and that it
was only revised by Castiglione. His riews are very generally received by
the best critics ; there have, however, been some dissenting voices. Herr Her ¦
mann Grimm, in the Jahrbiicher fiir Kunstwissenschaft, 1871, p. 77, suggests
that the report was the work of the antiquary Andrea Fulvio. M. Miintz,
Raphael, pp. 630-633, shows that there are reasons for considering this theory
untenable, and brings forward weighty arguments, some of which have equal
force as directed against the hypothesis of Herr Anton Springer that Fra
Giocondo was the author of the Rapport.
Vasari also adds his quota to the evidence which tends to show that the
report was really the work of Raphael, for he distinctly states that in gather-

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 229
ing materials for his own lives he waa aided by the writings of Lorenzo
Ghiberti, Domenico Ghirlandajo, and Raphael of Urbino. It is probable that
Vasari here refers to Raphael's report. M. MUntz even beUeved that he had
discovered the passage used by Vasari in a reference in a Proemio to the arch
of Constantine.
In its substance this report is an eulogium upon antiquity. The author
eloquently deplores the barbarian invasion and the vandalism of pontiffs, who
in theii turn and for their own purpose, destroyed the ancient monuments.
In place of this destruction he proposes to undertake the restoration by
measurement, ground plans, oross-sections, aud elevations of the buUdings of
the Romans.
This tremendous archEeological undertaking aroused the greatest enthu
siasm, and the loss of Raphael the antiquary was as great a blow to the circle
of Leo X. as that of Raphael the painter. The author of the report speaks
with true Renaissance contempt of GJothic architecture, and with respect, but
also vrith moderation, of the buildings of his own time. M. Muntz claims
that Raphael iu this report is the first modern man to consider architectural
styles as a real historian, and also the first to discover that the painting and
sculpture of the old Romans declined long before their architecture showed
signs of decadence. This discovery, he states clearly and pointedly, citing the
reliefs upon the Arch of Constantino, the paintings of the time of Diocletian
and comparing them with the exceUent architecture of the same periods.
"* Some of Raphael's sonnets, as weU as some of his letters, are given in
Passavant's Raphael d^ Urbin, I., pp. 491-504. See also Grimm, Das Leben
Raphaels von Urbino, and L. Fagan, RaffaeUo Sanzio, his Sennet in the
British Museum, London, 1884. This same sonnet is reproduced in fac
simile in Miintz, Raphael, p. 367. Messrs. Crowe and CavalcaseUe think that
Raphael early recognized that the gift of poetry was denied him, and that he
ceased to write verses almost immediately after he first attempted them.
'" The study of the works of Raphael is necessarily the study of the evo
lution of the pictorial art of Central Italy. For two hundred years great
painters had been working at problems of suggestion, expression, and tech
nical achievement. Giotto had taught art to be real and dramatic, grand and
simple at once; the naturalists had learned to paint man, their greater
contemporaries to express him in hia essential attributes ; Masaccio had
made man's body a soUd realization in an ambient environment ; BotticeUi
had used that body as a sort of pattern for lovely decorative composition of
lines ; Ghirlandajo had found in it a pretext for dignified portraiture ; Sig-
norelU had made it material for the expression of movement by muscular
construction ; Perugino had pierced its envelope for the pietistic ecstasy
beneath. Each of these men, with more or less width of purpose and scope of
realization, had cultivated hia own vantage-point tiU the art fields of Italy
were indeed those of the Bliithe Zeit
Then came Raphael, the grand harvester, and bound up the sheaves of the
Renaissance. First were seen the fruits of his native Umbria as Raphael, atUl
almost a boy, learned of Timoteo Viti, then but a little later gave te the world
a new Perugino, with f reaher feeling, freer movement, and better architecture.
Next came the Florentine period, so rich in influences of the loftiest order, of

230 RAPHAEL OF URBINO
Leonardo da Vinci, of Michelangelo, and of Pra Bartolommeo ; the latter,
even in this early time setting Raphael in the pathway of monumental compo
sition and beckoning him onward by his own (Pra Bartolommeo's) Last Judg
ment to the fresco of San Severo at Perugia and thence to the Disputd. But
Rome was the theatre of the main outcome of these influences ; Raphael's Flor
entine era ia rather that of his Madonnas. These, from the character of the
subject, a mother and child, have been with a certain public, and a very large
one, the most popular works of their author. This admiration, while justified
and perhaps not too lavish, has certainly been indiscriminate. Praise of all
the Madonnas has estranged some real lovers of art because of its misappU-
cation, and because, after hearing this praise of an indiridnal werk, they have
been brought face to face with a picture ruined by overpainting and ignorant
restoration. Some of these Madonnas in the completed picture offer a certain
painty woodenness of execution that is unpleasing ; often the face is almost
sheepish, with its retreating chin, its tiny mouth, and blank look. But the
observer remembers how many hands have defaced the surface of these
canvases, and recaUs the real Raphael their creator, the maker of the beautiful
studies for them, studies which are often as different from the present com
plete and over -complete pictures as are fresh flowers from pressed ones.
Later, and in Rome, Raphael painted the magnificent Madonnas of FoUgno
and of San Sisto, and even in his Florentine period the beautiful Gran Duca
Virgin and some of her sisters rise to his highest level, but in this long suc
cession of minor Madonnas what we may most of all admire is the evolution
of composition, and the fact that with such simple means — ^three figures, a
mother aud two chUdren, or at most with the addition of Saints Anna and
Joseph — Raphael rang all the changes of possible arrangement and always
with ease and without straining.
In Rome, the world's focus, Raphael declared himself for what he was, the
supreme assimilator of all and every material that was fitted for the purposes
of art. In the work of the men who had preceded him he saw almost instinc
tively what was best suited to the needs of pictorial presentation, what was best
worth saving, perpetuating, aubUmating, and what waa better still, in his ob
servation of nature the same instinct guided him. He seemed to perfect
each phase of art after investing it vrith the resources of the new science. He
again gave te the world Giotto's grand simplicity in some of the scenes of the
Vatican Loggie. In the cartoons for the tapestries Giotto's clear, straight nar
ration is felt in spite of theatrical gesture, and the cartoons are thus not only
monumental, if academic compositions, but model Ulustrations of text. In the
portrait if Raphael feels at first that portraiture is only the frank unaffected
representation of such a stupid model as Maddalena Doni, he soon passes en-
ward to stronger characterization, to greater distinction, and the extraction of
the essence, in works Uke the JuUus II., and then finds in his Leo X. that the
portrait may also be the subject for a decorative scale of color and for dexter
ous texture-handling. Some of the fifteenth-century painters, Botticelli espe
cially, had made the human body, with its wonderful sUhouette, into the
greatest of decorative factors, a kind of pattern delightful te the eye. Raph
ael, vrithout forgetting character or the story, made vast frescoes into such pat
terns, using groups as Botticelli had used figures. In the art of composition

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 231
the painter is the guide, the director of his audience. By concentration he
firat focuses the eye of his spectator upon the point in his work which he
wishes to be most important ; from this, by the ordering of his lines or lights,
he draws the eye on to that portion of the work which he wishes to next re
ceive the attention, and thus he leads us onward always from point to peint
with a sense of ease and well-being born of the wise distribution of the
masaea, the chiaroscuro, and the contours. This is an involuntary itinerary
upon the part of the apectater, but it is productive of infinite delight, and of
this art of composition Raphael was the greatest master of the modern world.
His passion for synthesis was so strong that he saw all things in relation, and
sometimes forgot detail to such an extent that for the sake of arranging the
ensemble, of finding time for the distribution, he left the execution to the
hands that aU but ruined his work.
In an analysis of Raphael's achievement nothing is so puzzling as this
obtrusion of the pupU and assistant between us and and the master.
Raphael's great reputation induced a mnltipUcatien of patrons, his wish te
please occasioned the acceptance of multifarious orders, which in turn made
the use of assiEtants inevitable. Posterity has gained enormously in the
mass of work executed, and has lost in its quaUty. Has gain or loss pre
ponderated ? Who shall say ? Certain writers adduce the fact that Michel
angelo had no assistants, and claim that this constitutes a greatec artis
tic integrity, a greater senae of obUgation toward hia own art. But there
are many things to be considered in such a comparison of the two men.
Raphael accepted a multitude of commissions and carried them out by the
hands of others ; his character before all else required that the art scheme of
his work should be shown in compositional completeness. Michelangelo ac
cepted a multitude of commissions, but as he was too different from other
men to tolerate coUaboration, he left most of his commissions unfinished and
many of them rough-hewn. Undoubtedly he felt the mystery and power of
the half-hewn rock, and at times deliberately used this mystery ; but just as
undoubtedly he left much undone simply because he, like Raphael, "disdained
to consider the exigencies of time." We may, therefore, admit that either ar
tist left much of his work half fulfiUed ; but where, in the case of Buonarotti,
one-half is lacking, with the Urbinate one-half is complicated by the fact
that an inferior master has been thruat between the originator and the apec
tater of the work. Even in some of the Florentine Madonnas there is a
wooden, painty look very unlike anything te be found, for instance in the
Gran Duca. The spectator attributes this imperfection to the pupil-assist
ant. In the great Madonnas of Rome certain inferior portions of the pict
ures are parceUed out by critics to so many scholars or co-workers. In the
Stanze of the Vatican, Raphael sets an example in the Disputd and School
of Athens, then makes way for pupils ; even in these two frescoes there is
much that the master's hand may not have touched. In the Mass of Bolsena
and the Jurisprudence Raphael again appears at his best, but in the Helio
dorus vrith its magnificent movement we find academic exaggeration, en-
Jlure, the profiles of Giulio Romano and his coarse coloring, and in the Battle
of Ostia the color is stUl worse. In the Loggie of the Vatican Raphael is, as
it were, only the composer and leader of the orchestra, and even this is suf-

23a RAPHAEL OF URBINO
ficient for the attainment of a magnificent result. In the Pamesina again ho
composes and directs, but here the brick reds of Giulio Romano, the violent
blues of the later restorations, have made so li^any false notes that Michel
angelo's correspondent, Leonardo the Saddler, was not far wrong in his con
demnation. Thus, in the consideration of Raphael's technique, the critic has
constantly to attempt to disentangle the work of the master from that of the
pupiL We find, Raphael as draughtsman, in his scratch drawings, his pen-and-
ink sketches, his wonderful hasty dashing down of ideas, and again in the
close and almost pitiless characterization of some of his portraits. He could
be a colorist when he chose ; he has proved it in his Mass of Bolsena ; the
Gran Duca Madonna, too, shows the Umbrian, the master who had learned
of Timoteo and Perugino ; the Disputd ia agreeable in color ; the portrait of
Lee X. shows a distinct scheme of color most unusual to the Tuscan Re
naissance. But Raphael never cared supremely for color, indeed forgot aU
about it in his eagerness to express character and significance by form, dec
orative significance by composition. Had this not been the case he could
never have tolerated the two oblong ceiling panels of the Farnesina, or, above
all, have sent the St. Michael of the Louvre to Francis I. It is useless to
even cite Vasari here and say that colors have changed, and that lamp-black
has done its evil work. Sebastian del Piombo has proved to us at the time
that the color of the St. Michael was as bad then as now, gaudily "painted
iron" and "smoked" at that. But collaboration, which is potent to blunt
outline, to distort modelling, to coaraen color, is almost powerless to affect
composition ; here, therefore, we always see Raphael for what he was, the
supreme master. *
It is academic exaggeration, and the coarse generalization of collaborators
that have made some of Raphael's works even repeUent to certain minds,
and especially to young art students. The student eager to study nature aa
it is, compares some of the figures in the Stanze, mere especiaUy some of the
figurea in the tapestry cartoons or the Farnesina frescoes, with the almost
impeccable technical work of certain modem French artists, and he is angered.
" Is this," he asks, " your boasted Raphael ? Are these straining eyeballs, and
splaying fingers, and formal curls, and sugar-loaf noses like natnre ? Am I
to learn from them?" To which the answer is: "These are the faults of
Raphael, exaggerated by lesser men, and because they are exaggerations they
are obrieus and seen first of all." The real Raphael must be sought for in
his own thought, his studies, the works which he executed himself. Even
in those done by pupils the spiritual significance of the master's conception
often pierces the envelope, and we see him at once powerful and serene ; in the
long line of his Madonnas there is no repetition, and no sense of fatigue,
and in his frescoes he laid down the lines of monumental composition. The
same student who has compared Raphael's technique with that of the modern
French master may say, for instance, even while admitting their style and
character, that the silhouettes of the women in the medallions of the Camera
della Signatura are coarse in outline, that the construction of their faces will
not bear analysis. But when that modern painter has a medallion te fill and
has tried one arrangement after another he inevitably realizes that it is Ra-

RAPHAEL OF URBINO 233
phael who has found the best ordering that could be found, and the modern
painter buUds upon his lines, laid down so distinctly that the greater the prac
tice of the artist the more complete becomes his realization of Raphael's com
prehension of essentials in composition.
Por the types which he elected to present we must study his own works,
not those executed by pupils who did not have before them that " certain
ideal " which the master teUs us was always before his mental vision. His
male figures, from the putto of San Luca to the Jehovah of the Pitti, are the
descendants of athletes and demigods— calm, vigorous, and beautiful. But
they are not citizens of the antique world, to them Raphael has added some
thing of hia own, an indescribable air of sweetness and goodness. His women
are the Perugian Madonnas who have " passed through the Sistine Chapel,"
and added nobiUty and amplitude of style to their original gentleness and se
renity. Here and there in the great compositions we find a portrait, a sly,
subtle face like Bibbiena's mercUessly characterized, or a beautiful youth,
spirited but stiU modest and grave, Uke the son of IsabeUa d' Este, but more
often the types are generalized.
The comparison of Raphael with Michelangelo is inevitable, but not very
profitable ; each sat upon the mountain-top, one in clouds the other in sun
shine ; for Buonarotti's terribUitd we have Raphael's aerenity ; in either quality
there is power ; Michelangelo'a waa the most overwhelming personaUty in the
history of modern art, a whole generation struggled in its shadow and could
not escape its fascination. Raphael used the personalities of aU the greatest
artists of his time and made some of their best his ovm. His working life was
only a Uttle more than a quarter as long as the span of nearly seventy years
of labor allotted to hia great rival, Michelangelo. Raphael is the typically
youthful artist, and therein is forever the very archetype of the Renaissance,
of the New Birth, of the epoch when the world was young again, and men
turned east and west, upward and onward, to the arts with Leonardo, to the
seas with Columbus, to the heavens with Copernicus in dauntless conviction
that their question if earnestly asked should assuredly find an answer some
where in the great economy of nature.

ANDREA DEL SARTO, THE MOST EXCELLENT
FLORENTINE PAINTER
[Bom i486; died 1530.]
Bibliography. — L. Biadi, Notizie inedite della Vita d' Andrea del Sarto,
Florence, 1839. Pitture a fresco d' Andrea del Sarto nella Compagnia dello
Scalzo, incise ed illustrate, Florence, 1830. M. Missirini, Pitture a fresco di
A. del Sarto, e d' altri celebri OMion, Florence, 1834. Von Reumont, Andrea
del Sarto, Leipsic, 1835. A. Chiari, Pitture a fresco di Andrea del Sarto, e
d'altri celebri autori, Florence, 1847. H. Janitschek, Andrea del Sarto, in
the Dohme Series of Kunst und Kiitistler. Paul Mantz, Andri del Sarte,
Gazette des Beaux Arts, Second Period, 1876, XIV., p. 465; 1877, XV., pp.
38, 361, 338. L. Scott (pseud.), Fra Bartolommeo and Andrea del Sarto,
London, 1 881. Andrea del Sarto, W. R. Rossetti in Encyc. Brit. Pendler,
Andrea det Sarto's Madonna mit Heilligen aus dem Museum, in Berlin, in
lllustrirte Zeitmig, u. 3378, 93 Band. Tr. (T.), Der wiedergewonnene Andrea
del Sarto des Berliner Museums (Kunstchronik, 1888, u. 6). Bernhard Beren
son, The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance, New York, 1896. T. A.
TroUope, An Artist's Tragedy, Temple Bar Magazine, London, 1870. For
the Portraits of del Sarto, see L' Artiste, 1864, H., p. 173, Paris, 1864.
AT length then we have come, after having written the
lives of many artists who have been distinguished,
some for colouring, some for design, and some for in
vention ; we have come, I say, to that of the truly excellent
Andrea del Sarto, in whom art and nature combined to
show all that may be done in painting, when design, colour
ing, and invention unite in one and the same person. Had
this master possessed a somewhat bolder and more elevated
mind, had he been as much distinguished for higher qua
lifications as he was for genius and depth of Judgment in
the art he practised, he would beyond all doubt, have been
without an equal. But there was a certain timidity of
mind, a sort of diffidence and want of force in his nature,
which rendered it impossible that those evidences of ardour
and animation, which are proper to the more exalted char-

ANDREA DEL SARTO 236
acter, should ever appear in him ; nor did he at any time
display one particle of that elevation which, could it but
have been added to the advantages wherewith he was en
dowed, would have rendered him a truly divine painter :
wherefore the works of Andrea are wanting in those orna
ments of grandeur, richness, and force, which appear so
conspicuously in those of many other masters. His figures
are nevertheless well drawn, they are entirely free from
errors, and perfect in all their proportions, and are for the
most part simple and chaste : the expression of his heads
is natural and graceful in women and children, while in
youths and old men it is full of life and animation. The
draperies of this master are beautiful to a marvel, and the
nude figures are admirably executed, the drawing is sim
ple, the colouring is most exquisite, nay, it is truly divine.
Andrea was born in Florence, in the year 1488, his father
was a tailor, for which cause he was always called Andrea
del Sarto ' by every one. Having attained the age of seven,
he was taken from the reading and writing school, to be
placed with a goldsmith, and while thus employed, was
always more willing to occupy himself with drawing than
with the use of the chisel, or of such tools as are used by
the goldsmith to work in silver and gold. Now it chanced
that Gian Barile,^ a Florentine painter, but one of a coarse
and plebeian taste, had remarked the good manner which
the child displayed in drawing, and took him to himself,
m.aking him abandon the art of the goldsmith and causing
' Andrea d' Agnolo di Francesco di Luca was bem July 16, 1486. His fam
ily name was not Vannuchi or Vannucchio, as has been generally supposed,
and the monogram which he used in his works dees not consist of an A and a
V, but of two interlaced A's, which stand for Andrea and Agnolo. Andrea
del Sarto really means " the tailor's Andrew." The tradition that he was of
Flemish origin is now disproved. He was bom in Florence, in the Gualfonda
quarter, where his parents remained until 1504, when they removed to the
San Paolo district.
^ Giovanni Barile, who should not be confounded with Barile the Sienese
intagliatore, was born in 1486 ; Giovanni's brother, Andrea Barile, bom 1468,
was therefore probably the first master who taught Andrea del Sarto. See
Milanesi,- v., p. 7, and Delia Valle, Lettere Sanesi, HI., p. 334.

236 ANDREA DEL SARTO
him to give his attention to that of painting. In this, An
drea accordingly began to occupy himself to his very great
pleasure, and soon perceived with Joy that nature had
formed him for that vocation : in a very short space of
time, therefore, he was seen to do such things with the
colours, that Gian Barile and the other artists of the city,
were struck with astonishment. After the lapse of three
years, having been very zealous in his studies, he was found
to have attained much skill in execution, and Gian Barile,
perceiving that if the boy continued his endeavours, he
would certainly make an extraordinary painter, spoke con
cerning him to Piero di Cosimo,^ who was then considered
one of the best masters in Florence, and finally placed An
drea under his care. Full of anxiety to learn his art, the
latter studied without ceasing, and his perpetual labour,
conjoined with the natural endowments which proved him
to be born a painter, produced so great an effect, that when
handling the colours, he displayed a grace and facility
which could scarcely have been surpassed by one who had
used the same for fifty years.
Piero consequently soon conceived a very great affection
for his disciple, and heard with indescribable pleasure that
whenever Andrea had a little time to himself, more par
ticularly on festival days, he spent the whole of it in draw
ing, with other young men, in the hall of the Pope, where
was then the cartoon of Michelagnolo, with that of Leo
nardo da Vinci, and that he there, although still but a
youth, surpassed all the other students, natives as well as
strangers, who were almost perpetually vicing with each
other in that place.
But of all those whom he thus met, Franciabigio * was the
one whose character and conversation were most agreeable
to Andrea del Sarto, and as the latter was equally accept-
^ Andrea acquired some of the characteristics of the eccentric Piero di
Cosimo (1463-1531), who was a pupil of RosseUi, but these characteristics
nearly disappeared before the influence of Leonardo and Michelangelo.
' Francesco di Cristof ore Bigi (1483-1 534), commonly called Francia Bigio,
pupil of AlbertinelU.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 237
able to Franciabigio, they became friends ; Andrea then
confessed to Francia that he could no longer endure the
eccentricity of Piero, who had now become old, and that he
had therefore determined to seek an abode for himself.
Now it chanced that Franciabigio was ou the point of doing
the same thing, being compelled thereto by the circum
stance of his master, Mariotto Albertinelli, having aban
doned the art of painting : hearing what Andrea said
therefore, he told him that he also had to take a similar
step, and remarked to his companion at the same time,
that it would be for the benefit of both if they were to es
tablish themselves together. They hired a dwelling accord
ingly, on the Piazza del Grano,^ and executed many works
in company ; among them, certain hangings or curtains
wherewith to cover the pictures on the High Altar of the
Church of the Servites, the commission for which they re
ceived from a Sacristan who was a near relation of Francia
bigio. On one of these curtains they depicted an Annunci
ation of Our Lady ; this was on the curtain suspended
toward the choir, and on the other they executed a De
position of Christ from the Cross, similar to that which is
in the picture of the same church painted, as we have be
fore observed, by Filippo and Pietro Perugino.^
The members of the Company called that of the Bare
footed Brothers, of San Giovanni Battista, were accustomed
to assemble at the end of the Via Larga in Florence, above
the houses which belong to the illustrious Ottaviano de' Me
dici, and opposite to the garden of San Marco, in a building
which had been erected at that time by several Florentine
artists, who had there constructed, among other things, an
6 Andrea matriciUated as a painter December IS, 1508. See Milanesi, V. , p.
8, note 1. Paul Mantz (Gazette des Beaux Arts, p. 338, Vol XV., Second
Period) says that Andrea's name does not appear upon the " old book of
the corporation of painters of Florence " till 1536, aud wonders greatly at
this tardy date. Milanesi's statement ia, however, explicit as to his entrance
into the Arte de' medici e speziale, the guild which included the painters.
« These works are lost ; the curtains were reaUy painted by Andrea Feltrini
in 1510. See MUanesi, V., p. 8.

238 ANDREA DEL SARTO
outer court or quadrangle, the loggia whereof reposed on
columns of no great height. Some of the members of that
brotherhood therefore, perceiving that Andrea was likely
to become a most excellent painter, and being richer in
spirit than in pocket, resolved that he should paint stories
in fresco from the life of San Giovanni around that cloister,
twelve compartments namely, executed in chiaro-scuro with
terretta.'' Having set hand to this work accordingly, An-
' These frescoes, which have suffered much from exposure, are now protected
by glass. Their true order is as feUows, beginning on the right of the en
trance : 1. Allegorical figure of Faith (1530). 3. Announcement of the Birth
of John the Baptist to Zacharias (1.533). 3. The Visitation (1534). 4. Birth
of John the Baptist (1536). 5. By Franciabigio : Departure of John from his
Father's House (1518). 6. By Franciabigio : Meeting of John and Jesus (1519).
7. By Andrea and Franciabigio: The Baptism of Christ (Milanesi, 1514),
this was the first fresco of the series. 8. Charity (1530). 9. Justice (1515).
10. John Preaching (1515). 11. John Baptizing (1516). 13. John made a
Prisoner (1517). 13. Dance of Herodias' Daughter (1533). 14. Beheading of
John the Baptist (1533). 15. Bringing the Head of John the Baptist to
Herod (1.583). 16. Hope (1533). There are studies in the Uffizi for Numbers
13 and 15.
After the Sistine Chapel of Michelangelo and the Vatican Stanze of Ra
phael, there is no series of frescoes of the beginning of the sixteenth cen
tury more interesting than these painted in grisaglio by Andrea del Sarto
in the cloister of the Barefooted Friars (Chiostro dello Scalzo) and represent
ing scenes from the life of St. John the Baptist. In them Andrea has shown
himself capable of a feat to which no other save Raphael was equal. That is
to say, he has experienced the influence of Michelangelo without being ever-
powered by it. These works are permeated with the spirit of Buonarotti and
yet Andrea has not lost his own personality. He has struggled against mere
than one disadvantage, and still remains, and successfully remains, himself.
In his desire to work after the larger manner of Michelangelo and Raphael,
he has made his compositions academic and has overloaded his figures with
draperies ; te feel thia straining for effect one has only to note the H-shaped
compositions which represent the Announcement to Zacharias, the Offering
St. John's Head to Herod, or the formal distribution of the decapitation
of St. John, and to observe the female figure in the centre of the scene of
the Birth of St. John. Here the pulling of the drapery through and over the
girdle, an arrangement which is so charming with Botticelli and other fif
teenth-century painters, has been exaggerated by Andrea until the woman
looks as though she had been simply made a peg to hang clothes upon.
Herod as he sits at table is weighed down with his clothing, the figure at the
side is as bad, while the woman at tlie left of the Annunciation to Zacharias
is worst of all. On the other hand, while Andrea has gone even further than
Fra Bartolommeo in overloading his figures with drapery, he has not, like the

ANDREA DEL SARTO 239
drea depicted the Baptism of Our Lord by San Giovanni in
the first compartment, executing the same with so much
care and in so good a manner, that he acquired credit,
honour, and fame thereby to a remarkable degree ; and
great numbers of persons were thereby induced to require
works from his hands, as esteeming him one who, with
latter, abused the use of the lay figure. Andrea has indeed been so in love
with his great folds of cloth, that not satisfied with swathing his figures, he
has given them bundles and packets to hold upon their heads and under
their arms ; but although he has done aU this, the drapery ^er se is studied
and fine and these same figures, in spite of being half-smothered, are impres
sive. There is so large a feeUng, so much real power in them, that they rise
superior to all that hampers them, and although they (take for instance the
executioner of St. John or the Herodias as she sits with Herod) have less
of distinction or nobiUty than have Raphael's frescoed people, they have
more of freedom and sweep in techiUcal treatment than is found in most
of the figures in the Vatican Stanze. This is because whUe Raphael's hard
outlines are largely due to pupUs, Andrea painted his frescoes for himself.
In making this comparison one must, however, leave out the admirably
handled Mass of Bolsena and the Jurisprudence of Raphael, but even with
such reservations the comparison does honor to Del Sarto. While Andrea
shows himself able to foUow the greatest example without degenerating into
imitation, he does not hesitate te imitate frankly when he wishes to do so,
and in other frescoes of the series, the St. John Baptizing, etc. (see Thaus-
ing'a Life of Diirer), he takes whole figures from that artist's engravings.
Too much space has been given to the few defects of this admirable per
formance, it is far more difficult to define its many great qualities. In color
the grisaglio, though primarily tranquil and harmonious, does not lack variety
or accent; Andrea, whUe giving a certain amount of reUef to his figures,
makes no effort (as has been the case vrith certain other painters when using
monochromatic color) to imitate sculpture or to produce the vulgar Ulusion
of the trompe I'ceil. These frescoes, while less episodical and more severe in
style than those of the cloister of the Annunziata, still retain Andrea's sim
plicity, his naturalness, his freedom alike from declamation and from academic
coldness, although not from academic composition. If iu many ways they
show the influence of the Roman school, and even of Diirer, the study of
Pagan sculpture ia instantly felt in them. One of the most beautiful figures
inspired by antiquity in the whole range of modem art is the figure of Salome.
It is as noble in line as Mantegna's Judith, and possesses a human quality and
an ample stateUness that are Andrea's own. In many of the scenes the force
of style and of personality is admirable ; if the frescoes have not the grandeur
of Michelangelo, they also have not his exaggeration, if they do not possess
Raphael's serene beauty, they are also free from the insipidity which has
crept into some of hia inferior works. And it may be repeated that after the
paintings of the Sistine chapel and those of the Stanze there is no nobler
series of sixteenth century frescoes in Italy.

240 Andrea del sart6
time, must needs arrive at the honourable eminence prom
ised by his extraordinary commencement.
Among other works performed by Andrea at this time,
and in his first manner, may he mentioned a picture which
is now in the possession of Filippo Spini, by whom it ia
held in high veneration, in memory of so excellent an
artist.^ Nor did any long time elapse after the completion
of the above-mentioned works, before our artist received a
commission from those Monks of the Order of Sant' Agos
tino, who call themselves the Eremitani Osservanti, to
paint a picture for one of the chapels in their church,
which is situate beyond the gate of San Gallo ; the subject
being the Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene, in the
form of the gardener. The colouring of this work is so
good, there is so much softness, harmony, and delicacy,
throughout the whole, that it caused Andrea to receive a
commission for the execution of two others in the same
church, as will be related hereafter ; this picture of Christ
appearing to Mary Magdalene is now in the chapel of San
Jacopo-tra-fossi, near the Alberti, as are the two mentioned
immediately after it.'
After having completed those labours, Andrea and Fran
ciabigio left the Piazza del Grano, and took new rooms in
the Sapienza, near the convent of the Nunziata, from
which circumstance it happened, that Andrea formed a
friendship with Jacopo Sansovino, who was then a youth,
and was studying sculpture in that place under Andrea
Contucci, his master : nay, so close an intimacy and so
great an affection was subsequently contracted by Jacopo
and Andrea, for each other, that they were never separate
night or day. The conversations of these young artists
were, for the most part, respecting the difficulties of their
8 Nothing is now known of thia picture.
• Theae picturea are said by Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle to exist in a
private church belonging to the Coveni in the Casentino. Milanesi, V., p.
10, note 1, says that the two other pictures are in the Pitti. There is in
the Uffizi a Christ appearing to the Magdalen catalogued as by Andrea del
Sarto.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 241
art ; wherefore, we have no reason to be surprised that both
of them should ultimately attain to great excellence, as we
are now to show that Andrea did, and as will be related in
due time of Jacopo Sansovino, also.
In this same convent of the Servites, there was at that
period a monk, acting as Sacristan, who had also the super
intendence of the wax-lights sold there, and was called Fra
Mariano del Canto alia Macine. This monk heard every
one praising Andrea, and affirming that he was making
most wonderful progress in the art of painting ; he, there
fore, set about contriving to gratify a wish of his own, at
small cost. Attacking Andrea, who was a kind man of
mild manners, on the side of his honour, he accordingly
proceeded to affect a great interest in him, and declared
himself anxious to assist him, from motives of kindness, in
a matter which could not but redound to the glory of the
painter and would bring him great profit also, besides mak
ing him known in such a manner, that he would never
more be poor or wanting in any thing.
Now, it had happened many years previously, that Alesso
Baldo vinetti had painted a Nativity of Christ,'" as I have
before related, in the first cloister of the Servites, and on
that side which Joins the church of the Nunziata ; while
Cosimo RosseUi had commenced a story on the opposite
side of the same cloister ; " the subject being San Filippo,
who was the founder of that Order of the Servites, receiv
ing the Monastic Habit : but this work had not been com
pleted by Cosimo, who died while still engaged with its
execution. The sacristan, therefore, greatly desiring to
have it finished, thought so to manage matters, that he
might turn the emulation of Andrea and Franciabigio,
who, from having been friends, had now become rivals in
art, to his own account : his plan was to make each take a
part of the work, when, as both would be incited by their
rivalry in art to do their utmost, the sacristan expected to
¦» Finished in 1463.
'1 Probably painted in 1476.
III.— 16

242 ANDREA DEL SARTO
be the more effectually served, and at much diminished
cost, while to them the labour would be increased in an
equal proportion.
Having opened his mind to Andrea, he laboured hard to
persuade him to undertake the office proposed, by pointing
out to him that as the place was a public and much frequented
one, he would thus make himself known, not only to the
Florentines but to strangers, adding, that he ought, on that
account, not to think of expecting any payment for his
work, nay, rather, if he had not been invited to perform it,
should have even begged permission to do so. Fra Mari
ano, furthermore, remarked, that if Andrea would not un
dertake the matter, there was Franciabigio, who had offered
to accomplish the whole, for the purpose of making himself
known, and was willing to leave the question of payment to
him, the sacristan.
These considerations were well calculated to secure An
drea's compliance, although he had but little mind on the
whole to undertake such a charge ; but the reference to
Franciabigio effectually determined him, and he resolved to
accept it, making an agreement in writing, to the effect that
he was to have the whole, that none other might be per
mitted to intervene. The Monk having thus pledged him,
gave him money to make the necessary preparations, re
quiring that he should first continue the representation of
events from the life of San Filippo ; but all that Andrea
obtained from the sacristan was the sum of ten ducats for
each picture, Fra Mariano declaring that he gave so much
out of his own purse, and did all that he was doing, more
for the advantage of Andrea himself than for the benefit or
need of the Convent. The artist laboured, therefore, as
one who thought more of his honour than of reward, and
working with the utmost diligence in no long time he had
completed three of the stories."'
" Andrea's frescoes in the portico of the Annunziata are of the highest inter
est to the student of this artist, since in spite of the short period, 1.509-1510,
which they cover, they are a good example of the development of his style.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 243
These three were given to public view accordingly, and
in one of them Andrea was found to have depicted the cir
cumstance of San Filippo clothing the naked, after he had
taken the monastic habit. Another represented the same
Saint when he was reproving certain gamesters ; these men,
blaspheming God and scorning the admonition of San Fi
lippo, are making a mockery of his words, when suddenly
there falls a lightning-flash from Heaven, which striking
the tree under which they were seated, kills two of their
number.'^ All the rest are instantly seized with indescrib
able terror, some raising their hands to their heads, cast
themselves in desperation to the earth, others seek safety in
The earUer frescoes show us fifteenth-century Florentine art grown more sure
and skilful in the hands of a painter of the first years of the sixteenth century ;
a painter who has profited by the dramatic ordering of Filippino's frescoes,
but who is a far greater draughtsman than FUippino, who has learned some of
the secrets of Leonardo's sfumatura -without falling into any of Leonardo's
blackness in the shadows. There is in the drawing of the figures in these
scenes from the life of San FUippo a delicate sureness which far exceeds any
thing of the kind in BotticelU, Ghirlandajo, or Filippino ; and if the figures
have not the fervor of FiUppino, the distinction of Botticelli, the rude force
of some of Ghirlandajo's people, the monumental composition of Pra Barto
lommeo, they have distinction, force, and monumental composition at once,
and it is in this union of qualities that they show the wonderful advance
which waa possible to a Florentine master of the first order, who had seen
the work of Leonardo and Michelangelo, who, in fact, had the whole Tuscan
quattrocento at his back. In color these frescoes are scientificaUy as great
an advance upon fifteenth-century work as they are in their drawing ; there
is in them a cleamess, a coolness, and transparency net found in the work of
the quattrocentisti ; on the other hand, this color, vrith its pinky yeUows and
salmons and rose, is ahna&t pretty, and whUe distinguished by ita competency
it haa not the real diatinotion of color existing in certain earlier frescoes that
are inferior technicaUy. In composition one or two of these same earlier
frescoes also attain nobiUty, a quaUty which Andrea very rarely achieved, a,
certain stateUneas taking ita place in all but hia best works. He has chosen
a scale for his figurea which is not fortunate, and which would give a certain
sense of insignificance were they not so fine intrinsically. He seems to have
realized this, and changed the scale in the later frescoes ; unfortunately he also
changed his draperies ; these, which are admirable in the first three or four
of the series, are gradually exaggerated untU some of his personages, in spite
of their charm of face and pose, become mere packages swathed in yards upon
yards of ballooning cloth which hides construction and prevents movement.
" Of this fresco M. Miintz says well that it is a sort of prodrome of that
masterpiece of ita kind, Titian's St. Peter Martyr.

244 ANDREA DEL SARTO
flight, with looks full of horror. Among these is a woman
wild with the terror caused by the sound of the thunder,
and rushing along with so natural and life-like a movement,
that she seems to be indeed alive. A horse, having torn
himself loose in his flight, betrays the terror he feels at the
outcries around him, by rearing aloft, and in all his move
ments gives evidence of the effect produced by the unex
pected disturbance. The whole work, in short, proves the
forethought with which Andrea considered all that the
various circumstances of such an event as he was depicting
required, and gives testimony of a care and diligence which
is certainly most commendable, as well as needful to him
who would exercise the art of painting. In the third of
these pictures San Filippo delivers a woman from evil spir
its, and this also is delineated with all those considerations
which can be imagined as proper to the due representation
of such an event ; wherefore all these pictures obtained for
Andrea very great honour and fame.
Encouraged by the praise he received, the artist continued
his work, and in the same cloister he painted two other
pictures. In one, San Filippo is seen lying dead, with the
brethren of his order weeping around him ; there is also a
child, who having been dead, has been restored to life by
touching the bier whereon the body of the saint is laid.
The boy is first seen dead, and then resuscitated and re-
¦stored to life, being painted in each case with much thought,
and represented in a manner that could not be more truth
ful and natural than it is. In the last picture on that side,
our artist depicted certain monks who are laying the vest
ments of San Filippo on the heads of some children, and in
this work Andrea has given the portrait of the sculptor
Andrea della Robbia, represented as an old man clothed in
red and much bent ; he bears a staff in his hand. In the
same picture is also the portrait of Luca,'* son of the above-
14 The figures in this fresco are peculiarly deUcate, sure, and clean in handUug
and drawing. They stand just between the painstaking yet charming fifteenth-
century work and the freer treatment which was to immediately follow.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 245
named Andrea della Robbia, and in the painting of the
death of San Filippo, which we have Just described, there is
that of Girolamo, who was also a son of the sculptor An
drea, and was an intimate friend of the painter. This
Girolamo died no long time since in France.
The one side of the cloister was now completed, and as
Andrea thought the reward too little, and considered the
honour to be rated at too high a price, he determined to
abandon the remainder of the undertaking ; the monk com
plained bitterly at this, and would not set the artist free
from the agreement he had made but on condition that the
latter should paint two other stories, to be executed at his
own leisure and convenience, with an increase of price, and
so they remained of accord.
The paintings above described had caused Andrea to be
come better known ; he consequently received commissions
for numerous pictures and works of importance. Among
others he obtained one from the General of the Monks of
Vallombrosa, who desired to have a Last Supper painted on
an arch of the ceiling and on the wall of the refectory in
his convent of San Salvi, which is situate at some little dis
tance from the gate of Santa Croce." In the vaulting of
this refectory therefore, Andrea painted four figures, San
Benedetto namely, with San Giovanni Gualberto, San Salvi
the bishop, and San Bernardo degli Uberti of Florence, who
was a brother of their order and a cardinal : in the centre of
the same he depicted a circle having three aspects which yet
represent one only, to signify the Trinity.'* All these
pictures were executed admirably well for a work in fresco,
and Andrea obtained from them the reputation of being, as
in truth he was, a most excellent master in painting.
From the sculptor Baccio d'Agnolo, our artist received a
commission to paint a small picture of the Annunciation "
16 See note 85.
i« This manner of representing the Trinity was prohibited by Pope Urban
VIIL " This picture is uevv nearly ebUterated,

246 ANDREA DEL SARTO
in an angle of the steep descent which leads from Or San
Michele to the Mercato Nuovo ; this work is still to be seen,
it is in fresco, but has not been much approved : now the
latter circumstance may perhaps be accounted for by the
fact that Andrea, who worked so well when he left himself
to his natural powers, and did not place fetters on the en
dowments so richly imparted to him, had on this occasion,
as it is said, imposed too heavy a restraint on his genius,
thus doing injury to his work by an excess of care and
study. Of the many pictures which this artist painted for the city
of Florence, it would lead me too far were I to discourse at
length, I will therefore confine myself to remarks on those
most distinguished. Among the best of these may be
enumerated that which is now in an apartment of the house
of Baccio Barbadori ; the subject whereof is a full-length
figure of Our Lady, with the divine Child in her arms, she
is accompanied by Sant' Anna and San Giuseppe ; they are
all painted in an admirable manner, and the work is held by
Barbadori in the highest estimation ; '* there is also one of
great merit and in a similar manner, which is now in the
possession of Lorenzo di Domenico Borghini. For Leonardo
del Giocondo likewise, Andrea painted a picture of the Vir
gin which is at the present time in the hands of his son
Piero di Leonardo del Giocondo.
Two pictures, neither of them of any great size, were
painted by Andrea del Sarto for Carlo Ginori, and these
were afterwards purchased by the Illustrious Ottaviano de'
Medici, who has one of them now at his beautiful villa of
Campi, the other is in the apartment of the Signor Bernar-
detto, the worthy son of so noble a father, with many other
modern paintings by the most eminent masters, all of which
are highly prized by the Signor Bernardetto, who frequently
gives proof of the honour and esteem in which he holds the
labours of all meritorious artists, as he shows himself in-
" Milanesi states that in 1760 this picture was in the possession of the
Cavalier Pietro Pesaro of Venice.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 247
deed in all his actions to be a truly generous and magnifi
cent Signor."
Now it chanced that the sacristan of the Servites had
given Franciabigio a commission to paint one of the stories
still wanting in the cloister, whereof there has already been
made mention more than once ; but the latter had not yet
finished the preparation of the ground for his work, when
Andrea, dispirited by the apprehension of being surpassed
by Franciabigio, who appeared to him to handle the colours
in fresco more rapidly and with more ability than himself
— Andrea, I say, prepared Cartoons for two stories, almost
as in contention with the former, proposing to execute them
immediately, in the angle situate between the side door of
San Bastiano, and the smaller door which leads from the
cloister into the Church of the Nunziata. The Cartoons
were no sooner completed, therefore, than Andrea set him
self to execute the work in fresco ; in the first of his stories
he represented the Birth of Our Lady,^ the composition
exhibiting well proportioned figures, very gracefully dis
posed about a chamber, whither certain women, relations,
and friends of Sant' Anna have repaired to visit the latter,
who is in her bed. These her visitors are grouped around
the mother of the newly born Babe, and are clothed in such
vestments as were customary at that time : others, who are
of an inferior condition, stand about the fire ; some are
washing the Infant, while some of them are preparing the
swathing bands, and others perform other services of simi
lar kind. A child, who is warming itself at the fire, is
" Of these pictures we only know that the one placed in the Chamber of
Bernardetto represented Job.
'» In the Birth of Mary, Andrea rises to his f uU height, and the fresco takes
ita place with the Cenacolo, the Madonna of the Harpiea, the Madonna del
Sacce, and the best of the Scalzo series. Everything in the work is large,
ample, simple ; composition, feeUng, line, mass, aud color aUke. It shows
Uttle of the lofty spirit of Michelangelo or Raphael, but there is much of their
large, plastic feeling. The women are not so much beautiful aa lazily majes
tic, with a majesty which is, however, so reposeful that it is almost bovine.
Lucrezia del Fede, Andrea's vrif e, when a very old woman, told Jacopo da Bm-
poU that she had posed for the standing figure in a red gown in the foreground

248 ANDREA DEL SARTO
depicted very naturally, and with much animation ; an old
man also who is reposing on a couch, is a figure of great
merit, and the same may be said respecting each of the
women who are taking food to the patient lying in her bed,
the movements and actions of all being truly appropriate
and most natural. There are, moreover, certain angels rep
resented by children hovering in the air and scattering
flowers, and these likewise give evidence of much thought
and consideration, as well in their habiliments as in other
respects, they are painted with so much softness that the
flesh appears to be really living, and in all other respects
they seem rather natural than merely feigned.
In the second picture, Andrea represented the three Magi
from the East, who are led by the guiding star, and proceed
to pay their adoration to the child Jesus. ^' The master has
represented them as having approached near to the place
where he is to be found, and exhibits them as having de
scended from their horses, an arrangement to which he was
led by the fact that he had but so much space as included
the width of two doors between his work and the Birth of
Christ, which had been previously painted in that cloister
by Alesso Baldovinetti. The kings are followed by their
court, with carriages and baggage of various sorts, attended
by numerous followers, three of whom are portraits taken
from the life : the flgures here alluded to wear the Florentine
dress, they are depicted in one of the angles : the flrst is a
of this fresco, which, begun in 1511, was finished in 1.514, one year after An
drea's marriage. There is a study for this fresco in the Uffizi.
21 This work, which is full of a certain youthful spontaneity, vivacity, and
even gayety, still shows the influence of the older Florentine school in its
episodical treatment. Though painted in 1511, two years before Andrea's mar
riage vrith Lucrezia del Pede, it contains one of the most charming of the
many portraits of his wife, who is here represented in the costume of the
young Magian king. There is delightful color in thia fresco ; it is perhaps
almost too pretty, but in the warm tones of the amber flesh tints and in the gen
eral atmosphere there is a suggestion of the golden touch of the Venetians. In
thia work (painted in 1511) we find Andrea'a monogram, composed of two in
terlaced A's, for Andrea d' Agnolo, used for the first time. See the article
by the late Paul Mantz, in the Gazette des Beauv Arts, Second series, XIV.,
p. 471 and following.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 240
full-length figure looking at the spectator, this is Jacopo
Sansovino ; the second, who is leaning on him and pointing
forwards with one arm foreshortened, is Andrea himself,
the master of the whole work ; and the head, seen in
profile behind Jacopo Sansovino, is that of the musician
AJolle. In this picture there are boys climbing on the walls, the
better to obtain a view of the magnificent show, and of the
strange animals which form part of the train, they are ad
mirably painted, and in a word the whole story is equal in
merit to that previously described ; the master surpassed
himself, indeed, to say nothing of Franciabigio, in them
both ; the latter also completing his work, to which we
have alluded above.
About the same time Andrea del Sarto painted a picture
for the abbey of San Godenzo, a benefice also belonging to
the Servite monks ; this work was considered to be very
weU done.^ For the monks of San Gallo he painted a
picture of Our Lady receiving the Annunciation from the
Angel ; in this there is a pleasing harmony to be remarked
in the colouring, certain heads of the angels by whom Ga
briel is accompanied are painted with the most delicate
softness, and the beauty of the expression is jperfect. Be
neath this picture was a predella executed by Jacopo da
Pontormo,^ then a disciple of Andrea, who gave an indi
cation at that early age of the admirable works which he
afterwards produced in Florence, before he became what
we may very properly call another and entirely different
person, as will be related in his life.
At a somewhat later period Andrea painted a picture for
Zanobi Girolami ; the subject of this work, the figures in
which are not very large, is the story of Joseph the son of
Jacob ; it was completed by the master with most unremit-
" This picture is now in the Pitti Gallery, it is an Annunciation ; Cardinal
Carlo de' Medici, who took this picture from the convent, replaced it by a
copy. " It is now in the Pitti Gallery, and a study in red chalk for the angel is in
the Uffizi. The predella is lost.

250 ANDREA DEL SARTO
ting care and diligence, for which cause it has been usual
to consider this a very beautiful painting.^ No long time
after having finished this work, he undertook one for the
men of the Brotherhood called that of Santa Maria della
Neve, who have their house behind that of the nuns of
Sant' Ambrogio ; the picture is small, and the figures are
three : Our Lady namely, with San Giovanni Battista, and
Sant' Ambrogio : when it was finished, the work was in due
course of time fixed in its place on the altar of the above-
named Brotherhood.^
The abilities of Andrea had caused him about this period
of his life, to become known to Giovanni Gaddi, who was
afterwards clerk of the chamber, and who, from his love to
the arts of design, then kept Jacopo Sansovino in continual
employment. The manner of Andrea del Sarto pleasing
Giovanni, he commissioned the artist to paint a picture of
the Virgin for him, and this proved to be a singularly
beautiful painting, nay, it was considered to be the best
that Andrea had then produced, partly because the latter
had executed many beautiful and ingenious decorations, by
Way of frame work, around the picture.^
For the merchant Giovanni di Paolo, this master painted
another picture of the Madonna, which pleases all who be
hold it exceedingly, and is indeed a truly beautiful produc
tion : for Andrea Santini,^' he likewise painted a picture rep
resenting Our Lady, Jesus Christ, St. John, and St. Joseph,
all executed with so much care, that in Florence they have
ever been esteemed as works of the highest merit. ^
These various labours secured so great a name for An-
M There are in the Cowper collection at Panshanger three Uttle pictures
from the story of Joseph. Messrs. Crewe and CavalcaseUe beUeve them to
be by Pontormo.
2^ Nothing ia known of the work.
^' This picture was in the possession of the Gaddi-Poggi family of Florence
some years previous te 1850. See Milanesi, V. , p. 18, note 3.
2' MUanesi, V. , p. 18, has corrected Santiui to Sertini.
2^ According to MUanesi, Delia Valle said that a certain Alessandro Curti-
Lepri bought in Rome a picture answering to this description and had it en
graved by Raphael Morghen.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 251
drea in his native city, that among the many artists, old
and young, who were then painting, he was accounted one
of the best that handled pencil and colours. Our artist
then found himself to be not only honoured and admired,
but also in a condition, notwithstanding the really mean
price that he accepted for his labours, which permitted
him to render assistance to his family, while he still re
mained unoppressed for his own part, by those cares and
anxieties which beset those who are compelled to live in
poverty. But having fallen in love with a young woman
whom on her becoming a widow he took for his wife, he
found that he had enough to do for the remainder of his
days, and was subsequently obliged to work much more la
boriously than he had previously done ; for in addition to
the duties and liabilities which engagements of that kind
are wont to bring with them, Andrea del Sarto found that
he had brought on himself many others ; he was now tor
mented by Jealousy, now by one thing, now by another ;
but ever by some evil consequence of his new connection.^'
" In the first edition of Vasari, the history of Andrea's marriage is given at
greater length. Our author there says: "At that time there was a most
beautiful girl in the Via di San GaUo, who was married to a cap-maker, and
who, though bom of a poor and vicious father, carried about her as much
pride and haughtiness as beauty and fascination. She deUghted in trapping
the hearts of men, and among others ensnared the unlucky Andrea, whose
immoderate love for her soon caused him to neglect the studies demanded by
his art, and in great measure to discontinue the assistance which he had given
to his parents.
" Now it chanced that a sudden and grievous illness seized the husband of
this woman, who rose no more from his bed, but died thereof. Without tak
ing counsel of his friends therefore ; vrithout regard to the dignity of his art
or the consideration due to his genius, and to the eminence he had attained
with so much labour ; without a word, in short, to any of his kindred, An
drea took this Lucrezia di Baccio del Fede, such was the name of the woman,
to be his wife ; her beauty appearing to him to merit thus much at his hands,
and his love for her having more influence over him than the glory and honour
towards which he had begun to make such hopeful advances. But when this
news became known in Florence, the respect and affection which his friends
had previoualy borne to Andrea changed to contempt and disgust, since it
appeared to them that the darkness of this disgrace had obscured for a time
aU the glory and renown obtained by his talents.
"But he destroyed his ovm peace as well as estranged his friends by this

252 ANDREA DEL SARTO
But to return to the works of this master : if these were
very numerous, they were also very beautiful ; in addition
to those mentioned above, he painted a picture of Our Lady
for the church of the nuns of San Francesco, whose Convent
is in the Via Pentolini ; he received the commission for this
work from a monk of Santa Croce of the order of the
Minorites, who was at that time Intendant for those nuns,
and was a great lover of painting : the Madonna is standing
upright on a pedestal of eight sides, and on each of the
angles of this pedestal are figures of Harpies, seated in an
attitude which is almost, as it were, one of adoration of the
Virgin.^ Our Lady is holding the Divine Child, with one
arm ; and the Infant, in a most exquisite attitude, has his
arms round her neck, about which he is twining them most
tenderly ; with the other hand the Madonna holds a closed
book, she is looking down on two nude figures of children,
and these, while they support her in her position, serve at
the same time as an ornament to the picture. On the right
act, seeing that he seen became jealous, and found that he had besides fallen
into the hands of an artful woman, who made him do as she pleased in all
things. He abandoned his own poor father and mother, for example, and
adopted the father and sisters of his wife in their stead ; insomuch that aU
who knew the facts, mourned over him, and he soon began to be as much
avoided as he had previously been sought after. His disciples stUl remained
with him, it is true, in the hope of learning something useful, yet there was
not one of them, great or small, who was not maltreated by his wife, both by
evil words and despiteful actions : none could escape her blows, but although
Andrea Uved in the midst of all that torment, he yet accounted it a high
pleasure." This description has all the more significance when we remember
that Vasari was himself one of Andrea's disciples. The name of the gentle
lady thus attractively depicted by our author, was Lucrezia Recanati, accord
ing to Biadi ; that of her husband, the " capmaker," being Carlo Recanati.
— Mrs. Foster's Notes.
The marriage of Andrea took place in 1513.
'» The picture (1517) is commonly called the Madonna of the Harpies " delle
Arpie," from these stone figures upon the pedestal. It is now in the Uffizi.
In this work Andrea becomes somewhat academic as to arrangement both of
his figures and his draperies, and shows an effort to rie with Fra Bartolom
meo, in a certain grand formality, but the types themselves, the grave beauty
of the Madonna, who facially is far nobler than are most of Andrea's women,
and the Leonardesque beauty of the Christ child, more than counterbalance
any academic straining and make the picture a masterpiece, in which the in-

ANDREA DEL SARTO 253
of the Virgin is San Francesco, extremely well painted, the
countenance betokening all that simplicity and excellence
by which that holy man is known to have been distin
guished. The feet of the figures are also exceedingly beau
tiful, as are the draperies ; and as regards the latter, it was
one of Andrea's excellencies that their flow was ever rich
and ample, while he contrived, by a certain graceful and
flexible turn of the forms, to cause the outlines of the nude
figure to be discernable through or beneath them. On the
left of Our Lady is San Giovanni EvangeUsta, depicted in a
very flne manner as a youth, and in the act of writing the
Gospel. Above these figures and the building wherein they
are depicted, light transparent clouds are seen, and are so
lightly and naturally represented that they appear to be
really moving : this work is now considered among the best
of Andrea's productions, and is indeed one of singular and
truly wonderful beauty. He painted another picture of
Our Lady, for the Joiner Nizza, nor was this in any degree
less remarkable for its excellence than are the other works
of this master.^'
The Guild of the Merchants then determined to cause
triumphal chariots of wood to be made, in the manner of
the ancient Romans, to the end that these vehicles might be
drawn in procession on the morning of the festival of San
Giovanni, instead of the canopies of cloth, with wax lights,
which are borne by the different cities and fortresses in
token of subjection and tribute, when they pass on that fes
tival before the duke and the principal magistrates. Ten
of these chariots were then prepared, and Andrea painted
some of them in chiaroscuro, others he decorated with
stories depicted in oil, and these works were very highly
commended. It had been proposed that some of the char
iots here described should be made every year, until every
city and town should possess its own (when they would cer-
fluence of Leonardo, Correggio, and Bartolommeo are aU felt, yet which is for
aU that intensely personal and characteristic of Andrea.
»i This work is lost.

264 ANDREA DEL SARTO
tainly have made a magnificent addition to the pomp of
that show) : but since the year 1527, the preparation there
of has nevertheless been abandoned.^
While Andrea was thus adorning his native city with these
and other works, and at the same time adding daily to his
own glory, the men of the confraternity called that of the
Barefooted Brethren resolved that he should complete the
work which he had formerly commenced in their cloister,
where he had then depicted the Baptism of Christ.^ The
master therefore, having recommenced his work with much
good will, painted two other stories in that place, adding
two very beautiful figures of Justice and Charity as orna
ments to a door which opened into the house of the con
fraternity. In one of the stories now in question, the artist
represented San Giovanni preaching to the people ; the
attitude of the Saint is full of power, his person is attenu
ated as was proper to the life which he led ; the air of the
head and the expression of the countenance give evidence
of inspiration and of the contemplative habits of his life.
The variety and animation to be observed in the looks of
his hearers are equally remarkable and admirable, some are
standing as in amazement, and all are full of emotion as
they receive those new tidings and listen to a doctrine so
remarkable, but which had never before been propounded
to them.
But still more wonderfully was the genius of this master
rendered manifest in the picture wherein he represented
San Giovanni baptizing a vast concourse of people in the
river ; some of these figures are divesting themselves of
their clothing, others are in the act of receiving the sacred
rite ; some wait unclothed until the saint shall have finished
baptizing those who have gone before them, but in the atti
tudes of all, the utmost eagerness is apparent, and each one
3^ These chariots are lost.
" See note 13. Milanesi says that in Munich there are four schizzi painted
in monochrome (oil on paper), of the Preaching of St. John, The Visitation,
Zacharias and the Angol, and Salome with the head of St. John. See vol
v., p. 33, note 1, t.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 255
gives evidence of the earnest desire he feels, as he hastens
forward, to be washed from his sins. The whole of these
flgures, moreover, are so admirably depicted in the before-
mentioned chiaroscuro, that they have all the appearance of
the most animated and life-like statues in marble.
But I will not omit to mention, that while Andrea was
occupied with these and other pictures, there came out
numerous engravings, executed on copper, by Albert Diirer,
and that Andrea availed himself of these works, copying
certain figures from them, and adapting them to his own
purposes, a circumstance which has caused some to believe,
not that it is wrong to avail one's self dexterously of the
meritorious performances of others, but that Andrea was
not endowed with any great power of invention.^
Now it happened at this time, that Baccio Bandinelli,
who was then a very highly renowned artist in design,
formed the wish to learn the art of painting in oil ; where
fore, knowing that there was no one in Florence who un
derstood the method of proceeding in that branch of art
more perfectly than did Andrea del Sarto, he caused the
latter to paint his portrait, which must have resembled him
greatly at that age, as we may perceive even yet. By ob
serving Andrea execute this and other works, therefore,
Baccio obtained a knowledge of his mode of colouring, but
he did not put the knowledge thus acquired into practice,
either because of the difficulty which he found in doing so,
or perhaps, because he was not sufficiently attracted by the
art of painting ; be this as it may, he betook himself again
to sculpture, as being the art which he found to suit him
the best.®
For Alessandro Corsini, Andrea painted a picture of Chil-
'* Thausing in his life of Albrecht Diirer corroborates Vasari's statement,
that Andrea copied several figures from Durer's engravings.
3» Vasari teUs a different story in the life of Baccio Bandinelli " Repair
ing to Andrea del Sarto, who was his intimate friend, he begged the latter to
take his portrait in oil, hoping by this means to arrive at his end by two
separate ways ; the one being that he should acquire the manner in which the
colours were mingled, and the other, that having the picture left in his hands.

256 ANDREA DEL SARTO
dren surrounding a figure of Our Lady, who is seated on the
earth, with the divine Child in her arms. The whole is
executed with much ability, and the colouring in particular
is very pleasing.^ For a merchant who carried on his traf
fic in Rome, and who was Andrea's particular friend, the
latter also painted a head of the most exquisite beauty ; ^
and in like manner, for the Florentine, Giovanni Battista
Puccini, whom the manner of Andrea pleased exceedingly,
our artist painted a picture of the Virgin.'® This work
Puccini had caused to be executed for the purpose of send
ing it into France ; but finding it to be a most exquisite
production, he could not resolve on parting with it, and
kept it for himself. He was, nevertheless, so frequently
commissioned to send fine paintings, by good masters, into
France, where he had much traffic, that he soon gave An
drea another picture to paint, and the subject of this work
and having watched its progress throughout, he should retain it as an ex
ample which he should perfectly understand, and could have always before
him. " But Andrea at once perceived the object of Baccio's request, and, dis
pleased by the want of confidence and the craft which Baccio displayed, see
ing that he would have been most willing to have shown him whatever he
vrished, had Baccio asked him, as a friend, to do so, — Andrea, I say, being
thus dissatisfied with Baccio's trickery, gave no evidence of baring discovered
his purpose, but ceasing the preparation of mixtures and tints which he had
commenced, he placed every kind of colour upon his pallette, and mingling
them to a certain extent one with, another, he took now from one and now
from another with his pencU, which he did vrith infinite rapidity and dexter
ity of hand, producing an exact imitation of Baccio's complexion. Mean
while, the art used by Andrea, with the necessity of retaining his place and
sitting stUl, which was imposed on Baccio, if he desired to have his picture
taken, prevented the latter from seeing anything that waa done, nor could he
learn any part of all that he desired to know ; Andrea therefore succeeded
happily in punishing the want of confidence betrayed by his friend, while he
at the same time displayed, by that method of treating his work, the great
practice and ability which he, as an able master, possessed."
2' According to Bottari, cited by Milanesi, V., p. 33, note 3, the picture at
present in the Corsini Palace is a copy, the original having gone in 1613 to
the Signori Cresoenzi of Rome. Porster beUeves that the original pict
ure is in Munich.
3' This work cannot be identified.
" It is net possible to identify this picture.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 257
was the Dead Christ surrounded by Angels, who support
the body, and in very sorrowful attitudes are contemplat
ing their Maker, reduced to that condition by the sins of
the world.s'
When this work was completed, it received universal
commendation ; and Andrea, moved by the entreaties of
many persons, who were admirers of the picture, consented
to have it engraved in Rome by the Venetian Agostino ;
but the engraving was not a successful one, for which cause
Andrea would never afterwards permit any of his works to
be engraved. Returning to the picture itself, however,
this gave no less satisfaction in France, whither it was
sent, than it had done in Florence ; and the King, conceiv
ing the most earnest desire to possess other works by the
same hand, gave orders to the intent, that the master
should execute certain paintings for him ; a circumstance
which induced Andrea to form the design of proceeding at
no distant time into France, and in this he was much en
couraged by the persuasions of his friends.
But in the meantime, the Florentines, understanding
that Pope Leo X. was minded to do his native city the grace
and favour of showing himself therein, which he did in the
year 1515 ;* the Florentines, I say, commanded that most
magnificent preparations should be made for the festivals
which were to be arranged for the reception of His Holi
ness. A very sumptuous array of ornaments, triumphal
arches, temples, colossal statues, and other decorations, was
accordingly made ready, and the fronts of buildings were
richly decorated, insomuch, that the like had never before
been seen, whether as regarded splendour, magnificence, or
beauty ; for at that time there was a greater number of dis
tinguished men in Florence, and more men of genius were
then fiourishing there than had been known at any previous
3» It is in the Imperial Art Museum at Vienna. A half-length figure of the
Virgin also appears in the picture.
4» Leo was on his way to Bologna to meet Francis I., who had just gained
the battle of Marignano.
m.— 17

258 ANDREA DEL SARTO
period. Jacopo di Sandro and Baccio di Montelupo con
structed an arch, entirely covered with historical represen
tations, before the gate of San Pietro Gattolini ; another
was erected at San Felice-in-Piazza, by Giuliano del Tasso,
who also prepared certain statues for Santa Trinity, with
a half-length figure of Romulus, and the column of Trajan
for the Nuova Mercato ; * while Antonio, the brother of
Giuliano da San Gallo, erected an Octangular Temple on
the Piazza de' Signori, and Baccio Bandinelli made a co
lossal figure for the Loggia. Between the Abbey and the
Palace of the Podesta, an arch of triumph was constructed
by Granaccio and Aristotele da San Gallo ; and at the cor
ner of the Bischeri, another was erected by II Rosso, whose
work was much admired for the beauty of its order and the
variety of the figures wherewith it was decorated.
But that which was esteemed the most beautiful of all,
was the fa9ade erected before the Cathedral Church of
Santa Maria del Fiore ; this was of wood, so beautifully
decorated in chiaroscuro, by Andrea del Sarto, that noth
ing more admirable could possibly be desired ; and as the
architecture of this work was by Jacopo Sansovino, as were
likewise certain historical representations in basso-rilievo,
with numerous figures of sculpture in full relief, it was de
clared by the Pope to be so fine, that the edifice could not
have been more beautiful, had it been in marble. The dec
oration here described had been invented while he yet
lived, by Lorenzo de' Medici, the father of Pope Leo X."
The same Jacopo also prepared the figure of a Horse, on
the Piazza Novella, f It was in imitation of that in Rome,
and was considered exceedingly beautiful. An immense
variety of ornaments were likewise added to the Hall of the
Pope, in the Via della Scala, and the full half of that street
was also decorated with very beautiful stories, executed by
* Read the Mercato Nuovo, the New Market.
+ Read Piazza Santa Maria Novella.
¦" Lorenzo the Magnificent, Pope Leo's father, who had died in 1493, had
suggested a competition for a design for the fafade of the Duomo of Florence,
but the plan had fallen through.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 259
the hands of many artists, but the greater part of them de
signed by Baccio Bandinelli. On the 3rd of September,
then, in that year, it was that Pope Leo made his entry
into Florence, and the preparations thus made for that oc
casion were adjudged to be the most magnificent, as well as
the most beautiful, that ever had been made at any time for
the reception of a prince.
But let us now return to Andrea : being again required
to prepare another picture for the King of France, he fin
ished one in a short time, wherein he represented a Ma
donna of extraordinary beauty ; *^ this was sent immediately
into France, where the merchants received four times as
much for the work as they had paid for it to the painter. '•'
Now it chanced that Pier Francesco Borgherini had at that
time caused rich carvings in wood to be executed by Baccio
d'Agnolo for the decoration of coffers, backs of chairs, seats
of different forms, with a bedstead in walnut-wood, all of
great beauty, and intended for the furnishing forth of an
apartment. He therefore desired that the paintings thereof
should be equal to and correspond with the rest of the or
naments. To that end, therefore, he commissioned Andrea
del Sarto to paint the history of Joseph the son of Jacob,
in flgures of no great size, and these our artist was to exe
cute in competition with Granaccio and Jacopo da Pontor
mo, who had produced certain paintings there which are
very beautiful ; he set to work accordingly, with even more
than his usual assiduity, making extraordinary efforts and
expending a very large amount of time, to the end that his
performance might surpass those of the before-mentioned
masters ; nor did the endeavours thus made fail to produce
the result desired, seeing that the variety of circumstances
which the facts of the story required him to represent, gave
" This picture is said te be one of the Holy Families now in the Louvre.
MM. Lafenestre and Riohtenberger in Le Louvre, catalogue as by Andrea in
that gallery: two Holy Families, numbers 1515, 1516; an Annunciation
(1517), and a Charity (1514).
" " It is interesting to note that the picture-dealer grievance waa rife even
in those days."— B. T. Cook, Handbook to the National GaUery.

260 ANDREA DEL SARTO
Andrea an opportunity of showing how much he could ef
fect in the art of painting. At the siege of Florence, the
beauty of these pictures caused Giovanni Battista della
Palla to attempt their removal from the places wherein they
were fixed, for the purpose of sending them to the King of
France, but they were found to be so firmly fastened, that
they could not be stirred without the destruction of the
whole work, they were consequently suffered to remain, as
was also a figure of Our Lady, which is held to be one of
extraordinary beauty.^
Shortly after having completed this undertaking, Andrea
" These paintings, now in the Pitti GaUery, were intended to decorate
f umiture ; they were ordered in 1533 by Pier Borgherini for the marriage of
his sen, Francesco Borgherini, with Margherita Acciajueli, and were placed in
the Borgherini palace in the Borgo SS. ApostoU. Vasari gives another reason
for the failure of della Palla to remove the paintings in his life of Pontormo.
"Now it chanced that during the siege of Florence, Pier Francesco Bor
gherini had retired te Lucca, when Giovan Battista Palla, who desired to get
the decorations of this chamber, as well aa other works, into his hands, with
intention to transport them into Prance, where they were to be presented to
the king Francis, in the name of the Signoria : Giovan Battista, I say, found
means to procure so many abettors, and so contrived, both to do and to say,
that the Gonfaloniere and the Signori furnished with him a commission, by
virtue of which the whole were to be taken away, and the price thereof paid
to the wife of Pier Francesco.
"Thereupon Giovan Battista repaired with others to the house of Borgherini,
for the purpose of causing the command of the Signori to be put in execution ;
but when they arrived there, the wife of Pier Francesco, who had remained
at home, confronted the principal assailant with reproaches of such intoler
able bitterness that the Uke had never before been hurled at man aUve : —
" ' How then ! dost thou, Giovan Battista, thou, vile broker of frippery,
miserable huckster of twopences, does thou presume te come hither with intent
to lay thy fingers on the ornaments which belong to the chambers of gentle
men ? despoiling, as thou hast long done and as thou art for ever doing, this
our City of her fairest and richest ornaments, to embellish strange lands
therewith, and to adorn the Halls of our enemies. Not that I can marvel at
thee, man of a base lineage, and traitor to thy country, however grovelling
may be thy acts ; but for the magistrates of our city, who have descended to
abet these abominable proceedings, what shall be said ? This bed, which
thou, for thy own greediness of gain and sordid self-interest, weuldst new lay
hands on, vainly seeking to veU thine evU purposes under a fair pretence, —
this bed was adorned with all the beauty which enriches it by my father-in-
law Salvi, in honour of my nuptials ; te which he held this magnificent and
regal ornament but the fitting decoration ; I, then, do prize this gift, both

ANDREA DEL SARTO 261
del Sarto painted a Head of Christ, ^^ which is now preserved
by the Servite monks on the altar of the Annunciation ;
and this is so beautiful, that for my part I do not know
whether the human imagination could possibly conceive any
more admirable representation of the head of the Redeemer.
In the Chapels of the church of San Gallo, which is situate
beyond the city gate, there were many other pictures be
sides the two painted by Andrea, but none of which were
equal to those by his hand, wherefore as there was another
about to be executed in the church, the monks induced the
owner of the chapel wherein it was to be painted, to entrust
the commission for the same to our artist. He commenced
the work accordingly without delay, depicting therein four
figures standing upright and holding a disputation respect
ing the Trinity ; ^ one of these represents Sant' Agostino
from reverence to his memory and out of the love I bear my husband ; where
fore, I mean to defend it with my own blood, and wUl retain it whUe I have
Ufe. Depart from this house, then, Giovan Battista, thou and thy myrmi
dons ; depart, and say to those who have permitted themselves to send thee
hither, with command to remove these labours of art from their place, that 1
am here ; I, who wiU not suffer that one iota shaU be disturbed from where it
stands. Tell them, moreover, that if it befit them to listen to the counsels of
snch as then art, base creature of nothingness, and if they must needs make
presents to the king, Francis of Prance, teU them, I say, that they may go
to their own houses, and, despoiling their own chambers of their ornaments,
may send them to his Majesty.
" ' For thyself, if again thou shouldst be so bold as to come on a similar
errand to this house, thou shalt be amply taught what is the respect due to the
dwelUng of a gentleman, from such as thou art, and that to thy serious dis
comfort, make thyself sure of it.'
"Thus spoke Madonna Margherita, wife of Pier-Francesco Borgherini, and
daughter of Roberto AcciaiuoU, a Florentine noble of great wisdom. She
was in truth a woman entirely worthy to be the daughter of such a father ;
and by her noble daring and firmness of spirit she caused these gems of art to
be respected, and kept them, where they stUl remain, to adorn the dwellings
of her house."
*5This head is stiU upon the altar, perhaps the most "popular" altar in
Florence, and is always seen in the yeUow meUewness which comes from a
whole constellation of swinging lamps hung closely before and about it.
This light is se dazzling that it is hard to see the face of Christ, which looks
out from a certain mystery of deep, warm color that swallows up aU detail,
but adds not a little to its effectiveness as a whole.
<« This is the so-called Disputd, gS. Augustine, Peter Martyr (St. Domi-

262 ANDREA DEL SARTO
arrayed in the episcopal robes and with features of a charac
ter which is truly African ; he is moving with impetuous
action towards St. Peter the Martyr, who holds an open
book aloft with earnest and haughty gestures ; the head
and figure of the latter have been much extolled. Near
San Pietro stands San Francesco, who also bears a book
with one hand, while, with the other pressed to his bosom,
he seems to be pouring from his lips with the most fervid
eloquence, his own impressions in regard to the subject of
dispute, appearing to be struggling mightily meanwhile to
repress the intensity of his emotions. San Lorenzo, being
still very young, is listening to the discourse of the other
Saints with the semblance of respectful attention, and ap
pears to yield to the authority of his elders.
Beneath this group are two figures kneeling, one of whom,
a Magdalen with most beautiful draperies, is the portrait of
Andrea's wife, indeed he rarely painted the countenance of
a woman in any place that he did not avail himself of the
features of his wife ; and if at any time he took his model
from any other face, there was always a resemblance to hers
in the painting, not only because he had this woman con
stantly before him and depicted her so frequently, but also,
and what is still more, because he had her lineaments en-
nio ?), Francis, and Lawrence are holding a conference regarding the doctrine
of the Trinity, while the Magdalene and St. Sebastian are mere auditors.
This work was much injured by the inundation of 1555. The Disputd is the
finest of a whole series of large altar-pieces by Andrea in the Pitti. It is
an admirable picture, full of beauty, yet also, in some of its parts, fore
shadowing that loss of grasp which Andrea, either through indifference or dis
couragement, showed iu many of hia works. The picture leaves little room
for criticism, but some of the other altar-piecea of the Pitti must be ranked
among those puzzling pictures which at first make a great impression and yet
afterwards fail to hold the onlooker as do many works. This is largely be
cause, first, the risitor who has been examining the tentative although charm
ing work of the fifteenth century, in arriving before the pictures of Andrea del
Sarto, suddenly comes into the presence of a man who is in easy possession of a
perfected technique. This assured competency assures the spectator also,
who is greatly impressed untU he realizes that in some of the large altar-
piecea this easy possession is only too easily used, in short, that the painter,
for some reason or other, has not done his best or nearly his best.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 263
graven on his heart ; it thus happens that almost all his
female heads have a certain something which recalls that
of his wife.
The second of the four figures is a San Sebastiano, he is
entirely undraped, with his back turned to the spectator,
and does not appear to be merely part of a painted surface,
but rather seems to all who behold him to be in truth a liv
ing and breathing figure. This work, among all the many
paintings in oil that were executed by Andrea, has ever
been held by artists to be the best ; the figures display much
thought in their admirable proportions, and in a certain
decorum and propriety manifest in the expression of their
countenances ; the heads of the young have the softness
proper to their age ; there is force and perhaps hardness in
the old ; while those of middle age exhibit a medium be
tween both, and partake of the qualities of each. The work
is, in a word, most beautiful in all its parts ; it is now in the
church of San Jacopo-tra-fossi at the corner of the Alberti,
with others by the hand of the same master.
While Andrea was thus labouring over these works in
Florence poorly remunerated for his toils, living in wretched
poverty and wholly incapable of raising himself from his
depressed condition,*' the two pictures which he had sent
into France, were obtaining much admiration from King
" In the first edition of our author this paragraph commences as follows :
" Andrea now began te feel, not that the beauties of his wife had become
wearisome, but that the mode of his life was an oppression to him ; his error
had become in part apparent to his perceptions ; he saw that he could never
lift himself from the earth ; though perpetuaUy toiling, he did so to no
purpose. He had the father and all the sisters of bis wife devouring every
thing he gained, and though weU-accustomed to that burthen, he could not
be insensible to the weight thereof, and he finally became tired of the life he
was leading. "Knowing this, some friend, who still loved him, though more
perhaps aa an artist than as a man, advised him to change his dwelling,
leaving his wife in some more secure abode for a time, that so he might at a
future period receive her again, when they might live in a manner more
creditable to him. He had hardly been brought to a conviction of his error,
and to the persuasion that something should be done towards the discovery of
a remedy, when such an occasion for re-instating himself was presented to
him as he had never had before, since the time when he had taken a

264 ANDREA DEL SARTO
Francis, and among the many others which had been de
spatched to him from Rome, Venice, and Lombardy, these
had been adjudged to be by far the best. That monarch
therefore, praising them very highly, was told that he might
easily prevail on Andrea to visit France, when he might
enter the service of His Majesty ; this proposal was exceed
ingly agreeable to the king, who therefore gave orders that
everything needful should be done for that purpose, and
that a sum of money for the expenses of the Journey, should
be paid to Andrea in Florence. The latter gladly set forth ^
on his way to France accordingly, taking with him his
scholar Andrea Sguazzella.
Having in due time arrived at the French court, they
were received by the monarch very amicably and with many
favours, even the first day of his arrival was marked to
Andrea by proofs of that magnanimous sovereign's liberality
and courtesy, since he at once received not only a present of
money, but the added gift of very rich and honourable vest
ments. He soon afterwards commenced his labours, render
ing himself so acceptable to the king as well as to the whole
court, and receiving so many proofs of good-will from all,
that his departure from his native country soon appeared
to our artist to have conducted him from the extreme of
wretchedness to the summit of felicity. One of Andrea's
first works in France was the portrait of the Dauphin, the
son of the king, a child born but a few months previously,
and still in his swathing bands ; ^' wherefore, having taken
this painting' to the king, he received in return three hun
dred ducats of gold.
Continuing his labours, he afterwards painted * a figure
of Charity for King Francis, this was considered an exceed-
wife. The two pictures which he had sent into Prance," etc. — Mrs. Foster's
Notes. " In 1518.
'" Paul Mantz thinks this child was the dauphin Francois de Viennois,
afterward Due de Bretagne, who died in 1.536.
'» In 1518 ; it is now in the Louvre. Old copies exist in the Museums of
Nantes and Angers.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 265
ingly beautiful picture, and was held by that monarch in
all the estimation due to so admirable a work. From that
time the king commanded that a very considerable income
should be annually paid to Andrea, doing his utmost to in
duce the painter to remain contentedly at his court, and
promising that he should never want for anything that he
could desire ; and this happened because the promptitude
of Andrea in his works, and the easy character of the man,
who was satisfied with everything around him, were both
agreeable to King Francis ; he gave very great satisfaction
to the whole court also, painting numerous pictures and
executing various works of different kinds for the nobles.
And now, had Andrea del Sarto only reflected on all that
he had escaped from, and duly weighed the advantageous
character of that position to which fate had conducted
him, I make no doubt but that, to say nothing of riches, he
might have attained to great honours. But one day being
employed on the figure of a St. Jerome ^' doing penance,
which he was painting for the mother of the king, there
came to him certain letters from Florence ; these were
written to him by his wife,^^ and from that time (whatever
•1 It is doubtful if the St. Jerome was ever painted.
'" In the first edition of our author the circumstances of Andrea's depart
ure from France and his return to Florence are related as follows : — " One
day he received a letter, after having had many others, from Lucrezia, his
wife, whom he had left disconsolate for his departure, although she wanted
for nothing. Andrea had even ordered a house te be built for them behind
the Nunziata, giving her hopes that he might return at any moment ; yet as
she could not give money to her kindred and connections, as she had preriously
done, she wrote with bitter complaints to Andrea, declaring that she never
ceased to weep, and was in perpetual affiiction at his absence ; dressing all
this up vrith sweet words, weU calculated to move the heart of the luckless
man, who loved her but too well, she drove the poor soul half out of his wits ;
above all, when he read her assurance that if he did net return speedUy, he
would certainly find her dead. Moved by aU thia, he resolved to resume his
chain, and preferred a life of wretchedness with her to the ease around him, and
to all the glory which his art must have secured to him. He was then too so
richly provided with h.indsome vestments by the liberality of the king and
his nobles, and found himself so magnificently arrayed, that every hour
seemed a thousand years to him, until he could go to show himself in his
bravery to his beautiful wife, Taking the money which the king confided t<J

266 ANDREA DEL SARTO
may have been the cause) he began to think of leaving
France ; he asked permission to that effect from the French
king accordingly, saying that he desired to return to Flor
ence, but that when he had arranged his affairs in that city,
he would return without fail to his majesty : he added, that
when he came back his wife should accompany him, to the
end that he might remain in France the more quietly ; and
that he would bring with him pictures and sculptures of
great value. The king, confiding in these promises, gave
him money for the purchase of those pictures and sculpt
ures, Andrea taking an oath on the gospels to return within
the space of a few months, and that done he departed to
his native city.
He arrived safely in Florence, ^^ enjoying the society of
his beautiful wife and that of his friends, with the sight of
his native city during several months ; but when the period
specified by the king, and that at which he ought to have
returned, had come and passed, he found himself at the
end, not only of his own money, but what with building,
indulging himself in various pleasures and doing no work,
of that belonging to the French monarch also, the whole of
which he had consumed. He was nevertheless determined
to return to France, but the prayers and tears of his wife
had more power than his own necessities, or the faith which
he had pledged to the king : he remained therefore in Flor
ence, and the French monarch was so greatly angered there
by, that for a long time after he would not look at the
paintings of Florentine masters, and declared that if An
drea ever fell into his hands he would have no regard what-
him for the purchase of pictures, statues, and other fine things, he set off,
therefore, having first sworn on the gospels to return in a few months. Ar
rived happUy in Florence, he lived joyously with his wife for some time,
making large presents to her father and sisters, but doing nothing for his own
parents, whom he would not even see, and who, at the end of a certain period,
ended their lives in great poverty and misery." — Mrs. Foster's Notes.
'= This was in 1519. On October 15, 1530, says Milanesi, Andrea bought
the ground and built a house on the corner of the Via della Mandorla and the
Via San Sebastiano (now Gino Capponi) ; this house, which was afterward
occupied by the painter Federigo Zucchero, stUl exists.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 267
ever to the distinction of his endowments, but would do
him more harm than he had before done him good.'*^
^^ For three centuries the memory of Andrea del Sarto has been blackened
by the story that he embezzled, or at best aUowed others to steal, the money
of his royal patron, Francis I. This story has affected the appreciation of nearly
every art-historian ; many writers have traced the remorse of Andrea in the
deterioration of his work, and Browning, in a noble poem, has given to the
so-caUed guUty artist regretful and sympathetic comprehension. Now this
grave accusation rests upon the simple statement of Andrea's pupil, Vasari ;
not the slightest circumstantial proof of it exists. In the royal account-books
of Francis L there exists no mention of any such transaction with Andrea
del Sarto. On the other hand, what are the circumstances which have been
proved ? Andrea, after a successful sojourn at the French court, returned to
Italy, just as many other Italian artists had returned. We know that life in
France, even at court with aU its honors, seemed exile to a Tuscan ; the Fon-
tana Bilio of BenvLUuto Cellini's note -book is not further removed from the
real Fontainebleau of Francis than was French from Florentine life in 1519,
and del Sarto was a far more sensitive artist and delicately fibred man than
was Benvenute. In Plorence Andrea had a wife, friends, and a great com
mission — great iu its true sense of offering an opportunity for immortality
among fellow-countrymen — the decoration of the Scalzo cloister. It may be
added that Franciabigio, who, Vasari says later, from a friend became a rival
of Andrea, was waiting to complete the order, if del Sarto did not finish it,
indeed had even commenced frescoes in the cloister. There is then no great
room for wonder at Andrea's quitting France. Now if he had left that coun
try with intent to steal, or had weakly and quickly allowed his moneys to be
dissipated in Florence, it is natural to suppose that Andrea's conscience
would have considerably interfered with his work. This Vasari gives us to
understand was what happened. Andrea first wasted his time in entertain
ments, then becoming remorseful, thought constantly of the French king and
lost heart and friends. The real circumstances, as proved by documents, are
these : instead of wasting his time, Andrea immediately began to work hard,
taking his share like other painters in the meelings and festivities of the
Pajuolo and the company of the Trowel, but pushing on his painting actively.
Instead of being so mentally disturbed that his work suffered in quality,
he devoted several years to the intermittent (but never artistically discon
nected) execution of the Scalzo frescoes, which, taken in their entirety, are
Andrea's masterpiece, and one of the greatest achievements of his epoch. In
stead of being deserted by his friends, he had so many commissions from
private citizens, nobles, churchmen, confraternities, that his work suffered
in individual cases from this popularity. It is true that he accepted mean
prices, so for that matter did the high-minded Donatello, but nothing can be
proved by this except that from the beginning Andrea was no business man,
and never drove sharp bargains. If he ever became an embezzler it was
through weakness ; but here again, while Vasari shows him to us as constantly
desirous of obtaining the king's favor, the only proof of such a wish is that
Andrea commenced a picture, meaning to give it to an influential Frenchman,

268 ANDREA DEL SARTO
Andrea del Sarto remained in Florence therefore, as we
have said, and from a highly eminent position he sank to
and when it was successfully finished changed his mind readily as soon as a
Florentine noble wished to buy it. This shows little fear of the French king,
who, had he desired greatly, aa Vaaari says he did, to punish Andrea, could
easily have done so. The arm of a sovereign was long ; it reached from Rome
to Paris, witness Louis XII. and Valentinois ; from Constantinople to Rome,
witness again Caesar Borgia and the Sultan ; keen as was Francis's interest in
Italian pictures, his interest in Italian politics waa greater ; a word from him
te his spiritual Father, Leo X., backed by a Uttle promise, would have in
sured the speedy punishment of Andrea. These political interests ot Francis
may perhaps furnish a solution to the problem. Among Andrea's biographers
the late regretted Paul Mantz assumed the defence of the artist, and pub
lished (Gazette des Beaux Arts, p. 363, Vol. XV., Second Period, 1877) a
document of the highest interest, which shows us, says that author, that Fran
cis I. was practically acquainted with the mandat Jictif, the bogus order.
In some letters to the royal accountants, February 17, 1538, occurred the pas
sage of which the following is a translation: "Although in entrusting to
Master Victor Brodeau [Brodeau the poet], secretary of the Queen of Navarre,
the sum of 205 1 t. [livres tournois], we have declared that the said sum was
to be converted into the purchase and provision of certain pictures, portraits,
and other minor work which we had ordered him to buy in Flanders, the real
truth was and is that the said sum was entrusted to the said Brodeau to be
presented in the said country of Flanders to a certain personage regarding
whom we wish nothing to be known, and whose name we do not at present
wish to announce." The king goes on to order that the said Brodeau shall
therefore " never be held accountable for this sum." Now in 1519 there were
in Italy many notable men whom Francis would have been glad to bribe. Flor
ence, always the aUy of France, was the home of a large party of powerful mal
contents who looked to the French king for support ; it is quite possible that
Andrea, Uke another Brodeau, was entrusted with moneys for secret deUvery.
Such a fact would at once explain why he was never pursued. Some hint
that the artist had a large sum in his possession was likely to transpire in the
narrow-streeted, gossipy Uttle town. The next question would be. What be
came of the money ? To have violated the royal confidence by any explanation
would have been highly dangerous to Andrea, not only from fear of the king's
displeasure, but more still from that of the person to whom he brought the gift.
To say that the best explanation only makes Andrea a bearer of bribes, can
not be considered seriously ; a royal order in the sixteenth century left no
choice to the recipient of the same; diplomatic affairs were seldom explained
to basely bom agents who could not refuse such perilous honors. Moreover,
Florence was divided at this time ; the noblest spirits, the party of freedom,
leaned toward Prance, and money to be delivered to certain Florentines
would have seemed to Andrea, if he were patriotic at all, no bribe, but a noble
gift from the king. Nothing can be proven either way. Vasari's word has
weighed hearily against Andrea, who might perhaps have cleared himself by
B. deathbed declaration had not the accusation postdated his decease. The

ANDREA DEL SARTO 269
the very lowest, procuring a livelihood and passing his time
as he best might. ^
When Andrea had left Florence for France, the Confra
ternity of the Barefooted Brethren, in the conviction that
he would never return, had made over all the paintings still
remaining unfinished in their cloister to Franciabigio, who
had already completed two stories therein.^ But seeing
sums which Andrea is supposed to have diaaipated are not accounted for ; his
house in the Via S. Sebastiano might easily have been paid for with the ar
tist's legitimate gains. That there was unhappiness in Andrea'a life seems
posaible enough, however much or little Lucrezia del Pede may have contrib
uted to it ; timid he may have been, and wanting in the moral elevation of
Michelangelo and Raphael ; perhaps there was even a hidden tragedy of dis
couragement in his apparently fruitful and laborious career, whether domestic
or artistic ; but all this is far removed from the baseness that would have
made him the robber of his friend and patron, and it is only fair to say for
the painter, whose best works plead so loudly for him, that the accusation of
Vasari is utterly unsupported by any eridence. In accounting for the infe
riority of Andrea's achievements to that of Raphael and Michelangelo we must
not accredit it to either his weakness of character or to his wife's influence,
or to both together, but must note Vasari's statement that Andrea never
worked in Rome. In the year 1509, when Raphael left Tuscany, Florentine
prestige was unequaUed ; but in a few short months Rome became the foun
tain of inspiration, the theatre of those who would play the greatest parts.
Vasari says Andrea was timid, and presumably he was so, certainly he was not
the equal of Raphael Sanzio as a master, but Michelangelo's speech to Raph
ael regarding del Sarto, his "if he were employed like you upon great works,"
is also highly significant. It was not given to every one to be asked to Rome ;
Andrea had no Bramante at court ; Fra Bartolommeo also failed to support
the Roman sojourn, and surely his aims were of the highest : the great Leo
nardo obtained no Roman employment, but Leonardo was mighty enough to
stand by himself even on the further side of the Alps. Bartolommeo and
Andrea were not quite of the calibre to force the highest recognition in so
exacting an age ; they were able to be the best at home ; but they saw their
native city relegated to the second order, and this relative inferiority of his
sphere of action could not faU to be an important factor in the discouragement
which seems to have darkened Andrea's life and marred his achievement.
" Vasari has left a graphic account of some of Andrea's ways of " passing
his time " in the life of Giovan Francesco Rustici, where there are elaborate
descriptions of the suppers, masques, and mummeries of the two famous
clubs, the Trowel and the Cauldron, to both of which Andrea del Sarto and
many other famous Florentines belonged. The festivals, though very elab
orate, were only studio frolics, inexpensive, and by no means to be imputed to
Andrea aa the means of dissipating large sums of money.
'» These subjects were, St. John receiring the Benediction of his Father,
and the Meeting with the ChUd Jesus.

270 ANDREA DEL SARTO
that Andrea had returned to Plorence, the brethren deter
mined that he should resume his labours, and he painted
four pictures accordingly in a consecutive series. In the
first of these is St. John led before Herod ; in the second
is the Supper, and the Dance of Herodias ; ^' with figures
grouped with much ability, and of highly appropriate char
acter ; in the third is the beheading of St. John, and in
this work the principal executioner, who is partly undraped,
is an admirably drawn figure, as indeed are all the others.
In the fourth, Herodias holds the head of the Baptist, and
in this picture certain figures, whose countenances express
their surprise at what they behold, are painted with much
thought and ability. These paintings were for some time
the study and school of many young men who are now very
eminent in our arts.
In a tabernacle which is outside the Pinti gate, at the
corner where the road to the Ingesuati turns off, there is a
figure of the Virgin painted in fresco by Andrea del Sarto.
Our Lady is seated with the Infant Christ in her arms :
San Giovanni is in this work depicted as a child ; he is
smiling, and the figure is painted with admirable art, being
finished so perfectly, that it has been greatly extolled for
its beauty and animation. The head of Our Lady is a por
trait taken from that of the artist's wife ; and the singular
beauty of the painting in this tabernacle, which is of a
truth surprisingly perfect, caused the latter to be retained
in its place, when at the siege of Florence in 1530, the con
vent of the Ingesuati, with many other magnificent build
ings was razed to the ground.^
In those days, the elder Bartolommeo Panciatichi carried
on a large extent of traffic in Prance, and being desirous of
leaving a memorial of himself in the French city of Lyons,
he gave a commission to Baccio d' Agnolo, to the intent that
he should cause Andrea del Sarto to paint a picture for him,
" The drawing for Salome holding the head is in Vienna.
SB Milanesi, V., p. 33, note 1, says thia tabernacle stiU exists, though in a
ruinous state. Copies of it are in the Uffizi and elsewhere.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 271
which Baccio was then to send to Lyons, where Bartolom
meo Panciatichi then was ; the subject chosen was the As
sumption of Our Lady, with the Apostles standing around
the tomb. This work Andrea executed almost to its con
clusion, but did not entirely complete it ; for as the wood
which formed the panel became warped, and sprang in
various places, he sometimes worked at it, and sometimes
permitted it to remain untouched for a time ; so that it was
left unfinished at his death. It was, nevertheless, ulti
mately placed by the younger Bartolommeo Panciatichi in
his house, as a work deserving the highest commendation,
as well on account of the beauty to be perceived in the
figures of the apostles, as of that which adorns the Ma
donna ; she is surrounded by a choir of Angels, while others
support and bear her onward with singular grace of action.
In the upper part of the picture is the portrait of Andrea
himself, among the apostles ; and this is drawn with such
truth and nature, that it appears to be rather a living be
ing than a mere painting. This picture is now in a villa
belonging to the Baroncelli family, situate at a short dis
tance from Florence, and in a small building * close to the
villa, which was erected to receive it by Piero Salviati.^'
At the upper part of the kitchen-garden which belongs to
the Servite Monks, and in two angles of the wall, are two
stories by Andrea, representing the Vineyard of Christ ;
showing it first, that is to say, when he is planting, binding,
and training the vines, the husbandman appearing and sum
moning those to the labour who are standing idle around.
Among the latter is one who, being asked if he also will
take part in the work, has seated himself, and rubbing his
hands, appears to be considering whether he should enter
among those labourers or not, exactly in the way that those
idle people do who have but little mind to work. The
* For building read little church (chiesetta).
¦^ It is in the Pitti Gallery, and contains the portrait of Andrea as stated
by Vasari. A second picture, of the same size and subject, but differing in
detaU, and which came in 1639 from Cortona to Florence, is also in the same
room in the Pitti Gallery. It was ordered of Andrea in 1536.

272 ANDREA DEL SARTO
second of these pictures is much more beautiful.™ It repre
sents the husbandman causing each labourer to receive his
appointed hire, while those who are dissatisfied murmur and
bemoan themselves. Among these labourers, one, who is
counting his money apart, and seems deeply intent on ex
amining the sum assigned to him, is a most life-like figure,
as is the Steward from whom the labourers are receiving
their hire. Both these pictures are in chiaroscuro, and
the fresco painting gives proof of extraordinary skill. An
drea afterwards painted a Piet^ in a recess on the summit
of a staircase in the Noviciate of the same Convent ; this
also is painted in fresco, and is very beautiful.^' There is
besides another Pieta, a small picture in oil, by the same
master, in a room formerly inhabited by Angelo of Arezzo,
General of the Order, in the monastery in question, where
there is moreover a Birth of Christ by Andrea del Sarto.
The same artist painted a picture of Our Lady, for one of
the apartments in the house of Zanobi Bracci, who greatly
desired to possess a work by his hand. The Madonna is in
a kneeling position, and is leaning against a mass of rock,
while fixedly contemplating the Infant Christ, who is lying
on a heap of drapery, and looks smilingly up at the Virgin
Mother. San Giovanni, who stands near, is making a sign
to the Madonna as in allusion to the Saviour, and as one
who would say, "This is truly the Son of God." Behind
them is St. Joseph, leaning his head on his hands, which are
supported by a rock, and seeming to be in a state of beat
itude as he beholds the human race, rendered divine by
that birth.«2
Pope Leo having commissioned the Cardinal Giulio de'
Medici to cause the ceiling of the Great Hall in the Poggio
•"The first of these pictures was destroyed in 1704 by the falling of the
wall, the second is stiU discernible though badly injured ; the drawing for it
is in the Corsini collection at Rome (Milanesi, V., p. 31, notes 3 and 3).
" It is in the Florentine Academy. Vasari says in his first edition that
Andrea painted it in return for a packet of candles. It ahould be remembered
that votive candles were frequently very expensive.
»2 It is in the Sala d' Apollo of the Pitti Gallery, and was executed in 1531.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 273
a Cajano, a palace and villa of the house of Medici, which is
situate between Pistoja and Florence, to be decorated with
stucco work and paintings, the charge of that business was
committed to the illustrious Ottaviano de' Medici, as was
also that of paying the monies for the same ; he being a
person who, not degenerating from his ancestors, was well
acquainted with matters of the kind. He was besides the
friendly protector of our artists, and the promoter of all our
arts, having more pleasure than most men in adorning his
house with the works of the most eminent masters. The
whole undertaking had been made over to Franciabigio, but
Ottaviano now commanded that he should have one-third
only, the other two-thirds being divided, and one of them
being given to Andrea del Sarto, while the one still re
maining was entrusted to Jacopo da Pontormo.
But whatever efforts Ottaviano made to forward this work
— whatever sums of money he promised, and even paid to
the artist, he could by no means accomplish the completion
of the decorations. It is true that Andrea finished one
fa9ade with great assiduity, but this was all. The subject
there represented, was Cssar receiving tribute of all kinds
of animals. The drawing for this picture is among those
in our book, with many others by the same artist ; it is in
chiaroscuro, and is the most carefully finished of any that
Andrea ever executed. In this work the master, desiring to
surpass Franciabigio and Jacopo, subjected himself to la
bours that were no longer usual, exhibiting a magnificent
view of buildings in perspective, with a fiight of steps ex
ceedingly difficult and intricate in character, which formed
the ascent to the Throne of Caesar. These steps he adorned
with statues admirably arranged, not allowing himself to
be satisfied with the rich and varied powers of invention
which he had displayed in the great diversity of the figures
by whom the different animals are borne or led forward.
Among these is an Indian in a yellow cassock or tunic, and
bearing on his back a cage, which is drawn in perspective,
and is filled with parrots of extraordinary beauty ; while
ni.— 18

274 ANDREA DEL SARTO
others, equally rare, are on the outer side. The figures,
who are leading Indian Goats, Lions, Giraffes, Panthers,
Wolves, Lynxes, Apes, &c., many of whom are Moors, have
also great merit, and are exceedingly well arranged ; the
fresco, in which they are all depicted, being a work of the
very highest perfection.^
On the steps that we have mentioned as making part of
the painting Just described, is a Dwarf who holds a box or
case, wherein there is a Chameleon, so admirably well done,
that it would not be possible to imagine the deformity of
that strange creature more correctly or more Justly repre
sented. But the whole work was not finished, as I have said ;
and although when Pope Leo died the Duke Alessandro de'
Medici was very anxious to have it completed by Jacopo da
Pontormo, yet he could never prevail on him to put a hand to
it, a thing which is of a truth to be much lamented, and one
that did gi-eat wrong to that building, which is one of the
most beautiful halls that any villa in the world can boast.
On his return to Florence, Andrea del Sarto painted a
half length and undraped figure of San Giovanni Battista ;
this picture, which was very beautiful, he executed for
Giovanni Maria Benintendi, by whom it was afterwards
presented to the Signor Duke Cosimo.^
While his affairs were going on in this manner, Andrea
could not fail sometimes to think of his conduct in the mat
ter of the French king, when he would sigh from his heart,
" This fresco, stUl in existence, waa commenced in 1531, and was interrupted
by the death of Leo X. ; in 1580 Alessandro AUori continued and completed
it. Pontormo' s fresco in the same room is an admirable one. Vasari's state
ment that Pontormo refused to set his hand to the completion of Andrea's
work may be read as the legitimate objection of one artist to finish another's
picture (au objection, however, which was unusual in sixteenth-century Italy),
or it may be coupled with the fact that Pontormo had been seriously of
fended by Andrea's wife, Lucrezia (see Vasari). Paul Mantz is disposed to
hold Pontormo as the person principally responsible for information regarding
Andrea's domestic and other difficulties. The Louvre possesses a drawing
which is one of the studies for del Sarto's fresco of the Ceesar.
"' There is a S. Giovanni in the Pitti which may be that mentioned above,
or, en the ether hand, may be the one sold to Ottaviano de' Medici.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 275
and if he could have hoped to receive pardon for the fault
he had committed, I make no doubt but that he would have
returned to the service of that monarch. Nay, by way of
trying how far fortune might be favourable to him, he de
termined to make an attempt, whereby he should ascertain
whether his abilities might not yet avail to restore him to
favour. He consequently painted a figure of San Giovanni
Battista, partially undraped, intending to despatch the
same to Prance, to be presented to the Grand Master ; ^
yet, whatever the cause may have been I know not, but cer
tain it is, that Andrea never sent it ; he sold the picture,
on the contrary, to the illustrious Ottaviano de' Medici, by
whom it was always held in high estimation to the end of
his days. Our painter likewise executed two pictures of
the Madonna for the same noble, and in a similar manner ;
these are now both in the palace of the latter. ^^
No long time after these works were completed, Zanobi
Bracci caused Andrea to paint a picture for Monsignore di
San Biause,*' and this the painter completed with the ut
most care, in the hope that it might contribute to regain
for him the favour of King Francis, to whose service he
would so gladly have returned. For Lorenzi Jacopi he
likewise painted a picture of a much larger size than com
mon ; the subject chosen was Our Lady seated, with the
Divine Child in her arms, she is accompanied by two other
figures, seated near her on a slightly elevated estrade ; this
work, both as regards design and colouring, is similar to
those before described.^ He also painted a picture of Our
Lady for Giovanni d' Agostino Dini, which is exceedingly
beautiful, and is now held in the highest estimation ; "
"Anne de Montmorency, Grand Master and Constable of France under
Francis I.
«» These Madonnas cannot be identified ; MUanesi suggests that they may
be in Naples in the house of the Ottajane princes.
•' Jacques Beaune de Semblanpay, Intendant of Finance under Francis I.
^ MUanesi, V. , p. 38, note 1, says (quoting Bottari) that it was sold in 1605
to the Duke of Mantua ; but he gives no further account of it.
" It is at the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

276 ANDREA DEL SARTO
Andrea likewise executed a portrait of Cosimo Lupi * from
the life, and this is so natural that it appears to be alive.
In the year 1533 the plague appeared in Florence as well
as in some parts of the surrounding country, when Andrea,
desiring to withdraw himself from that peril, and at the
same time wishing to continue his labours, was enabled by
the intervention of Antonio Brancacci to repair to Mugello,
there to paint a picture for the nuns of San Piero, of the
order of Camaldoli, at Luco : he took with him his wife
and her sister, with a step-daughter and one of his scholars.
Remaining here therefore in quiet and safety, he set hand
to the work, and as those venerable ladies were daily giving
increasing proof of kindness and friendliness to his wife,
himself, and the whole party, Andrea set himself with in
finite devotion to the execution of that picture, wherein he
represented the Dead Christ mourned over by Our Lady,
San Giovanni Evangelista and Santa Maria Maddalena, all
figures so full of life that they appear indeed to be endowed
with soul and spirit.™ The tender affection of San Gio
vanni is made manifest in his countenance, and the love of
the Magdalen is rendered clearly obvious amidst the tears
of her grief, while the extremity of sorrow is equally ap
parent in the attitude as well as the face of the Madonna ;
and as she contemplates the dead body of the Saviour,
which does indeed appear to be in relief, and is in effect a
true dead corpse, she causes so much compassion in the
apostles San Pietro and San Paolo, that they stand as if
bewildered and terrified, as they regard the Redeemer of
the world lying dead in the bosom of his mother. The
wonderful manner in which the emotions of these different
persons are expressed might indeed alone suffice to prove
the pleasure which Andrea found in the beauty and per
fection of his art, and this picture has of a truth done more
to procure a name for that Convent than all the buildings
* Lapi in Milanesi's edition.
'" This picture, painted in 1534, is in the Pitti GaUery ; the Gradino (possi
bly by a pupil) and frame are still at Luco.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 277
and other decorations, however costly, which have been
undertaken there, although they are without doubt very
magnificent and extraordinary.
Having finished his work, Andrea continued, as the peril
of the plague was not yet passed, to abide for some weeks in
the same place, and the rather as he received so friendly a
welcome,^^ and found himself to be so well treated. During
that time, and to the end that he might not remain idle, he
painted a Visitation of Our Lady to St. Elizabeth ; this is
in the church on the right hand, and above a Presepio,
having been executed over a small painting by an older
master and as a finish to the same.™ He likewise painted
an exceedingly beautiful Head of Christ on a canvas of no
great size ; this is somewhat similar to that on the altar of
the Nunziata, but is not so highly finished, although it may
well be accounted among the better works which proceeded
from the hands of this master. The Reverend Father Don
Antonio, of Pisa, who is a friend not only of those who are
eminent in our arts, but of all men of distinction in what
ever kind, has this picture in his possession and it is now
in the monastery of the Angeli in Florence. ''' There are
several copies of this painting, seeing that Don Silvano
Razzi, having entrusted it to the painter Zanobi Poggini, to
the end that he might make a copy of it for Bartolommeo
Gondi, who had requested to have one, some others, which
are held in high estimation in Plorence, were also made
from the work.
In this manner Andrea passed the time while the plague
was raging without danger, while the nuns of that convent
obtained such a work from the talent of so distinguished a
man, that it may well endure comparison with the best
paintings executed in our times ; wherefore it is not to be
" 1533.
'2 This work was removed in 1818, and cannot new be identified.
" Thia work is lost. Milanesi, V., p. 40, note 1, says, however, that there
are apparently many repliehe existing, each one claimed as an original by the
owners. One of the fijieat is, according to the same author, in the GaUery o|
St. Petersburg.

278 ANDREA DEL SARTO
wondered at if Ramazzotto, chief of the party of Scarica-
lasino, made all possible endeavours to obtain it during the
siege of Florence, or that he should many times attempt to
gain possession of the same, since he desired to send it to
Bologna, where he proposed to place that work in his chapel
in the church of San Michele in Bosco.
Having returned to Florence, Andrea del Sarto painted a
picture for the worker in glass, Beccuccio da Gambassi,
who was his intimate friend : the subject of this work was
Our Lady represented in the heavens with the Divine Child
in her arms ; there are besides four figures beneath ; San
Giovanni Battista namely, Santa Maria Maddalena, San
Sebastiano, and San Rocco.'* In the predella are this Bec
cuccio and his wife, taken from nature, and these figures
are portraits of the most life-like truth : the picture is now
at Gambassa, a fortified place in the Valdelsa, between
Volterra and Florence. For Zanobi Bracci, Andrea painted
an exceedingly beautiful picture of the Madonna with the
Divine Infant at the breast ; St. Joseph is also present :
this work was destined for the villa which Zanobi had at
Rovezzano, it is painted with infinite care, and the figures
appear to be standing out from the picture, so extraordinary
a degree of relief has the artist succeeded in imparting to
them : it is now in the house of Messer Antonio Bracci, son
of the above-named Zanobi.''
About the same time, Andrea painted two additional
stories in the cloister of the Barefooted Brethren, which we
have before mentioned ; in one of these he has represented
Zacharias, who is offering sacrifice and is rendered dumb
on the Angel appearing to him, and in the other is the
Visitation of Our Lady, which is beautiful to a marvel.
Now it chanced that Federigo the 3nd, Duke of Mantua,
when passing through Florence on his way to Rome,
'* There is such a picture in the Pitti, including also Saints Onofrio and
Lorenzo (Milanesi, V., p. 40, note 3).
" According to Milanesi the Casa Bracci picture waa eventually sold to a
French merchant in or after 1818. St. Petersburg has a similar subject but
which was acquired earlier. See Milanesi, V., p. 40, note i.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 279
whither he was proceeding to offer his respects to Pope
Clement VII., saw that portrait of Pope Leo, which rep
resents the Pontiff between Cardinal Giulio de' Medici and
the Cardinal Rossi, and which had formerly been painted by
the most excellent Raffaello da Urbino, over a door in the
palace of the Medici ; wherefore, being infinitely pleased
therewith, as a man who delighted greatly in fine paint
ings, he thought to make it his own, and thus when he
found a good opportunity, he begged it as a gift from Pope
Clement, who very courteously granted him that favour ;
orders were therefore sent to Florence to Ottaviano de'
Medici, under whose care and government were Ippolito
and Alessandro, to the effect that it should be packed up
and sent to Mantua.
But this command was exceedingly displeasing to Otta
viano, who was not willing to see Florence deprived of such
a picture, and who marvelled much that the Pope should
so readily have agreed to such a request. He replied, never
theless, that he would not fail to do as the duke wished,
but remarked that as the frame was in a very bad condition,
he would have a new one made, and when it had been gilt
he would send the picture in all safety to Mantua. Then
Messer Ottaviano, having done this, " to save the goat and
the cabbage," as we say, sent secretly for Andrea del Sarto,
and told him how the matter stood, adding that there was
nothing for it but to make an exact copy, with all the care
that could possibly be devised, and sent that to the duke,
retaining, but in the strictest secrecy, the work which had
been performed by the hand of Raffaello.
Andrea having thereupon given a promise to do the ut
most that his skill and knowledge could effect, a panel of
exactly similar size, and in all respects like that of the
original work, was prepared ; the master then laboured
secretly at his task in the house of Messer Ottaviano, and
ultimately acquitted himself in such a manner, that al
though Messer Ottaviano was profoundly versed in matters
of art, yet when Andrea had finished his work, he did not

280 ANDREA DEL SARTO
know the one picture from the other ; nor could he dis
tinguish the true and original painting from the counter
feit ; the resemblance having been further secured by the
fact that our artist had copied even to the spots of dirt
as they were to be seen on the work of Raphael. After
they had hidden the picture of the latter therefore, they
sent the one executed by the hand of Andrea del Sarto, in
a frame like that of the original, to Mantua, where the
duke received it with extreme satisfaction. Even Giulio
Romano, though a painter and the disciple of RaffaeUo,
was deceived by the resemblance, and bestowed on it in
numerable praises, without perceiving any thing of what
had been done ; nor would he have known the truth, on
the contrary, he would have always believed the work to he
that of Raphael ; but when Giorgio Vasari arrived in Man
tua, he who had been the favourite audi protege of Ottavi
ano in his childhood, and had seen Andrea working on the
picture, discovered and made known the whole affair. For
as it chanced that Giulio, who conferred many kindnesses
and favours on Vasari, was showing him the various an
tiquities and paintings belonging to the duke, this work of
Raffaello was exhibited among the latter as the best of all
that were to be seen there. Giorgio thereupon remarked,
" The picture is a beautiful one without doubt, but it is
not by the hand of Raphael." '' How ! " exclaimed Giulio,
"not by his hand ? do not I know the work, when I rec
ognize the very strokes of the pencil that I did myself
give to it while it was in course of execution ? " " You
are nevertheless in error and have forgotten them," replied
Giorgio, "for this was painted by Andrea del Sarto, and as
a proof of what I say, there is a sign (and he described it
to him) which was made in Florence, to the end that the
one might be distinguished from the other, for when they
were together it was not possible to say which was by
Raphael and which by Andrea." When Giulio heard this,
he caused the picture to be turned round, and having dis
covered the counter-sign, he shrugged his shoulders, saying

ANDREA DEL SARTO 281
these words, " I esteem it no less than I should do if it
were by the hand of Raphael, nay, rather much more, for
it is a most amazing thing that one excellent master should
have been capable of imitating the manner of another to
such a degree, and should have found it possible to pro
duce a work so exactly similar to the original.''
But enough of this, which yet suffices to show what the
art of Andrea was, even when compared with that of so
great a master ; and we see besides that he was thereby en
abled, in concert with the prudence and Judgment of Messer
Ottaviano, to satisfy the duke, while Florence was yet not
deprived of so admirable a work. The latter was subse
quently presented by the Duke Alessandro to Messer
Ottaviano, who retained it many years in his possession, and
finally made a gift thereof to the Duke Cosimo, who has it
in his guardaroba with many other renowned pictures."
While Andrea was occupied with the copy here in question,
he likewise painted the head of the Cardinal Giulio de' Med
ici, who was afterwards Pope Clement, in a separate pict
ure ; this also is exceedingly beautiful, and exactly similar
to that by Raphael in the picture of Pope Leo : it was
ultimately presented by Messer Ottaviano to the old Bishop
De' Marzi.
No long time after the completion of these works, it
happened that Messer Baldo Magni,'^ of Prato, desired to
present a picture of beauty and value to the Madonna delle
Carcere in his native city, where he had already caused a
magnificent decoration in marble to be prepared by way of
" According to a tradition which had been maintained to the time of the
painter Gabbiani, by whom it was imparted to Bottari, the sign or mark
made by Andrea del Sarto was his own name, written on the edge or in the
thickness of the panel, and which was of course concealed by the frame. —
Mrs. Foster's Notes.
" Now in the Pitti GaUery ; the copy made by Andrea is in the Museum
of Naples. It was probably painted in 1535, as at that time Vasari, who was a
disciple of Andrea, was liring in the house of Ottariano de' Medici.
'8 This name was written Magini in the first edition of Vasari. Baldo Ma-
gini was a pubUo-spirited citizen of Prato, who founded the monastery of San
Clemente and gave funds for the reopening of the local Monte di Pietd.

282 ANDREA DEL SARTO
frame- work to the same : on this occasion, therefore, Andrea
del Sarto was proposed to Messer Baldo, among many other
painters, for the execution of the work ; whereupon Messer
Baldo, although not well acquainted with matters of the
kind, felt more inclined to accept the services of Andrea
than of any of the others, and had all but given him to un
derstand that himself and no other artist should perform
that work, when a certain Niccolo Soggi of Sansovino, who
had some interest in Prato, was presented to Messer Baldo,
and was so zealously supported by the assertions of his
friends that no better master than he was could be found,
that Messer Baldo, hearing him so much praised, entrusted
him with the undertaking. Meanwhile the friends of An
drea, having sent for him, and he, supposing the work to
be his own, repaired with Domenico Puligo, and other
painters who were his associates, to Prato, but having ar
rived in that place they found that Niccold Soggi had
not only caused Messer Baldo to change his mind, but
was also bold and shameless enough to say to Andrea, in
the presence of Messer Baldo, that he would willingly bet
any sum of money with him as to who should produce the
best work in painting, the winner to receive the whole
sum. Andrea, who knew what Niccolo could do, though not
often showing himself to have much spirit, did on that oc
casion reply to some purpose, saying, "I have here one of
my young disciples, who has not been long studying our
art, and if thou hast a mind to bet with him, I will lay
down the money for him, but with myself thou shalt make
no wager for any sum whatever, seeing that if I vanquish
thee, that could not be any addition to my honour, whereas
if thou shouldest conquer me it must be to my perpetual
shame." Having then told Messer Baldo that he would do
well to give the work to Niccold, since he would be sure to
do it in such a manner as would please the people going to
market, Andrea returned to Florence.
He then received a commission to paint a picture for

ANDREA DEL SARTO 283
Pistoja,* and which was to be placed in a church dedicated
to the Madonna, and called Sant' Agnesa, which is situate
close to the wall of that city, between the old citadel and
the cathedral. This work was divided into five compart
ments, in each of which the master depicted a single figure,
St. John the Baptist and St. Peter namely, who are placed
one on each side of the Madonna of Sant' Agnesa, which is
one of those that work miracles ; with St. Catherine the
Martyr, St. Agnesa, and St. Margaret : the last named fig
ures being so remarkable for their beauty, that they awaken
astonishment in all who behold them, and are considered to
be the most graceful and most admirable female figures
ever painted by this master.'^
Now, it chanced that Messer Jacopo, a Monk of the
Servites, had commanded a woman, whom he had absolved
from a vow, to cause a figure of Our Lady to be painted
over the side-door of the Nunziata, which leads into the
cloister, by way of commutation : meeting with Andrea,
therefore, the monk told him that having this money to
spend and there being but little of it, he thought it would
be well if he, who had already obtained so much reputation
by the works which he had executed in that place, would
undertake this also, rather than suffer it to be done by
others : to which Andrea, who was a sufficiently obliging
person, replied, that he would do it willingly, being moved
partly by the persuasions of the Monk, partly by his wish
for the payment, and partly by his hopes of fame. Shortly
afterwards, therefore, he commenced the work accordingly,
and painted a very beautiful Madonna in fresco ; Our Lady
is seated with the divine Child in her arms, and there is
also a St. Joseph, who is leaning on a sack, and has his
eyes fixed on an open book. This work is executed in such
a manner, the drawing, the grace of the figures, the beauty
* This is Pisa, not Pistoja, in the edition of Milanesi.
'• Theae very charming works are stUl in the Cathedral at Pisa, but the
altar-piece has been separated into different panels which are now in different
parts of the church.

284 ANDREA DEL SARTO
of colouring, the life-like animation, and the force of the
relief, are of such perfection, that the picture proves An
drea to have far excelled and surpassed all the painters who
had laboured up to that time ; the painting is of a truth
so complete, that it speaks plainly for itself, and does not
need praise from any other quarter to make it known as a
most wonderful and extraordinary work.^
There was now one story only required to complete the
pictures in the cloister of the Barefooted Brethren ; where
fore Andrea, whose manner had become enlarged from the
circumstance of his having seen the figures commenced, and
in part finished by Michelagnolo in the Sacristy of Lorenzo,
Andrea, I say, resolved to set hand to this work also, where
in he gave the ultimate proof of that amelioration Just al
luded to. The subject chosen was the Birth of San Giovanni
Battista: ^' the figures are most beautiful, exhibiting much
greater ability, and being in much finer relief, than those
which had formerly been executed by Andrea in the same
place. Among other most admirable figures in this work,
may be distinguished that of a woman, who is bearing the
newly-born babe towards the bed wherein is St. Elizabeth,
and which is also very beautiful : the same may be said of
Zachariah, who is writing on a piece of paper, which he has
placed on his knee and is holding with one hand, while he
inscribes the name of his son with the other ; all which is
done so naturally, that the figure seems to want nothing but
the breath itself. Nor less admirable is the figure of an old
s" This is the famous Madonna del Sacco, named from the sack of corn upon
which St. Joseph leans ; it was painted in 1525, and ia one of the very few
works of the sixteenth century which can not only vie with these of Raphael
and Michelangelo, but which has much of their lofty spirit without being in
any sense an imitation of either master. In composition it is an especially
fine decoration, filling the semicircular space with peculiar felicity. In de
sign it is ample and sculptural ; in color it is a golden brown, which yet pos
sesses a grayish silvery quality ; its spiritual charm is a blending of robust grace
and tenderness. It is one of the most popular of Andrea's works, and is one
of those compositions which remain in the memory.
"1 It was paid for June 34, 15'2(>, and is au admirable fresco, although the
figures are especially overburdened with drapery.

Andrea del sarTo 285
woman, who is seated on a slightly elevated stool ; she is
smiling at the parturition of a mother already so far ad
vanced in life as is St. Elizabeth ; her attitude and expres
sion exhibiting precisely such an appearance as would be
made in actual life on the occurrence of a similar event.
Having finished this work, which is certainly worthy of
all praise, Andrea del Sarto painted a picture for the Gen
eral of Vallombrosa, depicting therein four singularly beau
tiful figures, San Giovanni Battista namely, San Giovanni
Gualberto, founder of the order, San Michele the archangel,
and the Cardinal San Bernardo, who was a monk of their
order ; in the midst of these are certain children, which
could not be more life-like nor more beautiful than they
are. This picture is now at Vallombrosa, on the summit of
a rocky mountain, whereon certain of the monks, separated
from the rest, have made their abode in solitary dwellings
or cells, almost after the manner of hermits.*^
From Giuliano Scala, Andrea received a commission to
paint a picture, which was destined to be sent to Serraz-
zana.^ The subject was a Virgin seated, with the Infant
Christ in her arms, and two other figures in half-length,
San Celso and Santa Giulia namely : Sant' Onofrio, Santa
Caterina, San Benedetto, Sant' Antonio of Padua, San
Piero, and San Marco, also form part of this picture, which
is esteemed to be fully equal to the other works of our ar
tist. There was beside a semi-circular painting, prepared
as the completion of that above described, and destined to
be placed over it, but this remained in the hands of Giu
liano Scala, who retained it as security for a sum of money
which he had advanced on account of those to whom it
should have been sent ; the subject of this last-mentioned
work was the Annunciation, and it is now in the chapel
belonging to the above-named Giuliano, which is situate
«2 It is in the Florentine Academy, and ia dated 1528. Of the &ve predella
panels, four are in the Academy and one ia in private handa. There are draw-
inga for this work in Vienna and in the Uffizi.
8= It is in the Berlin Gallery, and is dated 1538.

286 ANDREA DEL SARTO
near the choir in the principal tribune or apsis of the
church of the Servites.^
Many years had now elapsed since the monks of San
Salvi had thought of having any progress made with the
Last Supper, which they had commissioned Andrea to paint
at the time when he executed the work before mentioned,
that in the arch with the four figures namely. But there
came at last an Abbot, who was a man of sense and Judg
ment ; by him therefore it was determined that the Last
Supper should be completed ; and Andrea, who had long
before engaged to paint that picture, made no opposition.
In a few months he set hand to it accordingly, working at
it as he found himself inclined, and doing one part after
another, but finishing it at length, and that in such a man
ner as to compel the acknowledgment of its excellence from
all who beheld it. This work is indeed, as it is held to be,
among the most animated, whether as regards design or
colour, ever executed by the hand of our artist, nay, rather
that could be effected by any hand ; it gives proof of ad
mirable facility, and the master has imparted grandeur,
majesty, and grace, to all the figures, insomuch that I know
not what to say of this Supper that would not be too little,
seeing it to be such that all who behold it are struck with
astonishment. We are therefore not to be surprised if its
excellence formed the safeguard of the building in the
siege of Florence, in the year 1529, when that convent was
suffered to remain standing while the soldiery and spoilers,
by command of those who were ruling, destroyed all the
suburbs, demolishing and razing to the ground all the
monasteries, hospitals, and every other edifice situate with
out the walls. They were proceeding in truth to tear down
a part of the Convent, having already ruined the church
and Campanile or bell tower of San Salvi, and had arrived
at the Refectory where this Last Supper is ; but when the
officer by whom they were led saw this work, having prob-
8' It is in the Pitti Gallery, and haa received certain later additions. Mi
lanesi, v., p. 47, note 1.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 287
ably heard people speak of it, he would not permit so
wonderful a painting to be destroyed, and, abandoning the
place, determined that it should be injured no further,
unless it should be found that nothing short of its total
destruction would suffice.^
For the brotherhood of San Jacopo, called II Nicchio,
Andrea del Sarto afterwards painted a Banner to be carried
in their processions ; the subject chosen was San Jacopo,
who is caressing a boy clothed in the habit of the Flagel
lants ; there is also a second boy holding a book in his
hand, and portrayed in a manner which is very natural and
graceful.^ He likewise depicted the portrait of an Intend
ant of the monks of Vallombrosa, who constantly made
«' The Cenacolo was ordered June 15, 1519. It is certainly the only pict
nre of the Last Supper which can be even distantly compared with that of
Leonardo. The first impression winch it makes upon the connoisseur is a
technical one ; it has a pecuUarly competent and skilful look, to which the
student of the Renaissance is unused. There is here a treatment of color
which is almost modem, a treatment, that is, of special portions of the color ;
for instance, the two figures in the upper part of the fresco, figures leaning
upon a simulated window-ledge have (the half-Ught of the upper portion of
the great room may perhaps be accountable for it) a rich luminousness which
is almost Venetian, and a soft luminousness which is almost modem French ;
on the other hand, this criticism must be applied only to the color in detaU,
and not to it as composition of color. It ia rather accidental or arbitrary in
arrangement than compoaed ; indeed, one may even go so far aa to aay that
it is badly put together as to color composition ; add te aU this that great
competency seems to obtain in handUng, and that there is a decorative fiat-
ness about the Cenacolo which almost suggests Tiepolo (although the character
of the work is a whole world removed from this later Venetian artist), and it
wUl readily be admitted that we have in it a picture which differs surprisingly
from other wall paintings of the Florentine school. It nowhere even ap
proaches the spiritual masterliness of Leonardo or his technical subtlety of
composition, but in it Andrea easily surpasses all the other painters who have
treated the same subject. The Christ, though far less noble than Leonardo's,
lacks neither dignity nor suavity ; the hands, truly Italian in the dramatic
part that they play, are beautiful in drawing and expression, and if they are
a trifle declamatory, we can hardly blame the artist painting in the days of
Raphael's cartoons for the tapestries, for emphatic gesticulation. Considered
as a whole, though the Cenacolo falls short of the highest standard, that
standard in 1.519 had become so lofty that a painter even of the second rank
could be a great master.
8» Thia pictnre ia in the Uffizi.

288 ANDREA DEL SARTO
his abode in the country, for the purpose of attending to
the affairs of his monastery ; the picture was placed be
neath an arbour of vines, around which the Intendant had
arranged shady walks and many contrivances after his own
fancy, but where it was somewhat exposed to wind and
weather : so it was, nevertheless, that the Intendant, who
was a friend of Andrea, would have it.^'
When Andrea had finished this work, he found that cer
tain colours and other materials were left remaining, where
upon he took up a tile and calling his wife, Lucrezia, he
said to her, " Come hither, wife, and since we have these
colours left, I will take your portrait, that all may see how
well you have preserved your good looks even at this time
of your life, but also that it may be likewise seen to how
great an extent your features have altered, and how widely
different this portrait will therefore be from those made at
an earlier period." But the woman would not remain still,
perhaps because she had other things in her head at the
moment ; and Andrea, as though almost divining that his
end was near, took a mirror and drew his own portrait on
that tile instead, executing the same so naturally and to
such perfection, that one might almost believe him to be
in life. This portrait is now in the possession of the above-
named Madonna Lucrezia his wife, who still survives.^
Andrea likewise painted the portrait of a certain Canon
of Pisa who was a very intimate friend of his, and this like
ness, which is a very life-like and beautiful one, is still in
Pisa.8' He afterwards commenced the cartoons for the
paintings with which, by command of the Signoria, the
balustrades of the Ringhiera,*' on the Piazza were to be
decorated ; and herein also he has displayed much fancy
and power of invention, more particularly in the compart-
8' It is almost unnecessary to say that this werk is lost.
'8 This is the picture iu that room of the Uffizi which is devoted to the
portraits of painters.
'» This work is supposed to be lost.
'" The Ringhiera was a great stone platform on one side of the Palazzo
Vecchio, especially devoted to public functions.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 289
ments appropriated to the various quarters of the city, and
in the banners of the Capetudini,^' which last are sup
ported by children ; there are besides ornaments consisting
of picturesque representations of the different virtues, with
the mountains and most important rivers of the Florentine
dominions. But this work thus begun, remained incom
plete by reason of Andrea's death, as was also the case with
a picture which he had commenced for the monks of Val
lombrosa at their Abbey of Poppi in Casentino, but which
was all but finished. The subject of the last-mentioned
work was an Assumption of Our Lady, who is surrounded
by numerous angels in the forms of children ; San Gio
vanni Gualberto, the cardinal San Bernardo, who, as it is
said, was a monk of their order, Santa Caterina and San
Fedele are beneath ; this picture, unfinished as it is, is
now in the above-named Abbey of Poppi. ^
There was also a picture, but not of any great size, which,
when finished, was to have gone to Pisa, and which likewise
remained incomplete at the death of Andrea. ^^ He also left
a very beautiful picture that was entirely finished, in his
house at the time of his death, with some others, but the
first named is now in the possession of Filippo Salviati.'^
It was about this time that Giovanni Battista della Palla,
having bought up whatever paintings and sculptures of
merit he could lay his hands on, had despoiled Florence of
^' According to Bottari thia word was used to designate an assemblage of
the Syndics or Consuls of the Guilds. The Capitudini represented, says Mi
lanesi, the twenty-one Guilds of Plorence.
" It was painted 1539-31, and ia in the Pitti Gallery ; for a long note giv
ing detaUs, see Milanesi, V., p. 49, note 5. Mr. Bernhard Berenson's admi
rable pages upon Del Sarto should be read in his Italian Painters of the
Renaissance ; after high praises of the master's great qualities he laments the
fact that Andrea, " by constantly sacrificing, first spiritual and then material
significance to pose and draperies," sometimes lost " all feeling for the essen
tial in art," and instances an Assumption in the Pitti as a special example of
Andrea's neglect of true significance.
«s It is in the Cathrdral of Pisa, and was finished by Sogliani. See Mi
lanesi, v., p. 50, note 1.
M As Vasari does not mention the subject of this picture it is impossible to
identify it. III.— 19

290 ANDREA DEL SARTO
an infinity of fine works without respect or consideration,
causing all that he could not get into his possession to be
copied ; his purpose being to send them to the King of
France, for whom a series of chambers, decorated in the
richest manner possible, was then in course of preparation,
these apartments being more especially to be adorned with
ornaments of the kind Just mentioned. This Giovanni
Battista was very desirous that Andrea should return once
more to the service of the French King, and therefore
caused him to paint two pictures, in one of which the mas
ter depicted Abraham, who is on the point of sacrificing
his son, and that with so much care, that he is Judged
never at any time to have accomplished a work of more
perfect excellence. In the countenance of the Patriarch
there is a beautiful expression of that lively faith and stead
fast trust which render him willing to offer his only son
without hesitation, and which gives him strength to slay
the child with his own hand. He is in the act of turning
his head towards a most beautiful angel, in the form of
a boy, who appears to be commanding him to hold his
hand. I will not attempt further to describe the attitudes, the
vestments, and other particulars relating to this figure of
the Patriarch, since it would not be possible to do Justice
to the subject ; I will therefore only remark that the ten
der and beautiful child, Isaac, wholly naked, is seen to be
trembling with fear of the death prepared for him, and
almost dead from terror, even without having received any
blow. The neck of the boy is somewhat coloured by the
effects of the sun's heat ; but all those parts which during
the Journey of three days may be supposed to have been
covered with his clothing, are represented as of the most
delicate fairness. The ram, which is caught in the thorn,
is exceedingly natural, and the vestments of Isaac, which
are lying on the ground, seem rather to be real than merely
painted. There are certain servants also, undraped figures,
who are guarding an ass, which is browsing near ; with a

ANDREA DEL SARTO 291
landscape, which is so admirably depicted, that the very
scene wherein the event took place could scarcely have been
more beautiful, or in any way different from what is there
beheld. This picture having been purchased on the death
of Andrea, and when Battista Palla was made prisoner by
Filippo Strozzi, was presented by the latter to the Signor
Alphonso Davalos, Marchese del Vasto, who carried it to
the island of Ischia, which is near Naples, and where he
placed it in one of his apartments, together with other
valuable paintings.''
In the second picture, painted, as has been related, by
command of Battista Palla, with intent to send it into
France, was depicted a singularly beautiful figure of Char
ity, with three Children. This was bought from the wife
of Andrea, after his death, by the painter Domenico Conti,
who ultimately sold it to Niccolo Antinori by whom it
is prized as an admirable performance, which it certain
ly is.
About this time the illustrious Ottaviano de' Medici,
remarking how greatly Andrea had improved his manner,
conceived a wish to possess a picture by his hand ; where
fore Andrea, who was very anxious to please that noble, to
whom he felt under great obligations, and by whom men
of distinguished ability were always favoured ; — Andrea, I
say, moved by these incitements, painted a picture of Our
Lady for the illustrious Ottaviano. Seated on the earth,
the Madonna is enjoying the sports of the Infant Christ
who is riding on her knees, while he turns his head back to
a little San Giovanni ; the latter supported by his mother,
St. Elizabeth, an aged woman, painted in a manner so ad
mirable and so natural, that she appears to be alive. Every
other part of this painting is in like manner executed with
a power and knowledge of art, a beauty of design, and a
»5 According to Dr. H. Janitschik there are two repliehe by Andrea him
self, one in the Prado at Madrid and the other in Dresden. The latter is the
more famous, and the same critic considers that it was the one executed for
Francis L The copy in Lyons is considered to be a product of Andrea's
school

292 ANDREA DEL SARTO
careful delicacy of finish, which render it a work of inde
scribable excellence.
When the picture was completed, Andrea took it to
Messer Ottaviano, but the city of Florence being at that
time besieged and surrounded on all sides by its enemies,
Ottaviano, who was occupied with other matters, excused
himself, and thanking the artist in the most friendly man
ner, told him that he might dispose of his work as he best
could, seeing that he had himself affairs of so different a
kind to attend to. Andrea made no other reply than these
words : " The labour was undertaken for you, and to no
other shall the work belong." " Sell it," replied Messer
Ottaviano, " sell it, and use the money, for I know per
fectly well what I am talking about." But Andrea carried
the picture back to his house, and notwithstanding all the
applications that he received for it, which were many, would
never part with the painting to any one. But when the
siege was over, and the Medici had returned to Florence,
he once more took the picture to Messer Ottaviano, who
then received it most gladly, and, thanking Andrea very
kindly, paid him double the price of his work.'^ This is
now in the apartment of his consort Madonna Francesea,
the sister of the illustrious Salviati, by whom the fine works
in painting, left to her by Messer Ottaviano, are preserved
and valued as they merit, and who in like manner esteems
and seeks to retain as her own, the friends who were those
of her husband.
Another picture by Andrea, is one almost exactly like
that of the Charity above named, which he painted for
Giovanni Borgherini ; it represents the Madonna with the
Divine Child, to whom an infant St. John, presents a
globe, to signify the world, and a very beautiful head of
Joseph. ''
Now it happened that Paolo da Terra Rossa had seen the
"' This picture, executed in 1539, is now in the Pitti Gallery.
•' This work is possibly lost, but Milanesi, V., p. 53, note 3, claims that it
was for sale in a private coUection of Florence in 1853,

ANDREA DEL SARTO 293
sketch for the picture of Abraham about to sacrifice his
son, and, being a friend to all painters, he desired to pos
sess a work by the hand of its author ; he therefore re
quested a copy of that painting from Andrea, who complied
with much willingness, and performed his part in such a
manner, that the copy in its minuteness is by no means
inferior to the large original. Greatly pleased with what
he had obtained, Paolo inquired the price that he might
pay for it, fully expecting that the picture would cost him
what it was indeed worth ; but Andrea demanded only
such a wretched sum, that Paolo felt almost ashamed, and,
shrugging his shoulders, paid him all he required. This
work was afterwards sent by Paolo to Naples, and is there
considered the best , and most admirable picture in the
place.^ During the siege of Florence, certain leaders of the troops
had fled the city, with the funds entrusted to them for the
payment of their men : wherefore Andrea was called on to
paint the effigies, not of these persons only, but of certain
other citizens who had departed to Join the enemy, on the
palace of the Signoria, and on the open Piazza. He ac
cepted the office accordingly, and said that he would do as
was required, but, that he might not obtain the appellation
of Andrea degl' Impiccati, as Andrea dal Castagno had
done, he set about a report that the work was to be exe
cuted by one of his disciples, called Bernardo del Buda.
But a large enclosure having been prepared, he glided
within this shelter himself, secretly and by night, working
at those figures with his own hand, and painting them in
such sort, that they seemed to be there in life and reality,
rather than in the mere colours of the painter. The sol
diers thus exposed were depicted in the Piazza, on the front
of the old Mercatanzia namely, near the Condotta, but
they were covered over with whitewash many years since,
that they might no longer be seen ; the portraits of the
»8 Certain critics, among whom ia Dr. Janitschek, suggest that this is the
replica in the Prado.

294 ANDREA DEL SARTO
citizens also, which Andrea painted entirely with his own
hand on the palace of the Podesta, have in like manner
been destroyed. ''
In the last years of his life, Andrea lived in much fa
miliarity with some of those who governed in the Brother
hood of San Sebastiano, which has its abode behind the
monastery of the Servites ; he consequently painted for
that Brotherhood a figure of San Sebastiano in half-length,
which is so beautiful that it might well have been supposed
likely to prove the last stroke of a pencil that he was to
make.™ The siege of Florence was now at an end, and
Andrea was in constant expectation of seeing matters take
a more favourable turn, although he had but little hope of
success for his attempt, as regarded his re-admission to the
favour of the French King, seeing that Giovanni Battista
Palla had even then been taken prisoner. But when Plor
ence was filled by the soldiers of the camp, together with
the stores of food that were then brought in, there came
certain Lansquenets among the other corps of the soldiery,
and some of these were infected with the plague ; this
caused no slight alarm in the city, and the terror thus
awakened was quickly followed by the pest itself, which
those troops left behind them.
Now whether anxiety respecting this misfortune affected
the health of Andrea, or whether it were that, after the
want and privations which he had suffered during the siege,
he had committed some excess in eating ; certain it is, that
he one day felt seriously ill, and laid himself in his bed as
one whose doom was pronounced : no remedy was found
for his disease, nor were many cares bestowed on him, his
wife withdrawing herself from him as much as she could,
being moved by her fear of the pest. Thus he died,"" and
" No trace of them remains ; certain studies for seme of the figures are in
the Uffizi. Milanesi, V., p. 54, note 1, records •<¦ payment for these figures
made to " Bernardo di Girolamo dipintore."
100 This work appears to be lost ; there are apparently several repliehe of it.
"" He died January 23, 1531, N. S. Vasari has certainly represented An
drea'a wife in anything but an amiable light, but Del Sarto, in the will, made

ANDREA DEL SARTO 295
as it is said, almost without any one being aware of it ; and
in the same manner was interred with few ceremonies by
the men of the Barefooted Brotherhood in the church of
the Servites, which was near to his house, and where it
was the custom to bury all who belong to that Brother
hood. '"^ -
The death of Andrea was a great loss to his native city
and to the art he practised, seeing that up to the age of
forty-two, which he had attained, he had continually pro
ceeded from one work to another with a constant amelio
ration of his manner, insomuch that the longer he had lived,
the more he would have benefited his art : and much better
is it to proceed thus, step by step, gradually but surely
acquiring power, and advancing with a foot which becomes
evermore stronger and firmer, towards the mastery of all
difficulties, than to attempt the compulsion of nature and
genius by sudden efforts. Nor is it to be doubted that
Andrea, if he had remained in Rome, when he went thither
to see the works of Raffaello and Michelagnolo, and to ex
amine the statues and ruins of that city, — had he then
remained in Rome, I say, he would without doubt have
greatly enriched his manner as regarded style of composition,
and would eventually have attained the power of imparting
a more elevated character and increased force to his figures,
which are qualities that have never been perfectly acquired
by any but those who have been for some time in Rome,
but a few years before (1527), speaks of her with great affection as a diletta
domina, and makes an ample prevision for her. Though stUl handsome she
remained a widow, and, as Vasari tells us, while selling Andrea's ether pict
ures, she retained hia portrait of himself. More than thirty years after Del
Sarto's death, when the young Jacopo Chimenti da Bmpeli was making aome
studies from the frescoes in the portico of the Annunziata, an old woman on
her way to mass stepped and spoke to him ; after some talk about his work
and of the paintings, she told him that she was the model for several of the
figures in them. This was Lucrezia, who had outUved the great school of
Florence, and who atUl came to pray in the church where her huaband was
buried. She died in 1.570.
"2 Andrea was buried under the pavement of the presbytery of the Annun
ziata, on the left hand side, and beneath the niche containing the statue of
St. Peter (see Biadi, quoted by Milanesi).

296 ANDREA DEL SARTO
studying and carefully labouring in presence of the marvels
therein contained. Andrea del Sarto more particularly had
received from nature so graceful and soft a manner in de
sign, with a mode of colouring so life-like and easy, as well
in fresco as in oil, that all were firmly persuaded of the
success that must have attended him had he remained in
Rome ; nay, there are not wanting those who affirm that he
would in that case, without doubt, have surpassed all the
artists of his time.^"^
It is the opinion of some persons that Andrea was pre
vented from settling himself in Rome by the discourage
ment which the sight of the works executed there, whether
in sculpture or painting, and ancient as well as modern,
occasioned him, a feeling that was further increased by the
numerous disciples of Raffaello and other young artists,
whom he perceived to possess great power in design, and
saw executing their works with a bold and firm hand which
knew neither doubt nor difficulty. All this, timid as he
was, deprived Andrea of courage to make trial of himself,
it caused him to distrust his own powers, and he decided
that for him it would be better to return to Florence,
where, recalling with care and reflecting at his leisure on
all that he had seen, he profited to such a degree that his
works are, and ever have been, held in the highest estima
tion ; nay, what is more, they have been more frequently
copied and imitated since his death than while he lived ;
they are highly prized by those who possess them, and all
who have been willing to sell them have received three
'»3 Bocchi (Bellezze de Firenze) states that Michelangelo said to Raphael,
and speaking of Andrea, " There is a little man in Plorence, who if he were
employed upon such great works as have been given to you, would make you
sweat." (" Tifarebbesudarlafronte.") " Friend, there's a certain sorry little scrub
Goes np and down our Plorence, none cares how.
Who, were he set to plan and execute
As you are, pricked on by your popes aud kings.
Would bring the sweat into that brow of yours."
— RoBEKT Bkownins, Andrea del Sarto.

ANDREA DEL SARTO 297
times as much for the work as was paid for it to the artist,
who never demanded more than a very small price.
Two reasons may be given for the circumstances Just
alluded to ; first, the timidity of disposition, which, as we
have said, was natural to Andrea ; and secondly, the fact
that certain of the masters in wood-work, who at that time
were most commonly employed to superintend the best
works in the dwellings of the citizens, would never oblige
their friends by giving Andrea any work to execute, unless
they knew that he was at the time in very great need of
money, when he would content himself with the meanest
price. Be this as it may, these things do not deprive his
paintings of their value, nor prevent them from being, as
they are, most admirable. Nor do they affect the estima
tion in which they are held ; very great account is made of
them, and very deservedly, seeing that Andrea was certainly
one of the greatest and best masters that the world has yet
seen. There are many drawings by Andrea del Sarto in our
book, which are good, but that of the picture which he
painted at Poggio may be particularly remarked, seeing that
it is perfectly beautiful. The subject, as will be remem
bered, is the Presentation to Csesar, of Tribute, consisting
of all sorts of animals brought from the East. This draw
ing, which is in chiaroscuro, and a truly admirable work,
is perhaps the most finished design ever executed by An
drea del Sarto ; for when he drew the different objects from
nature which he proposed to use in his works, it was his
custom for the most part to sketch them but very slightly,
since these few memoranda sufficed him, although, when
the object in question was executed in the painting, he
completed it to the utmost perfection. His drawings,
therefore, were rather used as memorials to remind him of
what he had seen, than as copies, to be imitated exactly for
the representations depicted in his work.
The number of Andrea del Sarto's disciples was very
great, but they did not all pursue the same course of studies

298 ANDREA DEL SARTO
under his guidance, since some remained a shorter, and
others a longer time with him ; those who left him doing
so not by his fault, but by that of his wife, who, refusing to
pay due regard to any one, had respect to nothing but her
own will ; she treated all, therefore, with an arrogance of
demeanour by which each was in turn offended. Among
these disciples, then, were Jacopo da Pontormo and Andrea
Sguazzella, the latter of whom remained constant to the
manner of his master. By him there is a palace in France,
at a short distance from Paris namely, which is very much
extolled ; Solosmeo, Pier Francesco di Jacopo di Sandro,
who painted three pictures in the church of Santa Spirito,
and Francesco Salviati, were likewise of the number, as
was Giorgio Vasari, of Arezzo, a companion of Salviati, al
though he did not remain long with Andrea. The Floren
tine, Jacopo del Conte, was also one of Andrea's disciples,
and that Nannoccio, who is now in France, and in high cred
it with the Cardinal de Tournon, was another.
Jacopo, called Jacone, was not only the disciple but the
friend of Andrea, of whose manner he was a zealous imita
tor. His master constantly availed himself of his assistance,
even to the day of his death, as may be perceived in all his
works, but more particularly in that executed for the Ca
valiere Buondelmonti, on the Piazza of Santa Trinita.
The drawings of Andrea del Sarto, and other possessions
relating to art which he left at his death, were inherited by
Domenico Conti, who did not make any very distinguished
progress in the art of painting. He is said to have been
robbed one night of all the designs, cartoons, and other
things which had belonged to Andrea ; and this was done,
as it is believed, by some who belonged to the same voca
tion, but who those persons were has never been discov
ered. Now this Domenico was not ungrateful for the benefits
which he had received from his master, and being anxious,
after his death, to render him all the honours which he had
merited, he prevailed on Raffaello da Monte Lupo to make

ANDREA DEL SARTO 299
him a tolerably handsome monument in marble, which was
built into the wall of the church of the Servites, with the
following inscription, written by the very learned Messer
Piero Vettori, who was then very young : —
ANDRE.,!!. SARTIO
ADMIRABILIS. INGENII. PICTORI
AO. VETBRIBUS. ILLIS
OMNIUM. lUDIOIO. COMPAKANDO
DOMINICUS. CONTES. DISOIPULUS.
PRO. LABORIBUS. IN. SE. INSTITUENDO. S03CBPTI3
GRATO. ANIMO. POSUIT
VIXIT. ANN. XLII.* OB. ANN. MDXXX.
But no long time after the erection of this monument,
certain of the citizens who were superintendents of works
in that church, acting in ignorance rather than as being the
enemies of great names or honoured memories, and being
displeased that the tablet had been erected without their
permission, proceeded in such sort that it was removed from
its position, nor has it as yet been put up in any other
place. And herein it may be that fortune designed to
teach us that the influences of the fates are powerful, not
only over our lives, but even on our memory after death.
The works and the name of Andrea shall nevertheless long
continue to live, in despite of them ; nay, these my writings
shall, as I hope, preserve the remembrance of them through
many centuries."^ '"^
* This date does not taUy with the facts.
104 There are many portraits of Andrea by himself painted at different ages.
Two of these portraits are in the Ufiizi, two in the Pitti, and a fine one is said
to be in the possesaion of the Marchese Campana.
'"^ In the Tuscan or Tusoo-Roman School, Andrea del Sarto comes imme
diately after Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael. He was a great draughts
man, the best colorist among the Tuscans, an accomplished ohiaroscurist;
like Raphael he was intensely assimilative, but possessed a personality which
invariably made itself felt through and beyond this assimilativeness. We see
the influence of Raphael and of Fra Bartolommeo in Andrea's compositions,
of Durer in a few of his figures, but above all, of Leonardo and Michelangelo,
and yet in aU his work, as with Raphael, the artist himself is ever present.
He haa been called Andrea senza errori, which is praise that implies a want
of elan, and which touches the core of any analysis of hia faults. We are

300 ANDREA DEL SARTO
"We conclude^ then, with the opinion, that if Andrea dis
played no great elevation of mind in the actions of his life,
constantly told that he ia the painter who stops just short of perfect fulfil
ment ; this, in other words, means that he lived in an age which demanded not
only a complete technical equipment but also great spiritual gifts, which
latter gifts, as understood in the highest sense, Andrea lacked. No earlier
epoch had been so exacting, but in the fi.rst years of the sixteenth century all
the problems had been resolved, and the Florentines counted among their
artists two men, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarotti, who could
not only perform nearly everything that drawing and composition might
compass, but who added to this technical capacitj"- at once a subtlety and
a grandeur unapproached by other Tuscans. Next after these great men,
and after Raphael Sanzio, came Fra Bartolommeo and Andrea del Sarto.
With the former all other artistic considerations gradually gave way to the
research after monumental composition and elevation. Andrea in many note
worthy instances foUowed Bartolommeo in the study of composition, but
never, for the sake of the latter, sacrificed his drawing or color.
Like Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, he was in assured possession of a
complete technical equipment, and in studying Andrea's works we can per
haps more readily and easily estimate the technical progress made by the early
sixteenth over the late fifteenth-century than even in the consideration of
the achievement of the three greater masters, since with Andrea we are not
dazzled by such an overmastering personality. That the artistic personality
of Andrea was not a weak one, iu spite of what has been said about his lack
of will, ma}' be seen in bis earlier works and in the best of his later ones. As
a draughtsman he was skilful beyond any of his Florentine contemporaries
save MicheJangelo and Leonardo ; his drawings are astonishingly modern ;
some of those in the Louvre might almost be by a contemporaneous artist,
whereas no drawing of, for instance, Botticelli, Signorelli, Mantegna, Ghir
landajo, could possibly be mistaken for one of our own day. Great emphasis
has been laid by most art historians upon Andrea's color, and yet he was
rather a harmonisb than a colorist ; Florence did not produce artists who
felt color ; Fra Bartolommeo after his visit to Venice brought back some of
the reflection of the lagunes upon his canvases, and Andrea did still better,
for he avoided Bartolommeo's black shadows, but no quality in the pictures
of the old masters is so uncertain as the color quality, because time has
affected and restorers have altered the original appearance of the oil-paint
ings and frescoes until we can be certain of nothing. It has been said that in
his best work Andrea equalled the color of the Venetians ; but it would be
hard to sustain this statement ; Del Sarto shone especially as frescante^ and
the Venetians have left us little fresco work to judge them by. His frescoes
were silvery rather than rich (indeed this silvery quality is in the nature of
good fresco) ; they were clear, harmonious, and astonishingly free from the
heaviness that comes with overpainting ; that is to say, in Andrea's works the
artist has been peculiarly happy in securing the luminous quality which the
white plaster obtains for a fresco where there has been but a single sweeping
painting with no a secco retouches. Li his canvases Andrea is harmonious,

ANDREA DEL SARTO 301
and contented himself with little, yet, it is not to be denied,
that he manifested considerable elevation of genius in his
and there is sometimes even a certain golden strength of tone; but on the
whole, if we compare Andrea's easel pictures with the richest Venetian color,
there is the same difference which exists between a note vibrating clearly and
deeply and the same note slightly muflied. As a composer with color Andrea
was far less skilful than in the handling of the colors themselves ; indeed
in a broad way it may be said that to compose with color never occurred to
the Tuscans at all. In the Cenacolo of San Salvi the colors are spotted about
rather arbitrarily, although in the upper part of the picture the richness and
softness are admirable and approach the Venetians more nearly than does
anything else in del Sarto's work. The frescoes of the Annunziata and some
of hia altar-piecea are pleasing and pretty in color rather than fine ; at the
best they may be caUed charming. It is doubtful whether any man who
was a great natural colorist would have been content to do his most impor
tant work, the decoration of the cloister of the Scalzo, in monochrome. Yet
it must be admitted that he easUy led all the Tuscans in comprehension and
handUng of color.
As a composer by Une and mass Andrea was formal at times in one
or two of the frescoes of the Annunziata, academic iu several of the Scalzo
frescoes where he followed Fra Bartolommeo as to distribution, and was
strongly influenced by Leonardo in the composition of some of his altar-
pieces. One of his especial idiosyncrasies was the overloading of his figurea
with draperiea ; aome of the latter were admirably studied, but on the whole
not only Andrea, but his friends and scholars, Franciabigio and Pontormo,
hampered, and as it were tripped up, the dramatic action of their pictures by
this voluminous swathing of the actors.
Del Sarto was also a portrait-painter, leaving a whole series of remarkable
portraits of himself, and yet in his altar-pieces and decorative paintings he
preferred, wherever it waa possible, te use but one type, that of his wife. In
the treatment of thia type he waa very unequal ; sometimes it is heavy and
coarse, sometimes it is noble, as with his Madonna of the Harpies, and it is
especiaUy fascinating where Lucrezia posed for him as a St. Midiael or St.
George. In his Last Supper, at Sau Salvi, there is so much of a certain competency
and workmanlike skilfulness of handling that Andrea becomes perhaps the
firat Italian, and surely the first Florentine, of whom we may say that his
technique was clever. This cleverness, which compels our admiration in
del Sarto's more fortunate moments, at other times leads him to the facilis
descensus ; in many a great altar picture his possession of artistic riches gives
us a shock of pleasure, soon followed by the sense of his misuse of this same
possession ; in such caaes his types lack characterization, his groups are over-
facile in composition, and even his famous " silvery " color looks as if chalk
and water had been poured into it, so that we feel him to be for the time but
a "grand homme en robe de chambre." wearing his art only too easily.
Hia life appeara to have been a triple tiagedy from the active hindrance of
his wife's character, from the weakness of his own, and from the fact that he

802 ANDREA DEL SARTO
art, or that he gave proof of infinite promptitude and ability
in every kind of labour connected therewith ; nor will any
refuse to admit, that his works form a rich ornament to
every place wherein they are found ; nay, more, it is most
certain that he conferred great benefits on his contempo
raries in art, by the examples he left them in manner, de
sign, and colouring ; his works exhibiting fewer errors than
those of any other Florentine ; seeing that Andrea, as I
have said before, understood the management of light and
shade most perfectly, causing the objects depicted to take
their due degree of prominence, or to retire within the
shadows, with infinite ability, and painting his pictures
with the utmost grace and animation. He likewise taught
the method of working in fresco with perfect harmony,
and without much retouching a secco, which causes all his
pictures in that manner to appear as if they were executed
in a day ; wherefore this master may serve as an example to
the Tuscan artists on all occasions. He is entitled to the
highest praise among the most eminent of their number,
and well merits to receive the palm of honour.
came either just toe soon or too late at a time when the greatest rewards fell
naturally to three men who possessed exactly the one high spiritual quality
which was denied to Andrea. Nevertheless he was among the greatest of the
Italian masters, and hia special glory is, that living at a time when all Tus
cany was overshadowed by Michelangelo and Raphael, and all Lombardy by
Leonardo, he should have accomplished works which were permeated with
the spirit of his time, which showed the influence of all the greatest men of
his epoch, yet which were also strictly personal to him, Andrea del Sarto, and
which were masterpieces. For there is in his pictures, even when all mental
reservations are made, all adverse criticism accepted, a certain intangible
seduction that gives them an enduring claim upon our artistic sympathies.
All students of del Sarto feel the potency of this spell, which Paul Mantz
attempted te define when he wrote "Andrea has the despotism of charm."

JACOPO PALMA AND LORENZO LOTTO, VENE
TIAN PAINTERS
[Bom 1480 ? died 1528. Bern 1480 ; died 1544 ? ]
Bibliography. — For Palma : A. Rosenberg, Palma Vecchio, in the
Dohme Series of Kunst und Kiinstler des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit. Elia
Pornoni, 11 Cognome e lapatria di Palma Vecchio, Arte e Storia, Septem
ber 5, 1888. Pasiue LocateUi, Notizie intorno a Giacomo Palma il Vecchio
ed alle sue Pitture, Bergamo, 1890. The Magazine of Art, AprU, 1893. Gio
vanni Morelli, ItaUan Painters, London, 1893. Bernhard Berenson, The
Venetian Painters of the Renaissance, New York, 1894 (containing a cat
alogue of Raima's works).
For Lotto : Hugo von Tschudi, Lorenz Lotto in den Marhen, Repertor
ium fiir Kunstwissenschaft, Vol. II., 1879. W. Bede, Gazette des Beaux
Arts, 1889, Vol II., p. 013. Gustavo Frizzoni, Lorenzo Lotto im Stadtischen
Museum zd Mailand und in der Dresdner Galerie, Zeitschrift fiir Bildende
Kunst, neue Polge, I., p. 1. Pasino LocateUi, / Dipinti di Lorenzo Lotto
nelV Oratorio Suardi, Bergamo, 1891. Gust. Bampo, II Testamento di
Lorenzo Lotto, Archivio Veneto, Vol. XXXIV., and other documents pub
lished in Vol. XXXn., p. 169, of the same periodical Gustavo Frizzoni,
Giornale di Erudizione Artistica, Vol IV., Perugia, and L' Archivio Storico
delV Arte, 1893, pp. 16, 17. G. Annibaldi, Nuova Rivista Misena, July, 1893.
Libro de' Conti di Lorenzo Lotto, 1538-.56. This account-book was first
noticed and in part translated, that is to say deciphered and copied, by Dr.
Guido Levi ; after his death the translation was completed and was published
at the expense of the government in Le Gallerie Nazionali Italiane, Anno
I. , Rome, 1894. Certain portions taken from this Codex were copied aud pub
Ushed (before the entire publication was efifected) by Sig. Pietro Gianuizzi,
in the Nuova Riviita Misena (Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6), Arcevia, 1894. Mary
Logan, Lorenzo Lotto, Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1895, p. 361. Bernhard Beren
son, Lorenzo Lotto, An Essay in Constructive Criticism, New York, 1895,
(this monograph is the latest and most important work upon the subject,
with a great number of exceUent reproductions and a descriptive analysis of
the painter's pictures. The notes in the accompanying life are largely taken
from Mr. Berenson's monograph), fimile Michel, Les Portraits de Lorenzo
Lotto, Gazette des Beaux Arts, third period, Vol. XV., January, 1896.
So powerful is the effect of excellence in art, even though
displayed in one sole work, or in two only, or how
ever few these may be, that if they be perfect in their
kind, artists and judges are compelled to extol them, while

304 JACOPO PALMA AND LORENZO LOTTO
writers are in like manner constrained to celebrate their
praises, and to exalt the master who has produced them.
And this we are ourselves about to do, in the case of the
Venetian Palma,' who, although not particularly remark
able, or to be accounted among those of the first excellence
in painting, did nevertheless complete his works with much
care and exactitude. He was so zealous in his endeavours,
and so patient in his endurance of labour, that his paint
ings, if not all good, have at least a portion of good, seeing
that they present a very faithful imitation of life and nat
ural forms.
The works of Palma are more to be commended for the
' Jacopo d' Antonio Palma was born about 1480, apparently at Serinalta,
near Bergamo. His family name seems to have been Nigretti. He was called
" Palma Vecchio " (Palma, the old, or elder), to distinguish him from his
grand-nephew Palma Giovine (the young, or younger). The Venetians claimed
him as a native of their town, and Vasari accepted their claim ; but later
criticism has decided as above in favor of his Bergamasque origin. Morelli,
who states that no genuine picture by Palma has yet been found to bear sig
nature or date, says that Jacopo was Venetian as a, painter, and Venetianized-
Bergamasque as an artist, since his pictures to the last kept something of the
rude, grave character proper to his mountain province.
Modem critics have differed seriously as to Palma's chronological place, and
regarding his importance as a factor in the development of Venetian art.
Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle believe that he was. bom before 1480, and
accredit him with a very large share in the growth of the later and greater art
of Venice, and in influencing Titian and Giorgione. MorelU declares that no
evidence supports any such theory, and believes Palma to be a follower rather
than an initiator. As to Palma's masters, Ridolfi conjectures that the
painter learnt much from Titian. Possibly he worked under Bellini. Morelli
believes that both Palma and Lotto studied Giorgione's works, and that
Palma was influenced by Lotto rather than Lotto by Palma ; other critics
directly reverse this theory. The most important difference entertained re
garding Palma is undoubtedly the one mentioned above as having existed
between Morelli and Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle, since the latter would
make Jacopo a sharer with Giorgione and Titian in "modernizing and re
generating Venetian art," and a man whose influence was felt in every "city
of any pretensions" between Piedmont and Trieste. A Madonna by Palma,
in the collection of the Duo d'Aumale, bears a signed cartellino with a date,
which certain critics read as MD. MoreUi believes this date to be a late
forgery. If the date, on the contrary, is authentic, Messrs. Crowe and
Cavalcaselle may be right in claiming for Palma seniority over Titian and
Giorgione ; if the dfte is false, Morelli is presumably right in thinking that
undue influence has been accorded to Palma.

JACOPO PALMA AND LORENZO LOTTO 305
harmony and softness of their colouring, and for the pa
tience with which they are executed, than for any great
force of design, for he did certainly handle the colours
with infinite grace, and with the utmost delicacy. Ex
amples of this may be seen in many pictures and portraits
which he painted for different gentlemen of Venice, but of
these I do not make further mention, proposing to confine
myself to the enumeration of some few pictures, and of
one head, which are by all considered most admirable, nay,
divine. One of these pictures our artist painted in Sant'
Antonio in Venice, near the Castello ; ^ and there is another
in the church of Sant' Elena, which is near the Lido,
where the monks of Monte Oliveto have their monastery.
In this last, which is at the high altar of the church, is an
Adoration of the Magi. The number of figures in this
work is very large, and among them are some heads, which
are truly worthy of praise, as also are the draperies with
which the figures are clothed, and which exhibit a rich
and ample flow of the folds. ^
Por the altar of the Bombardieri, in the church of Santa
Maria Formosa, Palma executed a figure of Santa Barbara,
the size of life : two smaller figures are beside her, a San
Sebastian and Sant' Antonio namely, but the Santa Bar
bara is one of the best figures ever produced by this painter.*
' This picture is lost. According to Bosohini it represented the Marriage
of the Virgin.
' This is one of Palma's latest werka, ordered July 3, 1535. See MUanesi,
v., p. 344, note 3, and is now in the Brera at MUan. Morelli beUeves it to
have been finished by Cariani. See Italian Painters, Munich and Dresden
Galleries. ¦" The saint was the patron of the gunners. This is one of the finest pict
ures in Venice, at the sides are Saints Anthony and Sebastian, Saints
John Baptist and Dominic, above in a lunette is a. Pietd; the painting is
still in situ. The Saint Barbara has not much facial beauty, but it is hard
to imagine anything more robust, but which at the same time is neither heavy
nor rugged. The color is in a magnificent scale of reds as deep and vibrating
as an organ tone, while mass and line are at once simple yet completely dec
orative. In the gaUery of Dresden is a picture called the Three Sisters,
painted in the so-caUed blonde manner of Palma, and representing three
women aU very much alike in features, and which, like the St. Barbara,
ai.—'20

306 JACOPO PALMA AND LORENZO LOTTO
In the church of San Mose, which is near the Piazza San
Marco, this artist also painted a picture. It represents
Our Lady in the air, with San Giovanni at her feet.^ Palma
likewise painted an exceedingly beautiful historical work
for the Chamber wherein the members of the Scuola,^ or
Brotherhood of San Marco, are wont to assemble, and which
is situate on the Piazza of San Giovanni-e-Paolo. This he
did in emulation of those which had before been produced
there by Gian Bellino, Giovanni Mansuchi,* and other
painters. In this work, the artist has presented a barque,
wherein the body of San Marco is in course of being con
veyed to Venice ; ' and here he has depicted the sea in a
fearful state of tempest, with ships tossed and driven to
gether by the fury of the winds and waves. All these are
treated with great judgment, and give evidence of the most
thoughtful care. The same may be said of a group of fig
ures in the air, and of demons in various forms, who are
blowing against the ships in the manner of winds. The
barques, meanwhile, impelled by the oars, are labouring in
various positions to break through or overpass the opposing
and towering waves, but are on the very point of being
submerged.
were said te have been portraits of Violante, the daughter of the artist. It
does not, however, appear that Palma ever had a daughter, and the Violante,
is perhaps a favorite model, perhaps merely the realization of a type pecuUarly
sympathetic to Palma's artistic temperament. The picture of the " Sisters "
was cited by Jacopo Morelli's Anonimo as having been in the Casa Contarini
of Venice.
* Mansuchi is corrected to Mansueti by Milanesi, V., p. 345, note 3.
' This work has been destroyed.
' Since 1815 the Scuola has been used as a hospital.
' Vasari is mistaken as to the subject of this work as well as to its author.
The three saints — Mark, Nicholas, and George — are exorcising the demons who
are raising the storm. Many eld authors fellow Vasari in attributing this
picture te Palma. Zanetti gives it to Giorgione, Francesco Zanotto believes
that it was damaged by the fire which took place in the Scuola di San Marco
and was entirely repainted by Paris Bordone. Layard concurs in the belief
of Zanotto. Mr. Berenson says, "finished by Bordone, probably begun by
Giorgione," and under any circumstance the work haa been subjected te se
many repaintings and restorations that very little if any of the original sur
face is preserved.

JACOPO PALMA AND LORENZO LOTTO 807
This work, to say the truth of it at a word, is of such
merit, and so beautiful, that it seems impossible to conceive
that pencil and colour, however excellent the hand employ
ing them, could express any thing more exactly like the
reality, or more natural, than is this picture ; the fury of
the waves is exhibited in all its terrors, as are the strength
and dexterity of the men engaged with them, with the
movement of the waves, the lightnings and gleaming fires
of heaven, the water broken by the oars, and the bending
of these last as they encounter the wave or as they yield to
the force of the rowers. What more ? I, for my part, do
not remember to have seen a more fearful picture than this
is, since the whole scene is so truly rendered ; the inven
tion, the drawing, the colouring, is each so carefully at
tended to, and, all are so effectively portrayed, that the
picture appears to quiver, as it might do, if all therein rep
resented were reality. In a word, Jacopo Palma deserves
the highest commendation for this work, and well merits
to be numbered among those who may be called masters of
the art, and who possess the faculty of giving expression in
painting to their most recondite thoughts.
Now it sometimes happens, that in the treatment of
these difficult subjects, the painter will throw off the first
sketch of his work, as if moved by an inspiration, so to
speak, thus producing a good and bold commencement ;
but this promise is then found to remain unfulfilled at the
completion, and the effect attributable to that first fire is
seen to have disappeared. And this occurs most commonly,
because in finishing his work, the artist sometimes considers
the separate parts, rather than the whole of that which he
has in hand, and thus suffering his spirit to become cold,
he loses the force of his powers. But Jacopo on the con
trary kept himself always well and firmly to his purpose,
bringing his first thought and intention by due degrees to
its perfection, and for this he then was and ever will be
very highly extolled.
But although the works of this master are numerous,

308 JACOPO PALMA AfTD LORENZO LOTTO
and all merit to be held in esteem, yet the best of all and a
very surprising production, is without doubt the portrait
of himself, which he took with the assistance of a mirror ;
he is clothed in a robe of camel's hair, and there are locks
of hair hanging about his head, which are so natural that
better could not possibly be imagined. In this particular
work the genius of Palma produced so admirable an effect,
that the result was a performance of astonishing perfection
and singular beauty, as all agree in affirming, this picture
being presented to public view almost every year at the
Festival of the Ascension. Nor is it without reason that
the work is thus praised and celebrated, seeing that whether
we consider the design, art, colouring, or, in short, the
whole and every part, all is perfection, surpassing any work
whatever that had been executed by any Venetian painter
up to that time. Among other things to be observed in
this portrait, is a living glance and turning of the eyes,
exhibited in such a manner that Leonardo da Vinci and
Michelagnolo Buonarroti could have produced nothing
better. Of the grace, the dignity, and the many other ex
cellencies to be remarked in this portrait, I think it better
to remain silent, since it is not possible to say so much of
its merits but that it shall still deserve more.^
And now, had Fate permitted that Palma should have
departed this life on the completion of that work, he alone
would have borne off the crown, and have retained the
* A canvas in the Munich Gallery, formerly called a portrait of Giorgione
by himself, corresponds to the deacription of this picture, and was identified
with it by Mundler. Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle, and LocateUi of Ber
gamo, accepted this attribution. Morelli (Italian Painters, II. , p. 16) gives
a reproduction of the portrait and considers it to be by Cariani; he admits
that the drawing and modelling suggest Palma rather than any other Vene
tian, but he thinks that the pose and spirit of the work, the almost defiant
expression, could not have come from a man who (as was the case with Palma)
made a wine-seller and a fruiterer the executors of his will. The eminent
critic is very possibly right in his attribution, but the reason by which he
upholds his theory is not convincing. In reference to this picture see Lo-
catcUi, Notizie intorno a Giacomo Palma il Vecchio ed alle sue pitture,
Bergamo, 1890.

JACOPO PALMA AND LORENZO LOTTO 309
reputation of having surpassed all those whom we now cele
brate as our greatest and most divine masters ; but the
further duration of liis life giving occasion to other produc
tions, became to him the cause of deterioration, since, not
maintaining himself at the point to which he had attained,
all that he had previously acquired gradually diminished,
and he sank from the position which he had, on the con
trary, been confidently expected even further to improve
and exalt. Finally, being satisfied with the fact that one
or two well-executed works partly exonerated him from the
censures which others had brought on his name, Jacopo
Palma died' at Venice, in the forty-eighth year of his

" Palma died in 1538 ; a document containing his wiU was discovered and
published in the Raccolta Veneta, Dispensa, II., March, 1866. See MoreUi,
Italian Painters, H., p. 39, note.
^" Jacopo Palma cannot be placed beside the giants of later Venetian art,
Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese ; but he stands in the forefront of
the second rank, and is so thoroughly a Venetian master, though Bergamasque
by birth, that his pictures have been constantly, and stUl are, mistaken for
the work of Titian. In at least one altar-piece, the Saint Barbara in Santa
Maria Formosa of Venice, he has left a picture which for completeness, dig
nity, decorative feeling, and depth of color may be ranked with the great
masterpieces of the school. The fact that his pictures have not infrequently
passed under the name of Titian has probably helped to disperse them
throughout the European capitals ; his canvases are to be found rather out of
than m Venioe (where there are, however, some eight works still remaining).
Messra. Crowe and CavalcaseUe give a long list of Palma's pictures in their
History of Painting in North Italy. MoreUi contests some of their attribu
tions, and thinks there may be about sixty-four genuine Palmas in existence,
among which some thirty are in Italy. Mr. Berenson (Venetian Paintera of
the Renaissance, pp. 109, 110), catalogues forty-eight pictures as by Palma.
Critics assign three manners to Jacopo — the BeUinesque (aee the Adam and
Eve Brunswick GaUery), the Giorgionesque (aee the Santa Barbara in S. M.
Formosa at Venice), and the so-called " blonde manner " (see the Three Sis
ters in the Dresden Gallery). The gallery of Vienna has four portraits of
women as weU as several other works by Palma ; Dresden has five pictures ;
Rome and Berlin have each several examples, and the artist is also repre
sented in Bergamo, Florence, Milan, Genoa, Naples, Paris, London, Cambridge,
Hampton Court, Munich, and Brunswick. Morelli, ItaUan Painters, I., p.
395, says that not one of the four pictures ascribed to Palma in the Pitti is
genuine, and that only one (out of five) in the Uffizi can be caUed his, namely,
the "coarse-looking Judith," Nq. 619, This critic attributes to Palma the sq-

310 JACOPO PALMA AND LORENZO LOTTO
A friend and companion of Palma was the Venetian
painter Lorenzo Lotto, ^^ who had imitated the manner of
the Bellini for a time,^^ and had afterwards attached himself
to the manner of Giorgione, as may be seen from the nu
merous pictures and portraits by his hand in the houses of
the Venetian gentry. In the house of Andrea Odoni '^ is a
portrait of the latter by Lorenzo, a very beautiful thing ;
and in the house of the Florentine Tommaso da Empoli
there is the Birth of Christ, the time chosen being night,
which is a work of admirable beauty. In this picture is
particularly to be remarked, that the splendour of Christ is
made to illuminate the whole in a very fine manner. The
Madonna is kneeling ; and in a whole-length figure, repre
sented in the act of adoring the Infant Saviour, is the por
trait of M. Marco Loredano." For the Carmelite Monks,
Lorenzo Lotto painted a picture of St. Nicholas appearing in
the air in his episcopal robes, and attended by three Angels :
at his feet are Santa Lucia and San Giovanni, above them
are clouds, and beneath is a very beautiful landscape, with
many small figures and animals ; on one side is St. George
in combat with the Dragon, at a short distance is seen the
caUed Bella di Tiziano, of the Sciarra-Colonna Gallery, Rome, a somewhat
simUar head in the Poldi-PezzoU coUection of Milan, and a female head in
Berlin. MorelU calls the Santa Conversazione of Naples one of Palma's most
beautiful easel pictures, and says it ia worthy to rank with his picture in the
Louvre. " Mr. Bernhard Berenson, Lorenzo Lotto, p. 1, says that Dr. Gustavo Bam
po has proved conclusively, Archivio Veneto, Vol. XXXIL, p. 169, that
Lotto was born in Venice, and in the year 1480. His name was Lorenzo di
Tommaso Lotto.
" Messrs. Crowe and CavalcaseUe accept Vasari's statement that Giovanni
BeUini was Lotto's master. Morelli admits the attribution largely because,
says Mr. Berenson, that critic had "a vague hypothesis" that Alvise Vivarini
and Cima da Conegliano had both been foremen in BelUni's ateUer. Mr. Ber
enson wiU not believe that Alvise, a Muranese and a natural rival of Bellini,
could have been a foreman in hia shop, and with many arguments, iUustrated
by numerous reproductions of pictures (see his Lorenzo LHto, New York,
189.5), Mr. Berenson insists that Lotto was a pupil of Alvise Vivarini, not of
BeUini, and that he distinctly showed the influence of Alvise.
" This portrait is now at Hampton Court. It is dated 1,537.
'* These works are lost.

JACOPO PALMA AND LORENZO LOTTO 311
Damsel,*^ with a city, and part of the sea-coast.'" For the
chapel of Sant' Antonino, Archbishop of Florence, in the
church of San Giovanni-e-Paolo, Lorenzo painted a picture
of the above-named Saint, seated with two ministering
priests near him, and a vast crowd of people beneath."
While this artist was still young and followed partly the
manner of the Bellini, partly that of Giorgione, he painted
the picture of the High Altar for the church of San Domen
ico, at Ricanati.'^ This work is divided into six compart
ments : in that of the centre is Our Lady, with the Divine
Child in her arms, she is presenting the Habit of his Order,
by the hands of an angel, to San Domenico, who is kneeling
before : here also are two Children, one of whom is sound
ing a lute, the other a rebeck : in the second picture are the
Popes Sant' Urban and San Gregorio : '^ and in the third is
St. Thomas Aquinas with another Saint, who was a Bishop
of Ricanati.*' Above these three pictures are the other
three ; that of the centre, the one over the Madonna namely,
representing our Saviour Christ, dead and supported by an
Angel, with the Virgin Mother, who kisses the arm of the
Saviour ; and Santa Maria Maddalena near her : ^' over the
picture of San Gregorio is again depicted the figure of Santa
Maria Maddalena, with San Vincenzio ; in the third, that
above San Tommaso d' Aquino namely, are San Sigismondo
and Santa Caterina of Siena. The predella is adorned with

" CleodoUnda, the king's daughter, saved by St. George from the dragon.
18 This admirable altar-piece is in the church of the Carmine in Venice,
and is one of Lotto's finest works. Ridolfi says it was once dated 1539.
" This was one of Lotto's moat important pictures and is stiU in the church ;
it was painted in 1543.
" This altar-piece in six parts is no longer in the church of San Domenico,
but has been removed to the Municipio of Recanati. It was painted in 1508.
The predella pictures which Vasari praised are lost. Ricci, Mem. Stor., IL,
p. 93, claims that this predella was finished in 1535, but it is not known on
what authority. Mr. Berenson notes the fact that Lotto was one of the last
Venetians who continued to psdnt predelle.
18 Urban and Gregory are in the central panel with the Madonna.
20 Saints Pierian and Thomas Aquinas are in the left side panel.
»i There is also a figure of St, Joseph of Ariniathea.

312 JACOPO PALMA AND LORENZO LOTTO
three pictures of small figures. These are works of rare
excellence, the central compartment exhibits the church of
Santa Maria di Loretto, carried by Angels from Sclavonia,
where it then was, to the place where it now stands ; and of
the two stories which are on each side of this, the one repre
sents San Domenico preaching, the small figures composing
it being the most graceful that can be imagined : and the
other Pope Honorius confirming the rule of San Domenico.
In the centre of the same church there is a fresco by this
master, representing a figure of the Monk, St. Vincent ; ^
and in the church of Santa Maria de Castel Nuovo there is
a picture in oil, representing the Transfiguration of Christ,
and having three stories, in small figures, on the predella.
These last exhibit the Saviour, first, when he is leading the
apostles to Mount Tabor ; second, when he is praying in
the garden ; and finally, as he ascends into heaven.^ After
the completion of these works, it chanced that Lorenzo
repaired to Ancona, and that precisely at the time when
Mariano ^ of Perugia had just completed the picture for the
high altar, in the church of Sant' Agostino ; this was sur
rounded by a rich decoration, or frame work, but did not
fully satisfy the citizens. Lorenzo was therefore commis
sioned to paint a picture, which is placed in the middle of
the same church ; the subject of the work is Our Lady
with the Divine Child in her laj) ; over her head hover two
angels, whose figures are foreshortened, and who place a
crown on the head of the Virgin.^'
Finally, when Lorenzo had become quite old, and had
almost entirely lost his voice, he left Ancona, but not before
he had executed other works, though not of any great impor-
22 It was painted in 1513 ; it is stUl in the church, and, says Mr. Berenson,
op. cit, p. 135, shows the influence of the Disputd of Raphael in the Vatican.
23 It is of 1513 says Mr. Berenson, and has been taken from the church to
the Municipio of Recanati. The predella has disappeared.
21 Mariano di Ser Busterie of Perugia, a pupil of Perugino.
2'' Milanesi, V., p. 353, note, quotes Ricci as affirming that in his time
this picture was in the church of Santa Maria di Piazza. Mr. Berenson cafe-.
aloguea the Assumption of the Virgin as in the gallery of Ancona.

JACOPO PAL.MA AND LOKKNZO LOTTO 313
tance, in that city ; ^^ he then departed to Our Lady of Lo
retto, where he had already painted a picture in oil,^' which
is in a chapel on the right of the entrance into the church,
and there resolved to finish his life in the service of the
Madonna, making his habitation in that holy house. There
upon he commenced the execution of historical representa
tions in figures of one braccio high, or less, around the choir,
and above the seats of the officiating priests. In one of
these he depicted the Birth of Christ ; in another, the ado
ration of the Magi ; the Presentation to Simeon occupies
a third ; * and following this, is the Saviour Baptized by
John in the Jordan. The Woman taken in Adultery, and
led before Christ, is also among these pictures, which are
executed in a very graceful manner. Two other stories
which Lorenzo likewise painted in this place exhibit a large
number of figures ; one of these represents David offering
Sacrifice ; ^ the other exhibits the Archangel Michael in
Combat with Lucifer, whom he has driven out of heaven.
No long time had elapsed after the completion of these
stories, before Lorenzo died, as he had lived, in the manner
of an upright man and good Christian, resigning his soul to
the hands of God his Maker. ^^' The last years of his life
28 Mr. Berenson thinks that the "splendid altar-piece " in the Communal
GaUery of Ancona was painted in 1546, and says that the Assumption (in the
same gaUery) inscribed 1550 has been in great part brutally repainted.
2' A St. Christopher.
28 Mr. Berenson caUs this picture " perhaps the most modem'' ever painted
by an old ItaUan master, and compares it to the work of modern impression
ists. 2s This, says Mr. Berenson, is a sacrifice of Melchisedek.
38 Lotto died in 1556. Milanesi suggested 1.544, but with a query.
81 The final note to this life of Lotto is the only one in these volumes which
the editors have based whoUy upon the appreciations of other writers. In
this case the annotators, not having visited either Recanati, Trescorre, or
Loreto, have adopted the appreciations of Mr. Bernhard Berenson, whose
work upon Lotto is the latest and most complete study of the painter's works.
The annotators wUl only emphasize the beauty of Lotto's portraits (highly
praised and carefuUy analyzed by Mr. Berenson), and remark the singular
dissonance which exists between the movements of Lotto's figures and their
architectonic setting.
Mr. Berenson says that up to 1509 the works of Lotto may be distinctly

314 JACOPO PALMA AND LORENZO LOTTO
were passed in the utmost peace and tranquillity of mind,
nay, what is more, he was by them, as is to be hoped and
classed as in his first manner. He believes him to be the pupU of Alvise
Vivarini and to have remained a quattrocentist as to composition, coloring,
handling, and chiaroscuro for some time after Giorgione, Titian, and Palma
had adopted the new manner. As Lorenzo was an exceedingly susceptible
artist, he felt the influence of many different masters ; though Mr. Berenson
refuses to agree with Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle's statement that Lotto
was but a " mush of concessions," he admits an " apparent jumble of other
painters " with whom Lotto had affinities. The author dates the beginning
of Lorenzo's Bergamasque period from 1534, and thinks that for nearly ten
years he scarcely came in contact with Venetian painters of hia own rank and
that he thereby gained much in independence and personality. It was during
this period that Lotto was most in touch with his time, and his works of
this epoch will therefore appeal most to lovers of classic Italian painting.
Lotto executed remarkable designs for intarsiatura in the choir stalls of
S. Maria Maggiore at Bergamo. Mr. Berenson (op. cit. , p. 204) says that if
Lorenzo had made engravings from such designs and scattered them about,
instead of putting them all in the church of a single provincial town, he ' ' would
have come down to us as the acknowledged rival of Diirer." Lotto had thirty
of his intarsia cartoons returned to him, and valued them, making a special
bequest of them in his will. He was an admirable portrait painter, having
left three splendid examples in the Brera as well as many in other galleries ;
these portraits are astonishingly modern in their presentation of the spiritual
side of their models, in their introspective quality, in their suggestiveness.
These restless, nervous, self-tormented people of Lotto seem a whole age re
moved from the well-nourished, serene, and nobly tranquil men and women of
Titian and the Venetian painters. Vernon Lee in a recent article in Cosmop-
olis, on Lombard Villas, says apropos of this tendency of Lotto ; " Even more
noticeable in this highly-strung, over-excitable artist ia the romantic, imagi
native light iu which he sees actions and men . . . touching upon the element
of hidden pathos or trouble in aU hia sitters. "
Mr. Berenson in his long and careful consideration of Lotto gives him high
praise for many of his qualities, comparing him to Diirer for depth, to Cor
reggio for sensitiveness ; he emphasizes the intense modernness of his hand
ling and color in some of his works, but most of aU, and quite naturally, he
dwells upon the psychological interest which animated the artist, interest
which is "never of a purely scientific kind" but "is above all humane."
He finds that the personality of Lotto was so modern that " his spirit is more
like our own than is, perhaps, that of any other Italian painter." M. Eugene
Miintz in his Fin de la Renaissance says of Lotto that he knows "no more
striking example of the metamorphosis of a primitive master into a champion
of the golden age of art." Vernon Lee in the article cited above feUoitously
interprets the disquieting charm of Lotto's personality which is so alluring te
the modern critic : "Although a Venetian in the essential painting quaUty,
and in a certain voluptuous solemnity, Lorenzo Lotto stands out quite sepa
rate from the two great exchangeable earUer Venetians, Giorgione and Titian

JACOPO PALMA AND LORENZO LOTTO 315
believed, enabled to obtain the riches of the life eternal,
which might possibly not have been secured to him had he
remained to the close of his days exclusively wrapt up in
the concerns of the world, which rest too heavily on him
who makes them his sole thought, since they do not permit
the soul to rise towards the true wealth of the future life,
and that which ia to constitute our highest felicity and
blessedness.and their retinue. Separate, different, shining out in virtue of ... a
more Uvely composition, a more vehement and momentary gesture, a more
pathetic, episodic fancy, as of Tasso's poignant romance compared with the
idylUc heroism of Spenser's, . . . steeped in sentiment and suggestion,
he leaves in the mind with his brilliancy aud a sort of diagonal vivacity, a
sense of discomfort mingled with deUght."

FRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO OF VENICE,
PAINTER
[Born 1485; died 1547.]
BiBLlOGBAPHT. — Biagi, Memorie . . . intorno alia vita ed alle opere
di F. Sebastiano Luciani, Venioe, 1826. G. Campori, Sebastiano del Piombo
e Ferrante Gonzaga, Atti e Memorie della Depzitazione per gli studj di
Storia Patria delle provincie di Parma e Modena, Modena, 1864. J. P.
Richter, Sebastiano del Piombo, iu the Dohme Series of Kunst und Kiinst
ler. A. Venturi, La Farnesina, Rome, 1891. R. Forster, Farnesina-Stu
dien, Rostock, 1880. Cugnoni, Agostino Chigi il Magnijico, Rome, 1881. J.
Meyer, iu the Jahrbuch der Koniglichen Preussischen Kunstsammlungen,
1886. G. MUanesi, Les Correspondants de Michel-Ange, No. 1, Sebastiano del
Piombo, Paris, 1890. Friedrich Propping, Die Kiinstlerische Laufbahn des
Sebastiano del Piombo bis zum Tode BaffaeVs, Leipsic, 1893.
THE first profession of Sebastiano,' as many afifirm, was
not painting, but music ; for, besides that he was a
singer, he delighted to perform on various instru
ments, but more especially on the lute, that being an in
strument which permits the player to take all the parts
himself, without requiring any one to accompany him. His
accomplishments in this matter rendered him for a time
exceedingly acceptable to the nobles of Venice, with whom,
as a man of ability, he ever lived in confidential inter
course. The wish to devote himself to painting having
been conceived by Sebastiano while he was still young, he
acquired the first principles of his art from Giovan- BeUini,*
' Sebastiano Luciani, called Fra Sebastiano del Piombo, was born in 1485.
His birthplace is unknown, but he signed his pictures " Venetus." The date
of his birth has been calculated from Vasari's statement that he died at the
age of sixty-two. The date of his death is known with certainty to be 1547.
2 It is not often in the history of Italian art that one finds au artist who
came under the direct influence of so many of its greatest masters as did Se
bastian, whose work is closely associated with that of Titian, Giorgione,
Raphael, and Michelangelo.

FRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO 317
then an old man ;^ but when Giorgione da Castel Franco
brought into Venice the newer manner, with its superior
harmony and increased vividness of colouring, Sebastiano
left Bellini to place himself with Giorgione.'
With the last-named artist, Sebastiano remained so long
that he acquired his manner to a considerable degree. He
executed numerous portraits from the life in Venice, which
were reputed to be excellent likenesses ; among others, that
of the Frenchman Verdelotto, an accomplished musician,
who was then chapel-master {Maestro di Capella) iu San
Marco, and in the same picture Sebastiano painted the por
trait of the singer Uberto, the associate of Verdelotto.
This work was brought to Florence by Verdelotto, when
the latter repaired to that city as Maestro di Capella at San
Giovanni. It is now in the possession of the sculptor,
Francesco Sangallo.^ About the same time, Sebastiano
painted a picture in the Church of San Giovanni Crisostomo
at Venice, with figures which have so much of the manner
of Giorgione, that they have sometimes been taken by per
sons who have not much acquaintance with matters of art,
to be by the hand of Giorgione himself. The work is a
very beautiful one, and has a manner of colouring which
secures great relief to the picture.'
2 There was in the collection of the late Sir Austen Henry Layard at Ven
ice, a Pietd, the earliest known work of Sebastiano ; the Cartellino bears the
inscription, " BaSTI AN LXJCIAKI FUIT DISOIPULUS JOHANNES Bellinus." It
originaUy had a forged Cartellino, with the name of Cima da Conegliano,
which was removed by the restorer Molteni of Milan. This picture is painted
in the manner of Cima, who from about 1500 to 1504 probably occupied the
position of instructor in Bellini's studio.
« There is nothing except the character of Luciani' s work to prove that he
actually studied with Giorgione. Although Vasari had but scanty knowledge
of Sebastian's early years, he writes of the later ones with so much fulness
of detail that critics have surmised that the author obtained his information
from Sebastian himself ; they were both in Rome at the same time and were
friends of Michelangelo.
8 This work is lost ; the Uberto mentioned above is Ubrette in the Milanesi
edition ; Milanesi refers, however, in a note to the fact that other editors
have changed the word to Uberto.
8 Thia picture in the church of S. Giovanni Crisostomo at Venice ia a fine

318 PRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO
By this work the reputation of the artist was much ex
tended, and Agostino Chigi, a very rich merchant of Siena,
who had frequent communications with Venice, hearing
him much extolled in Rome, made efforts to attract him
thither, the abilities of Sebastiano in playing on the lute
being equally pleasing to Agostino with his acquirements
as a painter ; and the latter was furthermore incited by the
agreeable conversation of Sebastiano, which was also much
commended. No great labour was required to lead Sebas
tiano to Rome ; nay, knowing how helpful and favourable
that city, as the common country of all distinguished men,
had ever proved herself towards such, he went thither more
than willingly. Having arrived in Rome accordingly,
Agostino set him instantly to work, and the first thing
which he did was to paint the small arches above the
Loggia, which looks into the garden of Agostino's palace in
the Trastevere, where the whole of the vaulting had been
decorated by Baldassare of Siena. In these arches, Sebas
tiano painted many poesies,' or fanciful subjects, in the
manner which he had brought with him from Venice, and
which were very different from the works usually produced
in Rome by the distinguished painters of that time.
After this work, Raffaello having executed a story of
Galatea in that place, Agostino desired that Sebastiano
should paint a Polyphemus in fresco beside it ; ' and here,
example of a Santa Conversazione (Saints Catherine, Agnes, John the Baptist,
Liberalis, and the Magdalen surrounding the titular saint of the church) ; it
recalls the work of Giorgione, and it has even been thought that it was begun
by him although it has been much injured by restorations. In the church of
San Bartolommeo in Venice are full-length figures of Saints Bartolommeo and
Sebastiano, Louis and Sinibaldo. These are of about the same date as the
picture in St. John Chrysostom.
' With Vasari, fanciful subjects are Poesie, historical subjects, Storie.
Thesepoesie, probably painted in 1513, are taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses,
and represent : the Fall of Icarus, Juno on her Car, the Death of Phaethon,
Pluto and Proserpine, Boreas and Orytheia, Pandora aud Admetus. See
Milanesi, V., p. 567, note 1, t.
8 According to Bottari the Polyphemus perished, and was replaced by
another, the work of an unknown painter. Sebastian probably removed to
Rome in 151 1 or 1513.

FRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO 319
impelled by a spirit of rivalry with Baldassare of Siena, and
afterwards with Raphael, he did his very utmost to dis
tinguish himself. He likewise executed certain works in
oil, and of these, seeing that he had obtained from Gior
gione a certain mode of colouring which was tolerably soft,
much account was made at Rome. While Sebastiano was
thus producing these pictures in Rome, Raffaello da Urbino
had risen into great credit as a painter, and his friends and
.adherents maintained that his works were more strictly in
accordance with the rules of art than those of Michelag
nolo, affirming that they were graceful in colouring, of
beautiful invention, admirable in expression, and of char
acteristic design ; while those of Michelagnolo, it was
averred, had none of these qualities with the exception of
the design. For these reasons, Raphael was judged by
those who thus opined, to be fully equal, if not superior, to
Michelagnolo in painting generally, and was considered by
the same to be decidedly superior to him as regarded colour
ing in particular. These ideas, promulgated by many ar
tists, were very widely diffused, and found favour among
those who preferred the grace of Raphael to the profundity
of Michelagnolo, and who showed themselves on many oc
casions to be more favourable to Raphael in their judgment,
than to Buonarroti.'
" In the rivalry between Raphael and Michelangelo, Sebastian proves him
self by his own letters to have played a far worse part than did the principals.
Michelangelo when asked te act as expert regarding the price of Raphael's
Sibyls, adjudged to the artist twice the sum which Chigi's accountant would
have paid him, and Raphael " thanked God " that he had been bom in Michel
angelo's time. Sebastian, on the contrary, in a letter to Buonarroti written
July 3, 1518, speaks of Raphael, to use the words of M. Eug. Miintz, " as a
plagiarist, a dauber and a thief." He, Sebastian, first expresses his fear lest
Raphael should see his work before commencing his own. There was noth
ing so very bad in this, for although Raphael when he borrowed from the
art-work of others did it with perfect frankness, it was yet not unnatural
that Sebastian, who had entered the lists as Sanzio's adversary, should dislike
to have his works seen too soon by this terrible rival who improved upon
everything that he saw. Next, Sebastian says of Raphael's St. Michael and
the Holy Family sent to Francis 1., that they looked like shining iron, or as
if they had been smoked on one side ; here again we can only say of the Vene-

390 FRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO
But not SO Sebastiano, he was not among the followers of
these extreme opinions ; possessing an exquisite judgment,
he fully and exactly appreciated the value of both these
masters ; '" the mind of Buonarroti was thereby disposed
towards him, and being greatly pleased with the grace and
beauty of his colouring, he took him into his protection,
tian that he told the truth ; the St. Michael to-day looks like painted tin,
and Sebastian has proved that its gaudy colors and black shadows do not
come from any chemical action or deterioration by the effect of time. But
what was altogether mean and detestable in Sebastian was his assertion that
Raphael stole " at least three ducats a day " from the pope. This evU speech
passes far beyond even his most envious criticism of Raphael'a art ; indeed,
we muat not too much blame Sebastian's hard words regarding the frescoes,
nor hia saying that his own picture was, he hoped, " better dravpn than the
tapestries which have come from Flanders," nor yet may we wholly con
demn the words of Leonardo the saddler that the Farnesina ceiling just
uncovered was " chosa vituperata a un gran maestro." Leonardo and Se
bastian saw the great Raphael permitting his pupils to complete things
in a manner very unworthy of their master and if the Venetian was an en
vious critic he was not always an unjust one. His envy and his real clever
ness in intrigue did not bring him success, aud he bitterly complains that he
was given ceUars to paint while Raphael's pupUs had the gilded haUs
above. Even Michelangelo's active backing did not in the end procure for
Sebastian the inheritance of Raphael's work. Worst of all (if we may be
lieve Dolce) were the words that the unlucky Venetian heard from a great
compatriot. Titian was walking with him in the Stanze of Raphael, where
Sebastian had done certain restoration te the frescoes damaged during the
sack of Rome. Pointing to some of Sebastian's work, Titian asked who was
the audacious and ignorant person who had disfigured Raphael's paintings,
and at these words Sebastian became really " di piombo," livid as lead.
18 In a letter to Michelangelo, Sebastian's few words regarding the death of
Raphael are at least free from any hypocritical expression of personal grief.
He says : "The news wiU, I believe, have grieved you very much, may God
pardon him." The words dispiaciuto assai may be taken with some latitude
and may mean much or little, as the writer and reader chose. MoreUi be
Ueves that Sebastian painted the portrait of Raphael when the latter was
twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, and whUe the two artists were stiU
friendly, and that the picture is the one lately in the Scarpa collection of
La Motta, called a portrait of Tebaldeo by Raphael. The Scarpa portrait has
quite recently been sold and wiU eventually go to Buda-Pesth. Dr. Gustavo
Frizzoni, L' Archivio Storico, 1895, Second Series, I., pp. 409^18, thinks the
portrait was painted about 1.513, and admits its great resemblance to the feat
ures of Raphael MoreUi also beUeves that the St. John in the Louvre
attributed to Raphael is by Sebastian, and from a sketch by Michelangelo ; he
points out the resemblance to Buonarroti's youths of the Sistina, aud this
Ukeness is indeed striking, especially in the movement.

PRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO 321
thinking also that by assisting Sebastiano in design, he
might succeed, without doing anything himself, in con
founding those who held the above-described opinions,
while he, under the shadow of a third person, might ap
pear as judge between the two, Raphael or Sebastiano,
deciding which of them was the better."
Things being at this point, and the works of Sebastiano
having been exalted to great, or rather, infinite reputation
by the praises lavished on them by Michelagnolo, to say
nothing of the fact that they were in themselves beautiful
and commendable, there was a certain Messer, I know not
who, from Viterbo, who stood in high favour with the
Pope, and who commissioned Sebastiano to paint a Dead
Christ, with Our Lady weeping over him, for a certain
chapelVhich he had caused to be erected in the Church of
San Francesco at Viterbo ; but although the work was
finished with infinite care and zeal by Sebastiano, who exe
cuted a twilight Landscape therein, yet the invention was
Michelagnolo's and the cartoon was prepared by his hand.*^
The picture was esteemed a truly beautiful one by all who
beheld it, and acquired a great increase of reputation for
Sebastiano, confirming the opinions of those by whom he
was favoured ; then the Florentine merchant. Pier Fran
cesco Borgherini, having obtained possession of a chapel in
San Pietro-in-Montorio, on the right of the entrance into
that church, commissioned Sebastiano to paint the same ;
induced thereto by the favour shown to Sebastiano by
Michelagnolo, and thinking moreover that the latter would
himself execute the drawing of the whole work, which, as
the matter happened, was in fact the truth.
" One of the stories which grew from the unfriendliness of Sebastian and
Raphael and the rivalry of the latter with Michelangelo, ia to the effect that
once when Raphael with hia retinue of pupils passed up the stairway of the
Vatican, Sebastian (or Buonarroti — the story is told impartially of one and
the other) said to the master, "You go by like the Bargello with his posse,"
and that Raphael rejoined, "And yon go alone like the executioner."
12 The Pietd for the church of San Francesco at Viterbo was finished in
February, 1535. The picture is now in the Museo Municipale at Viterbo.
IIL— 21

822 PRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO
Having commenced the paintings, accordingly, Sebastiano
set hand to the work with such perfect good will, and com
pleted it with so much care and study, that it is indeed a
most beautiful picture ; and as, from the small design pre
pared by Michelagnolo, Sebastiano made several others of
larger size for his own convenience, one among them, very
beautifully executed by his hand, is now to be found
in our book, Sebastiano was convinced that he had dis
covered the true method of painting in oil on the wall, he
therefore covered the plaster of the chapel in San Pietro-in-
Montorio with a preparation for the intonaco, which ap
peared to him to be properly suited for that purpose, and
on this he executed the part whereon is the representation
of Christ scourged at the Column, entirely in oil." Nor
will I conceal, that many believe Michelagnolo to have made,
not the small design for this work only, but even the out
line of that figure of Christ scourged at the Column, see
ing that there is a great difference in the degree of excel
lence to be perceived in the figure here in question, and
that of all the others. But had Sebastiano never executed
any work excepting this one he would have well deserved
eternal fame for this alone ; the heads are admirably well
done, many of the hands and feet are most beautiful, and
although his manner was a little hard, an effect of the great
pains which he took in the copying of the objects depicted,
he may nevertheless be justly enumerated among the good
and praiseworthy artists of his time.
Above this story Sebastiano painted two Prophets in
fresco, with a Transfiguration in the vaulted ceiling, and
there are besides two Saints standing one on each side of the
lowermost picture, San Piero, and San Francesco namely,
which are figures of great force and animation." It is true
" The Flagellation is stUl in the church, but has suffered much deteriora
tion. It was the last of the series to be executed, aud was finished in AprU,
1535 ; there is a replica by Sebastian now in the Museo Civico of Viterbo,
and there is a Pietd by del Piombo in the same museum. See Ettore Gen
tile, L'Archivio Storico delV Arte, II. , pp. 409-414.
" These works are also in situ; the Prophets were finished in 1516.

FRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO 323
that Sebastiano laboured for six years over this small under
taking, but when works are well executed, one ought not
to inquire whether they have been finished more or less ex
peditiously, although there is no doubt that he who exe
cutes his works rapidly, and yet completes them well, does
merit to be the more highly extolled ; still, if, when the
work does not give satisfaction, the painter seeks to excuse
himself by alleging the rapidity of the execution, this al
legation is so far from presenting an excuse for the defect,
that it is, on the contrary, a further accusation against him
self, unless indeed he has been compelled to such haste.
But when this work of Sebastiano's was uncovered, it was
found to be a good one ; wherefore, although he had toiled
wearily over it, yet, as he had done well, the evil tongues
were silenced, and there were few who presumed to censure
him. When, some time afterwards, Raphael painted for the
Cardinal de' Medici that picture which was to be sent into
France, but which after the death of the master was placed
on the high altar of San Pietro in Montorio, the Transfigu
ration namely, Sebastiano executed one at the same time
and of the same size, almost as in rivalry of Raphael, the
subject being a Resurrection of Lazarus, after he had been
in the grave four days. This also was painted with the
most earnest care, under the direction, and in some parts
with the design, of Michelagnolo. These pictures being
finished, were publicly displayed together in the Hall of
the Consistory ; they were both very highly extolled, and,
although the works of Raphael had no equal for their ex
traordinary grace and beauty, the labours of Sebastiano,
nevertheless, found honourable acknowledgment and were
commended by all. One of these pictures ^^ was sent by
¦8 The Resurrection of Lazarua is now one of the most famous posseasions
of the National Gallery of London. It was finished in 1519, in the ever-mem
orable competition (for it practically was such) in which the Venetian painter,
backed by one of the two great rulers of the Roman art world, Michelangelo,
entered the Usta againat Raphael, liata from which Sebastian retired with
dignity, and even, according to some critics, with the honor of having taken

324 FRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO
the Cardinal de' Medici *« to his episcopal residence at Nar
bonne in France, the other was placed in the Chancery,
where it remained until it had received the frame prepared
for it by Giovanni Barile," when it was taken to San Pietro-
in-Montorio. Having performed good service by this work
in the estimation of the Cardinal, Sebastiano was much fav
oured and very liberally rewarded during the pontificate of
the same.
No long time afterwards, and when Raphael having died,
the first place in painting was universally accorded to Se
bastiano, in consequence of the favour which the latter re
ceived from Michelagnolo, Giulio Romano, Giovan Fran
cesco of Florence, Perino del Vaga, Polidoro Maturino,
Baldassare of Siena, and the rest were compelled to give
way ; wherefore Agostino Chigi, who had caused his chapel
and tomb in Santa Maria del Popolo to be constructed un
der the direction of Raphael, agreed with Sebastiano that
the latter should execute the whole of the painting," and
he having erected his enclosure accordingly, the chapel re-
part in a drawn battle. There is this, however, to be remarked, that although
both pictures were the result of collaboration, and although two artists work
ing together invariably neutralize each other's powers te a certain extent, the
collaboration was here rather to the advantage of Sebastian than of Raphael.
Sebastian and Michelangelo each contributed that in which he excelled his
collaborator, whereas Raphael was handicapped by co-workers who were in
every way his inferiors. There are two drawings by Michelangelo, now in
the British Museum, which are probably preparatory studies for the figure of
Lazarus. Michelangelo was in Plorence when the picture was executed, so
that he could hardly have superintended the work, as Vasari says. Sebastian
writes to Michelangelo : "I have endeavored to keep it back as long as pos
sible, that Raphael might not see it before it is finished. ... I believe I
shall not bring discredit upon you." Opinions in regard to this work are
very diverse. It is probably the typical example of that combination of
Venetian treatment and color feeling with the Michelangelesque feeUng for
form and movement which gave Sebastian such immediate and great notoriety
in Rome.
'8 Afterward Clement VH.
" The wood-carver mentioned in the Life of Raphael.
" Vasari says in the Life of Raphael that after the death of the latter
Chigi gave the commission for the paintings to Sebastian, but the death of
Chigi foUowed in turn, and almost immediately.

PRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO 325
mained thus concealed without ever being seen by any one,
until the year 1554, at which time Luigi the son of Agos
tino, resolved that although his father had not been per
mitted to see that work finished, yet he would himself be
hold the completion thereof. He, therefore, commissioned
Francesco Salviati to paint the Altar-piece," and the chapel,
when the last-mentioned artist brought the work in a short
time to that perfection which would never have been given
to it by the tardiness and irresolution of Sebastiano, who,
so far as can be ascertained, had done but little thereto,
although he had received from the liberality of Agostino
and his heirs a much larger sum than would have been due
to him even had he completed the whole. But this was
what Sebastiano did not do, whether because he had become
weary of the labours of art, or because he was too busily oc
cupied with the interests and pleasures of the world. ^ In
th^ same manner he treated Messer Filippo of Siena, '^
Clerk of the Chamber, for whom he commenced a story in
oil on the wall, above the high altar of the church of Santa
Maria deUa Pace in Rome, and never finished it at all, in
somuch that the monks, when they had fallen quite into
despair respecting it, were compelled to remove the scaf
folding, which they found to encumber their church and
impede the services, having no further resource but that of
taking patience, and permitting the part to remain covered
with a cloth, as it continued to be during, all the .remainder
of Sebastiano's life, but when he was dead, and the monks
uncovered the picture so that what he had done could be
seen, the portion that had been accomplished was acknowl
edged to be an exceedingly beautiful work.^ There are
" It is doubtful if Salviati did the altar-piece.
20 The altar-piece is stiU in the church of S. Maria del Popolo. God the
Father and other colossal figures on the waU are painted in oil.
2' FiUppo Sergardi.
22 Sebastian's wall-paintings in the choir were taken down when Bernini
buUt the marble monument of the Chigi f amUy ; fragments are said to be in
the possession of the Duke of Northumberland at Alnwick Castle, and te rep
resent the Nativity and the Visitation ; see Crowe and CavalcaseUe's History

326 FRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO
many female heads for example, in that painting (which
shows Our Lady visiting Sant' Elizabetta) that are singular
ly pleasing and display the most attractive grace, but here
also there is evidence that this man performed all that he
did with infinite difficulty and most laborious pains-taking,
and that no part of his work was effected with that facility
with which Nature and study will sometimes reward those
who delight in their vocation and are perpetually occupied
therewith.^ A proof of what is here affirmed may be found in this
same church of the Pace, and in the chapel of Agostino
Chigi, where Raphael had painted the Sybils and the Proph
ets ; for Sebastiano, in the hope of surpassing Raphael,
undertook to paint something of his own in the niches be
neath these Sybils and Prophets, proposing to execute his
work on the stone, and covering it to that end with pepe-
rigno, the interstices being filled in with stucco under the
action of fire, but he spent so much time in consideration
of the matter that he left the work after all in a state of
preparation only, seeing that when it had been ten years in
that condition Sebastiano died.
It is true that there was no difficulty in obtaining some
portrait taken from the life from Sebastiano : this he did
with tolerable ease and promptitude, but with anything ap
pertaining to stories or other figures, it was altogether the
reverse. Nay, to tell the truth, portrait painting was the
proper vocation of Sebastiano ; and of this we have some
evidence in the likeness of Marcantonio Colonna, which is
so well done that it seems to be alive, as well as in those of
Ferdinando, Marquis of Pescara, and of the Signora Vit-
of Painting in North Italy, IL, p. 338. A second picture of the Visitation,
on panel, is in the Louvre, and is dated 1531.
22 " And this man," remarks a compatriot of our anther, " this man, with
his slowness of intellect, his idle and self-indulgent disposition, this man was
the lance with which Michelangelo intended to lift the Urbinese from his
saddle ! " — Foster's Notes. It is well to add to this that it was principally
upon Sebastian's own testimony that we infer ill-feeling toward Raphael
upon Michelangelo's part. Buonarroti himself was silent.

PRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO 327
toria Colonna,'^* which are most beautiful. This master
likewise took the portrait of Pope Adrian VI.^ when he
first arrived in Rome as he did also that of the Cardinal
Hinchfort.^ This prelate afterwards desired that Sebas
tiano should paint a chapel for him in the church of Santa
Maria dell' Anima in Rome, but the artist put him off
" from to-day to to-morrow," in such a manner that the
Cardinal at length caused his chapel to be painted by the
Flemish painter Michele,*^ his compatriot, who there de
picted stories in fresco from the life of Santa Barbara, im
itating our Italian manner exceedingly well. He painted
the portrait of the above-named Cardinal also in this work.
But to return to Sebastiano : he also painted the likeness
of the Signor Federigo da Bozzolo,^ with that of some
captain, I know not whom, wearing armour : this last is
in the possession of Giulio de' Nobili in Florence ; ^ and in
the house of Luca Torrigiani, there is a Woman in the
Roman habit, by the hand of this artist.^ Giovanni Bat
tista Cavalcanti has also a head painted by him, but this is
not entirely finished ; ^' Sebastiano furthermore executed a
picture of Our Lady, covering the Divine Child with a
veil,^ an admirable work, now in the Guardaroba of the
* Read Michele the Fleming (Flamingo).
2* The portrait of Vittoria Colonna is in Naples in the Palazzo Sant' An
gelo. See MUanesi V., p. 573, citing D. Campanari.
2' There is a portrait of Adrian VI. in the Museum at Naples, and another
is in Lord Taunton's coUection at London. Bee Dr. Richter's notes to Vasari,
pp. 337, 338.
2« The Pope's datario. Cardinal Enckenvoirt, was probably the Nincef ert of
Vasari, and Hinchfort of Mrs. Poster's translation.
2' According to Bottari, Michael Cocceis or Coxis of Mechlin.
28 This work is lest, or, according to tradition, says Dr. Richter, it is the
exceUent portrait by Sebastian now at Lansdowne House, London. The
critic, however, notes the fact that books and a globe figure in the picture,
whereas Bozzole was a soldier.
"" MUanesi, V., p. 574, note 3, thinks it may be the portrait new in the
Uffizi, and beUeved te represent Giovan Battista Savello.
2" This female portrait is not identified. Milanesi suggests that it may be
the so-caUed Fomarina of the Uffizi.
2' This portrait not being described cannot be identified.
22 This Madonna, painted on slate, is in the Naplea Museum.

328 FRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO
Cardinal Farnese. Our artist also sketched, but did not
finish, a very fine picture of San Michele, standing over the
prostrate form of the Devil, a figure of colossal proportions,
and this was intended for the King of France, who had pre
viously received a picture by the hand of the same artist.^
When Giulio Cardinal de' Medici was created supreme
Pontiff, and took the name of Clement VII. he caused
Sebastiano to understand, by means of the Bishop of Va-
sona, that the time was come when his Holiness could be of
service to him, a circumstance of which he (Sebastiano)
should not fail to have proof when the occasion might pre
sent itself. Sebastiano meanwhile, being excellent at the
taking of portraits as we have said, painted many from the
life while he was entertaining the hope thus awakened, and
among others was that of Pope Clement himself, who did
not then wear his beard ; ^ of this portrait Sebastiano made
a replica, the original being for the Bishop of Vasona : the
repetition, which was of larger size, a half-length figure
seated, is now in the possession of Sebastiano's family. He
likewise portrayed the Florentine Anton Francesco degli
Albizzi, who was then in Rome for certain of his affairs ; a
work of such merit that it does not seem to be painted but
living : wherefore Anton Francesco, esteeming it as he
might have done some precious jewel, despatched it to his
home in Florence. The head and hands of this portrait
are indeed a sort of miracle, to say nothing of the admirable
manner in which the artist has depicted the velvets, lin
ings, satins, and other portions of the picture. ^^ Sebastiano
did certainly surpass all others in the painting of portraits ;
in that branch of art no one has ever equalled the delicacy
and excellence of his work, and all Florence was amazed at
this portrait of Anton Francesco.
2' This work is lost. Messrs. Crewe and Cavalcaselle remark that all of the
works in which Sebastian imitated Raphael remained unfinished.
2< Sebastian del Piombo painted the portrait of the Pope (beardless) before
1.537. In 1531 he painted him twice and in 1533 once.
2= Painted in 1535. Possibly it is the picture No. 409 in the Pitti GaUery.
See Milanesi, V., p. 575, note 3,

PRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO '32'.)
About the same time our artist painted the likeness of
Messer Pietro Aretino,'^ and this also he executed in such a
manner, that, not to mention the resemblance, which is
nevertheless most exact, the picture is wonderful, if it were
only for the difference which the painter has made so clear
ly obvious in the various kinds of blacks, not less than five
or six, to be seen therein ; velvet, satin, silk of Mantua,
damask and cloth namely all black, with a very black beard,
finely distinguished on this sable clothing, and all so well
executed that life itself could scarcely be more life-like. In
the hand this portrait holds a branch of laurel with a scroll,
whereon there is written the name of Clement VII. ; two
masks lie before him, one beautiful to intimate Virtue, the
other hideous to represent Vice. This picture was pre
sented by Messer Pietro to his native city, and the people of
Arezzo have placed it in the public hall of their council,
thus doing honour to the memory of their ingenious fellow-
citizen, and receiving no less from his fame. At a later
period Sebastiano painted the likeness of Andrea Doria,^
which was also an admirable work, with the head of the
Florentine Baccio Valori ; a painting of beauty and excel
lence of which it would not be possible adequately to de
scribe. Now it happened about this time, that Mariano Fetti
Frate del Piombo died, and Sebastiano, remembering the
promises made to him by the above-named Bishop of
Vasona, master of the household to his Holiness, made in
terest to obtain the office of the seal, thus vacated ; where
fore, although that of&ce was in like manner sought by
Giovanni da Udine, who had also been in the service of the
Pope in minoribus, and was still serving him, yet the Pon
tiff, moved by the prayers of the Bishop, and also by his
2' It ia now in Sala del Oonsiglio of the Palazzo Communale of Arezzo. Se
bastian visited Venice in 1537, and may have painted Aretino at that time.
Upon the painting is the inscription : Petrus Aketinus Acerkimus Vir-
TUTUM Demonstrator ! See Crowe and Cavalcaselle, op. cit., XI., p. 345.
27 It is now in the Doria GaUery, Rome, aud is one of Sebastian's finest
portraits.

330 FRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO
conviction that the abilities of Sebastiano merited that fa
vour, bestowed the desired oflQce on Sebastiano, but com
manded that he should pay three hundred scudi per an
num ^ out of the same, as a pension to Giovanni da Udine.
Thereupon Sebastiano assumed the habit of a monk :
when it soon appeared as if he felt his very soul changed
thereby, for perceiving that he had now the means of satis
fying his desires without stroke of pencil, he gave himself
up to his repose, and indemnified himself, by the enjoy
ments which his income supplied, for all the painful nights
and laborious days which he had previously spent ; or if on
any occasion he felt himself obliged to execute a painting,
he went to his work with such manifest reluctance that he
might have been supposed to be rather going to his death.
And from this we may perceive how poorly we are con
ducted by our own wisdom and by human prudence, for how
frequently, nay, rather most commonly, do we covet that
which we should least seek and do least require : supposing,
as the Tuscan proverb goes, that we are about to cross our
selves with the finger, we plunge it into the eye instead.
It is the common belief, for example, that by rewards and
honours the minds of mortals are stimulated to increased
exertion in the study of those arts which they perceive to
be well remunerated, and that, on the contrary, the per
ception that they who have the power to reward exertion,
neglect and disregard those who distinguish themselves
thereby, has the effect of causing such men to become dis
couraged and to abandon their vocation. Thinking thus,
both ancients and moderns have ever censured, with all the
force of expression which they can find, such princes as
«» The office of Piombo paid to the incumbent 800 scudi annually. It was
the duty of the person appointed to the Piombo to attach the leaden seal
(bulla) te the official documents. Sebastian received the office in 1531. Ben-
venuto Cellini was also a candidate for the office. See Symond's edition of
Cellini's Autobiography, p. 134. After Sebastiano had received this office he
always added an P. for Frate before his signature. He said to Michelangelo
in a, letter, "yon would laugh if you saw me, I'm the finest friar-loon in
Rome."

PRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO 331
have failed to protect talents of all kinds, and have with
held from those who labour conscientiously the honours and
rewards which are so justly their due. But although this
rule does, for the most part, hold good, we have neverthe
less occasion sometimes to remark that the liberality of just
and magnanimous princes has, in certain instances, pro
duced a contrary effect, seeing that there are many who are
more disposed to contribute to the advantage and utility of
the world, while in depressed and moderate condition, than
when exalted to greatness and possessing an abundance of
all things. And here we have a case in point. The mag
nificence and liberality of Clement VIL, by too largely re
warding Sebastiano, who had previously served him as an
excellent painter, was a temptation to that master, from
the careful and pains-taking artist that he had been, to
become most idle and negligent ; and whereas while the
struggle between himself and Raphael da Urbino continued,
and Sebastiano lived in a poor condition, he was labouring
continually, he had no sooner obtained what sufficed to his
wants, than he passed his time in a totally different man
ner.^ But be this as it may, and leaving to the judgment of
prudent princes to consider how, when, towards whom,
in what manner, by what rule, and in what measure, they
are to exercise their liberality in the case of artists and
other men of distinction, I return to Sebastiano, and say
that he executed with much delay (for he had then been
made Frate del Piombo), a commission which he had re
ceived from the Patriarch of Aquileia ; the subject of the
work being Our Saviour Christ, a half-length figure painted
on stone.* This picture was much commended, more par
ticularly for the head and hands, parts in which Sebastiano
22 Sebastian wrote to Aretino that it was more profitable to angle for "pi-
ombi " at Rome than for eels at Venice.
¦12 Cardinal Domenico Grimani was patriarch of Aquileia. The picture is
now in the Prado at Madrid ; there is an old copy, which seme claim as an
original, in the Dresden GaUery.

332 ERA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO
was indeed truly excellent. No long time after this, the
niece of the Pope, who afterwards became and still is Queen
of France,^' arrived in Rome, when Fra Sebastiano began to
paint her portrait, but never having completed the same,
the unfinished work has remained in the Guardaroba of the
Pontiff. About the same time, the Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici
fell in love with the Signora Giulia Gonzaga, who then
dwelt at Fondi ; the said Cardinal therefore sent Sebastiano
with four swift horses to that place, for the purpose of
taking her portrait, and in about a month, the artist com
pleted the likeness, when, what with the celestial beauties
of that lady, and what with the able hand of so accomplished
a master, the picture proved to be a most divine one.^^
Having brought his work to Rome, he received a rich re
ward from the Cardinal, who acknowledged, as was the
case, that this portrait greatly surpassed all that Sebastiano
had ever before accomplished. The work was afterwards
presented to Francis, king of France, who placed it in his
palace of Fontainebleau.
This painter having discovered a new method of painting
on stone, very greatly pleased the people thereby, since it
appeared that by this means pictures might be rendered
eternal, seeing that neither fire nor the worm could injure
them. Thereupon Sebastiano began to execute various
works in this manner, surrounding them with ornaments
made of other stones, varied in colour, and which being
polished formed a most beautiful decoration to the same.

" Catherine de' Medici, wife of King Henry IL MUanesi has no knowledge
of the whereabouts of this picture.
•'2 The real portrait of Giulia Gonzaga has been claimed by two different
collections. In the Staedel Gallery at Frankfort is a panel thought to repre
sent the Signora Giulia. In the National Gallery, London, the picture which
is known as " An Italian Lady as St. Agatha," is also considered a portrait of
Giulia. Milanesi, V., p. 579, note 1, says there is a third portrait at Long
ford Castle, in England, and believes that it is probably the original picture.
Sebastian wrote te Michelangelo in June, 1531, that he was about to go to
Fondi, and by July I5th he had already returned te Rome.

PRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO 333
It is true that when they were finished, these paintings,
both on account of their own weight and that of their
decorations, were incapable of being moved, but with the
utmost pains and diflBculty. Yet, many persons, attracted
by the novelty of the work and the beauty of the art, gave
earnest-money to the painter, to the end that he might
execute such for them ; but Sebastiano, who found more
pleasure in talking of these pictures than in making them,
put off and delayed all these things from day to day. He
did, nevertheless, complete a Dead Christ,^'* with the Ma
donna in stone, for Don Ferrante Gonzaga, by whom it was
sent into Spain. This work had a frame or ornament, also
in stone ; it was considered to be an exceedingly beautiful
one, and Sebastiano was paid five hundred scudi for the
same by Messer Niccold da Cortona, agent in Rome for the
Cardinal of Mantua.
There was one thing wherein Sebastiano merited consid
erable praise, for whereas Domenico, his compatriot, who
was the first to attempt painting in oil on stone, could
never find the means of preventing the works which he
executed in that manner from becoming black and looking
prematurely faded, nor could Andrea dal Castagno, An
tonio, and Piero del PoUaiuolo, or any other of the masters
who followed him succeed better in that quest, yet Sebas
tiano discovered the desired method effectually,** and the
figure of Christ scourged at the column, which he executed
for the Church of San Pietro-in-Montorio, has never changed
as yet, but retains its freshness and animation unimpaired
as on the first day. Sebastiano used very great and many
precautions in his preparations for these works, forming his
intonaco with mastic and pitch from the pine, all mixed
carefully over the fire, and laid on the wall, where it was
" Now in the Escurial, Spain ; it was ordered in 1533, but by Sebastian's
dilatorinesa, and from disputes regarding the price, the picture was not fin
iahed tiU 1539. MUanesi, V., p. 579, note 3.
" It is believed that Sebastian used the oil extracted from acorns in paint
ing on stone. See G. Amati, Lettere Romane di Memo, Rome, 1873.

334 PRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO
laid smoothly with a trowel, and covered with a surface of
plaster, brought glowing from the fire. By this process his
works have been enabled to resist the effects of damp and
escape all evil consequences from humidity, insomuch that
they preserve their colours admirably well and without
suffering any change. With the same mixture, Sebastiano
worked on peperigno marbles of different kinds, vari-col-
oured stones, porphyries, and other very hard surfaces,
paintings which may without doubt be expected to endure
for a vast period of time. He has besides hereby taught
us how we may paint on silver, copper, brass, and other
metals. This man had so much pleasure in gossipping and gab
bling that he would waste whole days therein, or if at
length he proceeded to his work, it was easy to perceive
that he was subjecting himself to infinite suffering, and
this may perhaps have been one cause of an opinion which
he held, which was that his works could not be adequately
paid for, whatever the price he received for them. For the
Cardinal of Aragona * Sebastiano painted a picture, where
in he depicted an exceedingly beautiful figure of Sant'
Agatha, naked, and subjected to the frightful tortures of
her martyrdom. This picture, which is indeed a most ad
mirable work, is now in the Guardaroba of the Signor Gui
dobaldo, Duke of Urbino,''^ and is in no respect inferior to
the many other beautiful paintings by the hand of Raffaello
da Urbino, of Titian, and of other masters, which are in
the same place. Sebastiano likewise executed a portrait
from life of the Signor Piero Gonzaga ; this was painted in
oil on stone, and was a most beautiful and admirable like
ness, but the artist laboured over it for three entire years
before he finished it.^^
* Milanesi corrects Aragona to Rangoni, saying that the picture was un
doubtedly painted for the latter cardinal.
" It is dated 1.530 and is now in the Pitti Gallery. There is a study for it
in the Uffizi.
" This work is lost. It is probable that we should read Ferrante Gonzaga,
not Piero.

FRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO 335
Now in the time of Pope Clement, and when Michel
agnolo was in Florence, employed about the new Sacristy
of San Lorenzo, Giuliano Bugiardini was commissioned to
execute a painting for Baccio Valori, the work to represent
the likeness of the Pope, with that of Baccio himself, while
in another he was to depict his Holiness, with the Arch
bishop of Capua,*' this last picture being to be painted for
Messer Ottaviano de' Medici. Michelagnolo therefore had
recourse to Fra Sebastiano, whom he requested to send him
from Rome the head of the Pontiff painted in oil ; this Se
bastiano executed, and sent him accordingly, having suc
ceeded in his work to perfection. When Giuliano had used
the head for that purpose therefore, and had finished his
pictures, Michelagnolo, who was a gossip of the said Messer
Ottaviano, made the latter a present thereof ; and certainly,
among the many portraits painted by Sebastiano, this is
one of the most beautiful. It is besides an exceedingly
faithful resemblance, as may be seen in the house of the
heirs of Messer Ottaviano, where it now is."*^ This master
likewise painted the portrait of Pope Paul, who had been
Cardinal Farnese, so soon as he was raised to the Pontifi
cate, and commenced that of the Duke of Castro, son of his
Holiness, but left it unfinished, as he did so many of the
other works of which he had made a beginning.*'
Fra Sebastiano had a tolerably good house which he had
built for himself near the Porta del Popolo at Rome, and
there he lived in the utmost content, without troubling
himself further about painting or working in any way.
" It is a great fatigue," he would often remark, " to expose
one's self in age to the necessity of restraining those ar
dours which artists are induced to excite in themselves by
the desire for honour, by emulation, and by the love of
¦" Fra Niccol6 Schomberg.
<» Sebastian painted a portrait of Clement upon canvas to be sent to
Michelangelo, and finished it by July 33, 1531 ; but he sold it te the "Duca
d' Albania," and eventually writes to Buonarroti, April 5, 1533, that a second
head is ready to send.
*» The portraits of Paul III. and of Castro cannot be found.

336 FRA SEBASTIANO Dl5L PIOMBO
gain, although this might be endured in youth ; " and he
would add that it was quite as prudent to seek the quiet of
life as to consume one's days in labour and discomfort, in
the hope of leaving a name after one's death, seeing that
the labours thus endured, with the works which were the
result of them, would alike come to an end at some time,
sooner or later, be they what they might. And as he would
say these things, so also would he practise and put them
in execution to the utmost of his power, seeking the best
wines and the most inviting meats that could be found for
his table, and ever thinking more of the enjoyments of life
than of art.
A friend to all distinguished men, Fra Sebastiano fre
quently invited Molza and Messer Gandolfo ^^ to sup with
him, when he would make them right good cheer. The
Florentine, Messer Francesco Berni, was also his very in
timate friend, and wrote a poem to him ; whereunto Sebas
tiano replied by another, which was not without merit, for,
being a man of varied acquirements, he knew, among other
things, how to write Tuscan verse in a jesting humour.^^
Being reproached by certain persons, who declared it to be
a shameful thing that he would no longer work, because he
had sufficient to live on, Fra Sebastiano replied in this
manner : " Nay, since I have enough to support me, I will
not work ; there are geniuses now in the world who do
more in two months than I used to do in two years ; I
think, indeed, that if I live much longer I shall find that
every thing has been painted which it is possible to paint,
and since these good people are doing so much, it is upon
the whole well that there is one who is content to do noth
ing, to the end that they may have all the more to do."
With these and other pleasantries, Fra Sebastiano was ever
ready to reply, always facetious and amusing as he was ; a
better or more agreeable companion than himself, of a
^'' Molza the poet and Gandolfo Porrini.
'¦ The poem was really written by Michelangelo for Sebastian. See Guasti,
Rime di Michelangelo, Plorence, 1863.

FEA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO 337
truth, there never lived. Sebastiano, as we have said, was
much beloved by Michelagnolo,'^ but it is also true that when
that part of the chapel whereon is executed the Last Judg
ment of Buonarroti had to be painted, there did arise some
anger between them ; Sebastiano having persuaded the
Pope to make Michelagnolo execute the work in oil, while
the latter would do it in no other manner than fresco. But
Michelagnolo saying neither yes nor no, the wall was pre
pared after the fashion of Fra Sebastiano, and Buonarroti
suffered it to remain thus for several months, without do
ing anything to the work. At length, and when pressed on
the subject, he declared that he would only do it in fresco,
" oil-painting being an art only fit for women, or idle and
leisurely people like Fra Bastiano." The preparations
made by Sebastiano were therefore removed, and every
thing being made ready for the painting in fresco, Michel
agnolo then set hand to the work, but he never forgot the
affront which it appeared to him that he had received from
Fra Sebastiano, and maintained a feeling of hatred against
him almost to the Frate's death. ^
Being finally brought to a state wherein he would neither
work nor do any other thing but just attend to his office as
•2 The correspondence between Sebastian and Michelangelo is in the Casa
Buonarroti at Florence. There are thirty-two letters by Sebastian dating
from January 38, 1530, to August 33, 1533, and there are six letters from
Michelangelo. See Les Correspondants de Michel-Ange, Paris, 1890.
'2 Symonds does not consider thia story very probable, although Buonarroti
may have wished to try experiments on several surfaces. The same writer
suggests that Michelangelo may at one time have had thoughts of intrusting
a considerable portion of the fresco to Sebastiano, and later encountered the
same difficulties in collaboration which induced him to paint the Sistine
vaulting in solitude. Sebastian may or may not have been to blame for hia
quarrel with Michelangelo. The Venetian fell far below the Tuscan in no
bility of mind, also the time had long gone by when Sebastian the painter
needed Michelangelo as patron ; but the friendship of the latter was honor
able to any artist, and Sebastian seems te have worked so hard in the personal
service of Buonarroti that we may credit him with some real affection for the
sculptor, and if we remember that Sebastian sometimes changed from a friend
to a foe (as with Raphael), we must not forget, toe, that Michelangelo waa
suspicious and frequently flew into furious passions with his best friends.
IIL- 22

338 FRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO
Frate del Piombo, and give himself good cheer, Fra Sebas
tiano fell sick of a most violent fever, and being of very
full habit, the disease attained to such a height that in a
very few days he resigned his soul to God. Having made
a will, he commanded that his remains should be carried to
the tomb without any ceremony of priests or friars, nor
would he have any expenses incurred for lights, but ordered
that the amount which would have been thus expended
should be distributed to the poor, for the love of God : and
so was it done. Fra Sebastiano was buried in the Church
of the Popolo, in the month of June of the year 1547.^
The death of this master could scarcely be considered a
great loss to Art, since from the moment that he had as
sumed the habit of a monk, he might very justly have been
accounted among the departed. It is true that his pleasant
qualities in conversation did cause many of his friends to
lament his death, and indeed, many artists also. Young
men, in some considerable number, resorted to Sebastiano
at divers times, for the purpose of studying their art, but
they rarely made any great profit, since from his example,
they could learn little beside the art of good living.^' But
from this remark we must except Tommaso Laurati, a
'* A portrait in the National Gallery, London, is claimed as being that of
Sebastian, it is painted upon the same canvas with Ippolito de' Medici. Mr.
Berenson, however, does not catalogue it in his Ust of genuine works of del
Piombo. " Sebastian del Piombo was one of those rare artists, who having the ca
pacity for artistic greatness, have not character enough to develop that
capacity. Anyone who before he was twenty-one years old could paint the
picturea that he left behind him in Venioe, waa an artiat equal to great
achievement had hia talent been aa sustained as it was remarkable. Vasari
cannot forgive him for having slighted this talent, and finally renounced it ;
and on the whole Vasari's criticism would seem to be acute and just. StiU
we must make some allowances in remembering first that Sebastian was a
Venetian setting himself up in direct rivalry, not only with Raphael, an Ur
binate, but with Raphael's Tuscan pupils ; furthermore, that Sebastian was
the prot4g4 of Michelangelo, the man whose friendship Vasari liked to think
(though in later years) belonged to him, Giorgio, more than to any other
artist. All of these things may have somewhat biassed Vasari, who never
theless gives a good measure of praise to the Venetian. Sebastian, who re
mained great even as an eclectic, imitated first Cima, then Giorgione, then

FRA SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO 339
Sicilian, who, besides many other works, has executed in
Bologna an exceedingly graceful picture of Venus, embrac
ing and kissing her son Cupid. This work is in the house
of Messer Francesco Bolognetti. He has likewise painted
the portrait of the Signor Bernardino Savelli, which is
highly commended ; with other pictures, of which there is
no need to make further mention.
Raphael, the latter so suocessfnlly that the violin- player of the Sciarra Palace,
the Fornarina of the Uffizi, are stUl by some critics given to Raphael, though
they are now more generally attributed to del Piombo. Lastly, Sebastian
used the manner of Michelangelo as a deliberately chosen weapon. The
Resurrection of Lazarus is Sebastian's most famous picture, but his por
traits, in which he directly foUowed nature and was less influenced by the
personaUty of any other artist, are, after all, his best works ; even in his por
traits Raphael affected him strongly, but not so strongly as te interfere with
characterization and sincerity. Upon the whole Sebastian del Piombo re
mains to us as one of the most interesting recorded examples of an artist en
deavoring to unite the qualities of two whoUy different and equally great
achools, those of Venice and Florence.

PAOLO CALIARI, CALLED VERONESE'
[Born 1538; died 1588.]
Bibliographt.— C. Ridolfi, Le Maraviglie delV Arte, Venice, 1648. Bos-
chini, Le Minere della Pittura, Venice, and also La Carta del navegar pit-
toresco, Venice, 1660. Dal Pozze, Le vite de' Pittori, degli Scultori ed Archi
tetti Veronesi, Verona, 1718. Zanetti, Delle Pittura Veiuziana e delle opere
pubbliche de' Veneziani Maestri, Venice, 1771. T. Vaterio, Les Paul
Veronese de Dresde, V Artiste, III., Sixth Series, p. 155, Paris, 1858. P.
Mantz, Un nouveau V^ronise au Musee du Louvre, Jupiter foudroyant les
Vices, Gazette des Beaux Arts, First Series, IL, p. 31, Paris, 1859. Henry
P. Holt, The Marriage at Cana, by Paolo Veronese, London, 1867. P. Mantz,
Tintoret et Veronese, L' Artiste, 1869, IV., p. 340, Paris, 1869. Aleardi,
Sullo Ingegno dl Paolo Caliari, Venice, 1873. T. Gautier, Les noces de Cana
de Paul Vironise, Paris, circa 1873. G. de Scelari, Del celebre quadro di
P. Caliari la Famiglio di Dario, della nobil Casa Pisani di Venezia, etc.,
Verona, 1875. M. Pratesi, I grandi pittori veneti del cinquecento, Paolo
Veronese, in Nuova Antologia, XXV., fasc, VI. Hubert Janitschek, Paolo
Caliari gen. Veronese, in the Dohme Series of Kunst und Kiinstler des Mit
telalters und der Neuzeit. C. Yriarte, La Vie d'un Patricien de Venise au,
X VI" siiele, Paris. C. Blanc, Les Fresques de V4ronise au chdteau de Ma-
sire prh de Trivise, Gazette des Beaux Arts, Second Series, XVIL , p. 385,
Paris, 1878. Armand Baschet, Paul V4ronise devant le Saint-Office, Or
leans, 1880. Galleria dei Pittori veneziani dal 1300 al 1800, Venice, 1887.
Pietro CaUari, Paolo Veronese sua vita e sue opere, Studi Storico-Estetici,
Rome, 1888. Relazione ed atti riguardanti il monumento a Paolo Caliari,
pubblicati acura del comitato esecutivo dello stesso, Verona, 1888. C. Yriarte,
Paul Vironise, Paris, 1888, an important monograph. Bernardo Morsolin,
Un putto di Paolo Veronese in Arte e Storia, 1889, No. 28. P. Lefort, Les
' Vasari's meagre notices of Veronese, intercalated in the Uves of Michele
San Michele and Battista France, are even more inadequate than his mention
of Carpaccio, since the volume of Vereneae's werk to he described was far
greater than Carpaccio's, and Paolo's place in the history of art is quite as
important as that of the earUer painter. Although this meagreness of state
ment is more inadequate, it is, however, less regrettable, since we know much
of Paolo from other sources, while Carpaccio as a man is in some respecta
an unaolved mystery. It is evident that Vasari, besides having incomplete
data in the case of Veronese, thought it hardly consonant with the dignity of
hia own werk as a history to give long biographies of men who were stUl alive
at the time that he published his Vite.

PAOLO CALIARI 341
peintures de V4ronhse d Madrid, in the Gazette des Beaux Arts, Third Series,
m., p. 470, Paris, 1890. C. Yriarte, Paul V4ronise aupalais ducal de Ven
ise in the Gazette des Beaux Arts, Third Series, V., p. 5, 1891. Bernhard
Berenson, The Venetian Painters ol the Renaissance, New York, 1894.
THE painter Paulino is also a Veronese, he is now in
good repute at Venice ; and this artist also, al
though in like manner not more than thirty years
old, has performed many commendable works. Born in
Verona,^ Paulino was the son of a carver in stone,^ or as
they say in that country, a stone-cutter, and having ac
quired the principles of painting from the Veronese, Gio
vanni Caroto,* he painted in fresco ^ the Hall of the Pay
master Portesco at Tiene * in the Vicentino, in company
with the above-named Battista, with whom he subsequently
executed numerous works at the Soranza, all of which show
good design, a fine judgment, and a beautiful manner.'
2 Paolo Caliari, caUed Paolo Veronese, was bom in Verona in 1538 (not
in 1533 as haa been asserted) ; the documents in the Archivio Notarile of
Venice, examined by M. Charles Yriarte, show that Paolo was sixty years
old at the time of his death in 1588.
2 Paolo's father, Gabriele CaUari, was a sculptor, his uncle, Antonio BadUe,
was a painter, hia brother Benedetto, and hia sons Paolo, Gabriele, and Car-
lette, were also painters.
* Antonio Badile was his master, and Mr. Berenson, in hia Venetian Painters,
states that Paolo was also " strongly influenced by Domenico Brusaserci."
At first Paolo waa apprenticed aa aculpter, and M. Charlea Yriarte accredits
to iiim statues of a Venus and Adonis in the ViUa Maser, and certain stucchi,
but later hia father perhaps put him under the care of Giovanni Caroto, al
though there is no certain proof that the latter ever was hia master. Par-
migianino is said to have been one of his favorites as an example, and this
influence of the Parmese master is te be seen in some of Paolo's violent fore-
ahorteuings ; it ia also claimed that as a youth he copied numbers of Diirer'a
engravings. •' Paolo's first works were in San Permo of Verona (the picture, a Madonna
with Saints, is now in the Pinacoteca) and in San Bernardino ; see B. Miintz,
La Fin de la Renaissance, p. 643. Then he went to Mantua, where, says M.
Miintz, he learned from Andrea Mantegna hia acience of ordering and hia
" asteniahing perspective effects." No frescoes by Paolo now remain in Man
tua. ' His mythological scenes at Tiene were painted for the counts of Porti, in
collaboration with Zelotti, and the latter's work cannot be separated, as to ita
authorship says M. Yriarte, from that of Paolo, so well does it harmonize.
' In 1551 he painted (together with Zelotti) in the Palazzo Bmo at Fanzplg

342 PAOLO CALIARI
At Masiera, near Asolo in the territory of Treviso, Pan-
lino painted a very beautiful house of the Signor Daniello
Barbaro, Patriarch elect of Aquileia;^ and in Vienna he
a whole series of mythological subjects, introducing portraits freely into his
decorations. The Palace of the Soranzi has been demolished, but the Venetian Edition
of our author informs us that the frescoes of Paolo Veronese and hia school,
which formed the most valuable part of its decorations, have been preserved
from destruction. The German translator of Vasari adds that they were
presented te the Church of San Liberale by FiUppo Balbi, by whose care it
was, as the Venetian edition of our author assures ns, that they were saved
from destruction. — Mrs. Foster's Notes.
" This vUla, variously called Villa Maser, ViUa Barbaro, ViUa Manin, VUla
Giacomelli, is in the mountains near Asole, at a distance of a few hours' drive
from Castelfranco in the march of Priuli. Daniel Barbaro was himself a pa
trician artist of Venice, who has left important ceiUng painting in the Ducal
Palace. Three of the most famous men of his time, PaUadio the architect,
Alesandro Vittoria the sculptor, and Paolo Veronese, collaborated in the
building and decuration of the villa. It is of great interest and importance
as shewing what in the middle of the sixteenth century, a Venetian noble,
himself an artiat and with the greatest artists at his disposition, considered a
satisfactory summer palace. First of aU is to be noted the sobriety of the
general lines of the architecture, the inexpensiveness of the material ; there
is no rich marble, hardly any gilding, patron and craftsmen alike have been
contented with stone, stucco, and fresco. The plan is simple enough ; there
are four chambers and a central haU, shaped Uke a Greek cross, serving at
once as corridor and rooms, all frescoed by Veronese. In this work there is
also that simplicity which comes with largeness of motive, composition, and
movement. The most important fresco is au octagon in the centre of the
main hall ; the subject has been caUed the Deities of Olympus or the Repre
sentation of the Planetary System (M. Miintz was the first to point out this
distinction of subject). There are also two large lunettes with half -undo
figures, while on other sides of the vaulting, women in contemporaneous
costume, lean from simulated balconies, and at the level of the floor pages
and ladies seem to peer in through the openings which they make by
pulling the painted tapestry curtains aside. All thia is immensely inter
esting as showing Veronese's idea of a complete decorative scheme fully
carried out. There is great spontaneity and force, the compositions and
movements are admirably varied, a. few of them are even noble, those
of the Vice and Virtue, the Vulcan and the Jupiter, for example. Seen
in black and white, in the reproductions that have been made of them for
various pubUcations, some of these frescoes are not unworthy of the painter
of the Cena and the Coronation of Venice. M. Yriarte hopes for some docu
mentary evidence to sustain his theory that they were painted after Ve
ronese's visit to Rome, a theory which their amplitude of style and the fre
quent introduction of the nude would seem to justify. But we have here for

PAOLO CALIARI 343
painted a large picture on cloth for the refectory of San
Nazzaro,' a Monastery of the Black Friars ; the subject
chosen being the Supper of Our Saviour Christ in the house
of Simon the Leper, when Mary Magdalene threw herself
at the feet of Our Lord. In this work there are many por-

the first time to reason somewhat before Veronese's work ; iu aU his other
great pictures we are instantly deUghted by the noble, cheerful, transparent
color. Here either by frequent overpaintings or by chemical action of the
pigment the color is utterly changed, is coarse, and in aome cases even repel
lent ; we find crude Paris-green against cold purple and skies of a brutal over-
painted blue, smalt in some places, purple in others. AU this must be due
to late-comers. Veronese when he handled the fresco surely came nearer to
Correggio, or at aU events to Tiepolo, but for all that the overpainting pro
duces a most disastrous effect, and it is this which makes Veronese's robust
ness seem coarse, his lightness of motive seema cheap and trivial, so that we
have to deUberately separate the largeness of conception from the present
material execution and to admit that although Veronese can be seen here as
inventor and composer, Veronese as frescante is hardly represented at all On
the other hand, no amount of unintelUgent restoration or overpainting can ac
count for the triviality of the detail and the bad taste and cheapness of the
general scheme. There is an abundance of painted tricks, and no consider
ation for the dignity of the material preventa the perpetration of thoae prac
tical jokes in fresco which are stiU played on the waUs of ItaUan viUas, not
ably in the North and in the lake district. There are trompe I'ceil of aU
kinds ; in the dining-haU a lady in blue brocade, her duenna, and a couple of
aatin pagea look down from a painted gaUery ; on the broad baluatrade before
them is the usual Veronese menagerie, a parrot, a monkey, and a Uttle white-
and-Uver-colered spaniel. At the end of the long vista of rooma you are
startled by the figure of a himtaman or a lady, raising a curtain or pushing
back a door, showing a gUmpse of sky or a flight of steps ; beyond there are
painted chUdren peeping through simulated openings, there are stacks of
painted spears and halberds in the corners, specious gold bronze statues and
green bronze friezes, spuriona marbles, deceptive effects of perspective,
painted clap-trap of all kinds. Indeed at times it is difficult te believe that
one is in the pleasure-houae of a Venetian patrician decorated by one of the
greatest masters of a golden era. MM. Miintz and Yriarte have each of
them devoted special chapters to these frescoes of the ViUa Maser ; the for
mer in his Fin de la Renaissance, the latter in hia Vie d'un Patricien de
Venise, the scene of which ia laid at this vUla, whUe Charles Blanc haa also
written of them in the Gazette des Beaux Arts for 1878.
2 MUanesi, VX , p. 370, note 3, says that the picture was sold te the Spinela
famUy of Genoa, then to the Durazzi, and is now in the picture-gaUery of
Turin. Another Feast at the House of Simon, from the church of St. Se
bastian, is in the Brera, anc} stiU another, from the church of the Servites, is
jn the Louvre.

344 PAOLO CALIARI
traits from the life among the numerous figures which it
comprises, with buildings, &c., in perspective, which are
admirable ; there are two Dogs under the table, moreover,
which are so beautifully executed that they appear to be
alive ; and in the distance are certain figures of lame and
halt, which are also excellently well done.
In the Hall of the Council of Ten >° in Venice, within an
oval, which is larger than any of the others forming the
divisions of the ceiling and occupies the centre thereof, as
being the principal picture, is another work by Paulino ; a
figure of Jupiter driving forth the Vices," which is meant
¦2 Many paintings in the Hall of the CouncU of Ten, and there ascribed to
Veronese, are considered to be really by Zelotti. Indeed the work of Veronese
is so vast that much coUaboration must have been required, and upon many
canvases attributed to the master, it would be very difficult to separate the
werk of Paolo from that of inferior men who were yet admirable craftsmen.
This difficulty obtains to so great a degree that much of Veronese's so-called
original work may be viewed with suspicion.
" This oval ceUing-canvas is now in the Louvre. It is replaced in the
Hall of the Council of Ten by a copy from the hand of a French artist. See
C. Yriarte, Paul Veronese au Palais Ducal de Venise, Gazette des Beaux
Arts, 1891, Third Period, V., p. 14. The foUowing passage, referring te Paolo,
ia from Vasari's Life of Battista France :
" About the same time there was a painter in Venice called Bazzaoco,* who
was a creature of the Casa Grimani, and by especial favour, thia artist, after
he had been many years in Rome, received commission to paint the ceUing
of the large Hall of the Cavi de Died ; but conscious that he could not com
plete the work himself, and would have need of aid, Bazzacco took for his
companions Paolo da Verona, and Battista Zelotti, t dividing among them
and himself nine pictures in oil, which were to be executed for that place,
four compartments of au oval form in the angles, that is te say, four oblong
squares, and a larger oval iu the centre. This last, together with three of
the squares, Bazzacco gave to Paolo Veronese, who represented Jove launch
ing his thunderbolts at the Vices, with other figures therein ; and two of the
smaller ovals, with one square, Bazzacco kept for himself ; the two remaining
ovals he gave to Battiata. In one of theae compartments is Neptune, the
God of the Sea, the others have each two figures, symboUcal of the grandeur
and repose then enjoyed by Venioe.
" Now aU theae artista acquitted themaelves very weU in that work, but the
* Milanesi says Brazacco ; he painted in the Hall of the Council of Ten, but
not in the HaU of the Cai (or Capi).
t In Vasari's original text it is Battista Farinate, but Bottari substituted
Zelotti as cognomen, the same being quoted from Ridolfi.

PAOLO CALIARI 345
to signify that this supreme and absolute ruler expels evil,
and also punishes wicked and vicious men. The same ar
tist painted the ceiling in the church of San Sebastiano,'^ a
work of extraordinary merit, as he did also the picture for
the High Altar, with smaller pictures which surround and
form the framework of the same. Paulino likewise painted
best of them was Paolo Veronese ; for which cause he received a commission
from the Signori to paint the ceiling of a chamber which is beside the above-
mentioned Hall. Here he depicted a figure of San Marco floating in the air ;
in the lowermost part is Venice surrounded by Faith, Hope, and Charity;
the painting is in oil, and Paolo had for his assistant therein the above-
named Battista Zelotti. But though a beautiful picture, this work is not
equal te that executed by Paolo in the HaU first mentioned. In the UmUtk *
he then executed a painting entirely alone ; on a large oval compartment of
the ceUing namely, where he painted an Assumption of Our Lady, with other
figures, a very lightsome, pleasing, and well-considered performance."
" Upon the ceilings and waUs of this church of St. Sebastian Paolo first
showed to Venice that another great master had come to her, and in St. Se
bastian he lies buried. The whole church is a gallery of his pictures ; his
compatriot, Bernardo Torlioni, prior of the convent, called him to Venioe
about the first of December, 1555 ; but at first Paolo painted only in the sac
risty (Coronation of the Virgin, a confused and theatrical composition,
surrounded by separate panels containing the Four EvangeUsts). He then
painted in the nave of the church several great ceilings, the subjects being
taken from the history of Esther. In these ceiUngs he has used with suc
cessful audacity the violent perspective of figures rising en 4chelon, and seen
always in three-quarter view from the side. It is said that these works have
been much retouched, and it is probably to the retouching that they owe a
certain hotness that has come with glazes, and an undue strength of reds and
greens in the caisson nearest the door, the Esther before Abasuerus. Re
touched or not, the centre ceiling glows like a carbuncle, as if jewels had
been crushed into the pigment. Here on the very morrow of his arrival,
before the influence of Titian could have added much to hia equipment, we
find Veronese fuUy declared, with his throned figures in severest perspective,
his dogs and horses, his brocades and pseudo-Romans. In the choir are two
large and important works (Mr. Berenson catalogues the Martyrdom of St.
Sebastian with a question-mark as to its authorship), the second subject
shows a scene from the Uves of Saints Marcus and Marcellinus ; it is full of
movement and life, but is not exactly dramatic, since Veronese, as usual,
cares Uttle about telling a story, but cares much about making his types, his
draperies, and his architecture vital. His works in St. Sebastian had an
instant success, and he was proclaimed a master from that moment.
» The church has been destroyed.

346 PAOLO CALIARI
the doors which close the organ, and all these are truly
praiseworthy productions.'^
In the hall of the grand council," Paulino executed a
very large picture, the subject Frederick Barbarossa pre
senting himself to the Pope, with a large number of figures
in varied habiliments and all of great beauty, insomuch
that it does worthily represent the court of a Pontiff and
an Emperor as well as the Venetian senate. There are
many gentlemen and senators of the republic ^ represented
from the life in this picture, which is such, at a word, for
grandeur, excellence of design, variety of attitude and
beauty, that it is deservedly extolled by all who see it.
After having completed this work Paulino executed the
decorations of other chambers, used for the service of the
above-named Council of Ten,'^ painting the ceilings in oil
with figures which are very finely foreshortened and ad
mirably beautiful." He painted in fresco for a certain mer-
" The Purification is painted upon the outer side, the Pool of Bethesda
upon the inner.
" In 1563 the Senate ordered decorations for the HaU of the Great CouncU
del Maggior Consiglio, of Orazio Vecelli (Titian's son), Tintoretto, and Ve
ronese. The latter painted Barbarossa kissing the foot of the Pope, and al
legorical subjects representing Time, Faith, Patience, and Concord ; these
works aU perished in the fire of December 30, 1577. From 1577 to 1588, the
year of his death, the painter worked almost constantly for the Ducal Palace ;
among the paintings which he executed for the latter are the Adoration of
the Magi (in the Library) ; the Europa (Sala delV AnticoUegio) ; Sebastian
Venier, the conqueror of Lepanto, taken into the presence of the Saviour by
Saint Mark, Saint Justina, Faith and Venioe (Sala del CoUegio) ; Venice
Enthroned between Justice and Peace, and eleven pictures in color with six
in monochrome (ceiUng of the Sala del CoUegio). In the Hall of the Grand
Council there are by Veronese, besides the famous Apotheosis of Venice (in
the ceiling), the Taking of Smyrna (ceiUng) ; the Defence of Scutari (ceil
ing) ; and on the wall the Return of Contarini after Chioggia. The above
Ust is taken from M. Miintz, La Fin de la Renaissance, p. 657.
'= Veronese has left but few portraits as ordinarily understood, but those
few are fine, and he has filled his large compositions with portraiture,
being indeed o. real Venetian Ghirlandajo in his inclination to make his
feUew-citizens spectators of, and actors in the scenes from Holy Writ.
1" See extracts from Battista Prance.
" Upon the ceiling of the Sala del Maggior Consiglio he painted (see note
14) the Triumph of Venice, which is so rich and so sUvery at once in its color

PAOLO CALIARI 347
chant the front of a house, which is situate on the road
leading from San Maurizio to San MoisS, and this also was
a very beautiful work, but the sea-air is gradually destroy
ing that production.'' For Cammillo Trevisano, Paulino
painted a Loggia and an apartment in fresco at Murano,
which were greatly admired, and at the monastery of San
Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, he painted the Marriage at
Cana in Galilee, at the upper end of a very large room ; "
that it may be called magnificent in its technique as in its motive. Aa a
aubject it is exactly what Veronese loved best to treat, and among his pict
ures only the Marriage of Cana and the Family of Darius can rival it. Gau
tier has caUed it an Assumption, it ia rather an Apotheoais ; it is, moreover,
one of the best examples of the so-caUed grandes machines that exists. No
picture shows a more masterly arrangement, a, style at once so sumptuous,
yet elevated, figures whose somewhat exuberant loveliness is saved from
vulgarity by an air of pride and energy, magnificent material treated with
such ease and sincerity. The architectonic setting, the picturesque crowd
below, the robustly beautiful women around the Venice, are handled with a
certain forceful dexterity and with no more apparent effort than Veronese
ahowed in diaposing of the folds of a brocaded zimarra. Here is indeed a
worthy inceumation of Venice — beautiful, stately, luxurious, proud, receiving
the homage of earth and sea, of east and west. These Epicureans are the
chUdren of fighters and invaders, these healthy and vigorous bodies are
overflowing with vitaUty ; their grace is born of strength, and looking at them
we realize that the heroic age had not yet passed away when Veronese painted
this triumphal hymn to the repnbUc.
IS The fresco has disappeared.
¦• The Marriage of Cana (together with the Venice Crowned, painted on the
ceiling of the Hall of the Great CotmcU) and the PamUy of Darius may be
considered Veronese's most representative work. He painted four other
enormous pictures of the same character, each a Cena, each one famous. Of
these the Marriage of Cana, painted 1563, for the refectory of the convent of
S. Giorgio Maggiore, is now in the Louvre ; it was brought from Italy during
the wars of the French RepnbUc and was se large and difficult of transpor
tation that when the other pictures were returned to the Italians a work by
Lebrun was accepted in exchange and the Cana remained in the Louvre. It
was painted between June 6, 1563, and September 8, 1.563 (see C. Yriarte, op.
cit, p. 34). The Feast at the House of Simon, painted for the Servites, is
also in the Louvre ; Louis XIV. having desired in 1664 to buy it of the
monks, the Signoria of Venice forbade them to seU it to the king, bought it
from the convent, and sent it as the gift of the Republic te Louis. The
Feast at the House of the Leper, painted (1570) for the convent of S. Sebas
tiano, is in the Brera at MUan. The Feast at the House of Levi, painted
(1.573) for the church of Saints Giovanni e Paolo, is now in the Academy of
Venice. The two last pictures are especially fine, but the Marriage of Cana

848 PAOLO CALIARI
this work is most wonderful for grandeur, for power of in
vention, for number of figures, and for variety of vest
ments : if I recollect rightly, it comprises more than a
hundred and fifty heads, all judiciously varied and executed
with the utmost care.
The same artist was commissioned by the procurators of
San Marco to paint certain angular medallions ; these are
in the ceiling of the Nicene library,^ which was bequeathed
is the greatest of aU of them, indeed is in some respects the chef-d'oeuvre
of modem painting. The famous painter, Thomas Couture, in his Entretiens
d' atelier, says of Veronese : ' ' Let us speak of his method of painting. It ia
not that of Titian. I do not hesitate to say it ia the painting par excellence ;
there ia nothing beyond it; it ia the apogee." These remarks may be es
pecially applied to the Cana. One may add that not only the painting but
the composition is asteniahing in its ease, and in its absence of any apparent
acience or method. It appears almost fortuitous, yet is in reality ordered
and harmonious. It comprehends a great number of personages, and the in
terest of portraiture is added to the purely artistic interest. Veronese him
self sits among the musicians playing a 'ceUo, Tintoretto accompanies him,
Titian plays the contra-basso, and Benedetto Caliari also appears. The
guests for whom they are making music include kings and emperors, and sul
tans — Solyman I., Francis I., Charles V.
Mr. W. M. Rossetti, in the Encyclopsedia Britannica, says admirably of
Veronese : "He enjoys a sight much as Ariosto enjoys a story, and displays
it in form and colour with a zest like that of Ariosto for language and verse.
. . . He was supreme in representing, without huddling or confusion, nu
merous figures in a luminous and diffused atmo.sphere, while in richness of
draperies and transparency of shadows he surpassed all the other Venetians
or Italiana. In gifts of this kind Rubens alone could be pitted against him.
In the moderation of art combined with its profusion he far excelled Rubens ;
for dazzling aa ia the first impression of a great work by Veronese, there
is in it in reality as much of soberness and serenity as of exuberance."
Charles Blanc believed the following note, written upon the back of one of
Veronese's drawings, to be by the master himself ; it is at aU events most
characteristic of this painter of feasts : " If I have time I want to represent
a sumptuous banquet in a superb hall, at which will be present the Virgin,
the Saviour, and Joseph. They will be served by the most brilliant cortege
of angels which any one can imagine, busied in offering the daintiest viands
and an abundance of splendid fruit in dishes of gold and silver. Others will
hand them precious wines in transparent crystal glasses and gilded goblets, in
order to show vrith what zeal blessed spirits serve their Lord."
2" This ceiling of the Nicene Library, in the Libreria di San Marco, was
painted, says M. Yriarte, somewhat before Paolo's trip to Rome with Cardi
nal Grimani. This journey seems to have taken place between 1563 and 1505.
Herr Janitschek has even doubted if it ever occurred. MM. Miintz and

PAOLO OALIARI 34&
to the Signoria by the Cardinal Bessarion, with a vast treas
ure of Greek books collected by that prelate. Now the
above-named Proveditors, when they caused the painting of
the library to be commenced, had promised a prize of hon
our, over and over the price agreed on, to him who should
best acquit himself in the decoration of the same, the work
was then divided among the best painters at that time in
Venice.^' Being completed, and after all the pictures had been
well examined, a golden chain was placed around the neck
of Paulino, he, by the opinion of all, being adjudged to
have done the best.^ The picture which obtained him this
Yriarte are convinced that they see the influence of it in some of Veronese's
works. Veronese did not readily seek honors, though he often obtained them,
and the story is told that on the occasion of a great competition for orders to
paint in the Ducal Palace, Caliari refrained so completely from active ri
valry that Contarini, the Mecsenas of the moment, reproached him with hia
pride. Paolo repUed that he knew better how to deserve orders than how to
seek them.
21 One of Veronese's largest and finest works is the Family of Darius at
the feet of Alexander (now in the National Gallery of London) ; it is said
that the picture was painted while the painter was visiting the Pisani and
left with them as a gift. There ia also a tradition that this gift was a sur
prise, and that the work was done secretly in the Pisani Palace. This is
impoasible from the size of the canvas and the requirements as to models,
etc., but it may easily have been a work executed with the connivance of
the famUy as a surprise to some particular member, presumably its head.
M. Miintz says of this fine picture, " it is thus that Raphael, had he been bom
a Venetian, would have understood the representation of a scene from an
cient history." The Martyrdom of St. George, in the church of San Giorgio
iu Braida at Verona, is another magnificent work, while the Three Bishops in
the Brera Gallery is a speciaUy dignified and individual picture. The mar
riage of St. Catherine (Venice) is also admirable. Paris claims a number
of canvaaea, ao doea nearly every one of the great capitals, and MoreUi says
the artist is better represented in Dresden than even in the Louvre or the
Academy of Venice. Critics, however, differ as to certain attributions ; com
pare for instance the long list of works in M. Charles Yriarte's Paul V4-
roiiise, pp. 69-77, vrith the relatively restricted list of Mr. Bernhard Berenson
in his Venetian Painters of the Renaissance, pp. 137-139.
22 Armand Baschet (aee Paul Veronese devant le Saint Office, Orleans,
1880) discovered a document which is at once curious aud entertaining, and
which, were it not for its length, might well be quoted in extenso. (Per an
excellent abridgment, see Miintz, La Fin de la Renaissance, pp. 44, 45.) Ou
July 18, 1.573, Veronese was called before the Tribunal of the Holy Oflice and

350 PAOLO CALIARI
victory and prize of honour, was that wherein he has repre
sented Music ; here are depicted three young and very
beautiful women, one, the most beautiful of all, is playing
on the bass-viol, her eyes are cast down, being fixed on the
handle of the instrument, and her attitude clearly shows
that her ear and voice are intently following the sound ; of
the other two, one is playing a lute, and the other sings
from a book. Near these figures is a Cupid without wings
playing on a harpsicord, to signify that Love is awakened
by Music, or that Love is ever the companion of Music ;
and the artist has made him without wings, to show that
he never parts from her. In the same work Paulino de
picted Pan, who, according to the poets, is the god of
shepherds, holding in his hand pipes or flutes made of the
bark of trees, these being such as have been dedicated to
him in the manner of vows, by shepherds who had been
victorious in the trial of playing on them.^
questioned concerning his Cena painted for the convent of Saints Giovanni e
Paolo, and now in the Academy of Venice. He was taken to task for having
introduced into the presence of sacred personages "buffoons, dwarfs, drunken
Germans, and other fooleries." It must be remembered that a German
lanzknecht — and Paolo had painted one of these as a halberdier stanching a
bleeding nose — meant to the Italians a Lutheran, a heretical invader, a merci
less pillager, such as they had seen to their cost in the ranks of Georg Prunds-
berg. Paolo in reply to hia interrogators invoked the license allowed to
"poets and fools," and admitted that when empty spaces on his picturea
required filling he put in figures of his " own invention." His questioners
having suggested such compositional changes as the substitution of the Mag
dalen in the place where Paolo had put a dog, the poor painter averred his
readiness to honor the Magdalen on all occasions, but said that there were
artistic reasons which made the change embarrassing. Last of all, when
pushed by the Tribunal, he cited the example of Michelangelo, who in his Last
Judgment had represented all of the holy personages as quite nude. The
upshot of the investigation waa a reprimand to the painter, who was ordered
to remove the obnoxioua figures, at his own expense, before the expiration of
three months.
22 Another of Veronese's idyls is the Rape of Europa, in the AnticoUegio of
the Ducal Palace. It is a famous and beautiful picture, but nevei-theless lacks
atmosphere more than do most of Veronese's works ; there ia even a certain
papcrinesa about some of the draperies, and parts of the picture do net keep
their proper planes. It is likely enough that time rather than the painter is
at fault. On the other hand, though one cannot echo the dictum of Gautier

PAOLO CALIARI 351
Two other pictures were painted by Paulino in the same
place, in one of which is Arithmetic, accompanied by phi
losophers, dressed after the manner of the ancients ; in the
other is Honour, to whom, she being seated, sacrifices are
offered and royal crowns presented.** But as this young
that this is the finest pearl in Veronese's casket, few are insensible to its
charm, which, Taine said, ")net la joie au coeur." The whole picture seems
steeped in an atmosphere of youth and opulent beauty and perennial pleas
ure. Though the pink-and-white Europa and the girls around her suggest
the type of the eighteenth century painters ; though the idyl lacks the serene
breadth and simpUcity of Giorgione's pastorals ; though these women in their
pearls and silks are fine ladies, not nymphs or goddesses, their vigorous grace
and tranquilUty are of the true golden age. The greenish shadows from the
branches above them fall on the biUows of brocade, on the warm amber tones
of the amply moulded shoulders, on the rosy necks under the gold fuzz
that escapes from the tightly coiled braids. The cool shimmer of the pearls,
the flowers, the glimpse of peacock-colored sea, the little pink ears in the
shadow of the bright hair, what a delicious feast for the eye they are !
2"' Paolo Veronese is the despair of the modern artist by the volume, the
quality, and the faoUity of his work ; that he should have done so much so
admirably, and should have done it aU so easily, seems nearly incredible. He
is not so great an artist as Titian, nor so great a poet as Tintoretto, but
neither of these has produced anything which as a simple tour de force of
painting equals the Marriage of Cana in the Louvre. In this great picture
and in his Triumph of Venice, Veronese comes to us like a crash of music,
music in which the brass is heard perhaps loudest of aU, but where the strings,
too, are in harmony, and if the spirit is not stirred by it the blood is and the
pulse leaps. You hear the swelling of the trumpets, the blare of the bugles,
horses curvet, banners wave, men, women, and chUdren crowd balconies and
monumental staircases before palaces such as Palladio loved, and behind all
a low-toned blue stands for the sky of Venice. The pageants of the repub
lic are the subjects which Paolo fiUed with a whole population of men and
women who, above all else, live with an abounding fulness of life. With him
existence seems to quicken into something stronger than is its daily habit ;
his pictorial moment ia always at its f uUest ; he will paint adolescents and
old men if need be, but his types have generaUy the vigor of middle Ufe and
are set in a perpetual pageant ; it is when the druma atrike, and the troopa
fall in, and horses begin to paw that Veronese takes up his brush ; this to him
ia existence aa it ahould be painted, and because his conviction waa ao sincere,
his delight iu splendor so honest, his sumptuouaneas is never vulgar.
Veronese ia the beat all-around draughtsman among the Venetians of the
sixteenth century; his bodies and faces have a constructive soundness rarely
found in the pictures of Titian and Tintoretto, and conspicuously absent in
some of the latter's greatest works. His color has a transparent, brilliant
lightness unequaUed by that of any other master, and a sweeping sureness of
touch which is a delight to the modern painter. He can compose superbly

352 PAOLO CALIARI
man is just now in the best of his activity, and has not yet
attained his thirty-second year,^ I will say nothing more at
present respecting him.
when he chooses, and if at times he does it ao easUy that the method of it is
unnoticed, the effect is the greater ; in this composition he rarely troubles him
self about chiaroscuro as an aid, but gets along quite well without it. Some
of his pictures show a certain weakness and prettiness of color, a fondness
for pinks and blues, but it is not often that his color-instinct fails ; he much
more frequently falls short in the expression of his subject, for he cared little
about drama, and stirs us by intense vitality rather than moves us by poig
nancy; some of his altar-pieces are confused and theatrical, and perhaps no
Italian waa ever less in love with the simple group of a Holy Family. Pushed
to its logical sequence the weaker side of his art degenerates into the over
blown and coarse ; this is especiaUy noticeable in the Maser frescoes, where
the color, ruined by time and over-painting, fails to come to the artist's
assistance. But his spontaneity and naturalness, in spite of his types,
which are not always exempt from grossness, save him from vulgarity. No
man ever painted more instinctively and because it was bis natural means
of expression, and for the easy handling of great masses of people upon huge,
cheerful, light-filled canvases, no master has ever equalled Paul Veronese,
the latest bom, and in some respects the greatest, painter of the School of
Venice. 2« Veronese's death is entered in the books of the parish of San Samuele
on the 19th of April, 1588. He caught cold when walking in the Jubilee
procession for Sixtus V. and died of fever ; he was buried in San Sebastiano,
the church he had filled with his pictures. It is to be noted that the date
upon his tombstone does not correspond as to the day of his death with the
entry in the parish records.

GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA,
PAINTER OF VERCELLI
[Bom 1477; died 1549.]
BlBLiOGRAPHT. — Luigi Bruzza, Notizie intorno alia patria e ai primi
studi del pittore Giovanantonio Bazzi detto il Soddoma, 1863. Albert Jan-
sen, Leben und Werke des Malers Giovan Antonio Bazzi von Vercelli ge-
nannt il Soddoma, Stuttgart, 1870. Gustave Frizzoni, Antonio de' Bazzi,
Florence, 1871 (from Nuova Antologia) ; the same author in the Giornale di
Erudizione Artistica, I., 1873, p. 308, and Giovannantenio de Bazzi article
repubUshed in the Arte Italiana del Rinascimento, pp. 95-187 ; Liitzow,
Zeitschrift fiir bildende Kunst, IX., p. 33, Leipzic, 1876, article Sodoma
und sein Bildniss im Kloster von Monte Oliveto. R. Vischer, Giovanni
Antonio de' Bazzi, in the Dohme Series of Kunst und Kiinstler ; pub
lished also in A. H. Keane's English translation of the Dohme Series : C.
Timbal, Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, dit 11 Sodoma, Gazette des Beaux-Arts,
Vol XVm., p. 18, Paris, 1878. Alessandro Vesme, Martino Spanzotti
Maestro del Sodoma, L'Archivio Storico delV Arte, IL, p. 431. Herr Thau-
sing, Wiener Kunstbriefe, Leipsic, 1884, pp. 338-68. II SodomM, Gaudenzio
Ferrari, Andrea Solari, illustrati in ire opere in Milano recentemente ri-
cuperate, article by Gustavo Frizzoni in L'Archivio Storico delV Arte, IV.,
pp. 374-86. R. Graul, Des Antonio de Bazzi Vermdhlung Alexander's mit
Roxana, Graphischen Kiinste, XVI., 1893. Richard Poerster, Die Hochzeit
Alexander's im Renaissance, Jahrbuch der Koniglichen Preussischen Kunst
sammlungen, 1894. MorelU's Italian Painters contains much concerning
Bazzi, and M. Eugene Miintz, in his Fin de la Renaissance, haa a particu
larly f uU and appreciative notice of that master.
HAD men the foresight to consider well their position
when fortune offers to them the opportunity of
making themselves rich by procuring for them the
favour of great men and if in their youth they would
labour to bring their merits and deserts into harmony with
their good fortune, how marvellous would then be the ef
fects that might be seen to result from their activity. But
the contrary is known to be too often the case ; for as it is
true that he who confides his destiny solely to fortune, is for
III.— 23

354 GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA
the most part deceived, so is it almost most evident and
daily proved by experience that even good ability will not
accomplish any great things, if wholly left to itself and not
accompanied by good fortune. If Giovan Antonio of Ver-
zelli ' had displayed excellence equal to his good fortune, as
he might have done had he laboured to that effect,^ he
would not have found himself miserably reduced at the end
of his life, which was always an eccentric and ill-governed
one, to an old age marred by deplorable want.
Giovan Antonio was invited to Siena by certain mer
chants, who were agents of the noble family of the Span-
nocchi, when, as his good fortune, or perhaps his evil
destiny, would have it, he did not for a time find any com
petitors in that city. He therefore laboured there alone,
and this, although it was for the moment a kind of ad
vantage, became eventually injurious to him, since he thus
suffered himself in a certain manner to fall asleep, and
never gave himself the trouble to study, but executed the
greater part of his works by mere facility of hand, or if at
times he did resolve to betake himself to some little study,
these efforts were principally confined to copying and imi-
' Giovan Antonio de' Bazzi (sometimes incorrectly written Razzi ; see Mi
lanesi's commentary on the life of this artist) was born about 1477 at Ver
celli, in Piedmont. M. Miintz cites a contract of November 38, 1490, ap
prenticing the twelve-year-old Giovanni for seven years to Martino de'
Spanzotti, the best of the local masters. No work by Giovanni can be proved
to have been executed in North Italy, but M. Miintz advances the opinion
that at the end of his apprenticeship the artist must have visited Milan and
come under the influence of the works of Leonardo, an influence which is so
apparent in Giovanni's pictures. Morelli and Dr. Frizzoni hold that Bazzi
was of the Lombardo-Milanese school and of a branch which came under the
direct influence of Leonardo ; indeed Morelli says that Giovanni was " the
pupil " of da Vinci.
2 This assertion may be true, as no sketches or preliminary studies for
Bazzi's later pictures have been found. Giovanni's own work, his average
work that is, testifies to the faii'uess of Vasari's statement ; it is rarely what
it might have been had the artist chosen to supplement temperament with
hard work. He did occasionally use his best powers, and Vasari in his
Life of Domenico Beccafumi has recognized this in his admission that Gio
van Antonio waa a good designer, and by his praise of Bazzi's reaUy fine
pictures.

GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA 355
fating the works of Jacopo della Foute,^ which were much
admired in Siena, beyond this he did but little.
In the early days ' of his residence at Siena, Giovan
Antonio executed numerous portraits from the life,^ with
that glowing manner of colouring of his which he had
brought from Lombardy,"' and he then also made many
friends in Siena, but more because the inhabitants of that
city are much inclined to favour foreigners than on account
of his merits as a painter. He was besides a man of joyous
life and cheerful manners, a lover of pleasure, aud ever
ready to contribute to the amusement of others, even
though it were not always in the most creditable manner,
for which cause he obtained more than one by-name, among
others that of Mattaccio, or the arch-fool ; whereat, instead
of being displeased and resenting the same, he would laugh
and glorify himself, nay, he would make sonnets and can
zonets upon these opprobrious epithets, which songs he
would then sing to the lute, and that without reserve.
2 If he did "little beyond this," in copying the works of Jacopo della
Querela (deUa Fonte) Giovanni did the wisest thing that he could, since the
admirable sculptures of Jacopo impressed and powerfully influenced even
Buonarroti himself, and were immeasurably superior to the works of all
other Sienese of the quattrocento.
* Dr. Richter and MoreUi consider that a Leda in the Borghese Gallery ia
copied from an original by Bazzi which was a work of hia youth and which
has disappeared. Morelli thinks that five drawings for thia original may be
identified aa at Weimar, Chatsworth, Windsor, and the Musee Civico of
MUan ; of these, three (Chatsworth, Weimar, and Windsor) are attributed in
the catalogues to Leonardo da Vinci, one (Windsor) to Raphael, and only the
Milanese drawing to Bazzi. See also Dr. G. Frizzoni in the Archivio Storico
delV Arte, Vol. IV., p. 376, 1891. M. Miintz (Fin de la Renaissance, p. 517,
note 1) says that one of the two Ledas in the Windsor coUection is an
" arch-authentic Leonardo."
' Herr Vischer beUeves that no early portraits by Bazzi can be identified.
A portrait of a woman in the Staedel Institute of Frankfort, ascribed by
seme critics to del Piombo, and by Dr. Bode to Jan Scorel, is attributed to
Bazzi by MorelU, who also accredits to the latter artist the head in the
British Museum which has been called a portrait of Timoteo Viti by Raphael.
' For a description of a Madonna and Child by Bazzi, very Leonardesque
in character, and which has recently been acquired by the Brera GaUery,
see Dr. G. Frizzoni, L'Archivio Storico delV Arte, Vol IV., 1891, p. 374 et
seq.

356 GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA
Giovan Antonio had a fancy for keeping all sorts of
strange animals in his house, badgers, squirrels, apes, cat-a-
mountains, dwarf asses, horses and barbs to run races, mag
pies, dwarf chickens, tortoises, Indian doves,* and other
animals of similar kind, whatever he could get into his
hands in short ; he was always surrounded by children and
young men, in whose society he took much pleasure ; and
besides the animals above-named, he had a raven, which he
had so effectually taught to speak, that this creature coun
terfeited the voice of Giovan Antonio exactly in some things,
more especially in' replying to anyone who knocked at the
door, nay, this last he did so perfectly, that he seemed to be
the painter's very self, as all the Sienese well know. The
other animals also were so tame that they were constantly
assembled about ' his person, while he was in the house,
* Read " badgers, squirrels, apes, catamounts, dwarf asses, Barbary race
horses, Elba ponies, jackdaws, bantams, turtle-doves, and other animals of
a similar kind."
' In the Life of Domenico Beccafumi Vasari again aUudes to this fancy for
pet animals in his short notice of Bazzi.
"New at this time Giovan Antonio da VercelU, then a young and able
painter, had been invited to Siena by one of the Spannocchi famUy, who was
a merchant, and being much encouraged by the gentlemen of that city (which
was ever the friend and protectress of all distinguished men) he found con
siderable employment, more especially in the execution of portraits from the
life. Domenico Beccafumi hearing this, and having an earnest wish to re
visit his native city, soon returned thither accordingly, and perceiving that
Giovan Antonio possessed great powers of design, in which he well knew the
excellence of an artist to consist, he did not content himself with what he
had acquired in Rome, but set himself studiously to follow in the footsteps
of Giovan Antonio, devoting his time more especiaUy to the study of anatomy,
and to drawing the nude figure.
" By all this Domenico profited to such an extent that in a short time he
began to be much esteemed in that most noble city. Nor was he less beloved
for his rectitude and the purity of his Ufe, than approved for his excellence
in art ; for whereas Giovan Antonio, coarse, licentious, and eccentric as he
was, had acquired the reputation of being one who wasted his time with in
finite levity and with idle young men, and was even wilUng to accept that
character ; Domenico, on the contrary, was most orderly and well-conducted,
Uved as it beseemed a Christian man to do, and passed the greater part of his
time alone. It will nevertheless sometimea happen that such as £ire called
good feUews and merry companions are more sought after than are the virt
uous and upright, and so it happened in this case, as regarded the youth of

GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA 857
and came round all who approached him, playing the
strangest tricks, and performing the most extraordinary
concerts ever seen or heard, insomuch that the dwelling of
this man seemed like the very ark of Noah.
The unusual manner of living, the strangeness of his pro
ceedings, with his works and pictures, some of which were
certainly very good ones, caused Giovan Antonio to have
Siena, who were for the most part great admirers of Giovan Antonio, extol
ling him as a very original person. And he was without doubt very fanciful,
taking pains to please the common herd, and always having his house fuU of
parrots, apes, dwarfed asses, Uttle horses from Elba, a raven that could speak,
Barbary horses for running races, and other things of similar kind, where-
vrith he had made himself a name among the vulgar, and could talk of noth
ing else but of his foUies."
Giovan Antonio's love of animala, which is rare to-day among the modem
ItaUans, evidently puzzled and offended the correct and practical Vasari.
Bazzi waa not contented vrith filling hia house with them ; his raven and a
couple of tame badgers are introduced into the fresco which contains his
portrait at Monte OUveto, his baboon rede before him when he won the race
in Florence, and he made a Ust of aU his pets in the following document,
which he, in common with aU householders, was obliged to send in to the mu
nicipal authorities iu the year 1531.
"Be it herewith known and notified to you, my honourable feUow-towns-
men, by me. Master John Soddoma, in respect to my possessions aa under :
" First, then, I have a garden by the new fountain where I sow, and other
folks reap.
" Then in VaUerozzi a house as my residence, not to mention a lawsuit with
Niccolo de' Libri.
" In my stable eight horses, which they caU my lambs aud myself their
beU-wether. " Further, I have a monkey, moreover a raven which can talk, and which I
keep by me in order that he may teach from his cage a theological jackass
also te speak.
" Item : an owl to frighten the vritches, two peacocks, two dogs, two cata, a
sparrow-hawk and other birda of prey, six fowls, eighteen chicks, two moor-
fowl, and many other birds, to name aU of which would only cause confusion.
X have besides these, three abominably vricked beasts, to wit, my three
women. " Lastly, I have thirty grown-up children, and ao far as this burden ia con
cerned, your Excellencies wUl doubtless admit that I am a proprietor in a
large way. New whoso is father of twelve children is legally exempt from
being summoned before the commune. And so I commend you to God's
mercy. FareweU ! Sodoma, Sodoma, derivatum M'li Sodoma." See the Padre
della VaUe's Lettere Senesi, Vol IIL, Urgugieri's Pompe Senesi, Vol. IL,
p. 356, aud R. Vischer, in Kunst und Kiinstler.

358 GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA
such a name among the Sienese (with the base and low that
is to say, for those of higher condition judged him better),
that he was held by many to be a great man.^ Wherefore
Fra Domenico da Leccio, a Lombard, being made General
of the monks of Monte Oliveto, and Giovan Antonio, going
to visit him at Monte Oliveto di Ohiusuri, the principal
abode of that Order, distant about fifteen miles from Siena,^
8 This is not true ; Bazzi worked for the Republic and for the nobles,
net for the people. The real reasons for Vasari's unjust treatment of
Bazzi are as yet undiscovered. As a man (not as an artist) the Lombard
painter was constantly vUified and abused by the usually impartial biog
rapher. Vasari's friendship and admiration for Beccafumi may have prej
udiced him against Bazzi, Beccafumi's rival ; perhaps there is some truth in
the story that Bazzi laughed at Vasari's biographies (which were seen by
many in manuscript long before their publication), and thus roused the rancor
of their author. Wherever Vasari remains an art critic he is honest and un
prejudiced ; hia blame is just, his praise not stinted when he speaks of Gio
van Antonio's best works. When he writes of the man and not the artist he
is on the contrary, censorious, even bitter and most unfair ; the love of fine
clothes which Vasari finds dignified and decorous in Leonardo the master is
ridiculous in Giovan Antonio, the " jack pudding " and " mountebank " pupil
Da Vinci's admirable love for animals is equaUy reprehensible in Bazzi;
the latter's passion for racing, shared by all the Sienese citizens and the
Florentine nobles, is most objectionable in the painter. Whatever the
Vercellese artist does aa a man, ia ill done, according to our author ; but we
may remember that while several of Vasari's stories told to the artist's dis
credit are disproved by documents, not one is confirmed.
» Ne environment could be more inspirational than the magnificent moun
tain country about Monte Oliveto, made marvellously picturesque by the
countless ravines which seam the hills ou either side of the winding riband-
like road that leads from Buon Convento to the monastery. Prom its ter
races are seen Montalcino on its aerial platform, the delicate lines of Monte
Amiata crowning a wide sweep of hills, Chiusnri on its height, the valleys
torn and rent by the torrent-beds ; a strange landscape, grand and impressive
in its desolation. Almost equally stern and forbidding is the aspect of the
monastery itself, a huge pile of purplish-red brick, raised upon gigantic but
tresses above a wave-like crest of the hiU. Its austere lines are broken only by
the church with its square campanile and the machicolations of the fortress
like gate pierced with loop-holes, which defends the entrance of the long
avenue of cypresses leading to the convent court-yard. Amidst these solemn
surroundings, more sympathetic to the fiery and virile genius of his predecessor
Signorelli than to the mischievous and beauty-loving Bazzi, the cycle of St.
Benedict was painted. In these frescoes, commenced in 1506 and still in ad
mirable preservation, there is nothing which rises to the height of two or
three of Bazzi's best pictures, but as a series it is, on the whole, the most ami-

CALLED SODDOMA 359
found so much to say and used so many persuasions, that
he received a commission to finish the stories which had
been partly executed on a wall of that monastery by Luca
Signorelli of Cortona.'" The subject wliicli had been chosen
was from the life of San Benedetto, and Bazzi undertook
the work for a very low price, with the addition of his ex
penses and that of certain boys, colour grinders and other
assistants, by whom he was attended. But the amusement
which those fathers found in his proceedings while he
worked in that place is not to be told, nor could one easily
describe the pranks which he played there, insomuch that

able of his works. In their wide, sunUt cloister, protected from damp and
vrind by the glass with which the government has filled its outer arches, noth
ing could be more cheerful or attractive than these clear-colored frescoes,
Ught in tone, free in their handUng, yet far more serrts and close in drawing
than are many of the artist's more pretentious pictures. There is a certain
chUd-Uke sweetness, a simplicity of arrangement, a genial sense of humor
which is as completely suited to the presentation of these indescribably petty
miracles -and trifling temptations as the genius of SignorelU was unsuited to
it. The subjects themselves, forming " a painted novella " of monastic life,
are utterly puerile in character, and their whole charm is in their treatment.
Of such motives as " St. Benedict miraculously mends a sieve," Bazzi, by the
beauty and sweetness of his types, by the introduction of portraits, by
perfect naturalness, and, above all, by that naif charm which flve years later
was forever stricken from Italian art by the splendors of the Stanze and
the Ughtnings of the Sistina, by the qualities of simplicity, freshness, and
vivacity, Giovan Antonio turns these rather absurd subjects into a series of
pictures which please enduringly. There are other works by Bazzi at Monte
Oliveto, a Madonna at the head of the dormitory staircase and a Christ
bound to the pUlar near the entrance of the church, a replica of the picture
in the gaUery of Siena. The fragraenta of a most curious fresco are also attrib
uted to Bazzi. In 1893 two of the annotators of these volumes while visit
ing the monastery were lodged in the suite of rooms which formerly belonged
to the Abbot. On the waUs of one of these chambers were fragments of
frescoes emerging from the whitewash. The subject, evidently a large com
position, represented the fall of the rebellious angels and their gradual trans
formation into fiends ; the figures near the ceiling were still beautiful youths
with wide, white piniona, while those who had faUen almost to the base-board
were changed to black, bat-winged demons. The Abbate di Negro, who ad-
miniatera the estates of Monte Oliveto for the Italian government and receives
the visiters te the monastery, ascribes these fragments to Bazzi.
'" Luca Signorelli left these frescoes unfinished to go to Orvieto, where he
was to paint the chapel of San Brizio in the cathedral

360 GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA
the monks then bestowed on him that name of Mattaccio,
before alluded to, in requital of his follies.
Returning to the work itself, however, Giovan Antonio,
having finished certain stories in a manner which showed
more readiness of hand than care and thought, the General
complained of that circumstance, when II Mattaccio replied,
that he worked according to his humour, and that his
pencil only danced in harmony with the sound of the coins,
adding, that if the General would pay more, he was quite
able to produce much better work. Thereupon Fra Domen
ico promised to pay him better for the future, when Giovan
Antonio painted three stories which still remained to be
executed in the angles, with so much more of thought and
care than he had given to the others, that they proved to be
much better works."
In the first of these pietures is seen San Benedetto depart
ing from Norica, and leaving his parents to go and pursue
his studies in Rome ; in the second are San Mauro and San
Placido brought to him as children, and dedicated by their
parents to God : the third picture represents the Goths
burning Monte Cassino. Last of all, and to do despite to
the General and those monks, Giovan Antonio depicted the
story of the Priest Fiorenzo, the enemy of San Benedetto,
who brought a number of public dancing women to sing
and frolic around the monastery of that holy man, thereby
to tempt and disturb the devotions of those fathers.'^ In
this story II Mattaccio, who was as eccentric in painting as
in the other actions of his life, exhibited a dance of nude
figures, which was altogether offensive, and, as he knew that
this would not be permitted, he refused to let any of the
" The angle picturea really are among the most interesting and best painted
of the series.
'2 This group of girls may be accounted among the most charming creations
of the Renaissance. There is still something of the fifteenth rather than of
the sixteenth century about these figures. They are graceful, not monumental ;
they are suggestive of Leonardo da Vinci ; are characteristic of a northern as
distinguished from a Tuscan painter, and possess the easy grace and seductive
loveliness of Bazzi's ideal type.

GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA 361
monks see his work while it was in progress. When this
story was uncovered, the General at once commanded that
it should be instantly destroyed and done away with, but
Mattaccio, after much idle talk, and seeing that the father
was in great anger, added draperies to all the figures in the
picture, which is among the best of those to be found in the
Monte Oliveto.
Under each of the stories above-mentioned, the same
artist painted two medallions, in each of which is a Monk,
the whole range presenting figures of all the Generals by
whom that Congregation had been governed. Not having
the portraits from the life, II Mattaccio executed most of
these heads from fancy, but in some he placed the portraits
of certain among the older monks then in the monastery,
bringing down the series until he came to the above-named
Fra Domenico da Leccio, who was then General, as we have
said, and from whom he had received his commission for
the work. But some of these heads, having subsequently
had their eyes put out, while others had been also injured
in various parts, the Bolognese Fra Antonio Bentivogli
caused them all, and for very good reasons, to be taken
away. While Giovan Antonio was occupied with these paintings,
a Milanese gentleman had gone to take the habit of a monk
in that monastery ; he was at the time wearing a yellow
cloak, bordered and trimmed with black cords, as was the
fashion of the period ; and when the gentleman had taken
the habit, this cloak was given by the General to Mat
taccio,'^ when the latter, putting it on his back, drew his
'2 This cloak was not given to the painter, but was bought by him. From
the archives of Monte Oliveto we learn that the price, not only of this mantle
but of the complete costume of the Milanese gentleman, was deducted from
the payment made by the General of the monastery to Bazzi for these frescoes.
He is therefore no jackdaw, but the owner of fine feathers which he wears by
right of possession. In the long series of portraits of painters of the Renais
sance, many are nobler than this one, but few are more characteristic, and
the figure is especiaUy happy in giving Ufe to what would otherwise be but a
tame snbject.

362 GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA
own portrait, thus clothed, with the aid of a mirror, in the
picture wherein San Benedetto, when little more than a
child, miraculously mends and makes whole the pail or tub *
of his nurse which she had broken.'^ At the feet of his own
portrait Mattaccio painted those of his raven, with a baboon,
and some other of his animals.'^
This work being finished, Giovan Antonio painted a pict
nre, the subject of which was the Miracle of the five loaves
and two fishes, in the Refectory of Sant' Anna, a house be
longing to the same Order, and at the distance of about
five miles from Monte Oliveto, with other figures in other
parts of the monastery.'^ When this work was finished,
Bazzi returned to Siena, where he decorated in fresco the
f aQade of the house of the Sienese Messer Agostino de' Bardi,
which is situate at the Pustierla : in this painting were
many things worthy of praise, but much of it has been de
stroyed by time and the action of the air."
In the meantime '* Agostino Chigi, a very rich and most
renowned Sienese merchant, visited his native city, and
Giovan Antonio was made known to him, as well by the
follies he committed, as because he had the name of a good
painter ; wherefore Agostino conducted him to Rome, where
Pope Julius II. was at that time causing the papal apart
ments in the Vatican,'^ which had formerly been erected
* It is a sieve and not " a pail or tub."
'* This fresco stiU contains the portrait of Bazzi.
1^ There is no baboon in this picture ; there are a raven and two tame
badgers. The figures of a woman and a little girl in the same panel are often
called the wife and daughter of Bazzi. This is a manifest error, as the
frescoes were painted in 1505-6 and the artist was not married until 1510.
'• The refectory of Sant' Anna, in Creta near Pienza, has been used as a
wine-cellar, and though the paintings on the walls were fairly well preserved,
the small pictures on the monks' benches had almost disappeared when Mi
lanesi saw them. For the wall pictures see the catalogue of the photographer
Lombardi of Siena.
" This facade was painted in 1513 in exchange for a horse worth thirty
gold ducats.
IB Agostino Chigi went to Siena in 1507 to negotiate the sale of Port'
Ercole. 12 The Stanza delta Segnatura.

GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA 363
by Nicholas V., to be decorated with paintings, and Cliigi
so contrived that Giovan Antonio was employed with other
artists to work in those apartments.
Now Pietro Perugino was then painting the ceiling of one
of the rooms, that namely which is close beside the Torre
Borgia, but he, being an old mau, worked slowly, and, not
being able to commence such other portions of the work as
he had at first been commanded to execute, a room beside
that which Pietro was painting was then given to Giovan
Antonio. He, tlierefore, putting hand to the same, painted
the decorations of cornices, friezes, and foliage, which
border tho ceiling, and then proceeded to paint certain large
circular compartments, wherein he executed stories in fresco,
which are of very considerable merit. But as this animal,
occupied as he was with his four-footed creatures and his
follies, did not steadily continue and put forward the work,
Raffaello da Urbino, who had been invited to Rome by the
architect Bramante, and whose superiority to the other
artists had become manifest to the Pontiff, — Raffaello, I
say, received charge of the whole, and his Holiness com
manded that neither Perugino nor Giovan Antonio should
work any more in those apartments, nay, furthermore, he
gave orders that all which they had done should be de
stroyed. But Raffaello, who was goodness and modesty itself per
mitted all the paintings that Pietro Perugino, who had
formerly been his master, had accomplished, to retain their
places, nor did he efface the work of the Mattaccio except
so far as the figures of the medallions and the stories were
concerned ; all the decorations and ornaments which served
as framework, he suffered to remain, and they still surround
the figures executed by Raphael, that of Justice and Knowl
edge namely, with those of Poetry and Theology.^
22 Raphael respected Bazzi's work in the Segnaturaa.nd showed his regard
for the man by introducing his portrait side by side with his own in the School
of Athens. This figure of Bazzi, dressed in a white tunic and a white cap, has
been mistaken for a portrait of Perugino, Raphael's master. At least Morelli

864 GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA
Then Agostino, who was a man of the utmost courtesy
and kindness, without permitting himself to be deterred by
the affront which had been put upon Giovan Antonio, gave
him one of the principal rooms in his palace in the Traste
vere to paint. This is the apartment which opens on the
great hall, and the subject of the work was Alexander and
Roxana in their bridal chamber.^' Among other figures
Bazzi here depicted Loves employed in various offices ; some
unfasten the cuirass of Alexander, others draw off his
sandals or buskins, some carry away and lay aside his helmet
and mantle, while others scatter flowers upon the bed or
vigorously sustains that this portrait is Giovan Antonio, while M. Miintz is
equally positive that this theory is wholly untenable and that the person rep
resented here is far too old to be Bazzi. To us the features appear those of
a man about thirty years old, and rather resembling Bazzi than Perugino.
The latest large isochromatic photographs of this group taken by AUnari
corroborate Morelli's theory.
21 Thia picture, based upon Lucian's account of a composition by Action,
was painted during Bazzi's second visit to Rome in 1513 (1514 n. a. ). There
were also other freacoes in thia aeries (on the first floor of the Villa Farnesina) ;
these were the Family of Darius at the Feet of Alexander, Vulcan's Forge (see
note 22), and Alexander taming Bucephalus. M. Miintz, praising these figures,
says of them, " Les figures sont du Raphael, mais du Raphael plusfluide
et plus suave." This is precisely what they are to so great a degree that their
fluidity has made some of them relatively shapeless, and very unsatisfactory
to the student, although their suavity has, it is true, much of the charm which
never deserted Bazzi. There has been a long controversy concerning the
flne drawing (which was acquired by the Albertina of Vienna) for the Mar
riage of Alexander and Roxana, as well as regarding other drawings in Buda-
Pesth, Windsor, and elsewhere, representing the same subject. Several of
these were long attributed te Raphael and considered the original designs for
a fresco (now destroyed) painted by Raphael's pupils in the casino of the
Borghese park. The fresco by Bazzi in the Farnesina closely, but not en
tirely, resembles thia dravring at Vienna, and Morelli was convinced that all
of the drawings referring te it, and attributed to Raphael, were really by
Giovan Antonio. Por his reasons, see Italian Paintera, I., p. 232, and Italian
Masters in German GaUeries, p. 439, note 1. M. MUntz entirely disagrees
with Morelli, and Herr Richard Poerster (Die Hochzeit A lexander's, etc. in the
Prussian Jahrbuch for 1894) has, it is claimed, confuted the theories of
Morelli as to Bazzi's being the author of the drawings. Herr Foerster's study
passes in review the many designs, original or copies (among the latter a
drawing in the Museum of Haarlem has been recently brought to notice),
which complicate the question, and his essay is reviewed by Herr CorneUua
von Fabriczy in the Archivio Storico delV Arte, 1896, p. 474.

GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA 365
perform services of similar kind ; near the chimney is a
figure of Vulcan ^ engaged in the forging of arrows.
This work was then considered a very good and praise
worthy performance, and if II Mattaccio, who had some
very excellent parts, and was powerfully aided by nature,
had profited by the mishap we have referred to above, and
then devoted himself to his studies, as any other would have
done, he might have become a very excellent painter ; but
he, whose thoughts were ever running on some absurdity,
worked by fits and starts only, or wlien the fancy took him,
caring for nothing more earnestly than the dressing himself
pompously, wearing a doublet of brocade, a short cloak all
covered over and decorated with cloth of gold, head-gear
of the richest fashion, a gold chain and other fopperies of
similar kind, best suited to Jack-puddings and Mountebanks,
in aU which Agostino, whom that humour of his diverted
greatly, found the finest sport in the world.
Pope Julius II. having then died, and Leo X., whom all
fantastic and light-minded creatures such as was this man
pleased well ; Leo X., I say, being created high Pontiff,^ II
Mattaccio was suddenly raised to the verysummit of delight,
and the rather as he detested Julius, who had done him that
scorn ; wherefore, desiring to make his talents known to the
new Pontiff, he set himself to work, and executed a paint
ing wherein he depicted a nude figure of Lucretia stabbing
herself with the poniard. And as fortune is favourable to
fools and will sometimes bring aid to thoughtless men, so
Giovan Antonio succeeded in producing the most beautiful
form of a woman that can be conceived, with a head that
was breathing.^
" Some critics deny that the Vulcan is by Bazzi.
22 In 1513.
" This picture waa aupposed to be one in the collection of Herr Kestner in
Hanover, but Dr. Frizzoni has proved that thia Lucretia ia net a work of
Bazzi but of Peruzzi. The picture painted for the Pope has disappeared. The
work has also been identified by some critics with a Lucrezia in the Turin
Gallery. According to Morelli (Italian Painters) the pictures by Bazzi in
Rome are the frescoes of the Farnesina, the Rape of the Sabines (Palazzo

366 GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA
The work thus happily completed, Agostino Chigi, who
stood in the closest relations of service with Leo X., caused
it to be presented to his Holiness, by whom the artist was
made a Cavalier or Knight and duly remunerated for so
beautiful a picture. It now appeared to Giovan Antonio
that he had become a great man, and he began to refuse
all labour unless when he was driven to work by actual
want. Agostino Chigi, being then called by certain of his affairs
to Siena, took Giovan Antonio with him, but while dwell
ing there, the artist, being a knight without revenues, was
compelled to set himself to work ; he therefore painted a
picture, the subject of which was Our Saviour Christ in the
act of being taken from the cross ; beneath is the Virgin in a
swoon, with an armed warrior whose back is turned to the
spectator, but the front of whose figure is shown as reflected
from certain pieces of armour lying on the earth, and which
armour is as clear as a mirror. This picture, which was
and is considered one of the best of Bazzi's works, was
placed in the church of San Francesco, on the right hand
as one enters the church.^ In the cloister also, which is
beside the said church of San Francesco, Giovan Antonio
executed a fresco of Christ scourged at the column,^* with
numerous figures of Jews standing around Pilate, and a
range of columns designed in perspective, forming a kind
of vestibule. In this work Giovan Antonio painted the
portrait of himself without a beard, or rather with the
beard shaven, and with long hair as they were worn at that
time. No long time afterwards, our artist painted certain pict
ures for the Signor Jacopo Sesto of Piombino ; and, being
Chigi), the St. Christopher (Palazzo Spada), a, Holy Family, and a Pietd (in
the Borghese GaUery).
2s It is now in the picture gallery of Siena. The church of San Francesco
was burned in 1655, and restored and consecrated in August, 1894.
2" Tills figure of Christ was sawn off tho waU in 1842, transferred to can
vas, aud placed in the picture gallery of Siena. The rest of the fresco had
perished.

GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA 367
with Signor Jacopo in that place, he furthermore depicted
other works on cloth for the same Noble.'*' Wherefore, be
sides many presents and marks of favour which were shown
him by Signor Jacopo, Bazzi also procured by his means a
number of little animals from his Island of Elba, of the
kind produced in that island, and all which Giovan Antonio
then took with him to Siena.
Repairing subsequently to Florence, he was commissioned
by a monk of the Brandolini family, who was then Abbot
of the monastery of Monte Oliveto, which is situate outside
the gate of San Priano, to paint certain pictures in fresco
on the wall of the Refectory. But negligent and thought
less as he was, Giovan Antonio executed these works with
out care or study, and they proved to be so worthless that
he was utterly shamed and treated with scorn for his follies
by those who had been led to expect that he would produce
some extraordinary work.'^
While Bazzi was occupied with this painting, he sent a
Barbary horse, which he had brought with him to Florence,
to run at the race of San Bernaba ; and, as fortune would
have it, his horse ran much better than the others, and won
the prize. But when the boys, who, according to the usual
custom, followed the trumpeters after the race, to call out
the name of the master to whom the winning horse be
longed, came to Bazzi inquiring what name they were to
2' Bazzi worked for Giacomo V., not VI. , Prince of Piombino, in 1538.
Nothing is known about these pictures.
28 Milanesi states that these frescoes were destroyed, but apparently they
were only whitewashed. Some twenty years ago M Muntz visited Monte
OUveto, which had become a mUitary hospital, and saw a few fine figures, evi
dently from a Last Supper, in the chaplain's cell, which once formed part of
the refectory ; the rest of the composition was covered with whitewash and a
partition wall. M. Miintz recognized in these fragments the grand manner
of the sixteenth century, without, however, attributing them to any special
master, and pointed them out to his confreres, hoping that they would dis
cover the painter. In his Fin de la Renaissance, published in 1895, he gives
the Cena unhesitatingly to 'Bazzi. ^ As to Vasari's criticism of the work, it
may be said that Plorence was the last place in Italy where a painter could
afford the slurring and careless drawing which Bazzi not infrequently per
mitted to himself.

368 GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA
caU out, he replied, II Mattaccio, *'•» and the boys so called
ont accordingly ; when that disreputable name being heard
* In the IVUlaneai edition this sentence reads, "ed avendo egli risposto, Sod
doma, Soddoma ; ifanciulli cosi gridavano."
22 Milanesi thinks that Giovan Antonio gave this evU name to be called out
with the intention of insulting the Florentines ; but the same author cites Euri-
alo Morani d' Asooli, who in 1526 printed certain Latin epigrams praising Baz
zi's painting of Lucrezia and attacking the painter's moral character. It must
be remembered, however, that the vilest and foulest epithets were in common
use during the Renaissance, not only among the people but among scholars and
humanists. Many of the men most distinguished for their Latinity were equaUy
noted for their powers of invective, with which not only the personal character
ot an adversary was assailed but that of his whole family aud remote ancestry
as weU. It was an every-day affair for the learned or the lettered to accuse
their opponents of monstrous crimes, and much of this scurrilous abuse must
be considered as merely conventional in the literature of vituperation which in
terested and diverted the Italians of the Renaissance. Students of the revival
of learning, of the wordy combats of the humanists Filelfo, Poggio, and
Valla, wUl be incUned to disregard certain accusations. On the ether hand,
Siena had a bad reputation for luxurious living which a Florentine would not
be inclined to underestimate ; it was also in Molles Sence that BeocadeUi placed
the scene of his famous poem.
It is highly probable that Vasari's injustice to Bazzi came primarUy from
an inability to understand him. The whimsical, roguish Lombard, with a
little of the charlatan and much of the boy in his character, was incompre
hensible to the earnest, studious, laborious Florentine, and Bazzi's love of
frolic and his light-hearted willingness to appear worse than he was, gave
Vasari sufficient cause to distrust a.nd despise him. The most charitable
and net wholly unreasonable estimate of Giovan Antonio's character
is that he was the sixteenth-century counterpart of a type of artist con
stantly seen among the students of the European art schools of to-day,
namely, the blagueur d'atelier, the studio-jester. The blagueur is a mad
cap, sometimes an idler, aometimes a busybody, constantly boasting of his
misdoings, which are always exaggerated, and sometimes purely imaginary,
and sacrificing any thing at any time for what he considers a joke. He is no
respecter of persons, is more or less foul-mouthed, generally more ; deUghts in
being conspicuous, and, above all, troublesome ; joys in shocking the respectable
and outraging the conventional ; personal dignity does not exist for him, and
reserve is an unknown quantity ; but he is quick-witted, good-hearted, and as
ready to help as te hinder. He is utterly improvident, and though some
times capable of brilliant artistic performances, is not a little handicapped by
laziness, though in time of war or revolution the laziness gives way to action,
and the blagueur has supported his convictions or served his country as well
as the most earnest of his comrades. Just what Giovan Antonio was like we
shall probably never know ; Raphael seems to have esteemed him, and he was
a favorite with the Sienese ; there is no testimony to support the charges
against him, and the story of his domestic unhappiness is disproved by docu-

GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA 369
by certain grave old men, they began to complain of it and
to say : " What unbeseeming thing is this, and what bold
ness is here, that there should be called through our city so
opprobrious a name as this ? " in such sort that a clamour
arose, and the poor Mattaccio was within an ace of being
stoned by the boys and people, together with his horse and
the ape which he had with him on the saddle.
Giovan Antonio had indeed won many races in the course
of years (which had been gained by his horses as described
above),** and displayed indescribable vain - glory in the
matter of his accumulated prizes, he would exhibit them to
every one who came into the house, nay, he would very
frequently make a show of them at his windows.^'
But we return to his works. For the Brotherhood of
San Bastiano in Camellia, whose place is behind the church
of the Umiliati, Giovan Antonio painted a Gonfalon on
cloth and in oil, for the Brotherhood to carry in procession,
the subject being San Sebastiano, nude and fastened to a
tree. The figure supports itself on the right foot, the left
leg being foreshortened, and the head raised towards an
angel who is placing a crown on the head of the Saint.
This work is a truly beautiful one, and is worthy of the
highest commendation ; on the reverse of the banner is
Our Lady with the Divine Child in her arms, while be-
mentary evidence. That he was often lazy and indifferent seems to be shewn
by his work, but we cannot call him weak artistically, for he waa distinctly in
dividual and saw nature from a personal point of view ; perhaps no artist ever
possessed more temperament than did this spoiled child of Painting.
22 The names and deacriptiona of Bazzi'a racers are in the Sienese archives.
A letter dated June 18, 1515, from Jacopo V. d' Appiano, Lord of Piombino,
recommends to Lorenzo de' Medici "Joan Antonio de' Averzfe, my servant
and bearer of the letter, who comes to Florence to enter his horses for the
race" (" per far correre sui cavelli"'). It wUl be remembered that Bazzi
won the race described by Vasari in this same year on St. John's day.
2' Here Vasari is most unjust to Bazzi. In Siena it was, and still is, ac
counted a great honor te win the Palio. Indeed, what was vainglorious in
Giovanni was proper pride in a Florentine ; it was a Tuscan custom to
decorate the windows upon festa days by hanging out rich stuffs and banners
and the cloth of gold racing-prizes of the Alessandri were famous iu Floren
tine archivea. III.— 24

370 GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA
neath are San Gismondo and San Rocco, with some Flagel
lants who are kneeling on the earth. It is said that certain
merchants of Lucca would have given the men of the
Brotherhood three hundred gold crowns for the picture,
but could not obtain it even for that sum, the company not
being willing to part with so admirable a work.^
And of a truth II Mattaccio, whether by care, by favour
of fortune, or by chance, did in some of his performances
acquit himself exceedingly well, but of these works he pro
duced very few ; there is one of them in the Sacristy of
the monks of Mount Carmel, a Nativity of Our Lady, with
nurses variously occupied standing around, this is exceed
ingly beautiful. ^^ At the corner of the Piazza de' Tolomei
also II Mattaccio painted a fresco of the Madonna with the
Divine Child in her arms, for the guild of the Shoemakers ;
San Giovanni, San Francesco, San Rocco, and San Cris-
pino, who is the advocate of the men of that trade, are also
depicted in that work, the last-mentioned Saint holding a
shoe in his hand. In the heads of these figures, as well as
in every other part of the picture, Giovan Antonio has here
also acquitted himself exceedingly well.
For the company of San Bernardino of Siena, whose
house is beside the church of San Francesco, this master
painted stories in fresco, which he executed in competition
with the Sienese painter Girolamo del Pacchia and with
Domenico Beccafumi, in the chapel of the above-named
Brotherhood. The subjects of these works are the Presen
tation of Our Lady in the temple, the Visitation of the

22 Thia picture, painted in 1525, ia now in the Ufiizi. The company had
agreed to pay twenty ducats for it, but were so pleased with it that they
added ten ducats to the price. In a certain delicate and graceful beauty the
face of the St. .Sebastian is unsurpassed by anything of its time, nevertheless
iu some subtle way it announces the decadence, the work of Guido and of
the seventeenth century. Although the drawing of the figure is far better,
the silhouette far more seriously studied than is most of Bazzi's work, it
must be admitted that the whole is greatly lacking iu soUdity, is even papery-
looking in its lack of modelling.
22 StiU in situ.

GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA 371
Madonna to Sant' Elizabetta, her Assumption, and her
Coronation in heaven. In one of the angles of the same
chapel he painted a Saint in the episcopal robes, with San
Lodovico and Sant' Antonio of Padua in the others, but
the best figure of all is that of San Francesco, who, stand
ing upright, is raising his head towards a little angel, who
appears to be speaking to him : the head of San Francesco
himself is truly admirable.*'
In the palace of the Signoria at Siena, Giovan Antonio
painted numerous little tabernacles in one of the large
halls,^ decorating the same with clusters of columns,
angels in the form of little children, and other ornaments.
Within these tabernacles also there are various figures ; one
of these is San Vittorio armed after the manner of the an
tique, and holding his sword in his hand : near him, and
depicted in like manner is Saut' Ansaldo * baptizing certain
catechumens ; and in a third is San Benedetto, all very
beautiful figures. ^^
In the lower part of the same palace, and where the salt
is sold, Giovan Antonio painted a picture the subject of
which was Christ rising from the sepulchre, with soldiers
standing around the tomb and two little Angels, the heads
* Ansano, not Ansaldo.
'^ These frescoes are stUl in place. They were begun in 1518 and the As
sumption was not finished until 1532. The figures in the corners are St.
Louis, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Francis, and St. Bernard, which is not by
Bazzi. In these frescoes Giovanni has attempted to be monumental, and has
succeeded in obtaining a certain impressiveness and an e^isemble which is
thoroughly characteristic of the amplification that art had received in the
beginning of the aixteenth century, but these figrft*es are lacking in con
struction, stUl more are they lacking in subtlety of dravring. They look ex
actly like figures in old tapestries which have been stretched and pulled and
hauled untU not one Une in face or figure is correct.
25 The Sala del Gran Consiglio or Mappamondo.
38 These admirable figures (see especially the St. Victor) have all the qual
ities which belong to those in San Bernardino and most of the quaUties which
are lacking in the latter. The grave and beautiful warrior saints are con
structed, drawn, and modelled with seriousness and skill, and they are noble
in expression as weU. The San Benedetto is also admirable. If Bazzi had
always worked as earnestly as he did upon these figures, few painters would
have equalled him. These frescoes were finished in 1534.

372 GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA
of which are considered exceedingly beautiful.^ Over a
door in the same building is a figure of Our Lady with the
Divine Child in her arms, and two Saints beside her, also
painted in fresco by Giovan Antonio.^
In the church of Santo Spirito, Bazzi painted the chapel
of San Jacopo, which he did by commission from men of
the Spanish nation ^ who had their place of burial in that
chapel, the subject selected was the Madonna depicted after
the ancient manner,* and having on her right hand San
Niccolo da Tolentino, with the archangel San Michele, who
is slaying Lucifer, on the left. In the lunette above these
figures is Our Lady clothing one of the saints in the sacer
dotal habit, and surrounded by numerous angels. On the
ceiling over these works, which are on panel and in oil,
Giovan Antonio painted in fresco a figure of San Jacopo,*'
armed, and on a horse which is rapidly hastening forwards ;
the saint holds his sword boldly brandished in his hand,
and beneath him are lying many Turks, some dead and
others wounded.
Beneath these pictures and beside the altar of the same
chapel, are Sant' Antonio the abbot, and a figure of San
Sebastiano bound naked to the column ; they are in fresco,
and are considered very good works.
2' This fresco, painted in 1535, is still in the Palace.
28 Still in situ.
22 Armenini, the author of the Veri Precette della Pittura, relates the fol
lowing anecdote of Bazzi, which he assures us was told him by an old man
who had been an intimate friend of the painter. Giovanni was aflfronted by
a Spanish guard, and being unable to obtain satisfaction as the soldier waa
aurrounded by insolent companions, the painter looked attentively at him,
and on reaching home made a portrait sketch of him from memory. He then
presented a complaint te the Spanish prince in command of the garrison ; the
offender was easily recognized by means of the picture and duly punished, whUe
Bazzi obtained the favor and patronage of the commander and his friends.
*' The figure of the Madonija was really ancient, and not by Bazzi.
•i' This figure of St. James en horseback (1530) has been much praised, but
though it fills its space decoratively it is a poor affair in execution, slurred
and careless, and is little to the credit of a master who was capable of far
better work. The horse especially ia singularly ill-drawn for the work of an
artist, who was himself a sporting-man and a judge of horse-flesh.

CALLED SODDOMA 373
In the cathedral ^ of the same city of Siena, and on the
right hand as you enter the church, there is an altar-piece,
painted in oil by the hand of Bazzi, in this we have the
Madonna with the Divine Child on her knee ; San Giu
seppe is on one side, and San Calisto on the other ; this
work is also held to be a very beautiful one, and it is man
ifest that our artist gave much more attention to the colour
ing thereof than he usually bestowed on his paintings. For
the Brotherhood of the Trinity he painted a very beautiful
bier'*^ whereon they bear their dead to the burial, with one
for the Company of Death, which is considered to be the
handsomest bier in Siena : ¦" nay, I am even of opinion that
it is the most beautiful one that can be found, not only
because the work is one which of itself is truly admira
ble and worthy of praise, but also because things of that
kind are rarely executed at much cost or with any great
care. In the chapel of Santa Caterina of Siena, in the church
of San Domenico in that city, Giovan Antonio painted two
stories, being one on each side of a tabernacle wherein is
the head of the above-named Santa Caterina executed in
silver. That on the right side of the tabernacle ^ exhibits
the saint when she is receiving the Stigmata from Our
Saviour Christ, who is seen in the air above, she lying
fainting in the arms of two of the Sisterhood who support
*2 This painting, once over the altar of San Calisto, is now in the chapel of
the Palazzo PubbUco.
*2 This bier is preserved in the sacristy of the church of San Donato. Some
critics beUeve that it was painted by Beccafumi or Marco da Siena.
¦*' This really beautiful work has been sawn apart, and the four pictures are
now shown in the church of the lay brothers of San Giovanni and San Gen-
naro. It was finished in 1527.
« Thia ia one of thoae relatively rare works which give to Soddoma a very
high rank as a complete artist, and not merely as an artist of phenomenal
temperament. He has treated a very difficult subject not only with charm
but with skill and thought, adding te his natural suavity a care in the group
ing of the three lovely heads, in the arrangement of the draperies, .and in the
rendering of the latter which is not often found in his works. As for the
spiritual side of the picture, it may be said that the poignant delights Qi
mysticism were never more adequately interpreted.

374 GIOA^"iNNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA
her. The Sienese painter Baldassare Petrucci,* examining
this work, declared that he had never seen the figures of
persons fainting depicted with more truth and perfection
by any artist than by Giovan Antonio. And of a truth he
had reason to say so, as inay be seen not only in the paint
ing itself, but also in the design for the same by the hand
of Bazzi, which we have in our book of drawings.^'
In the second story, that standing to the left of the
above-mentioned tabernacle, is depicted a certain event of
the Saint's life, the Angel of God namely bearing to her
the host of the most holy communion ; she, raising her
head, beholds Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary in the air
above her, while two of the Sisterhood stand in attendance
behind. Another picture on the wall to the right is the
story of a criminal * in the act of being led to his decapi
tation ; and this man, refusing to be converted and despair
ing of the mercy of God, will not recommend himself to
his Creator, when that holy Saint praying for him on her
knees, her orisons were so acceptable to God, that on the
head of the criminal being struck off, his soul was seen to
ascend into heaven. So greatly may avail with the mercy
of God the prayers of those holy persons who are truly in
his grace.
In this story there is a vast number of persons repre
sented, but if they are not of the highest perfection, no
man need marvel at that, since I have heard it affirmed as
a fact, that the idleness and negligence of Giovan Antonio
had reached to such a point as to prevent him from ever
making either designs or cartoons when he had a work of
this kind to execute, he drawing with his pencil immediate
ly on the fresh intonaco (a most extraordinary thing), and
in this manner it is that he appears to have treated the
*^ Peruzzi rather.
" In the Uffizi there is a pen drawing of this picture ; on one of the pUas
ters in the ¦background is the date 1526, which could formerly be seen in the
painting. <» A notorious brigand named Tuldo. The composition is dramatic but
confused in arrangement

GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA 375
picture in question.'" The same artist painted a figure of
the Almighty Father,* in the arch which forms the en
trance to the above-named chapel, but the remaining
stories were not finished by himself, a circumstance princi
pally attributable to his idleness, he not choosing to work
except by fits and starts, but partly also to the fact that he
could not obtain payment from those who had caused that
chapel to be thus decorated.^' Beneath the stories above
described is a picture by the same artist, representing God
the Father ; and in the lower part is a Madonna after the
old manner, with San Domenico, San Gismondo, San Se
bastiano, and Santa Caterina.^
In the church of Sant' Agostino, and to the right of the
entrance, Giovan Antonio painted an Adoration of the
Magi, which has ever been considered a good work, as it
well deserves to be.^^ For, to say nothing of the figure of
Our Lady, which is highly extolled, as are the first of the
three Magi and certain of the horses, there is the head of
a Shepherd, seen between two trees, which does truly ap
pear to be alive.
Over that gate of the city called San Viene,^ our artist
painted the Nativity of Jesus Christ, with angels in the air
above : this is a fresco, and is depicted within a large
tabernacle. Among the angels is one, a foreshortened
figure of extraordinary beauty and relief, who is pointing
to the Saviour as if he would show to aU men the Word
made Flesh. In this work Giovan Antonio has placed his
*' The drawing has every appearance of having been done with as Uttle
forethought as is impUed by Vasari.
52 It was destroyed by the effects of the earthquake of 1798.
»' All these frescoes are in situ. Francesco Vanni finished the " remaining
stories " in 1593.
62 To-day nothing is known of these frescoes, see MUanesi, VL, p. 395,
note 4.
62 This picture, painted in 1536, is stUl in Sant' Agostino.
ei So caUed from the cries of the people, " 11 Santo viene I " when the body
of Sant' Ansano, now the patron of Siena, was brought through it into the
town. This gate is generaUy known as the Porta Pispini, and is a fine spe-
pimen of mediaeval work.

376 GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA
own portrait, wearing his beard, he having now become old ;
he has a pencil in his hand, the point of which is directed
towards a scroll whereon is the word Feci.^
In the chapel of the Commune, on the Piazza wherein
stands the Palazzo Pubblico at Siena, Giovan Antonio painted
a fresco, the subject of which is Our Lady, with the Divine
Child in her arms, and surrounded by numerous angels ;
the Madonna is accompanied by Sant' Ansano, San Vittorio,
Sant' Agostino, and San Jacopo ; while in the lunette
above, which is of a triangular form, is the figure of the
Almighty Father, with angels around him, by the same
liand.*^ But in the work here in question it becomes ap
parent that this man had begun, even when he commenced
it, to have scarcely any love for his art remaining, having
lost a certain something of good and praiseworthy in man
ner which he had possessed in his younger days, and by
means whereof he gave an air of grace to his heads, which
made them lovely and attractive. And that this is true,
may be proved by the examination of certain works which
he executed long before the one now before us, at the Pos-
tierla, and which may still be seen : they are in fresco, on a
wall over the door of the Captain Lorenzo Mariscotti, where
there is a figure of the Dead Christ lying in the lap of his
Virgin Mother, which has a grace, beauty, and divinity
that are truly wonderful.^'
A picture of the Madonna, which Giovan Antonio painted
in oil for Messer Eneas Savini of the Costerella,* presents
further proof of what is here said, as does another on cloth,
which he executed for Assuero Rettori, of San Martino, the
22 In the spring of 1893 part of this fresco was stUl visible but much de
faced. The portrait of Bazzi disappeared years ago. The scroll did not con
tain the word Feci, but rather Fac tu, which, as Milanesi has remarked, VI. ,
p. 395, note 6, corresponds to BruneUeschi's and Donatello's " Fanne uno
tu " (make one like it for yourself).
6" StiU in the little chapel of the Commune adjoining the Palazzo PubbUco
This fresco was ordered in 1537.
" This fresco is still ou the fafade of the casa Bambaginl
" This picture was sold by the widow of the last Savini to a foreigner.

GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA 377
subject of the last being the Roman Lucrezia, who inflicts
on herself the mortal wound : she is supported by her
father and husband : this is a work wherein there is much
grace in the attitudes, with infinite beauty in the heads. ^'
Ultimately Giovan Antonio perceived that the hearts of
the Sienese were entirely turned to the excellence in art,
and other admirable qualities of Domenico Beccafumi, and
having neither house * nor income at Siena, nay, having
consumed almost all that he possessed, while he was then
become old as well as poor, he departed from the city al
most in despair, and betook himself to Volterra. There,
as his good fortune would have it, he found Messer Lorenzo
da Galeotto de' Medici, a rich and much respected gentle
man, with whom he took shelter, in the hope of remaining
with him for a very long time. Thus dwelling in the house
of Messer Lorenzo, he painted a picture on cloth for that
noble, the subject selected being the Chariot of the Sun,
which, having been unskilfully guided by Phaeton, falls
into the River Po. But it is perfectly easy to see that the
artist worked for his amusement only, and that the paint
ing was executed by mere facility of hand, no thought
having been given to any part of it ; so insignificant and
ill-considered is the whole performance."
Accustomed to a life of freedom, Giovan Antonio became
weary after a time of remaining in the house of Messer

22 There is a Lucretia at Turin, but painted in Bazzi's early manner.
22 Bazzi owned two houaes in Siena ; one of them formed a part of hia wife'a
dower and he bought another in 1534.
Vasari was a warm partisan of Beccafumi, the rival of Bazzi. This Do
menico Beccafumi has deservedly left a far less famous name than that of
Giovan Antonio Bazzi, but his designs for the pavement of the Duomo of
Siena were admirable, as were also some of his bronzes, aud his best works in
painting must have seemed much mere serious to the Sienese than seme of
Bazzi's later and hastier works. Certain paintings by Beccafumi, still in a
state of astonishing preservation, are sufficiently Uke Vasari's own work to
account for the latter's admiration for his performances.
2' Nothing is known about this picture, but there is a Deposition from the
Cross in the cathedral of Volterra by Bazzi. Milanesi greatly praises the
landscape in the same.

378 GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA
Lorenzo, and his abode in Volterra having also become dis
tasteful to him, he departed thence, and proceeded to Pisa,
where he was commissioned to execute two pictures for the
Duomo, by the intervention of Battista del Oervelliera with
Messer Bastiano della Seta, Warden of that cathedral ;
these works were placed in the Apsis, behind the high al
tar, and beside those executed by Sogliani and Beccafumi.
The first of these pictures represents the Dead Christ,
with Our Lady and the other Maries ; and in the second is
the Patriarch Abraham, proceeding to sacrifice his son
Isaac. ^^ But as they were found to be of no great merit,
the Warden, who had designed to entrust other pictures
for the same church to Giovan Antonio, dismissed him,
knowing well that men who do not study, having once ar
rived at old age, are liable to lose that certain something of
good wherewith they had been endowed by Nature, and
when that is lost, the manner remaining, with such facility
of hand as may be left to them, is for the most part but
little to be commended.
About the same time Giovan Antonio completed a picture
in oil, which he had previously commenced for the church
of Santa Maria della Spina, and here he depicted Our Lady,
with the Infant Christ in her arms, Santa Maria Maddalena
and Santa Caterina being on their knees before her, while
San Giovanni, San Bastiano, and San Giuseppe stand up
right and at each side of the Madonna. In all the figures
of this work, Giovan Antonio acquitted himself much more
creditably than he had done in those of the Duomo. ^
Having then nothing more to do at Pisa, he left that city,
repairing to Lucca, and in San Ponziano, a monastery be
longing to the monks of Monte Oliveto, he received a com
mission from the abbot, who was a person of his acquaint
ance, to paint a picture of Our Lady on a staircase which
•2 These pictures are still in the cathedral of Pisa ; they were paid for in
1542. The French found the Sacrifice of Abraham good enough to warrant
its being carried to Paris in 1811, where it remained three years.
22 This picture, executed in 1542, is now in the Academy at Pisa.

GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA 379
forms the ascent to the dormitory. That work being com
pleted, Giovan Antonio returned to Siena, weary, old, and
poor ; but he did not long survive his arrival in that city :
falling sick, and having no one to take care of him, nor
any means wherewith to procure needful attendance, he
took refuge in the great hospital, where he finished the
course of his life in a very few weeks.
While Giovan Antonio was still young and in good re
pute, he had taken a wife in Siena, the young woman being
the daughter of very honest and respectable parents. In the
first year of his marriage he became the father of a little girl,
but his wife, being weary of the follies committed by this
man, at length refused to live with him.*^ Withdrawing
herself wholly from her husband therefore, she supported
her child by her labour, and on the interest of her dowry,
after having long borne with infinite patience the brutalities
and absurdities of Giovan Antonio, who was truly worthy
of that name of Mattaccio, or Arch-fool, which was given
to him, as we have said, by the fathers of Monte Oliveto.
The Sienese Riccio,^ a tolerably able and experienced
painter, who was a disciple of Giovan Antonio, took the
daughter of his master, who had been very carefully and
respectably brought up by her mother, for his wife, and
became heir to all that his father-in-law had left in matters
of art. This Riccio has produced many commendable
works in Siena and elsewhere; in the cathedral for ex-
24 Bazzi seems to have spent the last years of his life in retirement at Siena
vrith his famUy. Vasari's statement, that his wife was separated from him
ia unsupported by documentary evidence. We knew that in 1531 and in 1541
she was living with him, and we have no proof that she ever left him. See
Milanesi, VI., p. 399, note 1. Her name was Beatrice di Luca (called "de
Galli"), and she was the daughter of the host of the Corona tavern. Two
children were bom to the couple and were given aonorous names. Apelles
died young ; Faustina married the successful Riccio, her father's pupil.
Everything tends to disprove Vasari's story of unhappy married life and
neglected old age.
'2 The principal scholars of Bazzi were Lorenzo, called " il Rustico," Mat
teo Balducci, Giacomo Magagni, or Glome del Soddoma, Bartolommeo Veroni,
caUed " U Riccio," and Giovanni Maria TuccL

880 GIOVANNANTONIO, CALLED SODDOMA
ample there is a chapel to the left as you enter the church,
decorated with paintings and stucco-work, by his hand.
He is now in Lucca, where he has already executed many
excellent works, and continues to do so.
There was also a disciple of Bazzi who was called Giomo
del Mattaccio, but as he died young and could give but
slight evidence of his genius and acquirements, it does not
need that I should speak of him further.
Giovan Antonio died in the year 1554, when he had at
tained his seventy-fifth year.^^ *' ^
2« Bazzi died on the 14th of February, 1549, at the age of seventy-two.
"' The portrait, a full-length of Bazzi, is at Monte Oliveto, see notes 13,
14, and 20. Psychologically thia portrait ia one of unusual interest, and
though the artistic treatment of it is somewhat summary, the characteriza
tion is subtle. Nature wrote wag in capital lettera on this face, with its
large, rather coarse features and its roguish expression.
c2 Considered from the point of view of technique pure and simple, Giovan
Antonio Bazzi was unequal as draughtsman and colorist, indifferent as com
poser. He could draw excellently but rarely did ,¦ his heads are a souvenir of
Leonardo's people, with a strong added personaUty of Bazzi's own ; as to their
bodies his figures often look as if some of Raphael's frescoed men and women
had been painted with so liquid a medium that they had spread upon the
waUs, passed beyond their outlines, until they seemed boneless and gelatinous.
Other figures {see some of those at Monte Oliveto and in the Palazzo Pub
bUco), without having the Florentine hardness of contour, appear rather like
Milanese work and are agreeably firm in silhouette, yet are not dry or " cut
out." His color is sometimes warm and transparent, sometimes distinguished,
as in the "Swooning of St. Catherine," sometimes monochromatic, as in the
" St. Sebastian," but never absolutely disagreeable.
He had little capacity as a composer of groups and was most at home when
he had but one or two figures te deal with.
M. Miintz, La Ein de la Renaissance (p. 533), says that justice will not
be done to this master until he has been placed near Correggio, indeed im
mediately by his Bide (immediatement a cote de lui). It is very rarely that
one takes issue with the enUghtened criticism of the author of the History of
the Renaissance, but in this case it is impossible to accept his dictutn. Great
as he is, Bazzi, if placed by the side of Correggio, stands on a far lower plane.
Charm he has, and style to an extraordinary degree, but where in his work is
there any masterliness to be compared with that shown by Correggio in his
Cupola of Pai-ma or his St. Jerome ? One is a discoverer and a creator, the
other a most gifted and inventive Master of the Revels, who can amuse and
fascinate and delight, but te whom the divine afflatus ia denied. The same
charm of personaUty, of abandon, of naturalness which subjugated the
Sienese is potent over the critic who attempts to analyze the works of the

GIOVANNA N-rONTO, CALLED SODDOMA 381
fantastic Lombard. Bazzi reminds one of the eld tale of the prince to whom
aU good things were given, and yet whose career waa spoiled by the malicious
gift of one wicked fairy. No painter was more richly dowered by nature ;
facility, elegance, sweetness were his, a keen and deUcate feeling lor grace
of line and beauty of feature, remarkable powers of assimilation and a fertile
fancy ; occasionally he attained distinction, and he rarely, even in his most
careless moments, lacked style. But all these great quaUties were obscured by
one fatal defect — frivoUty. There is ne better example of how much and how
Uttle temperament can do for an artist, or what painting becomes when it is
divorced from hard thinking and laborious study. The absence of the ap
pearance of effort, which is such a different thing from the actual absence of
effort, is replaced in his work by a slovenliness that is the mere irritating be
cause we feel that it is wilful negligence. Every one of his mere ambitious
pictures manifests carelessness or lassitude in some particular. His finest per
formances are his single figures (the St. Victor, the St. Bernard, the St.
Sebastian) ; he lacked the mental coherence, the capacity for intellectual
tension, which are indispensable for the planning and execution of large com
positions, and though pathos and poetic feeling were vrithin his scope he was
wanting in elevation of thought, and, above all, in conviction. Yet when all
these reserves are made, when we have recovered from the annoyance pro
duced by the wanton neglect of splendid gifts, how much remains to delight
us in Bazzi's work. His sense of humor, a rare quality and one that is
almost incompatible with intense conrictions, which enlivens the frescoes of
Monte Oliveto, his capacity for characterization, his vitaUty, the diversity
and suppleness of his genius, are all potent factors in the sum of our pleasure ;
the greatest of these is doubtless his sentiment for physical beauty, above
aU the beauty of youth, of girla and adoleaoenta. Who can forget the undu
lating lines of his dancers' slender bodies ; or the morbid sweetness of the
swooning Catherine, or the lovely cowering figure of Eve, or the coy, almost
simpering, but altogether bewitching Roxana ? Equally persistent in the
memory are the figures of the young warriors, Alexander and St. Victor, the
beautiful Hymen of the Pamesina viUa, the transpierced St. Sebastian, the
charming beys in the St. Benedict cycle. Bazzi's feminine ideal was derived
from Leonardo's ; less distinguished, it is more seductive ; less noble than the
subtle Madonnas of Luini, it is mere captivating. An oval face with lan
guishing eyes, an over-ripe curved mouth, the upper Up much fuller than the
lower one, a deUcate nose, slightly retroussS, a softly rounded chin, a slender,
long-limbed body, such was Giovan Antonio's type. Add to it those arie
di testa which Vasari admired, sometimes an air of dreamy voluptuousness
which is as far removed from coarseness as it is from severity ; again, a pathos
and tenderness that suggest the influence of Perugino, and a quality of youth
and freshness, something dawn-like and spring-like, and you have the ideal
that took Siena by storm. Naturally this sweetness often degenerates into
insipidity or becomes cloying ; mere loveliness cannot atone for the lack of
nobUity any more than facUity and fertility of invention can replace high
thought and strenuous endeavor ; but, after all, to analyze the faults nf this
alluring genius ia almost as destructive to the fine edge of the critical spirit
as to study the physical defects of a beautiful person.

JACOPO ROBUSTL CALLED IL TINTORETTO '
[Born 1518 (?) ; died 1594.]
BiBLlOGBAPHT.— C. Ridolfi, Vita di G. Robusti, Venioe, 1642. L. Da-
vesies, Le Tintoret, Paul Vironise et leur Ecole. Lacroix, Revue des Arts,
XV., p. 361, Brussels, 1862. P. Mantz, Tintoret et Veronese, L'Artiste, IV.,
p. 340, Paris, 1869. Galanti, II Tintoretto, published in the Atti della R.
Accademia di Belle Arti in Venezia, 1876. H. Janitschek, Tintoretto, in
the Dohme Series of Kunst und Kiinstler, 1876. W. R. Osier, Tintoretto,
London, 1879. Fasti Oonzagheschi dipinti dal Tintoretto, Nuovi Docu
menti, published by A. Luzio in I'Archivio Storico delV Arte, III., p. 397.
M. Pratesi, I grandi pittori veneti del Cinquecento, Jacopo Tintoretto. Frank
Preston Stearns, Life and Genius of Jacopo Robusti, caUed Tintoretto, New
York, 1894. Bernhard Berenson, The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance,
New York, 1895 (this work gives a catalogue of the works by Tintoretto).
Morelli says in his ItaUan Painters that Professor Justi in his work Velasquez
and his Times, of which an English edition has been published, has given a
fairer criticism of Tintoretto than any art-historian before him has done.
The poetical and literary side of Tintoretto appealed so strongly to the great
poet and word-painter, Mr. John Ruskin, that passages of his Stones of Venice
and Modern Pain ters are a running commentary so magnificent that not in
frequently the canvases of Robusti are surpassed by the word-painting of
the writer. Mr. Ruskin's Oxford lecture upon the relations between Michael
Angelo and Tintoret has also been published. Vasari's Life of Tintoretto,
like those of Carpaccio and Veronese, is included in a, chapter composed of
brief notes on various painters. Except in a few instances Vasari wrote only
the lives of men who were no longer living, and in the case of his living con-.
temporaries his treatment takes the form rather of a catalogue or notice than
of a biography,
IN the city of Venice, there lived and does yet live,^
a painter called Jacopo Tintoretto, who is a great
lover of all the arts, and more particularly delights in
playing on various musical instruments ; he is besides a
very agreeable person, which is proved in all his modes of
' Jacopo di Battista Robusti, called H Tintoretto, was born in Venice in
1518 (Milanesi says 1512). His father was a dyer, and the name Tintoretto
means simply the " little dyer."
2 Tintoretto married Faustina de Vescevi, the daughter of a nobleman and had

JACOPO ROBUSTI 383
proceeding ; ' but as to the matter of painting, he may be
said to possess the most singular, capricious, and deter
mined hand, with the boldest, most extravagant, and ob
stinate brain, that has ever yet belonged to the domain of
that art. Of this there is sufficient proof in his works, and
in the fantastic composition of his stories, which are alto
gether different from and contrary to the usages of other
painters ; nay, he has been more than ever extravagant in
some of his more recent inventions, and in those strange
caprices of his fancy, which he has executed almost as it
were by hap-hazard and without design ; insomuch that
one might suppose, he well nigh desired to show that the
art is but a jest. He will sometimes present as finished,
sketches which are such mere outlines, that the spectator
sees before him pencil marks made by chance, the results
of a bold carelessness rather than the fruits of design and of
a well-considered judgment.
This artist has painted every kind of picture,* whether in
several chUdren by her. Domenico (1562-1637) , the eldest son, became a painter.
Marietta, the eldest daughter, was beautiful, accomplished, and also a painter
of talent ; it is said that untU she was fifteen years old she worked in her
father's studio dressed as a boy; she married one Mario Augusta, a gold
smith, and died young, in 1590. Ridolfi teUs us much of Tintoretto, who
seems to have been a sturdy Venetian burgess, a true artist, caring far more
about his art than about the outside world. He hardly left Venice during
his whole life, and was devotedly attached to his home ; his house, a Palazzo
called the CameUo, stUl exists in the Calle Larga. Ridolfi shows him to us as
laconic, hardworking to the extent of being called il furioso, but loving to
play the lute, not disdaining to design theatrical costumes for his friends, and
averring, in spite of the facile rapidity with which he covered enormous can
vases, that the more a man learned the more difficult his art seemed to him.
5 Tintoretto is said to have tamed the dreaded Aretino whose sting even
princes feared (if we may believe Aretino himself). The story is that the
latter was sitting to Tintoretto for his portrait, when the artist rose, and
advancing toward Aretino, suddenly drew a large pistol (or dagger) from
under his doublet. Pietro, whose conscience was probably not too easy,
started back, but Jacopo, quietly applying the weapon aa a measure, said,
"You stand just two pistols and a half high." It wUl be remembered that
the Renaissance pistol was almost as long as a small arquebuse. Tradition
says that Aretino was quick to learn the lesson, and that he treated Jacopo
more courteously forever afterward.
* According to Ridolfi, Tintoretto began to study in the bottega of Titian,

384 JACOPO ROBUSTI
fresco or oil, with portraits taken from the life also, and he
executes works of all prices, in such sort that in this man
ner of his he has undertaken, and does undertake, the
greater part of the pictures painted in Venice. It is to
be observed, too, that in his youth Tintoretto had proved
himself to possess great abUity by the execution of many
excellent pictures,^ insomuch that if he had properly used
the advantages which he derived from nature, and had
judiciously cultivated them by study, as those have done
who have pursued the beautiful manner of his predecessors,
and not depended on mere facility of hand as he has per
mitted himself to do, he would have been one of the best
masters that Venice has ever possessed. Nor, proceeding
where he produced drawings so exceUent that the master became jealous and
refused to keep him as pupil. This otherwise unreasonable story may possi
bly have some grounds in the incompatibility of Titian's and Tintoretto's
methods. The judgment of the former master seems to have been less favor
able te Tintoretto than to Veronese in cases of competition for orders, etc.,
but this was only natural and right. Titian sympathized vrith, and selected
Veronese, the man whose werk was certain to be adequate, and might be
masterly, rather than Robusti, the painter whose canvas might prove a chef-
d'ceuvre, or, on the other hand, might fall far below the average of his ca
pacity. Tintoretto, Ridolfi tells us, did not fail in his admiration for the
master who would not have him among his pupils ; he placed upon his house-
walls the words " II disegno di Michelangelo il colorito di Tiziano," and
obtaining some models by Daniele of Volterra made from Michelangelo's
figures in the San Lorenzo Sacristy of Florence (the Night, Day, etc.) he
studied them assiduously. He made many bozzetti in wax and clay for his
own use, then placing them in boxes, introduced a lighted candle among them
and thus studied chiaroscuro, " often working far into the night." His
pictures throughout his career showed the direct influence of this method of
study. Mr. Berenson (Venetian Painters) sets down Tintoretto as possibly
a pupil of Bonif azie Veronese, and like Paolo Caliari, he seems to have been
somewhat influenced by Parinigianino.
' Tintoretto's first success was characteristic of the man's general bent ; it
was a lamplight effect, a portrait of himself with a statuette in his hand, and
of his brother playing a guitar. It was shown in the Meroeria, where the
young artists of the time seem to have established a sort of al-fresco salon.
He next offered his services gratis to Schiavone to learn his methods. This
readiness of Jacopo to work for a little price, or for no price at all, very
naturally scandalized his confrh-es and somewhat disturbed his wife's house
keeping calculations; but this "boldest and most obstinate brain" had
thought out the matter for itself, and the man who did not fear Aretine
cared little for minor critics, professional or domestic.

JACOPO ROBUSTI 385
as we have said, does even this prevent him from being a
bold and clever artist, of a most sprightly mind, a vivid
fancy, and pleasing cheerful manner.
When therefore the Venetian Senate had commanded
that Jacopo Tintoretto, and Paolo Veronese, then a youth
of whom high expectations were entertained, should each
paint a picture for the Hall of the Council, while Orazio,
the son of Titian, was also commissioned to execute another,
Tintoretto depicted a story of Frederick Barbarossa crowned
by the Pope ; he represented the ceremony as taking place
within a magnificent building, while around the Pontiff
is a large number of cardinals and nobles of Venice, all
portraits from the life ; beneath these figures are seen the
musical band of the Pope. In all this he acquitted himself
in such a manner, that his work may bear comparison with
those of the other masters, not excepting that of the above-
named Orazio, the son of Titian.
The subject of the picture painted by the last-mentioned
artist was a Battle fought at Rome, and near the Castello
Sant' Angelo, on the banks of the Tiber, by the Germans
of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa on the one part, and
the Romans on the other ; and in this, among other things,
is to he observed the foreshortened figure of a horse, which
is leaping over a soldier in full armour. It is a group that
may be truly called most beautiful ; but some afl&rm that
Orazio was assisted in the work by Titian his father. Near
the picture of Orazio is that by Paolo Veronese, of whom
we have made mention in the Life of Michele San Michele,
and who in his work represented the same Federigo Bar
barossa appearing at Court to kiss the hand of the Pope
Ottaviano, as in contempt of Pope Alexander III. In ad
dition to this picture, which is a very beautiful one, the
same Paolo painted four large figures over a window ; they
represent Time ; Concord or Union, holding a bundle of
rods ; with Patience and Faith ; and in all these figures he
acquitted himself so well that too much could not be said
of their merit. III.— 25

386 JACOPO ROBUSTI
No long time after the completion of these works, another
picture being required for the same Hall, Tintoretto took
such steps, by the intervention of friends and other means,
that the commission to execute the work was given to him,
when he completed it in a manner that was most admirable ;
and this picture merits to be enumerated among the best
he ever executed : so powerful in this artist was the will
with which he then set himself to equal, if not to surpass,
such of his competitors as had also laboured in that place.
And the subject of the work which he thus depicted, (to
the end that the same may be recognized, even by those
who are not of the art,) was Pope Alexander excommunicat
ing Barbarossa and laying his dominions under the inter
dict, with the same Barbarossa, who nevertheless emboldens
his people to refuse all further obedience to the papal man
date. Among other singular things in this picture may be re
marked as beautifully executed, the part where Pope and
Cardinals are seen casting candles and flaming torches from
a high place, as is ever done when any one is excommuni
cated, while a vast crowd of nude figures are seen below
struggling and fighting to obtain those torches : all which
is rendered in the most admirable manner. There are
besides various relics of antiquity, as pedestals and other
objects, with portraits of different gentlemen dispersed over
the pictures ; these last are extremely well done, and the
work is altogether such as to have won grace and favour for
Tintoretto from all who have seen it.*
° The pictures mentioned by Vasari were destroyed in the fires of 1574 and
1577, but after these disasters the sale were restored and decorated by Vero
nese, Tintoretto, and a whole company of painters. The volume of Tintoretto's
work in the Ducal Palace is, as elsewhere, so great, that even a catalogue of
the same is fatiguing. Mr. Berenson, in his Venetian Painters, admits
twenty-three authentic works as being in the palace, and some other authors
present still longer lists. Among these pictures are the famous Paradise, the
four works in the AnticoUegio, see note 23, and a number of portraits.
Many of Tintoretto's portraits are very fine, although not infrequently the
haste with which they were painted has given them not so much the look of
having been dashingly executed aa a certain appearance of lack of aolidity.

JACOPO ROBUSTI 387
It followed in consequence that this artist received a com
mission for two paintings in oil, to be placed beneath the
work of Pordenone in the principal chapel of the Church of
San Rocco ; these were to be of extent equal to the entire
width of the chapel, about twelve braccia each that is to say.
In one of these our artist painted a perspective view, as of
a large hospital filled with beds, wherein the sick, who are
receiving medical attendance from San Rocco, are lying in
various attitudes : among these are certain nude figures
which are very well done, with a dead body foreshortened,
which is most admirable. In another is a story, also from
the life of San Rocco, in which there are many very beauti
ful and graceful figures ; the work is so good a one, in
short, that it is accounted to be one of the best ever exe
cuted by that painter. In the centre of the above-named
Church, moreover, there is a picture of almost equal size
with those before mentioned, and likewise by the hand of
Tintoretto. This represents our Saviour Christ healing the
Sick at the Pool of Bethesda, and is a work which is also
considered to be an extremely good one.'
For the Church of Santa Maria dell' Or to, where the
Brescian painters, Cristofano and his brother painted the
ceiling as I have before related, Tintoretto executed the
decorations of two walls, which will be found in the prin
cipal chapel ; they are in oil, on cloth, and extend from
the cornice above the seats, even to the ceiling, a height of
twenty braccia that is to say. The picture on the right
represents Moses returning from the Mount, where he has
received the Laws from the hand of God, when he finds the
people adoring the golden calf : and that on the left ex
hibits the Universal Judgment at the last day ; the latter, an
extravagant invention, which is truly fearful and terrible,
in its diversity of figures which are of each sex and every
The Louvre and Uffizi claim to have portraits of himself painted by his own
hand, and Veronese more than once introduced the head of Tintoretto in his
(Paolo's) pictures.
' Theae works are stiU in the church, with others by Tintoretto not men
tioned by Vasari.

388 JACOPO ROBUSTI
age ; the souls of the condemned, as well as of the blessed,
are beheld in various parts in the distance.^ The boat of
Charon is likewise depicted in this work, but in a manner
altogether different from that of those usually seen, and of
a beautiful as weU as unusual form. Indeed had this fanci
ful invention been executed after a correct and well-regu
lated design, and if the painter had given due attention to
each part and to all the details, as he has to the general
whole, this picture, expressing the amazement, terror, and
confusion of that day, would have been a most wonderful
production. He who does but glance at it for a moment is
even now astonished at the power displayed ; but if it be
examined minutely, the work has all the appearance of
having been painted as a jest.
For the same church, on the doors which close the organ
that is to say, Tintoretto painted Our Lady ascending the
steps of the Temple ; this work, which is in oil, is the most
carefully executed, most delicately finished, and most cheer
ful looking picture to be found in all the church.' Our
artist likewise painted the doors of the organ in Santa
8 Tintoretto is said to have offered to paint the two pictures of the choir, each
some fifty feet high, for the cost of his materials ; the order was given in 1546,
and he eventually received a gratuity and the further order to paint the organ-
case ; the paintings upon the latter were the Martyrdom of St. Christopher,
and Angels bringing the cross to St. Peter (these works are new near the high
altar); also the Presentation of the Virgin (now in a chapel of the left aisle) ; see
note 9. Tlie Last Judgment, a powerful work hastily painted, and in which
the color has greatly changed and suffered, has been the subject of so magnifi
cent a rhapsody by Mr. Ruskin that the picture itself is an anti-climax. The
Golden Calf has also heen^ sadly injured by time and " restoration ; " here the
women are half-sisters to the Delfica and Libica of the Sistina, and some of
their movements, as they turn their great torsi toward the idol, or raise their
arms are truly magnificent. A picture which is painted in Tintoretto's
" golden manner " is the Miracle of Saint Agnes, in thia same church of the
Madonna dell' Orto. It recaUs Veronese, but nothing by Paolo is so sol
emnly glowing ; in certain lights and at certain hours it seems incandescent.
' In this Presentation the staircase is too important for the figures. The
color has bloomed and changed till all of the left of the canvas is new rather
weird and ghostly than " cheerful ;" nevertheless the beauty of the women
seated upon the steps, or ascending, makes this picture one of Tintoretto's
most pleasing works.

JACOPO ROBUSTI 389
Maria Sebenigo ; '" the subject of that work was the Conver
sion of St. Paul, but it was not executed with much care.''
In the Caritd is a Deposition from the Cross by the same
hand ; ^^ and in the Sacristy of San Sebastiano, Tintoretto
painted Moses in the Wilderness, with other stories on the
presses of that place ; '^ this he did in competition with Paolo
of Verona, who executed numerous pictures on the ceiling
and walls of the church. The works thus commenced were
continued at a subsequent period, by the Venetian painter
Natalino," and by others.
In the church of San Jobbe, Tintoretto painted the three
Maries, with San Francesco, San Sebastiano, and San Gio
vanni, as he did a Landscape at the altar of the Pieta ; " and
on the doors of the organ in the church of the Servites he
depicted figures of Sant' Agostino and San Filippo, with
Cain slaying his brother Abel beneath.'* At the altar of
the Sacrament in the Church of San Felice, in the ceiling
of the Tribune that is to say, Tintoretto painted the four
Evangelists, and in the Lunette over the altar he depicted
an Annunciation. On another Lunette in the same place,
he represented our Saviour Christ in Prayer on the Mount
of Olives ; and on the wall is the Last Supper of our Lord
with his Disciples," by the same hand. In San Francesco
'° CaUed also Zebenico and Zobenigo.
" At present the church of Santa Maria Zobenigo does net contain the work
referred to. But another picture by Tintoretto, Christ descending to Saints
Justina and Augustine, who kneel upon the sea-shore, is a harmonious picture,
agreeable in color and possessing much quiet dignity.
la This picture is lost. The Carita is now the Academy of Fine Arts, at least
the Academy is buUt on the site, and somewhat of the old convent remains.
13 These works are lost.
''' NataUno da Murano.
" Vasari's memory appears to fail him here; he was probably thinking of
Bellini's picture of the same subject. Morelli, ItaUan Painters, I., p. 289, note
8, says Tintoretto's merit as a landscape painter may be especiaUy well studied
in the Colonna Gallery at Rome.
" There is a Death of Abel in the Academy. Milanesi, VI., p. 592, note 2,
says that upon the doors of the organ of the church (now suppressed) were
two saints and an Annunciation, but no Cain and Abel.
^^ In San Felice there is now a picture catalogued as a " St. Demetrius and
a Suppliant of the Ghisi FamUy."

390 JACOPO ROBUST!
della Vigna this artist painted a Deposition from the Cross ;
Our Lady is in a swoon, the other Maries stand around her,
and there are also figures of certain Prophets.'^
In the Scuola of San Marco near SS. Giovanni e Paolo
are four large pictures by Tintoretto ; the first exhibits San
Marco appearing in the air and delivering a man who was
his votary from grievous torments, which an executioner is
seen to be preparing for him ; but the irons which the
tormentors are endeavouring to apply break short in their
hands, and cannot be turned against that devout man.
This picture exhibits a great number of figures, many well
executed foreshortenings, much armour, with buildings,
portraits from the life, and other objects of similar kind,
which render the work one of infinite interest.'^ The second
picture also displays the figure of San Marco as floating in
the air, and delivering one of his votaries from peril ; the
danger in this case has arisen from a storm at sea ; but the
painting is not executed with the care perceptible in that
previously named.
In the third picture is a torrent of rain, with the dead
body of one who has in like manner been devoted to San
Marco, and whose soul is seen to be ascending into heaven ;
here also we have a composition, the figures of which are
not without a fair share of merit. In the fourth painting,
in which San Marco expels an unclean spirit, there is the
" This work is lost.
¦• The miracle of St. Mark is perhaps Tintoretto's masterpiece ; the middle
of the picture is flooded with golden color as if a topaz had burst and showered
everything with its flashing particles. The brilliant yet deep color, power of
chiaroscuro, force of conception, a portrait-like character in the heads, and a
BoUdity rare with Tintoretto, make this one of the finest pictures in Italy. It
must, however, be admitted that for all its beautiful color there is a certain lack
of atmosphere. It is claimed that the painter has introduced his own por
trait three times in this picture, and that of the donor once, in the left-hand
lower corner. A superb sketch for this work is in the Pinacoteca at Lucca ;
the picture itself was the first great and triumphant success of Tintoretto,
the work which proclaimed him a master. Mr. Timothy Cole in his note to his
fine wood-engraving of this work in the Century Magazine says : "I invert my
opera-glass and gaze at it through the larger end, and the painting, reduced
to a miniature, blazes Uke an array of precious stones."

JACOPO ROBUSTI 391
perspective view of an extensive Loggia, at the end whereof
is a fire by which the Loggia is illuminated, and the reflec
tions of that light fall on various parts of the edifice.^ In
addition to these stories, there is a flgure of San Marco on
one of the altars, by the hand of the same artist, and which
is also a tolerably good painting.
These works, then — with many others which I leave un-
described, because it shall suflice me to have made mention
of the best — have been executed by Tintoretto with such
extraordinary promptitude that, while people had been sup
posing him to have only just begun, he had in fact finished
his performance. It is to be furthermore remarked, that
this artist always contrives by the most singular proceedings
in the world to be constantly employed, seeing that when
the good offices of his friends and other methods have failed
to procure him any work of which there is question, he
will nevertheless manage to obtain it, either by accepting it
at a very low price, by doing it as a gift, or even seizing on
it by force. An instance of this kind happened no long
time since, when Tintoretto, having painted a large painting
on cloth and in oil, representing the Crucifixion of Christ,
for the Scuola of San Rocco,^' the men of that Brotherhood
then determined to have some magnificent and honourable
work executed on the ceiling of the apartment, proposing
moreover to give the commission for the same to such of the
painters then in Venice as might be expected to do it in the
best manner and after the most beautiful design.
They consequently sent for Giuseppe Salviati and Feder-
"° The Finding of the Body of St. Mark at Alexandria is now in Sant' Angeli
at Murano, the bringing of the Body te Venice, and St. Mark driving out the
unclean Spirit are in the library of the Palazzo Reale at Venioe (the eld
Nicene Library).
21 This world-famous Crucifixion was completed in 1565, and is signed and
dated. The composition is in places somewhat open and scattered, the pict
ure is full of episodes, which if they detract from its concentration add to ita
movement and life, whUe the poignancy and power displayed in some of the
figures belong only te Tintoretto among Venetian painters. Velasquez felt
this power sufficiently in 1630 te take the time to make a special study of the
picture, and the canvas has inspired a host of writers.

392 JACOPO ROBUSTI
igo Zucchero, who were then in Venice, with Paolo Veron
ese and Jacopo Tintoretto, commanding that each of them
should prepare a design, and promising that the work
should be adjudged to him who should acquit himself the
best. But while the other artists were giving themselves
with aU diligence to the preparation of their designs, Tin
toretto made an exact measurement of the space for which
the picture was required, and taking a large canvas, he
painted it without saying a word to any one and with his
usual celerity, putting it instantly up in the place destined
to receive it. One morning, therefore, when the Brother
hood had assembled to see the designs and to determine the
matter, they found that Tintoretto had entirely completed
the work, nay, that he had fixed it in its place ; whereupon,
becoming very angry with him, and observing that they
had required designs and had not commissioned him to do
the work, Tintoretto replied that this was his method of
preparing designs, that he did not know how to make them
in any other manner ; and that all designs and models for
a work should be executed in that fashion, to the end that
the persons interested might see what it was intended to
offer them, and might not be deceived : he added, that if
they did not think proper to pay for the work and remu
nerate him for his pains, he would make them a present of
the same. At the last, therefore, though not without much
opposition, he contrived so to manage matters, that the
picture still retains its place. ^
»= The Scuola of the Company of San Rocco, moat noted and richest of the
confraternities of Venice, is a magnificent structure, finished in 1550, se that
in it we have a building decorated with a series of contemporaneous paint
ings commenced in 1560 and continued for eighteen years. The haUs are
sumptuous with colored marble and wood carving and dazzling bursts of
Ught come in through the windows, but between the windows all is dark, and
that ia where most of the picturea are placed. There are eight huge canvases
in the lower hall, thirteen upon the walla of the upper hall, and twenty-one
picturea upon the ceiling. A Visitation above the staircase is one of Tin
toretto's best pictures. Before the vast series of canvases in San Rocco the
first feeling which comes is a shock at the absence of any color beauty.
Whether by chemical action of the pigment or natural action of the sea-damp

JACOPO ROBUSTI 393
The subject of this painting is the Almighty Father de
scending with bands of Angels from Heaven to embrace
San Rocco ; and in the lowermost part of the picture are
numerous figures, to represent or signify the other principal
Schools or Companies of Venice ; the Carita for example,
that of San Giovanni Evangelista, the Misericordia, San
Marco, and San Teodoro ; all which was executed after the
usual manner of Tintoretto. But since it would lead us too
far, were we to describe all the works ^ performed by the
the color is often dull, even repulsive. To one coming from the light-fiUed
pictures of Veronese at S. Sebastian, or of Tiepolo at the Carmine, these
canvases of San Rocco seem smitten with leprosy, and to need all the good
offices of the pUgrira saint who is patron of the Scuola. Here Tintoretto, a,
Venetian of Venetians, has wholly left out the greatest charm of the school —
color — and one cannot help feeling that in spite of all allowances for change
produced by time, Jacopo himself must to a certain extent be te blame for
undue haste in painting, and for a cheap and vulgar alternation of pinks
and blues in his original scheme. Still we must aUow much for altera
tion ; Tintoretto, even in the wUdest fervor of productive enthusiasm,
would never have tolerated the color which we see there now. Bad as it
is, if you linger for hours in the Scuola, or return again and again you
fall under the speU, not of the painter but of the inventor and poet ; you
feel the poignancy of a wonderfully poetic narration of the great drama of
Christ's Ufe, and gradually forget the repellent color to see that alternating
with cheapness in some of the canvases there is grandeur of composition, in
others weirdness and originality of expression such as has, perhaps, not been
given to any other artist. All this applies to the paintings upon the walls ;
for the ceUings Uttle can be said, the great canvas which Tintoretto (if we may
beUeve the story) smuggled into its place, has ceased to interest, and the figures
of the Brazen Serpent are almost as far from Jacopo's coveted " disegno di
Michelangelo " as is its color from " il colorito di Tiziano," The great Cruci
fixion in the smaUer sala ia assuredly one of Tintoretto's masterpieces, full
of powerful and poignant passages, but it is scattered, it is not co-ordinated
and solid aa are the moat skilful compositions of certain ether great masters.
=' The Bacchus and Ariadne, Minerva Driving Away Mars, The Graces,
and The Forge of Vulcan, four pictures in the Sala delV Anti-Collegio of the
Ducal Palace were painted in 1578, as we knew by a document which shows
ns Paolo Veronese and Palma Giovine acting as experts regarding the prices
asked by Jacopo. These works are in his " sUver manner," and Tintoretto's
pictures certainly have the property of inducing conviction. That delicate
and poetical critic and scholar, John Addington Symonds, says of the Bac
chus and Ariadne that it is "if not the greatest, at any rate the most beauti
ful picture in existence." Pew wUl agree with him whoUy, but no one wUl
accuse him of bad taste. Three of these pictures in the AnticoUegio are
a proof that where the ensemble is good everything is good, broad bars of

394 JACOPO ROBUSTI
artist here in question, this shall be the close,^ and we will
content ourselves with having said thus much of Tinto
retto,^ who is certainly a very clever man and highly com
mendable painter.^^
shadow cut across powerful figurea and concentrate the effect wherever
the painter pleases ; he haa based hia whole work upon color, movement,
and composition of light ; haa hardly thought about his modeUing or his faces,
the latter are generalized, the former is careless especiaUy in the arms, legs,
and feet ; there are wide brown outlines about the flying figure against the
sky, and we have Michelangelo in the movements with Michelangelo's under
standing of the surface of the body left out. But the composition is beautiful
and simple ; the transparent quiet green tone is exquisite, and the flying
goddesses seem to float in a subaqueous world or in the soft Ught of the
Elysian fields. The lack of construction in the bodies, the commonplace
character of the heads, with their bulging foreheads, depressed profiles, and
retreating chins are concealed under a magic veil of tone and color, of light
and shadow. The grace of feminine movement, the pulsation of life in
smooth ivory limbs, the radiation of light from poUshed flesh has never been
more adequately expressed. There is nothing mannered in the vigorous
grace of these figures, theirs is that noble tranquillity which is something be
tween the placidity of the animal and the serenity of the Olympian. Theirs
is the enchanted world of Correggio's people, but they are healthier, more
robust ; they possess the joyous charm of Veronese's nobles but without their
touch of worldliness, and they are perhaps the best examples of " cette grdce
virile et charmante qui distingue les talents forts lorsqu'ils ont d rendre des
sujets suaves."
2« The Paradise, called the largest picture in the world, being thirty feet
high by seventy-four feet long, and containing some five hundred figures, was
a work of Tintoretto's old age, having been ordered in 1.588, after the death of
Veronese (and nearly forty years after the first edition of Vasari was pub
lished). It fiUs one entire end of the Sala del Maggior Consiglio, and covers
the great freaco of Guariento's Paradise, which, cracked and blackened by the
fire of 1.577, is said to still exist beneath Tintoretto'a picture. Jacopo com
menced hia work in the Scuola della Misericordia and finiahed it in position.
Mr. Ruskin has no hesitation in declaring the Paradise " by far the most pre
cious work of art of any kind whatsoever in existence." Taine could only
see in it a mass of figures whirling in a reddish light which seemed that of
a conflagration. But Mr. Ruskin's explanation is the picture's condemna
tion ; he says that " no one takes the trouble te read it." It is quite true that
the painting contains beautiful passages, but taken as a whole it produces no
effect, the eye wanders ever the canvas unarrested, and the province of a
work of art is to impress or delight at once, then to continue to delight and
impress ; our duty before it is to receive not to unravel.
"' Tintoretto had few pupils ; among them were his two sons, his daughter,
Martin de Vos of Antwerp, Paolo Franccschi, and Odoardo Puletti.
" Tintoretto at his best is a great poet ; in his work of the second order he

JACOPO ROBUSTI 396
remains a dramatic improvisatore, at hia worst he ia repellent, but is still an
impetuous force. When he wills to be a great painter he is one, but in four-
fifths of his work he shows himself as a man who, above all else, desires to
express himself originally and dramatically, and uaes the palette and brush aa
his means for expression. Iu a word, what he ca.res for most is not, as with
Titian, the wonder of color ; not, as with Michelangelo, the wonder of man's
body ; not, as with Rembrandt, the wonder of light, but rather the wonder of
telUng a grand story in a grand way. It must be admitted that he always
succeeds here in being different from other men, and not infrequently suc
ceeds in being grand. But in counting this success we must account also
its penalty. The volume of Tintoretto's work far exceeds that of any other
ItaUan. Venice alone contains six vast canvases in the Redentore, nearly fifty
of them at San Rocco, huge pictures at the Orto, the Academy, the Ducal
Palace, and others scattered throughout the city in churches and palaces. In
aU this great volume of work the Miracle of Saint Mark, the four pictures of
the AnticoUegio in the Ducal Palace, the St. Agnes of the Orto, the Visitation
at San Rocco, the Crucifixions at San Cassiano and San Rocco, the work in
the Mater Domini, and certain portraits and smaller canvases stand out as the
only pictures which are at once and intrinsically satisfying. Before all the
others one has to reason, saying that in spite of this and that, they are
admirable. Chiaroscuro is vrith Tintoretto an ever-present pictorial ad
junct ; he used it as much as do Correggio and Rembrandt, but how differ
ently ! With Correggio light is an irradiating presence, with Rembrandt it
is a penetrating mystery. With Tintoretto it is the first and most powerful
of dramatic accessories, he makes the light an actor in his vast compositions,
he bands the powerful bodies of his Graces in the AnticoUegio with bars of
shade, and laces the marble flooring in his Massacre of the Innocents with
broad, ruddy shadows that look like blood. Often this chiaroscuro is
grand, again it is ghostly, as in the Jordan or the Emmaus, but it is so
frequently and sometimes so hastily employed that in many cases it be
comes tiresome and trivial. Tintoretto is original, first in the presentation
of his subject, and secondly by this lighting, this chiaroscuro. In either case
he tries te find a different point of view from that of any other artist, and he
usually dees find it with singular felicity and occupy it with remarkable
power. This first quality, dramatic narration, is quite as much literary
as artistic, and though lighting may be purely plastic and artistic, Tinto
retto uses it also rather dramatically than plasticaUy, that is to say,
Ught to him ia not so much a means for making a body round and tan
gible, as for apotting out a composition in such a manner that it shall
impresa ns in a new way.
The ItaUans said that Tintoretto had three manners, one of gold, one
of sUver, one of iron ; this applies with perfect truth to the master's
color. Such pictures as the Miracle of St. Mark, the beautiful Salutation
above the staircase at San Rocco, or above all, the Saint Agnes in the
Madonna dell' Orto have come from the master's golden pencil ; his silver
manner is as good as, and more original than, the first, and comprises
such pictures as the mythological scenes in the AnticoUegio of the Ducal
Palace and the Crucifixion in San Caaaiano, assuredly one of the greatest

396 JACOPO ROBUSTI
of Tintoretto's works. The iron manner is the most diffused. Had Tin
toretto been content with the pictures mentioned above (and with such may
be included certain other admirable works in Continental or Italian museums
and churches) he would still have ranked among the greatest maatera, and
with far less question, far less negative addition te his fame than that which
has been given by the vast surface of canvas at San Rocco, both in the
church and Scuola, at San Giorgio Maggiore, and the Orto. These are the
pictuies of which Vasari has said that when examined minutely they have all
the appearance of having been painted as a jest To-day, whether by action
of the weather, by defective pigment from over-painting and so-caUed restora
tion, or by fault of the artist himself, the color of these huge canvases is
black, coarse, repulsive ; perhaps if we could see them better we should re
cognize the good that is under the deteriorated surface. Some of these still
have fine passages of color here and there, but we must not forget that Va
sari condemned them already when they had but just left the artist's brush,
and we need not take offence at his expression of "examined minutely," for
Giorgio had plenty of appreciation and praise for Titian's breadth and Vero
nese's sweeping touch. It will hardly do to impute this black and repellent
character of the color te haste on Tintoretto's part ; haste might be account
able for a somewhat vulgar alternation of pinks and blues, but a single slight
painting with good pigment would result rather in a relatively good preser
vation of the color, or at the worst in a fading of the same ; blackness is more
likely to come from over-painting, bad pigment, or imperfect preparation of
the canvas. However that may be, Tintoretto, who could be great techni
caUy, neglects technique in a large part of his work, and he is therefore neg
lected in turn by the art-student, who studies rather Titian or Veronese.
But Tintoretto remains a grand poet and dramatist; "in the purities and
sublimities of the prophet's soul," says Symonds, " neither Veronese nor yet
Titian can approach him."

BALDASSARE PERUZZI, SIENESE PAINTER AND
ARCHITECT
[Born 1481 ; died 1536]
BlBLiOGRAPHT. — Suya and Haudebourt, Palais Massimi d Rome, Paris, 1818
(foUo, with platea). 6. Frizzoni, Delle Pitture di Baldassare Peruzzi, 11
Buonarroti, March, 1869. See also in L'Arte Italiana del Rinascimento.
R. Redtenbacher, Mittheilungen aus der Sam,mlung Architektonischer Hand
zeichnungen in der Gallerie der Uffizien zu Florenz, I. Baldassare Peruzzi
und Seine Werke, Carlsruhe, 1875. Denati, Elogio di Baldassare Peruzzi,
Siena, 1879. D. GnoU, I Sepolcri di Maria Bibiena di Baldassare Peruzzi,
L'Archivio Storico delV Arte, I., p. 142. R. Forster, Farnesina Studien,
Rostock, 1880. Cugnoni, Agostino Chigi il Magnifico, Rome, 1881. H. von
GeymiiUer, Raffaello studiato come architetto, Milan, 1884. A. Venturi,
The Pamesina, ItaUan and EngUsh editions, Rome, 1891. Weese, Balda
sarre Peruzzi' s Anteil an dem Malerischen Schmucke der Villa Farnesina,
nebst einem Anhange " II taccuino di Baldassare Peruzzi " in der Com
munal Bibliothek zu Siena, Leipsic, 1894.
AMONG all the gifts which Heaven confers on mortals,
there is none which can be or justly ought to be
held in higher esteem than elevation of the mind,
with quiet and peace of soul ; for by the first man is ren
dered immortal, and with the second he may truly be ac
counted blessed. He then who is thus endowed should not
only render great and perpetual thankfulness to God, but is
bound to show himself among his fellow-men, as it were a
light amidst darkness, and so it is that in our own times
we have seen done by the Sienese painter and architect,
Baldassare Peruzzi. Of him it may truly be affirmed, that
the modesty and goodness so beautifully exemplified in his
life, were possessed to such a degree, as to form no mean
part of that supreme tranquillity and peace of mind, for
which all men who think must needs sigh, and towards
which all should constantly aspire ; while the works which

398 BALDASSARE PERUZZI
he has left to us are manifest and honourable fruits of that
true genius, which was breathed into his mind by Heaven
itself. I have called him above, Baldassare of Siena, because he
was always considered a Sienese, but I will not omit to
mention, that as seven cities contended for Homer, each
desiring to claim him for her citizen, so have three most
noble cities of Tus.cany, Florence, Volterra, and Siena,
namely, all maintained, each for herself, that Baldassare
was of the number of her sons.' But to tell all the truth of
this matter, every one of them has part in him, seeing that
at the time when Florence was distracted by wars, the
father of Baldassare, Antonio Peruzzi,^ a noble citizen of
Florence, changed his abode, in the hope of living more
quietly, and went to dwell in Volterra.^ Having remained
there a certain number of years, he then took a wife in
that city ; this happened in the year 1482, and in a few
years two children were born to him ; one, a boy, called
Baldassare ; the other a girl, named Virginia. Now it
chanced, that while thus desiring only peace and quiet,
Antonio was nevertheless pursued by the evils of war ;
Volterra being sacked, he was compelled to take refuge in
Siena,* and there, having lost nearly all that he possessed,
' The researches of Milanesi were exceptionally exhaustive in the case of
his great compatriot Baldassare Peruzzi, and the notes for this life have been
drawn far mere generally from the pages of that author than have those in
the lives of artists of other cities than Siena. In Vasari's Lives the biogra
phies of Peruzzi and Antonio da San Gallo precede the Life of Sebastian del
Piombo, but there is nothing un chronological in placing them in the present
order as both men were contemporaries of Michelangelo, Titian, Tinto
retto, and Sansovino. Baldassare di Giovanni di Salvestro di Salvadore
Peruzzi, as appears in Sienese documents, was bom in Siena, March 7, 1480
(1481 common style). His father, Giovanni di Salvestro di Salvadore Pe
ruzzi, was a weaver of Volterra, and waa not connected with the noble Flor
entine f amUy of the Peruzzi.
' See note 1.
' See note 1.
^ He did not leave Volterra till at least three years after the sack, though
the latter, by the destruction of trade, waa the probable cause of his depar
ture.

BALDASSARE PERUZZI 399
he found himself reduced to live in a somewhat poor
fashion. Baldassare, meanwhile, was increasing in stature, and
early gave token of the pleasure he found in the society of
good and distinguished men ; more especially delighting to
frequent the workshops of the goldsmiths and others, who
practised the arts of design. Wherefore, eventually finding
these arts please him, he gave all his attention to drawing,
and his father dying about that period, Baldassare devoted
himself to the study of painting with so much zeal that in
a very short time he made the most extraordinary progress.
Copying and imitating the works of the best masters, he
yet gave his principal attention to nature and living objects,
and thus early acquiring some little gain by his art, he
found means to support himself while he aided his mother
and sister, pursuing his studies in painting at the same
time. Among the first works of Baldasarre (omitting to men
tion some few performed in Siena,' which do not require
more particular notice), was a small chapel near the Flor
entine Gate of Volterra ; here he painted certain figures
with infinite grace, and these were the cause of a friendship
which he contracted with the painter Piero of Volterra,*
who dwelt for the most part in Rome, where he was em
ployed in the execution of various works in the papal
Palace, for Pope Alessandro VI. Baldassare consequently
repaired with Piero to Rome, but Alessandro being dead,
and Piero no longer finding employment in the Palace,
Baldassare placed himself in the workshop of the father of
Maturino,' a painter of no great excellence, but who, at
that period, was nevertheless much employed in the more
ordinary labours of our avocation, and had always many
works on hand.
5 He was the assistant of Pinturicchio when the latter, in 1501, painted it
the chapel of San Giovanni in the cathedral.
' Pietro di Andrea da Volterra.
' Vasari has given a Ufe of this master.

406 BALDASSARE PFiRUZ2i
This artist, therefore, having placed before Baldassare a
panel, the ground of which had been duly prepared, bade
him paint thereon a figure of Our Lady, but without giving
him a cartoon or design of any kind. Baldassare, never
theless, having taken a piece of chalk, in a moment and
with great ability, designed such a figure as he proposed to
paint, and having shortly after taken the colours in hand,
in a few days he produced a picture so beautiful and so ad
mirably finished, that he caused astonishment, not only in
the master of the bottega or workshop, but also in many
painters who saw the work and at once perceived its merit.
These artists, therefore, procured for Baldassare a commis
sion to paint the chapel of the High Altar in the church of
Sant' Onofrio, and this work he executed in fresco in a very
beautiful manner, and with infinite grace.^
Having finished his undertaking in the chapel of Sant'
Onofrio, our artist next painted two small chapels in the
church of San Rocco-a-Ripa,' whereupon, being now in con
siderable credit, he was invited to Ostia, where he decorated
certain apartments in the tower of the fortress, with very
beautifully executed historical representations in chiaro
scuro. Among these are more particularly to be mentioned
one of those hand to hand combats, in the manner custom
ary among the ancients ; with a body of soldiers also, the
latter proceeding to attack a fort. In this last the bold
and prompt action of the warriors is particularly to be ob
served ; covered with their shields, they advance the scal
ing ladders which the assailants are placing against the
walls, while those within repulse them with fearful rage ;
there are also numerous instruments of war in this story,
of the fashion used in ancient times, with armour of sim-
' Peruzzi painted the choir throughout, although Titi, by an error, ascribes
part of the paintings to Pinturicchio, MUanesi, IV., p. .591, note 2. See also
G. Frizzoni, DeUe Pitture di Baldassare Peruzzi, article in 11 Buonarroti,
1869. » The paintings in the chapel of the Presepio remain, but are greatly altered
by the retouching of Baciccio. Peruzzi also designed the vaulting-mosaics of
Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (1500).

BALDASSARE PERUZZI 401
ilar character. Baldassare likewise painted many other
stories in one of the halls of that fortress, and these are
held to be among his best works ; but it must be observed
that he was assisted in their execution by Cesare of Milan.'"
On the completion of these labours Baldassare returned
to Rome, where he contracted a most intimate friendship
with Agostino Chigi of Siena, who received him to his in
timacy not only because Baldassare considered himself a
Sienese, but also because Agostino was by nature the friend
of all distinguished men. With the assistance of such a
man as Agostino Chigi, Baldassare found means to afford
himself leisure for remaining during some time in Rome,
occupied solely with the study and examination of the an
tiquities, but more particularly of those relating to archi
tecture. In this vocation, emulous of Bramante, Baldas
sare made extraordinary progress in a very short time,
which was afterwards, as we shall relate in due course,
the cause of very great honour as well as profit to him ;
he gave considerable attention to the study of perspective
also, and became so highly distinguished by his attainments
therein, that very few who have laboured in our times can
be named as his equals ; the effect of this acquirement may
be clearly perceived in all his works.
Pope Julius II. meanwhile, having built a corridor to his
palace, with an aviary almost at the level of the roof, Bal
dassare was commissioned to depict all the months of the
year therein ; with the occupations proper to each month
throughout the year : in this series of paintings, which is
in chiaroscuro, we have innumerable edifices, theatres,
amphitheatres, palaces, and other buildings, all showing
admirable invention, and each occupying an appropriate
position in the work." Baldassare painted several apart
ments in the palace of San Giorgio,'* for the Cardinal
Raffaello Riario, Bishop of Ostia ; this he did in company
" Cesare da Sesto, scholar of Leonardo da Vinci.
'• These works have disappeared.
" These works have disappeared.
III.— 26

402 BALDASSARE PERUZZI
with other painters. On a faQade which is opposite to the
palace of Messer Ulisse da Fano, this master also executed
various paintings ; as he did on that of Messer Ulisse's
own house, whereon he delineated stories from the life of
Ulysses, and by this work he greatly increased his name
and reputation.'^
But still higher was the glory which he obtained for the
model of a palace, prepared for Agostino Chigi,'^ and which
he executed in the graceful manner we now see. This
edifice should rather be described as a thing born, than as
one merely built : the exterior decorations are in terretta,
and exhibit very beautiful historical representations, exe
cuted by Baldassare with his own hand. The hall of this
palace is also adorned by this master, who painted columns
in perspective therein, the depth of the intercolumniation
causing it to appear much larger than it really is. But the
most remarkable part of this work, and a subject of de
served admiration, is the Loggia of the garden, wherein
Baldassare has painted stories representing Medusa turning
men into stone, and than which nothing more beautiful
could possibly be imagined ; near this we have Perseus
striking off the head of the monster, with other paintings
in the angles of the ceiling. The decorations of this Log
gia are painted in perspective to imitate stucco-work, and
this is done so perfectly with the colours, that even expe
rienced artists have taken them to be works in relief. I
remember that the Cavalier Tizian, a most excellent and
renowned painter, whom I conducted to see these works,
could by no means be persuaded that they were painted,
" Milanesi, IV., p. 593, note 3, cites a drawing in chiaroscuro touched up
with white, and representing the ornamented facade of a palace ; it ia in the
Uffiri. " This was the Fameaina, which haa been ascribed to both Raphael and
Peruzzi ; MUaneai attributing it te Peruzzi and Baron H. von GeymiiUer to
Raphael. Cugnoni cites documents showing that it was completed in 1510
and in 1511, two poets, Egidio Gallo and Palledio Blosio, celebrated it in
verse. A pen-dravring of the Farnesina, in the Uffizi, is reproduced by Baron
von GeymiiUer.

BALDASSARE PERUZZI 403
and remained in astonishment, when on changing his point
of view he perceived that they were so.''
In the same palace there are certain paintings executed
by Pra Sebastiano Veneziano,'* in his first manner ; and by
the hand of the divine Raffaello there is the Galatea carried
off by Marine Deities, as we have before said.
Between the Campo di Fiore and the Piazza Giudea,
Baldassare painted a facade in terretta, which is most ex
quisitely beautiful, the views in perspective being truly
admirable ; this he did, receiving a commission to that
effect from one of the Pope's Chamberlains, but the palace
is now in the possession of the Florentine Jacopo Strozzi.
In the church of the Pace, this master likewise painted a
chapel for Messer Ferrando Pozetti, who was afterwards
made a Cardinal ; this is on the right of the entrance to
the church ; the subjects chosen are events from the Old
Testament," the figures of which are small ; but there are
besides, other figures, which are of considerable size ; the
whole work is in fresco, and is executed with much care.
But even more remarkably has Baldassare shown the ex
tent of his ability in painting and perspective, by certain
pictures in the same church and near the high altar, where
he depicted a story for Messer Filippo da Siena, one of the
Clerks of the Chamber, representing Our Lady ascending
the steps of the Temple, and about to enter that edifice.'^
In this picture there are many figures highly worthy of
praise ; among others, that of a noble personage arrayed in
the ancient manner, and who, descending from his horse,
while his servants wait around, presents alms to a poor
" The painted decorations are stUl in good preservation. Titian (here re
ferred to) was created cavalier (Knight of the Golden Spur) and Count Pala
tine by Charles V.
" Sebastian del Piombo.
" There are stories from the Old and New Testaments (painted 1516), and
a fresco at the high altar representing the Virgin enthroned with Saints
Brigida and Catherine of Alexandria at right and left, and with Pozetti the
donor kneeling before them.
" This picture, painted for FiUppo Sergardi of Siena, has been much re
touched.

404 BALDASSARE PERUZZI
wretched beggar, totally naked and grievously attenuated,
who appears to be entreating charity with the most eager
importunity. In this work, also, there is a great variety of
buildings, with many very beautiful ornaments of different
kinds ; the painting, which is in fresco, counterfeits, in like
manner with that above-mentioned, decorations in stucco,
which go entirely around the whole, and it furthermore ap
pears to be affixed to the wall by means of large nails, as if
it were a panel painted in oil.
Among the magnificent preparations made by the Roman
people to receive the Duke Giuliano de' Medici," when the
baton of a Commander was conferred on him by Holy
Church, were six historical representations, in as many
pictures, executed by six different painters, who were all
artists of eminence. One of these was by the hand of
Baldassare ; it was seven canne * high, and three and a half
broad, the subject chosen, being the betrayal of the Romans
by Julia Tarpeia ; *' and this was acknowledged to be, with
out doubt, the best of them all. But that which awakened
astonishment in every beholder was the perspective view or
scene which this master prepared for the Theatre, and
which was so beautiful that nothing better could possibly be
imagined. Such, indeed, were the variety and admirable
manner of the buildings, the beauty of the loggie, the fancy
exhibited in the doors and windows, the rich arrangement
of all the other architectural details, with the remarkable
" In 1515.
"• About twenty-eight feet.
'" Certain freacoes representing scenes from Roman history painted in the
Palazzo de' Conservatori in Rome have been assigned te Peruzzi by Dr.
Gustavo Frizzoni in an article published in II Buonarroti, March, 1871.
The frescoes, which have been greatly retouched, are in the two halls called
of ' ' the Pastes " and " of the Punic Wars. " This second hall has four great
frescoes, which the Reman municipality for a long time ascribed to Benedetto
Buonfigli of Perugia. The nearly ruined freaceea of the Hall of the Fastes,
representing the Triumph of the Kings of Rome, were for some time accredited
to Botticelli. Dr. Frizzoni also claims for Peruzzi a design in the Louvre, a
Triumph of a Roman Emperor, reproduced by Marco Antonio Raimondi,
whose engraving has been called by seme critics a copy from Mantegna, by
others a copy from Francia. See MUanesi, IV., p. 595, note 3.

BALDASSARE PERUZZI 405
judgment and extraordinary power of invention manifest
throughout the whole work, that it would not be possible
to describe the thousandth part.
For Messer Francesco da Norcia, Baldassare designed a
portal of the Doric oi'der, which was an exceedingly graceful
composition : this the master erected in the house of Messer
Francesco, which is on the Piazza of the Farnesi. He also
painted a very beautiful fa9ade, near the Piazza degli Altieri
for Messer Francesco Buzio,^ depicting on the frieze, from
the life, all the Cardinals who were then living ; while on
the wall itself he executed historical scenes, which repre
sented the Caesars receiving tribute from all the kingdoms of
the world ; above these stories our artist painted the twelve
Emperors, placed on corbels ; they are foreshortened with
much judgment, and executed with remarkable ability ; for
the whole work, indeed, the master well merits the highest
praise. Baldassare, furthermore, painted an Escutcheon,^
exhibiting the Arms of Pope Leo X., near the Ban chi,
with three Boys as supporters. This is in fresco, and the
flesh of the children is painted with so much softness, that
they seem to be alive.
For Fra Mariano Fetti, Prate of the Piombo, this master
painted a San Bernardo in terretta ; this figure, which is
one of great beauty, was executed for the garden of Monte
CavaUo.*^ For the Brotherhood of Santa Caterina of Siena,
whose house is in the Strada Giulia, Baldassare painted an
exceedingly beautiful Bier,® for the removal of the dead to
the place of their burial, with many other works, all of
which are worthy of commendation.
In Siena, Baldassare Peruzzi prepared the design for the
Organ which is in the church of the Carmine ; ^^ and he
M These works no longer exist. " These works have disappeared.
" These works have disappeared.
« Milanesi, IV., p. 597, note 1, saya that Fabio Chigi, afterward Pope
Alexander VII mentioned this bier in his Commentario di Agostino Chigi.
" The unpublished Sienese Guide (1625) of Fabio Chigi says that Peruzzi
painted the chjarpsourp prnament on the organ, not that he Resigned the
latter.

406 BALDASSARE PERUZZI
likewise executed some other works in that city, but they
were not of any great importance.
Being subsequently invited to Bologna, by the wardens
of works to the church of San Petronio, to the end that he
might prepare a model for the fa9ade of that edifice, he de
signed two large ground plans, with elevations and sections,
one in the modern manner, the other in that of the Teutonic
nations. This work is still preserved in the Sacristy of San
Petronio " as an extraordinary production, the master having
drawn the building in perspective, after such sort that the
fabric appears to be in relief. In the same city there are a
vast number of designs by this artist, which he made in the
house of the Count Giovanni Battista Bentivogli, for the
above-named church, and which are so beautiful that it
would not be possible adequately to extol their merit, more
especially when we consider the wonderful and admirable
inventions worked out by this master, in his wish to avoid
the destruction of the old building, and in the endeavour to
conjoin the new part with just and fair proportion to what
remained of the old. For the Count Battista above-named,
Baldassare made a design in chiaro-scuro,^ representing
the Nativity of Christ and the Adoration of the Magi : the
'' He was especiaUy asked to design the vaulting, cupola, and doors of San
Petronio. See II Giornale della Fabbrica, 1.520-37, published by Gaye,
Carteggio, II., pp. 153, 1.54. A beautiful drawing for a, facade in the Gothic
style stUl exists, and it is proved that Peruzzi executed others stiU ; see
Gaye, Carteggio, III., p. 480, and II., pp. 152, 153. The Palazzo Alberglti in
Bologna, and also the one now called dei Fioresi, are said by il Lame (Grati-
cola di Bologna, 1560) to be by Peruzzi See a long note in MUanesi IV n
597. ' ¦' ^'
»« This chiaroscuro design is in the National GaUery, London, where it is
ascribed to Peruzzi. It was given by Lord Vernon in 1839. An Adoration
of the Magi painted on wood is also in the National Gallery, London, and is as
cribed to Peruzzi; "the figures of the three Magi are interesting as having
been portraits of Titian, Raphael, and Michelangelo. "-Cook's Handbook to
the National GaUery, p. 40. The painting executed from Peruzzi's cartoon by
Girolamo da Treviso is believed by some critics to be lost. It is suggested
(on p. 40 of the handbook cited above) that the work in the National GaUery
may be this copy. The official catalogue of the National GaUery admits thia
hypothesis, and adds that it is possible that it is a copy made by Bartolommeo
Cesi, formerly in the possesaion of the Rizzardi family of Bologna.

BALDASSARE PERUZZI 407
horses, chariots, and all else belonging to the Courts of the
Three Kings are wonderful to behold ; with such admirable
grace and beauty are they depicted, as are also the architect
ural details of the temples and other buildings, by which
the cabin is surrounded. The Count caused that work to be
subsequently coloured by Girolamo Trevigi, who performed
his part to great perfection.*
The design for the portal of the church of San Michele
in Bosco, a very beautiful monastery outside Bologna, which
belongs to the Monks of Monte Oliveto,^ was prepared by
this master; as were also the design and model for the
Cathedral of Carpi, ^' which was exceedingly beautiful ; the
structure was built under the direction of Baldassare, and
according to the rules laid down by Vitruvius. In the same
city our artist commenced the church of San Niccold ; ^ but
this building was not completed at that time, the master
having been almost compelled to return to Siena, whither
he was summoned to prepare designs for the fortifications of
the city, and those defences were then constructed under
his direction.^
This undertaking being completed, Baldassare once more
repaired to Rome, where he built a house opposite to the
Farnese Palace, with others in the centre of the city. He
was also employed on many occasions by Pope Leo X., more
particularly when that Pontiff, desiring to bring the church
of San Pietro, which had been commenced by Julius IL
" Girolamo Trevigi was a painter and also a miUtary architect.
" StiU existing, although the monastery has been suppressed.
¦* Though no documents confirm it, this assertion seema probable to Mi-
laueai. '" It is likely that Peruzzi may have made some designs which accompanied
the second period of construction of San Niccolb (when the facade and
anterior portion of the church were buUt), 1.517-20, but he did no werk con
nected with the first period of construction, 1493-1508. Peruzzi was in
Bologna in 1523, the year in which San Niccolo waa finished. See a long note
in MUanesi, IV. , p. 598, note 3.
'2 It is beUeved by some critics that Peruzzi made the designs for the two
oratories (deUa Rotonda, 1511, and della Sagra, 1515) in Carpi as vreU as the
fortifications of Siena mentioned by VasarL Sec Giuseppe Campori, Gli
Artisti Italiani e stranieri negli Stati Sstensi, p. 353.

408 BALDASSARE PERUZZI
after the design of Bramante, to a conclusion, and finding
the edifice too large, resolved to have a new model con
structed. His Holiness was of opinion, that the various
parts of that vast fabric were not in harmony with each
other ; wherefore he committed the work to Baldassare,
who prepared a new model, which is truly ingenious, and
of very magnificent character ; it gives proof of so much
judgment also, that succeeding architects have frequently
availed themselves of many parts thereof.^ Diligent and
judicious, this master brought his works so successfully to
completion, that he may truly be said never to have had
his equal in architecture, and this principally because he
combined with his knowledge of that art, so beautiful and
admirable a manner in painting and decoration. The de
sign for the tomb of Pope Adrian VI. was given by Bal
dassare,^ and the paintings around it are also by his hand,
but the marble work of the sepulchre was executed by the
Sienese sculptor, Michelagnolo, assisted only by Peruzzi.
When the Calandra,^ a drama written by the Cardinal di
Bibiena, was performed before Pope Leo, Baldassare pre
pared all the scenic arrangements for that spectacle in a
manner no less beautiful, nay rather it was much more so,
than he had exhibited on the occasion referred to above ;
and his labours of this kind deserve all the more praise
from the fact that these performances of the theatre, and
consequently all required for their representation, had long
been out of use, the festivals and sacred dramas having
taken their place. But either before or after the represen-
'* After the death of Raphael, Peruzzi was elected capo-maestro of the
works of St. Peter'a, and he held that office from August 1, 1520, to May 6,
1527 ; again from 1530 to 1531, and finally from 1535 to January 6, 1536, the
date of his death.
=» This tomb of the Flemish Pope Adrian, in the church of S. Maria dell'
Anima, ordered by Cardinal Enckenvoirt, was finished in 1529 ; the paintings
represented Saints Bennene and Antonino, both canonized by Pope Adrian.
=" The Calandra waa the first prose comedy given in Italy in the vulgar
tongue. It ia an Italianization of the plot and characters of Plautus's Me-
ncechmi, and its name was derived from that of one of the dramatis persqnce
Calandro, a simpleton of the Calandrino type.

BALDASSARE PERUZZI 409
tation of the Calandra, which was one of the first comedies
seen or recited in the vulgar tongue, in the time of Pope
Leo X. that is to say, Baldassare painted two of these scenic
decorations, which was surprisingly beautiful, and opened
the way to those of a similar kind, which have been made
in our own day. Now it appears to me difficult even to
imagine how this artist has found it possible, within the
closely limited space to which he was restricted, how he has
found it possible, I say, to exhibit such a variety of objects
as he has depicted, such a number of streets, palaces, tem
ples, loggie, and fanciful erections of all kinds, with cor
nices and ornaments of every sort, so perfectly represented
that they do not look like things feigned, but are as the
living reality : neither does the piazza, which is the site of
all these edifices, appear to be, as it is, a narrow space
merely painted, but looks entirely real and of noble extent.
In the arrangement of the lights also, Baldassare showed
equal ability, in those of the interior, which are designed to
enhance the effect of the views in perspective, more espe
ciaUy ; every other requisite, demanded for the occasion
was added with similar judgment ; and this is the more
remarkable, because the habit of preparing such things
had, as I have said, been totally lost. This kind of enter
tainment is nevertheless superior in my opinion to those of
every other character, when it has all the appliances re
quired for its perfection, surpassing them all by very far,
however sumptuous and magnificent they may be.
In the year 1524,^ Clement VII. was elected Pope, when
Baldassare made the preparations for his coronation. The
fa9ade of the principal chapel also, which had been com
menced by Bramante, was completed by Baldassare, who
constructed it in Peperino marble. In the Chapel wherein
the bronze monument of Pope Sixtus is placed, this master
painted in chiaroscuro the Apostles,^ which are in the
s' November 19, 1523.
'8 Only the St. Peter has been saved and sawn from the wall ; it is now in
the Grotte Scure of the Vatican. See Milanesi, IV. , p. 601, note 3.

410 BALDASSARE PERUZZI
niches behind the altar ; he likewise gave the design for the
tabernacle of the sacrament, which is a very graceful work.^
Then came the deplorable sack and plunder of Rome, in
the year 1527, and the unfortunate Baldassare was made
prisoner by the Spaniards ; when not only did he lose all
that he possessed, but he was also grievously maltreated
and tormented by them : for it so chanced that Baldassare,
being a man of a noble, grave, and commanding aspect, was
believed by them to be some great prelate or other man of
high rank in disguise, and one who could pay an enormous
ransom.* Finally, however, those most impious barbar
ians discovered that he was indeed a painter, and one of
them, who was a devoted adherent of the Constable de
Bourbon, compelled our artist to take the portrait of that
reprobate commander, the enemy of God and of all good
men ; either by showing him his corpse, dead as he was, or
by some other means, perhaps by giving him drawings of
the face or describing it in words : enough, they compelled
him to make the portrait.
Having escaped at length from the hands of the Span
iards, Baldassare took ship to go to Port' Ercole, proposing
to proceed thence to Siena ; but on the way he was so ef
fectually plundered, so completely stripped, and despoiled
of every thing, that he entered Siena deprived of all but
his shirt. He was nevertheless honourably received and
clothed anew by his friends ; *' nor did any long time elapse
before he entered the service of the Republic, and was ap
pointed superintendent of all works connected with the
fortifications of the city.^ While thus residing in Siena,
5" This tabernacle was destroyed and replaced by that of Bernini.
*' There is in the archives of Siena a document showing an indebtedness of
Peruzzi for moneys borrowed in reference to this ransom. See Milanesi, IV.,
p. 601, note 4.
"' The Sienese people and councU determined that in order to keep so val
uable a man as Baldassare in Siena he should be made architect of the city,
"Architetto del Pubblico," for two years, 1527-39. In 1531 he again held
the office, when his salary was doubled.
1= In 1 537-39 he built seven towers, of which two remain, that of the Porta
Laterina, and that of Sau Viene (or Pispini) ; the latter haa been much altered.

baTjDAssare peruzzi 411
two sons were born to Baldassare ; he was employed, as we
have said, in the public service,^' and made numerous de
signs moreover in the houses of his fellow-citizens, as he
did that for the organ of the Church of the Carmine, ^^
which is exceedingly beautiful.
The Imperial and Papal armies had meanwhile advanced
to the siege of Florence, when his HoHness despatched Bal
dassare to the camp, there to give his aid to the Commis
sary, Baccio Valori, who was commanded to avail himself
of the judgment and counsels of Baldassare in the services
of the siege, and for the more effectual investment of the
city. But Baldassare, esteeming the liberty of his ancient
fatherland beyond all the favour of the Pope, was not to be
prevailed on to lend his assistance in any affair of moment,
nor was he to be alarmed in any manner by the indignation
even of that great Pontiff, who, perceiving this, bore him
no little ill-will for a considerable space of time.''^
The war being ultimately brought to an end, Baldassare
would fain have returned to Rome, wherefore the Cardinals
Salviati, Trivulzi, and Cesarino, whom our artist had on
many occasions very faithfully served, made such efforts in
his behalf, that they succeeded in reinstating him in the
favour of the Pope ; he was thus permitted freely to return
to Rome, and was even replaced in the appointments he had
previously held. Nor had he been many days in the city
before he commenced the preparation of designs for two
" Giovanni SaUnstio, or Salveatro (see note 50), became an architect, Ono
frio a painter and a Dominican monk. — MUanesi, IV. , p. 602, note 3.
¦•« According to MUanesi, IV., p. 608, note 4, Peruzzi may have buUt or
designed the cloister and campanUe of the Carmine, the door of the Sante
Spirito, the private palaces of the Mecenni near the Lizza, and of the Celsi
(now of the PoUinil, and the viUa of Belcaro. He is proved to be the de
signer of the Rocca of Caprarola (Vignole designed the villa), accredited by
Vasari to Antonio da San Gallo the Younger, was capo-maestro of the Cathe
dral of Siena, and designed the main doors and the high altar (1532).
*= This is untrue. Gaye ( Carteggio) has pubUshed a letter of October 20,
1529, from Baldassare to the Sienese Government, stating that the Poggio Im
periale conld easily be seized and the whole Valdelsa occupied by the Papal
troops. In a word, the Sienese Peruzzi took part vrith Siena.

412 BALDASSARE PERUZZI
beautiful palaces, commanded by the Signori Orsini, and
which were erected on the road leading to Viterbo : he also
designed other edifices to be constructed in Apuglia.
Baldassare did not neglect, meanwhile, the study of as
trology, in which he greatly delighted, nor that of the
mathematics, and others in which he took pleasure. He
also commenced a book on the Antiquities of Rome, with a
Commentary on Vitruvius, gradually preparing the designs
that is to say, in illustration of that author's writings, some
part of which commencement is now to be seen in the
possession of Francesco da Siena, ^^ who was his disciple.
Among these are designs after the ancient manner, as well
as others proper to the modern mode of building.
While thus sojourning in Rome, Baldassare prepared the
design for the palace of the Massimi family : ^' the plan of
this building is of an oval form, and the edifice is in a new
as well as very beautiful manner ; the principal fa9ade is
enriched by a vestibule of Doric columns, admirable for the
justice of the proportions, and proving much knowledge of
art on the part of the master : equally beautiful in the dis
tribution of the interior quadrangle ; and the flight of steps
by which the chief entrance is gained deserves the utmost
commendation ; but this building Baldassare could not fin
ish, having been overtaken by death before its completion.^'
But notwithstanding the great talents of this noble ar
tist, his numerous works availed but little to his own ad
vantage, however useful to others. It is true that he was
employed by Popes, Cardinals, and other great and rich
personages, but no one of them ever conferred on him any
" It is not known who this Francesco was.
" The Palazzo Massimi alle Colonne, caUed by critics one of the noblest and
most elegant palaces of the Renaissance.
« Serlio says that Baldassare, in excavating for the first Massimi palace,
(once of the SaveUi, now of the Orsini) found many fragments of ornament
from the theatre of Maroellus and learned so much concerning it that he was
able to make the ground-plan given by SerUo (Libro III. deW architectura).
In Vol. CCIX. of the architectonic designs (GaUery of Florence) are twelve
drawings of the theatre of Marcellus.

BALDASSARE PERUZZI 413
real and effectual benefit ; yet this may very possibly have
happened, not so much from the want of liberality in those
nobles (although they are for the most part ever most open-
handed in cases where they should be least so), as from the
timidity and excessive modesty, or to say what in this case
was the fact — the simplicity and faint-heartedness of Bal-
dassare.''' But it is certain that by as much as all should
be discreet and moderate in respect of princes who are
magnanimous and liberal, by so much is it needful to be
importunate and pressing towards those who are avaricious,
ungrateful, and discourteous ; for inasmuch as an unremit
ting demand would be an unpardonable error, nay a vice, if
applied to the upright and liberal, insomuch is it a virtue
when practised against the mean and avaricious ; nay, to be
modest with such people is an absurdity and a wrong. Bal
dassare thus found himself very poor as age came on, and
was beside, burdened with a family : finally, after having
always lived a most upright and honourable life, he fell
grievously sick, and was obliged to confine himself to his
bed : hearing which, and, when too late, perceiving the loss
he was about to incur by the death of such a man. Pope
Paul III. sent him one hundred scudi by the hands of
Jacopo Melighino, accountant of San Pietro, making him at
the same time the most friendly offers and promises. But
the illness of Baldassare increased, perhaps because it was
ordained so to be, or, as some believe, because his malady
was provoked, and his death hastened by the effect of a
poison, administered to him by one of his rivals, who desired
to succeed him in his office, from which he derived two
hundred and fifty scudi per annum. The physicians did
not discover this until it was too late, and Baldassare died
in great sorrow ; but more on account of his family and of
the painful condition in which he was leaving them, than
for himself.
49 «' \^e lament that Vasari should call that an awkward faint-heartednesa,
which was indeed the extreme delicacy and true modesty of this most excel
lent master." — Milanesi quoted by Mrs. Poster.

414 BALDASSARE PERUZZI
He was deeply mourned by his children and friends, who
laid him to rest in the Rotondo near Raffaello da Urbino ;
all the painters, sculptors, and architects of Rome accom
panied him with tears to the grave, according to his remains
the most honourable sepulture, and inscribing over them
the following epitaph : —
Balthasari Perutio Senensi, viro et pieiura et architectura aliisque
ingeniorum artibus adeo excellenii, ut si priscorum occubuisset teni'
poribus, nostra ilium felicius legerent. vix. Ann. lv. Mens. xi. Dies
XX. Lucretia et Io. Salustius optimo conjugi et parenli, non sine la-
chrimis Simonis, Honorii, Claudii. ^EmilicB, ac Sulpiiice minorum
JUiorum, dolentes posueruni. Die mn.. JanMarw mdxxxvi. '°
The fame of Baldassare was greater after his death than
during his life ;^' more particularly were his judgment and
knowledge vainly desired, when Pope Paul III. deter
mined to cause the church of San Pietro to be completed,
seeing that all then discovered how useful his assistance
would have been to Antonio da San Gallo. It is true that
the last named architect effected much, in accomplishing
what we now possess ; but he would, nevertheless, as is
believed, have seen his way more clearly through certain of
the difficulties incidental to that work, had he performed
his labours in company with Baldassare.
Many of the artistic effects of Baldassare were inherited
by the Bolognese Sebastiano Serlio, who wrote the third
book of the " Architecture," and the fourth of the " An-
50 In Bottari's time this inscription was not in the Pantheon. According to
Pea, with whom Milanesi agrees, Peruzzi died January 6, 1536. By the same
document which leads Fea te this conclusion the name of Baldassare's son
seems to have been not Giovanni SaUnstio but Giovanni Salverio or Sal
vestro. ^^ Baldassare was without doubt an artist of the first rank. In painting
he approached the best masters of the day ; in architecture he belonged to
the greatest. Many place him before Bramante. Lomazzo calls him, " Archi
tetto Universale." In perspective he was unsurpassed, as even MiUzia, who
so rarely praises, admits; "and this," observes one of his compatriots, "is
sufficient to prove his merits, for never does MiUzia bestow a syllable of com
mendation that has not been well earned." — See MUanesi.

BALDASSARE PERUZZI 415
tiquities of Rome," with their admeasurements. In these
works, the results of Baldassare's studies, to which we have
alluded above, were inserted in the margin, and other por
tions of the same were likewise of great use to the author.
The writings of Baldassare on the before-mentioned subjects
remained for the most part in the hands of the Perrarese,
Jacopo Melighino, who was afterwards appointed by Pope
Paul III. the architect for all his buildings ; and in those of
that Francesco the Sienese, whom we have before men
tioned, and who was his creature and disciple. By this ar
tist is the escutcheon of the Cardinal di Trani, in Navona,
which has been very highly commended, and which is still
to be seen in Rome, with certain other works, also by Fran
cesco da Siena. It is from him that we have procured the
portrait of Baldassare ; and I have likewise received many
notices from him of things with whicli I was not acquainted,
when this book was first put forth to the world.
Baldassare drew admirably well in all manners, giving
proof of great judgment and infinite care in each, but more
particularly with the pen, in water-colours, and in chiaro
scuro.'^ Of this, numerous examples may be seen in the
many drawings by this master, which are now in the posses
sion of different artists : we have ourselves a considerable
number in our book of drawings, and among them is one
which is a most fanciful invention. It represents a Piazza
entirely filled with arches of triumph, colossal statues, thea
tres, pyramids, obelisks, temples of various character, colon
nades, porticoes, and other erections of similar kind, after
the manner of the ancients. On a pedestal in the midst of
these edifices, is a figure of Mercury, and around him are
thronging all sorts of Alchymists with bellows, some large,
others small, crucibles, retorts, and other instruments used
in distillation, proposing to administer an enema to the end
that he, the said Mercury, might be delivered from peccant
" Milanesi devotes some twenty-five pages te a catalogue of the drawings
(mostly architectonic) by Baldassare Peruzzi which are preserved in the col
lection of the Uffizi

416 BALDASSARE PERUZZI
humours. A ridiculous and fantastic delineation, but a
singular idea, and very well executed.
Baldassare, who always proved himself courteous, modest,
and friendly to all, was very intimate with the excellent
Sienese painter, Domenico Beccafumi, as he also was with
Capanna, who executed many paintings in Siena ; among
them the fa9ade of the Turchi, and that of another building
on the Piazza.^
53 M. Miintz calls Baldassare Peruzzi the most elegant, refined, and original
of all the architects who during the first third of the sixteenth century
sought fortune in Rome, but he further concludes that Peruzzi's native
modesty or timidity prevented his giving full scope to his talent. In the early
sixteenth century the conditions which governed material success were wholly
different from those which obtained in the fifteenth century. Even in the
late quattrocento a great number of artists of nearly equal talent served a
correspondingly large number of patrons. In the first years of the sixteenth
century art was centralized in Rome almost as completely as were politics.
Only to him who served the master, that is, the pope, was it given to tran
scend. The pope wanted a major-domo of the arts, a man who should be an im-
perator iu his way. Raphael for all his gentleness was such a man by reason
of his tremendous capacity for work and assimilation, and Michelangelo was
such another by the indomitable energy which enforced his mighty genius.
Neither Del Sarto, Bartolommeo, or Peruzzi lacked personality in their art, but
they were not great enough to rise above the overshadowing influence of the
two geniuses who were working upon the walls of the Sistina and the Stanze.
Thus in architecture (as in painting) Peruzzi, the author of so many works of
so high an average of excellence, was like Antonio da San Gallo the Younger
and like many another Tuscan architect thrown into the background by the
ever-heightening and broadening reputation of Buonarroti, who forced himself
to the front in every sphere of artistic activity and who (save in the provinces
of color and of portraiture — provinces which Peruzzi too hardly entered) set
his personal seal upon every kind of Tuscan art. Peruzzi's relations with
the building of St. Peter'a fell upon ill-starred years of war and sack and
pillage, so that financial and other difficulties did much to neutraUze his prog
ress, but he has left other important works in Rome, in the Massimi Palace,
in Bologna, in the Albergati; while in Siena aud other Tuscan cities there
remains much to recaU him both as painter and architect.

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